pity anyone who wasn’t in dallas today! it was sunshine, 78F/25C, calm with occasional gusts from the south. as close to perfect as i could imagine on january 3 (in the northern hemisphere).
so i got out there and started skating off the christmas fat! i’m just over 180 lbs., was hanging down in the mid 170’s last summer, and my desired weight would be under 170.
i’d decided to do my usual in-season distance of 28 miles, and that i’d take it as slow as i needed to. i was concentrating on pushing out, rather than back, and building up my outer thighs and gluts for a good summer. i could tell from the first few minutes it was going to be slow. usually i get a little second wind around six miles, and another (third wind?) in the low 20s. i’ve seen explanations of how that works – something about shifts in metabolism. if i understand right, the body essentially says “hey, i’ve burned up all of this, now lets start burning that.”
none of that happened today. i had just enough energy to chase down a few bicyclists during the first two laps, then felt like i was trudging the second two (katy trail is a 7-mile lap). you know trudging. it’s when stubbornness says “i’m going to do this thing”, but all your body will do is let you put one foot in front of the other. 28 miles took me a full 2 hours. the austin road rash is april 19 – about 14 weeks away! i want to be down to 1 hour 30 minutes (on my 28) by then.
the skates, btw – since i’m always whining about my feet, don’t hurt my right ankle at all since i’ve stopped lacing the top eyelet. but my heels do swim around a lot more and i’m ripping up my ankles pretty good from the abrasions. i’m planning to talk to glen koshi about new boots next week!
28.0 miles today
49.0 miles this week
49.0 miles YTD
182.2 lbs
