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Texas Marathon

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Location:

Cypress,TX,

Member Since:

Oct 10, 2009

Gender:

Male

Goal Type:

Other

Running Accomplishments:

5K: 24:22 (March 2010); 22:33 (October 2010); 20:47 (May 2011); 21:05 (May 2012); 21:33 (September 2012); 21:23 (November, 2013); 22:31 (September 2014)

5M:  39:22 (November, 2012); 35:54 (November, 2013); 36:03 (March, 2015)

10K: 44:08 (November, 2010); 49:20 (July, 2013); 44:07 (April, 2015)

12K:  56:03 (December, 2013); 58:58 (December, 2014)

10M:  1:11:58 (October, 2012); 1:15:24 (October, 2014)

Half Marathon:  1:53:xx (London's Run 2010); 2:05:21 (Cowtown 2010); 1:37:04 (Gusher 2011); 1:42:19 (Huntsville 2011); 1:33:47 (Baytown Jailbreak 2012); 1:33:50 (The Woodlands 2012); 1:42:52 (Texas 2015); 1:49:17 (Jailbreak 2015); 1:38:34 (The Woodlands 2015)

25K: 2:01:47 (Fifth Third River Bank, May 2014)

Marathon: 5:51:35 (Texas Marathon 2009); 6:21:36 (Ogden 2009); 4:58:29 (St. George 2009); 4:13:45 (Texas Marathon 2010); 4:04:12 (Utah Valley Marathon, 2010); 5:11:14 (Hartford ING, 2010); 3:41:43 (Richmond SunTrust, 2010); 3:39:27 (Texas Marathon 2011); 3:41:46 (Utah Valley Marathon, 2011); 3:30:35 (St. George 2011); 3:41:51 (Richmond 2012); 3:49:15 (Texas 2013); 3:46:59 (Paavo Nurmi, 2013); 3:34:04 (St. George 2013); 3:49:51 (Texas 2014); 3:31:59 (Richmond 2014); 3:28:34 (Boston 2015)

Short-Term Running Goals:

3:20, 1:30, 0:20

Long-Term Running Goals:

I'm 60, there is no long term.

Personal:

I live, work and run in Houston, Texas.  I have run 17 marathons, some good ones and some others.  I prefer straight, flat, cold, sea-level marathons, still waiting for my first one.  I feel like there are more PRs out there.  When I have them, I am told it is time to dial it back, run for healthy reasons.  I'm sure that's right, and I'm sure it won't happen.

My wife and I are from the mountains of the west.  We have five kids, three granddaughters and three grandsons.  The kids and grandkids are native Texans but we are not -- you have to be born here.

As for my blog title: I run most of my miles before sunrise, sometimes hours before. On the back road of my neighborhood two hours before daylight, I can depend on a pack of mutts behind the boundary fence lighting up when they hear my footsteps. I have wondered what they wanted; but according to Hemingway I needn't ask.

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Miles:This week: 0.00 Month: 0.00 Year: 0.00
Easy MilesMarathon Pace MilesThreshold MilesVO2 Max MilesTotal Distance
55.9930.420.000.0086.41
Race: Texas Marathon (26.22 Miles) 03:49:15, Place overall: 33
Easy MilesMarathon Pace MilesThreshold MilesVO2 Max MilesTotal Distance
0.0026.220.000.0026.22

58F, 100%, NNE 13 mph and raining, sometimes steadily.  This is a small but popular New Years Day marathon that fills up in May or June each year.  It was my first marathon, and today was my fourth time running it.  It is organized by Steve and Paula, a couple of hippies who do things just a little differently, and a little better in my opinion.  It is held in Kingwood, Texas, on the Northeast side of Houston, run as four loops on park trails.  As a result, Steve has to keep the numbers down (700 for both the full and the half, I think about 400 for the full)  from what an open road race could handle. 

This race attracts a lot of BYU types, because most years it is a non-Sunday alternative to the Houston marathon and half.  Both sides of the half marathon today were won by BYU freshmen.  The male winner, Jacob, rode out with Wade and I.  He was a standout high school runner in the area but has decided not to run at BYU.  This was his last race before his mission in Italy later this month.  The half started 15 minutes after the full, so it took the leaders a while to catch us.  But honestly I don't even remember when Jacob passed me -- he said he called my name but I didn't hear him, must have been the doppler effect.  He borrowed our friend Linda's bib, so it was a bit awkward when they tried to award him the first-place medal.  But this race is relaxed about that sort of thing, they just changed the bib name in the computer and gave him the win.  The women's half was won by a girl from the Sugarland area (southwest Houston) who runs cross-country at BYU.  I don't know her but I had heard about her, so I said "Go Cougars" when she passed me halfway through the second lap, made her break her stride I think.  

