For Whom the Dogs Bark

41F, wind WSW 9 mph, clear, perfect running weather.  Ran 9.76 in 1:38:54, average pace 10.08 minutes per mile, flat shoes.  I ran the first 6.5 at low heart rate, average pace about 10:55, was surprised to find no fatigue in my legs from Saturday.  Then ran 3 at a little faster than 3:45 marathon pace, splits 8:34, 8:20, 8:17, then jogged it in because I was out of time.  This morning's pace was faster than Saturday and didn't seem to require as much effort.  At times I could feel a certain smoothness and rhythm, but not sure how it would have looked on YouTube.  The flats always feel good, I'll probably be wearing them every day before long.

The revised plan, if it holds up, is to add more speed work during the week by picking target paces and gradually increasing the miles at that pace, then pick a new pace, all at the end of the run.  Hopefully I can get past some of my speed issues by getting in more, shorter sessions with quicker recovery.  The bottom-line question here is whether one would get more benefit from running 3 ten-milers or 1 twenty-miler at the same speed.  Right now I am betting on the former, but it is just a bet.  Feels good to do something different, though.  That may be the main benefit.

39F, clear, calm and cold.  Perfect running weather.  Ran 10.11 in 1:52:21, average pace 11:07, low heart rate and regular shoes.  No weights today, I had to run ("run" meaning get in the car and speed) to the dentist for a 6-month checkup, which ended up as a wallet checkup in the form of a crown replacement.  I love it how everybody sneaks out of the room when they take an X-ray.  I wanted to ask where everybody was going, is there a problem, should I leave too?  That lead bib might be a good training device.

Yesterday I walked into Houston's biggest running store to see what they had in running flats.  Wrong term.  Running flats, as currently sold by retail establishments, look like regular running shoes with rigid soles and big heels, just a little bit less of them and a lot lighter.  The kind of flats I have, flat flats, are nowhere to be found in traditional running stores, at least in this pretty big store.  Apparently there is some sort of a speed issue with flat flats.  Not an issue for me at my speed.  The guy told me, with a little bit of a smirk, that the Kenyans run barefoot until they can afford shoes, then never go back.  But he did acknowledge that Nike's own research shows that less is more when it comes to injury rates -- at least he gets a couple of points for owning up to that one. 

57F, wind SSE 6 mph, gathering clouds.  Perfect day.  Ran 10.51 miles in 1:40:57, average overall pace 9:36 per mile, flat shoes.  First 5 miles at low heart rate, average pace 10:44, fastest low heart rate pace so far.  Second 5 miles at marathon pace.  Goal was 8:30 per mile but I went too fast, that is a hard zone for me to find.  Splits were 8:21 (156 bpm), 8:22 (163 bpm), 8:17 (167 bpm), 8:14 (170 bpm) and 8:06 (173 bpm), then jogged it in.  It was hard but not that hard as long as I concentrated on form, particularly trying to push instead of pull with my feet.  The last time I timed 5 miles was a turkey trot back in November, and this morning's run was 2 or 3 seconds per mile faster, at the end of the run and without going all out.  I won't really know until tomorrow morning if I ran too fast, but so far the new program seems to be working well.  Funny how bad days like Saturday can make the good days look better than they are.  If I had been able to run 20 miles at 8:30/mile on Saturday, then this morning's run would have been nothing.

Then I stopped to lift weights but I was locked out -- my right index fingerprint wasn't working.  So I have to get a new fingerprint today.

50F, wind WNW 9 mph and clearing after a night of thunderstorms.  Puddles everywhere.  Perfect.  Ran 10.07 in 1:50:47, average pace 10:59 per mile, low heart rate, regular shoes.  I felt some fatigue in my legs at about mile 7 so was glad to finish.  And some tightness at the end in my left Achilles, opposite of the one that has been giving me problems.  I'll run easy again tomorrow morning and if all goes well do my long run tomorrow night.

I just got an e-mail yesterday telling me to get off my butt and go pick up my age group award for the 5K I ran on March 6 -- before they put the thing in the wood chipper.  Turns out I got third.  Out of six.  But I beat the other runners at my firm by a fair margin.  Just a bunch of pasty-faced lawyers.

Update:   Got my award.  Must be a major award.  I'm going to put it on my credenza right next to my Ralphie statuette.

45F, clear and sunny.  Another great day in the neighborhood.  The run today was as close to a carbon copy of yesterday as possible, although I ended up running it a little faster.  Ran 10.07 in 1:49:24, average pace 10:52 (7 seconds per mile better than yesterday), low heart rate and regular shoes.  No further stiffness in my left Achilles.  Was going to cut this run short because of running long tonight, but I felt good and finished it off.  Tonight the plan is to run slow and as long as possible.  We'll see what happens when the rubber actually meets the road.

51F, it was a dark and cloudy night (but not stormy).  Ran 27.0 miles in 5:26, average pace 12:07 per mile, low heart rate and regular shoes.  I ran at a very steady pace the whole run, thinking that if I ran slowly I could go as far as I wanted.  I didn't get started until about 11:00 because on the spur of the moment I had to help deliver mulch for a high adventure fundraiser for my son's troop.  Because of that, I finished the run about 4:00.  I probably would have been targeting finishing about then anyway but just hoping to run longer, but the last two miles were surprisingly difficult.  Before then I was holding a fairly steady heart rate and a very steady 5 mph pace, though my heart gradually climbed about 10 bpm over the course of the run.  Then the last two miles it dropped about 6 bpm, almost in the original zone, probably because my pace slowed, though I felt like I was working harder than ever -- supposedly heart rate tracks how hard you are working, not speed.  The feeling of working hard may have been related to some nausea that unexpectedly showed up late in the run. 

I was surprised at how difficult this run was.  I felt the marathon monkey on my back right at his usual spot, mile 21 or 22.  Everyone says yeah, yeah, you only have enough energy in your muscles to run 20 miles, you are supposed to bonk, but the ultra guys are just getting warmed up at this distance -- I think there is a whole lot more to this equation than glycogen stores.  I drank water whenever I wanted it, not that often really, and ate crackers, but at the end started to get that sloshy stomach feeling followed by nausea even though the pace was slow and the weather was cool.  I felt better a couple of weeks ago when I ran the same distance at a faster pace on less water and no food.  Not sure why, maybe running at night.  The biofeedback from this run was interesting, particularly the heart rate.  I think that I can sustain these types of runs about every other week and I think the effort required even at this very slow pace shows that I need them.  I am happy to be talked out of all of that though -- it was not a particularly fun run.

Off to IHOP.  I turn 55 tomorrow and I am going to try to order off the senior menu one day early.  Hopefully they don't card me.