For Whom the Dogs Bark

73F, 94%, SE 6 mph.  7.10 miles in 1:02:55, 8:52/mile, 146 bpm.

73F, 96%, SSE 8 mph. 10.07 miles in 1:28:34, 8:48/mile, 147 bpm.  Feeling sorry for myself that my heart rate keeps going up, then remembered that it is hot, it's supposed to go up.

70F, 100%, SE 5 mph.  10.05 miles in 1:21:51, 8:09 per mile.  First 5 at 8:25 per mile then 5 x 1K:  7:25 (163), 7:20 (164), 7:23 (167), 7:15 (168) and 7:33 (170), finishing out each mile at an aggressive recovery pace, 8:30 to 8:45.  Finished in a driving rainstorm, along with some other runners and walkers.  We had a good time out there. 

66F, 100%, WSW 5 mph.  10.05 miles in 1:28:19, 8:47/mile, 144 bpm.  A little bit cooler and immediate HR improvement resulted.  I think I am finally over the flu.  Lots of aches and pains this morning after running harder yesterday.  It will definitely take a while to get my body used to higher mileage again.  Another encounter with a dog, the old open-the-garage-door-gee-I-don't-know-what-happened trick.  About 3 pounds but I'm counting it.

62F, 76%, ENE 7 mph and clear.  Saw the full moon this morning right before it set, realized this is the first time I have seen it this cycle.  It has been a wet spring.  The object was to keep my heart rate low for as long as I could and still maintain a 9:00 pace.  It worked pretty well in the cooler temperatures.  13.11 miles in 1:56:45, 8:54/mile, 141 bpm.  A rabbit ran out in front of me this morning.  For a minute I thought he was chasing me, but he was just too dumb to get out of the way.  No recorded change in my heart rate, but this incident nevertheless puts me pretty low on the food chain.  You just can't let rabbits affect you in the slightest.  Some may recall that Jimmy Carter most likely lost the 1980 election over an incident involving a swimming rabbit and a boat oar.

61F, 98%, ENE 1 mph at start (5:00 a.m.), 64F, 88% E 5 mph at end, clear and full moon, very pretty out there.  Animal of the day was a squirrel, ain't sayin' nuthin' more.

Ran 20.24 miles in 2:59:19, average 8:51 per mile, last two 8:45 and 8:25, average heart rate 146, but hitting 162 at the end.  Lower abs are still sore, especially on the right side, probably a tear in there somewhere, it doesn't seem to be improving much.  I had plenty of strength, just hurt a lot.  This was a hard run, but 20 is a good day no matter the details.

Wade is running a mudder today.  I would rather do 20 on the pavement than 6 in the mud any day.  So he had no support from me.  I think he secretly wants to be a SEAL.

64F, 95%, WNW 5 mph. 10.19 miles in 1:30:29, 8:52/mile 143 bpm.

62F, 99%, calm. 10.06 miles in 1:25:13, 8:28/mile, 146 bpm.

No running, up until 3:00 with a roomful of clients in Guam (me stateside).  Put a stake through my running plans for the week.

62F, 99% and calm.  Legs very fresh after a day off, even though not much sleep since I am still up at night with my clients in Guam.  Ran 10.16 miles in 1:20:01, 7:53/mile, 158 bpm.  Speed kept getting naturally faster until I hit 7:27 in mile 6, so I decided to hold that pace to the end.  Last 4 (including mile 6) were 7:27 (164), 7:23 (169), 7:28 (172) and 7:40 (175).  Obviously I started to tire toward the end, but it was fun feeling the surge for a brief moment.

66F, 94%, ESE 5 mph.  10.04 miles in 1:28:37, 8:50/mile, 142 bpm.  Third night in a row with little sleep, but felt better once I got going.  Let's were sluggish at first after yesterday's run, but warmed up well.

