For Whom the Dogs Bark

38F, 100%, calm and clear.  No complaints about the weather this week, nearly perfect.  I ran 20 again because I won't be running tomorrow.  Couldn't make myself do another LHR run as long as yesterday, so I sped up and it was more fun, though my legs are feeling it now and I am not clear as to the purpose of running much in-between speed like this, especially after doing the same thing last Saturday.  I went out very early because all of a sudden I am self-conscious about my wardrobe.  (Maybe Rye can suggest some new colors?)  So I finished shortly after dawn.  Ran 20.15 miles in 2:51:02, average pace 8:29 per mile.  A little slower than Saturday, but I tanked it a little because Joe is in Abilene.

63F, 93%, SE 12 mph, cloudy and trying to do something, unsuccessfully.  Just a warm and muggy morning, pretty typical even for this late in the year.  They never last long this time of year, and all the lows next week are being forecast in the 30s, along with some moisture and wind, so I didn't mind being comfortable this morning even if it was a little warm.

After traveling yesterday I got in late-ish and had a nice dinner at a restaurant with the family, but it did put me to bed a little later than I planned.  I was originally going to get up very early to run down to the Y and run with Wade once I got there, but I slept a little longer, drove instead and did the first 12 with him starting at 5:30, thinking I wouldn't do much more after that.  We went out at a pretty good clip with Eric, another runner in the group who is targeting 3:15 at Boston next year.  After two miles he sped up and we stayed at the same speed, maybe a little slower, ended up averaging 8:25 for the 12. 

Then I chatted a bit, tanked up on water and went back out.  Pretty stiff to get going and the re-start first mile was 8:37, but I kept pushing the issue and the second one at 7:47, at which point it was game on and I decided to do a full 20.  Pretty tired toward the end but I did the next 8 at a 7:47 average, including the slower first mile.  Overall 20.01 miles in 2:43:38, average pace 8:11 per mile.

I need to stop talking about my no-injury streak.  The topic came up today during the run, and sure enough about 15 minutes after I finished running my right achilles started complaining.  I have it iced now and I think it will be OK, but this happens every time I brag about how healthy I am.

Went out the door at 4 a.m. ready to get started on my week and was met by a thunderstorm.  Scurried back in and went to work.  Ended up running 10 on the treadmill while watching MNF, not a bad tradeoff to dodging lightning bolts in the rain.

37F, 95%, NNE 7 mph.  Ran 8.07 LHR miles before the seminary run, average pace 10:16 per mile, not too good after running late last night.  Went to work and ran from downtown to Memorial Park, around the loop and back, using the new workout facilities (i.e., shower) in our building.  About the same temperature as this morning, total run late this afternoon was 12.36 miles according to the computer.  I ran it by LHR feel, but don't know my pace or how long it took because I left the Garmin at home and forgot to check the time when I left.  Felt kind of sloggy toward the end, but not too bad.  Ran under the same homeless person bridge that Joe and I ran under a week ago Saturday.  Still nobody there, but it was almost dark and there are bats under there.  Wind was very heavy and cold.

28F, 81% NW 7 mph.  Air very heavy and cold.  Bundled up with double layers and either the cold or my clothing slowed me down pretty good.  Ran 9.12 LHR miles before the seminary run in 1:36:00, 10:32 per mile, one of my slower paces in recent memory.  No afternoon run.

27F, 80% and calm.  With no wind and lower humidity the conditions were much better today.  Still way bundled up, but didn't feel as cold.  Ran 10.95 LHR miles in 1:50:52, average 10:08 per mile.

PM:  9 on the TM just before bed, then slept like a baby.

46F, 81%, E 4 mph and cloudy.  Back to regular winter running weather.  Felt a lot better, either because of no long pants or warmer temperatures, not sure which.  Ran 10.15 LHR miles in 1:39:34, average pace 9:49 per mile, finished up before the seminary run, which meant that I started very early.  It was me and the lady dropping papers, that was it for the street life in my neighborhood.  A large owl flew in front of me and settled into the top of a tree.  Later on I heard him hooting from across the lake, it was pretty cool, hope he found a rodent.

48F, 62%, ENE 7 mph.  Met the group at the Y and ran with Wade and a 50+ guy named Dave who just ran 3:39 at Dallas White Rock last weekend.  He was stretching his legs out.  We did 13.20 miles in 1:52:06, average pace 8:30 per mile, average heart rate 148 bpm.  Wade averaged about 140, he is really responding to this cool weather, more than I am.  We ran with Dave until mile 11, had about an 8:45 average, then Wade took off and I followed him.  Ran a 7:30 then a 7:15, eventually caught Wade.  Felt good, and I still had some reserves left, which felt even better.  Then went to the church tonight for a Christmas party and ate too much sugar -- so I broke even for the day.

