For Whom the Dogs Bark

77F, 90%, calm and clear.  Another day in paradise.  Woke up very early , so nothing to do but run.  Today is an easy day, 10.04 LHR miles at 10:24 average pace, presumably a combination of heat, tired legs and lack of sleep.  Either that or I'm just a bad person.  Finished just as the sun came up.  I have to drive to San Antonio tonight to pick up my daughter at 7:00 in the morning, not sure how I am going to stay awake on the way or get my run in once I arrive.

I picked up my daughter and some friends from a church camp in San Antonio at 7:00 this morning, so the traditional Saturday morning long run was out the window.  I got back to Houston in the early afternoon and took a nap, to which I am entitled due to my advanced years.  At about 6:30 I thought I might be able to go outside and get 15 in before dinner.  As a precaution I checked the weather channel site for our zip code and it said 98F.  No thank you.  Which is a long way of saying that today was a treadmill day.

I got on the 'mill and ran for a little over two hours before a late dinner.  15.00 miles at 7 mph (8:34 per mile).  Honestly, I don't know how to compare it to street running, other than the excruciating mental aspect, but part of the mental pain was due to watching yet another Astros meltdown, inning by inning, mile by mile.  I was running about 2 machine miles per inning.  My heart rate started out at 134, almost LHR zone, and climbed very slowly throughout the run, finishing at 161.  So you would think this was a very manageable pace, and at first I thought the effort wasn't equivalent to running the same pace outside.  But by the end of the session I was nauseous and practically dead, even though my heart rate was completely under control.  I haven't been running much in this zone right above LHR, so maybe that is part of the problem.  Which is a long way of saying I don't really know how long I ran or how fast I ran it.  Just a whole new experience which I hope I don't have to repeat too often.  Hate those machines.

78F, 80%, SW 4 mph, clear and hot.  I was glad to be out running on this 4th of July morning and thankful to all those who made it possible.  In more places than not there are no runners.  Poverty, hunger and war make it an unaffordable luxury, doesn't hurt me at all to remember that once in a while.

But it was certainly hot.  24 hours ago the forecast for this morning was 71F, last night it was 73F, this morning at 4:30 a.m. it started out much hotter than that, dropped to 75F by the time I finished but it was too late by then.  The goal was to run at an 8-minute pace, so I picked out a lap which I thought was a little over 2 miles and decided to run it 5 times.  My garmin cratered a quarter of a mile in, so I was guessing.  I finished the first lap and I was already melting in the heat.  I had just read some pretty scary stuff on heat exhaustion, so not having access to heart rate data I decided to alternate laps, not too fast on the fast ones and not too slow on the slow ones.  That worked OK.  Finished 5 laps in 102 minutes by my cell phone, 3 fast and 2 slow.  Got home and measured the lap on a Google Earth application, 2.45 miles, so average pace was 8:20 per mile.  I was probably doing the fast ones right at 8:00. 

For hydration, I took a big drink every 2 laps instead of sipping away.  My stomach seemed to like that better.  Also used EFS once every two laps -- my stomach did not like that better, but I kept it down. 

We have another 100 days of this heat, probably I need to find something else to think about.

Happy holiday all.

74F, 91%, calm and clear.  Got out a little later than normal, just at daylight, coolest part of the day, but it didn't last long, was 81F by the time I finished.  12.06 miles at 10:18 per mile.  Actually slower than that because I didn't get a readout on the first mile, which is typically slow.  Kept them all under 11 though.  This was a run where I felt better as it progressed, but by the end I was slowing down quite a bit.  I went to the gym with my son yesterday and he showed me some good stuff to work on core.  I did two rounds with light weights.  Not feeling any abdominal soreness today, which is good, but it seemed to have enough effect to make my running easier this morning, like it had loosened me up somehow.