Wade swore off marathons after his second (a near-hospitalization drama at St. George 2010), but he has been training well this last year and got a special dispensation from his wife to enter this one, although she refused to come out and watch him suffer.  (My family had no such issues.)  He had high hopes for a good time but it didn't pan out for him, his legs gave out and he got an Achilles problem, so he limped out the last lap.  But I stepped right up and got that 3:49 he was hoping for.

I knew going in that I was off.  My heart rate during training has been higher than expected, and even driving to Kingwood this morning after a reasonable night's sleep it was in the 80s instead of the 50s.  After Richmond I decided that no matter the speed I wouldn't run at more than 165 bpm and I held to that.  I knew immediately that I wouldn't be running 3:30 today when the first mile came in at 8:14 and I was already up to 163 bpm.  I ran right at 165 through 22 miles, then couldn't hold it any longer without risking throwing up.  Not that I was overly concerned about that, but there were lots of friends and family watching me at this local race and I didn't want to make too much of a spectacle out of myself just for a couple of minutes' improvement on my second-straight non-BQ qualifier.  I still held 155-160 through the final 4 miles, just didn't race it like I hope to do on a good day.

Given the rain, I made a game-time decision to run without socks.  I have been having trouble with my left sock slipping down into my shoe and I figured that wet socks weren't going to offer any more protection to my feet anyway, not to mention the extra weight.  My game-time decision based on razor, rock-solid logic worked out about as well as most Houston sports lately:

I had a contingent of 6 family members cheering every time I came around on a loop, plus my nephew and his wife and their kid were out on the course.  Knew quite a few runners as well, so I really can't complain.

I took EFS at miles 5 and 10, did not attempt it at 15.  And for those who are dying to know, I took one small swig of pickle juice at mile 15, very nasty stuff but I had no cramping so it must have been good for me.

I'm not going to dig the splits out of my Garmin, I haven't looked at them myself, there really isn't any good information there.  Here are the two most relevant numbers:  2574 and 164, miles and weight at the end of 2012.  For 2011 those numbers were about 3300 and 157.  Plus, most of my 2012 miles were junk miles, run at 140-150 bpm instead of 130 or 165, it finally caught up with me.  I'll try something different for the Boston cycle, probably fewer and faster miles; if that doesn't work it may be time to move on.

Steve and Paula outdid themselves on the finisher medal this year, 3.3 pounds of golden glory, an outline of the U.S. with Texas superimposed in proper proportion:

(My hands are curled back as a balancing mechanism.) 

It was a fun day despite everything, and a day to remember my blessings.  May 2013 be happy and prosperous for all of you wonderful bloggers.

Comments(12)
Easy MilesMarathon Pace MilesThreshold MilesVO2 Max MilesTotal Distance
6.180.000.000.006.18

73F, 905, S 8-16 mph.  6.18 miles in 58:21, 9:26/mile, 151 bpm.  Thought I would be pretty rested after waiting 11 days to run again, didn't happen, very painful run, and slow, and high heart rate.  Something is probably wrong.

Comments(4)
Easy MilesMarathon Pace MilesThreshold MilesVO2 Max MilesTotal Distance
6.180.000.000.006.18

41F, 79%, NE 18-22 mph and raining.  Great running weather.  Into the teeth of a n'easter I suppose, except this is the Gulf Coast.  But that didn't stop me from imagining I was running the docks in New England with the waves crashing in.  5.37 nautical miles in 54:24, 10:10 pace, 155 bpm.  4 bpm higher than Saturday, 38 seconds per regular mile faster, still not good but at least an improvement. 

I'm still going to go get a physical, though I haven't quite thought through how to explain my concerns.  Me:  "Doc, my times are ballooning, just ran a 3:49 marathon when I should have run a 3:19, something is seriously wrong."  Doc, after a pregnant pause:  "How far was that marathon?"

Comments(2)
Easy MilesMarathon Pace MilesThreshold MilesVO2 Max MilesTotal Distance
6.180.000.000.006.18

36F, 100%, NW 10 mph and raining steadily.  Pretty nasty out there, almost turned back but once I started I was on autopilot.  Still, I admit I took a perverse pleasure in it, maybe I felt a bit more virtuous than some of my lazy neighbors.  Even UnaTed was tucked safely beneath his down comforter.  I briefly considered ringing his doorbell, but thought it might be connected to an explosive device.  Either that or an unpleasant encounter with UnaWife.

