For Whom the Dogs Bark

58F, 96%, E 2 mph, heavy fog.  Weird weather morning, get plenty of these here in the spring.  Left the house at 5:30, warmed up for about 2 minutes then 16 at GMP, my first metric marathon of the month.  Kind of close to the race last Saturday, but I didn't go out yesterday due to work schedule and 3 days is enough -- I needed to get started on these.  Had kind of a hard time maintaining pace, which wasn't ideal, but I made it through.  My plan is to just get through the big workouts this month without worrying too much about the end game; whatever happens, happens.  So today was 16.0 in 2:07:46, 7:59/mile, 163 bpm, 171 max.  Didn't actually break 170 until the last mile, so that was good, especially since the conditions are pretty stifling out there.  The lap counter on my watch filled up, but I guess it just drops the oldest miles because I have a complete lap count for the run.

Work conflicts.  Ran 5 on the TM in the evening, 1 wu, 2 up at 2% to 5%, 2 down at 4%.

40F, 84%, N 16 to 24 mph (31 WC).  I dressed too warmly for this weather, overestimated the wind chill effect, and sweated profusely the whole run.  3 wu, then 6 x 1K:  7:34 (159), 7:34 (166), 7:14 (169), 7:31, 7:24 (169) and 7:18 (170), 176 bpm max.  Overall 10.0 in 1:24:17, 8:26/mile.  Legs tired from late TM last night and big run on Tuesday -- otherwise felt OK.  It was difficult to do anything significant in this kind of wind, but the workout served its purpose.  I have calendared every day between now and Boston.  If I can find the time to do what's on the calendar I will be fine.

PM:  5 hills on TM

31F, 67%, calm, clear, full moon.  40 degrees cooler than Wednesday morning.  Exquisite running conditions, nothing like starting out with a full moon then watching the sun come up, makes me actually happy to be a runner.  And it felt good to run slow.  Did a LLHR run, 10.0 in 1:56:32, 11:39/mile, 120 bpm average; not too bad considering all the pressure I am putting on my legs the last few days.  Finished with stretching and weights at the gym.  All systems feel good.

PM:  5 hills on TM

40F, 60%, cloudy and calm.  Was supposed to be low 30s this morning, actually got warmer over night so the coldest part of the winter is now gone for good presumably.  Plan this morning was a quick 20, not doing my next long long run until next week.  First mile was 9:20, everything after that was pretty much below 8:45, with some mid-8s coming in at the 3/4 mark.  Heart rate stayed below 150 through mile 15, it was 147 at mile 5 and 149 at mile 15, so it held very well on the middle miles, which would be a big help on race day if I can duplicate that.  After mile 15 I sped up a little bit and maxed out at 157 bpm.  Overall 20.0 in 2:54:08, 8:43/mile.  Legs got a little ripe in the last quarter but not too bad.  I still feel good  but I may to take two days off instead of one, just to make sure I fully recover before doing some fairly hard runs next week.  Very happy lately though with my quicker recoveries, which have allowed me to train better.

Raining hard this morning and work was pressing, so I did the repeats in the PM on the TM at work. It was a zoo, I thought the facility would be pretty empty at 6:00 on a rainy day, but getting a treadmill was like circling the lot for a parking spot.  Did 10 x 400, starting at 7:30 pace, working my way up by 0.1 mph each repeat, ending up in mid-6s.  I think the treadmill might have been a little off, because these were not particularly challenging.  Probably needed to do 20, not 10.  Finished up with weights and stretching.

54F, 94%, NW 9 mph.  Actual conditions felt colder and windier than that.  LLHR this morning, the usual 10.0, 1:51:32, 11:11/mile, 120 bpm.  Lots of spring in my legs even though I ran last night.  It shows (a) how little I did last night and (b) my recovery time is getting shorter as I get into shape.  Finished with weights and stretching at the gym.

54F, 95%, NNE 5 mph, cloudy but no rain.  Today I scheduled a big interval day, wasn't sure what would happen, but it went well.  1 mile warmup then 10 x 1K as fast as I could go, jogging out each mile.  The first one I wasn't really warmed up and felt herky jerky when I tried to go fast, so was quite surprised when it came in at 7:12 pace, felt more like 7:45, certainly better than the other way around.  The splits went like this:  7:12 (155), 7:11 (158), 7:01 (163), 7:03 (167), 7:04 (169), 7:02 (170), 6:50 (167), 6:51 (169), 6:54 (168) and 6:59 (170), maximum heart rate 175 bpm.  (I raced 11 days ago and held a 174 bpm average through about 2/3 of the race, but was going quite a bit slower than this morning.  I could not have sustained that high of a heart rate this morning -- heart rates are just faster on race day.)  Average pace on the 10 splits was 7:01, at least 20 seconds faster than I thought feasible.  I have been trying to follow a focused program to strengthen my glutes and hams and it might be paying off; or it might just be the result of doing quite a few races and fast sessions lately.  As I got deep into each 1K, I would try to push off harder instead of moving faster and that seemed to produce a little extra speed.  Whatever it was, I felt like I was 56 again.  Overall 11.0 miles in 1:25:31, 7:47/mile.  I have scheduled another one of these in two weeks, will be interested to see if this morning's results hold.

