For Whom the Dogs Bark

Anthem Richmond Marathon

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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
161.7237.392.500.00201.61
Easy MilesMarathon Pace MilesThreshold MilesVO2 Max MilesTotal Distance
10.100.000.000.0010.10

55F, 100% and calm.  The matchless weather continues.  Ran 10.10 miles in 1:26:18, 8:32/mile.  First mile 9:33, last mile 8:10, but mostly in the 8:24 to 8:33 range.  Planned to run at 9 flat, so I probably ran too hard.  But I can't ignore the overall average number glowing on my Garmin in the dark.  Sounds like a brewing disaster for the marathon.

Comments(3)
Easy MilesMarathon Pace MilesThreshold MilesVO2 Max MilesTotal Distance
10.000.000.000.0010.00

59F, 100% and calm.  Met Wade and the group at the Y at 5:15.  They were doing 15 but Wade and I only wanted 10.  8:40 average for the run, felt very good.  So far so good on the taper.  I missed yesterday after waking up with a huge sore throat.  It has been bugging me all week and flared up badly yesterday -- couldn't get in to see a doctor because since I never go I am in the new patient category and can't just slip into an open slot.  Chiros forever, I would never hear that from them (wait, I have 5 doctors in the family, I may need to revise that).  It wasn't much better this morning, but if I missed today then by Monday it would have been the fourth day since I ran, which doesn't work for a taper, nor for any other running program that I am aware of.  I got up this morning at 1:30 and took aspirin but it didn't help, just a rough night, was almost a relief to get up at 4:30.  I felt much better after running, but I will be wasted tonight.  The warmer temperatures felt good, prevented me getting the chills. 

Spent too much of the morning on letsrun.com reading indignant comments about the NYC Marathon cancellation.  Probably the right decision, but admittedly done in the worst way possible.  Most runners could have cut their losses by more than half if they had cancelled two days earlier.  Not sure how they were going to pull it off anyway.

Comments(4)
Easy MilesMarathon Pace MilesThreshold MilesVO2 Max MilesTotal Distance
6.002.000.000.008.00

65F, 100%, W 5 mph, very foggy.  A little bit warm this morning, but I wasn't doing anything big.  Got my first good sleep (7-1/2 hours) since acquiring a sore throat, definitely on the downside of that one, just in time.  Ran 6 at about an 8:32 pace, then sped up for the last 2, 7:30 and 7:31.  Altogether 8.0 miles in 1:06:21, 8:18 per mile.  I am scheduled for a few Yassos in the morning, but monitoring my legs closely this afternoon and tonight.  I took a nap this afternoon that felt good.  I am actually more afraid of losing conditioning than having slightly fatigued legs.  I think most taper regimens make me lose conditioning, but I would love to hit it just right.

I waited too long to get a hotel in Richmond and all the NYC Marathon spillovers snapped up the rooms.  I will stay with my brother, no big deal, but I was looking forward to having a hotel at the start line.  I think it is huge being able to walk out the front door and line up.  Weather forecast is 39F for Saturday morning.  2 years ago it was 35 at the start line, but this will work just fine if it holds.  Wouldn't want to see 55 at the 8:00 start, but anything in the low 50s or lower should make the temperature a non-factor.

Comments(3)
Easy MilesMarathon Pace MilesThreshold MilesVO2 Max MilesTotal Distance
1.000.002.000.003.00

50F, 72% and calm.  Met the group at the track for a short workout.  2 laps warmup, then 4 x 800, then 2 laps cooldown.  I did the last one too fast, 2:58, still feeling it a little bit today (Wednesday).  Kinda proud of it though.  Last week I broke 90 for the first time on a 400, and did it for 2 laps on this one.  But I didn't run on Wednesday morning as a result, just to be safe.  Still 60+ hours to go, so I think I'm fine.

Comments(2)
Easy MilesMarathon Pace MilesThreshold MilesVO2 Max MilesTotal Distance
2.000.000.500.002.50

50F, 92%, E 5 mph.  Ran 2 warmup then 0.5 at 5K speed, finishing at 1K speed.  Carb loading today.  Richmond forecast is slowly warming.  Low 40, high 68 now, so it is already warm enough to be comfortably over 60 by the end of the race, although the humidity is somewhat lower.  I wish they would start it at 6:30 instead of 8:00.  I would probably do comparatively better in the heat in terms of finishing percentile because of training in that stuff, but it won't be conducive to a PR.  By Monday they have a low of 58, so it could be worse, and very well might be.  It's the trend I don't trust. 

