For Whom the Dogs Bark

Same route as Saturday, but at the end I ran back up the hill.  Couldn't run it all the way, some of the grades were just too steep.  I would walk until my heart rate got down to 155 then run again until I red-lined.  So ended up about 4 walking sessions of 1/10 mile apiece, otherwise the total distance would have been closer to 12.8.  Probably worked too hard on this run but it isn't like I'm saving myself for anything.  12.43 miles in 1:59:51, 9:39/mile, 154 bpm, max 179.

Staying in a hotel in Reno, 6 miles on the TM at 5.5 mph, just trying to recover.

77F, 94%, WSW 3 mph.  Back in Houston.  Got up early after getting in late last night.  6.13 miles in the morning at low low heart rate, but no Garmin, it was dead because I never charged it during the vacation.

PM 6.0 miles on the TM, starting SGM hill work.  1st mile flat warmup at 6.0 mph.  Then downhill 5% grade at 6.7 mph for 2 miles.  Then uphill for 1.75 miles, starting at 3% grade working up to 7%, speed  starting at 5.7 mph working up to 6.7.  Then 1.25 downhill 5% grade, 6.7 mph up to 8.0 mph.  Didn't wear a heart rate monitor, but I'm guessing 170 bpm max.  Not much of an offering to the running gods, but (i) I am old, (ii) if I do this consistently over the next 4 weeks it will make a difference, and (iii) my name is Flatlander.

Didn't get a weather reading, but felt about the same as yesterday.  6.05 miles at LL heart rate, 12:39 per mile, 120 bpm/125 max.  Even at this bottom-end heart rate I am usually about 45-50 seconds faster.  I got a resting heart rate before the run and the lowest it would go is 62, about 10 bpm higher than normal, so I am either in steep recovery mode or something is haywire with my body.  I'm opting for the former.  My legs felt fine but they obviously are not.  My left foot felt OK during the run but it hurts when I sit down then get up to walk around.  It needs active recovery.  So I guess I am pretty beat up but I feel fine and have no problem running so far.

PM:  6 more on the TM, 1 mile WU, 5% downhill for 3 at 9:00 pace, 3% uphill for 2 at 10:00 pace.  Not quite as intense as yesterday, but doesn't need to be.  SGM is not a target race for me this year, I'll pretty much train through it, but hoping the TM work will at least let me take advantage of the downhill and to prepare for Veyo.

74F, 100% and calm.  Same run as yesterday, 6.05 miles, 12:12/mile 120 bpm,125 max.  RHR was down to 57 this morning, which explains the difference in pace.

74F, 96% and calm.  Ran to Wade's house and picked him up, did 12 and then a few more on my own.  Very hot for some reason.  Stopped at the splash pad in my neighborhood.  17.00 in 2:43:12, 151 bpm/173 max, 9:36/mile.

74F, 97%, ENE 1 mph.  8.04 miles in 1:40:14, 12:28/mile.  LLHR, 121 bpm, 126 max.

PM 6.0 on TM, up and down.

75F, 96% and calm.  6.06 miles at 12:19/mile, 121 bpm, 128 max.

PM 6.00 on TM, 5% down, 3% up.

73F, 98%, NE 1 mph.  Waiting for the weather to break, still too early in the year.  5.32 miles in 50:35, 9:31/mile.  I have a severe left hip problem, first time for this injury.  I can run on it a little bit sporadically, but if I try to do too much I can barely walk the rest of the day.

Brief shakeout run, testing out my hip.  3.33 miles in 30:43, 9:14/mile.  Hard to tell what is going on.

74F, 98%, NE 4.  6.07 miles at LLHR, 12:33/mile, 120 bpm/127 max.  PM 6 on TM at very easy pace, no incline.  I have started medicating after the run in the morning with large ibuprofen doses; it takes down the swelling in my hip, gets me to the next run.  Didn't take it after the PM session and it worked out fine, but very sore in the mornings.

76F, 97% and calm.  No break in weather yet.  Went for a full 12 with ibuprofen afterwards and it worked out OK.  9:28/mile.  158 bpm, 172 max.

