A.M. Easy Base I recovery run. 5.35 mi.
As has become routine, I started out super slow. First mile in 11:19, next half mile was at 10 minute pace, then finally loosened up and progressively increased the pace to finish somewhere around 8 min/mi, probably in the 7s.
If I'm going to run the times I'd like to run, I need to drop weight. My body fat level is fine, I'm just carrying too much muscle mass. I raced at 165 in college and would like to get back to that. The increased mileage will take care of some of that, but finally and reluctantly, I'm going to consciously cut food intake a little. I remember reading an article on Lance Armstrong's weigh dropping strategy heading into The Tour.
The summary is essentially this: 1) Do it gradually and well before the most important competitions or else you will go in compromised and weak. 2) Cut food intake on hard days when the body is really fired up and will chew through fat. You should still follow a regular meal pattern because you need the food to recover, but end the day at a caloric deficit. 3) Eat regularly on days preceding hard days, so that you go in with enough glycogen to do the hard work. This doesn't mean make up the deficit from the previous day, rather eat eucalorically so that the 2 day average is a deficit. Yesterday I ran a deficit, today will be balanced.
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P.M. 1.80 mile mini-run.
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A.M. Weight = 179.1
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