For Whom the Dogs Bark

79F, 88%, S 9 mph.  Went with Wade to run with a different group we got an invite to.  Some fast runners, faster than us at least.  They said they were going to run 12 at 8:15, which is beyond our capabilities right now, at least in this heat.  We told them we would try to run 4 and then we would turn around and jog it in.  I got there at 5:00 and ran a warmup mile, then another one with Wade.  The group arrived and we took off, first mile 7:44, second one about the same.  I was holding up surprisingly well, but Wade is not recovered from his surgery yet, so we slowed down, not that I cared at all.  We ran low to mid-8s for the next two and kept the speedsters in sight before we turned around.  Not too bad, good to know there is a little bit of speed left.  Plus a lot of these runners slowed way down as well, we weren't the only ones feeling the heat.

PM sunshine and 90F, 55%, SSE 5 mph.  4.0 miles in 35:04, progression run, 8:46/mile, 9:19 down to 8:23, no HRM.

67F, 98% and calm.  10.0 miles in 1:38:21, 9:50/mile, 52 RHR, 140 bpm, 147 max.  Trying to keep it slow and easy this week.

PM:  95F, 33%, N 7 mph.  6.0 miles in 54:08, 9:01/mile; no HRM but felt like 170-180 at the end.  Started out OK but quickly wilted in the heat.  Last mile is mostly uphill coming back into downtown from the bayou bottom, including an imposing ramp to get up to street level.  That was hard.  Probably sabotaged my runs for the rest of the week.

69F, 100% and calm.  12.15 miles in 2:02:22, 10:04/mile.  55 RHR, 138 bpm average, 145 max.  Tried to take it slow, but I was still hurting by the end of the day.  Contemplated not running on Wednesday.

70F, 100% and calm.  Nice running weather this week.  Decided to play it by ear this morning, but when I got up I had recovered enough to run a little.  I went out and ran at a very comfortable pace, which almost equated to my low heart rate runs of a couple of years ago.  6.18 miles in 1:03:15, 10:14/mile.  58 RHR, 133 bpm, 137 max.  Was back to normal in a few minutes after the run, I'll try to get out this afternoon for a vitamin D session.

73F, 100% and calm.  Getting warmer.  10.00 miles in 1:39:14, 9:56/mile, 138 bpm, 148 max.  Ran the first 4 with Jessie, our border collie; she did fine, but certainly wasn't wanting any frisbee time later.

PM:  100F and calm, not sure of the humidity, but it is going to be a long, hot summer, perfect for my training plan.  Ran from downtown starting about 1:00 p.m..  It was very hot, but I knew from doing a couple of previous daytime runs not to take it too fast and I survived OK.  Not sure how I will feel in the morning though.  10.00 at 9:48/mile, no HRM (it gets soaked from the morning run so I don't bring it to work) -- lots of construction on the bayou trail so I had to improvise. 

I weighed 163 on the scales in the locker room this afternoon, compared to 170 after my run this morning on my bathroom scales.  I don't think I was really 7 pounds lighter, maybe 3.  I don't want to obsess about my weight, but 170 is too heavy for me to run fast, it just is -- I need good data.

68F, 100%, NNW 6 mph.  Much cooler, wind turned to the north and the air was very fresh.  Ran right at dawn and it was great.  10.00 miles in 1:41:55, 10:12/mile, RHR 52, 131 bpm, 136 max.  Possibly my first true low heart rate run in a long time -- I'm happy about my heart rate coming down, hopefully it isn't just temporary.  I could tell from a familiar kind of fatigued feeling at the end that I was burning a high percentage of fat.  Legs have felt tired all day, quite a lot of miles on them this week.

