For Whom the Dogs Bark

47F, 100%, SE 3 mph.  Was going to switch to the half because my son (who I planned to pace in a marathon in March) broke his clavicle skiing at Park City yesterday, which meant, assuming he doesn't run, that I could run hard that day instead of today.  Training was bad, of course, but race times in earlier races, Turkey Trot (5 miles, 7:05/mile) and 12k (7.5 miles, 7:31/mile) didn't predict todays results.  I really have to figure out a way to run faster.  Ran at 8:46/mile, 3:49:51, placed 33/305, essentially the same pace as my 23-miler a week ago, which I ran after doing the 12k race the previous Saturday and another 23-miler two days before.  I feel like I could go out and duplicate this race this morning, three days later, with no trouble, but apparently I am delusionary.  Ran with my watch in my pocket, but I knew what was happening anyway, because I got a read-out every loop.  The overall splits for this four-loop course were 53:02, 54:20, 58:31 and 1:04:15.  First two laps were close to goal pace, then had some 10s in the last lap, but never had to walk.  Overall heart rate was 160, max 169 -- I have averaged 169 for a marathon before.  It was just a gradual fail, no heavy legs, no bonk, no explanation. But it was a definite fail.  Dizzy and extremely fatigued at the end, dried salt on my face, but no results to show for all the effort.  Qne no explanation:  The taper might not have been long enough (had no choice under the circumstances), but that would have been the difference between 3:30 and 3:35, not a 20-minute miss.  A little warm at the end, close to 60, but again that is an incremental difference, not an explantion for these results.  We always say it was just one of those days, but this is a physical event, an explanation exists.

Course measured short, but that is most likely because the trail was under the trees on a windy path, lots of turns including at least 10 sharp turns on every loop.  So splits are slow compared to actual speed, but actual speed was slow enough:  8:43 (151), 8:09 (162), 8:09 (163), 8:00 (160), 8:12 (166), 8:08 (166), 8:09 (165), 8:11 (163), 8:20 (163), 8:22 (161), 8:23 (161), 8:39 (162), 8:42 (161), 8:44 (159), 8:49 (158), 8:50 (159), 8:59 (160), 9:15 (160), 9:16 (161), 9:27 (160), 9:25 (160), 9:49 (158), 10:01 (157), 10:10 (159), 10:26 (158), 10:07 (159).

28F, (18 WC), 55%, N 12-17 mph.  Wasn't going to run for a few more days but couldn't pass up the great weather.  5.35 miles at relaxed pace, followed by some more strething and weights at the gym.  Still very sore from weights on Saturday though.

23F (16 WC), 60%, WSW 5 mph.  Quite a bit calmer and actually felt warmer than yesterday, though I still wore three shirts.  No watch or heart rate monitor, just running at a comfortable pace for a few days at least, neither fast nor slow.  Legs are still sore from weightlifting, I'll probably wait an extra day to go back.

42F, 73%, ENE 7 mph.  The wind was actually swirling around from all different directions and at various speeds, felt like 20 mph at times.  Also, I don't think it was quite as cold as the computer indicated.  I went to one shirt and wore shorts -- shed my gloves during the run and rolled up my sleeves.  Whatever it was I was glad for the change.  Legs felt a little better today but still sore.

56F, 100%, ESE 6, raining steadily.  8.0 miles in the 9:00 to 9:20 range, though I wore no watch.  Feeling much better, lifted at the gym afterwards which also went well.

59F, 100%, SE 8 mph, low clouds but moving out post rain, lots of rain in the last 24 hours.  Ran 9.0 miles in the same range, 9:00 to 9:20, no watch, still feeling good, pleasantly tired at the end.

