For Whom the Dogs Bark

58F, 90%,W 4 mph.  Ran 13.0 miles at LLHR, still no Garmin, might have run them a little fast but hard to tell, since legs were wooden after last night's TM run.

60F, 86%, W 3 mph and clear.  Probably the last good running day, I think it gets hot after this and stays that way.  Bought a new Garmin yesterday and broke it in this morning.  10:36/mile, LLHR.  This result will provide a good baseline for the summer.  My fastest LLHR time in the Boston training cycle, or any other time, was 10:31, and that was a 5-mile run on April 1, compared to 13 today.  Nothing else under 10:40 and only a few under 11, so this was a very good result.  Have been fighting back pain all week but it hasn't affected my running yet.

61F, 95%, calm and full moon.  Out early for a quick workout.  2 wu, 8:33, 8:03, then 5 x 1K, jogging out each mile at an 8:00 pace:  7:22 (161), 7:06 (166), 6:56 (171), 6:52 (76) and 6:38 (180), maxHR 184, then 1 cd.  Overall 8.0 in 1:01:35, 7:42/mile.  Followed by stretching and lunges, which immediately made my back feel better.  Still trying to formulate my approach for the next few months, but kind of like the idea of bouncing back and forth between LLHR and workouts on alternate weeks.  Can't work out every day on the "on" weeks, but I think I can go 3 or 4 times without too much risk, especially if I keep the distances low.  But need to refine it, and get more focused on complementary stuff, like stretching, weights, jump rope and swimming (I can't do either one at this point), and weight loss.

My new Garmin has some fairly useless metrics in it, like vertical oscillation, ground contact time and altitude (?!!), which starts at 150', goes up to 153' and ends at 150'.  This is why I am Flatlander.  But since it measures cadence it also spits out stride length.  My longest stride length, at 6:38 pace, is 1.17 meters (first split was 1.09 meters, at a slightly lower cadence).  The big boys are closer to 2.0, I think I have read somewhere.  This is why I look like an old man when I run, right there in black and white on my computer screen.  This might actually be a good metric to keep an eye on to see if I am progressing.

67F, don't have any other met-metrics, got the temperature from Wade.  It is warming up quickly, should be 70s for the rest of the week, probably forever.  Ran 12 LLHR miles, 10:49/mile, 2:09:56.  Feeling the effects of the lunges I did yesterday.

74F, 79%, SE 7-17 mph.  Blustery and hot, my favorite weather.  There is a big oil and gas conference in town and I have not been getting much sleep.  5:00 came very early this morning.  Plan was to run 6 at 7:30 pace.  Then my first warmup mile was 8:46, where I met up with Wade and I about deccided to bag it since Wade didn't really want to run hard anyway.  Then the second one came in at 7:50 and I thought there might be a shot.  So the 6 were:  7:50 (149), 7:44 (156), 7:22 (163), 7:25 (170), 7:25 (170), 7:05 (178), average for the tempo miles coming in at about 7:28.  Longest stride length was 1.12, quite a bit shorter than Monday when I was running some intervals in the mid-6s.  Speed is all about stride length.  Overall 8.0 miles in 1:01:35, 7:42/mile.

74F, 89%, SE 10 mph, rain clouds but no rain.  Woke up very early and out the door for 12 LLHR miles, 10:53/mile.  Tuesday was 7 degrees cooler, so this run is somewhat equivalent to the 10:49 on Tuesday.  Finished with weights and stretching, feeling good but sleepy.

77F, 85%  (DP 72F), S 4 mph, according to the internet, in actuality a lot more wind than that, more like 15 mph.  Was going to do speedwork today, but decided it was too early after racing to amp it up to three sessions in one week, so back to LLHR, 12.0 miles in 2:09:00, 10:45/mile.  Pretty happy with that, given the muggy weather, which has quickly morphed into late-summer-dog-days muck.  Finished with stretching, lunges and squats.  Right now, just learning how to do the lunges and squats, getting a little better at it, but not good enough to get into a training regimin. 

77F, 82% (DP 71F), SE 7 mph.  This was a tough one.  Ran 4 then met Wade for 12 more, then finished with another 2.  18.0 miles in 2:34:39, 8:35/mile, average heart rate 153 bpm, max 178, big gap, heart rate climbed continuously for the whole run.  Last 3 miles were 8:29 (167), 8:09 (170) and 8:08 (174), so even though I was in bad shape I was stubborn enough to keep it going.  Not sure if that was smart or not.  I knew by about mile 10 that I wasn't going to hit 20 today, was all I could do to get to 18, just not acclimated to the heat yet.  We decided at about mile 14 that this was probably the toughest long run of the summer, unless we try to do one of these fast, for which we see no reason.

