For Whom the Dogs Bark

64F, 61%, calm with clouds moving in.  One of the few cool running days left until the fall.  Was trying to decide whether to do a tempo run or 1K intervals, then remembered that last week I didn't do too well running fast on Monday after running hard on Saturday.  So even though I felt fine yesterday and this morning I pulled back and used up the cool morning doing a long LHR run.  I needed one anyway and it looks like I get one more cool morning tomorrow.  Started out slow and stiff and gradually sped up, got several splits in the low 9:30s miles 7 through 10, overall 12.00 miles in 1:57:11, average pace 9:46 per mile, all LHR, good pace for a Monday after.  Got that familiar deep fatigue feeling the last two miles, which signals a good LHR workout. Training for SGM is going to depend on what happens at UVM, but I am thinking that after SGM I will do exclusivly slow running for about 12 weeks before starting my training for Boston.  I probably won't run a January marathon next year, so nothing between SGM and Boston.  Would love to get my LHR pace down to the mid-8s, not sure if that is doable or not but it would be a big step if I could make it happen.  How is that for long-term planning? 

PM 4 TM miles, hill training.

53F, 77%, ENE 6 mph.  Crisp and cool weather, felt great, probably the last one.  Ran 6.5 LHR miles at 9.33 per mile, 1/2 mile transition then 5 at GMP:  7:27 (155), 7:31 (158), 7:24 (162), 7:33 (163) and 7:25 (164).  This pace actually felt somewhat sustainable this morning, big assist from the weather acknowledged.  I need to see if I can do 26.2K at this pace within the next week or so, that is another barometer that people talk about.  Total 12.25 miles in 1:45:44, average pace 8:38 per mile.

Woke up this morning with a big bruise, about 8 inches by 3 inces, mid-thigh on the inside, right leg.  No tenderness, just ugly.  My so-called groin pull is actually in the muscle that attaches to the inside of the knee and curves around to the front of my leg at the top.  No idea what it is called or what I did to aggravate it (I dunno, maybe I shouldn't have run a 5K PR on it?), but it hasn't bothered me since about Wednesday or Thursday, no idea why the bruise didn't show up earlier.  Probably a good thing I have no clue.

PM:  2 miles hill work on TM.

67F, 86%, SE 5 mph.  Nice running weather, honestly didn't feel that warm.  Did my regular LHR run:  6.5 miles starting at 10:08 as low as 9:13, average 9:29 per mile.  This is close to a PR for me and not sure why that would be -- yesterday (9:33 per mile) was 3 days from my last fast miles and cool weather.  Today I should have had some residual fatigue from yesterday's fast miles, plus quite a bit warmer.  There is always something unexplainable when it comes to running.  Then I went into a 1/2 mile transition, legs felt surprisingly heavy despite the good LHR miles.  The fast part:  5x1000, jogging out the mile after each repeat.  Mile-equivalent paces (for IJR's benefit) were 7:05 (159), 6:52 (165), 7:02 (165), 6:58 (168) and 6:55 (171), max HR 177.  Overall run was 12.12 miles in 1:47:04, average pace 8:50 per mile.  I like these 1K repeats.  They feel like they are doing the job without killing my legs.

The bruise on my inner thigh has shrunk considerably today.  I have learned that the muscle is called sartorius, a long thin muscle that attaches to the knee and to the hip. (Compliments of my son, who is taking the last exam of his first year of medical school this morning.  He also ran the first marathon in our family.)

73F, 84%, SE 7 mph.  Getting hot and muggy and no relief in sight, beautiful running weather though.  This run felt hard from the beginning.  LHR miles were 9:38, not bad but not as good as yesterday.  Did 5 miles at GMP and those were increasingly difficult:  7:38 (156), 7:37 (161), 7:27 (166), 7:29 (171) and 7:10 (179), max HR 182 bpm.  The fatigue is building up, but that is OK for this point in the process.  No sign of injury, so not worried, just hope there is a payoff.  No TM miles at night, too tired.

79F, 83%, SSE 14 to 24 mph.  Can't honestly say this is the best running weather I have seen this year.  Hot deserty wind when I went out the front door, knew it was going to be a slog-it-out run.  Decided to do only LHR, 10.29 in 1:42:49, average pace 10:00 per mile.  Legs totally dead, interesting though that I was staying on pace throughout the run, no appreciable heart rate drift.  Undecided about what to do tomorrow, hoping to go fast but playing it by ear, feeling OK right now.

72F, 84%, E 5mph.  Weather is a little bit relaxed from yesterday.   We left the house at 6:30 this morning for a family trip to Temple (granddaughter's first dance recital), so had to get out the door at 4:00 to do this run.  I warmed up for 1.25 then picked out a loop which I thought was pretty close to two miles and did it 7 times.  My Garmin was out this morning, so I ran according to my cell phone, started the fast miles right as the minute changed, ran completely by feel and finished the 7th loop right as the minutes changed again.  Subtracting 35 seconds for two drink stops (yes, I counted off the seconds), total running time was 1:37:25, or 7:41 per mile. 

I was confused all day about how far I had run, and what my pace was.  According to a Google Earth application I pulled up on the computer before we left for Temple, the loop was 1.97 miles, I won't even write down how fast that is except to say I had a pretty high opinion of my running speed all day.  When we finally got home late Saturday night I had the Garmin working again, so took it out and ran the loop.  1.81 miles, a very different distance.  Based on how I felt when running, the 7:41 pace is about right, however, so I think that is the right number.  Bottom line, 7:30 per mile for UVM is still a very optimistic goal.  I will get a little bump from (i) the downhill course (less so because of altitude), (ii) cooler temperatures, (iii) taper and (iv) slightly lighter shoes.  On the other hand, I have to run more than twice the distance I ran this morning, and I will be running on minimal sleep due to flight schedules.