74F, 90%, calm.  Pretty good running weather today.  Ran 6 LHR miles, average pace 10.02, followed by 5 at MP:  7:27 (160), 7:22 (168), 7:18 (174), 7:26 (177) and 7:15 (182), maxHR 186, average pace 7:22.  I thought this was faster than last week's 4-mile tempo-type run but I checked and today was slower, not good.  Finished off with a 1-mile cooldown.  Overall 12.04 miles in 1:46:39, average 8:52 per mile.  I think I will wait until August to start back on hills on the treadmill, no sense rushing it.

74F, 91% and calm.  There was rain downtown yesterday afternoon, but no sign of it at my house, would really like some rain.  Weather was good for running, though.  Started with 10 miles LHR, average pace 9:58 per mile, fastest this week so I was happy about that.  Then I did 2 sets of 3x200, RI 200 then finish out the mile between sets.  Objective was to run these slightly less than 5K speed (6:40).  Converted to a mile pace, the 200s came out like this:  first set 6:26 (159), 6:14 (160), 6:07 (161); second set 6:08 (164), 5:39 (167) and 6:27 (171).  I think the Garmin has measurement problems at these short intervals, would be better to do them on a track with a stopwatch.  200 meters is about .125 miles, and if the Garmin is only taking a reading off the satellite every few seconds, then it can make a big difference if you push the lap button just after the last reading or just before the next one -- that combined with the radius of error (30 feet I think) and you have measurement problems.  Anyway, I think the 5:39 and the last 6:27 are both bogus, they didn't feel much different than the others.  I am pretty sure most of these were in the 6:10 to 6:15 range.  These speeds felt lightning quick but not long enough to create lactate problems.  Interestingly my legs felt very invigorated, though they are questioning me now.  I don't think I could run a 5-minute mile even if I had the endurance for it, it appears that I simply don't have enough fast-twitch muscles.  Anyway, it was fun and probably more valuable than quarter repeats.  I think I'll do something like this every 10 days to 2 weeks, maybe a little more frequently closer to races.

77F, 89%, calm.  Just a little bit warmer today, which was good.  With the cooler weather yesterday I was afraid that fall was arriving too early.  Ran 12.04 all LHR, 2:00:17 total, average 10:00 per mile.  I had 9:56 at the 10-mile mark, so I was a little faster today than yesterday, even though the overall average was slower.

I'm glad I am not a body builder.  My son does the gym thing every day, he is the master of the gym.  He has muscles in all sorts of non-functional places.  We both started out at about 165 this year.  His goal is to hit 200 and mine is to hit 150.  After I came in from the run this morning I found a small packet on the counter, about the size of a Kool-Aid package, the kind without sugar in it.  It says:

NAPALM

xTreme Pre-Workout Warfare Training Matrix

Plasma-Scorch Muscle Volume Engorgement Technology

Thermobaric Heat Shock Protein Deployment System

Air Strike Adreno-NeuroCore Heat Inducer

Ultra-Intense . . . Battle Raging Energy, No Creatine, No FIllers, No Fluff, No B.S. (Fruit Punch Flavor)

Two things:  I hope I didn't pay for this stuff, but don't really want to know the answer.  And I need the number for the HazMat response unit.  SlowJoe is coming to town tomorrow, I'm sure he is an expert on these battle-tested powders.

80F, 86%, calm.  A great morning for running, mainly because SlowJoe arrived to save the day.  He is on leave and swinging through Houston with his family for the weekend.  We met at the Y at 5:00 sharp -- Joe came from close to downtown Houston so he would have rolled out sometime before 4:00, amazing feat of running dedication.  The heat was miserable, not a nicer way to put it.  Plus the fast group never showed up today, so we were running with the 9:30/mile crowd, and water re-supply logistics also did not fall into place, so I was improvising finding refills.  We pulled ahead but it was a slow day and I never got going very well.  On the other hand, I got a marathon-style heart rate going, ending up in the low to mid 170s, so maybe it was all for the better we didn't go any faster.  Joe never complained about the turtle pace, but he must have been dying to go faster.  16.80 miles in 2:29:02, average pace 8:52 per mile, not counting all the stops and starts.  The highlight of the run was when I gave the Chevron attendant a soaking wet $20 bill to purchase a 50-cent bottle of water.  She was visibly ill, and wouldn't put the bill in her register.

