For Whom the Dogs Bark

80F, 60%, NNW 25 mph.  Gusty and dry.  Decided late last night to do a 5K today, thinking there would be races spread all over town on a holiday.  There was one, in far southwest Houston, an hour from my house.  But it started late, which was good because I got a full night's sleep, and bad because, well, it didn't start until late.  I arrived at about 7:00, registered, got my bib and chip and visited the PoP, at which time I had a half hour left.  I decided I had time to run the course, so I left the starting area and jogged about 3.4 at a 10-minute pace.  They already had the aid station set up and about 5 guys offered me water as I went through it.  They must have thought I was winning.  I got back to the start line just before the gun.  With all the weight I have lost my elbows are a little sharper, so I wedged in up close to the front, the horn sounded and we were off.

The course was out and back, wind at our backs going out and a distinct downhill tilt.  Which meant just the reverse coming back.  Since I ran hard on Saturday, my plan was to do the first mile in 7 flat then crank it up.  As a result I was getting passed right and left the first quarter, but it turns out almost everybody overestimated what they could do in the heat and dry wind.  It was like I was the only guy who had been running in it all summer.  The first mile came in at 6:47 -- good thing I didn't go out fast.  I cranked it up right on schedule, and the second mile came in at 6:54.  So I cranked it up again, and the third mile came in at 7:12.  I am such a good runner.  In my defense, a 25 mph wind is a very strong headwind, and the uphill tilt coming back was no picnic, even though it was probably less than 1% overall. 

This race was a tale of the old and the young.  I had the hardest time passing a 5-7 year old girl, finally got her at the 1-mile mark and congratulated her.  She ignored me.  Then at the turnaround I saw her again, ahead of me.  I suspected fraud, but there were no shortcuts unless she got in a vehicle.  That one bugged me all the way in.  Then at about mile 2 I caught a 9-year old boy who was really fighting.  He surged past me after I passed him, but he was crying out loud with the pain.  Kids don't know that pain is OK.  I hit the accelerator and passed him for the last time and congratulated him.  He ignored me.  In the process I passed the only two old guys I saw, one at mile 1.25 and the other at mile 1.75, and made it stick on both of them.  My age division was 50-59, so I figured I had that one sewed up.  Final conquest was a beefy guy running shirtless who looked like he might be past 40.  I thought it was worth it to try to catch him, finally got him at 2.7 and he congratulated me.  I ignored him.  There was a series of tight turns at the finish and I could see that some of the folks I had passed were making a last surge, so I turned it on and finished the last .14 at a 6:24 pace.  I was a little surprised at how smooth it felt and realized I should have turned it on for probably the last 3 quarters.  I might race again on Saturday and see if I can make that happen.

I collected my breath, got a water bottle and went out and ran the course for the third time at about a 9:20 pace, finally started catching walkers at mile 2.  There was a lady on the race staff standing near the end of the course who saw me come through for the third time.  I think she wanted to charge me extra.  Also, I got the last cup of water at the aid station just as they were taking it down.  So first and last, something biblical about that.

Just as I came in they started a 1K race and a few minutes later I saw 2 twin girls, age 5-7, come in together.  The same ones.  They ran both races and they are fast.  Still not sure if one of them beat me.

The course measures 3.14, pretty close as far as these types of races go, but at my speed that is 13 seconds slow.  Didn't matter today though.  As a result of running the course again I think I missed the announcements, but I finally found the posted results and it was interesting.  I didn't place in the 50-59 group because I got third masters, first time I have ever placed in that category.  I never saw the older guys ahead of me, thought I had caught them all, but the first masters runner was 59 and the second 48, if the results are accurate.  I finished officially at 21:46 if I recall correctly, about 1 minute slower than my PR, but finished 14th overall which was in the 97th percentile, my highest finish.  The winning time was about 17:30, slow even for Houston, so the weather nailed everybody.

57F, 56% and calm.  The cool, dry weather finally arrived, it should last most of the week then back to regular temps next week, but so far only predicting average, not 10 degrees over like it has been.  I was beat up from Saturday and Monday, so I took it easy despite the good weather.  Ran 10.38 LHR miles in 1:42:57, average pace 9:55 per mile.  Very hard to get a good rhythm at first, but eventually I did.  There was no heart rate drift until the last mile, when my pace dropped by about 15 seconds.

59F, 64%, ENE 5 mph.  The superior weather continues.  Got up late and ran 10.06 miles in 1:27:10, average pace 8:40 per mile.  Started with 4 LHR miles at 9:39, then 6 x 1000:  7:30 (155), 7:19 (159), 6:58 (164), 6:45 (170), 6:52 (171) and 6:49 (174), active recovery out to the full mile after each interval.  Heart rate-wise I should have been able to go faster but legs were having none of it.  Still trying to think through that, but I think the answer is even while in the middle of a workout cycle with muscle tissue damage repairing each day but not completely, heart rate doesn't track that.  It just tracks overall conditioning.  Not sure how to take advantage of that though.

57F, 69%, N 4 mph.  More sterling running weather.  Was only going to do 4 fast today but when I got outside I realized I needed to take better advantage of this weather.  I promised myself I wouldn't go faster than 7:30, glad I was able to accomplish that.  Started out with 4 LHR, average 9:39 per mile, then 8 at GMP:  7:47 (149), 7:44 (154), 7:39 (156), 7:25 (161), 7:39 (163), 7:42 (164), 7:21 (169) and 7:22 (173), average 7:38 per mile.  I think I have figured out the heart rate thing.  Training in the heat lowers your overall heart rate for the same speed, because your body gets more efficient at cooling while sending blood to the legs at the same time, but it doesn't improve leg strength at a faster than normal pace -- that comes only through running faster (and maybe longer), which is hard to do in the heat.  So when I start running in cooler weather I have plenty of heart rate reserve (173 out of 193 on a pretty fast last mile) but not enough leg strength to take advantage of it yet.  So I am smugly sitting on my new theory until a different one comes along.

I smelled smoke this morning.  One of the Texas wildfires is within 20 or 30 miles north of my house.  The due north wind brought the smoke right into the neighborhood.  We need a hurricane.  Yep, I said it.

70F, 84% and calm.  The heat has pretty much returned.  My firm decided to be a sponsor of a fundraiser for UNCF (United Negro College Fund), Elizabeth, one of my partners, is on the board.  I wanted another 5K today anyway, kind of a do-over from Monday, but it was more of the same.  Actually a little better.  If I get credit for the whole distance I ran, I got 6:48 per mile, and my PR at this distance is 6:41.  So 7 seconds per mile slower, even though conditions at that race were pretty comparable.  Ran the course once to warm up and once to cool down, pretty boring by the third time around.

I finished third, but I am not sure how many runners there were.  At least 80 but I think more like 150.  Two younger guys beat me but I had third place all to myself, next guy in was a minute slower.  Pretty slow 5K, not sure why I am still slow after running pretty hard all summer.

Missed yesterday because of work, at the office from 6:00 a.m. until midnight, hoping to get a little better running in this coming week, it will be my last chance before a short 2-week taper for SGM.

Went to the Texas/BYU game in Austin this evening.  BYU won the first half handily, after that it was a nightmare.  At least I got a good photo.  This is the definition of a nose-bleed seat, even though it wasn't priced like it: