For Whom the Dogs Bark

70F, 88%, S 5 mph, low cloud cover.  Probably lots of rain this week.  Warmed up 2 miles, then 5 at 160 bpm, trying to see how much deterioration there is at that heart rate.  I figured out that this is the hole in my training, being able to sustain a moderately high heart rate.  It is probably a long term thing, but I'm going to work it a little this week.  The speed decline was definitely there:  7:32 (158), 7:35 (161), 7:42 (160), 7:47 (161) and 8:01 (161).  A lot of this is attributable to the heat, but not all of it.  Definitely found my achilles heel.  It will be a challenge this week to get everything packed in.  Overall 10.0 in 1:23:27, 8:21/mile, 150 bpm.

PM:  Vitamin D run, 6 from office, out along the north side of Buffalo Bayou.  No watch or HR monitor, but felt like about 9:00 pace going out and 8:40 coming back.  82F, wind about 20 mph, partly cloudy but enough sun to get some redness to my southern neck.  This trail is quite hilly, but nothing long -- still, this is a good substitute for hills on the treadmill.  Pretty beat after this run.  (From measurement later in the week, this run was 6.19 miles)

71F, 87%, S 6 mph.  Getting hotter by the day right now.  Slept right until my alarm, out the door at 5:30 and Wade was already out there.  He had run a 5K at speed already, thinking I was going to do LHR after yesterday.  But I wanted to get 5 more at 160 bpm.  Legs were trashed after running in the sun yesterday afternoon, but finally warmed up a little bit after 2 miles and I accelerated right into the fast part, Wade hanging in for 3 of them:  7:20 (153), 7:26 (158), 7:32 (161), 7:41 (162) and 7:44 (162).  1.13 cooldown.  Altogether 8.12 miles in 1:05:18, 8:03/mile, 150 bpm average, 164 max.  Yesterday's decline was 29 seconds/mile, today's was 24, and overall speed improved by 11 seconds/mile at about the same heart rate, even though my legs were tired.  My heart rate right now (and whatever systems it measures) seem to be immune to heavy workouts, it is back at normal within a few hours.  This must mean something.

73F, 88%, SSE 6 mph and cloudy.  10.2 miles in 1:23:07, 8:09/mile, 152 bpm, 170 max.  Fast ones were 7:35 (155), 7:39 (160), 7:40 (162), 7:26 (162) and 7:27 (167), average 7:33/mile, 161 bpm, felt like quite a drop from yesterday though it wasn't that far off.  The difference was I let my heart rate build up, finishing faster rather than slower.  From the first step this morning I never felt good, and felt like I was running almost at max by the time I got very far into the workout portion.  I have a 10K on Saturday but I won't be doing any other fast miles this week.  If I recover from these it will be good enough.

PM: 6.19 late afternoon miles along the bayou from work, 81F and a brisk wind.  Average pace was hard to measure because the watch didn't sync until about 1/3 of a mile into the run.  But the last 5 were 8:32, 8:29, 8:11, 8:03 and 8:28, so about 8:25 overall pace including the first mile.  No HRM, pace felt moderately difficult but mainly because I was on very tired legs.

74F, 87%, S 11 mph, gusting to 22 mph.  Not particularly pleasant conditions.  We are supposed to have rain by now, but even when it arrives the forecast is not for cooling.  I almost collapsed into my bed last night, but still woke up at 4:30, old man's body.  Went out for LLHR miles, half of them with Wade.  10.0 in 1:47:48, 10:47/mile, 121 bpm.  Never felt really good, but glad I could hold this pace in the heat and with the fatigue.  

Forgot to get a weather report, but about 60F until the sun came up, then about 65F for the race.  Didn't run yesterday because of work pressures, and woke up earlier than I intended.  So I went out and ran LLHR miles in the neighborhood, 4.15 miles at 11:00/mile.  

Picked up Wade at 6:00 and we headed to Brennam, TX, which is an hour west of Houston on the eastern edge of the Texas hill country.  This race benefits the local high school and is popular throughout the region because they serve Blue Bell Ice Cream, a confectionary delight known locally as the National Ice Cream of Texas.  Wade and I ran a little bit of the course to get a feel for the hills, 2.0 miles at a 9:00 pace.  Main reason to race today was to warm up for the Newton Hills in 9 days.  

The race started about 3 minutes late, first mile largely downhill.  Ran with Wade until I caught my breath at the first corner then took off, as Wade is still not fully recovered from a bad cold he had a couple of weeks ago.  I decided there was no reason whatsoever to hold back, just run as hard as I could.  Faded a bit as a result, but not badly.  Lots of hills in this race, five in all I think, a couple of them respectably steep and long.  Splits were 6:41 (165), 7:03 (178), 7:05 (179), 7:08 (178), 7:18 (177), 7:25 (179) and 6:12 (180) (downhill through the finishing chute).  Tried to maintain a high heart rate and not worry too much about time, which worked generally OK except for mile 5.  It was fun racing people today, went back and forth with several runners, beat some of them and some beat me.  Next guy in my new age group was 2:30 behind me, so this isn't going to be much fun.  I also won the 55-59 age group, but we left early in any event because it was taking too long to announce awards.  40th overall out of 1129 runners, nice to be back in the top 5% of these local fun runs, it has been a while.

So about 7:05/mile, which grades out to 7:25/mile for a half and 7:45/mile for a full.  I think I may be in better marathon shape right now than 10K shape, but the race itself will determine that.  If I break 8:00/mile on The Race Day that will be good enough. 10 day forecast for Boston now includes Patriots Day, 57H, 46L, SW 10 mph, 10% chance of rain.  That's good enough if it holds.