74F, 91% and calm.  Nice morning out there, but for some reason it felt just as hot as Saturday, as my mind is starting to play games with me.  Ran 13.11 miles (strangely familiar distance) in 2:12:00, average pace 10.04 per mile.  I got 9:50 on mile 11 compared to about 10:11 the last time, was very excited about that.  Trying to control my emotions, though, it's not like I ran a Trials qualifier.

80F, 86%, SW 6 mph.  Weather was OK for 3 or 4 miles, then started to feel really hot, maybe because it was.  I ran 6 LHR miles, 10:01 pace, then planned to run 5 at 7:10, but failed.  Splits were 7:19 (162), 7:14 (171) and 7:24 (176), plus a stub split.  I stopped for water then couldn't get going again, decided to fight another day.  Ran a cooldown mile and called it a day.  Overall 10.18 miles in 1:31:50, average pace 9:01 per mile.

Things are busy around the house.  My wife is taking a Spanish final tonight, she is graduating in about 2 years, after raising 4 children and nearly done with the 5th.  She was talking all weekend about how she bombed a test she took on Thursday.  I came home last night and asked her what she got.  97.  I knew some girls like her in grade school, or at least I knew their names.  They sat on the front row with their hands in the air.  The teacher never looked at me, couldn't see that far back.  Now I'm married to one of them.

78F, 87%, SSW 3 mph.  Pretty decent weather, but legs were tired from running hard yesterday.  Ran 12.48 miles in 2:08:09, all LHR, 10:14 per mile.  I feel fine as long as I keep moving.  Sitting at work for extended periods of time is not good.  I get lots of drinks, which works out fine.

79F, 87%, SSW 4 mph.  Pretty good running weather, didn't bother me as much as it has recently.  I started out with 6 LHR miles, average pace 9:52.  When I hit that on the slow miles, I figured I might have a chance at a re-do of Tuesday's run.  I ran 5 tempo miles as follows:  7:29 (155), 7:10 (167), 7:18 (173), 7:17 (174) and 7:13 (181), average pace 7:17, so still not 7:15 or 7:10, but I decided to take it.  I then ran 3 more miles slightly faster than LHR pace, about 9:15 to 9:30 per mile, decided it felt like the Last 10K Death March (have to practice everything, right?).  All in, 14.22 miles in 2:06:39, average pace 8:54 per mile.  I took one of those last miles around the back lake in our neighborhood, which was a nice break from the road.  These are man-made lakes.  My neighbor is the chief lieutenant at a big equipment dealership.  I told him these are Caterpillar lakes, not lakes that God created.  Now he calls himself the Caterpillar god.  Sigh.

81F, 84%, SSW 10 mph.  No weather commentary today.  Ran 13.12 in 2:15:51, average pace 10:21 per mile, a 30-second drop-off from yesterday.  Possibly my worst run ever, was happy to at least accomplish that.  Actually I was happy to get it in.  Legs were tired and it was a little warmer today, the result isn't surprising.

Public service announcement.  There is a Honda Odyssey minivan parked in my neighborhood with Utah plates, so if anybody is missing one let me know.  It looks like it has seen a kid or two in its time but hasn't been mom-ed out (http://www.youtube.com/results?search_query=mom+my+ride&aq=0), and the lights are not on, so not an emergency, just let me know as soon as you can.

80F, 83%, SSW 6 mph.  We met at the Y at 4:30 for what was supposed to be a 20-mile run.  Started the run with Wade, who was only going 13.  Somehow the topic of The Woodlands 5K came up.  It is held on the 2nd and 4th Saturday every month, it's the $1 race I ran with Wade in May.  I asked him if today was the 2nd Saturday or 3rd.  He said 2nd.  I said OK I'll run 13 here then drive over there and do a 5K.  So we finished off the 13 at an average pace of 9:25, average heart rate 140 bpm, never over 145.  Wade was suffering in the heat, his heart rate went to 165, usually it is lower than mine.  I thought it was interesting that I could run so long at a heart rate that is 10-12 bpm over my LHR.  Too bad I can't run fast at that rate.  We stopped in at the Exxon station and bought water with wet money again.  Same clerk as last week.  She was prepared with surgical gloves this time.

