For Whom the Dogs Bark

46F, 77% humidity, wind N 5 mph.  Ideal running conditions.  Up very early to get it in before leaving for the airport.  Warmed up 2 miles, 9:37 and 8:16, then tried to do 10 at 7:15 but couldn't pull it off.  Never got down to that speed.  Splits were 7:24 (161), 7:20 (167), 7:17 (169), 7:28 (170), 7:21 (171, 7:22 (173), 7:24 (174), 7:24 (174), 7:31 (174) and 7:30 (173).  Overall pace for the 10 was 7:24, legs feel good.  Felt pretty tired, but the limiting factor was speed.  After awhile my legs just wouldn't go any faster, but I wonder if I was a little bit afraid of the run.  Perhaps if I had started out faster I would have been able to hang on.  Good news is it looks like I won't miss the Beaumont half a week from Saturday.  From here on out it is catch as catch can for runs this week.

75F, 90% humidity, wind about 15 mph.  In China this week, ran from a hotel on Hainan Island, which is in the far south of China, so it was pretty much summer temperatures.  Did a low heart rate run anyway, 1:49:35, average pace 10:57 per mile, but true pace was probably more like 10:40 because I went a stretch with no GPS but the clock still running.

85F, 80% humidity, wind about 15 mph.  Still on Hainan Island.  Stayed up most of the night working because I was still too jetlagged to sleep more than 3 or 4 hours at a time.  Had a 6-hour presentation at a conference today with lunch in the middle.  I was afraid I would fall asleep on my feet in front of our clients, so I skipped lunch and went out for a run in the sun.  Was only going to do 6 or 7 then decided to do the whole thing.  Was surprised that I didn't do too badly, Same route as Wednesday, 10.14 miles in 1:28:04, average pace 8:41 per mile, down to the 8:20s by the end of the run.  Most people ignored me, there aren't a lot of runners here, but every once in a while I could tell from somebody's look that they knew I was working pretty hard, this was not a jog, i.e., they were runners, there is a code, we can all tell somehow.  It worked, I made it through the afternoon fine.  Back in Houston tonight, have to go back in a week but it looks like I will make my race this weekend.

50F, 85% humidity, wind E 6 mph.  Very nice morning.  Slept like a rock last night, never changed positions and woke up with severe neck pain.  It didn't really affect my run, but I've got leftover stomach problems from my travels last week and that did affect my run.  I warmed up 2 miles, the plan was to go 4 hard at faster than HMP, but I could only go 2, my stomach started to hurt badly and I got nauseous.  So I ran the last 2 as a cooldown.  The fast ones were 6:50 (167) and 7:01 (176).  On a better day I think I could have done 4.  Overall 6.08 miles in 51:30, average pace 8:29 per mile, flat shoes.  Right at the beginning of my fast miles a 2-pound yapper came out to greet me, but he just wanted to run.  He kept up with me for a half mile then got distracted by a tree.  Felt pretty dumb getting outrun by a furball.

67F, 90% humidity, wind SSE 10-18 mph, starting to rain.  Nice cloudy morning out there, a little warm though.  Started out well on the LHR run, but heart rate drift was pretty steep in the heat.  Mile 2 was 9:33, mile 7 was 10:20.  Overall 7.04 miles in 1:10:10, average pace 9:58 per mile, flat shoes.  Had to knock off early to drive a kid to school but that is OK for this week.  I am not in full taper mode for a half marathon, but I don't mind going into the race a little bit rested.  Hopefully I can do some more fast miles tomorrow then nothing hard until Saturday.  Looks like it will be a little warm in Beaumont on Saturday morning, high 50s and low 60s, warm enough to affect pacing, but there is some colder weather scheduled between now and then, so if things get delayed it might still be cool then.  Hoping for the best.

Trying to decide whether to run UVM.  The altitude got me last year, although I had a pretty decent PR anyway.  I am thinking if I do a lot of hill work on my wife's treadmill, up and down, I might be OK.  It would be nice to have something better than a 3:39 (day 5) in my pocket when I am trying to get into Boston this fall.

Once Saturday's race is over, I am thinking of doing 8 weeks of straight LHR training so I can have something to build on for the rest of the year.  I am not improving much on that end of the spectrum by doing it 3 or 4 times a week.

