For Whom the Dogs Bark

72F, 92% humidity, wind calm, 75F at end  Rained last night but just made it more muggy, no break in the temperature.  Today's plan was to do 20, 10 at MP + 1.5 then 10 at MP.  First 10 went pretty well, heart rate stayed at or below 155 through the first 9.  When I sped up my legs felt heavy, then disaster -- I got to my water stop and somebody had taken my bottles.  I was already soaked to the skin, the sun was up and I couldn't risk running without water in these conditions.  So that was it.  Honestly, my heart rate had already climbed to 175 during miles 11 and 12 and I am not sure I could have made it another 8 at that speed anyway.  I lost net 5 pounds of water during the run, 169 down to 164.  Overall, 12.01 miles in 1:56:26, average pace 9:42 per mile. 

I think of runners as a pretty mellow group, but not everybody thinks running is a great thing.  Kind of discouraging when something like this happens.  It happened once before and somebody who saw me looking for my bottles came up and said they thought they were just cleaning up litter, so hopefully that is all it was.

So now I have a decision to make.  It looks like I am not in a position to BQ right now.  Might be a good idea to keep training instead of using up a month tapering and then ramping back up, I might be further ahead in the long run.  Plus, there are a lot of work pressures and pressures with the family's summer schedule.  The logistics and training for this marathon are starting to look difficult all of a sudden.  I need to decide soon.

75F, 85% humidity, wind SW 6 mph.  Very nice morning out.  I ran in flats, 6.46 miles, average pace 10:04.  Ran first 4 at low heart rate, 11:38, 10:39, 10:28 and 10:27, then ran two at MP (kind of), 8:46 (147 bpm) and 8:19 (158 bpm), then jogged it in at 10:24 pace.  Wore ice all the way in to work and my ankle feels fine so far.  Was surprised I could still run that fast at low heart rate with this much heat, I think it is the shoes more than anything.  The flat shoes almost force me to run up on my toes, which seems to make everything feel better.  My ankles feel some strain, but that is a training issue I think, not a permanent issue.  This run felt much better than yesterday's -- maybe because I ran 6 instead of 12? 

Still trying to decide about UVM.  If I thought I could get away with running it in flats I might just do it.  The latest idea is to arrive a few hours before the race.  Apparently some professional sports teams do that when they go in to Denver or SLC.  The theory as I understand it is that your lungs are shocked into taking in more oxygen.  I am a little skeptical, but a lot of experts say that is the best thing to do if you can't go in two weeks early.  There is a flight that gets in about 11:30 p.m. and I think the buses start running at about 3:30 a.m. if not earlier.   I'm not counting 8 hours in there anywhere.

Treadmill 4% decline at 10 minutes per mile, ran 6 miles this evening.  Work is tough right now so the taper comes at a good time.

UVM wrote back and said they would let someone else pick up my packet, so I am back on.  I plan to fly in late Friday night next week in a crazy attempt to beat the altitude.  Still don't understand the theory that well, but apparently if you do your thing right away after arriving at altitude the effects aren't as bad.  I'll take a nap before the plane leaves and try to get an exit row seat so I can sleep a little on the plane.  I should be OK, but a BQ at this point is a long shot.  I just have to be a good sport, try hard and be happy.  As my grandma used to say, "take what you get and don't throw a fit."  Well, I'm pretty sure somebody's grandma said that.

6 more treadmill miles at 10:00 pace, 4% decline, flat shoes again.  The flats didn't feel too good today, they are really putting my lower legs through a workout, I will need to be careful.  Another late night workwise, hopefully getting back on schedule by running in the morning.  I don't do as well running at night, just don't feel quite as good.  But have to do it when I can.

72F, 94% humidity, wind W 6 mph, beautiful morning for running, felt good to get outside.  I ran 6.49 miles in 1:00:59, average overall pace 9:24 per mile, flat shoes.  Started with two low heart rate miles, 11:13, 10:18, then 6 x 800 at 5K pace minus a little bit:  3:35 (7:11), 3:43 (7:26), 3:38 (7:17), 3:36 (7:12), 3:37 (7:15), 3:38 (7:17).  400 cool down between intervals and then jogged it in.  Funny thing is I never saw my heart rate above 170 and it never averaged higher than 164 for any inteval, even though I felt pretty tired.  I was watching it on the last one and for a while I thought it was broken, the readout wouldn't move off of 150.  Finally started to move but I am suspicious I wasn't getting accurate readings, as I felt like I was working pretty hard.  Anyway, it felt good to air it out, even though I was feeling the humidity by the end.  I met another woman out there who I have seen from time to time.  She stopped me during a rest interval and wondered what the heck I was doing.  I meet more people running than doing anything else, it seems.  Pretty soon I'll have more friends than Burt. . . . nah . . . but Burt maybe you can come up with a nickname for her?

75F, 89% humidity at start, 81F, 81% at end.  Got a late start today because of work, but drove down to a trail called Terry Hershey to do something different.  I used to run it quite a bit then cut back because it is a 20-minute drive to get there.  The trail goes along Buffalo Bayou from the Sam Houston tollway west out to the Addicks Dam.  Buffalo Bayou is the main river in Houston.  The trail is busy, and it goes up and down, quite a bit, believe it or not.  We need the Army Corps of Engineers in here and get that fixed, can't have hills in Houston.  This is a taper week, and the plan was to run at long run pace, MP + 1 or 1.5 minutes per mile.  My lower legs were very sore from the speed workout yesterday, so it took a couple of miles to loosen up.  Then it was 9:00 and started to get hot.  There is actually an outdoor shower out there.  I stepped in shoes and all at about mile 9.  Didn't get any wetter, just changed salt water for fresh, but it helped cool off.  Then I remembered I had my phone in my pocket, quickly pulled it out and it still worked.  After I finished I felt like I had run 20 miles and have felt that way all day, but it was only 11.25, which I ran in 1:52:36, average pace 10:01 per mile.  Most of the miles were in the 9:30 to 9:45 range after the slow start, then crept back up toward the end.  It was a lot of work.  I tried not to hit the gas too hard but I was still plenty tired.  I hope I didn't overdo it.  In the past I have either tapered too much or not enough, it is hard to get it right.

Then we took our granddaughters to the zoo.  They just moved here from Utah and it is time to start toughening them up for the Texas summers.  They were a little shocked by the heat, but resilient and had a good time.  Lots of water, icees and food kept the heat beast at bay.  Embrace the heat.