For Whom the Dogs Bark

May 15, 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, Oct 16, 2010

Easy Miles	Marathon Pace Miles	Threshold Miles	VO2 Max Miles	Total Distance
0.00	10.01	0.00	0.00	10.01

50F, 94% humidity, calm, clear and dark. Ran with the group at the Y this morning, very nice weather at 6:10 a.m. but nearly stepped in a couple of pot holes because it was pitch black with no moonlight and almost no street lighting. I'll be glad when the clock switches. Ran 10.01 miles in 1:27:15, average pace 8:43 per mile, regular shoes. Didn't intend to run that fast, but I am childish and I just had to stay with the guys up front. At one point they were running 8:10s, but slowed down to 9:10s toward the end. So without planning it I ended up getting some marathon pace miles and an interesting comparison to last week's actual marathon. Here are some comparative paces and heart rates for a few splits:

Split

Today (50F)

Hartford (51F*)

Mile 3

8:07 (163 bpm)

8:24 (169 bpm)

Mile 4

8:14 (167)

8:26 (167)

Mile 5

8:38 (165)

8:39 (168)

Mile 6

8:45 (163)

8:28 (170)

Mile 7

8:42 (162)

8:35 (169)

Average:

8:29 (164 bpm)

8:30 (168-169 bpm)

* They announced 57F at the start, but the Weather Channel website says 51F, big discrepancy.

So today my heart rate for a similar speed (and presumably similar temperatures) was about 5 bpm slower in regular shoes (I wore flat shoes for the marathon), which isn't as dramatic as I would have guessed but it could be significant over the marathon distance, assuming that whatever raised my heart rate in Hartford isn't a factor in Richmond. But no matter the reason, it is probably still too high. The whole game for the next few weeks is going to be to try to cram my heart rate down. If I could run MP at 160 I should be fine. (Saying it differently, perhaps 160 bpm is my MP, I just need to learn to run BQ pace at 160.) I think I will run a lot in the upcoming weeks in this zone and see what happens. It is clear that I have greatly benefited from low heart rate running -- my legs are stronger, more resilient, and faster recovering. And until Hartford every marathon was a PR. But I also need to improve at higher heart rates.

During the run today I started talking to one woman who was willing to listen to my sad marathon stories. She is from England, and told me that the ultimate flat course is found in Edinburgh, Scotland, gentle downhill for 6 miles then flat as a pancake, i.e., flat as Houston. She ran it once and couldn't say enough good about it, except it got unseasonably warm. I think she still ran a PR. It's in May and usually not hot. It might be time to save up some coins, brush up on my brogue and hop on my first Virgin Air flight.

Well, this concludes my recovery week. Back to regular running next week if I'm feeling good.

Comments

From Stephen on Sat, Oct 16, 2010 at 12:14:45 from 71.195.219.56

Very nice run! You remain a great example for me. One week seems like a very quick recovery time, but you have usually had quick turn araounds after a marathon.

From SlowJoe on Sat, Oct 16, 2010 at 17:31:45 from 214.13.130.104

Nice to see someone else taking the macho route to keep up.

Interesting HR comparison. Guess there was definitely something "off" that day as your brother-in-law suggested.

From flatlander on Mon, Oct 18, 2010 at 09:26:25 from 76.31.26.153

Stephen, thanks, but don't rely on the arm of flesh!

Joe, thanks. Sometimes I think the analysis is more fun than the actual physical running. I'm hopeless.

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