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
Easy MilesMarathon Pace MilesThreshold MilesVO2 Max MilesTotal Distance
2.016.000.000.008.01

61F, 100% humidity, wind E 3 mph.  Very nice, mild morning out there.  I was a little bit anxious about running medium hard this close to Saturday, but I went ahead and did it, would rather be slightly tired than have green legs for the race.  Warmed up for a couple of miles, gradually speeding up, then ran 6 at marathon pace:  8:16 (148), 8:17 (152), 8:26 (153), 8:30 (154), 8:24 (155) and 8:35 (155).  Total time 1:10:08, average pace 8:46 (8:25 for MP miles), flat shoes.

The plan for Saturday is do the first 15 under 160 bpm, the next 5 under 165 bpm and then in theory have a shot at a qualifier by running the last 10K at 170-175 bpm.  There are two things which have to go right -- first, those heart rates have to yield MP; and second, I have to be able to hold on to those heart rates even when I'm tired.  I haven't conclusively proven either one yet, but ultimately I should be able to get more consistent results race to race if I know how much heart rate I can sustain.  I know that 150 is easy, based on my practice marathon two Saturdays ago.  Maybe 160 is too easy, maybe too hard.  I know that 170 is too hard, I found that out at Hartford, and I am pretty sure 165 is too hard based on the way I felt after a couple of harder runs in the second half of October.

After today's run you wouldn't think I could hold marathon pace through 15 at 160 bpm, but I am planning on it being 20 degrees cooler in Richmond, at least at the beginning.  I wish the race didn't start at 8:00 though, way too late.  Bottom line, it might be very close.  I'll take tomorrow off, run 2 - 4 Friday morning, get on the plane and see what happens.

Comments
From Burt on Wed, Nov 10, 2010 at 11:15:51 from 206.19.214.144

Go Mark!

From derhammer on Fri, Nov 12, 2010 at 15:55:42 from 65.67.40.73

Good luck, tomorrow!!

From Kelli on Sat, Nov 13, 2010 at 16:16:19 from 71.219.65.246

Waiting for a report....hope the race went well!!!

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