For Whom the Dogs Bark

Utah Valley Marathon

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Location:

Cypress,TX,

Member Since:

Oct 10, 2009

Gender:

Male

Goal Type:

Other

Running Accomplishments:

5K: 24:22 (March 2010); 22:33 (October 2010); 20:47 (May 2011); 21:05 (May 2012); 21:33 (September 2012); 21:23 (November, 2013); 22:31 (September 2014)

5M:  39:22 (November, 2012); 35:54 (November, 2013); 36:03 (March, 2015)

10K: 44:08 (November, 2010); 49:20 (July, 2013); 44:07 (April, 2015)

12K:  56:03 (December, 2013); 58:58 (December, 2014)

10M:  1:11:58 (October, 2012); 1:15:24 (October, 2014)

Half Marathon:  1:53:xx (London's Run 2010); 2:05:21 (Cowtown 2010); 1:37:04 (Gusher 2011); 1:42:19 (Huntsville 2011); 1:33:47 (Baytown Jailbreak 2012); 1:33:50 (The Woodlands 2012); 1:42:52 (Texas 2015); 1:49:17 (Jailbreak 2015); 1:38:34 (The Woodlands 2015)

25K: 2:01:47 (Fifth Third River Bank, May 2014)

Marathon: 5:51:35 (Texas Marathon 2009); 6:21:36 (Ogden 2009); 4:58:29 (St. George 2009); 4:13:45 (Texas Marathon 2010); 4:04:12 (Utah Valley Marathon, 2010); 5:11:14 (Hartford ING, 2010); 3:41:43 (Richmond SunTrust, 2010); 3:39:27 (Texas Marathon 2011); 3:41:46 (Utah Valley Marathon, 2011); 3:30:35 (St. George 2011); 3:41:51 (Richmond 2012); 3:49:15 (Texas 2013); 3:46:59 (Paavo Nurmi, 2013); 3:34:04 (St. George 2013); 3:49:51 (Texas 2014); 3:31:59 (Richmond 2014); 3:28:34 (Boston 2015)

Short-Term Running Goals:

3:20, 1:30, 0:20

Long-Term Running Goals:

I'm 60, there is no long term.

Personal:

I live, work and run in Houston, Texas.  I have run 17 marathons, some good ones and some others.  I prefer straight, flat, cold, sea-level marathons, still waiting for my first one.  I feel like there are more PRs out there.  When I have them, I am told it is time to dial it back, run for healthy reasons.  I'm sure that's right, and I'm sure it won't happen.

My wife and I are from the mountains of the west.  We have five kids, three granddaughters and three grandsons.  The kids and grandkids are native Texans but we are not -- you have to be born here.

As for my blog title: I run most of my miles before sunrise, sometimes hours before. On the back road of my neighborhood two hours before daylight, I can depend on a pack of mutts behind the boundary fence lighting up when they hear my footsteps. I have wondered what they wanted; but according to Hemingway I needn't ask.

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Miles:This week: 0.00 Month: 0.00 Year: 0.00
Easy MilesMarathon Pace MilesThreshold MilesVO2 Max MilesTotal Distance
135.3741.380.620.50177.87
Easy MilesMarathon Pace MilesThreshold MilesVO2 Max MilesTotal Distance
4.903.100.000.008.00

71F, 95%, ENE 4 mph.  Nice balmy morning, honestly it felt comfortable after the last couple of days.   Was still sweating like a porcine mammal at the end though.  Slept in because school is out, went out late and did my run.  3 miles LHR at 9:33 pace then 5 x 1K at approximately half marathon pace:  7:25 (153), 7:23 (158), 7:23 (163), 7:21 (164) and 7:11 (169).  I jogged out each mile at 8:30 to 9:00 pace.  overall 8.00 miles in 1:08:32, average pace 8:34.  Felt pretty good the whole time, but at these heart rates I ain't gonna hit 7:30 at UVM, no matter how I slice, dice, adjust, extrapolate and pray.  I still think I will run a good race, though.  I can feel my legs getting a little bit stronger now that I am cutting the mileage back.  No new injuries are popping up, the old ones are under control, and I have a great attitude.  As Joe used to say (before his first marathon), what could go wrong?

