For Whom the Dogs Bark

55F and light rain, 7.73 miles in 1:40:00, average pace 12:56 per mile, low heart rate.

Well, we have a typical winter gulf coast system in now.  The weekend excitement brought by our brief encounter with Midwest winter weather patterns is long gone.  My legs are still hung over, though, couldn't get a fast pace going, at least not in the target heart rate zone.  So much for my easy week last week.

My big accomplishment on Saturday had nothing to do with running.  I put out the Christmas lights, roof, yard, tree and all, everything but reindeer on the roof.  Zero to ignition all in one day.  Even the wife was a bit impressed.  She didn't say anything, but I just know it.  Problem is they won't go on today.  The rain shorted them out somewhere.  I hate that.

71F w/ light rain and wind NE 10 mph, 7.11 miles in 1:27:27, average pace 12:18 per mile, low heart rate.

I had to stay up late last night attending to a family crisis -- we decorated the Christmas tree.  So I slept in and ran at noon today.  Couldn't go the full distance due to work commitments which was just as well, as I still feel a little off this week.   Also distracted because my son-in-law is driving to Houston from SLC.  He is detouring through Las Vegas, Phoenix, Tucson and El Paso in order to avoid the big storm.  Even with that, he had snow on I-15 most of the way to Cedar City, and hydro-planed once in the slush for about 200 feet.  He is Canadian and experienced at this kind of driving, so it must be pretty bad.

50F, wind NNW 21 mph, 8.07 miles in 1:23:00, 2 miles warmup then 4 x 1 mile with 1/2 mile cooldowns, then jog it in.  Mile splits were 8:22, 7:47, mystery lap, and 8:03.  The second lap felt smooth, like I could go faster, the others I was fighting the wind but still did OK based on the last time I did this.  I think I have to be able to run a 7-minute mile to have any shot at a 3:45 marathon (about 8:35 pace) sometime down the road.  Probably more like a 42:00 10K.  Otherwise the needed speed just won't be there.

Got my Christmas lights back on yesterday, then they went back out.  Time to come up with Plan C.

34F, 25F wind chill, 9.57 miles in 1:28:47, average pace 9:17 per mile, average heart rate 147.  I started out slow intending to do a slow run after running mile repeats yesterday, but couldn't keep my heart rate down in the cold and the wind, so I gave up after a half mile and decided if I couldn't run easy I would run hard.  My splits and heart rates were: 10:50 (174), 9:19 (190), 9:16 (161), 9:12 (141), 9:04 (140), 9:16 (123), 9:00 (137), 9:02 (132), 8:52 (130) and 4:59 (8:46 pace, 136 bpm).  Heart rate was all over the place especially early, swinging from a high of 207 down to 113.  Interesting that it stabilized in the last half, even more interesting that it was so low, I was working a lot harder than that, in fact this was really a half-marathon speed for me.  Probably issues with my machine.  I should wear two monitors and see if I get the same readings, but that would be a little too geeky, even for me, plus I am too cheap to go buy another gadget. 

Got my Christmas lights back on again last night and they stayed on.  So far Plan C is working.  All is well in Houston.

43F, wind from NNE at 10 mph, 9.30 miles in 1:54:20, average pace 12:18 per mile, low heart rate.  Easy run after running hard yesterday.  I am toying with the idea of not tapering for my upcoming marathon on New Years Day.  It is not the race where I am going to qualify for Boston and I prefer not to interrupt my running rhythm.  On the other hand my old legs probably need a rest.  I am in my eighth or ninth consecutive week of running 6 days on and 1 off.  So far Charley and Horse are not complaining that much but it might be good to back off a little bit.

51F and misting, this weather was perfect.  22.14 miles in 3:30:00, average pace 9:29 per mile, no heart rate monitor.  My goal was to run 9:30 per mile, so I made it just barely.  I went for it right out of the gate.  My first mile was 9:22 and my last was 9:31, fastest split was 9:08 and slowest was 9:42.  Unlike some other long runs, this wasn't a steady acceleration to the end of the run.  I was struggling a lot to make 9:30 the last few miles but my overall average was there, about a 4:08 marathon pace.  I don't think I could have run the extra 4 miles needed for a marathon today, though.  I was done, done, done by the time I quit.  I finished about a mile from my house and sat down on a rock.  After 10 minutes of no improvement, I felt like laying down but I knew somebody would call an ambulance if I did that.  I always run with a cell phone, so I woke up my 16-year old son from his Saturday morning slumber.  No one else was home, so he agreed to pick my butt off the pavement and I made it home.  Yesterday morning he skipped seminary, failed to take out the trash and drove the best car to school.  I was going to give him a piece of my mind but decided to exercise some restraint.  Didn't realize the payoff would come so quickly.

So where does this run leave me?  No clear answer as to a goal marathon pace, but I still learned a lot.  I think with a proper taper I could get 4 more 9:30 miles out of these legs, but I was definitely running in risky territory today.  On the other hand, nothing ventured, right?  Have to take risks to improve, and I'll know when the day arrives what to do.