For Whom the Dogs Bark

61F, 97% humidity, partly cloudy and calm.  Very nice morning out there, I miss the humidity and there was plenty this morning for everybody.  Ran 10.10 miles in 1:29:20, average pace 8:51 per mile, flat shoes.  Warmed up for 3 miles then ran 7 at 160 bpm, fastest 8:12, slowest 8:50, average 8:33, but a big spread for a 7-mile run.  At low heart rates my spread for this distance would be more like 10 or 15 seconds once I found a rhythm.  I am assuming I can run a marathon at 160 bpm, so the goal is to get faster at that heart rate.  This morning's pace for the 7 miles looks like "yup, there it is, 4 seconds under", but the problem is that the last 3 miles were 8:49, 8:47 and 8:50, which means I currently don't have the conditioning to run 8:37 splits for a full marathon, notwithstanding the calculators and equivalent time tables out there which are indicating I should be able to run 8:25 splits for the marathon distance based on my 5K and half times.  They lie, all of them.  On the other hand, it may be that I just haven't run enough at these higher heart rates to be able to sustain an even, prolonged effort, so hoping to run at 160 bpm for the next 3 weeks to the extent my legs can withstand the faster paces.  Then I plan a one-week taper for Richmond and see what happens.

61F, 94% humidity, calm.  Another beautiful running morning.  Ran 11.70 in 2:06, average pace 10:48 per mile, regular shoes and low heart rate.  Was hoping the pace would be a little faster but I was fatigued.  Never felt that good and at the end of the run I was totally wrung out, kind of a bone deep tiredness, actually surprised my pace wasn't even slower.  I may have lost some aerobic conditioning because of the faster miles I have been running lately, a month ago this run would have been no big deal.  Kind of hard to fit everything in that needs to get done, something always gets neglected.

Passed by my favorite Dog behind the Fence this morning, this time he had his little buddy out there.  They were yapping away, baritone and soprano, as I approached from the east.  I let them carry on for a while then growled low under my breath, audible only to dog ears.  There was a stunned silence for about one and a half heartbeats, then all heck broke loose, beside themselves with anger and excitement that I had talked back, in their own language, wish I knew what I said.  I ran back by from the west about 10 minutes later and they had either been pulled back from the front line by their owner or had suffered coronaries.  As entertainment goes, I thought it was a respectable Ipod alternative.

61F, 100% humidity and calm.  My kind of day.  I ran 11.45 miles in 1:38:33, average pace 8:36 per mile, flat shoes.  This was a repeat of Monday's workout but with better results.  The plan for Richmond in 3-1/2 weeks is to do as many miles as I can at 160 bpm.  I warmed up a couple of miles, accelerating into the MP miles.  Fastest was 7:57 and the slowest 8:38 so it went pretty well.  Average pace for the fast miles was 8:18 and only the last one was over the 8:37 BQ target pace.  If I can get to the point where I can stay under 160 up until mile 18 or 20 I can probably stumble the rest of the way in.  Still a 30-second spread between fastest and slowest but overall about 12 seconds faster than Monday, not sure how that happened but not complaining. 

My brother-in-law sent me this NY Times article about the level of effort required to be a successful runner:

http://www.nytimes.com/2010/10/19/health/nutrition/19best.html?_r=1&emc=eta1

Obviously I'm not working hard enough!

62F, 100% humidity, calm and clear.  I think the weather has been very nearly identical every day this week.  Ran 10.11 in 1:46:54, 10:34 per mile, low heart rate and regular shoes.  It was a good run, heart rate stayed pretty steady throughout.  And my legs felt better than they have since the marathon.  I think the cobwebs have finally been cleared out.  No injuries, so everything is great right now.  I went out an hour late because I stayed up late last night and also had to finish getting some work out this morning, but it was still a reasonable temperature.

Trying to decide what to do this weekend, whether to go relatively short and hard (15-20) or longer and easier.  I can see merit in both, but I am leaning toward long and slow.  Right now my legs just want to run and I don't want to disappoint them.

64F, 96% humidity, calm and partly cloudy.  A little bit warmer but very nice weather, clouds in the east, clear in the west so the moon could show.  Woke up early and was out the door by 5:10, ran 2 miles warmup, 10:29 and 9:19, then hit the gas pedal, working up to 160 bpm after about 3 miles and held it at that for 7 more.  Got 10 miles at marathon pace, 2 better than Wednesday.  Fastest mile was 7:47, slowest was the 10th, right at 8:37.  Wasn't feeling it at first but by the end I was feeling pretty strong.  Amazing scientific discovery, the slower I went the stronger I felt!  Average pace for the 10 was 8:14, about 4 seconds faster than Wednesday.  Overall pace including warmup was 8:29 per mile, total running time 1:44:47, flat shoes.  As good as this run was, it isn't good enough.  I think I have to be able to do about 15 at or below MP and 160 bpm in order to have a good chance at qualifying.  The good thing is my legs are liking this speed so far so I'll keep doing it.

A mini crisis yesterday.  I checked my entry at the Richmond Marathon and saw to my horror that they had entered my age as 54 -- can't believe they wanted me to run against those spry and supple 50-year olds.  I fired off an e-mail demanding an immediate correction.  They politely corrected it to 55, so now I am back at the young end of my age group, plus I can still order off the senior breakfast menu at the Richmond IHOP.  Pretty sick sport we have when it makes you mad to be mistaken for someone younger.  But now I'm wondering if there are cheater geezers our there.  I think we need to institute controls.  In order to haul off your very handsome age group certificate you have to not only present a valid urine sample but show them your drivers license.

70F, 93% humidity wind ESE 3 mph to start, 77F, 64% humidity, wind SSE 11-17 mph at end, almost mid-summer running conditions.  Ran 23.46 miles in 3:54:26, average pace 10:00, regular shoes.  Pretty much maintained the same pace throughout, but I was fighting my head the whole time.  My left foot hurt all day yesterday from something I did to it on yesterday's run.  Then my hip started hurting early in the run today.  Plus I wasn't running fast just slogging it out, it was hot, I had things to do, I had run hard all week, so a combination of things.  I almost came in early several times but ended up making my goal.  I need to run more of these longer runs but they get to me mentally.  I really don't like the way I feel after mile 18 or so, just not fun, no wonder marathons are so difficult to finish.  I got a late start this morning due to some family celebrations last night, but early enought to still run the first couple of hours in the dark.  When the sun came up it was nice for a while then drained my strength for the last 45 minutes or so.  I was dragging at the end, but my slowest split was 10:34 (other than the first warmup mile).  Fastest was 9:36.  Right about mile 23 I tripped and went down, first time that has happened in a while, but my feet were dragging and my toe caught on the perfectly flat pavement.  I was all by myself, pretty messy but unharmed except for a sprained left pinky.  Funny thing, I felt better when I got up and started running again, like it knocked the cobwebs out.  Pretty embarrasssing, though.  I met a friend at mile 19.5 and we ran together for about a mile and a half.  That was a big help.