66F, 99% humidity, wind NW 5 mph to start, 56F, 70% humidity, wind N 10-20 mph at end.  Ran right through a front coming in this morning, hope it hangs around until Saturday morning.  Was pretty surprised at how strong the wind was, since the weather report had posted 5 mph at the time I went out -- turns out it was changing on the fly.

The plan was to run 5 fast at 7:00 pace, in hopes that a 7:15 pace on Saturday would seem manageable.  I managed to do that, but given how tired I was I am not sure it will work for Saturday.  Hopefully I didn't wear myself out.  Warmed up for three, accelerating into the fast ones, then 7:02 (169), 6:55 (176), 6:58 (183), 7:09 (188) (really feeling it here) and 6:57 (190).  Was very happy to get that last one under 7, especially since a lot of it was into the wind.  Average pace 7:00 plus 1 second for the whole 5 which I will call a rounding error.  Couldn't believe how high my heart rate readouts were, at some points it was steady 192 and even showing upper 190s but it was spiking at that point and I think it might have been a mechanical malfunction (hopefully not a coronary malfunction).  Nevertheless, the average bpm showing for each split are pretty accurate, I think.  This one was either maximum effort or pretty close, would have been a real battle to run 10K at this speed.  Cool down 2 miles, total 10.04 miles in 1:23:41, average pace 8:19 per mile, flat shoes and definitely not LHR.

41F, 75% humidity, wind WNW 3 mph.  Great running weather today.  Ran 10.25 miles in 1:41:05, average pace 9:52 minutes per mile, low heart rate and flat shoes.  Last mile was 9:49, so nothing under 10 other than the first one, good run.

36F, 93% humidity, calm and clear as a bell.  Pretty much perfect out there this morning.  When I saw the temperature I bundled up, but never noticed the cold.  Still can't believe we are getting these temperatures in mid-March.  Hopefully some of this will hold until tomorrow morning.  60 was predicted yesterday, 53 being predicted this morning.  50 would be about perfect and remove all excuses.  I was going to go 10 this morning but then I remembered something about never going over 8 when you are getting ready for a race so I cut it short.  Hasn't been much of a taper this week but at least I gave it a nod.  Back to China on Monday morning, so I will get almost no running done there unless I can make myself do treadmill.  But first, off to Beaumont tonight for the big race tomorrow.  (Actually a pretty small race but you know what I mean.)

I registered for UVM yesterday, back to Utah for more high altitude punishment.  I got a hotel room in Midvale but it doesn't look like it is much of an advantage, it appears to be 10 miles from the start line.  When a race starts at 6:00 there are few alternatives to a very early alarm clock.

60F, 90% humidity, wind SE 15 mph.  Really nice running weather today, but I admit it got a little warm by the end.  Wade and I drove to Beaumont last night, got our hotel room, got registered, watched the Jimmer show, went foraging for food at gas stations, then retired early, at midnight, satisfied that the thermometer had dropped to 50F.  Arose in the 5:30 range, noted with alarm that the temperature was back up to 60F, took in a few calories and drove to the start line, about 10 miles away.  This kind of weather always feels cool and refreshing until you try to run in it.

Wade’s brother was running his first marathon and his sister-in-law was running the half as well.  Also, my nephew’s father-in-law, Mike, is a local and he was running in the same age group as me.  I warmed up for a mile and lined up almost at the front, didn’t want to be fighting for running room.  I noticed a guy with Mike on his bib, but didn’t feel like chatting before the race to see if he was the right Mike.  There were several other old guys in the same area, most wearing half-marathon bibs.  I remembered that a 54-year old won this race last year and figured I would have some good age-group competition.  The race counted down and we were off exactly on time at 7:30, was very glad they didn’t wait until 8.

About a hundred yards in I checked my watch and I was running at a 6:35 pace.  It felt plenty smooth but I immediately reeled it in.  It was toucg finding my target 7:15 pace.  First mile was 7:10, second was 7:24.  After that I got into the groove until I started to fade a little bit past the halfway point.

