For Whom the Dogs Bark

77F, 84%, WNW 2 mph.  Slightly cooler but didn't it didn't really feel like it.  Didn't run yesterday due to work pressures, and I was short on sleep this morning.  Got out at about 6:20 after doing the seminary run.  Was going to run short but once I got into it, stopping early to get to other duties didn't seem so important -- running puts things in perspective they say.  Started with 5 LHR miles, average pace 10:11, then 5 at GMP:  7:26 (160), 7:34 (168), 7:22 (173), 7:33 (177) and 7:29 (182), average pace 7:29 and maxHR 186, much better than earlier this week.  Total 10.20 miles in 1:30:16, average 8:50 per mile.  Legs felt good, finally, after resting a day, we'll see how they feel in the morning for the long run.

77F, 71%, NNW 5 mph.  Definitely better weather today, just having the wind from the north was a nice touch I thought.  Tuesday morning is forecast at 59F, but I'll believe it when I see it.  Two weeks ago I tried to do 19 miles at 8:00 per mile and ended up with16 at 8:22.  At the time I thought if I could go to 8:10 and then 8:00, I would be setting myself up for a good race in St. George.  So that meant today's goal was 8:10 for 19 miles.  Two weeks ago it was 80F and 80%, so today was better weather, but still a bona fide run in the heat.

I took EFS and set out two water bottles, then warmed up for 1.15 miles with the clock off.  Took one last drink, turned on my Garmin and set off on my 5K lap.  I stopped briefly after each lap to take a drink, and EFS every other lap, 6 laps in all.  I started out at 8:29, but overall the first three laps were a breeze, even hit some sub-8s on some of the splits.  I kept my heart rate at or under 160 through the first 10 miles.  Right at the beginning of my fourth lap the lap counter on my Garmin filled up, so I had to stand there in the dark (alone) and figure out how to clear it.  By the end of the fourth lap I was feeling it, but my heart rate was still under 170, and I was still able to hit 8 flat whenever I wanted to.  I hit 8:00 for miles 17, 18 and 19, and overall pace was 8:08 (maxHR 181), so I beat my goal by 2 seconds and I beat my previous run by 14 seconds, so I was happy about this one.  When I got to 19 miles I stopped, not one step further, and walked it in.  In two weeks I plan to try it again and see if I can beat 8.  If I can do that, I think I will have a realistic chance of getting a 3:30 at St. George even if temps are higher than average like they were last year.

After this marathon I am going to switch to something besides EFS.  I like the fact that I get calories, electrolytes and amino acids out of it, but I don't like the taste and my stomach is not a fan either.  I am getting through my runs on it, but somebody ought to figure out something that does the same thing and is a little more pleasant.

80F, 60%, NNW 25 mph.  Gusty and dry.  Decided late last night to do a 5K today, thinking there would be races spread all over town on a holiday.  There was one, in far southwest Houston, an hour from my house.  But it started late, which was good because I got a full night's sleep, and bad because, well, it didn't start until late.  I arrived at about 7:00, registered, got my bib and chip and visited the PoP, at which time I had a half hour left.  I decided I had time to run the course, so I left the starting area and jogged about 3.4 at a 10-minute pace.  They already had the aid station set up and about 5 guys offered me water as I went through it.  They must have thought I was winning.  I got back to the start line just before the gun.  With all the weight I have lost my elbows are a little sharper, so I wedged in up close to the front, the horn sounded and we were off.

The course was out and back, wind at our backs going out and a distinct downhill tilt.  Which meant just the reverse coming back.  Since I ran hard on Saturday, my plan was to do the first mile in 7 flat then crank it up.  As a result I was getting passed right and left the first quarter, but it turns out almost everybody overestimated what they could do in the heat and dry wind.  It was like I was the only guy who had been running in it all summer.  The first mile came in at 6:47 -- good thing I didn't go out fast.  I cranked it up right on schedule, and the second mile came in at 6:54.  So I cranked it up again, and the third mile came in at 7:12.  I am such a good runner.  In my defense, a 25 mph wind is a very strong headwind, and the uphill tilt coming back was no picnic, even though it was probably less than 1% overall. 

