Long Run

This week's long run was nine miles. I didn't run Monday because my mom was in town and I wanted to hang with her for the night. But I knew if I blew it off Tuesday I'd miss my long run for the first time. I've missed short runs, but I've never missed my speed work out or long run. The problem was that it was 41 degrees last night at 8:00 pm and the wind chill had it down to 37'ish. I don't even own long running pants. So I turned to my only other option and did the impossible; nine miles on a treadmill. Because I was indoors I could listen to a podcast while I ran. Even with the distraction it was quite difficult; long and slow.
I was trying to keep my heart rate around 165 bpm so I stayed at a steady 6 mph (10:00 pace.) Sometimes I dipped to 5.9 mph and sometimes I pushed up to 6.1 mph, but overall I kept it in a very steady range until the last mile and a half when I finished strong at 6.5 mph (9:10'sih). The run was pretty tough. That probably sounds ridiculous, but it was.
The treadmill said I burned 1,375 calories. I went straight from the treadmill to the bathroom, and when I was finished I'd lost three pounds in an hour and a half; down to 182 lbs. That weight is a cheat but it was nice to be back down in that range. I'm going to continue to avoid that form of torture in the future, but I didn't miss my run and that's the important part.
The miracle is that I've managed to shed a couple of pounds while starting work. I'm eating pretty carefully by really sticking to the salads at lunch. I'm sure some of the weight loss is muscle which sucks. I haven't lifted since you were here John. Last time I was under 180 lbs I was reading 18% body fat on the scale. These days I'm basically sitting at 20%. I'm still hopeful that some time after the baby Kristi and I can start lifting again; hopeful anyway.