PM:  9 hills on TM; legs felt better at the end than the beginning, some fatigue but looser.

55F, 90%, NE 6 mph and drizzling.  Didn't count on rain this morning but it wasn't bad, wind was more annoying than the rain, higher than the 6 mph advertised.  Out the door before 5:00 and got 10 LLHR miles, 1;51:10, 11:07 average, 120 bpm.  First 2 were 12:01 and 11:20, nothing over 11:05 after that.  These slow runs are like a canary in a mine shaft, I'm depending on them to indicate early any overtraining symptoms.  So I was happy with this run.  Followed with weights and stretching at the gym.

AM, still raining outside, so bagged it and went to the gym, did 10 LLHR miles on the TM, followed by stretching and abbreviated weight session.

PM, 5 hills on TM, felt fine.

54F, 94%, calm and foggy.  Good running weather.  Out the door at 4:35 for my third of four 30 milers.  Woke up feeling not too well but decided to just try it and see what would happen.  If I had to delay the run by a week no big deal, I have time.  But once I got past the first half mile I was fine.  First mile came in at 9:02, second at 8:37 and all but one after that were under 8:45, which seemed comfortable.  The best metric of the run was my heart rate in mile 20, 149 bpm, which I am pretty sure is the lowest it has ever been that late in a run.  Something must be working.  Overall 30 miles in 4:19:00, 8:38/mile, 147 bpm average, 160 bpm max.  No bonk today so that was also welcome.  Last 30-mile run was on February 20, when I ran 8:56/mile and bonked, so this morning was a big improvement.  I came through the marathon at 3:47:20, just a bit off of the old BQ pace for my current age group, of which I am a proud member for two more weeks.  Buzzards were circling a little higher this morning, I think there is somebody in the next neighborhood over they are more interested in right now.

58F, 90%, NNE 4 mph, partly cloudy, sliver of a moon left in the eastern sky.  Rain is predicted for quite a bit of this week.  Out the door at 5:10 a.m., 2 wu (8:56, 8:22), then 8 @ GMP:  7:58 (152), 8:00 (154), 7:53 (157), 7:54 (157), 8:05 (156), 7:52 (156), 7:56 (158) and 7:57 (159), overall 1:20:52, 8:05/mile, 152 bpm average, 161 max.  Heart rate was good, but legs didn't really like this run, not surprising, really, after Saturday's slobberfest.  I have a metric marathon scheduled this week, 7:45/mile goal pace, not feeling too sure of it right now.

Weights and stretching at the gym.

5.0 hills on TM.  Busy this morning, didn't get this done until noon.  It was just as well, feeling quite fatigued today, was wondering if I am getting overtrained but too early to tell.

66F, 93%, WSW 7 mph.  Got out early and got this done before the rain moved in.  It may be raining most of the rest of the week, but this is a down week so I don't care too much.

I originally scheduled a metric marathon for this morning, but after feeling so tired yesterday I decided it wouldn't be a good idea.  Wade is back in town and he was sick the whole time he was in Wyoming.  This was his first run longer than 3 or 4 miles since his half marathon PR at The Woodlands 2-1/2 weeks ago.  He met me for 5 or 6 miles this morning, was running low heart rate and he was happy with that.  For the first time ever, his heart rate was higher than mine.  We have different tickers and he is usually 10 lower than me, and 5 lower on LLHR runs.  But he was running 10 high this morning and actually got a 167 bpm for an 8:25 mile on the way back to his house after leaving me.  Our conditioning is a fragile thing.

For me, on the other hand, it was a good morning.  I ran 10 at 10:58/mile, everything under 11 after the first mile, 120 bpm average heart rate.  I have only broken 11 one other time and I think it was more than a year ago and not for 10 miles.  I was kind of expecting 11:30 to 11:45 after the way I felt yesterday, so I was obviously happy to see this.  Based on this morning's results I'm going to go ahead and do the metric marathon at some point this week, weather permitting.

