For Whom the Dogs Bark

60F, 99%, (DP 60F), NNE 4 mph.  2 wu, 8:25, 7:56, then 3 tempo miles:  7:19, 7:23, 7:02, then 3.5 at old MP, about 8:00 give or take.  Overall 7:49/mile, HRmax at 176, may be getting a bit faster, need to up the tempo to 4 miles soon.

66F, 98% (DP 66F), NE light breeze. Got out early and did 4 fast ones before meeting up with Wade. He has been doing weights and cross-training lately, which slows his running. Fast ones were 7:24, 7:27, 7:22 and 7:15, HRmax 177, had a 7:41 average through 6, but the last 4 were in the 9:00 range.

I'm going to try something a little different through this training cycle, ending with Dubai in January: Keep mileage low during the week, with one medium long run that includes a workout, one other workout, then as long as possible on Saturday, 20 to 30 if there is time. Then filling in with lots of quality gym time. I think I can maintain stamina that way and maybe get my sustainable marathon pace well into the 7s.

75F, 95% (DP 73F) calm to start, then a rainstorm and 65F, 95% (DP 63F) to end, wind from NE 5-10 mph. Got soaked about halfway through and almost called it a day, but the rain wasn't getting any worse and there was no lightning. Within a couple of miles it eased up and almost stopped by the time I was done.  

I got only 4 hours of sleep last night with an extended work day, so felt pretty lethargic to begin, 9:29 on the first mile. But things gradually got loosened up and warmed up, and I was hitting mid-8s easily, then low 8s as well. Finished up with 1.5 at workout speed, 7:34 for mile 12 and 7:36 for the last half mile. 152 bpm average, 175 max. Overall 8:21/mile, good run.

68F, 95% (DP 66), NNW 3 mph to start, 66F, 95% (DP 64), NE 10 mph to end.  Started at 4:16 a.m., thought I might do 30 but not in shape yet to do it at this speed.  First mile was 9:15, then 8:33, then mostly under 8:30 after that.  One drink at 12 miles, at which point I knew I wouldn't get past 20.  Rain started at about mile 14 and feet were starting to blister up a little bit, which doesn't usually happen to me.  I hit 8:36 on mile 14, then 8:33 on mile 16, both times I wondered if I could finish at speed. But I did.  Final time was 2:49:37, so 8:29/mile.  Average HR 152, max 167.

53F, 89% (DP 50F), ENE calm breeze. Warmed up 2 quickly, then 4 fast ones. Trouble on the first fast one, came in at same time as warmup (about 8:00) even though I definitely sped up, raising my heart rate by 7 bpm  I can't explain it. Garmin may be breaking down. The remaining splits came in faster, ended at 7:07 for mile 6. Overall HR 152, 171 max. Back to the gym this morning after a long layoff.

60F, 98% (DP 59F), calm.  Just slow miles today, 6.3 LLHR at 11:09 pace, 121 bpm. Legs pretty sore from weights yesterday, after a long hiatus.  Happy it wasn't any slower than it was.

74F, 95% (DP 73F), S 3-5 mph. Very warm again.  Warmed up for one, 8:51, then planned to do 10 at 8-minute pace.  The first one came in unexpectedly at 7:41 so I went with it, ended up with 6.5 at marathon pace, averaged 7:52/mile including the warmup mile.  Wade ran the last 2 with me and then I re-set the Garmine and we jogged it out to finish 10.  Overall probably a better run than Monday.

63F.  Recovery run, 8:49/mile, 139 bpm average, 144 max, then quick session at the gym, legs and core.  On my way to work by 7:15, right in the heart of the traffic, as I had a 9:00 meeting downtown.  By the time I parked and walked to the conference room it was 9:00. Low oil prices are not slowing down the Houston economy, at least yet.

Legs are quite sore this week from weights, which means it is way past time to get going on that again.

59F.  6.29 more recovery miles. Legs are starting to feel better, but didn't want to wear them out today, as I have a long long run tomorrow. 8:39/mile; average HR 143, 152 max.

54F (DP 41F), calm and dry. Perfect weather. Set my alarm for 3:30 and was out the door at 3:49. Ran 11.8, mostly in my neighborhood, then ending up at Wade's house; ran another 11 with him; then 2.2 back to my neighborhood. Felt reasonably good throughout, told Wade at mile 15 that I was probably going to make the full 25 goal, but promised him I wouldn't take a step further, and I didn't.

First split over 150 bpm was mile 16. At first I thought it was an improvement over my last long long run, March 28; but upon checking I see that made it through 23 that day before breaking 150. Weather on the two days was almost identical, but overall pace then was 8:33 and it was 8:25 today. At today's pace I would have finished the marathon in 3:39:01 compared to an actual marathon time of 3:44:37 on March 28. Not a completely equivalent run, though, because the last 4 were fastest on that one. Last split today was 8:00. Average HR 149, max 164. 3:30:21 total running time. So today was good for the first long long run of this training cycle. Mentally it was OK, probably some lingering benefit from last spring. More importantly, my legs feel like they survived it well enough -- I think I will be ready on Monday to run a workout.

66F, 95% (DP 65F), NNE and calm.  Ran one warmup, 8:32, then 3 as hard as I could, 7:37, 7:17 and 7:10, got the Monday slows, not sure if I will ever break 7 on a mile again. Then met Wade and ran two more "cooldown" miles, which he ran at 7:44 and 7:42, then rested a bit and ran 2 more actual cooldown splits, 8:42 and 8:39. Finished with stretching and weights.

76F, 91% (DP 73F), SE to SW, 8-15 mph. Weather getting ready to move in, but it should be gone by tomorrow and cool again. There is still a lot of heat left in the gulf, because temperatures soar whenever the weather comes in from that direction.