Comments(8)
Easy MilesMarathon Pace MilesThreshold MilesVO2 Max MilesTotal Distance
8.000.000.000.008.00

69F, 85% and calm to begin, 76F, 71% and calm at end, rapidly moving to 102F today.  Might as well live in Burt's town.  I thought there would be no time to run today with some work pressures, but insomnia hit so I got up plenty early to get everything done.  Finished up and headed out the door at 6:00 for a LHR run, 8.00 in 1:15:37, average pace 9:27 per mile.  Close to a LHR PR for me, one mile was 9:02 which was a PR, but the heat eventually caught up with me and the last couple of miles were over 9:30.  Legs are definitely a little stronger, even after running 1K repeats yesterday.

Comments(4)
Easy MilesMarathon Pace MilesThreshold MilesVO2 Max MilesTotal Distance
4.903.100.000.008.00

69F, 89% and calm to start, 82F, 77%, ESE 8 mph to end.  Wind turning to the southeast again so the weather will change by tomorrow I'm sure.  Slept in (7 hours of sleep!) and got out at 6:30, pretty warm by the time I finished.  Did 3 LHR miles, average pace 9:18, followed by 5 x 1000:  7:18 (151), 7:09 (157), 7:10 (160), 7:15 (163) and 7:20 (167), average 7:14 (160).  Wednesday's 5 x 1000 run was: 7:25 (153), 7:23 (158), 7:23 (163), 7:21 (164) and 7:11 (169), average 7:21 (161) so a little better today, taper appears to still be working.  More importantly, I feel better post-run today.

Intended to do some TM hill work last night, but attended my son's high school graduation instead.  I suppose that is more important?  His graduation with 800 of his closest friends bore no resemblance to my own class of 50.  But since we were 75 strong as juniors, the academics must be similar.  I graduated at the end of the hippie era, so political student speeches were the order of the day:  railing at Nixon, the school board and drug laws.  Now everything is sanitized, student speeches are approved in advance, as are prayers.  Valedictory speeches are history, because everybody is a winner now.  And the crowd is patrolled by the sheriff's department -- some beach ball throwers were escorted out to begin their life as criminals.  Kind of miss the old days.  The real party starts afterward, and it can be dangerous.  But for some unknown, unexpected reason my son stayed home, maybe he is turning a corner.

Comments(1)
Easy MilesMarathon Pace MilesThreshold MilesVO2 Max MilesTotal Distance
10.010.000.000.0010.01

65F, 97%, finishing up at 72F, 87%, calm and clear.  Air was fresh and clear, great day to be running.  Drove with Wade down to the Y and our group wasn't there.  We latched on to another group and ran 10.01 miles in 1:34:28, average pace 9:26 per mile, all LHR until the last 2 or 3, couldn't hold it after that.  We intended to only do 8, but noticed a new paved trail and decided to see where it went, that added an extra couple of miles but the trail was beautiful.  I have heard that you aren't supposed to do more than 8 as you get close to a race if you want a true taper, but hopefully the extra 2 didn't do too much damage.  Time goes very quickly when you have company, a fun run.

I am working on a carb depletion/loading plan this weekend.  There are a lot of theories out there, one of which is that if you change to about a 30 to 40 percent carb intake the first part of the week, then 80% the last couple of days, you get a super-loading effect.  Also, supposedly if you run some sprints (6 or 8, 40 to 80 yards) the day before, you get a similar effect.  Deciding whether to experiment or not.  I also have my sister-in-law's vegetarian pasta recipe, which I ate (the pasta, not the recipe) before the Richmond Marathon.  I am thinking of making it up, freezing it and bringing it on the plane with me to eat when I get to the hotel Friday night.  I think I can get it through security if I bring enough for the TSA guys to share.