So about 6 weeks ago I was running very early and needed to make an emergency stop at a construction site PoP (we call them "Juans").  But a guy in a honey truck pulled in just ahead of me to service his equipment.  Throwing caution to the wind I told him "you beat me to it".  He looked thrilled to have human conversation and told me he would be happy to wait, it wasn't like he had anything else to do.  I wasn't sure of the proper etiquette for pre-dawn encounters of this type, but decided to "gut" it out for another loop.  A couple of weeks ago I saw him again and waved; he enthusiastically returned the courtesy.  This morning in the bright daylight he drove up behind me and laid on the horn even before I smelled him, right in front of all my neighbors.  So this is the second friend I have made in five and a half years of running, the first being UnaTed, the questionable guy who rides around the neighborhood on a 6-foot unicycle.  I think I'm climbing the social ladder around here pretty quickly.

56F, 100%, W 4 mph and clear.  Kind of nice this morning, but a little warm.  Got in late last night from helping my daughter move, so didn't hit the road until about 7:00 this morning.  Ran 10.54 miles in 1:29:14, 8:28/mile, did not wear a heart rate monitor.  Last two splits in the high 7s, but was working pretty hard.  More fun than anything, no real information without heart rate data.

36F, 90%, calm and clear.  A fantastic morning, just warm enough to run in shorts.  I shed my gloves after 5 miles, but that was a little much.  Put my monitor on for the first time since the marathon, and noticed right away that my resting heart rate was low, 50 bpm.  I hadn't run yesterday due to time pressures, and I am traveling later this week, so I decided to run hard this morning.  Original plan was LHR, but that doesn't work well anyway when it is this cold.  Splits were as follows:  9:13 (141), 8:50 (146), 8:22 (152), 8:05 (159), 8:01 (161), 7:50 (165), 7:45 (166), 7:31 (169), 7:24 (175) and 7:10 (179).  Didn't quite make it to a 5k pace on the last 2.  Overall 8:01 pace, 160 bpm, 181 max.  0.45 miles cooldown.  Very stiff and sore, but better after an hour of stretching and lifting at the gym.

46F, 44%, N 7 mph, clear.  Full moon, nice running, but definitely colder than 46F -- I had to put gloves on after 4 miles.  Ran 10.07 miles in 1:55:35, 11:29/mile, 120 bpm, max 125 -- pretty good LHR run.  Started out at 12:13, got down to 11:12 at one point, but immediately back to the 11:20s after that.  Finished at 11:30, so was able to hold the pace through the run, which is an improvement.

39F, 88%, calm and clear.  Another full moon -- ran Tuesday's workout again because I liked it a lot.  Warmed up for 2 then hit the fast miles a little bit harder, ended up with an overall 7:57 pace for the 10 miles, not counting the 0.45 cooldown.  Not including the warmup miles, my overall pace for the remaining 8 was probably in the 7:30 - 7:40 range.  Last 2 were 7:22 and 7:14, so still not hitting 5K pace on those.  My heart rate monitor went completely haywire, reading out anywhere between 180 and 150 on the fast miles, so I don't have the necessary info to compare today to Tuesday, but I felt tireder today, unsurprisingly.

Finished up with stretching and lifting at the gym, which helped the post-run joint inflammation a lot.  But now I have a stiff neck.

Driving to Arizona starting this afternoon, hopefully I can get some running in on the trip.

38F (31 WC), 58%, SSE 5 mph, Fort Stockton, Texas.  On my way to Arizona, holed up in Fort Stockton for the night.  There is a long straight road heading northwest out of town that I ran last summer, so I went back out there.  Took a long time to get light, but I had only 7 hours of driving today so I didn't worry about starting late.  Ran out and back on the road, most of the traffic is the oil-field variety.  Their oil around here is high sulfur, so the air has a slight but distinctive rotten-egg smell; they call it the smell of money.  I was running against the 70 mph traffic.  The big tractor trailer rigs would always move to the center of the road to give me plenty of room.  But the dualy trucks would usually move towards me, trying to crowd me off the road -- it worked several times.  The good thing is that the traffic kept all the dogs away -- I don't do well with free-range dogs.

The "out" part went pretty well, maintained a good solid pace with a modest heart rate.  Then I turned around to find that I had been running slightly downhill with a slight tailwind.  Turns out the road hasn't changed since last summer.  Overall 8:45 per mile for 15 miles.

Ate breakfast, hit the road, and made Arizona before dark.

