For Whom the Dogs Bark

66F, 100%, calm and fogged in. 

Last week was a "quick" trip to China, there is no such thing, ate up 4 days for a one-day meeting, and got only one run in while I was there.  Wanted to go on a long run Saturday morning before leaving for the airport to come home, as there is a long, paved trail along a river by the hotel, but I was up all night working so there was no way.  My colleague in our Beijing office told me that there are kidnapping problems in China, which are not being reported due to media control by the government, so it was probably just as well that I didn't go out for a long run by myself.  So basically last week was a running disaster.  But if there has to be a week like that, two weeks on the back side of a marathon is as good a time as any.  Leaving for Ecuador this afternoon, but I think I'll be able to at least do treadmill workouts at the hotel. 

So out the door at 4:00 a.m. so I could get this one in before the seminary trip.  Ran 5 LHR miles at a 9:54 pace, then 7 at what I hoped was going to be a 7:30 pace.  It ended up being a 7:46 average, and splits were all over the map.  My legs are jet-lagged or I gained weight or I am out of shape or something.  If I ever had an important race (not that I ever would), I would make sure I was at least 48 hours off the plane before the race, more if significant time zone differences are involved.  Long plane travel is not condusive to running.  Overall I ran 12.16 miles in 1:45:25, average pace 8:40 per mile, maxHR 184 bpm.  This run is duly recorded and I am moving on with my life.

Treadmill, no weather report. Got on the treadmill last night at the hotel and slogged out some miles, just me and 4 or 5 staff people waiting to clean the place up. Quito is at 9500 feet elevation according to one source I consulted, so I wasn't sure how this would work out. I didn't take a heart rate monitor down to the gym, but probably should have. I ran these at easy pace, but it didn't feel that easy. But I am in survival mode right now with work being so busy, just trying to get my miles in, no illusion that I can maintain low heart rate at this altitude. This workout was excruciatingly boring, can't believe I made it through.

More importantly, the treadmill was measuring in kilometers per hour. I noticed that when I set it on 6 and was practically walking. So I cranked it up to 10 kph and that seemed about the same as my normal 10-minute pace (actually, it is, 6.2 mph now that I have a chance to calculate it). So at 45 minutes the machine shuts down and the staff hanging around for me to finish looked up hopefully. I got on the next treadmill and set it on 10, almost ended my running career right there, since it was measuring in mph, i.e., 6-minute pace. I don't run that fast. Once I got the speed back down I looked pointedly at the staff to make sure they weren't laughing -- they quickly glanced away. After 40 minutes that one died, so I got back on the kilometer machine which had re-set and finished another 5 minutes. Adding everything up, 9.3 miles in 1:30. I am pretty sure the staff was commenting about my odor as I walked past. But in addition to not running 6-minute miles, I don't speak Spanish either. Not sure what I am doing here.

Treadmill at the hotel in Quito again. Got there a little earlier tonight, so the staff wasn't worrying about how much sleep they would get.  Did the mph machine first until it quit at 40 minutes.  Then got on the kph machine after doing a quick calculation on my phone.  7 mph = 11.2 kph, just sharing because I know this is an important number for everybody.  40 more minutes, then almost 10 more minutes on the mph machine to get a total of 10 miles, 2 at 10-minute pace and 8 at 8:34 pace.  At this altitude I was pretty beat, in fact I was sweating like a pig.  I rode the elevator to my room from the basement and found out my soaked room card wouldn't open the door.  Back down to the lobby in full odor.  They were having a black-tie reception there, but they made plenty of room as I walked to the desk to get a new room card, no problem.

Up very early this morning and back to Houston, which has been cool all week but is now pretty warm, just in time for a half that Wade, Linda and I are planning in the morning.  I think 7 mph sounds about right.

60F, 90% humidity, some wind from a generally southerly direction, didn't write it down.  I wasn't really prepared for this race, kind of did it on a whim and my time shows it, more than 5 minutes slower than my PR, which is quite a bit for this distance.  The last one I ran in Beaumont had identical temperatures as today and more wind, so not a good day.  I will say, though, this course was very hilly.  A couple of 100 to 150-foot ascents which were steeper than Veyo in St. George, as well as some gradual ascents.  (All this in Texas, no lie.)  Plus the placement of the hills was bad.  First big hill right at the start leaving us winded a quarter mile into the race, second long one at mile 5, then did it all again because it was a two-loop course.  I am chalking it up to too much time in an airplane, too little sleep and too little running.  I don't think there was any SGM effect, but it is possible I guess.

Wade, Linda and I left at 6, got to Huntsville about 7, race started at 8.  I brought along a course elevation map and after discussing it I suggested that we go to McDonalds instead.  For a minute I thought they were going to take me up on it.  Linda was running her first half and was nervous.  My splits, were 7:35, 6:53, 7:23, 7:20 (175), 7:30 (177), 8:00 (177), 7:58 (175), 8:03 (175), 7:34 (172), 7:51 (176), 7:54 (178), 8:13 (180), 8:25 (180) and 7:10 (181) for the final 0.22.  My gimpy right ankle started giving out on me a few times in the last 3 miles, making me hobble, but I don't think it affected my time much.  The erractic splits were generally due to the uphill/downhill nature of the course, but I also ran out of gas, I have a conditioning issue it appears.  Average pace on the first half was about 7:27 per mile, second time around the same loop was about 8:01 per mile.  Course was about a minute long, they almost always are.  Average overall pace 7:44, average heart rate 177 (92% of HRmax), overall official time 1:42:19.

The hills were probably worth about 2 minutes -- and temperature doesn't explain the rest of the difference. I took third in my age group, got beat by two 59-year old guys, one of whom I beat pretty easily in a 5K earlier this year; actually I was surprised when I found out I placed.  If I had matched my PR I would have won my age group.  1:20 won the whole thing, so even though there were some good runners, the course took its toll.  Wade finished 4 minutes behind me, when he got done we looked at each other and started laughing about the course.  He has been running every day and is rapidly closing the gap.  Linda did fine as well and probably could have run faster, she went out conservatively. 

Trying to wrap my brain around the high heart rate, 8 bpm higher than St. George.  Using up most of my heart rate reserve like that, it is clear that I was maxed out, although I didn't get nauseous.  I am curious as to why I could run this distance at that heart rate, maybe my HRmax is higher than 193?  Doesn't make sense though -- according to the rule of thumb formula my HRmax should be 164, a number which is significantly lower than my average half marathon rate today.  But I had a great time hanging out with Wade and Linda and just soaking up the race atmosphere -- I really don't feel badly, race day is always fun (almost always).  I am reconsidering Richmond in three weeks, though.  Doesn't seem like I am adequately prepared at the moment, especially whiffing on workouts the last two weeks.  It might be a good idea to go into a 12-week base-building cycle then shoot for a good time on an easy course like Boston.