For Whom the Dogs Bark

74F, 91% and calm.  Nice morning out there, but for some reason it felt just as hot as Saturday, as my mind is starting to play games with me.  Ran 13.11 miles (strangely familiar distance) in 2:12:00, average pace 10.04 per mile.  I got 9:50 on mile 11 compared to about 10:11 the last time, was very excited about that.  Trying to control my emotions, though, it's not like I ran a Trials qualifier.

80F, 86%, SW 6 mph.  Weather was OK for 3 or 4 miles, then started to feel really hot, maybe because it was.  I ran 6 LHR miles, 10:01 pace, then planned to run 5 at 7:10, but failed.  Splits were 7:19 (162), 7:14 (171) and 7:24 (176), plus a stub split.  I stopped for water then couldn't get going again, decided to fight another day.  Ran a cooldown mile and called it a day.  Overall 10.18 miles in 1:31:50, average pace 9:01 per mile.

Things are busy around the house.  My wife is taking a Spanish final tonight, she is graduating in about 2 years, after raising 4 children and nearly done with the 5th.  She was talking all weekend about how she bombed a test she took on Thursday.  I came home last night and asked her what she got.  97.  I knew some girls like her in grade school, or at least I knew their names.  They sat on the front row with their hands in the air.  The teacher never looked at me, couldn't see that far back.  Now I'm married to one of them.

78F, 87%, SSW 3 mph.  Pretty decent weather, but legs were tired from running hard yesterday.  Ran 12.48 miles in 2:08:09, all LHR, 10:14 per mile.  I feel fine as long as I keep moving.  Sitting at work for extended periods of time is not good.  I get lots of drinks, which works out fine.

79F, 87%, SSW 4 mph.  Pretty good running weather, didn't bother me as much as it has recently.  I started out with 6 LHR miles, average pace 9:52.  When I hit that on the slow miles, I figured I might have a chance at a re-do of Tuesday's run.  I ran 5 tempo miles as follows:  7:29 (155), 7:10 (167), 7:18 (173), 7:17 (174) and 7:13 (181), average pace 7:17, so still not 7:15 or 7:10, but I decided to take it.  I then ran 3 more miles slightly faster than LHR pace, about 9:15 to 9:30 per mile, decided it felt like the Last 10K Death March (have to practice everything, right?).  All in, 14.22 miles in 2:06:39, average pace 8:54 per mile.  I took one of those last miles around the back lake in our neighborhood, which was a nice break from the road.  These are man-made lakes.  My neighbor is the chief lieutenant at a big equipment dealership.  I told him these are Caterpillar lakes, not lakes that God created.  Now he calls himself the Caterpillar god.  Sigh.

81F, 84%, SSW 10 mph.  No weather commentary today.  Ran 13.12 in 2:15:51, average pace 10:21 per mile, a 30-second drop-off from yesterday.  Possibly my worst run ever, was happy to at least accomplish that.  Actually I was happy to get it in.  Legs were tired and it was a little warmer today, the result isn't surprising.

Public service announcement.  There is a Honda Odyssey minivan parked in my neighborhood with Utah plates, so if anybody is missing one let me know.  It looks like it has seen a kid or two in its time but hasn't been mom-ed out (http://www.youtube.com/results?search_query=mom+my+ride&aq=0), and the lights are not on, so not an emergency, just let me know as soon as you can.

80F, 83%, SSW 6 mph.  We met at the Y at 4:30 for what was supposed to be a 20-mile run.  Started the run with Wade, who was only going 13.  Somehow the topic of The Woodlands 5K came up.  It is held on the 2nd and 4th Saturday every month, it's the $1 race I ran with Wade in May.  I asked him if today was the 2nd Saturday or 3rd.  He said 2nd.  I said OK I'll run 13 here then drive over there and do a 5K.  So we finished off the 13 at an average pace of 9:25, average heart rate 140 bpm, never over 145.  Wade was suffering in the heat, his heart rate went to 165, usually it is lower than mine.  I thought it was interesting that I could run so long at a heart rate that is 10-12 bpm over my LHR.  Too bad I can't run fast at that rate.  We stopped in at the Exxon station and bought water with wet money again.  Same clerk as last week.  She was prepared with surgical gloves this time.

Then I drove to The Woodlands, got there just before race start at 8:00, empty parking lot.  Today is the 3rd Saturday, somehow that was too difficult to figure out when we were running.  I thought that was a pretty clever way to avoid a 20-miler.

So to punish myself I went back out in the early evening for another 7, 91F to start, cooled a little during the run.  At first I was sweating profusely, but eventually got in the rhythm.  It turned into somewhat of a progressive run:  9:29, 8:07, 8:37, 8:29, 8:04, 7:55 and 7:54.  Average pace 8:22 for this segment.  Mile 2 is a bit faster because I did a piece of it at a 7:30 pace and got my daughter to take a video so I could look at my form.  Supposedly her iPhone takes good video but not this time.  My stride is shorter and quicker than it feels, would like to get a long smooth stride.  Also my arms are flying all over the place, which probably means I have some balance issues.  Have to try it again with a regular video camera, but glad I did this second run.  I don't like running in the evening, but it felt pretty good today for some reason.