The old guys formed our own group almost immediately, together with the first place woman, and we held together for a while, surging back and forth.  We dropped the first-place woman after about 3 miles, dropped a few younger guys that went out too fast, then gradually started dropping the old, steady guys.  Finally they all fell off except for me and Mike, then at about mile 6 or 7, can’t remember exactly, I put on a last surge and kind of dropped Mike but he never went away.  Then there was nobody.  About then we made the turn back into the wind.  It was hotter and there was some up-hill to the road as well.  Previously we had been twisting and turning through the city but coming back it was a long, lonely straightaway, very tough.  A couple of younger marathoners were ahead of me but they kept increasing their lead and eventually I had the road all to myself, and it stayed that way for the duration.  I found myself asking for directions frequently, but never had trouble getting the right advice about which way the course turned.  Whenever I would pass a group of spectators they would encourage me and then fall silent.  I could tell how far back Mike was by the following shouts of encouragement.  Didn’t seem to me like he was all that far back.

At mile 12 there was a u-turn and sure enough, Mike was within 30 yards but working very hard.  By this time I was struggling to maintain any pace at all and my heart rate was already in the 180s.  I had done a mile earlier this week in the 190s so I did it again.  When I made the next to final turn I had 150 yards on Mike and that was it.  Splits were 7:10, 7:24, 7:15 (172), 7:16 (171), 7:19 (171), 7:15 (175), 7:12 (178), 7:22 (178), 7:27 (180), 7:37 (179), 7:38 (179), 7:47 (184), 7:30 (191), then .11 at 6:55, (188).  Finished in 1:37:04, average pace 7:24 per mile.

After I finished the first thing I did was introduce myself to Mike and sure enough he was the one, 59 years old, a very good runner.  One of the other old guys was 70, and he broke 1:40 and sounded disappointed.  I hope I can do that when I am 70.  (Actually, I probably won’t be doing this when I am 70.)  Turns out Mike and I had met at my nephew’s wedding.  After finishing I immediately tried to find out my overall place but they were coy about it, asking me to “stick around”.  So we did, even though we wanted to get back to the hotel and shower in order to get back for Wade’s brother’s marathon finish.  But we stuck around.  It takes a while to get to my age group.  Wade’s sister-in-law got second out of 37 in her age group and was ecstatic.  Finally they announced us.  Mike was third, so I knew that meant I was second.  The age group winner ran 1:27, way out of my league, so I had no regrets.  Catching somebody like that is going to have to wait for next year.  I worked hard and got a good time considering the conditions.  The overall winner ran 1:11, so thankfully a 1:27 didn’t win it again this year, that would have been embarrassing.  I got 14th overall out of 507 half-marathon finishers, Mike got 15th, and we had a grand time racing through the oil town on a warm Saturday morning. 

After showering, we got back just in time to see Wade’s brother run past the parking lot with 2 miles to go.  He finished his first marathon in about 4:12, running 2:04 and 2:08.  Very steady runner.  He seemed happy when I told him my time for my first marathon.  And my second. And my third.

TM indoors, so no weather report.  Didn't want to run in the cold and smog and get lost here in Beijing, so it was inside and I may stay there for the rest of the week.  The facility at the hotel was pretty good, the TMs even had TVs on them, but couldn't get any channels, maybe mine was broken.  So it was just like running outside in a way, nothing to entertain me except my own neurons and watching my form in the plate-glass window in front of me -- like I say, nothing to entertain me.  Ran for 90 minutes at 1% incline and set the speed to bring me up to low heart rate, then decreased it slightly throughout the run to compensate for heart rate drift, which was pretty mild, it has been several days since I ran.  So I think 10 minutes per mile is a pretty good estimate, which makes 9 miles worth of LHR effort.  I was the first one in and the last one out.  I guess runners have a different idea of what passes for a workout.  There were also some ellipticals in there, but I stayed far enough away that I don't think I got infected.

Same exact thing as yesterday, minus the HR monitor.  My Garmin is low on batteries, I think I left it on after yesterday and I am a bit far from home to put it on the charger cradle.  I thought I could make it through four days on one charge but I guess not if I am going to do dumb things like that.  Everybody out here is panicking about radiation from Japan.  Certainly something to keep an eye on, but can't see that it presents any threat to China at this point.  Might be a little bit of politics involved.  Japan is a really good country, I was a missionary there 35 years ago.  I hope they make it through this OK.

Same thing.