15F (10WC), W 15 mph, clear, Red Hill, New Mexico.  My hometown is Eagar, AZ, which is 15 miles inside the New Mexico border.  Driving in last night I saw a pullout about 10 miles on the NM side of the state line and mostly downhill all the way in, so I got an idea.  My brother Daryl, who lives there, texted me suggesting a six-mile climb out of town heading south, ending up at 9,000 feet (there is no snow this year, so we had our choice of where to run).  I was a bit too smart to take that bait, so I suggested that he park at the state line and run east, and I would drive out to the pullout and run west until we met, then we would run back to his car.  He was supposed to wait to start, so that we would meet at about the 7-mile mark and it would be 6 for him and 10 for me.

I checked the temperature before I left and the computer said 27F -- I almost went from three shirts to two, knowing that the thinner air makes the cold easier to handle.  But I thought better of it, knowing I could always take one off if I got warm.  On the way out in the pre-dawn I almost hit a herd of elk crossing the road, 4 cows and an anterless bull.  Then as I climbed I noticed the temperature guage on my car was going nuts, first 21F, then all the way down to 17F.  It normally registers 4 degrees warm, so I am calling it 15F.  There was a stiff breeze as well, so it was as cold as I have ever run.

The course started out at 7,400' feet and ended up at about 7,200'.  So it was mostly downhill but not the first mile -- that one was straight up, so steep I had to tilt my head back to see the top.  My face was immediately frozen solid and I was creeping up the hill, lungs on fire.  About halfway up the hill I remembered my pepper spray, tucked away in my suitcase back in town.  No big deal except for the wolves out here.  There are quite a few of them and I realized that at this speed I was a better breakfast prospect than the elk.  Almost turned around but decided that with the average car coming by every eight minutes I could hold them off for that long and hope that the car would stop.  The sun came out at the top of the hill, though, and at least my face was immediately out of danger, not that it looks that great.

Daryl showed up at mile 5, not mile 7.  Was definitely happy to see him, and by then I was running pretty well.  Splits for the run were 10:37, 9:37, 9:04, 9:09, 8:44, 8:44, 8:36, 8:23, 8:10 and 7:56, so it was a good run under the circumstances and Daryl says I gave him a good workout.

45F, 93%, calm with heavy fog.  Back in Houston this morning, drove 2200 miles over the weekend for a family event in Arizona.  Ran 10.00 miles in 1:50:46, 11:05/mile, LLHR, 120 bpm, 125 max.  Legs felt fine, good run and nice to be home.

53F, 40%, N 15-24 mph, a blustery morning.  Was going to do a LHR run but don't like doing that in the wind, too hard to maintain an even effort, so I ran on the upper end instead, 10.00 miles at GMP, almost tempo pace, 1:17:54, 7:47/mile, frst mile was the slowest mile 8:26, last mile was the fastest, 7:10, then jogged it in as a cooldown.

34F, 75%, ESE 3 mph.  Cold again, hands especially cold inside my gloves, but did a LHR run anyway and surprisingly my heart rate monitor seemed to work OK -- it completely flamed out yesterday.. 10.00 miles in 1:51:09, 11:07/mile, slightly lower than Monday but the back end of the run was faster.  120 bpm average, 125 max.  Followed up by stretching and lifting at the gym, very tired by the time I finished.

50F, 93%, NE 5 mph.  Big front coming in, the air smells different but temperature still moderate.  By tomorrow we are supposed to be sliding around on the ice so we can provide entertainment for the Yankees.  I ran 10.00 miles at GMP, 1:19:33, 7:57/mile.  First mile 9:21, last mile 7:33; not as fast as Tuesday, pretty worn out from lifting yesterday.  But heart rate was not unreasonable.  After the first slow mile (9:21), splits and heart rate were as follows:  8:14 (148), 7:48 (155), 7:42 (159), 7:47 (161), 7:51 (163), 7:46 (163),7:51 (164), 7:32 (167), 7:33 (167).  As usual, couldn't hit anything better than HMP for the last 2, but still a pretty good run all considered.

