Drafting in the swim and working the diet.

I had an interval session on the treadmill. The plan called for so odd pacing – it said to pick your goal marathon time and use that for ½ mile intervals (x8). For example, if your goal marathon time was 3:05 then to run the ½ mile repeats in 3:05 (or a 6:10 minute / mile pace). I do not understand the logic – and is this standalone marathon race pace or ironman death march race pace? Anyway, this is doable. I have never ran a marathon but my goal pace is 3:15 (Boston qualifying time for me). So 8 x ½ mile at 3:15 with a 1 minute (0.1 mile) rest interval. After a good 10 minute warm up my times are below:

TREADMIL INTEVALS 8 x 1/2 mile (6:30 pace) with 0.1 mile (1 minute) RI 1. 3:15 HR AVE 154 2. 3:16 HR AVE 161 3. 3:15 HR AVE 164 4. 3:17 HR AVE 158 5. 3:14 HR AVE 168 6. 3:16 HR AVE 158 7. 3:18 HR AVE 177 8. 3:15 HR AVE 176


This was challenging but not insurmountable. In fact I believe that I could have ran them much harder but I would have been dead at the end – I did run a 5k earlier this year at a 6:10 pace. I will try this workout again in a few weeks and see where I stand.

Following the plan, I skipped the lunch workout since I would be doing an OWS after work. On the diet front, working the plan and following the diet is actually working – go figure. I think that not beating myself into a pulp has even improved the weight loss. I do not think I am fatigued as much and I am able to stick to the meal plan. In addition, I think that not being in such a calorie deficit has been beneficial.

Jen and I drove out to the lake together. There were about dozen people for the swim. It was a good group and all skill levels were present. Many of us swam out to the first buoy (about 0.2 miles). I have an old Timex GPS watch with the GPS sensor that you wear on your arm. I plastic bagged the sensor and stuck it in my swim cap to try and get some more accurate distances. I got 0.2 miles to the first buoy and then another 0.1 miles to the second buoy – I wish that I could map the results – I am sure that I am not swimming straight. So we swam to the first buoy and regrouped. We would sprint back and forth between the buoys 4 times. The last session was from the first buoy to the second and then all the way home – this would be a 0.4 miles steady state swim. In total we swam for a mile. We also recruited a couple more people for the morning group ride.