48F, 62%, ENE 7 mph.  10.20 miles in 1:38:28, average 9:39 per mile.

64F, 100%, SE 13 mph.  Warm, humid and windy.  Ran 10 at 4:00, did the seminary run then 10 more.  20.05 miles in 3:10:52, average 9:31 per mile.  Ran first 10 at LHR, about 10:10, then sped up for the last 10 to about 8:45 to 9:00 pace.  Then worked all night and went to bed just in time to turn off my alarm.

54F, 92%, NNE 8-17.  Cooling off, but my Garmin battery was dead so I didn't get an accurate distance.  Based on where I ran it was about 11 miles; tried to keep it slow but I think I might have run too fast at times.  Work has been brutal, plus I have travel coming up first half of next week.  It is Chicago, not sure how much I can run.  I don't even own a trench coat -- isn't that what you wear in Chicago?  Then traveling again on New Years Day.  Hard to keep the routine going.

51F, 89%, NE 10 mph.  The temperature seemed lower and the wind heavier than officially.  Was planning to meet Wade at 4:45 to run to the Y and meet up with the group.  My alarm went off as scheduled, then the next thing I knew it was 4:30.  Luckily I was able to get Wade on his cell so he wasn't standing in the cold waiting for me.  Left the house at 4:50, met Wade at 5:05 and we proceeded to the Y for a 5:50 start running faster than we intended, had 7 miles by the time we got there, just right for a well timed visit to the facilities.  We met up with two other guys, Mike and David and the four of us were quickly back out for another 4 or 5 before Wade and I headed back to his house.  Left Wade there at mile 14 and ran to my neighborhood and finished the last miles here.  20.05 miles in 2:51:09, average pace 8:31 per mile, maxHR 168, aveHR 154. I managed to speed up a little after I left Wade, down to 8:09 on the last mile, but I have all kinds of cramping in my calf today, like I ran a marathon instead of a medium-paced 20 miles.

On the way to the Y we ran into a guy who had two young german shepherds with him -- loose.  They would just play as long as we were walking but would want to bite whenever we started running.  He was yelling at them to no avail.  Finally another runner came from the other direction and it was his problem.  About two minutes later we met a group of 20 or so runners coming up out of the Y, I bet that was interesting when they found the dogs, but there was no blood or yellow tape on the trail when we ran back, so maybe it all worked out.

Not sure, but I think I'm getting old.  Wade's heart rate was running 7 to 10 bpm less than mine this morning, a year ago it was the other way around.  Part of it is him getting better, but my LHR pace has not improved during this base phase, for which there is only about 4 weeks left.  Wade thinks it is stress and lack of sleep, and that may be part of it, but not the whole story.  I ordered some books to see if I can figure things out.  If I have run a lifetime PR already, so be it, but not conceding anything quite yet. 

53F, 86% and calm.  Got out early, still in Houston, ran 10.13 miles in 1:44:17, average pace 10:17 per mile, not a good run, probably too little sleep.  My wife was up when I got back, demanding to know what I thought I was doing, good question.  Then caught a 7:20 flight to Chicago and was in meetings by 10:00, so the week was off to a fast start even though I ran slow.

Treadmill miles only this morning, schedule is very heavy.  6 miles at 10-minute pace at the hotel.

More treadmill stuff, but less time this morning, I did the first mile at 6 mph and ramped up 0.5 mph each mile, last mile was 8.5 mph (7:03).  It wasn't easy, but my legs felt strong, was feeling pretty happy all day about this progression run, maybe the long slow miles are actually going to have a payoff.  Got back to Houston late at night but stayed up even later looking at my new heart rate books that came in. 

I went out early this morning and it was raining with thunder, so I slunk back inside and drove meekly to work.  Finally got on the TM tonight and finished up 10 just now.  It has been a tough week, family is starting to arrive for Christmas, everybody will be here by tomorrow night, the house will be rockin'.

47F, 83%, NNW 8 mph.  Good running weather but not a good run.  Clint thinks I had fatigue left in my legs from running 10 late Thursday night and he is probably right.  Beats some of the apocalyptic diagnoses I came up with.  I ran 18.36 LHR miles in 3:14:35, average pace 10:35 per mile, 131 bpm.  Each mile was slower than the previous one, starting in the low 10s with the last at 11:01.  Pretty discouraging but I finished it and went to work.