74F, 100%, NNE 3.  Very sticky out there.  If you haven't run at 74F dew point at sea level you have no idea.   6.00 miles,12:54/mile at LLHR, 125 bpm, 129 max.  RHR 62.  HR data shows I was feeling the effects of yesterday's run.  Also very little sleep, never good despite what they say.  If RHR is elevated then there is that much less heart rate reserve to work with.  Won't affect you unless you are maxing out, and then it definitely puts a cap on what you can do.

PM 6 on TM, tried one mile at 3% downhill.  Worked OK, and ibuprofen is working OK. But probably too late to do anything at SGM, lucky if I break 4 hours the way things are going.

76F, 97% and calm.  12.00 miles in 12:12:17, 11:01/mile.  Ran LLHR for 7 miles then 5 at MP + 20:  8:38 (9162), 8:33 (171), 8:27 (178), 8:36 (183), 8:49 (187), max 189 bpm.  Astronomical heart rates for very anemic speeds.  Ibuprofen for hip, it feels fine.

77F, 1005, E 5 mph, intermittent rain.  It was sweating, not raining, more like water dripping off the ceiling in a sauna.  Ran 8.04 miles at LLHR, 13:08/mile, 122 bpm, 128 max.

72F, 100%, N 9-13 mph, rain off and on.  Supposed to be thunder and lightning this morning as our first "cold front" moves through, but it never materialized and I was able to get the run in, which was pretty important.  Woke up at 2:20, good practice for SGM in two weeks.  Finally got up at 4:00 and was out the door at 4:25.  Ran 20.35 miles:  .16 WU, then 15 at 9:18 (153 bpm, 166 max), all I could manage in the cruddy shape I am in right now, then finished with 5.19 at 10:14 per mile.  Drank Gatorade made from powder mix every 5 miles, plus water at mile 15.  Felt like I had run a lot harder than I actually did, not good.  Injuries seem to be OK though, second day in a row with no Vitamin I.  My upper left glute felt like it was going out at about mile 11, but it was just a cramp, changed my posture a little bit and it went away.

Pretty good miles this week, but it is a good thing this race is a gimme.  For the first time in several years I am worried about cracking 4 hours.

73F, 57%, ENE 5 mph.  Not that I woke up eagerly, but at least I was anticipating 63F this morning.  That is what the forecast was when I went to bed -- completely off and it doesn't look like we will get anything in the 60s this week.  I have seen voodoo queens who are more reliable.  The consolation prize was the lowest humidity I have seen in Houston.  My legs were quite tired and slow but the low humidity kept my heart rate down.

I was out the door at 4:25, ran down to the Y and back for another long run -- not really back to back since I took Sunday off, but kind of felt like it.  Pace was 9:44, 24 seconds slower than the fast miles on Saturday, but I only went 15 then.  Plus my heart rate toay was 147 average, 157 max, so things were more in control.

74F, 91% (DP 72F), calm.  The cold front never materialized, even though the Weather Channel website keeps predicting low 60s -- we haven't even reached high 60s yet and I don't think we will on this weather cycle.  I need to get my own met tower.

Last night around dinner time I started running a fever, had to bundle up just to keep from freezing.  But I took two aspirin, after a minor drama finding the bottle:

My wife claims it was on this shelf, but I never saw it, still don't.  Then hit my pillow at 9:15.  Woke up at 5:15 feeling fine, shrugged my shoulders and went out for my planned recovery run.  It was my best LHR run in as long as I can remember:  6.00 miles in 1:12:05, 12:01/mile.  118 bpm, 123 max, 11:38 (120 bpm) on the last mile.  RHR was 55.  All this after doing two 20s in 3 days.  Last week I did 3 LLHR runs, they came in at 12:33, 12:54 and 13:08, all at higher average heart rates than this morning.  My wife was a little bit ticked when I got back, she was up wondering what I was doing.  I shrugged my shoulders.

I have no explanation, I'm just giving up.  I should quit looking at a watch, quit checking weather reports, quit doing slow days, quit doing fast days, just run as far as I can as hard as I can every day.

