Let the taper begin...

I had some personal things to deal with today and wasn't even able to get to the office today. By the time I was finished and ate dinner it was around 6:30 pm. As much as I wasn't looking forward to it, I was off to the track to do my running speed work session. I went to Corpus Cristie High School for the first time, it's a new school near my house, they have a great track and the infield is even artificial turf. I tried to go last week but the gates were locked. No expense was spared on that track.

During my first 400 interval I could feel my groin area feeling tender again. I realized it is not in my groin, but my lower left abdomen and it is aggravated when I do speed work. It wasn't painful and I was able to run through it. In the warm up the ball of my left foot was still sore. Once I get it warmed up and blood flowing it becomes much less noticeable and tolerable. I sure hope it goes away at some point.

I was happy with the interval times. For each of my 400's and 800's my last lap of each was my fastest overall. For the 400 I finished with a 1:28 and for the 800 I did a 3:02. Those times are essentially a 6 minute mile pace. Last year, from memory, I think my fastest was around a 6:30 pace. I remember that for the 400's it would be in the 1:45 range. 

At the track I met Doug Hawksworth, originally from South Africa, but has lived around the world and now lives in Oakville. He was running and doing speed work as his daughter was playing field hockey in the infield. Doug is a Scientist, PhD, and specializes in aluminum. I was asking him about his job and extensive travel. Last year Doug travelled over 250,000 miles, the company he works for have offices all over the world. Doug was explaining to me that some of the things he is working on is fundamentally going to change many industries and there is a lot of pressure because there is no text book to follow. They are on the extreme cutting edge. Doug's a good runner and says he has some training formulas that would make me faster. Needless to say, I'm all ears.

After the speed work I went to the Y and did my weights. It is the last week of my power weight lifting cycle. I almost didn't do it to be better tapered for the half marathon on Sunday, but figured that doing it is important for my triathlon racing and I'm a triathlete first and runner second. Now that I'm done today's training, the taper begins. Hopefully I'll get some fuel in the legs before Sunday. My ultimate dream would be to break 1:30 Doug knew the course and gave me some pointers.

As I write this blog I'm so hungry but can't eat. Tomorrow morning I have to go to the doctor for blood work and I need to fast for 12 hours. I guess that's good for the 21 day weight loss challenge I'm on, but I could really go for a snack. As of today, which is 8 days into the challenge I'm down 3.4 lbs and 1 lbs away from breaking the 180 lb barrier. Oh how I'd like to do the Mississauga marathon at 179 lbs. This time last year I was 177 lbs.

Run - 54:46 / 7.43 miles / 7:22 pace ( 5.2  km of intervals)

Power Weights - 45:00