So, I did my metabolic assessment

and the results are in.  My anaerobic threshold is at 164 - which is lower than last test - but I burn less calories and a higher percentage of fat at equivalent HR zones.  That's bad for losing weight (at least the first part) but good for people trying not to bonk during a marathon.  It's not clear to me if this is due to training or due to a more efficient stride, but I'll take it.

Also, my speed at the threshold this time was faster - I was doing an 8:30 pace with the treadmill jacked up to 8.0 incline, compared with 10:00 pace and 8.0 incline last time.  So that's also good news.

I am a bit skeptical of these numbers to tell you the truth, mostly because yesterday I ran at a HR above my threshold for 11 straight minutes.  That's a long time.  So I'm not convinced they are totally accurate.  However, as far as guidelines for HR monitoring when training, they are the best I'm going to get.  They do change over time, too, and with my increased speedwork these days I expect to have a different profile by marathon time.

In other news:

• Found a great resource for helping kids to love running and to do it right.  The New York Road Runners have a magnificent series of videos with good form tips, activities and drills for kids of all ages (and the tips are helping me out too).  You can see them all at http://www.nyrr.org/ycr/ars/index.asp.  I'm going to use these with my oldest daughter, who is really getting into running.
Runblogger linked to a great post about the crumbling pronation-based shoe classification system.  I'd be interested in reading the background research (this is really only a summary) but it matches with my experience.  Shoe store guy tells me I pronate, I get stability shoes, my IT band goes, I figure the shoes aren't supportive enough, I go to motion control shoes, I completely destroy my IT band in the marathon, I rehab and go with neutral shoes afterwards, no problems since.  You can read the summary here.  
This is race week - the 10k is on Saturday - so I'm taking an extra rest day.  I'm hoping to run a 46:30, and maybe even break 46 if I have a good race.  We'll see how it goes.  PR is 47:16, but that was a year and a half ago.