Comments(15)
Easy MilesMarathon Pace MilesThreshold MilesVO2 Max MilesTotal Distance
6.020.000.000.006.02

71F, 96% and calm.  Supposedly we had rain last night but if it happened I slept right through it.  Checked all the taper programs I could find and didn't see anything that recommends more than one day of fast running in the final week, so took it easy today, 6.02 miles in 56:49, average pace 9:26 per mile.  Either tomorrow or Wednesday I will do either 3 miles fast or 3 x 1000 fast, still thinking through that.  Then my pre-carb-loading sprint on Thursday or Friday and that is it.

My son broke up with his girlfriend.  It was a long and damaging relationship.  But one of my many personality defects is my love of black humor.  So I have been laughing inside for several days about this sequence involving his ex's memorabelia:

May the blue bucket rest in peace.  Happy first week of summer everybody.

Comments(10)
Easy MilesMarathon Pace MilesThreshold MilesVO2 Max MilesTotal Distance
4.141.860.000.006.00

68F, 78%, calm and clear.  There was rain yesterday and last night, not a lot, but the air was fresh this morning, great running conditions.  Did 3 LHR miles (9:25 average pace), then 3 x 1000 at GMP, jogging out the mile: 7:31 (154), 7:20 (158) and 7:20 (159).  Not super easy but not too much of a stretch either.  Overall 6.00 miles in 52:21, average pace 8:43.  Feeling good, but LHR speed is no longer picking up, one interpretation being that I have tapered long enough.  Probably better to go to the start line slightly tired than slightly out of shape.  Depending on how this race goes, I might go back to a 2-week taper for the next one. 

Comments(6)
Easy MilesMarathon Pace MilesThreshold MilesVO2 Max MilesTotal Distance
6.000.000.000.006.00

73F, 93% and calm.  Very nice but it got muggy fast.  Ran 6 at LHR, average pace 9:41.  Heading out on a business trip, back in Houston on Friday then off to Utah.  Taking my carb powders with me for the carb-slamming ceremony tomorrow morning, can't wait.

Comments(6)
Easy MilesMarathon Pace MilesThreshold MilesVO2 Max MilesTotal Distance
1.000.000.000.501.50

I am in Panama City attending a Central America private power conference.  More importantly, it is 48 hours out from UVM, so I'm not really thinking about power at all.  Today is my carb slam.  I got up at 5:00, went downstairs at 5:30 and asked when the restaurant opened, because I wanted to go directly to the breakfast buffet as soon as I finished.  6:30.  Back to my room and weighed myself.  155, I like these scales, I'll probably come back.  I mixed up my first batch of carb powder, answered some e-mails and went downstairs again at 6:30 and got on a stationary bicycle.  Not really smart to run outside in Central America, so I had my choice of torture machines in the gym.  I picked the bicycle on the theory that I would either injure myself on a treadmill, or I would fall off, or it wouldn't go fast enough for a VO2max workout.  Bikes are supposed to be good cross-training for runners, so I thought maybe that would work.  Nothing like venturing into the unknown 2 days before a marathon, but that is going to be the theme all day.  20 minutes to figure out how the bicycle worked, then 5 minute warmup.  Then 3 minutes all-out, basically as fast as I could go.  Last 30 seconds I threw caution to the wind.  Got a really good lactate burn out of it, which I still have.  I really hope I burned the right muscles.  Then a 5-minute cool down, and sat down and drank the first batch of carbs, 50 grams.   Nasty stuff.

I put on warmup shells and proceeded immediately to the restaurant which by now was open.  Today's menu was fruit plate, yogurt, granola with skim milk and sugar, 1 glass of orange juice, 3 glasses of cranberry juice, bagel with cream cheese, scrambled eggs, 2 servings of beans and hash browns.  As I made trip after trip to the buffet line the staff looked increasingly concerned, I saw one of them quickly checking food reserves.  I am an honored guest but not the only guest.  I'm guessing 200 grams for breakfast.  I need 700+ grams of carbs today, not sure how I am going to make it, only at 300 so far (including the second batch of carb powder I am now gagging down).  I can't eat another bite.  So that is the report from the jungles of Central America.  Can't wait to get to the mountains.