Recovery run during a break in the weather, 6.0 in 51:59, 8:39/mile. Don't have any heart rate data right now, sensor isn't working. Hopefully just a battery.

52F, 98% (DP 51F), calm and clear. Watch is all messed up, it told me 7:33 for the first mile. I ran harder the second mile and came in at 8:03, which puts the first mile at 8:19. I re-set it at what I knew was the 2-mile mark, by then I was running hard, though there was never a time in this run where I really took off, just gradually sped up.  So I ran a couple in the 7:40 to 7:45 range, then 7:31 and 7:11, then cooled down at about an 8:20 overall pace. Average pace for the run was 7:57, would have thought it would be faster given the good weather and a nice recovery run yesterday. Maybe it was, I had no metrics out there today that felt reliable. Finished with stretching and weights.

49F, 97% (DP 48F), calm. Amazing to run in the 70s and the 40s the same week. Got to bed early and woke up early but rested. 9.2 miles, 10:18/mile, 122  bpm, a LLHR PR, previous best was 10:19.  I was at 10:22 at 6 miles, so it was a good run.

51F, 95% (DP 50F), calm. Ran a warmup, 8:46, then 5 x 1K, but my watch measured the first one long.  Not sure what is going on with it, but I think when I turn it on inside it gets very confused and takes a while outside to sort itself out.  Splits on the watch showed 8:04 (151), 7:33 (154), 7:28 (156), 7:17 (161) and 7:06 (166).  HRmax was 172. Finished with stretching and weights.

Long again tomorrow, not sure what the weather is going to be like, but right now it looks warm and wet. Whatever.

64F, 89%, (DP 61F), calm, then gusty and raining off and on. Intended to go further than this, but I'm not going to run slower than 8:30 and I started having a hard time holding that pace, so I called it a day at standard long run length. Mainly due to working hard yesterday and lacking sleep, plus the temperature was certainly not ideal this morning. 2:49:59 total time, 8:30/mile, 146 bpm average, 158 max, but that was only because I sped up the last 2 miles to get the overall time I wanted. Until then I was holding steady at 151 in the latter miles. Right now, it is a leg thing, not a heart rate thing.

There are several running groups in the area and they all converged on my neighborhood this morning. People are figuring out that with streetlights, wide streets and cautious drivers, this is a good place to run. Not a lot of trails around here. It was interesting seeing some of the groups moving very slowly, lots of runners carrying three or four bottles of various liquid concoctions. But it seems to be a quiet revolution taking place. People everywhere, all shapes and sizes, are starting to understand the benefits of running, and that it doesn't matter what speed you are running or how much gear you want to haul around. Didn't see any old guys though, I seem to have that category to myself.

35F, cold, calm and clear. Only 2 days after a failed long run due to high temps, beanie and gloves weather this morning. Another 5 x 1K workout, better this time. Missed the first split, but the others were 7:13 (154), 6:59 (159), 7:01 (163) and 7:00 (165), max 170. Finished with stretching and weights.

48F, 82% (DP 43F), calm, weather shifting to the east. LLHR, 6.0, 10:32/mile, 120 bpm. It will be hot again by Thanksgiving if the forecast is to be believed.

66F, 94% (DP 64F), calm from NW, 30° warmer than Monday, probably even warmer tomorrow. No reason to care, though. 1 mile warmup, then 10 x 400 with 400 rest interval. Slowest 7:15, fastest 6:32, HRmax 177. Overall pace was 7:55. Cooldowns were between 8:10 and 8:30. I have a very narrow "hot" band -- not that much difference between a brisk jog and 5K pace.

Stretching and weights.

73F, another hot Turkey Trot in The Woodlands. Ran this time with two daughters and two granddaughters, we had a great time. Goal was 7:10/mile, got 7:13/mile, so pretty close considering the heat. The old guy in the Daisy Dukes was there, he shows up for every Woodlands race and he is in my age group, so every time I have to re-establish my dominance. He got off the start line ahead of me and I couldn't find him for 3 miles. Finally spotted him and the hunt was on. Passed him at mile 4.5 decisively and that was that. Good thing, too, because unbeknownst to either of us we were fighting for the third age group spot. I beat him by 15 seconds. Second place was a few seconds ahead and first place was about a minute ahead, so the winner was fast but not discouragingly fast. 150th overall, just barely in the top 10%. I ran a 10K in early April as a Boston warmup. This one was somewhat comparable given the temperature difference. Splits were 7:20, 7:02, 7:09, 7:23, then 6:56 for the stub. HRmax 184, average 175. I have hit 193 bpm at this race under similar conditions, so I think I need to work on the top end quite a bit more. It is exhausting up there.

Here are the happy runners; pink was the color of the day, but my son-in-law didn't get the memo.

71F, 95% (DP 69F), calm breeze, WNW. Planned to go long this morning, but I am beat and slept in. Even 6 was a chore. 1 wu at 8:59, then 5 at about MP, 8:01/mile, last one at 7:50. HRmax 165, 148 average.

50F, 96% (DP 49F) NNW 7 mph and raining off and on. Mostly light sprinkle, but not comfortable with the wind at this temperature. Ran 10.08 in my neighborhood, 8:28/mile, 141 bpm average, 147 max. Then drove to Memorial Park and met SlowJoe for 4 trips around the main loop, as he was in town for Thanksgiving. Great catching up with him but I'm afraid the run didn't do him much good, as we averaged 8:56/mile. He was very kind to hang out that long at my pace. HR was 144 average, 156 max. We called it a day at that point.

51F, 97%, NW calm breeze. Got out early and started ticking them off. Met Wade at about mile 9 for 5, then kept going until 20. 8:28 average, HR at the end was 148, 150 max. Good run but a little bit unrecovered from Saturday. Feel tired tonight.