For Whom the Dogs Bark

67F, 93% humidity, wind S 3 mph, moving to SE 8 mph, cloudy and threatening but no rain.  Crazy warm this morning, but pleasant in its own twisted way.  Felt relatively good after my day off so I ran pretty hard.  10.16 miles in 1:24:01, average pace 8:16 per mile, flat shoes.  Warmed up 2 low heart rate miles, 10:30 (122) and 9:31 (131), then ran 8 a little faster than goal marathon pace, 12 seconds per mile slower than projected goal half marathon pace although I don't think I could have sustained it for a half marathon this morning anyway.  Splits were 8:02 (148), 7:54 (156), 7:34 (162), 7:43 (163), 7:51 (166), 7:52 (167), 7:48 (171) and 7:40 (173), then a short cool-down. Average pace for the fast miles was 7:48.  This run was harder than it should have been, but I am blaming it on the weather.  In any event it will be a good baseline comparison as I try to do a lot of these miles over the next month getting ready for New Years Day, to the extent my legs can withstand the faster pace.  That strategy worked for Richmond so I will stick with it for now.

49F, 36% humidity, wind NNW 21 mph gusting to 28 mph.  New personal wind speed record, very invigorating out there.  I got up way early to get some work done, so it was 7:30 before I got out the door.  When I got up it was 57F and a light breeze, then it rained, then it started blowing, then I ran.  Was debating whether to wear a long-sleeved shirt and was glad I did, with this weather blowing in I was a genuine FRB blogger out there this morning.  I intended to run 8 slow because I was short on time but before I knew it the wind was blowing me down the road, and I couldn't let up coming back.  Ran 10.19 miles in 1:27:23, average pace 8:35 per mile in regular shoes (no heart rate monitor), so MP + 30, faster than I thought I would feel like running for a recovery session.  I had aches and pains all over last night but woke up fine and still feel fine this afternoon.  Not a whole lot of value for me running this pace, I get more benefit going either faster or slower, but it was fine for today.

28F, 91% humidity, calm and clear.  A really great morning for running.  12.15 miles in 1:57:48, average pace 9:42 per mile, low heart rate and flat shoes.  I had a 9:39 pace at the 10-mile mark, better than my previous low heart rate best on October 29 (9:53), although the temperature on that day was 51F.  This may be one of the coldest days I will run in this winter unless I am somewhere other than Houston, it doesn't get into the 20s very often here.  As long as it is dry I can run pretty cold without any problems, although I have no interest in finding any lower limit, I'll rely on the Idaho bloggers to tell me what the lower limits are.  I am wondering if there is much difference between running at 50F and 30F.  Most people say you don't get slower until the thermometer breaks 60, but I am starting to wonder.  It doesn't get cold enough here often enough to tell.

35F, 80% humidity, calm.  Great to have 30+ again after our extended 24-hour winter, nice balmy weather to be out and about in.  Ran 10.07 miles in 1:22:57, average pace 8:14 per mile, flat shoes.  Ran two warmup miles, then 6 at goal MP, then 2 trying to get to a 10K pace, didn't make it except for the last quarter.  Splits were 10:04 (125), 9:15 (134), 8:02 (148), 8:02 (152), 7:55 (156), 7:54 (158), 8:07 (159) 8:00 (160), 7:33 (165) and 7:24 (169).  Was able to run 6 MP miles and keep my heart rate at or below 160, felt like I might could do more.  Funny thing, though, I was very fatigued even though I had a relatively low heart rate, and definitely could not have run a marathon at this pace, maybe related to lack of sleep?  Work has been a bear the last couple of days.  When I wasn't paying attention my heart rate would go down instead of up, opposite of what usually happens.  Legs feel fine this afternoon.

45F, 97% humidity, calm and clear.  Best running weather ever this week, except Tuesday.  Wade has golfing plans in the morning, taking a mutual friend to one of the better courses in town as a reward for getting past his throat cancer.  So today we decided to go longish and slow.  I ran to his house and picked him up, then we did his neighborhood and mine, all low heart rate.  Turns out his heart rate is higher than mine on the low end, mine is higher on the high end, not sure what it means.  13.33 miles in 2:12:59, average pace 9:59 per mile, flat shoes.  The last mile was under 10, first time I have been able to run this far LHR and stay under 10 minutes throughout, felt like I could go further with the same result.  Wade was marveling about how good he felt.  About 3 miles in, still dark, I was bragging that I didn't care, I knew this route so well I could run it blind.  Just then I tripped on a lip in the concrete and went down hard.  Scraped up my whole right side, hand, elbow and knee, some of it looks pretty ugly.  Those running gods, they can hear you.

59F, 92% humidity, wind SSW 6 mph, warm and moist, perfect running weather.  Warmed up to 62 by the end of the run.  The goal was to run first half at MP + 1, then 8 at MP, then 2 at 10K pace with last quarter at 5K pace.  Missed the 10K pace but got everything else.  I ran the first 10 at 8:50 per mile (heart rate stayed under 150), then moved to goal MP for 8 miles and managed to keep everything at 8:00 or below:  7:56, 8:00, 7:50, 7:53, 7:40, 7:49, 7:47 and 7:59.  Then I "sped up", all the way to 7:41 and 7:36, the last one aided by a 7:00 pace on the last quarter.  Those last two miles should have been 7:15 and 7:00 based on recent 10K times. 

No heart rate issues, didn't hit 170 until the last 2, and didn't hit 175 until the last quarter, my legs were just tired, in particular my left hip flexor which started to hurt at about mile 8 and never resolved itself completely.  I cooled off for 2.17 hoping my hip would loosen up but it didn't really help much.  I'm OK I think.  Total distance 22.17 in 3:09:10, overall average pace for the run was 8:32, ran in flat shoes.  I ran every day but one this week in flat shoes, I seem to be getting used to them.  Average pace for first 10 was 8:50, second 10 7:47, and overall pace for 20 was 8:19. 

I checked my heart rate on the 8 mile segment against an 8-mile MP run I did on November 29.  For the first 4, my heart rate today was higher, since I was just coming off of 10 slower miles, but it didn't climb as fast.  By mile 18 my heart rate was 168, 5 bpm lower than mile 8 of the 11/29 run.  The temperature was about 7 degrees warmer then, so that might explain some of it, but I'm hoping some of the difference is because I'm getting better. 

All in all, I am happy with this run.  Not ready to run a 3:30 marathon yet, but I have two more weeks before I taper -- a little more conditioning, a little cooler, a short hard taper and some good nutrition during the race (thank you, Elaine) -- who knows, I might make a respectable assault if I am having a decent day.  Running is fun right now.