For Whom the Dogs Bark

April 28, 2024

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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

Sat, Mar 27, 2010

Easy Miles	Marathon Pace Miles	Threshold Miles	VO2 Max Miles	Total Distance
27.00	0.00	0.00	0.00	27.00

51F, it was a dark and cloudy night (but not stormy). Ran 27.0 miles in 5:26, average pace 12:07 per mile, low heart rate and regular shoes. I ran at a very steady pace the whole run, thinking that if I ran slowly I could go as far as I wanted. I didn't get started until about 11:00 because on the spur of the moment I had to help deliver mulch for a high adventure fundraiser for my son's troop. Because of that, I finished the run about 4:00. I probably would have been targeting finishing about then anyway but just hoping to run longer, but the last two miles were surprisingly difficult. Before then I was holding a fairly steady heart rate and a very steady 5 mph pace, though my heart gradually climbed about 10 bpm over the course of the run. Then the last two miles it dropped about 6 bpm, almost in the original zone, probably because my pace slowed, though I felt like I was working harder than ever -- supposedly heart rate tracks how hard you are working, not speed. The feeling of working hard may have been related to some nausea that unexpectedly showed up late in the run.

I was surprised at how difficult this run was. I felt the marathon monkey on my back right at his usual spot, mile 21 or 22. Everyone says yeah, yeah, you only have enough energy in your muscles to run 20 miles, you are supposed to bonk, but the ultra guys are just getting warmed up at this distance -- I think there is a whole lot more to this equation than glycogen stores. I drank water whenever I wanted it, not that often really, and ate crackers, but at the end started to get that sloshy stomach feeling followed by nausea even though the pace was slow and the weather was cool. I felt better a couple of weeks ago when I ran the same distance at a faster pace on less water and no food. Not sure why, maybe running at night. The biofeedback from this run was interesting, particularly the heart rate. I think that I can sustain these types of runs about every other week and I think the effort required even at this very slow pace shows that I need them. I am happy to be talked out of all of that though -- it was not a particularly fun run.

Off to IHOP. I turn 55 tomorrow and I am going to try to order off the senior menu one day early. Hopefully they don't card me.

Comments

From lightitup on Sat, Mar 27, 2010 at 12:49:27 from 67.185.20.107

I can't believe your sweet wife lets you do this....that is 77.5 miles this week, holy guacamole! I am so excited to get my first 50 mile week in, and I NEVER run at night....however, I would love to run at night with you sometime. Do you run with an iPod or what do you think about all night, wow.

From SlowJoe on Sat, Mar 27, 2010 at 15:51:44 from 184.79.24.255

Wow! In a way it was like a 37 mile day for you plus whatever heaving much bags cost you. Super-impressive.

From baldnspicy on Sat, Mar 27, 2010 at 19:52:42 from 72.95.172.184

Nicely done! Highly impressive! That's a lot of miles in the week, but a lot on a day where you get out late after working hard before!

From Mack on Sun, Mar 28, 2010 at 01:35:56 from 71.111.182.118

It seems to me that your training has really ramped up the past month or so. I always thought of you as just a regular mid packer sort of guy. I'm starting now to think of you as a hard core running machine. What is motivating you???

From flatlander on Sun, Mar 28, 2010 at 14:40:47 from 76.31.26.153

E, sorry, for some reason I thought I had already replied, hope I didn't put it on somebody else's blog! My sweet wife doesn't care as long as I run when everybody else is asleep. Mostly that is in the mornings, but sometimes it comes to this. No IPOD, though, I find myself such an interesting guy that I couldn't tolerate interrupting my thoughts with mere music.

Joe and Wes, thanks very much for the encouragement, I admit it was hard getting out for this run and hard finishing it.

Mack, part of the rampup is from coming off of an injury, but nevertheless you probably asked the fundamental question. I am hoping to find my limit, seems like a funny thing for an old guy to be doing but for some reason it seems like an important thing to do. Besides, with the times I have posted I am safely out of hard core territory.

From Burt on Sun, Mar 28, 2010 at 22:55:39 from 98.177.220.145

Nice marathon plus. Happy birthday. I hope we can still be friends now that you're a senior citizen. I love IHOP so much I took my wife there for Valentine's Day once.

From flatlander on Sun, Mar 28, 2010 at 23:42:09 from 76.31.26.153

Absolutely. Funny you should say that, because my doctor a couple of years ago told me to make friends with younger people so that I don't outlive them. Kind of goulish but practical advice -- not sure what the younger guys get out of it. Actually, any blogger on this blog is an instant friend no matter the age.

Your wife is a patient woman.

From jasro on Sun, Mar 28, 2010 at 23:48:50 from 68.29.254.59

Happy Birthday!! What an amazing week you've had. I am mightily impressed. Thank you also for your kind words. It's nice to know I can count on at least one person to read my blog. It keeps my accountable ... lol. If I get tempted to skip a run, I know that flatlander will see that I am slacking off. Seriously, though, it's been fun watching us progress together.

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