For Whom the Dogs Bark

45F, 93%, calm with heavy fog.  Back in Houston this morning, drove 2200 miles over the weekend for a family event in Arizona.  Ran 10.00 miles in 1:50:46, 11:05/mile, LLHR, 120 bpm, 125 max.  Legs felt fine, good run and nice to be home.

53F, 40%, N 15-24 mph, a blustery morning.  Was going to do a LHR run but don't like doing that in the wind, too hard to maintain an even effort, so I ran on the upper end instead, 10.00 miles at GMP, almost tempo pace, 1:17:54, 7:47/mile, frst mile was the slowest mile 8:26, last mile was the fastest, 7:10, then jogged it in as a cooldown.

34F, 75%, ESE 3 mph.  Cold again, hands especially cold inside my gloves, but did a LHR run anyway and surprisingly my heart rate monitor seemed to work OK -- it completely flamed out yesterday.. 10.00 miles in 1:51:09, 11:07/mile, slightly lower than Monday but the back end of the run was faster.  120 bpm average, 125 max.  Followed up by stretching and lifting at the gym, very tired by the time I finished.

50F, 93%, NE 5 mph.  Big front coming in, the air smells different but temperature still moderate.  By tomorrow we are supposed to be sliding around on the ice so we can provide entertainment for the Yankees.  I ran 10.00 miles at GMP, 1:19:33, 7:57/mile.  First mile 9:21, last mile 7:33; not as fast as Tuesday, pretty worn out from lifting yesterday.  But heart rate was not unreasonable.  After the first slow mile (9:21), splits and heart rate were as follows:  8:14 (148), 7:48 (155), 7:42 (159), 7:47 (161), 7:51 (163), 7:46 (163),7:51 (164), 7:32 (167), 7:33 (167).  As usual, couldn't hit anything better than HMP for the last 2, but still a pretty good run all considered.

29F (25 WC), 84%, WSW 5 mph.  Yesterday morning was an icy mess, cold and raining, so I took a "snow" day.  Ice is actually very dangerous here, even if you are from a cold place.  But the roads were dry this morning, albeit terribly cold, so I went out for 20.  After doing four 10s in the last two weeks at sub-8 pace, I thought I could probably do 20, even though I have done that only once before that I recall, two and a half years ago.  I warmed up for a quarter mile, set down my gatorade and an emergency pair of long pants and ran 8 laps for 20, 7:58 pace overall, I was happy with this.  Didn't try to jog it in.  Last 5 miles were 8:00 (166), 8:01 (168), 7:57 (169), 7:51 (170) and 7:51 (171).  Average heart rate 163, max 173, an even effort.  Wade met me for miles 5 through 12.5, big help, he kept the pace honest during the difficult middle miles.  I didn't feel like I wanted to finish a marathon at this pace, but the heart rate was right in the zone for what it would be on an ideal full effort marathon without a bonk.  I don't know what effect the cold weather had, but normally it slows me down, so this run is probably repeatable at 50F.  Five weeks out from The Woodlands Marathon.  My son with his broken collarbone has officially pulled out (at least from the marathon), so I am going to take the opportunity to run it for time, whatever that time may be.