74F, 84%, SSE 11-18 mph to start (6:10 a.m.); 76F, 79%, SSE 14-23 to end (9:05 a.m.) partly cloudy.  This was a difficult run.  Got a late start because I was trying to catch up on sleep a little bit.  I planned to this run at 9 flat but legs naturally sped up, down into the low 8s at one point, then because of the way the course was laid out I went for an 8-mile segment with no water and ended up getting into trouble with the heat/humidity/sunlight.  I turned around to go home at 15 because I was feeling dizzy, but really didn't want to log a 15 today, especially after everything else that has taken away from running this week.  At that point I was averaging 8:38, so I slowed back down to a 9:00 pace then sped up a little bit through the end.  Ran the twists and turns so I had 20 right at my front door, didn't want to run a step extra.  Overall 20.00 miles in 2:54:20, average 8:43/mile, 158 bpm, 173 bpm maximum.  Heart rate climbed throughout.  Normally I am ravenous when finishing a 20, but today I didn't want anything.  Managed to drink a glass of chocolate milk and that was it.  Feel almost like I just ran a marathon.  I have 3 hard 20-milers coming up, this wasn't supposed to be one of them.  But the important thing was putting in the effort and letting the chips fall where they may.  For me that approach has usually turned out fine, so I am not worrying.

Walked out the door at a quarter to four, lightning so I scurried back in.  Back out at 6 and same story.  Went to the gym at noon and all the treadmills were full.  By the time I got my clothes back on they were available again, that's how it goes.  So I stopped at my son's gym on the way home and ran on the treadmill there for 2 hours at 6.7 miles per hour (8:57 per mile).  Not sure of the exact distance because I had to keep stopping for one reason or another and it would always re-set.  Also, one stretch where I actually got 60 minutes in it stopped and I had to re-set again.  Not fun, I've got to get sound off the TVs into my ears on these treadmills, not really something that I can figure out on my own at my age.  Congratulations to all the Boston finishers today, that is an experience to tell the grandkids, but I must admit I'm happy I won't be telling it to mine.

62F, 90%, N 6 mph.  7.04 miles in 1:01:57, 8:48 per mile, 143 bpm.

56F, 96%, calm.  10.10 miles in 1:18:22, 7:46 per mile, 156 bpm average.  Ran 5 easy then 5 MP:  7:28 (162), 7:18 (166), 7:24 (167), 7:21 (170) and 7:14 (169).  We have very nice weather all of a sudden.

53F, 99%, SSE 1 mph and clear.  10.08 miles in 1:27:12, 8:39 per mile, 140 bpm (152 max).

63F, 90%, calm and partly cloudy.  I'm traveling out of town this weekend and it's my first Saturday for a "fast finish" long run, of which I plan to do 3 before my next marathon.  Except I am going to do them a little different this time around, back to my retro style before I read too many running books:  Run like *&^^^% and hold it for 20, on the theory that if you can do it for 20 you can do it for 26, and you're on your own for the last 0.2.  So the goal today was 8:00 per mile, which isn't really my A goal but it is a respectable pace.  I made it, only two or three splits were over 8, overall I ran 20 miles in 2:38:13 for an average pace of 7:55 per mile.  I also had an untimed 0.15 mile warmup, which is just enough to get the sludge in my joints circulating a little bit.  The best thing about the run was my heart rate, average 158 and max 170, which is below marathon range.  I never averaged higher than 168, and didn't break 165 until mile 19.  The worst thing was playing "you first, no me first", with a car as I was running out of a side street.  The driver was my wife, who was finishing the seminary run for me.  I got a bit of a lecture on that one.  I took water at mile 3.5, 10 and 13.6, didn't do EFS or other calories or electrolytes,  need to buy some and practice taking it.  Next time I will try for 7:45, but we will see.  Even though the cardio was there, the old legs were pretty sore for the last 10 this morning.