This race was a tale of the old and the young.  I had the hardest time passing a 5-7 year old girl, finally got her at the 1-mile mark and congratulated her.  She ignored me.  Then at the turnaround I saw her again, ahead of me.  I suspected fraud, but there were no shortcuts unless she got in a vehicle.  That one bugged me all the way in.  Then at about mile 2 I caught a 9-year old boy who was really fighting.  He surged past me after I passed him, but he was crying out loud with the pain.  Kids don't know that pain is OK.  I hit the accelerator and passed him for the last time and congratulated him.  He ignored me.  In the process I passed the only two old guys I saw, one at mile 1.25 and the other at mile 1.75, and made it stick on both of them.  My age division was 50-59, so I figured I had that one sewed up.  Final conquest was a beefy guy running shirtless who looked like he might be past 40.  I thought it was worth it to try to catch him, finally got him at 2.7 and he congratulated me.  I ignored him.  There was a series of tight turns at the finish and I could see that some of the folks I had passed were making a last surge, so I turned it on and finished the last .14 at a 6:24 pace.  I was a little surprised at how smooth it felt and realized I should have turned it on for probably the last 3 quarters.  I might race again on Saturday and see if I can make that happen.

I collected my breath, got a water bottle and went out and ran the course for the third time at about a 9:20 pace, finally started catching walkers at mile 2.  There was a lady on the race staff standing near the end of the course who saw me come through for the third time.  I think she wanted to charge me extra.  Also, I got the last cup of water at the aid station just as they were taking it down.  So first and last, something biblical about that.

Just as I came in they started a 1K race and a few minutes later I saw 2 twin girls, age 5-7, come in together.  The same ones.  They ran both races and they are fast.  Still not sure if one of them beat me.

The course measures 3.14, pretty close as far as these types of races go, but at my speed that is 13 seconds slow.  Didn't matter today though.  As a result of running the course again I think I missed the announcements, but I finally found the posted results and it was interesting.  I didn't place in the 50-59 group because I got third masters, first time I have ever placed in that category.  I never saw the older guys ahead of me, thought I had caught them all, but the first masters runner was 59 and the second 48, if the results are accurate.  I finished officially at 21:46 if I recall correctly, about 1 minute slower than my PR, but finished 14th overall which was in the 97th percentile, my highest finish.  The winning time was about 17:30, slow even for Houston, so the weather nailed everybody.

57F, 56% and calm.  The cool, dry weather finally arrived, it should last most of the week then back to regular temps next week, but so far only predicting average, not 10 degrees over like it has been.  I was beat up from Saturday and Monday, so I took it easy despite the good weather.  Ran 10.38 LHR miles in 1:42:57, average pace 9:55 per mile.  Very hard to get a good rhythm at first, but eventually I did.  There was no heart rate drift until the last mile, when my pace dropped by about 15 seconds.

59F, 64%, ENE 5 mph.  The superior weather continues.  Got up late and ran 10.06 miles in 1:27:10, average pace 8:40 per mile.  Started with 4 LHR miles at 9:39, then 6 x 1000:  7:30 (155), 7:19 (159), 6:58 (164), 6:45 (170), 6:52 (171) and 6:49 (174), active recovery out to the full mile after each interval.  Heart rate-wise I should have been able to go faster but legs were having none of it.  Still trying to think through that, but I think the answer is even while in the middle of a workout cycle with muscle tissue damage repairing each day but not completely, heart rate doesn't track that.  It just tracks overall conditioning.  Not sure how to take advantage of that though.

57F, 69%, N 4 mph.  More sterling running weather.  Was only going to do 4 fast today but when I got outside I realized I needed to take better advantage of this weather.  I promised myself I wouldn't go faster than 7:30, glad I was able to accomplish that.  Started out with 4 LHR, average 9:39 per mile, then 8 at GMP:  7:47 (149), 7:44 (154), 7:39 (156), 7:25 (161), 7:39 (163), 7:42 (164), 7:21 (169) and 7:22 (173), average 7:38 per mile.  I think I have figured out the heart rate thing.  Training in the heat lowers your overall heart rate for the same speed, because your body gets more efficient at cooling while sending blood to the legs at the same time, but it doesn't improve leg strength at a faster than normal pace -- that comes only through running faster (and maybe longer), which is hard to do in the heat.  So when I start running in cooler weather I have plenty of heart rate reserve (173 out of 193 on a pretty fast last mile) but not enough leg strength to take advantage of it yet.  So I am smugly sitting on my new theory until a different one comes along.

