For Whom the Dogs Bark

April 20, 2024

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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
12.500.000.000.0012.50

76F, 92% (DP 74F), calm. Warming back up. Out very early for another 12.5 at LLHR, 2:19:08, 11:08/mile. Nothing much going on in this run, a bit irritated that I am slower this week. 

Saw an interesting McMillan article about tapering, which says some things I have always believed. The gist of his view is: two-week taper, not three; don't back off much in terms of time (10 - 20 minutes/dat first week, 20-30 minutes second week); don't back off at all in terms of frequency or intensity, maybe even up the intensity a little bit without actually going to race speed). He calls it peaking instead of tapering. My own view is that tapering probably works best in the three weeks after the race; my body at least needs the rest, but rest slows it down temporarily -- don't want to do that going into a race.

Comments
From Yasir on Tue, Aug 04, 2015 at 11:12:26 from 99.20.240.157

sorry I cant see your upcoming races on the left what are you tapering for im sure you gonna rock it the way you have been training.

From I Just Run on Tue, Aug 04, 2015 at 13:49:00 from 108.178.73.170

With my little experience in racing I believe a shorter taper is better for me. I actually like to run some faster stuff the couple of weeks before a marathon. I've done it the other way and always feel very sluggish throughout the race.

From SlowJoe on Wed, Aug 05, 2015 at 19:06:11 from 45.18.50.53

Good article, thanks. Reinforces some of my beliefs...

From Tom K on Wed, Aug 05, 2015 at 20:27:39 from 174.58.54.215

I seem to remember you did a 20 miler a couple of days before a race a while back. You're like the anti-taper!

Yasir's comment makes me ask - Are you going back to Richmond this year?

From Dan on Thu, Aug 06, 2015 at 15:38:06 from 108.59.8.217

Nice article and agreed! I did a 3 week taper once and it was clearly my worst marathon. I like the intensity bit. Nice Running!

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