For Whom the Dogs Bark

38F at start, 48F at end, 10.02 miles in 1:57:11, 11:42 average, low heart rate.  Was short on sleep over the weekend so I took advantage of the holiday and slept in almost until sunrise this morning.  The cloud cover left just as the sun came out, great run in the crisp bright air.  I started out feeling awkward with Saturday's run still in my legs. (My first split was 13:20 and my heart rate was unstable, if I throw that one out my overall average pace would have been 11:31, not great but OK for a Monday.)  After a while things loosened up a bit and my pace sped up through most of the run.  My quads never stopped hurting, haven't really had that issue before.  Always something new.

I think it is important for the low heart rate pace to get faster.  Whatever the benefits, or not, of running at low heart rate, I'm guessing that keeping track of pace at a particular heart rate is a way of monitoring how much overall improvement is occurring.  I think at a particular baseline heart rate it is possible to improve to some extent in the higher speed zones, maybe even quite a bit, but I think if pace at that baseline rate isn't getting better then overall potential is going to max out pretty quickly.  A long way of saying that if I could get my low heart rate speed into the low 10s I might start to see some interesting race times. 

59F, 100% humidity, 10.05 miles in 1:59:37, 11:54 average pace per mile, low heart rate.  Slower than yesterday for some reason, not sure why.  The temperature was higher and that might have affected it.  The air is so wet that the streets are wet even though the weather is clear.  Can't complain about the boring weather this winter, something different every morning.

I'm already thinking about, maybe even dreading, running hot this summer.  Not because of the pain but because I will be slower.  I figured out this morning that I ran St. George about 12% faster than my best 20-mile pace in the heat here in Houston running up to the marathon date.  So maybe that translates, percentage-wise, to faster paces as well?  For instance, if I could run 20 miles in the heat at an 8:30 pace, would that mean 7:35 per mile at St. George?  Seems doubtful looking at it that way, but that is what happened to me at slower speeds last year.  I know the heat is a big factor, and of course it all goes out the window if St. George is hot as well.

63F, rainy, light wind.  Ran 10.07 in 2:00:44, 12:00 average right on the button, low heart rate.  Slower than yesterday, but at least my legs feel better today.

Must be addicted to this blog.  I wasn't quite sure what to do with myself this morning when it went down.  It's great to have a place to post runs and to read what everybody else is doing.

59F, blustery.  10.05 miles in 1:54:55, 11:38 minutes per mile average pace, low heart rate.  Better.  The weather this morning was very spring-like.  I have seen large flocks of birds the last couple of mornings, too dark to tell exactly what.  I could tell from their voices that they aren't local.  Spring is an interesting time of year, lots of stuff to see living on an avian migratory flyway, but I hope it doesn't stay warm.  I like spring but it is too early, we'll be in trouble next summer if it warms up too quickly.

So the good thing about this week, despite slower times, is that I seem to have recovered from Saturday's run, which was too long, doing it on the run without cutting my miles back.  That is good information to have and I am pretty sure the times will fall back into line as soon as the temperature drops a little bit.

I plan to drive to Utah this weekend to deliver wedding presents that my son and his wife acquired at the Texas open house about three weeks ago.  So I'll probably do my long run in the morning before I leave.  Too much hassle to try to deal with that on the road, but I'm wondering what it will be like to sit in a car all day after doing a big run.

45F, bright and clear.  17.11 miles in 2:48:58, average pace 9:53 per mile, average heart rate 152 bpm.  The goal was to run 10 miles in the middle at 8:30, didn't make that.  My threshold mile splits and heart rates were as follows:  8:50 (159), 8:38 (164), 8:38 (169), 8:31 (170), 9:00 (170) (same split where I screwed up last week), 8:43 (172), 8:49 (173) and 8:48 (173), 8 miles at average of 8:45, about the same pace as I ran 10 two weeks ago, so that was a bummer.  On the other hand, I'm pretty sure I could have made my marathon goal of 9:10 per mile from 3 weeks ago, the one I couldn't do then.

I'm off to Utah today. 

30F and snowing.  Ran 6.14 "recovery" miles in Albuquerque, NM in 1:10:30, average pace 11:52, low heart rate, but didn't try to target any particular heart rate and it was a little higher than normal.

It started snowing just as I exited the hotel and snowed the whole time.  I planned to go 10.  Bopping along, even stopped to take a picture of my virgin tracks on the sidewalk (Burt, stay away from this one), thinking how great it was to be out running in a new spot in new weather.  I tested a couple of places and determined that there was no ice under the snow, but then there was ice under the snow.  I did whatever is the opposite of a face plant.  Landed directly on my back and the back of my head, alone in the snow (sniff, sniff).  If a runner falls and no one sees, did it really happen?  (Sorry.)  I was miles from home, so I just got up and kept running, but I cut it short and I am going to be very sore for the next few days, hopefully no other consequences.  I am changing my name from flatlander to FLATLANDER.

Gotta go, trying to figure out a way to get to Utah this morning.  I am driving a small, sporty, rear-wheel drive vehicle that is great on corners and inoperable on ice.  Seemed like a good idea on the car lot.