67F, 93% and calm.  Ran 13.0 miles in 1:53:53, 8:46/mile, 152 bpm, 165 max.  Then drove with my daughter and two granddaughters out to Humble for a 1-mile kids mud run, put on by Steve and Paula Boone, who also do the New Years Day marathon in Kingwood and a number of other races around here.  Had a great time and came in last.  I took Jane, the 3-year old and Jennifer ran with Kate, who is 6.  Jane is outgoing and headstrong, but hates getting dirty.  She was not happy from the first puddle, so we started going around all of them.  About halfway through she noticed her mom and sister about 20 yards ahead of us and became immediately indignant:  "Grandpa, they're trying to win! We have to make our feet go more fastly."  So I'm counting it as another slow mile, but I won't be filing a race report.

70F, 100% and calm.  Out at 4:35 a.m. for 20 slow miles in 3:17:11, 9:52/mile.  143 bpm, 161 max.  First 15 felt comfortable, joints and tendons got sore after that, still conditioning.  Trying to front-load my miles as much as I can this week, traveling the second half of the week.

75F, 98% and calm.  10.0 miles in 1:42:16, 10:14/mile.  52 RHR, 134 average, 139 max.

84F, 74%, S 8 mph.  Slept in after a late night and went out to run at 8:30 in broad sunlight, 10.0 miles at 8:54/mile.  47 RHR (a new record), 159/181, fastest split 8:26.  The sun is amazingly efficient at draining away my strength.

In Panama for work, 5.0 miles on hotel treadmill, started out a 9-minute pace but got impatient and cranked it up at the end, 7:30 for the last mile.  The TM readings were in Ks, but don't worry, I converted them to Ms.

Got on the TM at the house for 5 after getting home from Panama and right before going to bed.  Hope it doesn't screw up my run in the morning.  Highs in Panama, sea level and close to the equator, were 85F while I was there.  Upper 90s here in Houston.

80F, 88%, S 5 mph at the start.  Out the door at 4:33 for 20 easy ones, front door down to the Y and back.  It all went well until the sun came up about 7:30 for the last 5, then things deteriorated quickly, turned out to be one of the hardest 20-milers I have done.  Pretty much illucid by the last 2 miles.  10:16 per mile overall,  RHR 55, 148/164.  I reached the magic number close to the entrance to my neighborhood, about 0.8 miles from the house.  But I stopped anyway because I wasn't sure what would happen if I kept running.  Pretty beat up, I walked by a kids' water park, the kind with fountains coming out of the ground.  There were some park benches there and I figured there was a water fountain with water a little cooler than the water in my bottle.  No such luck.  There was an electrical switch on a tree nearby, but I couldn't see any valves to turn on.  Then through my delerium I realized that the switch might be to the pumps, not the lights in the trees.  I went and looked under the cover and sure enough, it had a timer.  So I turned it on and played in the water, including an overhead bucket that filled up and then drenched me.  Once was enough for that one.  After a while I felt someone watching and looked across the street to find a vigilant neighborhood guy in his bathrobe with arms crossed.  I waved but he was not amused.  I'm sure a complaint will be filed and somebody will put a lock on the timer.  Good thing there weren't any kids there, I would have had to elbow them out of the way.

78F, 95%, SSW 1 mph.  12.0 miles in 1:54:51, 9:34/mile, 53 RHR, 142/152.  Good run, could barely walk when I got out of bed but a stretching session helped and I was on my way at about 5:40.  Last few miles were in the sun and heart rate started to climb, highest single-mile average was 149 bpm, each of the last two miles.

Went out again at noon from work without a watch, 20 minutes out and 18 back, probably 9:30 and 8:30 pace respectively.  95F, 47%.  Actually felt better the second time, but that would have changed if I had tried to go 8 or 10.

77F, 94%, SW 3 mph.  6.18 miles in 1:00:12, 9:44/mile.  47 RHR, 135 bpm, 141 max.  Heart rate is starting to drop now, finally.

73F, 96%, ENE 1 mph.  10.00 miles in 1:39:51, 9:59/mile.  52 RHR, 132 bpm, 141 max.  Felt really good after this run. 