68F, 90%, SSE 2 mph, cloudy but dry.  Weather is starting to look pretty sketchy for the next couple of days, so it was now or never for this one, my second metric marathon of this training cycle, goal 7:45/mile.  I was a little bit afraid of the heat, but it all worked out.  Did a hard warmup, was up to speed after 1 mile and turned on my watch.  First mile came in at 7:32 (156), second one ballooned to 7:48 (158) and it yoyo-ed like that for the whole run.  Pretty beat by 5 miles but decided to just try for 10.  Wade met me at mile 9.  He is recovering from a bad cold and was realy struggling in the heat, but he stayed with me for 3, which was a huge help; I actually started speeding up and was at 12 miles by the time he left.  12 is very different than 9, it was like one of those board games where you jump ahead several spaces if you land on the right spot.  After Wade left I finished it off without too much trouble.  Last 5 were 7:32 (173), 7:37 (173), 7:34 (173), 7:30 (175) and 7:37 (176).  Overall pace was 7:38, maximum heart rate was 177, average 167.  I was thinking just yesterday that I needed to do a lot more miles over 170 bpm, so there you go.

68F, 96%, SSE 3 mph down to calm, and foggy.  Another warm morning, we probably won't be under 55F again until late this year, anything below 60F and we move on in our SE Regional bracket.  My legs responded well this morning, LLHR run, 10 in 1:19:18, 10:56/mile, a new LLHR PR and better than two days ago, which surprised me but I'll take it.  The canary is still healthy.

64F, 95%, NW 2 mph swinging to N 7 mph, starting to rain but never got there.  Wanted at least 14 and quit when I got there, 8:42/mile, 142 bpm average, 151 max.  Still dark when I quit, a strange feeling.

So sitting at the computer entering my run, looked at my watch and it was only 6:45.  Law Week fun run starts at 8:00 and I am already entered.  Had decided not to go because of rain and because I needed to get some miles today.  But I already had my miles, and was planning another 5 hills on the TM later on.  Ephiphany -- changed clothes, packed up and headed downtown to run the 8K, which is on a somewhat hilly route anyway.  Thought it would be a success if I could get a couple under 7.  Got to the start line 2 minutes before the gun, couldn't see anyboy I knew but did recognize lots of competing law firm teams with cute matching shirts.  Just made it that much easier to pick them off, one by one, never saw any cute law firm shirts after 2 miles, wish it was that easy to get their clients.  I, on the other hand, after much deliberation in the dark before leaving the house, decided on my race-day shirt -- only time I have ever done that, and today I was the only runner I could find wearing the 2015 Law Week Fun Run official sort-sleeved t-shirt, light gray, modest logo on left shoulder, 50% cotton, 50% polyester.  Splits were 7:09 (164), 7:00 (176), 6:59 (181), 7:11 (182), and 7:25 (182).  In my defense, the second half was generally uphill, got to the point where I was playing mind games with my legs and only objective was to maintain heart rate.  Might have warmed up a tad too long.  Overall 5.05 miles in 36:03, 7:08/mile, heart rate 177/185 max.

55F, 93%, calm and clear.  Very nice morning today.  Should have good weather most of the week.  Warmed up for 2, then 10 at GMP, right at 8:00 per mile, heart rate on the last 2 was 155 bpm, my watch says the max was 159 but I never saw anything over 157.  In any event, these were sustainable heart rates, so I was satisfied with the run.  Cooled down for about 0.2.  

Stretching and weights at the gym.

58F, 93%, SSE 5 mph and clear.  Out for a LLHR run this morning, and it went well, 12 @ 10:48/mile, 120 bpm, new LLHR PR.  

Wade joined me for about 5 or 6, his heart rate is almost back down to mine, he'll probably be fully recovered in a week.  Our next race is a 10K in Brennam, the weekend before Boston.  It has enough roller coaster hills to charge admission as a theme park, should be a good warmup for the real thing (Boston, not a theme park).  Wade, his brother Mark and I will each be running in a different age group, maybe we can sweep.

62F, 93%, SW 2 mph.  Trying to get hills in at night, but legs are not feeling it at the end of the day after the endorphins have worn off.  In any event, made it out the door this morning on schedule, goal was to run 10 at GMP - 15, 1 wu and 1.3 cd.  Results:  fast miles averaged 7:39, average heart rate 153, maximum 163, RHR before the run started was 50 bpm.  Last 4 splits were 7:32 (161), 7:35 (159), 7:42 (160) and 7:36 (162).  Heart rate holding steady, but legs still need to get stronger at this speed.

64F, 94% and calm, but wind and rain coming in.  Decided against anything hard, legs are feeling a little stale after running hard yesterday, might be a cumulative effect going on.  Ran LLHR without a watch, 11:06/mile until the rain started pouring down, at which point I quit because I needed to hurry to work anyway, 7.37 miles.  Then last night I finally got on the TM, 5 miles of hills at a little under 9-minute pace, 1 wu, 2 up (3.5%) and then 2 down (-5%).  This works better than alternating, could really feel the downhill in my legs after I quit.

