For Whom the Dogs Bark

May 05, 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

Mon, Nov 03, 2014

Easy Miles	Marathon Pace Miles	Threshold Miles	VO2 Max Miles	Total Distance
0.00	16.00	0.00	0.00	16.00

54F, 90%, ESE 1 mph. It will start warming up for the rest of the week, but the 10-day forecast in Richmond is still holding firm in the low 40s, that is the only thing that maters at the moment.

So this morning was my last of three metric marathons in this training cycle -- I am 12 days out which I think is fine, especially since I didn't run it all out. Was well-rested from easy or no running in the last few days. The goal, if I felt OK, was to do 7:45 and that is what happened. 16.0 miles in 2:04:02, 7:45/mile, 159 bpm average, 166 high. First 9 were under 160 bpm. Slowest was 7:51, fastest was 7:36. Took one drink at mile 8. I timed myself at the 25K mark, thinking I would break 2 hours, but I missed it by about 25 seconds. Slightly faster than I ran the Fifth Third River Bank Run back in May, but max heart rate was 16 bpm lower this morning at a similar finishing temperature. At about mile 10 it started to get harder to hit my splits, but it was more a matter of wooden legs than anything approaching exhaustion. If I concentrated I could still get my speed down. This means I will probably benefit from some more short speed work in the last part of the taper.

I have benefited from a summer of running low heart rate miles in the heat. And this morning I seemed to benefit from running a lot of fast stuff lately. The other two 16-milers I did were 2-1/2 weeks ago: 7:58/mile (53F, 161 bpm 173 max) and 1-1/2 weeks ago: 7:58/mile (64F, 159 bpm, 171 max). So today was an improvement.

Comments

From Tom K on Mon, Nov 03, 2014 at 07:53:59 from 68.56.238.126

First, this is a great run. Metric marathon at MP. Very cool.

Okay, so 2 weeks ago you did 76 miles (BTW, Wow!). Last week you got 38 (you planned to lay off 3 weeks out, right?). This week @ 50? Next week (race week) @ 30? Or am I missing a bigger part of the plan, that deals with paces, and heart rates?

From flatlander on Mon, Nov 03, 2014 at 08:10:47 from 76.31.29.220

Yep, that is essentially it, work schedule permitting. If things go according to plan, I'll do 2 or 3 10s at low heart rate plus 2 or 3 speed workouts. Then 1 or 2 short speed workouts next week and very easy or nothing in between. The one thing I am missing is strong legs, which I had back in May due to weight lifting. I have not been doing that because it is so hard on the rest of my training, but I'll pick it up again for the Boston cycle. In the meantime the extra speed work should help.

From I Just Run on Mon, Nov 03, 2014 at 10:53:15 from 67.79.11.242

Correct me if I'm wrong but it seems you're in as good of condition as I've seen you...at least in the last few years.

From flatlander on Mon, Nov 03, 2014 at 11:44:26 from 198.207.244.102

IJR, interesting point, and thanks for saying that. It seems like that might be the case, but the proof will be on race day. I felt like I could have run a PR if the race had been this morning, though not sure I could have held 7:45 all the way through. But the day of my actual PR was a hot day, 80+ at the finish line, I felt like I was in shape for 5-10 minutes faster that day -- if so then I might be about the same or a little less conditioned right now as I was then. I am not as fast as my half-marathon PRs, though; currently I can barely hold a 5K at that pace.

From Burt on Mon, Nov 03, 2014 at 13:44:05 from 184.101.220.34

Awesome work!

From Rye on Mon, Nov 03, 2014 at 19:18:10 from 63.155.55.6

Great run flat! I would have to agree with IJR....It seems like you are primed for a good race!!!

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