PM:  95F (100F heat index), 45%, S 10 mph.  Left work in the late afternoon, then took a phone call just as I was starting out.  It was 5:00 before I started, took it very slow, out the Buffalo Bayou trail west from downtown between Allen Pkwy and Memorial, crossing from side to side to avoid construction.  All the way to Memorial Park then around the loop and return.  Didn't have my Garmin, but according to the computer it was 11.96 miles, took about 2 hours.

On the way back I was crossing the bridge over Waugh Dr. and there was a body in the road.  He had been hit by a car.  Some of the runners around said they saw him run a red light when he got hit.  People were talking to him so I assume he was alive.  There was nothing I could add so I continued on, EMT arrived about a minute after I left, don't know what the final result was.  I've gotten to the point where I don't cross in front of any car unless the driver is looking at me, right of way is irrelevant.

77F, 94%, SW 4 mph.  Was planning to do 20 this morning but too beat up, decided to consolidate my gains and run a little less today.  I have a fast finish long run on Saturday; the goal is 9:15/8:15, 8:15 being the speed I have to run to both qualify and actually get in to Boston, as best I can tell.  So I thought I would try the 9:15 end of it.  Ran 10.00 in 1:29:55, 9:00 per mile, so a little fast.  RHR was 53, averaged 147 bpm, max 163.  Was very tired from the beginning, but my heart rate stayed low so I was happy -- we'll see what happens when I have to tack on an 8:15 second half.  Presumably the strength will come back into my legs with a little rest.

75F, 97% and calm.  10.00 miles in 1:42:51, 10:17/mile.  53 RHR, 133 bpm, 141 max.  Thought I had regressed but I compared it apples to apples against some recent runs and it was OK.

I made an appointment at a sports performance lab.  I really want to know at what heart rate I stop burning fat.  Probably a continuum but it would be nice to see the curve.  They do other stuff too, though, like lactate threshold, VO2max, HRmax.  Also something called running efficiency, which measures how much oxygen and fuel you burn to achieve a particular output.  It really isn't that expensive, should have done it long ago.  Plus the guy is English -- whenever I hear that accent I figure he is way smarter than me.

75F, 98% and calm.  Today's schedule was a fast finish long run.  Have never been able to do these very well and today was not an exception.  The plan was to do 12 at 9:15 then 8 at 8:15 -- yes, that is now my fast finish program, if I can do it I'll probably qualify for Boston and maybe even get in, so don't laugh.

First part went fine, came in about 9:13 average at mile 12.  Made a conscious effort not to speed up much beyond 9:15, though mile 12 came in at 9:00 flat.  Heart rate performed well, didn't hit 150 until mile 8 and mile 12 was 156.  But the speed wasn't there when I tried to knock it down for Part 2:  8:28 (165), 8:38 (165), 8:18 (170) and done.  WU/CD 1 mile, practiced my crawl for the CD and I'm not a tri-athlete.

Interesting part was my heart rate, it never got out of hand despite the heat.  I have run a full marathon at higher heart rates than these but couldn't sustain it today.  The problem is probably twofold: haven't really been doing many hard days, and still trying to get back into shape.  I'll try again in two weeks, there is at least some hope because I am improving right now.  If it doesn't work then I probably won't try to run the August marathon.

I set up an "aid station" with Gatorade (powder mix) and water, stopped every 5 miles.  That part of it worked pretty well.  Don't know how I am going to replicate powder in a race, though.  Maybe take my water bottle and stop to get refills, mixing it on the fly.  Not sure it is worth it but it was nice not to have stomach issues.  Overall a good week, just couldn't tie a ribbon on it.

77F, 95%, ESE 3 mph.  10.00 miles in 1:45:58, 10:36/mile.  52 RHR, 127 average, 134 max.  A true throw-back low heart rate run.