Enough whining.  I was in the low 8s this morning before speeding up, and my heart rate stayed under 145, so much better than a couple of months ago.

Comments(4)
Race: Anthem Richmond Marathon (26.22 Miles) 03:41:51, Place overall: 948, Place in age division: 25
Easy MilesMarathon Pace MilesThreshold MilesVO2 Max MilesTotal Distance
0.0026.370.000.0026.37

Well, not a good day, but not a disaster either, and I'm surprisingly comfortable with it.  By mile 18 I was ready to pull out of my next two marathons and retire.  I may still do that.  Everybody I have talked to thinks it is an anomaly, but I honestly don't see myself running to try to get faster after Boston unless I improve significantly.  The running doesn't take a lot of time out of my schedule, but it is taxing mentally.

I flew to Richmond yesterday and stayed overnight with my brother, who was entered in the half.  He has been training for over a year without any fuss, but when I got here I discovered he is an excited runner, this was the first time he ran the half as a goal race.  He is in the next age group down.

My brother's wife fixed a very nice pasta dinner, so I felt completely ready this morning, but it was not to be.  There was also an 8K, which started at 7:00, then the half at 7:30 and the marathon at 8:00, which makes the marathon completely vulnerable to heat buildup later in the morning.  They should have reversed the order.  Unless you are under 3 hours it is already 11:00 by the time you finish.  I was shivering at the start line, it was only 38F, but by mile 7 I could already feel the heat.  Probably mid-60s by the time I finished.  Shouldn't have been that big of a deal, but it was today.

I started in between the 3:30 and 3:15 groups.  The front of the marathon was very crowded because a lot of NYC marathoners came in for this one.  That was OK, though, because the first two miles came in generally on pace.  When my HRM kicked in at mile 3 it was showing 170.  I know from experience that is too high, but (i) I averaged 169 at SGM, the last marathon I ran, and (ii) I didn't really know if this new HRM was measuring the same as my old one.  This one came in the mail on Wednesday and I wasn't entirely sure it was accurate.  I felt good so I went with it.  Went through the half in 1:42:25, in pretty good shape especially since there is a lot of downhill in the last 10K.  But by then I was starting to get a little tired and my legs weren't driving like they were earlier.  Pace had already slowed and it gradually slowed down for the rest of the race.  By mile 16 I was feeling quite fatigued and by mile 18 I wanted to quit.  It wasn't an aerobic thing, my heart rate tracked my pace exactly, dropping to 147 by the end of the race.  If I am running a good race, my heart rate builds all the way to the end.  I ran out of glycogen, nothing more than that, and the heat meant that I wasn't absorbing water or electrolytes.  (The EFS tasted especially bad, I'm simply not going to take it again, even if it means permanently slower times.)

But I had no intention of pulling another Hartford, so I kept going.  I was praying from 18 to the end, not for more strength but for the ability to run through it.  I might have actually finished under 3:40 or close to it, but I got hamstring cramps twice in the last two miles and had to stop until they subsided.  But the prayer worked, I was able to keep going somehow, though I was almost delerious when I finished.  There was a very long finishing chute and I got water but somehow missed my medal.  Since I was convinced this was my last marathon, I asked my brother to take my bib and go back to get my medal.  He had to talk to a couple of people, a lot of the NYC marathoners were not guaranteed to get medals, but he came back with one, even though he was walking around on gimpy legs too. 

I started to black out about 5 minutes after I finished, so I sat down on the grass and eventually threw up.  Felt better after that but my legs continued to hurt a lot.  They still hurt tonight.

So it wasn't a pretty marathon, but the experience of running that last 8 miles will be with me the rest of my life, longer than a PR would have been.  My brother ran 1:52 for the half, which put him in the same 20th percentile as me.  I think it may be time to pass the torch, but I'm still thinking. 

Despite everyone's encouragement, I think there may be something wrong.  Have been running well this year, even though my miles are not quite as high due to sickness, traveling and one bad injury.  But the training felt different coming into this marathon.  Those 3 hard long runs were very telling.  First one at 8:00 went well, but not the next two.  It's like there is no distance left in my legs.  But maybe it was just a bad day.

Splits are as follows (women and children, please close your eyes):  7:43, 7:39, 7:31 (170), 7:41 (170), 7:39 (161), 7:45 (169), 7:44 (167), 7:47 (168), 7:33 (166), 7:48 (166), 8:14 (168) (long uphill), 8:03 (166), 8:02 (167), 8:03 (164), 8:03 (164), 8:25 (166), 8:39 (165), 8:52 (162), 9:11 (158), 9:17 (157), 9:30 (156), 9:37 (155), 9:38 (155), 9:38 (158), 10:48 (153) (cramp #2), 9:12 (147).