40F, 50%, N 5 mph and clear.  Ran in Round Valley, Arizona this morning, which is my hometown, elevation 7,000 feet thank you.  Here for a funeral.  Left the motel in Springerville and headed east on the Soccorro, NM highway, then turned south toward Alpine, all the way to the rodeo grounds.  It was generally uphill all the way to the rodeo grounds, and I felt the familiar high altitude burn in my lungs.  I used to feel it all the time in high school here, no wonder I quit running for so many years.  I didn't want to push the pace but it was still difficult.  Suprisingly though I maintained about 9:00 flat going up then sped up from there, wasn't sure what would happen after the hard 20 yesterday.  From the rodeo grounds I turned west into Eagar, one more hill but generally downhill, ran to the center of town, then turned north all the way back into Springerville, also downhill.  When I got to the stop light in Springerville (still only 1 light after all these years) I turned left toward St. Johns and got another 1.5 in before meeting my daughter and my brother who lives in Sierra Vista.  We ran back out toward St. Johns and got another 3 miles, had a good time talking about various stuff.  11.5 total, not a bad day for a semi-tropical coastal runner.

My sister and I have decided to run Grandma's marathon in Duluth, MN on June 16.  She needs a BQ, so we can run Boston together in 2013.  She will be 40 on race day and only has to get a 3:45 to qualify, but she wants a 3:25 so she can register on Monday.  She should get it pretty easily unless she doesn't get her training in.

63F, 41%, NE 8 mph and clear.  Pretty good weather, haven't seen 41% humidity in a long time, if ever, didn't know it was possible for here.  Made the 63F seem pretty cool.  Ran 8.5 before the seminary run, then another 5.5 while waiting for seminary kids so I could drive them to school.  14.00 miles in 2:01:44, 8:42/mile, 144 bpm.  Then after work I did 6 more at a 9:00 pace followed by legs and core.

50F, 100%, clear and calm.  Slept right through my alarm, don't know the last time that happened.  The alarm seems to be in perfect working condition.  But I got 8 hours of sleep, which feels great.  I woke up on my own just in time to do the seminary run, so I went out afterwards for a shortened session.   Had planned to do 10 x 1K but cut it down to 6 x 1K.  I could still feel the leg weights this morning, pretty tired the whole run and wasn't sure I could hit my splits.  I planned to do 4:21 (7:00 pace).  Ended up getting them, although it wasn't easy:  6:58 (160), 7:00 (162), 6:51 (165), 6:50 (166), 6:55 (168) and 6:58 (167).  3-mile warmup and 1.5 mile cooldown.  Felt deep fatigue after finishing.  Overall 10.37 miles in 1:24:57, 8:12 pace.  It is sobering to think about my chances of running this pace for the marathon distance.

PM:  5.0 on the TM at 9:30 pace.

64F, 91%, SSW 7 mph.  A little warmer but still not bad.  Ran 9.04 miles prior to seminary run, 1:17:24, 8:34 pace, 143 bpm.  Had to go to work early, so that was it.

69F, 96%, SSW 5 mph.  Getting hot again.  Out the door at 4:15 and ran 10 before the seminary run, then a half hour later went back out for 10 more.  Overall 20.13 miles in 2:56:50, 8:42 per mile, 147 bpm.  I have acquired some shin splint-type pain low on the front of my right leg and a little bit in my foot.  Hurts to flex my foot up, but not to extend it, kind of the opposite of Achilles pain.  It is responding well to ice.  Hurts like crazy when I go out the second time, then hurts again about 3 miles in before going away.  Never had anything like it and trying to think what I'm doing different.  I don't think it's the extra miles, most likely I got it lifting weights on Monday.  Either that or my stride has changed somehow.  I'm watching it, but so far it doesn't look like it will be significant.

74F, 95% and calm.  Ran 5 very slow this morning, the tendon on top of my foot still hurts after 4 days off, the longer I ran the more it hurt, but never reached the point where I had to quit.  I don't have an exact distance since my Garmin battery cratered, but it was about 5.  The foot stopped hurting immediately after I quit and has felt fine all day.  I went to the gym tonight and spent an hour on the recumbent bike.  Thought I would mimic my running heart rate, but couldn't get it over 121 and I had lactate overload in my quads after 10 minutes.  I whined at my daughter on the phone while I was on the bike and she said I needed to take off some of the tension and increase my speed in order to get the heart rate up.  I always thought if I was working hard then I had a high heart rate so this was interesting.  On a more practical note, my quads are dead.  Did some leg weights and came home with a backache, which is good, since I will need something lined up to replace the foot injury once it heals.