For Whom the Dogs Bark

52F, 100%, calm and clear.  HR 55/120/126.  Ran 10.02 miles in 1:47:31, 10:44/mile.  Started out in the mid-11s, figured on a slower run due to Saturday, but ended up getting a couple of splits in the 10:20s late in the run, fastest mile was mile 8, which I don't understand.  The last 4 were 10:33, 10:26, 10:38 and 10:45, so I didn't slow down to my average pace until mile 10.  I used to hit it at mile 8, so that is good I guess.  Circuit at the gym to finish up.

54F, 93%, N 5 mph.  A big front moving through later today, cold tonight then warm for the weekend.

Today was track day.  Got up at 4:00 with the intentiion of getting in a couple of warmup miles but GI issues prevented it.  Arrived at the track at 5:00 in time to do some warmup with Wade, then it was 10 x 400.  The group was running Yassos, but we didn't want to do that, pure speed for we sprinter types.  We would start out with the group, run our lap then jog out the second one, then another cooldown lap, so about 3/4 of a mile every repeat.  But Wade pulled his groin early in the fourth one.  He stopped immediately so he will probably be OK if he takes it easy for a few days.  He was even jogging a little bit toward the end, taking a slow lap every repeat.  Slowest repeat was 93, fastest was 87, so this was a little faster than last week.  The last two were 91 and that was all I could do, was all lactated up by the last turn, though it cleared immediately during the jog-out. Felt pretty good today, max heart rate 181.

40F (35 WC) to start, 37F (31WC) to end; 66%, NNE 8 mph.  Was supposed to be 30F this morning with a wind chill of 20F, so it was welcome news to wake up to such a warm morning.  Out at 4:30, ran 11.02 miles in 2:00:29, 10:56/mile, so slower than Monday, presumably because of speed work yesterday.  Interestingly, though, my fastest mile was the last one, 10:36, not sure what happened there.  Similar to Monday, though.  I can probably start consistently increasing the mileage on these if this holds up.  121 bpm, 126 max.  Finished with 45 minutes of weights and stretches at the gym.

36F, 86%, calm and cloudy.  Another cold one but no more of them for a while.  Ran 16.00 in 2:59:08, 11:12/mile, 121 bpm, 129 max.  Held pace through 10 before it fell apart, last mile was 12:00 even.  Still, I held pace better than the last time I did a long LLHR run.  Thinking about whether to do this again tomorrow, maybe it is too far for low heart rate running.

58F, 100%.  Thought I would be dealing with 70F, was happy when I woke up and saw the 58F, though it warmed up pretty quickly (68F at the end), heading toward tomorrow's high temperatures.  Started out at 4:30 and counting a bio break and a stop at the Y to get water ended at 8:30.  Tried to run easily, ended up with 24.57 at a 9:13 overall pace (3:46:41), average heart rate 148 but climbed at the end to 169 max.  Through 12.5 I was at a 9:20 pace, so it picked up quite a bit after that.

Running 24 is very different than running 20; today had a marathony feel toward the end, and indeed I was running it at a 4:01 pace.  But I had no problem with the pace, my legs and back were just hurting a lot.  So I think the solution is to do it more of these unless they tear my body down.  Most long runs should be in the 23 to 24 range for a while, I am thinking.

My body has been reacting strangely this week.  Never really recovered from the 400s on Tuesday; I ran 16 a LLHR on Thursday, slower than the last couple of weeks even through 10, then felt bad all day, ended up taking yesterday off which seemed to help some.  There isn't much knowledge out there for how old guys should train -- we are impervious to coaching and would never think of submitting to a study just to help some kid get a PhD -- so we just do our thing and if something doesn't work we go to the next theory without guilt or a second thought.