45F, 82%, calm and clear.  Absoslutely beautiful out, hope it carries through to tomorrow for my last long-long run.  Another LLHR run, 12.17 miles in 2:10:19, 10:42/mile, 121 bpm, new low heart rate PR.  Thought at first it wouldn't happen, legs felt pretty unresponsive after running TM hills last night, first mile came in at 11:22, then 11:04, but each mile got progressively faster through mile 10, which was 10:28, and mile 12 was 10:38.  Met Wade at the halfway point for a couple of loops.  

So I am thinking of a somewhat unorthodox tapering strategy, as I am three weeks out after tomorrow.  The competing issues for getting to the start line in optimal shape are losing training vs. getting stale.  I have noticed that my best performances seem to be when I am on the uphill part of a training cycle rather than on the plateau, like this morning for instance.  I'm not sure I have ever figured out how to stay on a plateau, I seem to either gain or lose conditioning.  So the strategy would be to take next week very easy, just run hills at night, maybe vitamin D runs from work during the day, with the exception of my last metric marathon about Wednesday (7:30 goal), then maybe run 10 on Saturday, maybe even let myself get slightly undertrained by the end of the week.  Then the next week (2 weeks out), go back to 60-70 miles, lots of short hard runs combined with outside mid-day runs, with a 10K race on a very hilly course in Brennam that Saturday.  Then the normal final-week shakeout runs before getting on the plane Friday night, April 17.  Especially with the race being on Monday rather than Saturday, this layout doesn't seem particularly risky?

54F, 72%, NE 2 mph to start, 58F, 63%, SSE 5 mph to end, completely clear.  Not much to complain about there -- the last hour was in the sun, but that's the way it is going to be on race day for a lot more than an hour.  

Out the door at 4:23 a.m. for my last long-long run of this training cycle, 30.00 miles in 4:16:37, 8:33/mile, 145 bpm average, 156 max.  Last 4 were 8:34 (151), 8:26 (154), 8:30 (154) and 8:25 (154).  Marathon at 3:44:37, first split over 150 bpm being mile 23.  Watered twice, mile 15.25 and 26.3.  Today was a small but definite improvement over the last one two weeks ago, easy to compare since the temperature was the same on both days; a little less humid today but I don't think humidity matters much in the 50s.  Two weeks ago, the last 4 splits were 8:25 (157), 8:32 (158), 8:34 (159) and 8:37 (159), overall pace 8:38/mile, 147 bpm average, 160 max.  Marathon at 3:47:20, first split over 150 bpm being mile 21.  So I improved by 5 seconds per mile while dropping my heart rate at the end of the run by 5 or 6 bpm.  

Still, my body feels like it is plateauing, especially my legs.  I don't think another 30-mile run would do me much good, even if there was time.  I'm glad I did them and I think they will pay off, but right now I feel like I need to rest my legs as much as possible.  My legs and my heart rate seem de-linked, like they are on two different curves, and unfortunately it is the legs that get you getting along.

66F, 93%, SW 9 mph.  Got hotter and windier as the run progressed; originally scheduled for Wednesday or Thursday, but it had to be today for a number of work and weather-related reasons.  Kind of hot but not unmanageable.

Didn't run yesterday, partly to get ready for today and partly to recover from Saturday.  That plan worked out OK.  I was out the door late at 5:30 after working late last night, ran a 1-mile warmup without my watch on then started in on the last metric marathon of this training cycle, goal 7:30/mile  (at 15 miles it isn't really 26K, but close enough for training, with the warmup mile included I didn't want to run 17 today).  It was somewhat difficult from the beginning.  Wade joined me early on for 4, then he was gone after my first water stop.  Overall 15 miles in 1:52:13, 7:29/mile, 168 bpm average, 177 max.  Last 4 were 7:31 (172), 7:34 (173), 7:32 (175) and 7:27 (176).   On the last one two weeks ago (2 degrees warmer than today), the last 4 were 7:37 (173), 7:34 (173), 7:30 (175) and 7:37 (176), overall heart rate 167/177, so today was a small improvement in terms of speed versus effort (as monitored by heart rate).  I had an overwhelming desire to quit at mile 5, mile 10, mile 12 and mile 13, not sure how I managed to hold onto this one, but happy it is done. 

I have now hit all of my goal workouts for this training cycle, what remains is to get to the start line healthy and see if I left enough in the tank.  This week is going to be very easy the rest of the way, then a little harder next week, then a steep taper for the last week.