I smelled smoke this morning.  One of the Texas wildfires is within 20 or 30 miles north of my house.  The due north wind brought the smoke right into the neighborhood.  We need a hurricane.  Yep, I said it.

70F, 84% and calm.  The heat has pretty much returned.  My firm decided to be a sponsor of a fundraiser for UNCF (United Negro College Fund), Elizabeth, one of my partners, is on the board.  I wanted another 5K today anyway, kind of a do-over from Monday, but it was more of the same.  Actually a little better.  If I get credit for the whole distance I ran, I got 6:48 per mile, and my PR at this distance is 6:41.  So 7 seconds per mile slower, even though conditions at that race were pretty comparable.  Ran the course once to warm up and once to cool down, pretty boring by the third time around.

I finished third, but I am not sure how many runners there were.  At least 80 but I think more like 150.  Two younger guys beat me but I had third place all to myself, next guy in was a minute slower.  Pretty slow 5K, not sure why I am still slow after running pretty hard all summer.

Missed yesterday because of work, at the office from 6:00 a.m. until midnight, hoping to get a little better running in this coming week, it will be my last chance before a short 2-week taper for SGM.

Went to the Texas/BYU game in Austin this evening.  BYU won the first half handily, after that it was a nightmare.  At least I got a good photo.  This is the definition of a nose-bleed seat, even though it wasn't priced like it:

70F, 90% and calm.  Pretty good weather.  I was struggling over the weekend with the ankle I sprained climbing Kings Peak a couple of weeks ago, so I decided not to run hard today, plenty of that on Saturday and otherwise last week.  Went 10.11 miles in 1:40:01, average 9:54 per LHR mile.  My heart rate held through almost 9 miles before it finally started drifting and slowed me down.  Basically I was stiff and sore but otherwise in pretty good shape today.  Every car I saw this morning gave me a wide berth, this is a pretty good neighborhood to run in, even in the dark.  At least if I finish before school.  If I'm running late I encounter teenagers awaking too late from their pampered slumber, 15 minutes late for first period and not caring who is in their way.  Those guys are dangerous.

76F, 87%, SSW 7 mph.  Back to normal running conditions, so might as well do the same old workout.  Ran 4 LHR miles, pace 9:53, then 6 x 1K progressively faster:  8:02 (149), 7:31 (158), 7:22 (161), 7:09 (165), 7:04 (171 and 7:01 (175), average 7:22, maxHR 181.

Just a cell phone picture, but when I was running this morning, right after my 4th split, several large birds settled onto a rooftop right in front of me.  They are turkey vultures, 15 of them.  I obviously need to improve my running form, but at least I got a new slogan for my blog.

77F, 91%, SW 8 mph.  We will break our record high for today by about 6 degrees, these temperatures are astonishing.  I ran 10.18 miles in 1:37:26, average 9:34 per mile.  Started with 6 LHR miles, average 9:52, then did 10 x 200 sprints, except the sprints weren't very fast.  I picked a straight stretch in the back of my neighborhood that was .13 miles long and sprinted down then returned at a slog.  Slowest was 6:34 pace and the fastest 5:52, most in the low 6s, maxHR 179.  A little discouraging that my legs won't go any faster, I felt like I was flying, I was sure I was running in the low 5s, but couldn't see my watch well enough until I got back to the house.  But at least I have identified why I am not fast.  I'm certain it's because I'm slow.  I run at a high percentage of VO2max compared to most runners I know, but that pace so far isn't producing much speed.  I have started working on this and am getting some outside advice, but it was astounding to me that one of my sprints was only a little faster than my 5K pace, and slower than I had planned to be running 5Ks by the end of the year.  I will be paying much more attention to this going forward.