Then I drove to The Woodlands, got there just before race start at 8:00, empty parking lot.  Today is the 3rd Saturday, somehow that was too difficult to figure out when we were running.  I thought that was a pretty clever way to avoid a 20-miler.

So to punish myself I went back out in the early evening for another 7, 91F to start, cooled a little during the run.  At first I was sweating profusely, but eventually got in the rhythm.  It turned into somewhat of a progressive run:  9:29, 8:07, 8:37, 8:29, 8:04, 7:55 and 7:54.  Average pace 8:22 for this segment.  Mile 2 is a bit faster because I did a piece of it at a 7:30 pace and got my daughter to take a video so I could look at my form.  Supposedly her iPhone takes good video but not this time.  My stride is shorter and quicker than it feels, would like to get a long smooth stride.  Also my arms are flying all over the place, which probably means I have some balance issues.  Have to try it again with a regular video camera, but glad I did this second run.  I don't like running in the evening, but it felt pretty good today for some reason.

77F, 89%, SW 10 mph.  Pretty good weather this morning, but trying to rain, which makes the air feel muggier than the official humidity reading.  Ran 11 LHR, 10:10 pace.  On the last mile I got my son Austin and his friend to video my form at 7:30 pace, worked much better than the phone camera on Saturday.  Very surprising how slow that pace looks compared to how it feels.  Austin was embarrassed standing out there on the corner with a camera, but that's what teenagers are for.  When we tried to send the video to my e-mail account we discovered it is about 270 MB for 1 minute of film.  Something screwy about that, I know video eats a lot of MBs but not that much.  We have low IT IQs.  Total 12.04 miles in 2:01:47, average pace 10:07 per mile.

Austin, 18, says he is going to do an iron man.  He is a good swimmer and a dedicated gym rat, so I think he might be able to do it.  He gets shin splints all the time which has limited his running, so he is going to have to get around that somehow.  He is leaving for college in a month and thinks doing something like this will keep him out of trouble.  I think he might be right, but I told him no bike until Christmas, when he will have a better feel for how this is going.  I'm guessing he can buy a pretty good used tri-bike from a washed out yuppie somewhere.

78F, 83%, calm but getting ready to rain, air not moving at all.  Perfect running weather, couldn't ask for better.  Walked out the front door and broke into a sweat, so no need for a warmup, very convenient.  Ran 4 at LHR, 9:52 per mile, then 8 x 1000, jogging out each mile:  7:22 (155), 7:13 (161), 6:59 (168), 7:03 (172), 7:03 (174), 7:33 (168), 7:05 (174), 7:11 (177), average 7:11 pace for each interval.  Then slogged it out to 13.

Tragedy in our office yesterday.  The copy room guy had a massive heart attack in the middle of the afternoon and never recovered.  He was talking to my secretary and just went down.  Keith had a wife and 2 young kids, humblest guy you will ever meet, about 35 years old and seemingly in good health.  It is different when a young person checks out early, harder to understand.  Everybody is shaken, I hope we do right by his family.

75F, 98% and calm.  Thankfully not 100% humidity today.  Got out late due to work issues from the night before, so ran entirely in the daylight starting at 6:30.  I figured it was 85 or 90 by the time I finished, but it was only 79, solar effect on my skin made it seem warmer than it was.  Held LHR until about mile 9 then it disappeared, could have slowed down but didn't have the patience or the time to do that, so finished up at higher than LHR.  13.17 miles in 2:15:31, average pace 10:18 per mile.  Not a good run but it is done.  I'll catch up on the other blogs soon.

