True love weighs and measures

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This afternoon's three-beach run, down the bridge of the nose to the upper lip - Santos, Brazil


16 km 

1:24:24 / 5:16 pace 

Late afternoon, 24C, rainstorm 


I wasn't feeling it today. I've been in a bit of a mood recently, anyway, and when I was looking out of the window this afternoon I could see it was going to rain but had no idea when. It was about 5 PM and I really wanted to run in daylight, so didn't have too long to wait and see. I decided to go and face the consequences - deciding only that I would stop if there was any lightning. 

As I set off and reached the beach I thought I would run 12 km and go for an average pace of 5.30. This was my attempt to give myself a break from targets, really. I wasn't in the groove. I also hoped the lightning would start and take all other decisions out of my hands. 

In the end it wasn't until I hit 8.2 km that the rainstorm started. Cold rain, too. Large drops. Not really very nice, but neither was it hard to run through. My pace dropped a bit because I think I just felt less enthusiastic than in the dry. There was a lot of squelching, too, because one of the many things that Brazilians have failed to master is drainage. When it rains here, it floods almost immediately and at the 9 km mark I was back on asphalt, so running through pretty deep puddles. 

As the 12th kilometer was clocked up I thought about calling it a day. I was at 5.20 pace and that would have been fine. It was at that point that I got more into it and started to think about running further, faster. It worked and I finished on 16 km at an average of 5.16 pace - soaking wet and happy. 

My average pace so far this month is a shade over 5:00 per kilometer, making any discussion about how easy my target of 5.13 is unnecessary. I am reluctant to give myself any credit for the improvement I have made and I'm more put out by the fact that I set a target that was not challenging enough. This sense of cheating or something similar is persistent and in fact serves to drive me on. It makes me think I have to prove myself to myself. I have no idea where this comes from because, remember, this is just a hobby and there no commitment other than whatever it is I make up on a daily basis. This is why I am always looking at numbers and comparing them. I have to feel I am getting better. At some stage in my life I will start getting worse and how I will deal with that is a mystery to me right now. I'll probably find a way to measure the extent to which I am slowing down my slowing down. 

There are a number of reasons I am still improving, chief among them being simple aerobic fitness. Another factor is my weight. I burn about 5,500 calories a week running, and gradually lose weight as a result - which I need to keep doing. Back in January I weighed 86 kilos after a year of virtually no exercise and way too much drinking of alcohol. Today I weighed in at 72.2 kilos, which means my Body Mass Index has just dipped under 25 for the first time in about three years. I would like to get down to 68 kilos by June (and the marathon in Rio) and I think I have a good chance of getting my weight down there. Clearly, running with less weight makes a difference and there is a sweet spot at which I will be light enough to run much faster for much longer, losing more weight. Easy to say, hard to do - like most things that are worthwhile.  


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