29F (25 WC), 84%, WSW 5 mph.  Yesterday morning was an icy mess, cold and raining, so I took a "snow" day.  Ice is actually very dangerous here, even if you are from a cold place.  But the roads were dry this morning, albeit terribly cold, so I went out for 20.  After doing four 10s in the last two weeks at sub-8 pace, I thought I could probably do 20, even though I have done that only once before that I recall, two and a half years ago.  I warmed up for a quarter mile, set down my gatorade and an emergency pair of long pants and ran 8 laps for 20, 7:58 pace overall, I was happy with this.  Didn't try to jog it in.  Last 5 miles were 8:00 (166), 8:01 (168), 7:57 (169), 7:51 (170) and 7:51 (171).  Average heart rate 163, max 173, an even effort.  Wade met me for miles 5 through 12.5, big help, he kept the pace honest during the difficult middle miles.  I didn't feel like I wanted to finish a marathon at this pace, but the heart rate was right in the zone for what it would be on an ideal full effort marathon without a bonk.  I don't know what effect the cold weather had, but normally it slows me down, so this run is probably repeatable at 50F.  Five weeks out from The Woodlands Marathon.  My son with his broken collarbone has officially pulled out (at least from the marathon), so I am going to take the opportunity to run it for time, whatever that time may be.

59F, 99%, E 6 mph and clear.  Getting ready for another front, but hasn't arrived yet, so just a warmer than normal winter run.  10.10 LLHR miles in 1:55:30, 11:26/mile, 120 bpm, 126 max.  A lot of Saturday left in my legs, took a while to get moving very well at all.  Short lifting session at the end, seeing if I can get 3 sessions a week in by shortening the session but maintaining the intensity.

30F, 60%, N 5 mph.  With the wind it seemd like a 3-shirt morning, but turned out pretty sweaty with that much clothing.  No long pants though.  I didn't run yesterday because we supposedly had another ice storm coming in and I needed to get to work early to beat the traffic.  The storm didn't get icy until noon and by the time I got home the roads were dry.  Temps were about 2 degrees warmer than the last storm on Friday and that made a big difference.

Ran 10.00 miles in 1:20:06, 8:01/mile, 159 average heart rate, 167 max.  I was surprised at how difficult this is, once I finish with these series of GMP runs I am going to make a table and track my progress or decline, as the case may be.  Today's splits were 8:29, 8:00 (155), 7:56 (157), 7:57 (160), 7:57 (161), 7:59 (162), 7:58 (162), 8:01 (162), 7:57 (162 and 7:52 (165).  0.5 CD then finished with stretching and lifting at the gym.

27F, 82%, E 5 mph.  I don't think it was this cold, I am going to have to get my own weather station because the sites on the computer are not accurate.  They extrapolate too much.  I wore three shirts again but again it was too warm.  It will be much warmer the rest of the week.  The computer-reported temperature was already 34F by the time I finished.

Ran 10.00 miles in 1:18:52, 7:53/mile, average 164 bpm, max 170.  Splits were 8:10, 8:02 (159), 7:34 (162), 7:46 (163), 7:54 (164), 8:03 (164), 7:52 (165), 7:59 (166) 7:52 (166) and 7:41 (169).  So I ran quite a bit hotter than yesterday, but I didn't feel like I was working any harder.  Finished with 0.5 CD.  I don't normally run consecutive workouts like this, but I am quite a ways out from my next race and kind of experimenting with what I can withstand and whetherr I can get my legs to recover faster.  I may run hard again tomorrow if I can manage it.

58F, 96%, SSE 6 mph.  Dramatically warmer.  Legs are quite tired so I gave up on the fast stuff, did a LLHR run but only logged 11:31 per mile, 121 bpm, max 126.  Finished off with stretching and weights.

I went out at 6:00 instead of 5:00.  One guy putting his trash out said hi, you're running late this morning.  Had never seen him in my life.  I'm fooling myself if I don't think everybody in this neighborhood keeps a running log for me, don't know why I bother to do my own.