77F, 71% and calm.  Didn't feel less humid but maybe it was.  I ran 5 LHR miles at 9:50 pace, then 5 at GMP:  7:41 (152), 7:42 (157), 7:38 (160), 7:36 (164) and 7:37 (168).  Then I jogged for a bit and sprinted in to the house (not sure how fast) because I am carb-loading today in preparation for Saturday's long run, kind of a dry run for St. George.  It didn't work too well for the Utah Valley Marathon, ended up with GI distress which was probably connected to that.  So I'm trying again with a different powder (Carbo Pro).  If this doesn't work I'll stick with pasta for the real deal.  Got to get 700 grams of carbs today, only about 200 for breakfast so a long way to go.  Overall 10.49 miles in 1:31:01, average pace 8:41 per mile.  Have a good day all y'all running types.

71F, 70%, E 8 mph.  I am not kidding, it felt chilly this morning before I got going.  But the results from the carb loading and slightly lower temperatures were significant.  I wasn't going to run at, so as to fully check out the carb-loading effects, then decided that was dumb, the race isn't tomorrow.  I started out about the same as usual for a LHR run, then sped up and kept my heart rate down.  Mile 8 was 9:29, and mile 10 was 9:43.  Almost no heart rate drift until the last half mile.  Overall I ran 10.08 miles in 1:37:42, 9:42 per mile, all LHR.  Very little sweat, the difference was really quite dramatic.  Interesting if it carries over to tomorrow.

73F, 93%, ESE 3 mph.  Time to taper.  Ran my third hard 19-miler.  First one was 4 weeks ago, when I had to stop at 16 miles and got 8:22 overall, 163 average heart rate.  Temperature then was 80F/80%.  But it helped me set a goal of 19 at 8 flat, in two easy steps, on the theory that if I could get that pace in hot humid conditions I could do 20 or 30 seconds better if it is drier and cooler in St. George.  So two weeks ago was step 1, goal of 8:10 and I got 8:08, conditions were 77F/71%, 160 average heart rate, probably a little too easy.  After yesterday's run I was pretty sure I could hit 8:00 today and it worked out well.  I got 7:56 in high humidity conditions, average heart rate 162, so 26 seconds per mile better than 4 weeks ago at basically the same heart rate.  Temperature was a little lower than the other two runs but I think the higher humidity balanced it out.

Today was a dress rehearsal.  I did my carb-loading two days ago, using CarboPro as a nutritional supplement.  On the advice of the wise Derhammer, I got up at 2 a.m. and drank another 12 ounces of the stuff.  For a minute I thought I wouldn't be able to go back to sleep but the next thing I knew my 5 a.m. alarm went off and I was out the door at 5:30 with 7 solid hours of sleep under my belt.  I used EFS for the run, which I will do for St. George.  I switched from vanilla to wild berry, but frankly it wasn't much better.

Warmed up for 1.15 miles with the watch off, set down two water bottles and I was off for 6 laps of about 5K each.  My heart rate climbed quickly for the first 5 miles then held steady at 160 for the next 4 or 5.  Then it climbed quickly again and I was pretty much hanging on. I had nausea setting in from the heat the last quarter of the run.  I wouldn't have been able to finish a marathon at this speed, but I did average 7:50 for my last 6 miles, including 7:45 and 7:45 to finish it off.  Overall 19.0 miles in 2:30:51, average pace 7:56 per mile, maxHR 182.

Good luck to everybody running a real race today.

67F, 94% and raining.  Actually there was a bit of lightning as well, but I broke my rule and tiptoed around the neighborhood, with my neck bent at wierd angles watching the western horizon.  No close strikes so I kept going, justifying it on the basis that I was only running a little.  4.12 LHR miles at 10:03 per mile, definitely still feeling Saturday's run.  In the evening, propped up the back of my treadmill all the way to 4% and did 4 LHR downhill miles.  I haven't been doing much downhill except for backpacking and mountain climbing, which isn't nothing, but I need extra to get through SGM.  Also climbed stairs at work, which was easier than climbing King's Peak.  I should do this whenever I am coming back to the office, which is almost always at least twice a day, sometimes more.  Our firm occupies 9 floors, so that is a pretty good workout.