76F, 95%, calm.  Humidity coming down slowly but surely.  Ran 6 LHR miles, average 10:02, then 10 x 200 as fast as I could run, which wasn't very fast.  Pacing was 6:10, 6:18, 6:20, 6:08, 5:53, 6:04, 6:05, 6:07, 6:11, 5:57, average 6:08, 200 recovery.  Then another 5 or 6 at about 8:50 pace, total 14:07 miles in 2:12:18, average 9:24 per mile, maximum heart rate 182.  I need some speed.

My workplace is somewhat Darwinian.  We have summer interns here now trying to qualify for permanent positions, presumably because there is nothing else to do in the heat.  It all started when an e-mail went around announcing that our building is putting in a free workout facility with lockers and showers.  So one of the summer interns sends out a "reply to all" which says:  "Wow, pretty stoked about this new gym. Just when I thought my deltoids couldn't get any more ripped.  If I join the frim, will you be my workout partner Shaw (by the looks of it, you might need a workout partner)?"  Shaw, in addition to being a potential workout partner, is actually a partner.  He writes back:  "There is a point every summer where a summer associate makes an unwise decision. We set the over/under this year at 4 weeks after the program started. I took the under...looks like I win."

Which ones are the deltoids again?  I'm gonna take this kid for a run.

79F, 88%, S 5 mph.  Felt hot today, maybe because it was.  Mainly though I was hung over from yesterday's run, it took more out of me than I realized.  My legs felt dead and I was getting nowhere trying to run LHR.  Unexpectedly, you need fresh legs to run slow.  So I gave up and sped up and it turned into a progression run.  Felt much better after that.  1st mile was 11:03 (124), last mile 8:22 (161), maxHR 164.  Total 13.25 miles in 2:02:49, average pace 9:16 per mile.  Happy to be done with this one.

80F, 85%, SSE 4 mph to start, 84F at finish.  Came close to not going out today when I saw it was 80 yet again.  Like continuing to go out is enabling behavior -- the running gods see no reason to change the weather if people keep going out.  But I needed my run, so out I went.  The group was meeting at the Y at 5 for 18, got there on time ready to go, none of the fast runners showed.  Just as everybody was leaving I realized I needed to make yet another trip to the facilities.  Locked at the Y, so in my car over to the gas station, started out alone 10 minutes later and that is how it stayed the whole run.  I met the group coming back after I had gone a little less than 6 miles, which means no way did they do 18.  But they were altogether and going even slower than me, so things worked out OK.

I didn't feel good at all this morning, some stomach bug, but when I started running I felt surprisingly good, so decided to do 20, just not that fast.  Probably could have done it faster but by the end of the run I was glad I hadn't.  Had the EFS thing going and lots of water stops.  20.07 miles in 3:06:56, average 9:18 per mile, fastest mile was 8:43 and the slowest 9:38 other than the first 2.  Heart rate started out high 130s and ended up low 160s.  Since I was alone I took some of the off-road routes I used to run when I thought I was going to be a trail runner, was nice running them faster than I used to.

Then we took all our kids and our granddaughters to the circus.  I would say the circus was the preferred activity today.

78F, 91%, SW 5 mph.  Felt cooler this morning although it wasn't really.  I think the day off did wonders, all LHR today but more importantly I held my heart rate through most of the run, had a 10:06 average going at mile 11.  Altogether 14.09 in 2:23:35, average 10:12 per mile.  I really should back off this week, but I am probably not going to get a 20-miler on Saturday, plus I leaving the following Friday to go backpacking in Wyoming, so I don't want to put in too many easy weeks in a row.  I'll stick with high mileage for a few days at least, especially since I feel pretty good right now.  Happy Monday all.

