I will add to this later when I run with the boys, but I wanted to get in my morning run before I forgot about it. Ran 4.1 easy miles this morning, felt absolutely great. I decided to put on the HR monitor this morning, and I was pleasantly surprised. There was quite a difference between my HR when running at 7:30 pace and running 8:30-9:00 pace. In fact, I could tell when I picked up the pace a little bit on the return leg. First leg (out leg) it took a while for my HR to get going. Average HR for the first leg was 153 (wow!). Average HR during the return leg was 168. So I mentioned I could tell when I had picked up the pace a bit - during the last 1/2 mile of the first leg, I was working to keep my HR below 160. As soon as I turned around (there may have been a slight slope), my HR automatically went up 5 bpm. Soon after that, I was working to keep my HR below 170. Still, the entire run felt wonderful, I feel good, my calf feels good, and I am continuing to lose weight. I am very close to my original weight loss goal, and feel motivated to continue to lose. In fact, I am pretty sure that without doing anything else but running daily, I will continue to lose weight. How much, I will have to see. I am not going to change anything else with my diet - I feel I am eating pretty healthy. I am grateful to have a wife who is very supportive of me, and who has now helped to motivate our children to run every day as well. As long as we don't load them up on sugar, I think that the running helps with their (boundless) energy.
Update: we went to the track with the boys today for family home evening, and had them run around on the track, and then had watermelon for our FHE treat. Ran 1/4 mile with Sam, then ran another 1/4 mile with Joseph. Both Sam and Joey each ran another 1/4 mile all by themselves. | 