46F, 85%, NNE 16 mph.  Didn't want to go out this morning, but finally drug myself out at 5:45 after promising myself I would quit at 10 if I still wasn't feeling it.  The plan today was to run 20 at my old BQ pace, just didn't know if I had it in me after yesterday's drag-a-thon.  Ran the first one in 9:23, then 8:36 and 8:20, so I was in the zone, then miraculously ran into Dave and Keith from the weekend running group.  They were already in mile 11 of a 20-miler, so I invited myself to run with them.  Keith stopped for a bathroom break and I left Dave in his neighborhood at mile 10, average pace at that point was 8:42 and it was a huge boost having company for the first 10.  I picked it up a little on the way back, trying not to run too hard, and ended up with an 8:35 average, exactly 2 minutes per mile faster than yesterday.  Overall 20.09 miles in 2:52:31.  I was no less tired than yesterday, running this speed exercises a different system than LHR runs, that's for sure.

It was great running weather, lots of runners out and all in a good mood.  I was in an even better mood because they were all slower than me -- is that proper?

Merry Christmas all you great bloggers!

46F, 93%, W 5 mph.  Ran 10.10 miles in 1:40.22, average 9:56 per mile.  It's now Friday night and I don't remember anything about this run, good thing I wrote it down.

33F, 93%, ESE 2 mph.  10.07 miles in 1:40:08, 9:57 per mile.

PM 59F, 55%, S 4 mph.  9.28 miles.  Ran it from work, kind of hard but don't know how hard.  Didn't have a watch or a heart rate monitor.  Ran from downtown along Buffalo Bayou to the corner of the Memorial Park loop and back.  In the Memorial Village area there is a running/biking/swimming store, so I stopped to buy body glide.  They had everything on sale and were trying to sell me more stuff.  I finally pointed out my sweaty condition and reminded them I was on foot.  They laughed and let me go.  My old stick was down to tiny bits.

Early a.m., ran 10.18 miles in 1:43:26, average 10:09 per mile.  Forgot to write down the weather.  Took my wife's parents to the airport.  Last night we had 15 people at the house, but they are leaving quickly now, Christmas is almost over.  That's all.

70F, 56%, SE 3 mph in the late afternoon, close to 60F by the time I finished.  Kind of a reverse run, started out in broad daylight and ended up so dark I couldn't see my feet.  This run was nice, never thought 70 could feel so comfortable.  I was actually cold by the time I finished.  The air was very un-Houston like, almost smelled like running in Utah at the end of the day, except the air was heavier.  This is my new favorite running weather.

This week has been pretty hit and miss running-wise.  We have been in a death march at work for the last 10 days, trying to get a deal closed by 12:30 this afternoon.  We have had that deadline for about a week, and we finished about 5 minutes early.  Spent the afternoon paying property taxes, figuring out income taxes, finishing off church contributions, generally getting ready for a long business trip that starts on Sunday.  Feels good to be done with that deal, but now I'm jumping into another one.  There probably won't be much running for a couple of weeks, but that might be OK.  For whatever reason (this is not a whine) my body is not responding to training right now, in terms of heart rate at least.  But I feel great when I run -- very confusing. 

Heading to Huntsville in the morning for a trail run with Wade.

Oh yeah, I forgot, 10.20 miles in 1:42:32, average pace 10:03 per mile.

50F, 89%, calm and heavy fog.  Wade and I drove to Huntsville State Park with the object of running a lap of the Rocky Raccoon 100.  We are planning to pace D. Crockett in about a month when he runs the real thing, so it seemed like a good idea to check it out.  We got there just before daylight and puttered around a little bit until it got light.  The sun never broke through the fog, so the weather was nothing to complain about.

This trail is soft and well-marked, but has roots sticking up almost the entire distance.  For an old klutz like me it was impossible to pick up my feet on every step -- I went down twice, stubbed my toe badly twice and got a mild twisted ankle once, so I have battle scars.  (This afternoon I was taking a quick nap waiting for Clint and Becky to arrive at the airport, and everytime I would drift off my foot would catch a root and I was falling all over again until I woke up, so counting those I fell a total of 7 times today.)  Wade had one close call but he never fell.  There were several other runners out there doing the same thing (running, not falling), one couple was running the trail like it was a track.

I ran in my Jingas, curious as to whether they would do for trail running.  They were OK, but I wore an old pair with thicker soles, and the soles were coming off by the time I finished.  Off to the landfill for those shoes, I'm going to have to figure out something else, don't want to wear heavy shoes.

A lap is 20 miles, but we quit a little early because we had to get home, almost noon by the time we got back.  Time goes quickly on Saturdays when you don't start before sun up.  17.61 miles at 10:27 per mile.  This was a tough run.  Next step is to try it in the dark.  Not sure I'm going to be able to do two laps with Mr. Crockett, and I'm not sure how anybody does five.