64 Days, 22 Hours to go...
I rolled awake feeling wired this morning at about 5:25am, wondering why on earth I felt so "uppity" at a time I'm usually content to snooze. After maybe 30 minutes of unsuccessful attempts to fall back asleep, I gave in and headed downstairs for some pre-workout grub.
Waking up early isn't all bad this time of year. The sunrise proved quite lovely, a mix of deep reds and orange not unlike the shade of hot embers. Cool temperatures prevailed, and the Cricket Symphony Orchestra (CSO) was out in force, to say nothing of the Songbird Singers. The air up around the house had a clear, washed feel to it, but a mist obscured the low-lands down by the running track.
My body weight after consuming a banana, a saltine, and a few sips of water, and before leaving the house was 157lbs.
I intended to make today's workout much like that of last week, in other words 4x1200m, followed by 1x400m. I felt good the whole time, though a little hungry at the start. The splits went as follows-- 4:55, 4:52, 4:48, 4:43, 78.
Comparing these splits to last week, they are all of them faster than before. This is a positive sign, though perhaps not entirely due to improvements in fitness. Cooler air temperatures help a lot, as does a higher starting body-weight. Why this latter point is true is unclear to me, since a few extra pounds should require more effort to move. Yet that has never been the case for me, even when I weighed 160-165lbs back in my swimming days. Rather, for me it has long proved true that--up to a point, perhaps around 162lbs--a higher starting body-weight generally yields superior performance. Could it be due to better hydration? More fuel? Better mechanics? Or indeed the sensation of becoming significantly lighter throughout the course of a race or workout?
All of these might be true to some extent, even the last one since I tend to lose more weight during a workout when I begin with a higher value. This might be due to a sub-conscious regulatory measure in the brain, which allows body-weight to fall to a certain point before intervening to prevent significant further loses. So the higher one's starting weight, the further it can fall before the brain intervenes to prevent further loss. It's an idea, though one that would undoubtedly require further testing to confirm.
In any case today bucked that trend somewhat, since I started at 157lbs and finished at a weight of 155lbs, a dehydration rate of 1.28%. This proved the case in spite of the fact that I replaced only about 125ml of water during the workout, less than half of what I consumed last week in similar conditions (but beginning at a starting body-weight of 154lbs). It is interesting that I could run faster this week, drink less, and still finish with the same number of pounds lost. Perhaps it is a sign that fitness is indeed improving. That would be nice.
One week more remains of this training cycle. In addition to improvements in Friday workouts, I'm feeling much stronger on Tuesdays, when I do longer, endurance work. Old challenges are getting easier, and the pace seems to be faster on average than a few weeks before. I'm also able to go for longer without getting as tired, which is a good indication that positive adaptions for the marathon are occurring. As the race draws closer, this sort of work will become increasingly more important.
So on the whole signs seem to be pointing in a positive direction. I'm having fun and getting fit, which is the idea really. 64 days, 23 hours to go!
Happy Friday, friends :)
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