Ran 4.5 miles on the treadmill after putting the boys down. Did not run with them today, as Sam was feeling a bit under the weather. Ran with the HR monitor again. First 4 miles were at 7 mph (8:34/mile). Average HR for the first 4 miles was 154. I experimented a bit with my breathing, and came to the conclusion that I am trying to breathe too deeply and too long. I match my breathing to my stride, and I have been trying to inhale for 6 steps and then exhale for 6 steps. It has actually been a bit laborious at times. Experimented with going back to inhaling for 4 steps and then exhaling for 4 steps. Seemed to make a difference in my HR, and boy, did it make a difference in terms of how easy it was to just breathe. I think it actually helped me to relax a bit more, so I am going to stick with this rhythm. I don't think that extending the time of each breath was actuallly getting more oxygen into my lungs. Picked up the tempo after 4 miles to 8 mph (7:30 pace) for the last 1/2 mile. Was pleasantly surprised to see that my HR held steady at around 165. Average HR for the last 1/2 mile was 164. Hot dog! Of course, since this was on the treadmill, I fully believe that were this on the road, my HR would have been between 5-10 bpm higher. Need to reprogram my HR monitor to make use of the HR zones (it has 3). Missing the wife, probably ate less healthy today than I could have. Hopefully I can get back on track quickly. I had actually gotten down to 165, and have been hovering at about 166 for the last week or so. I would still like to lose between 5-10 pounds. As my mileage increases, I am pretty sure some of that will come off naturally. I have figured that I need to be running about 8 miles/day, plus a Saturday long run of up to 20 miles to be prepared for St. George this year. That equates to a 60 mile week. At that point, I am pretty sure I will be burning up the calories pretty good. | 