Comments(9)
Race: Utah Valley Marathon (26.22 Miles) 03:41:46, Place overall: 386, Place in age division: 13
Easy MilesMarathon Pace MilesThreshold MilesVO2 Max MilesTotal Distance
0.0026.220.000.0026.22

I think the problem was dehydration, and it was caused by an inability to process liquids or nutrients.  This has happened at all three marathons I have run at this altitude, and to a lesser extent at St. George.  I was able to push through better than those races, but it was the same old battle.  Maybe lack of sleep, maybe too much traveling, maybe too much unusual food this week -- if it was altitude I don't see the connection, because my heart rate was too low today, not too high.

I stayed in Midway last night and my brother drove his son and me to the start line.  Got a little extra sleep that way, but it wasn't much.  I ate a bagel and drank some orange juice, but the bagel felt heavy in my stomach, like it was just sitting there.  I figured it would be fine by the gun, but it turned out to be an omen.  I wandered around for a while, found Smooth and some others, hooked up with Byron and Marci, (brother-in-law and sister-in-law), and was talking to them when the gun went off.  Checked my watch and it was 6:00 straight up.  The logistics on this race have improved a lot, this is now one of the better-run races I am familiar with, definitely attracting fast runners and has the potential to grow exponentially if they want it to.

It's OK to stop reading now, but just for the record, here are my splits (no HR until third mile)

1-5:  8:25, 7:31, 7:37 (165), 7:56 (161), 8:02 (157).  First mile I realized I was too far back in the pack, but didn't mind taking it slow to warm up.  I was into a rhythm by the second mile but had to back off when my heart rate reading started to show, so fourth and fifth miles were intentionally slower.  At this point I realized I had stomach problems, but there were lines at all the PoPs, so I kept going, felt strong otherwise.  I took a drink at all the aid stations until late in the race when I knew it was coming back up.  Also took EFS at miles 5 and 10 but couldn't stomach it after that.

6-10:  7:56 (159), 7:59 (160), 8:47 (162), 8:50 (160), 7:51 (158).  8 and 9 were the hills, pretty much managed to keep my heart rate down but the pace suffered.  Still no available PoPs.  At this point I was still racing according to plan and I thought that even with a 1-minute PoP stop I could still get a good time once we started down the canyon.  Took my last swig of EFS.

11-15:  7:50 (161), 10:18 (157), 8:04 (164), 7:55 (165), 7:57 (165).  Lost 2-1/2 minutes at the PoP just after mile 11, ended up waiting, should have just pushed through to the half, where there were millions of open ones.  Mental error, but it wasn't the story of the day.  By this time I had pushed my heart rate up into the 160-165 range and was still getting sub-8 miles fairly often, but things were happening and I was getting pretty worried.  My legs didn't like the constant downhill, but that wasn’t the story either.  I just wasn't processing liquids.

16-20:  8:18 (165), 8:30 (165), 8:08 (161), 7:58 (161), 8:28 (162).  Was supposed to go to 165-170 on heart rate at this point, but was fighting my stomach pretty badly.  Felt lucky just to maintain low 8s on the downhill parts.

21-26.2:  8:15 (164), 8:34 (161), 8:50 (161) (mile 23 at Richmond was 7:53), 10:03 (155) (I think there was a hill right here), 9:18 (155), 9:08 (157) and 9:11 pace for last .37, overall 26.36 miles at 8:25 pace.  (I showed the course as .14 long, would be interested to see what others' readouts were.  If it was long I know exactly where it happened, most of the miles were exactly on according to my Garmin.)  By this point in time my heart rate was about 20 bpm lower than it would have been for a good race.  Pretty much pure agony in this stretch, I was counting down by the tenths of a mile.  I came very close to giving up and walking it in, but I was pretty sure I would throw up if I stopped so I somehow kept going.  The aqua blue finish line balloons were visible from a ways away, which gave me the mental energy I needed to finish.