Saturday morning here in Beijing now.  One quick tourist stop and then to the airport and home through the radiation.  Made one last trip to see Mr. Treadmill this morning, 9 more at low heart rate.  It was so early when I got in that the gym didn't have many lights on, just a few lights that created a mood lighting effect.  I figured it would be just me but there was an unusual woman already in there, walking quickly on the treadmill.  She was about 50, wearing a silk blouse with tight-fitting, knee-length jeans, which was OK.  She was also wearing nylons, which was not OK.  She was also wearing high heels.  I guessed that she was in from an all-night party and had an 8:00 appointment for which she needed to be sober.  Definitely one of the more unusual running guests I have seen.  But then I reminded myself that I was wearing a hat, indoors, in the dark, and Brazilian dancing flats with a color scheme that most closely resembles the rentals at the 24-hour Bowl-a-Rama.  In light of that, I wonder what her report was this morning.

P.M. We flew directly over the reactor in Japan coming home today.  Have to wonder about United.  As I arrived back in Texas I realized that I missed Tuesday but got two Saturdays this week, so decided to go out again since it had been a full 24 hours from this "morning's" run, which was really Friday night Houston time.  I intended to do 10 at low heart rate.  But it was about 80F and my heart rate wasn't staying low with the temperature and my jet-lagged legs unless I wanted to run in the 11s, which I wasn't willing to do since the family had things planned.  After 3-1/2, I saw a guy about a quarter mile ahead and it was like a dog seeing a rabbit, my discipline was gone, almost trash talked him when I passed him but managed at least to hold that one in.  I ran the last 6 in 8:02, 7:59, 7:53, 7:46, 7:56 and 7:25.  Kind of a MP run, overall 10.11 miles in 1:27:54, average pace 8:41 per mile for the whole 10.

Pretty good week considering all the travel.  Nerves in my right leg have been bothering me for the last couple of months, the faster I run the more they hurt later in the day but usually better the next morning in time to do it again.  Driving can be painful at times.  It comes from a herniated disk I got in the summer of 2008, after an especially bad (and my last) round of golf.  That being said, the plan is to ramp it up again next week assuming my body holds up.

64F, 93% humidity, wind SE 5 mph, gusts to 15 mph, partly cloudy.  Very comfortable running weather, didn't feel hot to me.  I got up early and did 5.75 at low heart rate, then did the seminary run, which I will be doing for the next 4 weeks, then went back out after returning to the house, which wasn't easy.  On my second trip out I started with 1.25 transition miles, then 4 at goal marathon pace, 7:28, 7:29, 7:09 and 7:28, and 1 mile cooldown.  Didn't get any consistent heart rate readouts so I changed the battery in the strap after I finished, hopefully that was the issue.  Overall I ran 12.01 miles in 1:49:40, average pace 9:08 per mile, flat shoes.  The thought on this workout was to get both low heart rate miles and race-pace miles in the same workout, kind of an experiment between now and the next marathon.  I know I need to get a lot of LHR work in because that end of my conditioning isn't too good right now, but at the same time I don't want to give up minutes on the next race.  So this is my "cake and eat it too" plan.  I want to do some variation of this workout as often as I can, every day if possible between now and UVM.  But I felt a bone-deep fatigue when I finished, so I may have to back off depending on how I feel as the week progresses.  I have some mild cold symptoms after too much traveling and too little sleep but I don't think it will amount to much. 

68F, 84% humidity, wind S 9-19 mph.  Hot wind blowing but it was dark so it wasn't too bad.  Ran exactly the same run as yesterday, with the seminary kid delivery in the middle, but a little bit hotter so a little bit faster.  It is way to early to be this hot.  The MP miles were 8-11: 7:33, 7:27, 7:19 and 7:15, seemed a little easier than yesterday.  But my bad back came back (after 2-1/2 years), I think it is because of going back out for the second half of the run, there are always aches and pains doing that because my joints freeze up almost the instant I stop running.  Also I have mild fever tonight, so not sure what is going to happen the rest of the week.  I think both will go away quickly if I behave.  Overall 12.02 miles in 1:47:46, average pace 8:58 per mile.

