Mileage

In the hotel room, I woke with no alarm shortly after six, in the dark. My bold plans to get a long run in this morning seemed foolish, after a day spent mostly on my feet standing around, and then staying up late last night waiting for the teen dancer to bounce back to the room. So I lay and struggled.

At some point there was a clear realization that no matter how the rest of the day was going to go, I would feel better if I got down to the gym first. I had plenty of time, no need to rush, but going would make me happy and pleased with myself, and also physically more comfortable for the rest of a day of standing around and sitting in cramped spaces. How very pleased with myself am I to have realized the exertion would be a physical benefit!

So I got down there around 7 and was the only one in the fitness center. Despite the lying around, I still hadn't had any coffee or anything to eat, though I learned my lesson yesterday and drank lots of water and brought the bottle with me. Today was another day where the subjective effort seemed all out of proportion to the physical effort. I went 16 minutes on the long run, one more minute than last time, but slower than usual. I was huffing and puffing and wanting to stop before the end, but my heartbeat had only risen very slowly and was still in the 140s when I slowed. I was planning to do the whole 5k when during the next jog interval, with my heartbeat still in the 130s but my legs moving through jello I decided "what the hell" and hit the cooldown button. I got the psychological and physical lift, and I was more than ready for coffee. I'm a little disappointed in myself now, but only a little.

Must be the caffeine that helps elevate the heartbeat and keep me going a little bit faster. I've read it needs 30-45 minutes to do its thing, besides.

Anyway, mileage for the week starting on Monday: 1 mile Monday, 1 mile Wednesday, 2.5 Friday, 1 on Saturday, and 1.5 today. Seven miles total for the week.

By the way, there is a rule of thumb on calorie burn: 100 calories per mile. This is the same whether walking or running, because pretty much it's the same amount of "work" in physics terms: moving your body mass one mile regardless of time. This rule of thumb is a good rough gauge over a variety of body weights, apparently, though more weight is more work. It's not true for swimming or biking, where your weight is supported by other than your muscles. So all this work and I've only burned an extra 700 calories for the week! And the running is definitely making me hungrier in the mornings. Something to keep in mind.