For Whom the Dogs Bark

73F, 57%, ENE 5 mph.  Not that I woke up eagerly, but at least I was anticipating 63F this morning.  That is what the forecast was when I went to bed -- completely off and it doesn't look like we will get anything in the 60s this week.  I have seen voodoo queens who are more reliable.  The consolation prize was the lowest humidity I have seen in Houston.  My legs were quite tired and slow but the low humidity kept my heart rate down.

I was out the door at 4:25, ran down to the Y and back for another long run -- not really back to back since I took Sunday off, but kind of felt like it.  Pace was 9:44, 24 seconds slower than the fast miles on Saturday, but I only went 15 then.  Plus my heart rate toay was 147 average, 157 max, so things were more in control.

74F, 91% (DP 72F), calm.  The cold front never materialized, even though the Weather Channel website keeps predicting low 60s -- we haven't even reached high 60s yet and I don't think we will on this weather cycle.  I need to get my own met tower.

Last night around dinner time I started running a fever, had to bundle up just to keep from freezing.  But I took two aspirin, after a minor drama finding the bottle:

My wife claims it was on this shelf, but I never saw it, still don't.  Then hit my pillow at 9:15.  Woke up at 5:15 feeling fine, shrugged my shoulders and went out for my planned recovery run.  It was my best LHR run in as long as I can remember:  6.00 miles in 1:12:05, 12:01/mile.  118 bpm, 123 max, 11:38 (120 bpm) on the last mile.  RHR was 55.  All this after doing two 20s in 3 days.  Last week I did 3 LLHR runs, they came in at 12:33, 12:54 and 13:08, all at higher average heart rates than this morning.  My wife was a little bit ticked when I got back, she was up wondering what I was doing.  I shrugged my shoulders.

I have no explanation, I'm just giving up.  I should quit looking at a watch, quit checking weather reports, quit doing slow days, quit doing fast days, just run as far as I can as hard as I can every day.

This morning a woman who is out jogging pretty often was running with her daughter, looked to be about 12, big smile on the daughter's face.  That works on so many levels.  Their dog made a run at me from their garage a few mornings ago, but I'm going to overlook that.

66F, 94%, N 1 mph and clear.  Unexpectedly got cooler weather this morning after complaining for a week.  Another very early start, ran 20.55 miles in 3:06:47, 9:05/mile, average heart rate 155, max 174.  Similar route to Monday down to the Y and back, but heart rate about 8-10 bpm faster, not bad for the extra speed I gained but not close to what I once could do.  Closed out the last couple of miles at about an 8:50 pace, so I think I am at least in the zone to break 4 hours.  Not great but better than where I was 10 days ago.  I'll probably shoot for 3:45 to 3:55 on race day, but a lot will depend on how things develop during the race, especially miles 8-20.

I sprained my left ankle on a rock in the dark at mile 11, stumbled along pretty badly for about a quarter of a mile but eventually it either went numb or got loosened up.  It seemed like a pretty bad sprain at the time and I am still hurting somewhat, but I don't think it will affect race preparations.

I decided to shut down the long runs after today.  I did 3 in 5 days and they were just what I needed to get back in shape after my last race and ensuing hip injury, but they have done their job; anything more might make me stale, at least if I ran them hard.  Based on my almost-no-taper experiment, I have six more training days, then carbo-load on Thursday, then on the plane for Las Vegas on Friday and drive to St. George.  Then run it.  For the next six days I'll probably try to tune up by doing TM up and down, speed work and running in the afternoon heat for solar effect.

66F, 100% and calm.  Very tired legs, but they warmed up after a couple of miles.  6.03 miles at 12:13 pace.  LHR run, 119 average, 125 max.  Other than the first mile, these felt about the same as Tuesday.

PM:  5.2 on TM, uphill and downhill.  Tried to keep the slopes modest (3% down, 2% up) given my recent hip injury which I attribute to this kind of running.  But on the last mile, a downhill lap, my hip started to hurt the same as before and I quit immediately.  Took a big ibuprofen and went to bed, hoping for the best.  Even if I can run level, if I can't run downhill then SGM is going to be a big problem.

72F, 94% and calm.  Warming up a little bit but I don't care anymore.  By the time I get into it after SGM it will definitely be cooler.  Ran 1 mile WU then intended to run 5 at GMP (optimistically 8:45) minus 15 or 30.  First two were 8:17 and 8:15, then my Garmin went dark, exactly at 3:00; not sure if it was coincidence or some sort of a programming issue.  I tried to maintain the same effort through the last 3 miles -- on a hunch I turned the Garmin back on for the last tenth or so and it lit up as if nothing had happened.  I maxed out my heart rate at 184.  It was about 160 after mile 3, so I am thinking I was likely in the 7:50 to 8:00 range for the last 3, but really not sure.  Took another Ibuprofen after I finished and so far my hip is behaving.  But the injury is definitely there.

Noon:  87F, 67% (DP 74F), back out for some sunshine miles, 6.20 at 9:15 pace, HR a little lower:  156 bpm average, 175 max.

76F, 94%, SE 3 mph.  Ran 4.05 a LLHR, 12:12 per mile, 120 bpm; then joined my daughter who is visiting for another 6.05 at 9:20/mile, 158 maximum heart rate.  Garmin is acting up, may run SGM without it just to see what happens, but not sure I have the guts to do that.  Legs are very tired today, before and after running.