There was a woman who appeared to be in my age group that I followed down the canyon, could never get ahead of her without ruining my race plan (not that much was left of it by this point), then she pulled away coming down University, beat me by about 3 minutes.  I found her afterwards and asked her as delicately as I could how old she was, as in "How old are you?"  She was 55 but didn't know how she had done in her age group.  Turns out she broke the 55-59 women's age group record by 23 minutes.  She is from Kansas, but obviously wasn't having altitude problems.  (Actually, I don't know that, she might be a 3:20 marathoner for all I know, but if she is she is probably the fastest runner in her age group in the country.  This is another reason I think it was my stomach more than the altitude.)  On the men's side, the age group record was also broken by a 14-minute margin, somebody ran 3:00 flat.  If I had run close to my projection, in the 3:17 to 3:25 range, I would have finished third, instead it was 13th.  My nephew Brian ran 3:19, which was a 10-minute PR for him.  He is off to medical school, so I'm guessing he won't be running many more marathons for a while.  Good runner.

Feeling slightly beat up this morning, but I survived to run another day.  I still have a Friday registration at Boston, so I'll probably get in anyway.  I have no injuries, and have run for more than a year now with no serious injuries.  I am thankful I can run and stay healthy, good day or bad day.

Comments(19)
Easy MilesMarathon Pace MilesThreshold MilesVO2 Max MilesTotal Distance
3.140.000.000.003.14

Hello again.

76F, 89%, SSE 4 mph.  Nice running weather this morning, slept in and it was already light when I headed out.  3.14 pi-shaped, LHR miles at 9:49 per mile.  Legs felt normal walking around yesterday so I thought it was time to get out, but they were definitely weak by the third mile.  I'll just come back slow.  It's been 5 days since the marathon, haven't really changed any of my conclusions, just a sub-par effort most likely traceable to an unsettled stomach.  My son said he tried my carb powders and they didn't set well ,with him either.  I'm going to be more diligent this summer about trying different hydration and nutrition strategies, lots of long runs in the heat.  Great.

Comments(7)
Easy MilesMarathon Pace MilesThreshold MilesVO2 Max MilesTotal Distance
5.150.000.000.005.15

81F, 82%, S 7 mph.  Pretty good running for 200 yards, then it got hot.  I checked the upcoming weather and it appears that today was an anomaly, should be 75 or below for the foreseeable future.  I ran 5.15 miles at 10:13 per mile, that was my maximum LHR speed, the extra heat slowed me down compared to yesterday I think.  Wasn't particularly uncomfortable at today's speed and distance, but it was hot, no getting around it.  Legs felt OK during the run but today they feel like I ran a full workout, not just 5 warmup miles.  I better be careful.

Comments(5)
Easy MilesMarathon Pace MilesThreshold MilesVO2 Max MilesTotal Distance
7.610.000.000.007.61

81F, 86%, S 10 mph.  Pretty nice morning out there, the breeze felt good.  Went to the Y and ran with the regular group, but they were dying on the vine in the heat.  We were supposed to go 8 but ended up turning around early and walking parts of it.  7.61 at 9:19 per mile not counting the walking.  I thought I was the guy who was in recovery mode.  At least I didn't go too hard!  Wade wasn't there, so didn't really have anybody to do a regular run with.  Started to complain about my marathon a little bit then shut up when I realized I was making a spectacle of myself.  Of the ones who had run a marathon, I doubt that many were under 4:30.  Wade and I got invited to run with a faster group, so we'll probably do that and see how it goes.  Time to ramp it up a little bit starting Monday, but not too much; I ramped up too fast after the last marathon and might have set myself back.  Temperature is supposed to return to normal next week, I hope that materializes.

Comments(5)
Easy MilesMarathon Pace MilesThreshold MilesVO2 Max MilesTotal Distance
8.000.000.000.008.00

78F, 83%, S 6 mph.  A little cooler.  Ran 8.0 miles at LHR, average pace 10.09 per mile.  Heart rate drift is dramatic after only 3 or 4 miles.

