For Whom the Dogs Bark

April 29, 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

Thu, Mar 11, 2010

Easy Miles	Marathon Pace Miles	Threshold Miles	VO2 Max Miles	Total Distance
10.27	0.00	0.00	0.00	10.27

60F, cloudy and calm. Ran 10.27 miles in 1:59:27, average pace 11:38/mile, low heart rate. I was pleased that I felt good enough to run this well after the hard mid-day run yesterday. I stopped again before the end of the run to do weights and I can feel those more than the run.

I am trying to decide which mixture of workouts will help the most this year as well as longer term. Not sure if the same plan would be optimal for both goals. One choice is to keep doing what I am doing until I stop improving. Another is to take the LSD guys at their word and never let my heart rate exceed 132 for three or four months. Another is to run some really long stuff at least once a week, to try to beat the final 10K in the marathon. Or I could jsut do what most people do, which is more harder and longer runs. Or mix and match. Plus I really need to do something about my form. Suddenly October doesn't seem so far away.

Comments

From SlowJoe on Thu, Mar 11, 2010 at 14:56:47 from 131.59.200.80

Is October your big goal-marathon?

As far as the training mix, I'm not qualified to give anyone advice but switching it up (short, long, fast, slow, etc) makes a lot of sense to me to work the different muscle fibers and work on both speed and endurance. It's helped me so far, but just about anything would have as out of shape as I was. Looks like you're going at it the right way so far, based on your race improvements.

From lightitup on Thu, Mar 11, 2010 at 15:20:13 from 67.185.20.107

All the advice givers out there recommending speed or distance, but not at the same time. Two to three hard workouts a week....long runs greater than 18 miles every week is a little much. If you are tolerating them fine, then that's great. I am advised to do really long runs every other week.

And what is wrong with your form? Are you thinking of moving more into a midfoot strike? BTW, loved your racing flats.

From flatlander on Fri, Mar 12, 2010 at 12:55:34 from 198.207.244.102

Joe, yeah, I'm hoping to run St. George again in October. It is a great marathon and fast, targeting it as my BQ if things go well this year. Thanks for the advice and encouragement. To me that makes the most sense. In a way that is what I have been doing, I just need to do as much of it as I can sustain long-term.

Elaine, how long is "really long"? Over 26.2? I've kind of been letting it fly on my long runs because I always have the next day off, although I have cut them back quite a bit lately as I work my way out of the groin injury. I am already striking mid-foot or even a little forward of that. But I am anything but smooth and strong. I would like to find a coach who is really good at form, to the point that unless somebody saw my face they couldn't say how old I am by watching me run. Right now, no problem guessing my age. I'm thinking somebody who is a running coach first but also certified in pilates so they know how to make the right muscles strong.

From lightitup on Fri, Mar 12, 2010 at 13:43:38 from 67.185.20.107

The general consensus seems to be anything over 18 miles is long enough you should slow it way down, especially if you are doing it every weekend. There are speed workouts and endurance workouts; they shouldn't go together except in a race.

Ahem. That's what "they" say. I am still learning, the hard way, to follow. And best of luck on finding a coach! You need one who lives there, it sounds like. Mine is online and has only met me once and never assessed my form. I think he has benefited me though.

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