I decided to run slow and did I ever. 10:02 per mile, but even at that speed my heart rate was 141 bpm.  Just taking it day by day -- I have lost aerobic conditioning from not running slow for a year, that is probably the main explanation for my problems.  Have to run slow in order to run fast.  I may have to go back down to 11:00 per mile in order to rebuild.  Either that or throw it all out the window and just run fast between now and Boston, but my legs don't seem to be able to sustain much of that right now. 

Comments(2)
Easy MilesMarathon Pace MilesThreshold MilesVO2 Max MilesTotal Distance
6.180.000.000.006.18

27F, 96% and calm.  Getting pretty cold out there, but much more comfortable than the wind and rain on Monday.  Ran 6.18 miles in 57:37, 9:19/mile, 147 bpm.

No running yesterday due to work commitments.

Comments(1)
Easy MilesMarathon Pace MilesThreshold MilesVO2 Max MilesTotal Distance
0.004.200.000.004.20

37F, 96% and calm.  Bright and clear, lost the long pants today and it was fine.  Woke up after 4 hours of sleep to some e-mails from China and had to be at a downtown meeting at 8:00 a.m., so oly time to run 4 miles, and fast ones at that.  4.38 miles in 34:34, 7:53 per mile, 8:29 (150), 7:43 (160), 7:57 (164) and 7:25 (171), max 175 bpm.  Felt pretty good all day after airing it out a little bit this morning, although I was dragging by the afternoon. 

Comments(1)
Easy MilesMarathon Pace MilesThreshold MilesVO2 Max MilesTotal Distance
10.000.000.000.0010.00

36F, 97% and calm.  Another beautiful morning -- two shirts, gloves, beanie and shorts was just about right.  Ran 10.0 in 1:39:52, 9:59 per mile, 137 bpm, 142 max.  Pretty humiliating to run that slow, but it is what I need.  I swear I could feel the conditioning coming back into my muscles -- just an illusion I know but illusions count.  I decided, between now and Boston, not to do any running between 140 and 160 bpm.  Either slow or fast, nothing in between.  After Boston I'll probably move that to 135/165.  I think the last two training cycles have shown that for me there really is such a thing as junk miles.  Just because I feel stiff, tired and sore after a run doesn't mean I got anything out of it.

Comments(4)
Easy MilesMarathon Pace MilesThreshold MilesVO2 Max MilesTotal Distance
10.000.000.000.0010.00

41F, 100%, calm and fog.  Nice weather.  Decided on short sleeves, beanie and gloves.  Shed the gloves after 4 then got cold.  I felt faster than Saturday but I wasn't, 8 seconds slower actually.  10.0 in 1:40:03, 10:00 per mile, 137 bpm, 142 max.  Took me a long time to lose the mitochondria buildup in my legs, it will take a while to get those little guys back.  I'm thinking of running exclusively slow all the way to the last 3 weeks or so, but I probably don't have enought discipline to do that.

Comments(5)
Easy MilesMarathon Pace MilesThreshold MilesVO2 Max MilesTotal Distance
7.090.000.000.007.09

45F, 100%, foggy but calm.  I am having severe problems with my back.  I bent over for an extended period of time doing some assembly before Christmas.  Running exacerbates it.  Just the stiffness after running, not actually while I am running.  My son Austin (the bodybuilder) pointed out that I need to stretch mty hams more diligently, because tight hams pull on the lower back muscles.  Despite his large, muscular legs, he can easily touch his toes even when he isn't warmed up.  The minute he said it I knew he was right.

I was in too much pain yesterday to run.  Felt marginally better this morning but thought I might skip it again just to be safe.  But safe isn't going to get me anywhere, so I thought I would go out for 4.  The minute I started running I felt better, and my pace for low heart rate was faster than Monday, 7.09 miles in 1:09:46, 9:50/mile, 137 bpm.  Back tightened up a little towards the end, but not as much as on Monday.  Then I stretched and rolled for a long time, seemed to help some.  Maybe back to 10 tomorrow if the day progresses well.

Comments(7)
Easy MilesMarathon Pace MilesThreshold MilesVO2 Max MilesTotal Distance
4.180.000.000.004.18

9:55 pace.

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Easy MilesMarathon Pace MilesThreshold MilesVO2 Max MilesTotal Distance
55.9930.420.000.0086.41
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