79F, 83% (DP 73F), S 7 mph, trying to rain. 8.5 in 1:30:36, 10:40/mile. Individual splits all over the place, from 10:17 to 11:04, hard to say why, as heart rate was a steady 121-122. Stretching and weights at the gym (Boston Strong shirt. pink hat, MMF shoes, nobody bothered me though). Lunges at home. Started jump rope training. Got two in a row. Once.

69F, 94%, WSW, moving to ENE, raining and unsettled.  Out the door at 5:30 a.m. for 12, half of them with Wade.  2:07:47, 10:39/mile.  Pace started out at 11:04, went down to 10:15, then finished at 11:12.  At 8 miles I had a 10:31 average (close to a record), compared to 10:40 yesterday, so the cooler weather made a big difference, even with sore legs from lifting yesterday.  Lots of weather in the region right now, but so far we have been spared.  Finished with stretching, rolling and lunges.

69F, 94% (DP 66F), E 6 mph. Good running weather for the second morning in a row; met Wade for about half of the miles -- he is off to Wyoming and won't see him for at least 2 weeks. Out at 5:25 a.m. for 12 LLHR miles, 2:04:57 total, 10:25/mile, which is 11 seconds faster than the baseline pace set on May 2 at 60F. Further, my 5-mile pace, 10:22/mile, is 9 seconds faster than my previous overall LLHR best, also a 5-mile run. Mile 5 came in at a magical 9:55. Doesn't take much to make me happy.

Followed with stretching and weights at the gym, lunges and jump rope at the house. Starting to get the hang of getting both feet in the air simultaneously, at precisely the moment the rope hits the ground. I have stopped watching boxers' jump rope videos. I can't see the rope and I don't think they actually have one.

72F, 95%, 70DP, ESE 2 mph, partly cloudy.  Another 12 at LLHR, 10:29/mile, 2:05:52 total run time.  Figured I would be in the high 10:30s, then at mile 9 I hit a 10:09 and I was home free.  With weights yesterday, big meal last night, heart rate slightly more under control, and  DP 4 degrees higher, this morning was comparable to the 10:25 yesterday, maybe a little better.  Last mile was 25 seconds faster than the first mile, which is the best metric of the morning.  A couple of days ago the last mile pace was slower than first mile pace.  Finished with stretching and jump rope.

75F, 94% (73 DP), SE 3 mph and cloudy.  Very wet week, rained again hard yesterday but relatively calm this morning.  Got in a good LLHR run, 48 hours after my last weight session.  10.1 miles in 1:44:10, 10:19/mile, fastest so far.   Slowest split after the warmup mile was 10:29.  Did stretching and weights (donkey kicks and squats) at the gym afterward.

76F, 93% (73 DP), SE 3 mph.  Decided to finish off the week at LLHR, so ran 15.4 more in 2:44:42, 10:42/mile, quite a bit slower than yesterday but I was fine with it.  This is the first time I remember running exclusively low heart rate miles for an entire week, though I'm sure I must have done it at some point.  Back to workouts next week, along with a little bit of traveling.  I'm going to alternate for a while and see how it goes, seems like it might be a good way to improve at both ends without gettting overextended, but time we tell.

77F, 93% (DP 74), SE 3 mph.  Started a workout but then aborted it beccause of thunder and lightning.  3.0 in 23:07:  8:19 (141), 7:21 (162) and 7:27 (172), max 178 bpm.  Didn't make it out again, I'm not good at getting back out later in the day.  Partly schedule driven, mostly mental.

74F, 94% (DP 72), NE 3 mph. Air a little fresher this morning after yesterday's thunderstorms, did yesterday's workout:  8.5 in 1:05:40, 7:44/mile. 1 wu (8:42), then 2 x 3 miles with 1 mile recovery:  [7:31 (157), 7:32 (164), 7:13 (172)] and [7:19 (174), 7:30 (179), 7:17 (182)], 1/2 cd.  186 bpm max. If I did 2 x 10K or 3 x 5k in this heat I would probably get to my HRmax. This workout is a good one to do regularly; if I can improve the heart rate drift I can see some sustained HM speed starting to develop. Followed by stretching and weights at the gym after eating a full breakfast.  

Off to Orlando for a dinner tonight, not sure what chance I will have to run there.

