My thought processes

I suspect this might be an entertaining blog in ways that I can't even imagine. So there I am this morning getting ready to leave the house. My normal routine is to pack my bag the night before, and lay out everything I'll need. That way I wake up, get dressed in what's to hand, and that tells me if I'm running or swimming.

Last night was a late night at work, but the deployment went well, and all appears good this am. But I didn't do much last night other than empty the bag, eat supper, and go to bed.

So there I am this morning wandering around wondering what the heck is going on and who turned the lights on so early. I could see running stuff AND swimming stuff. I'd looked at the IGP last night, but didn't remember what it said. Eventually I figured out it was Thursday, so therefore a run. That told me what to put in the bag, and what to wear. I looked at the IGP again.

As I was pulling into the parking lot underneath 8th Ave where I normally go, I realized two things. For once, my driving autopilot took me where I wanted to go (and I've heard from my wife this morning so I know I dropped her at work), and that I had not the slightest idea in the world what the IGP was for the run. None whatever.

Since I couldn't remember, and I knew that IG is a guy, there had to be some logic involved, and I ought to be able to recreate it, or at least get close. I remembered on Tuesday it was 45 min 8/1. I also knew that we had talked about slowly increasing the run times, and that after a late night at the office, getting back into it pronto wasn't my first priority. I also knew that my Thursday runs include a 2 min walk. So 8 minutes run, and 2 min walk was what I decided on. That having the great advantage of making the math easy. I normally run for about 45 minutes, but decided to go for an hour. This makes the math easy, and isn't too big a step. (I'd sort of thought about 90 minutes, but instantly flashed on IG looking very dubious, so went for 60.)

So.
60 min R8/W2, with some stretching after.
Average heart rate was 118, peak 133, min 85, 882 calories.

The run felt really good. It was mostly in the low 120's, but I noticed that when I thought about the upcoming races, the heart rate tended to go up. So I thought calming thoughts, and churned along, slow and steady, as the sun rose. Going up the hills is where the heart rate picked up.

Just going into my last run segment, I was thinking about running without worrying about the heart rate. But then I thought about IG's plans. If he wanted me to be doing other stuff at this point, he'd have said so. So therefore the quickest way to my goals is to be doing what he said, which is building the base. So I finished up nice and steady.

I turned around at 32nd at the 29:30 mark (I didn't want to cross the road for a measly 30 seconds), and got back to the car at 58 minutes, so I continued past for the last walk segment.

This weekend looks like nice weather! My plan is to get the trainer tire off the bike on Friday, and get all the goodies I bought last week loaded up. Sat I'll do a swim in the morning, then about mid day head out for a ride. The IGP for Sunday says bike 100 to 110, 6 min upper zone 2, 4 min lower zone 2. I'm not sure how that will translate into riding outside, what with hills, traffic, and general outsideness.