What a day!

50’s, beautiful, and sunny this afternoon.

Yes, indeed, I did sleep in this morning, beginning to be convinced that I was coming down with something. Did some stretching, etc, before work, but completely avoided going to the gym. Since, of course, it’s not M/W/F. Cloudy for the drive in.

But, after a morning meeting, I headed over to get a hair cut (drill weekend, dontcha know), and couldn’t resist busting out a quick 30 minutes during an early lunch break.

The run wasn’t anything spectacular distance or speed-wise. But, I couldn’t help but grin like an idiot most most of the way. Warmed up with a set of pushups and situps, started the stopwatch, and headed out the door, loving the mild weather and wondering if the wind was going to give me issues.

One of the things I’m going to try to get back to is using a HRM, especially during non-speedy runs. Since I don’t have any set mileage targets, and my target “races” for next year are a 1.5 mile PRT and a series of sprint triathlons, I think it’s more important to focus on quality during my runs than on quantity. So, I figure I’m going to be doing a lot of “out-n-back” runs, listening to my body and trying not to drive my heel.

For some reason, I wasn’t able to get my HR into the 135-155 range I ought to be in for “fat burning”. For most of the run it stayed between 155 and 165, though the average at the end was at 155. Not way, way up there, but right at the 85% aerobic threshold. Didn’t feel short of breath at all. Stretched when I got done. Can’t emphasize how nice the run was. Can’t emphasize how nice it is to have marathon monkey off my back.

Speaking of the marathon monkey – darn, have my tendons, etc, been tight since NYC. No, I haven’t been stretching enough. But it’s been kind of building up since the race, to the point where it finally made me start doing a bunch of lower body stretching each morning. Think it’s turning the corner, and I think that starting to bike and run again will help keep my muscles loose; but ouch.

Usless Stats: 29:30, 3.2 miles, 451 calories, 30 sit-ups, 20 push-ups.