For Whom the Dogs Bark

78F, 80%, SW 4 mph, clear and hot.  I was glad to be out running on this 4th of July morning and thankful to all those who made it possible.  In more places than not there are no runners.  Poverty, hunger and war make it an unaffordable luxury, doesn't hurt me at all to remember that once in a while.

But it was certainly hot.  24 hours ago the forecast for this morning was 71F, last night it was 73F, this morning at 4:30 a.m. it started out much hotter than that, dropped to 75F by the time I finished but it was too late by then.  The goal was to run at an 8-minute pace, so I picked out a lap which I thought was a little over 2 miles and decided to run it 5 times.  My garmin cratered a quarter of a mile in, so I was guessing.  I finished the first lap and I was already melting in the heat.  I had just read some pretty scary stuff on heat exhaustion, so not having access to heart rate data I decided to alternate laps, not too fast on the fast ones and not too slow on the slow ones.  That worked OK.  Finished 5 laps in 102 minutes by my cell phone, 3 fast and 2 slow.  Got home and measured the lap on a Google Earth application, 2.45 miles, so average pace was 8:20 per mile.  I was probably doing the fast ones right at 8:00. 

For hydration, I took a big drink every 2 laps instead of sipping away.  My stomach seemed to like that better.  Also used EFS once every two laps -- my stomach did not like that better, but I kept it down. 

We have another 100 days of this heat, probably I need to find something else to think about.

Happy holiday all.

74F, 91%, calm and clear.  Got out a little later than normal, just at daylight, coolest part of the day, but it didn't last long, was 81F by the time I finished.  12.06 miles at 10:18 per mile.  Actually slower than that because I didn't get a readout on the first mile, which is typically slow.  Kept them all under 11 though.  This was a run where I felt better as it progressed, but by the end I was slowing down quite a bit.  I went to the gym with my son yesterday and he showed me some good stuff to work on core.  I did two rounds with light weights.  Not feeling any abdominal soreness today, which is good, but it seemed to have enough effect to make my running easier this morning, like it had loosened me up somehow.

74F, 90%, calm.  Pretty good running weather today.  Ran 6 LHR miles, average pace 10.02, followed by 5 at MP:  7:27 (160), 7:22 (168), 7:18 (174), 7:26 (177) and 7:15 (182), maxHR 186, average pace 7:22.  I thought this was faster than last week's 4-mile tempo-type run but I checked and today was slower, not good.  Finished off with a 1-mile cooldown.  Overall 12.04 miles in 1:46:39, average 8:52 per mile.  I think I will wait until August to start back on hills on the treadmill, no sense rushing it.

74F, 91% and calm.  There was rain downtown yesterday afternoon, but no sign of it at my house, would really like some rain.  Weather was good for running, though.  Started with 10 miles LHR, average pace 9:58 per mile, fastest this week so I was happy about that.  Then I did 2 sets of 3x200, RI 200 then finish out the mile between sets.  Objective was to run these slightly less than 5K speed (6:40).  Converted to a mile pace, the 200s came out like this:  first set 6:26 (159), 6:14 (160), 6:07 (161); second set 6:08 (164), 5:39 (167) and 6:27 (171).  I think the Garmin has measurement problems at these short intervals, would be better to do them on a track with a stopwatch.  200 meters is about .125 miles, and if the Garmin is only taking a reading off the satellite every few seconds, then it can make a big difference if you push the lap button just after the last reading or just before the next one -- that combined with the radius of error (30 feet I think) and you have measurement problems.  Anyway, I think the 5:39 and the last 6:27 are both bogus, they didn't feel much different than the others.  I am pretty sure most of these were in the 6:10 to 6:15 range.  These speeds felt lightning quick but not long enough to create lactate problems.  Interestingly my legs felt very invigorated, though they are questioning me now.  I don't think I could run a 5-minute mile even if I had the endurance for it, it appears that I simply don't have enough fast-twitch muscles.  Anyway, it was fun and probably more valuable than quarter repeats.  I think I'll do something like this every 10 days to 2 weeks, maybe a little more frequently closer to races.

77F, 89%, calm.  Just a little bit warmer today, which was good.  With the cooler weather yesterday I was afraid that fall was arriving too early.  Ran 12.04 all LHR, 2:00:17 total, average 10:00 per mile.  I had 9:56 at the 10-mile mark, so I was a little faster today than yesterday, even though the overall average was slower.

I'm glad I am not a body builder.  My son does the gym thing every day, he is the master of the gym.  He has muscles in all sorts of non-functional places.  We both started out at about 165 this year.  His goal is to hit 200 and mine is to hit 150.  After I came in from the run this morning I found a small packet on the counter, about the size of a Kool-Aid package, the kind without sugar in it.  It says:

NAPALM

xTreme Pre-Workout Warfare Training Matrix

Plasma-Scorch Muscle Volume Engorgement Technology

Thermobaric Heat Shock Protein Deployment System

Air Strike Adreno-NeuroCore Heat Inducer

Ultra-Intense . . . Battle Raging Energy, No Creatine, No FIllers, No Fluff, No B.S. (Fruit Punch Flavor)

Two things:  I hope I didn't pay for this stuff, but don't really want to know the answer.  And I need the number for the HazMat response unit.  SlowJoe is coming to town tomorrow, I'm sure he is an expert on these battle-tested powders.

80F, 86%, calm.  A great morning for running, mainly because SlowJoe arrived to save the day.  He is on leave and swinging through Houston with his family for the weekend.  We met at the Y at 5:00 sharp -- Joe came from close to downtown Houston so he would have rolled out sometime before 4:00, amazing feat of running dedication.  The heat was miserable, not a nicer way to put it.  Plus the fast group never showed up today, so we were running with the 9:30/mile crowd, and water re-supply logistics also did not fall into place, so I was improvising finding refills.  We pulled ahead but it was a slow day and I never got going very well.  On the other hand, I got a marathon-style heart rate going, ending up in the low to mid 170s, so maybe it was all for the better we didn't go any faster.  Joe never complained about the turtle pace, but he must have been dying to go faster.  16.80 miles in 2:29:02, average pace 8:52 per mile, not counting all the stops and starts.  The highlight of the run was when I gave the Chevron attendant a soaking wet $20 bill to purchase a 50-cent bottle of water.  She was visibly ill, and wouldn't put the bill in her register.