78F, 90%, SW 4 mph.  It rained heavily yesterday late afternoon, and the air this morning seemed heavier, even though the official humidity reading is not so different from other days recently.  This run felt like running a marthon, complete with muscle cramping afterwards.  I started with 6 at LHR and they went well, average pace 9:49.  Then ran 5 at 7:25 average:  7:27 (157), 7:22 (165), 7:27 (170), 7:28 (173) and 7:19 (178).  To put things in perspective, I did this run at 7:17 10 days ago and planned to run these at 7:10 today, simply could not go any faster.  When I finished the MGP splits I had an overall 8:38 pace going.  I stopped to compose myself, then did 3 more with the objective of staying ahead of the 8:38 guy.  How about 9:38.  Final results were 14.11 miles in 2:06:08, average pace 8:56.  I was beat up enough that I locked my office door at work and took a nap.  Withholding judgement for now, but not happy about today's results.

79F, 88%, SSW 7 mph.  For some reason it didn't seem as warm today, even though official conditions haven't changed much.  I think the extra wind helped.  Ran 14.15 at LHR, 2:23:02, average pace 10:06.  Best thing was that until mile 10 I had a 9:54 average going, which was a pleasant surprise after yesterday.  After that the heart rate went south, but I didn't sweat it.  Actually, I was sweating quite a bit, but it was a miracle that I could even run today -- yesterday felt like running a marathon.  Even though my times were bad I must have gotten some benefit from it.

80F, 85%, S 5 mph.  There was a cloud with textbook lightning in it to the south about mile 6 of the run this morning, just as the sun was coming up.  Kind of pretty, thought it would cut the run short but no such luck, the cloud was dissipated by the next lap, probably melted in the heat.  The plan today was to warm up a couple of miles then try to do 12 at 8:00, just to mix it up a little.  I had second thoughts when I saw the temperature.  The forecast for every morning in the last 10 days has been between 74 and 76, but actual has never been below 78.  Sure enough, got up to 80F this morning and was about to bag the whole idea and switch to something reasonable, but decided what the heck, I ain't skeerd.  

Then the Garmin cratered on my way out the door.  It just didn't hold its charge, though it seems fine now.  But I knew exactly where the 2-mile mark was, so I ran to that, checked the time on my cell phone, and then did a little less than 4 laps on a 5K plus a little bit loop.  I tried to guess at an 8-minute speed and as things turned out I was pretty close.  Mapped out the loop on a Google Map application when I got back, and turns out I ran 12.40 miles in 100 minutes net, after subtracting out 3 water breaks (counted the seconds, they were about 15 seconds apiece), so about 8:04 per mile.  I'm calling it MP miles more because of the effort than the speed.  Then jogged home the remaining bit.  Pretty happy with this run.  I recall running a time trial half marathon at about 7:58 pace last August or so, temperature about 66F if I recall, although I can't seem to find the blog entry.  I am pretty sure it happend, though, and I think today was a better run, maybe quite a bit better, just don't know quite how to measure the heat factor.

We love to complain about the heat down here, but it really isn't too bad once you get used to it.  On the other hand, if you stay out too long you might need a doctor:

77F, 94%, N 3 mph.  Very tired legs whole run, but got through it.  14.08 LHR miles in 2:27:00, average pace 10:27 per mile, heart rate was no longer controllable after mile 11.  Right about then I stopped at the golf course water station on the return trip and they had taken the coolers back to the shed for re-filling.  So I ran the last 6 miles with no water.  Interesting experiment, not particularly distressing, but my sweat rate dropped and my heart rate climbed faster.  If I had had to run 10 that way it would have been a problem, but no problem this morning.

77F, 94%, ESE 1 mph.  Met Wade at the Y and we ran for a while with the group, but we both had to get back early so we turned around after 4 and headed back.  There was a distant bolt of lightning just as the group started off, but everybody soldiered on.  So did I, even though it is against my rules.  At the turnaround it started to rain heavily and the air freshened up quite a bit.  Lightning never got close to us.  We were already soaked so the wet part of it didn't matter.  We ran 8.37 miles in 1:18:53, average pace 9:26 per mile, average heart rate 135, at times dropping down into LHR range.  MaxHR was 145.  In other words, the slow slog yesterday, painful as it was, allowed my legs to recover.  They have recovered even more today due to the low miles.  Spent the rest of the day getting ready for our backpacking trip coming up on Friday, more painful than running.