Comments(1)
Easy MilesMarathon Pace MilesThreshold MilesVO2 Max MilesTotal Distance
7.490.000.620.008.11

78F, 90%, S 5 mph.  It rained last night so I thought the air would be somewhat fresh.  Instead it was steaming off the pavement.  Started out with 6.5 LHR miles, average pace 10:02.  Even that was deceiving, because I met my neighbor Todd and started running with him at about 4 miles in.  Lost my LHR right there, because he was going just slightly faster than my easy pace.  Good to get caught up, though, he is making a charitable donation to his daughter's school which will get him into the Houston Marathon instead of going through the lottery.  Cool that they let you decide where your money goes.

After Todd veered off I contined and ran a transition 1/2 mile from 6.5 to 7, then busted out my best imitation of a 1K tempo interval.  Counterfeit all the way.  I don't bother with water on runs under 10 miles and I paid today.  I was thirsty at 6.5 and it just got worse.  Started out OK on the interval but quickly disintegrated into a blob on the pavement.  Goal was about 4:03 and I ran it in 4:15, 6:50 mile pace, average heart rate 178, which means my max was probably close to 190.  When I finished I had no choice but to sit down on the curb and feel sorry for myself.  After a few minutes I got up and did the jog of shame back to the house.  Good thing I only wanted to do one because it emptied the tank.  Misery loves company, though.  My daughter is visiting and decided to go for a run after I finished.  She was also complaining bitterly when she got back.  Something about the heat today is lethal.  If you just looked at the thermometer it wouldn't seem so bad, but I think the actual humidity, with the rain evaporating, was higher than the official reading.  At least we got some rain.

Comments(6)
Easy MilesMarathon Pace MilesThreshold MilesVO2 Max MilesTotal Distance
4.320.000.000.004.32

82F, 82% S 7 mph to start, 70F, 88%, N 26 at end.  No injury, no worries, the truncated miles are weather-driven, in a good way.  It was the same old story when I stepped out this morning, very hot and very muggy.  Then about a mile and a half in I started hearing loud noises, first a moan and then a roar, in the tops of the trees.  Almost biblical out there in the dark.  Within 10 steps the wind turned and I felt a blast out of the north.  If not cold it was certainly cool.  Weather station is posting 70F and 26 mph, but it is cooler and windier than that out there.  At first it was just the wind, then a few drops at mile 3.  At mile 3.5 I heard some thunder so distant that I thought I was imagining it.  Then everything let loose and I came scurrying in.  Thunder means lightning, which is dangerous, the one weather condition I don't run in.  We may not have mountains here, or any hills for that matter, but south Texas thunderstorms are the best, they shake the ground.  Still raining hard an hour later, hopefully they are getting a good dose in Central Texas.  Too bad really, it was nice and cool out there, but best to live to run another day -- and to do all the other things I have to do in this life.

4.35 LHR in 43:46, average pace 10:08.

Comments(8)
Easy MilesMarathon Pace MilesThreshold MilesVO2 Max MilesTotal Distance
7.840.620.000.008.46

71F, 93%, calm and cloudy.  Felt great out there this morning, the storm has passed but it isn't hot yet.  We got a very good drenching most of the day yesterday, an honest to goodness storm that will go a long way toward alleviating the drought.  Ran 6.5 at LHR, 9:56 per mile, then 0.5 transition followed by 1K at 7:04 pace (168 bpm), followed by a 0.84 cooldown to my front door, 8:01 pace; overall 8.46 miles in 1:19:56, average pace 9:27.  The tempo interval felt much better today, no disorientation at the end, on the other hand my heart rate was 10 bpm lower.  So maybe 7:00 is my tempo pace instead of 6:30 -- at least it was nice dreaming about those faster splits.  Need to find a pace I can do two or three times a week for 5 repeats without trashing my legs.  Last cycle I was running the tempos too slow and ended up with not enough speed on race day.

Comments(7)
Easy MilesMarathon Pace MilesThreshold MilesVO2 Max MilesTotal Distance
13.000.000.000.0013.00

Missed my run yesterday because of work pressures, some days there is nothing you can do, so a couple of mishaps this week on the miles leaves me quite a bit short.