74F, 94% (DP 73), SE 1 mph.  Still raining incessantly here, though not this morning. Missed this workout yesterday due to travel, so went out early this morning and did it.  2 wu then 10 x 400 with 400 recovery, then about 1.5 cd.  Probably too much recovery, but it was plenty of workout for me.  Splits (converted to minutes/mile) for the repeats were:  7:16, 6:58, 6:43, 6:56, 6:46, 6:27, 6:22, 6:43, 6:41 and 7:14.  Legs were very acidy on the last two, and I wasn't close to my water stop so I was running thirsty.  Really faded on this one, but I don't care, it is hot and early in the cycle. Maximum heart rate 185, which I hit several times at the end.  Maximum stride length 1.19 meters. Overall 8:10/mile.  Finished with weights, stretching and jump rope.

68F, 91% (DP 65), ENE 8 mph, cloudy.  Still raining off and on but not during the run.  Cooled down considerably, but still slow this morning.  LLHR run, 10.0 in 1:48:52, 10:53/mile.  I had thought that it was imposible at this point to run slower than 11:00, but after 3 I had an 11:15 average, which was discouraging given the good weather and low miles this week.  But after a quick pit stop at mile 3 the pace suddenly went into the mid-10s and stayed there throughout the rest of the run except for the last split.  No explanation, sorry.  Finished with stretching, jump rope and lunges.  Getting ready for the big bubble run tomorrow with my daughter.

75F, 93% (DP 73F), ESE 7 mph, cloudy.  Goal today was 8 tempo miles, 7:30 pace, which qualifies as tempo in the heat.  Started pretty slow (9+) but eventually got there.  1 wu, then 7:43 (151), 7:44 (158), 7:19 (164), 7:17 (171), 7:19 (176), 7:25 (176), 7:27 (176), 7:25 (180), then 1.4 cd.  Overall 7:47/mile.  I really don't need to be running these at more than 170 bpm, but once I get to 170 the tendency is to try to hold pace rather than heart rate -- but in this weather I can't hold a steady pace at the same heart rate yet, so I end up running harder than I should.

Not many miles this week, but I got in three workouts as planned.  Next week it is back to LLHR, but I think I am going to back off the miles anyway, maybe do about 60, trying to stay rested.

72F, 94% (DP 70F), SE 4 mph and clear. Back to LLHR this week, 10.0 in 1:48:22, 10:50/mile. A little better than Friday, plus slightly lower heart rate and warmer today; but nothing like the 10:19 I hit a week ago Friday, when it was 75F. Not sure why things swing like that, not like I am loaded up on miles right now. Makes me wonder what would happen if I reloaded, but not ready to try anything like that just yet. I am still at about the same LLHR speed as going into Boston, even though those runs were on a full training load. Finished with stretching and weights (donkey kicks (180#) and leg curls (80#)).

Started outside for my run this morning, but the weather hadn't moved out -- the sky was still bright with lightning so I turned back and drove to the gym, where I did 10 on the TM, LLHR.  Checked my pulse on the handgrips and it was staying well below 120 bpm, so I sped up to a 10:00 pace.  Based on this metric, the difference between TM and road running seems to be about 30 seconds/mile.  Office closed today due to flooding downtown.

Ran 10 LLHR on TM again.  Violent thunder and lightning when I woke up, so much so that I was afraid to walk from my car to the gym.  Did it anyway, finished with stretching and weights (donkey kicks (180/185) and squats (135/125).  Rain was gone by mid-morning and hasn't been an issue since, unless your house got flooded, in which case it is an issue.

72F, 92% (DP 70F), calm and clear.  Got out late, as my daughter had her baby last night, grandchild number 6.  When I get more grandkids than marathons I'm definitely quitting.  10.0 LLHR, 10:43/mile, 122 bpm.  Followed with stretching and jump rope.

Got ready to run, noticed another front coming in on the weather app, bulge pointed straight at Cypress, decided to try it anyway.  When I walked out the door, the lightning and thunder were already lighting up the western sky, so I decided not to try it anyway.  Back to the gym, 10 LLHR on the TM, followed by stretching and weights.

73F, 94% (DP 71F), SSW 1 mph, clear. Made it back outside this morning, very pleasant run with sub-par results. 10.0 LLHR in 1:49:35, 10:58/mile, 122 bpm. My pace drift from fastest mile to last mile was 40 seconds, which seemed like a lot. I checked out the other two outside runs this week and they were both 36 seconds. Seems like pace drift in the LLHR zone should measure some sort of training effect. But two weeks ago when I was nailing these LLHR runs, my pace drift between the best split and mile 10 was all over the place, from 45 seconds down to 10. So not really a meaningful metric, at least the way I am looking at it.

Regardless, I seem to be stuck, which might indicate some sort of a problem, or it might be OK for right now, just a patience game. Going to Dubai tonight. I'll probably mess around with the hotel treadmill a couple of times, but basically an off week (as if this week wasn't), time to think through a few things training-wise.

Finished with lunges and jump rope.