For Whom the Dogs Bark

4.52 miles in 1:05.  My average pace was 14:25  per mile and my average heart rate was 149 bpm because that is the lowest I was able to get it.  Most of the time it seemed like it was in the high 150s and low 160s, it even reached 172 at one point.  I am surprised that the average came out that low.  The ambient temperature is 47F, I slept well and I rested yesterday.  Should have been putting down low 12s, instead it was mid-14s, about 2-1/2 minutes per mile slower than I expected, and I was never able to get my heart rate down except by walking, which does my running no good so far as I can determine.  To call this run frustrating is not giving it its proper due -- it's not as if I am new to this type of training, I have been doing it for 8 months now but never with results that were anything close to what happened this morning.  I thought perhaps my Garmin was misreading because of the cold weather somehow, but I measured my pulse manually on my wrist at the end of the run and it was the same.  How do I feel?  I feel as if I never even went out the door, there was almost no effort involved.  Nothing to do but try again tomorrow.  I think I'll go slow again tomorrow then do a speed workout on Wednesday, no point in not trying something else.

4.99 miles in 1:05, 13:01/mile, 59F, 127 bpm.  Not my best run ever, but back in the zone.  After yesterday's debacle, I started out extremely slow, about a 16-17 minute pace for the first half mile, never let my heart rate get away from me.  First mile was 14:02 and everything after that was in the high 12s.  In the past I could always get my heart rate back down once it crept beyond the target zone, but after yesterday I was no longer confident of that.  Deep into my run I let it get away a couple of times, but by then I could always bring it back down by slowing my cadence slightly.  Anyway, back on track.

Today's distance is an estimate, seeing as I punched the wrong button on my clock by accident.  The main objective was running at low heart rate for a specified period of time, which I did, 126 bpm for the length of the run, however long it was.  Temperature was 67F and there must be another system blowing in because the wind was pretty brisk.

My technical skills with electronics and computers are pretty pathetic.  Kind of like watching a clown trying to eat spaghetti or something.

4.97 miles in 1:05, 72F, wind S 8 mph, light rain, 100% humidity, average heart rate 128 bpm, average pace 13:05/mile.  Conditions a little less ideal than yesterday, but runnable.  Managed to keep my clock on the whole run today, so that was an accomplishment.

Also managed to keep my heart rate down again, except for one spot running behind the lake in the dark, a big snort in the trees just 20 feet to my left. Messed up my heart rate real good on that one.  I'm thinking a 10-point buck, but it was probably a rabbit.

4.90 miles in 51:13, 10:27 average pace, 47F, average heart rate 170 bpm.  It was another cold morning, just like Monday and 25 degrees cooler than yesterday.  Again, my heart rate was 162 before I got out of my cul de sac and it went as high as 204 during the run.  No way could that possibly be accurate, but it is now obvious to me that it is a cold weather issue that affects either my heart rate monitor or my heart.  I hope it is the former.  Anyway, I decided I might as well do my speed workout, so I jogged for 2 miles then two half-mile threshold runs, then a full mile threshold run, jogging a quarter in between.  I got my pace down to the high 7s a couple of times.  I can't believe that I have to run 8:30s for 26 miles to qualify for Boston.  That is far away for me.

My goal for my next marathon is 4:30 to 4:45, which means 10:30 to 11:00 splits.  If my legs don't rebel after today's run, I'll try to run for two and a half hours in the morning at an 11:00 pace.  It's been 3 weeks since St. George, so it should be OK to air it out a little.

It was nice to be out in the crisp cold air, glad to be alive, even if slow.

47F, cold clear morning, great running weather.  The goal this morning was to run for 2:30 hours at my target marathon pace (11:00) for my next race, the Texas Marathon in Kingwood, Texas on New Years Day.   I managed to do that, 13.86 miles at an average pace of 10:49, splits as follows:

11:45, 10:45, 10:49, 10:41, 10:48, 10:54, 10:31, 10:53, 10:48, 10:39, 10:53, 10:47, 10:51, 8:57 (10:24 pace)

I left my heart rate monitor at home.  I'll go back to slow running during the week, but I am hoping to gradually increase the time for my Saturday long runs, eventually getting up to 4 hours at marathon pace.  I started doing my long runs this way while preparing for St. George and it seemed to help a lot, at least for this stage of my training.  I felt like I would have had a hard time running a full marathon at the same pace, so I am not there yet, but after this morning it seems doable.  The difference running in cool weather is significant.  A few weeks ago I would have struggled in the heat to run this far at this pace.

The most important thing that happened this morning is I passed somebody.  They were a really tall guy and a really short woman who turned onto the sidewalk in front of me, I eased on by, smiled a little to myself but throttled the urge to pull out a Sharpie and offer my autograph.  They looked like they were just warming up, but I am counting it.  Several miles later at the turnaround, I noticed they were only a quarter behind, so I ended up bringing it in faster than I planned, probably too fast.  Much more important than enjoying my health, making new friends and avoiding injury.