This morning was 80F, 98%, calm with a very old moon, barely a sliver in the sky.  Wade and I met the "green" group at 4:30 down at the Y and I did 13.00 at a pretty good clip, 8:21 per mile, nothing faster than 8:07 and nothing slower than 8:36.  Average heart rate was 161, max 177.   I'm not sure what we are proving by running at 4:30 in the morning, hardly worth going to bed.  I had to get up at 3:30 just to make sure my GI tract was in order for the run.  There is one runner, Vivien, who needs to run early to meet other commitments, so I think that is why we are all doing it at that time.  One problem is that it hasn't completely cooled off by 4:30.  When we finished it was 75F, a 5 degree drop.

A little bit of competition in this group, unlike the slower group, who seem to thrive on not competing.  I can see both points of view, but it is fun to push and be pushed by other runners once in a while.  Eric is the fastest guy, has a 3:17 marathon under his belt, so at the turnaround he took off.  I was running with Helmut and Viven and sure enough, they chased him.  I had no choice but to go with them, since I was lost and I am afraid of the dark.  Toward the end I peeled off at the bridge and went the long way back in so I could get in a full 13.  The rest of them got about 12.8, in fact Eric faded with stomach issues.  Wade said he was only going to do 8 and turned back early, then ended up doing 11.5, he should have just stayed with us.  I felt strong in the legs but my stomach was bothering me to a certain extent.  I was using the faster pace in the heat to train with EFS, which tastes a lot like GU but not so sticky.  Managed to gag down two swigs, one at mile 4 mile and the second at about mile 9 -- probably 2 ounces altogether.  I figured out that running hard in the heat simulates the end of a marathon for me at 10 o'clock in the morning with the sun up, at least as far as stomach issues go, so now I have something to do this summer.

Time to get back to work next week.

Comments(10)
Easy MilesMarathon Pace MilesThreshold MilesVO2 Max MilesTotal Distance
10.040.000.000.0010.04

77F, 90%, S 5 mph.   Felt very hot, heart rate faded badly toward the end.  10.04 miles LHR, average pace 10:33 per mile.

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Easy MilesMarathon Pace MilesThreshold MilesVO2 Max MilesTotal Distance
7.672.480.000.0010.15

76F, 95%, calm and clear.  Better today, even though it was just as hot.  Ran 5.5 LHR then 5 x 1000 at about a 7:25 pace:  7:20 (154), 7:30 (171), 7:18 (178) and 7:23 (184).  Held up a lot better than last week, but it was not as fast either. 

Comments(1)
Easy MilesMarathon Pace MilesThreshold MilesVO2 Max MilesTotal Distance
9.960.000.000.009.96

76F, 94%, calm and clear, the sauna continues.  Ran 9.96 at low heart rate, average pace 10:19 per mile, so better than Monday.  Very fatigued at the end.  Pace at the beginning was about 9:55 with a heart rate in the low 120s, deteriorated to about 10:45 by the end.  I guess a long run in the heat is a good metaphor for getting old or something, gonna have to take more naps.

Comments(11)
Easy MilesMarathon Pace MilesThreshold MilesVO2 Max MilesTotal Distance
6.184.000.000.0010.18

73F, 90%, calm and clear.  Just a few degrees cooler but it made a difference today.  Ran 6 LHR at 9:58 per mile, then a 4-mile tempo run, splits were 7:17 (160), 7:22 (168), 7:09 (175) and 7:07 (182), average pace 7:14, maximum heart rate 188 bpm.  Overall 8:53 per mile.  I feel good after this run, interesting how much better I feel after running fast.  I think it is an indication that my aerobic fitness has declined through the last couple of training cycles.  What I really need to do is to log some serious LHR miles and do only that for a while, but I plan to wait until after SGM to start something like that.  What is also interesting is how much controversy there is over this.  For every expert who says don't neglect speed work while doing base mileage, there is another who claims that you will damage yourself running fast too often.  All  you can do is experiment with your own body to see what works.

Comments(11)
Easy MilesMarathon Pace MilesThreshold MilesVO2 Max MilesTotal Distance
135.3741.380.620.50177.87
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