This morning a woman who is out jogging pretty often was running with her daughter, looked to be about 12, big smile on the daughter's face.  That works on so many levels.  Their dog made a run at me from their garage a few mornings ago, but I'm going to overlook that.

66F, 94%, N 1 mph and clear.  Unexpectedly got cooler weather this morning after complaining for a week.  Another very early start, ran 20.55 miles in 3:06:47, 9:05/mile, average heart rate 155, max 174.  Similar route to Monday down to the Y and back, but heart rate about 8-10 bpm faster, not bad for the extra speed I gained but not close to what I once could do.  Closed out the last couple of miles at about an 8:50 pace, so I think I am at least in the zone to break 4 hours.  Not great but better than where I was 10 days ago.  I'll probably shoot for 3:45 to 3:55 on race day, but a lot will depend on how things develop during the race, especially miles 8-20.

I sprained my left ankle on a rock in the dark at mile 11, stumbled along pretty badly for about a quarter of a mile but eventually it either went numb or got loosened up.  It seemed like a pretty bad sprain at the time and I am still hurting somewhat, but I don't think it will affect race preparations.

I decided to shut down the long runs after today.  I did 3 in 5 days and they were just what I needed to get back in shape after my last race and ensuing hip injury, but they have done their job; anything more might make me stale, at least if I ran them hard.  Based on my almost-no-taper experiment, I have six more training days, then carbo-load on Thursday, then on the plane for Las Vegas on Friday and drive to St. George.  Then run it.  For the next six days I'll probably try to tune up by doing TM up and down, speed work and running in the afternoon heat for solar effect.

66F, 100% and calm.  Very tired legs, but they warmed up after a couple of miles.  6.03 miles at 12:13 pace.  LHR run, 119 average, 125 max.  Other than the first mile, these felt about the same as Tuesday.

PM:  5.2 on TM, uphill and downhill.  Tried to keep the slopes modest (3% down, 2% up) given my recent hip injury which I attribute to this kind of running.  But on the last mile, a downhill lap, my hip started to hurt the same as before and I quit immediately.  Took a big ibuprofen and went to bed, hoping for the best.  Even if I can run level, if I can't run downhill then SGM is going to be a big problem.

72F, 94% and calm.  Warming up a little bit but I don't care anymore.  By the time I get into it after SGM it will definitely be cooler.  Ran 1 mile WU then intended to run 5 at GMP (optimistically 8:45) minus 15 or 30.  First two were 8:17 and 8:15, then my Garmin went dark, exactly at 3:00; not sure if it was coincidence or some sort of a programming issue.  I tried to maintain the same effort through the last 3 miles -- on a hunch I turned the Garmin back on for the last tenth or so and it lit up as if nothing had happened.  I maxed out my heart rate at 184.  It was about 160 after mile 3, so I am thinking I was likely in the 7:50 to 8:00 range for the last 3, but really not sure.  Took another Ibuprofen after I finished and so far my hip is behaving.  But the injury is definitely there.

Noon:  87F, 67% (DP 74F), back out for some sunshine miles, 6.20 at 9:15 pace, HR a little lower:  156 bpm average, 175 max.

76F, 94%, SE 3 mph.  Ran 4.05 a LLHR, 12:12 per mile, 120 bpm; then joined my daughter who is visiting for another 6.05 at 9:20/mile, 158 maximum heart rate.  Garmin is acting up, may run SGM without it just to see what happens, but not sure I have the guts to do that.  Legs are very tired today, before and after running.

74F, 97% (73 DP) and calm.  1 mile warmup, then 5 x 1K at 7:30 to 7:40 pace, jogging out each mile, so about a 5K pace for the repeats, at least given my current conditioning.  I have a sore throat and various related symptoms and was feeling it on these intervals, legs did not feel strong.  I hope I recover by this weekend.  My watch was turning on and off and is now completely dead, I'll try to figure it out, but it is starting to look like my adventurous "no Garmin" experiment for SGM is turning into a necessity, no time at this point to get it fixed.