For Whom the Dogs Bark

69F, 93%, ESE 5 mph.  Warm again, tomorrow too, but it feels fine, not stifling like high 70s.  Got out early and ran 12.17 LHR miles in 2:02:29, average pace 10:04 per mile.  My left calf still hurt but it made it through the run without getting worse, and it has felt fine all day.  If it continues to improve I can build back up a little bit later, but this much is plenty for this week.  If all goes well I will stay in base mode through the middle of January before adding faster stuff back into the mix.

73F, 89%, SSW 4 mph.  Even warmer.  Got out a little later and ran 12.13 LHR miles in 2:02:51, average 10:09 per mile, so slower than yesterday.  Tomorrow will be cooler, interesting to see if it speeds up or not.  When I got back I was staring out the window at a large white egret.  My granddaughter asked me what I was looking at, I told her it was a beautiful bird.  She looked at it and said it wasn't a bird.  I asked her if it could fly, and without hesitation she said yes, but it isn't a bird.  I told her I was pretty sure it was, but finally asked her what she thought it was.  She said it is somewhere between a bird and a duck.  QED.  I need to be a more gracious loser.

55F, 70%, NNW 11 mph.  Much better running weather today and my pacing showed it.  Ran 12.88 LHR miles in 2:04:35, average 9:40 per mile, almost 30 seconds faster than yesterday and a slower heart rate as well (by 2 bpm, which doesn't sound like much but over a 2-hour span it is significant).  So even with a respectable breeze the lower temperatures and humidity made a big difference.  I ran 5 in a row under 9:30 in the sweet spot of the run, miles 4 through 9.  I also stopped at the clubhouse near the end of the run and did some leg weights before running the rest of the way home.  Out of curiosity I just now checked the forecast for Richmond, Virginia this Saturday.  I almost entered that marathon but decided I didn't need to be doing another one right now.   38F with a mild SW breeze and low humidity.  Dramatically better running weather than St. George, sea level to boot -- almost tempted to go run it anyway, but I won't.

50F, 52%, N 6 mph.  Another good running day, it was colder by the time I finished.  Ran 12.07 LHR miles in 1:55:55, average pace 9:38 per mile.  It wasn't really faster than yesterday, though.  The distance was a little shorter, so not as many slow steps at the end, plus today's initial warmup mile was faster than yesterday's.  Still, about the same, and I'm happy with these speeds for now, they are almost my best.  This is the third week in a 12-week base phase.  The last time I did this religiously it took at least 8 weeks before I really started to get significant results.  That may not happen again the same way, but it's worth a try.

36F, 96%, clear and calm, nearly a full moon.  Ran 12.09 miles in 1:55:22, average pace 9:33 per mile.  It was a great morning for running, but it did require long sleeves and gloves.  It seems like I am starting to get some LHR fitness back, will be interesting early next week when the lows are in the 50s to see if these times hold.  If they don't, then the improvement is just temperature-related, although I wouldn't have thought there is much of that going on between the mid-40s (like yesterday) and the mid-30s (like today).

I was checking out some running stuff on the web and figured out who the mystery lady in the jeep is, the one who beat me by a minute at my last 5K.  I have been telling everybody I got beat by a 60-year old woman because that's how old she looked.  Well, it turns out she is 60, and she holds the world record in the 5K for 60-year old women.  Aside from the world record thing, which is pretty cool all by itself, I think it must be an important talent to be able to correctly guess women's ages.  In this internet age there has to be a way to make money off of this stuff.  But I must say there seems to be little upside in walking up to strange women and guessing their age out loud.

47F, 98%, partly cloudy but dry, and calm.  Gorgeous weather this morning.  I was expecting high 50s, which would have morphed into high 60s by the time I finished.  This was better.  I started at 6:00 because I got to bed late last night.  The plan was. . . .actually there was no plan.  I toyed with going fast and also doing the whole thing at low heart rate, but it is too early in the training cycle to run fast and I couldn't withstand another LHR run after doing 5 already this week.  Even though Wade is out of town marrying off his son I thought I might go down to the Y anyway to run, but it was too late.  So I just ran, and had fun doing it.  The warmup mile was 9:49, at which point I thought I could average 9:00 pretty easily.  Second mile was 8:44 and I decided to shoot for an 8:40 average.  But after the second mile nothing was over 8:30 and I ended up with an 8:25 average pace, last mile 7:44.  Hit 20.00 right in front of my house, 2:48:26 total running time, that was it for the day.

One year ago today I ran the Richmond Marathon, also at 8:25 per mile by the Garmin (8:27 official).  The difference is heart rate -- today my average was 149 for miles 1-20, compared with 164 at Richmond for miles 3-20.  That was the race of my life but it is history now.  I longingly checked Richmond weather one last time this morning before heading out, 30F at race time, 5 below forecast and 5 colder than last year.  That might not have been so good, I would have had to go out in an extra layer of clothes then throw them away, and I never throw clothes away.