60F, 96% humidity, wind NE 3 mph.  Beautiful morning today, may not get many more of these before summer hits for good.  Wasn't sure how my back would respond, so after taking yesterday off I ran some slow miles this morning and cut it short.  Back seems fine though -- sometimes it would tighten but it would go away as soon as I corrected my posture.  I have had a herniated disc for three years now and it bothers me sometimes.  At the time I got some stretching exercises from the physical therapist that are effective, I just don't do them when I go through long periods of no problems, there isn't enough time for everything.  Then it catches up with me and I pay for it a little bit.  The last couple of days I have been stretching my back frequently and it has helped.  No issues this morning, I will try some GMP miles tomorrow.  I have an 8K race on Saturday and should be good to go.  7.66 miles in 1:16:44, average pace 10:01 per mile, LHR and flat shoes.

No weather report, sorry about that, I know it is disappointing, just forgot to look.  It was nice, probably a little warmer than yesterday.  I had to make an 8:00 meeting downtown, which meant I was out the door early in order to finish the run before taking my daughter to seminary.  Ran 10.25 miles in 1:29:42, average pace 8:45 per mile.  Ran 5 at LHR, one transition mile, then 4 at goal marathon pace, 7:34, 7:23, 7:12 and 7:20, tellin' ya, it's a distant goal right now.  Quarter-mile jog to calm the nerves down in my leg and back, but overall my back held up well and the day is going well, so all is well in Texas.

72F, 90% humidity, calm and partly cloudy.  A little warm, but generally good running weather.  Today's race is named after a lawyer who, to put it bluntly, has been dead for 15 years.  I imagine he is still in protracted negotiations at the pearly gates.  My interest in this race was that the entry fee was covered, end of discussion.  Supposedly our firm had a team put together, a meeting place and everything.  I got there early and ran 3 warmup miles, checking out the course.  It is the same downtown course that ends on a long uphill pull, which is actually possible in Houston, though it isn't all that steep once you climb out of the final underpass.  Except this course, being 5 miles instead of 3, loops back into downtown for an even longer uphill, then turns around for a slight drop into the finish chute.  Also included are two underpasses going out, and the same two coming back.  Underpasses aren't fun. 

Made my third POP stop, made it to the meeting place at the appointed time and met a colleague named Harve, and nobody else, I suppose sleeping was the better option.  I don't know Harve, but turns out he is a moderately serious marathoner who has now also bought a bike.  I got to talk to him quite a bit on the way to the start.  He said he was going to do low 8s so I assumed we wouldn't be running together unless he was lying.  He wasn't.

My goal was to do the first 3 miles at 7:00 then try to lay down the hammer on the uphill coming back.  That is pretty much what happened, although not quite the way I expected.  Harve and I were talking when all of a sudden the gun went off unannounced, like a Laurel and Hardy western.  Everyone was startled and took off.  I started a little bit too far back and had to bob and weave a little, but still got a good first mile.  My splits were 6:50, 7:15, 6:55, 6:56, 6:32 and 5:42 pace for the stub split to the finish, average pace 6:51, the best I have done at this distance.  My heart rate monitor is completely kaput, so I don't know how hard I was working.  I was on the fringes of the puke zone in the last mile, but not that deep into it, would have been interesting to see what my heart rate was.  If it had been 185 or lower I would have pushed harder, but I felt like I put in a good effort.  I was especially surprised to see the 6:32 for mile 5 because it felt like I was slowing down with the lactate buildup in my legs.  As a comparison, last fall I ran a 10K at 7:11 per mile (35F) and a 5-mile run at 7:14 per mile (77F, 5 degrees warmer than today).  Any way you slice it, today was an improvement, but 6:51 per mile at this distance translates into 7:37 per mile for the marathon distance.  Add in the fact that my marathon paces don't translate well and my true marathon pace right now is probably in the 7:45 to 7:50 range, so that is the work I have cut out for me in the next two months to get down to 7:30 at altitude.

I got 8th in the 55-59 age division but forgot to check my overall standings.  First place old guy ran 6:12 per mile, overall winner somewhere in the 5s.

PM:  Went out again before dinner for some LHR work, ran 6.09 in 1:03:39, average pace 10:27 per mile.

60F, 80% humidity, wind NE 5 mph.  Very nice morning out there; the wind was a lot more than 5 mph but I didn't mind.  I am already acclimated to the heat to the point that my hands were actually cold at 60F.  (I know it opens me to all kinds of ridicule for saying it, but this is a bare-your-soul blog and the truth must be told.)  