Comments(14)
Easy MilesMarathon Pace MilesThreshold MilesVO2 Max MilesTotal Distance
5.080.000.000.005.08

Forgot to write down the weather data.  Finally got out for some miles this morning, thought I would run 10 but wasn't feeling good after a couple of miles so I quit at 5.  5.08 miles in 46:42, 9:12 per mile, 144 bpm.  Very much a recovery run.

Add Comment
Easy MilesMarathon Pace MilesThreshold MilesVO2 Max MilesTotal Distance
15.260.000.000.0015.26

36F, 100%, calm and clear.  Took yesterday off and met Wade and the group at the Y at 5:45.  Weather was great and everybody was in a festive mood.  They were on me real bad about my Amazon jungle Jingas, and for complaining about a 3:41.  I stopped at McDonalds for a GI break and instead of running on everybody waited.  When I got out they were all loudly complaining about the wait and telling me to hurry up if I ever wanted to get faster.

We turned around at 7.5 when my knee started to bother me.  Until then we had an 8:30 - 8:45 pace going.  I think the twinge must be a leftover from the marathon, I haven't had knee issues for at least 3 years now.  It hung around for a while then gradually eased up toward the end, but we slowed down dramatically.  15.26 miles in 2:21:54, 9:18/mile, so not a good run.  The way it works right now I feel good to start but have no back-end strength.  I'll try to get back into decent mileage next week but I'll try to keep it slow for a while.  Wade's heart rate this morning was 16 bpm lower than mine.  He took off on the last mile and ran 7:20, he is very much a cold-weather runner.

I feel like I need miles.  In no race this year have I felt slow.  7:30's at Richmond were almost effortless for the first 6 or 7 miles.  The last 8 weeks before my taper were 59, 63, 83, 70, 60, 69, 50 and 55 miles, which seems not high enough.   Oddly enough though, I checked it against previous years and I was actually higher for this time of year than I was then, even though I had significantly more miles overall in the last two years than I will get this year.  It is possible that I can still PR, but I am going to have to step up my game.

Comments(2)
Easy MilesMarathon Pace MilesThreshold MilesVO2 Max MilesTotal Distance
10.000.000.000.0010.00

43F, 100% and calm.  10.00 miles in 1:28:05, 8:49mile., 148 bpm.

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Easy MilesMarathon Pace MilesThreshold MilesVO2 Max MilesTotal Distance
10.000.000.000.0010.00

50F, 100% and calm.  10.00 miles in 1:25:19, 8:31/mile, 153 bpm.

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Easy MilesMarathon Pace MilesThreshold MilesVO2 Max MilesTotal Distance
0.000.000.000.000.00

Nada, work pressures today.

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Race: GE Run Through the Woods (5.02 Miles) 00:39:22, Place in age division: 12
Easy MilesMarathon Pace MilesThreshold MilesVO2 Max MilesTotal Distance
1.005.020.000.006.02

About 55F, we left the house at 6:45 to drive to the Woodlands for an 8:15 start.  Misjudged the parking place badly and ended up running a mile to pick up our packets.  A short trip through the POP and we were lined up for the start.  I was pacing my daughter Jennifer who delivered a baby 4-1/2 months ago.  She thought she could do 8 flat, I thought she could do better.  We started out at about that pace, but the last mile was low 7:20s and she finished with a 7:46 average.  She has a long stride that eats up the ground.  When she turned it on into the finish I couldn't keep up.  My two sons also ran the 3-mile version and did fine.  Wade and Linda were also out there, along with various others.  Good morning and the run felt just right.

Here is a photo of the two of us.  (Ignore the interloper at the front, he didn't know to get out of the way.)  We saw the camera just in time and managed to force smiles.

Comments(4)
Easy MilesMarathon Pace MilesThreshold MilesVO2 Max MilesTotal Distance
10.000.000.000.0010.00

55F, 100% and calm.  Getting ready to rain today, but the weather held.  Managed to eke out 10 miles but my legs didn't feel too great -- takes a long time to get that marathon out of the legs.  8:49 pace.

