Spent my lunch hour testing a route to and from Costco from the Pure Fitness gym. Seems like a good standard route with a chance to grab water at Costco's soda fountain at the turnaround.
It's downhill to flat almost the whole way there, and of course the reverse coming back. A couple spots are exposed to the prevailing onshore wind, so you get wind in the face during the downhill half, and then the wind at your back during the uphill half.
I chose a route that makes use of a packed sandy/gravel path that's more relaxing than the sidewalk along Palomar Airport Rd. Also utilizing a business park road that is tucked down in the gully off the busy road. I saw marking on the asphalt that indicated the Carlsbad Marathon used that road too. Good choice. It's shady and not busy.
I like not having to wait at intersections on my routes, and this one has minimal crossings, and where you do cross, you can choose the point, adjusting to traffic.
It's a touch over 3.5 miles each way. I wanted to practice a 9:00 pace, but going downhill was too easy and I reached the turnaround quickly without getting winded or winding up my HR much. Average HR there was a leisurely 138, even though I covered the distance with an 8:10 pace. Coming back was a little more strenuous, and I monitored my HR, throttling back a little when it started to edge up toward 145. There really are only two segments that I would consider steep and which got me huffing a little. Otherwise, it's a hardly noticeable uphill run. Average HR was 142 and only took 1 min, 47 seconds longer. Still faster than a 9:00-pace. Need to practice that.
And again, I weighed myself before (~148) and after (~146.5). I'm guessing I drank about 10oz of water at Costco. So if I lost 24 ozs of water during the run, and add in the 10ozs I replenished, then that's a 34 oz expenditure over 60 minutes, which is much more inline with the 8 ozs every 15 minutes I would expect. I didn't sweat much actually because it wasn't hot at all and the breeze helped wick heat away without much perspiration. I think it's that spin class that really draws the water out of me.
The important thing is that I'm not retaining water during my workouts (at least not those that are 90 minutes or less). I was a little surprised to see my starting weight back up to 148. I think I know what that extra pound might be.
