For Whom the Dogs Bark

63F, foggy then clear, wind ENE 12 mph.  Got a late start after getting some work out the door.  Ran 10.22 miles in 1:58:38, average pace 11:38 per mile, low heart rate, flat shoes.

No observable effects from Saturday's run, though my lower calves and foot tendons were still a little bit stiff from Thursday's run in flats. That situation worked itself out about 3 miles in to the run, then I got sore again toward the end.  I don't think it will amount to anything, though, progress seems good, especially for a recovery run.

I loved the weather today.  It was a little warm for a long hard run but just right for an easy one.  The fog was cool and wet at the beginning, which was nice, then when the sun burned it off that was nice too.  Squirrels are multiplying unchecked with no natural enemies, a couple of robins bouncing around.  Gotta love the spring, we don't get many of these days.

57F, cloudy and trying to rain.  Then it did rain.  Good running weather.  Ran 10.25 in 1:55:16, 11:15 per mile, low heart rate, regular shoes.  Also did weights toward the end of the run.  Gotta get better at those, not sure what I am doing.  This was my best low heart rate pace so far in regular shoes, so safe to say I have recovered from Saturday's run.  I had a lot of stiffness from running in flats yesterday and a little bit tender on the bottom of my right heel, but it all went away this morning once I got going.  It is spring break here this week, so no early morning schedule at the house other than my own.  I got more sleep as a result and that may have helped.

49F, clear.  Ran 10.10 miles in 1:39:04, average pace 9:49.  I warmed up for 3 miles then ran 20x200 with equal rest intervals.  The fast legs averaged about 7:35 - 7:40 (slowest 7:54, fastest 7:27).  The intervals weren't exactly 200 meters since I didn't have that distance set as my automatic lap counter, but the paces are pretty accurate because that's what Garmins do.  These weren't terribly fast, even for me, but I was concentrating on keeping good form (pushing off instead of reaching out) and not pulling too hard on my left groin.  I think I did OK in that regard but even so I might could have taken them a little faster, I just wasn't sure what to expect.  I am on a quest to be less identifiable as an old man from a distance, and I think doing short fast intervals is a way to lengthen my stride, to coin a phrase. 

At the end I ran another 2.1 cooldown at 10:29 and 9:29.  Overall I seem to be OK. 

48F, a little bit windy but clear.  Perfect running weather.  I ran 10.26 miles in 1:51:46, average pace 10:53 per mile, low heart rate and flats.  My feet seem to be adjusting to flats pretty well, still a little soreness in my right calf.  The first mile was 12:03, second 11:03, everything after that below 10, including a 10:37.  This is the first time I have averaged under 11 for LSD, and with weather scheduled to warm up soon it might be a while before I see these splits again -- but to put it in context, today was 3:40 seconds per mile faster than a similar low heart rate run 1 year ago, 30 seconds per mile faster than I ran St. George less than 6 months ago, and 1:10 per mile slower than I ran the Texas Marathon about 2-1/2 months ago.  I have often thought that if I could get to 10 flat at low heart rate I might see some interesting marathon times.  Weird how this metric goes long periods without improving then moves significantly over a one or two-week period.  Too bad LSD isn't an Olympic event.  The last time I saw an LSD event was in the '60s and luckily I was too young to participate.

Also did some weights near the end of the run.  I need a weight coach.

47F, wind ESE 5 mph, clear.  Perfect running weather.  Ran 10.06 in 1:50:52, average pace 11:01 per mile, low heart rate, regular shoes.  So even in regular shoes only 8 seconds per mile slower than yesterday.  Either that means I was better today or the differential between regular shoes and flats is not as great as I first guessed.  Either way a good run.

I spent all day yesterday putting together some Ikea furniture for my daughter's friend's new bedroom.  It says "some assembly required", but the desk, dresser and armoire came in boxes of pieces, little tiny pieces that look like they were collected from an explosion at a tinker toy factory.  Managed to get it all put together though, even had a few pieces left over.  We loaded it all up in the pickup, put on the flashers, took it over and unloaded it, got some Tex Mex and didn't get home until late, but glad it was done.  Now that I think about it, all that probably slowed me down a little bit this morning.  Gotta get some paying work done today.

60F, cloudy and getting ready to rain.  Perfect running weather.  This run was not very successful.  The plan was to run a couple of warmup miles then do 20 at an 8:30 pace.  But I couldn't do it.  I warmed up one mile then ran 7 at that pace:  8:30, 8:31, 8:25, 8:16, 8:37, 8:32, 8:45 -- average pace 8:31, not bad but I couldn't hold the pace any longer.  I dialed back to a jogging pace, about 11:30 for 5 miles, then about 11:00 for 2 more.  At this point I was at mile 16 and decided to try again.  I did mile 17 at 9:34, jogged a mile (9:56), then did mile 19 at 9:00, then cut back to 11:00 for the last two miles.  Overall pace 10:02 in 3:31:52.  By this time it was raining.  I got in my car and drove back over the course to pick up my used water bottles, came home soaked and took a long hot shower.  No ice baths for this boy.

I am not improving quickly enough.  I may have to scrap some of the low heart rate focus and start running hard during the week, building up a little at a time hopefully to be able to withstand the extrera stress.