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Easy MilesMarathon Pace MilesThreshold MilesVO2 Max MilesTotal Distance
15.002.000.000.0017.00

50F, 48%, NNW 8 mph.  We had rain come through yesterday and it cleared everything out.  This morning was cold and windy.  The website said 50F, but I think it was actually low 40s.  I felt cold throughout the run.  Got to the Y at 4:45 and ran 4 miles before meeting up with the group at 5:30.  They were running 13.  Wade had run from his house and alreay had 7, this is one of his 2 20-milers getting ready for the Kingwood Marathon on January 1.  I had problems holding any kind of a pace today.  Anytime I hit 9 flat I considered it a hard mile, it was kind of discouraging.  Then coming in the last 4 miles it was like the rust fell off and I got my legs back.  So the last two I took off, in a manner of speaking, 8:00 and 7:49.  The whole run was 2:32:46, average 8:59/mile, 145 bpm but 162 and 168 on the last two.

Comments(2)
Easy MilesMarathon Pace MilesThreshold MilesVO2 Max MilesTotal Distance
15.200.000.000.0015.20

63F, 100%, SSW 6 mph.  Quite warm today, relatively speaking.  I didn't think it would affect me and I don't think it did, but I wasn't able to run the planned workout.  I wanted to do 20 at a 9:00 pace, but my legs simply couldn't withstand that distance today.  I quit at 15 when the pain started to get bad enough that I was concerned about injury.  Overall 15.20 miles in 2:23:29, 9:26 per mile, 144 bpm/150 max.  Some of the last miles were over 10:00, hard to believe I could still run that slow when putting out any sort of an effort.  My heart rate dropped to below 140 on the last mile, so it wasn't an aerobic issue, just tired legs.  Very surprising after not running on Sunday.

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Easy MilesMarathon Pace MilesThreshold MilesVO2 Max MilesTotal Distance
8.002.000.000.0010.00

56F, 75%, NNE 8 mph.  Out the door at 4:10 to beat a rainstorm, weather from the north coming back in, pretty good running weather.  Ran 10.0 miles in 1:27:30, 8:21/mile, 151 bpm/167 max.  Last two were 7:49 (164) and 7:53 (165), kind of difficult but not that bad.  Night and day from yesterday but no real explanation.

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Easy MilesMarathon Pace MilesThreshold MilesVO2 Max MilesTotal Distance
16.000.000.000.0016.00

41F, 100%, N 1 mph.  Pretty much fantastic weather today.  I left gloves in the mailbox and found that I needed them after the first loop, but after that I was not uncomfortable.  Ran 16.00 miles in 2:20:17, 8:46/mile, 143 bpm/153 max.  Despite the great weather, I don't think it really explains the difference between today and Monday.  If Monday had been a heat-related issue I would have had an elevated heart rate at the end, but it was the opposite.

Comments(4)
Easy MilesMarathon Pace MilesThreshold MilesVO2 Max MilesTotal Distance
10.000.000.000.0010.00

36F, 100% and calm.  Saw the temperature, panicked and put on two shirts.  I was sweating like a redneck at a spelling bee after one loop, so I went to short sleeves and no gloves, froze the rest of the way.  Didn't feel too good to start, stride felt short and clompy.  But things smoothed out and I had a good run.  10.00 miles in 1:22:53, 8:18 per mile, 148 bpm, 166 max.  Last two miles were about 7:50.  So a little faster than Tuesday at a little bit lower heart rate.  If it was 20F out who knows what I could do.

Comments(2)
Easy MilesMarathon Pace MilesThreshold MilesVO2 Max MilesTotal Distance
17.080.000.000.0017.08

58F, 100%, ENE 3 mph.  Out the door at 4:23.  Felt great the first mile or two then it felt too warm.  Really didn't affect me though.  Ran 17.08 in 2:28:57, 8:43/mile, 145 bpm/157 max.  Nothing fancy, just pounding them out.  But 40 seconds per mile better than Monday, HR only 1 tic higher and temp only 5 degrees cooler, so something good happened to me this week after Monday.

So we have this guy in our neighborhood who rides a very tall unicycle every morning.  His head is at least 10 feet off the ground and he doesn't go much faster than me.  I have no idea what the training theory behind a unicycle is, I suspect there isn't one.  He is always out no matter how early, I have seen him at 4 a.m., as far as I know he rides all night, searching for holes in our neighborhood security I suppose.  He very pleasantly says hi every morning, but I am not fooled.  I have my eye on UnaTed and I will turn him in if anything happens, before he turns me in. 

Comments(3)
Easy MilesMarathon Pace MilesThreshold MilesVO2 Max MilesTotal Distance
161.7237.392.500.00201.61
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