For Whom the Dogs Bark

43º, 100% humidity, calm and foggy.  But the stars were out, very nice running weather.  It was almost like spring was in the air, very heavy and full of woodsy smells.  Pretty good running weather, wore short sleeves and regular hat.  It's going to be warm like thsi for at least a week, maybe it never will return to the 20s like last week.  I checked my old blog entries and it looks like a total of 14 days below 30º F so far this year, pretty much a record for these parts.  Must be some sort of a running accomlishment?  Most years it is 2 or 3 days all winter, some years it doesn't even come close to that.

I ran 10.21 miles in 1:44:08, average pace 10:12 per mile, low heart rate and regular shoes.  The heart rate monitor went out after about 5 miles so I just held the same pace, probably let my heart rate drift up too much but it still isn't warm enough for me to sweat at low effort, so no accurate read-out.  I would have thought it would be better at these tempertures, hopefully I don't have mechanical issues with the Garmin. 

Absolutely no issues with my Achilles and heel today, but I think I am going to stay in regular shoes for the week.  When I wear them too much I start to get a little bit knee pain and other aches and pains, but I think it's OK for one week.

52º, 100% humidity, wind SSE 3 mph.  Short-sleeve weather this morning.  Ran 10.12 miles in 1:43:58, average pace 10:17, LHR and regular shoes.  HR monitor was working this morning, so I ran a true LHR run, whereas yesterday I was guessing.  Really not a bad pace for heavy shoes, but the back of my knee hurts more today than it did yesterday.  Funny how different shoes make different parts hurt.  After much agony and indecision, I have finally come to the conclusion that it is time to purchase a new pair of regular-weight shoes.  The old ones have about 2,500 miles on them, as best as I can estimate.  Maybe I can find some that will be easy on my knees.  That is the main benefit I get from flat shoes, so it would be good to have a back-up pair for weeks like this one when it is time to give my heel a rest from the flat shoes.  Clear as mud?

54º, 94% humidity, calm and foggy.  I really like these conditions to run in.  Since my knee was bothering me from running slow in normal-lift shoes, I put my flats back on and decided to do a speed day.  Trying to discipline myself to only one speed day a week right now.  The goal was to do 6 @ 7:15 and I made that.  Warmed up for two miles, accelerating into the fast miles:  9:57 and 8:23.  Then 7:00 (166), 7:09 (174), 7:04 (178), 7:08 (181), 7:15 (182) and 7:10 (184).  From the way my heart rate was climbing rapidly, you can tell I was just hanging on at the end and it felt like it.  Average pace 7:08 for the 6, which is an unofficial 10K PR for me, not quite 10K but close enough.  Overall run was 10.03 miles in 1:22:18, average pace 8:12 per mile.  If I could do 8 and then 10 at this speed in the next two weeks I might have a shot at running the half at 7:15 speed in 3-1/2 weeks.  I think running intervals last week was helpful.  The pace didn't seem quite so frantic this morning.

Our local church is doing a "pioneer trek" in March, and one of my assignments is to collect stories from accounts by the original Mormon handcart pioneers.  I have been reading quite a bit in the last couple of days and it is truly amazing what they went through.  Most families lost a few people in the snow, some were almost entirely wiped out.  It was the last river rossing of the Platte River in eastern Wyoming that really did them in.  The bad part of the trek only lasted a few weeks in late October and early November, but it was fatal for a lot of people.  These homespun accounts will stop your heart, it is a sobering read.  I was thinking about it on the run this morning but not in a way you would guess.  Mainly I was thinking about how little it had to do with running.

63º, 90% humidity, wind SSE 5 mph.  Wind was heavier than that during the run, but otherwise nice running weather, as warm this week as it was cold last week.  Today was back to the LHR salt mine after frolicking in the low 7s yesterday.  Got out late after working late last night.  Ran 10.00 miles exactly, in 1:44:31, average pace 10:27 per mile, low heart rate and regular shoes.  Right knee is aching again today after muscles cooled down, but it will disappear overnight and I will do it again tomorrow.  I don't think it is a big deal.  I'm still happy about yesterday's run, to the point that it doesn't bother me that today was slow.  For some reason LHR runs work for me even though it is hard to detect any improvement on a week to week basis.

Granddaughters are in town, and Mrs. Flatlander has a full program in progress.  Just trying to stay out of the way.

64F, 93% humidity, wind SSW 5 mph.  Good running weather.  Short sleep, had to get to work, so ran faster today, 10.02 miles in 1:21:30, average pace 8:08 per mile and regular shoes:  8:54 (137); 8:08 (152); 7:54 (159); 7:56 (162); 7:56 (163); 8:06 (164); 8:06 (165); 8:12 (166), 8:13 (167) and 8:00 (171).  Corrected for heavier shoes, this was an OK run heart-rate wise.  In order to make a marathon work it is ideal to get through 10 miles under 160, so I wouldn't have run a 3:30 marathon this morning in these shoes.

59F, 100% humidity, wind ENE 3 mph, heavy fog.  Even though it was cooler than yesterday it was the type of running weather that tests your resolve.  So wet out there the fog was generating a mist of rain.  Was soaking wet within a couple of miles and unfortunately forgot to treate with Glide, creating a Burt-like episode on the front of my white shirt.

I ran from my front door down to the Y, about 6.5, then ran another 13.5 with Wade and the rest of the group.  Pace down to the Y was about 9:30, then about 9:00 for the rest of the run.  Wade ran his last mile at 7:30, leaving me in the dust.  He has definitely got his mojo back, but says he won't run any more marathons.  I'm working on him.  He is running the half with me on March 12, but only plans to do 8:00 per mile.  I think he is selling himself way short.

20.02 miles in 3:05:38, average pace 9:16 per mile.  I ran around the parking lot a couple of times at the end of the run to get to 20.  Someday I'll grow up.