Completed a tour through and around Bressi Ranch near work during lunch. Tried to concentrate on keeping heart rate under 144 or 80% (except on hills). I did pretty well meeting that objective, and didn't charge on the any of the 3 significant hills, but tried to keep an easy pace. Two sections had longish grades of 5%, during which HR would reach into the upper 150s or 90% territory. (Sure wish I had a Forerunner or something similar to capture run data.)
I did want to run a controlled, slower pace, but I didn't want to run at LSD speed, though I did try to get a feel for what that sort of speed feels like. In the end, I covered the 6.7 miles with an average calculated pace of about 8:30. That's a good speed for that distance. I could go faster, but that's just about right for distances up to 13 or 14 miles, I think. It really seems that that's my natural pace on flats. I'm not sure how much hills affect it. I know I slow down on the steeper grades of 5% or more. Just not sure how much.
I noticed that my heart rate never came down after the last hill. A good, moderately steep hill exists from around 5 to 5.5 miles, and I got close to my lactate threshold during that stretch. But even after it flattened out and I was trying to slow enough to get my HR to recover, it pretty much seemed stuck at 154. Perhaps it was just my monitor. I've seen that happen before.
I looked for water when passing a couple of parks between miles 3 and 4, but couldn't find anyway. It would be a good regular route if there was water to be had around that point. Nice cool weather though. Didn't sweat much and didn't feel distressed for a drink. Only my HR seemed to tell me I was in the hot zone.
Speaking of water, my weight's back down. It's even a half-a-pound less than last week's average. I guess whatever fluid retention I was experiencing has resolved itself. I'm definitely going to have to pay attention to that.