69F, 94%, heavy fog.  Love these new weather patterns.  Ran 4.02 in 31:19, average pace 7:48 per mile.  Warmed up 1 mile then did 3 tempo miles, 7:05, 6:51 and 6:54, which equates to a 21:30 5K pace.   There was a stray dog wandering around, large enough to cause problems.  He approached barking aggressively, but I tried to stay calm, stopped my watch and stood there until he came up.  He licked my hand and left, never saw the owner.  Maybe there is a lesson in there somewhere for us lawyers.  Never mind, not going there.  Hoping to get more TM miles tonight.

PM:  Got 4 downhill miles on TM

No running this morning, work is suffocating me.  Got home late and forced myself to run 4 downhill TM miles, 8:00 pace.

67F, 99%, WNW 1 mph, essentially calm.  Ran 1 mile warmup then 3 tempo:  7:21 (157), 7:09 (165) and 6:47 (171).  These are hard, it will be a while before I can run significant distances at these paces.

69F, 78%, NNW 3 mph.  The lower humidity made it feel much cooler than yesterday, but my legs are not in good shape.  Was too sore to do TM downhill miles last night.  My foot still hurts from the Kings Peak ankle sprain (I hope that's all it is), probably going to have to cut back the last week and lose a little conditioning to make it good enough to run St. George in a week.  Ran 8.08 miles at very low heart rate, average pace 10:11 per mile.  Wade and I are going to run a 5K in the morning.  I fully understand that that behavior is inconsistent with the rest of this blog entry.

70F to start, not sure of the humidity but it was 87% when I left the house.  Wade and I drove out to the Woodlands to run this one dollar race they hold twice a month.  They give the money away to various charities, since the sponsor running store absorbs all the overhead.  Wade and I decided we need to start giving more than one dollar.

We ran the course once to warm up, then everybody lined up just as one last guy was driving in to the parking lot.  The starter asked us if we wanted to wait and the vote was a very loud no.  We waited anyway.  My plan was to start out at 6:45 then see if I could go faster from there.  I got pretty close to that but still missed my PR by 7 seconds.  I figured no big deal, it was hotter today, but I looked it up and the last time I ran this race in May I got 20:52, 2 seconds faster than today -- and 10 degrees hotter back then, that was an 80F morning.   What the heck?!  I seem to have added zero speed this summer, really don't know what is wrong.  Wade and I were talking about it and we decided that the 3-mile warmup might be a little much, even at slow speed it probably takes some of the stamina out of us, especially when it is still a little warm.  But no matter how you slice it I am not getting faster right now.  Still having plenty of fun though, passed several pretty good runners about halfway through the race and none of them caught back up.

Splits were 6:52 (165), 6:48 (180), 6:39 (184) and 6:13 (185), maxHR 192, gun time 20:55, Garmin time 20:54, probably had a little too much left in the tank at the end.  I can tell because I didn't want to puke.  I got 7th place, same as last time.  Interestingly, the winning time was slower than last time, about 18 flat.  Even more interesting, 4th place was taken by a 60-year old woman who broke 20 minutes.  I saw her drive off in a Jeep Wrangler painted Desert Storm tan, maybe I should get one.  I love it how runners never bother to fit in.  Anyway, I can't blame my time on my age, which is a good feeling actually, there is still hope. 

Once more around the course to cool down.

76F, 92%, SE 4 mph.  6.07 LHR miles in 1:01:51, average pace 10:11.  Nothing was working very well today.

74F, 86%, SW 5 mph.  Weather felt about the same, but ran a few MP miles, trying to keep from getting stale.  Tapers are hard to get right, but I think I might be tapering too much.  Started with 2 warmup miles then 3 at GMP:  7:46 (158), 7:18 (168) and 7:22 (174).  The second two were easier than the first, but in nowise could this be considered a true marathon pace, at least in these conditions.  If my heart beats like this on Saturday it will be a long day.

I did see an armadillo though.  It's the National Rodent of Texas.  It actually ran alongside for awhile, but it soon became apparent that I was the faster mammal.  It suddenly occurred to me that there might be domestication possibilities here.  Beats a one pound fu fu dog that can outrun me.

Up all night working, no running today.

Spokane, Washington, 3.25 miles in my sister's neighborhood, about a 9-minute pace.  Finished with sprints up a hill then began carb loading.  Saw some geese in formation, fall has arrived up north.