Sugar

 This mornings run was brought to me by "Sugar" .  From the start of my shift at 8pm until I hit the treadmill at 3am I consumed a bag of hard candy or about 200 grams of pure Sugar thats close to the equivalent of 5 cans of Coke and oh I washed down all that sugar with a can of Coke!  Oh and I cant forget about the Pizza  and the XL Dark Roast from Tims , no Sugar  but I am sure that the sweet Ice Coffee had some!    I know if I consume allot of Sugar and I Run things get a little weird ...must be an Insulin spike or something because I feel really shaky and have a need o consume more Sugar...YIKEs.

 Did I mention that I have a sweet tooth?

 So I am booting along a few K s at the usual 5:00 pace anticipating my first fartlek at 5K and going 12K in total when that I had too give in to that too much sugar shaky feeling.   Jumped off the treadmill to find some more Sugar then was going to quit but I switched gears instead logging the rest of my "Run" at a 7:30 pace and cutting it short at 10K.

 When things do't go as planned its usually a learning opportunity.   The 7:30 pace feels like I am going backwards but its a darn good average  pace to set in any Ultra!   I was a little surprised at the dramatic decrease in the Heart Rate at the slower pace.

1 -  This is my 5:00 pace and the usual gradual increase towards 140 BPMs.

2-  Thats the walk to get more SUGAR!

3 - 7:30 pace BABY!

The difference is quite dramatic .... going long I would rather be a 3 then a 1!   Going slower yields a  way way lower body temperature a good things to remember on a HOT day.   Going slower also means more resources available to process food.... also a very important thing going long.

So this makes me ponder the Sulphur 50 mile race plan.   If I do a "3" I can maintain things a hell of allot longer then the "1".   Doing teh "1" will most likely lead to a "2" about mid was though Lap 3 ( 50K in ) .  However the race starts early so there is something to be said about logging some faster Ks in the COOL of the day....key here is to know when to switch gears.

So the #1 and BEST reason to go out a 3 and hold it .... it makes the day a whole lot more enjoyable not getting passed in the last half of the race as well as not having to go from a 1 to 2 to get to the 3...that sequence sucks.

Mid 5 - Increment 2

10K at the usual pace with the usual fartleks at 5,6,7,8 and 9 K mark.   The Gym was allot warmer this morn...sweat galore!    HR was up in zone 3 for the last half .. an effective Run.   2 more mids to go!  

Challenging the Mental

 Mid 4 and once again I incremented 1K logging a 8K run at a mostly 5:00 pace with three fartleks at a 4:45 pace thrown in a5 5,6 and 7K mark.

 Working nights is tough it always has been and always will be,   Getting to the Gym for a Run in the wee morning hours can be somewhat tough.    Making each nights run a little longer is really making it hard to wrap my head around.  Not only do the mids get tougher and even longer the runs become more taxing going longer and longer each morning...good for the mental and strangely satisfying!

Increment 1

7K done at a mostly 5:00 pace this morning on my meal break.  Threw in 2 X 200 meter fartleks at 5&6K @ 4:45 pace.     HR was higher topping out at 150bpm after my second fartlek.   Recovery HR was 10 bpm higher too.   Suspect lack of sleep ( 4 hours today ) may have had something to do with the higher HR.    Running on the treadmill is allot like falling asleep ...you have to think about anything other then what you are trying to do!

Mid 2

Second midnight shift incremented 1K for a 6K run at a moslty 5:00 pace with one 200m 4:45 fartlek thrown in at the 5K mark.  I was much more solid this morning!

Speed Week

Starting mids this morning.   Its a speed week of sorts running at a 5:00 pace on the treadmill.  Only did 5K  it was 3am hot  and well I really didn't really feel like running ...SURPRISE.  Going to increment a K a day ( er um night ).  Did I tell you how much I enjoy mids ... NOT!  

Tropical Run

26C,  90% Humidity,  no Winds and Overcast... perfect for a get er done run late yesterday afternoon.   10.3 K done on my "Mc Cormick" loop.  Right upper quad was bugging me a bit less then yesterday but it was real achy in the eve until I jumped into the Hot Tub before work.