Went to a performance lab to get tested, ran about 30 minutes on the TM, to exhaustion.  I'm calling it 3 miles, top speed was 8.5 mph.  At the end they started increasing the incline until my legs turned to cement.  Top heart rate was 182, the test didn't last long enough to really max out the heart rate, as a result I didn't get a true VO2 max.  The last reading was in the high 40s, but my actual is probably higher than that.  Overall I was disappointed in the feedback I got.  My main goal was to get a fat/glycogen ratio breakdown at each heart rate level.  Turns out they were measuring something called RER (respiratory exchange ratio).  I don't know anything about it other than that, don't know if it is an estimate or a true measurement.  All I know is that the ratio sits at .71 at rest, is at .75 (15.6% carbs, 84.4% fats) at 120 bpm, .80 (1/3 carbs, 2/3 fat) at 130 bpm, .85 (50/50) at 157 bpm.  One way of reading it is that I can run at any speed I want under GMP and still burn 1/2 to 2/3 fat.  But in another way it is almost useless.  There is a lot going on between 130 bpm and 145 bpm.  The 130 to 157 bpm is two different worlds, so these numbers have little value for my training.  Still trying to figure things out. 

79F, 89%, S 7 mph.  10.00 miles, first 5 at 10:00/mile, 134 bpm.  Then 3 at GMP:  8:15, 8:18 and 8:13, then 2 CD.  Overall 9:18/mile.  52 RHR, 144/167 bpm.

PM 97F (102 HI), 39%, S 7 mph.  6.00 miles at 9:14/mile, 151/164 bpm.  Very hot run.

76F, 96%, S 4 mph.  6l18 miles in 1:00:57, 9:52/mile.  Average 136 bpm, max 141.

76F, 95%, WSW 3 mph. 14.40 miles in approximately 2:20, 9:35 to 9:45/mile.  No Garmin or HRM.  Felt about the same as yesterday, but a little faster.  I feel better tonight than I did yesterday night.

80F, 88%, SW 8 mph.  20.42 miles in 3:22:00, 9:54/mile, from my house down to the Y and back by the long route.  145 bpm average, 165 max.  Started at 4:30 and stayed under 150 bpm through the first 10 or 12 miles, then my HR started climbing in the heat and in the sun.  Ran the first half at about 10:10 pace and the second half at about 9:40 pace, last mile 9:21.  At 0.70 miles in I realized I had forgotten my liquids; my inclination in a situation like that is to bull my way through, but I realized there would be no 20-mile run today without a bottle, so I went back and got it.  Just meant that my route was a little different.  There were a few people running out of the Y this morning, but mostly quiet in the sweltering heat, not even mid-summer yet.

At mile 16 there was a guy in a small park with two large bulldogs loose.  They headed my way barking but I stopped, somehow remembered to pause my Garmin.  After a while we had an impasse, as the dogs stood there and I couldn't get through.  So I asked the guy which way I should walk and he said they were fine.  I walked up and met him and his dogs (Rye would have been proud of me).  He was Ken and he was doing some version of cross-fit.  Said he used to run 5 or 6 miles every day.  Then of course he asked how far I had run and was pretty amazed, though he shouldn't have been, judging from my appearance.  

The last 0.42 was mentally difficult.  I finished up right before the kids' water park in my neighborhood, took off my watch and took everything out of my pockets and had a nice shower, felt good to exchange salt water for fresh water. 

Much of it is heat, but I really need to get better at running this distance.  It wipes me out.  When I first started on the road back I noticed how a particular distance would be hard, then manageable as I move up to the next level.  At 20 miles, I am pretty sure I would improve noticeably if I did it two or three times a week, but right now I'm not recovering quickly enough to do that and I would soon be behind the eight ball.  It also takes at least 3 hours to do it, and I don't usually have that much time without getting up even earlier.

Hurried off to help somebody move and Wade was there.  He isn't running right now, he thinks he tore the mesh in his abdomen that was installed in a surgery in April.  He was doing fine until that happened.  He says it takes him about 2 hours in the morning to get warmed up, then he is fine for the rest of the day.  Kind of an odd thing.