So yesterday I finally threw away my old heart rate strap in disgust and got out a new one that came with the replacement Garmin I ordered last year.  It never worked before, which is why I had been using the old one.  Against my very nature, I surreptitiously pulled out the directions.  Even though every Y chromosome was clanging the alarm, I perservered.  In between looking over my shoulder to make sure nobody was seeing me cheat, within three minutes I found the magical word "sync", and I was on my way, the new strap is perfectly fine.  Of course I have a yet-newer one on its way from Amazon.com.  In my typical ready, fire, aim MO, I ordered the new one before sitting down to figure out the problem with the mothballed one.  So pretty soon I am going to be long on heart rate straps and CR 2032 batteries, in case anybody needs either.

Oh yes, I ran today.  I got up early for about 6.5 at low heart rate, then did the seminary run and came back to finish the run run.  I warmed up for about a mile and a half, taking care to do it very gradually unlike last week, then eased into 4 GMP miles, 7:37 (153), 7:30 (157), 7:37 (160) and 7:28 (166).  Looks like I eased into them a little too gradually, but close enough.  Would have preferred the 166 to be 156, but OK for now.  I am hoping that this will be a sustainable workout for the next few weeks, maybe even up the GMP miles to 6 or 7 if things are going well.  Did a cool-down mile at about 8:44, overall 13.08 miles in 1:57:12, average 8:58 per mile.

Hope everybody has a nice week.

63F, 71% humidity, wind ENE 6 mph.  Good running weather, not quite as cool as yesterday but not bad at all.  Same routine, ran 6 before the seminary run then came back and went out again.  My right foot was acting up a little, so I did two transition miles instead of 1 or 1.5.  The MP miles were 7:23 (152), 7:30 (155), 7:30 (159) and 7:29 (163), so I got 3 of them under 160 today.  The slow miles were also good, averaged 9:33 and even got a 9:14.  Overall, 13.00 miles in 1:54:17, average pace 8:48 per mile, flat shoes.  Good run, keeping an eye on my foot though, it didn't recover quite enough overnight.  If it persists I may have to switch back to regular-weight shoes for a few days, which I hate to do.  It throws off my form and the slower speeds put me in a funk.  But it is hard doing flat shoes every day, too many years of civilization, takes a while to make the switch.

54F, 83% humidity, wind N 7-10 mph.  Wind felt heavier than that, but at this temperature I was in a forgiving mood.  By Saturday it will be hot again.  Feet didn't feel too bad when I got up this morning, so strapped on the flats again and it worked out OK.  Ran 6.37 miles in exactly 1 hour at low heart rate, including a 9:08 third mile, and an average of 9:28, both my best so far.  It would be way cool to get down to BQ pace at LHR, that is probably still at least a year away though, if it happens at all.  Did the seminary run and went back out again (hard for me to go back out, I need to suck it up and just do it), two warmup miles then 4 at GMP accelerating to tempo speed:  7:44 (151), 7:23 (157), 7:14 (163) and 7:04 (170), then an active cooldown mile at 8:27.

46F, 90% humidity, wind NNE 3 mph, clear and crisp.  Excellent running weather this morning, undoubtedly the best we will have until fall.  Same routine, I am right on the edge of cutting back or switching over to regular shoes, but went with the flats again today.  It was OK until I went out for the second half, literally 1.5 miles before heel/Achilles pain went away, it is hard on injury zones to stop and then re-start the run.  But it did go away finally, so I was able to speed up and do my fast splits on schedule, 7:37 (151), 7:27 (156), 7:31 (159) and 7:15 (165).  Would really like to up these to 6 or 7 a day, but I am afraid right now I can't sustain that -- everything works fine except for my right foot, would be great to be able to figure that one out.  Why that foot and not the other one?  Actually, I think I know, it is where I still have the numbness from my herniated disc three years ago and somehow the nerve damage translates into joint/tendon/ligament damage -- either that or my gait changes to compensate and puts more stress on that foot.  One way or the other it is related; golf is a dangerous sport when you have a swing like mine.  LHR miles were also good, average pace 9:32, overall 13.08 miles in 1:55:01, average 8:49 per mile.