Getting back to Boston

I'm pretty sure this is the heaviest snowfall I've ever seen -- and I still got out and ran in it. Nine inches on the ground and it's not anywhere near letting up, much less stopping. Twenty-mph wind doesn't help either. In spite of all that, got in 3.77, which felt more like 8 with all the high knee lifting required to negotiate deep snow.

In place of running Hogeye (full, half or 5K), I believe I will run Iron Pig instead, which is, among other things, a 5K on the runway at Drake Field. There is also a duathlon (run-bike-run) and a couple of other events, but since I don't own a bike, the duathlon is out. But a 5K on a flat runway would seem to offer a good chance to get a nice fast time/PR. Then I'll aim for Toad Suck for the third straight year. Ten-Ks are hard to find around here and I know it's a manageable course, so maybe if we don't get another frog-strangling thunderstorm I can get another PR.

Guessing at time and distance. Took the Garmin but it died after a mile. I'd hoped to check my AHR on an easy run. With the Garmin dead, couldn't check pace either, so I just tried to keep it where there was no temptation to breathe hard. Got the Garmin to come back on for a few seconds a couple of times just for HR readings; it gave me 137, which is about 70% of my HRR. I think. Legs remained very heavy for the first half of the run, better in the last half. Then I did hill sprints in front of the house, which felt weird, since I haven't done them since before Memphis.

Another tough run tonight when I really didn't feel like running tough. Run turned into a progression, which wound up at sub-MP. Wasn't that I was sore or stiff; just felt blah. Thought I might feel a little better if I picked up t he pace, and I did -- a little. Just decided to keep pushing the pace. HRM showed average heart race of 141, which I thought wasn't bad for as hard as I pushed it. It also showed a max heart rate of 173, which I don't think my heart will go that fast any more; I  suspect that was in the first mile before the strap got sealed in properly. The last .7 mile, which was run at about my GMP for the next year, came it at 149 bpm. That would be workable if I could maintain that pace for three hours plus at that HR. Average pace was 8:49. Ab muscle was a little sore but not enough to slow me in any way; it hurt probably a little more going slow than going fast.

Took the night off. Had some soreness in my right foot, about where the 4th metatarsal meets the cuboid. I've had pain in that area before and run through it, but I decided that, with a race in 10 days and nothing else really on the horizon, why risk it? Take a night off and see if it improves. So I did, and just spent the night listening to Hog baseball. If it's better tomorrow, I'll do the planned tempo run from tonight.

Me and my screwed up pacing. Right foot felt better after last night's URD, although not completely pain-free, and I decided to go do the threshold run I skipped last night. Plan was for 2 X 10 minutes at something between HMP and 10K pace. HMP, as you may recall, was 7:36 at Bentonville. The 10K pace based on that VDOT level, according to attackpoint.org's calculator, is 7:13. So I planned to run something in the 7:25-7:30 range. Uh, no.

First problem is that I didn't take the Garmin off autolap. Obviously 10 minutes at that pace is going to be more than a mile, so autolap will click after the first mile, and then restart the lap pace. So if I look at my watch in the last 2.5 minutes of the run, it will reflect my pace for that last segment, but not reflect the first mile of the interval. All of which led me to run a 7:17 pace for the first 10 minutes. Of course, I didn't know that until I got home and did the math. After a 2-minute recovery walk/jog, started the second 10 minutes. I thought I was being more conservative on that one than the first one. Evidently not. I ran that first mile in 7:15 and then got even faster in the last 2:45 of the segment, to come out with a 7:12 average -- faster than 10K pace at 45.4 VDOT. That pace would be a 22:32 5K, which is only 35 seconds over my PR.

Oh well. I got the intervals done, even if they were faster than planned, jogged home to finish 7.16, and the foot doesn't feel too bad. I think I'll survive.

Easy 7.2 at JBH/lake today. Had to really focus to keep it that slow, in fact. Really wanted to keep the HR down. Managed to keep the average below 140, so I guess I succeeded. It's 60 degrees out there, but unless the wind is blowing, it feels a lot warmer than that. Had to wear the hat to prevent sunburning the noggin, which in turn led to a bit of a headache because the cap is a teeny bit tight. Need to find an older/larger cap, I guess.

Today's plan was 12 miles at sub-9 pace or UIB (until I bonk). Ended up being a UIB. At about 9.8 I realized the tank was quite empty and cut off the big JBH loop to head home. Still managed to average 8:43 for the 10.27 and finished in less than an hour and a half. I don't think the missing 1.73 is gonna hurt anything. I'm in semi-taper mode for Iron Pig anyway.