For Whom the Dogs Bark

55F pre-rain and breezy.  I ran at low heart rate for about an hour and a half, then lightning and thunder appeared so I scampered home.  No tolerance for that kind of weather, the thunderstorms can get violent around here and need to be respected.  Total of 7.67 miles in 1:35:50, average pace 12:29, mostly at low heart rate.  My legs felt fine despite running longer on Saturday and from running the 5K -- until I tried to rush home.  My "scamper" pace was a sizzling 10:09, I knew then why I was so slow all morning.

I have been running about two months since my last marathon and have made some progress despite an injury -- as best I can tell, consulting the McMillan Calculator to translate my Phoenix half and Saturday's 5K to the marathon distance, I would have a good chance of running a typical marathon about 10-15 minutes faster right now.  My half marathon time of about 1:52:45 translates to 3:57:47 and my 23:58 time for Saturday's 5K (adjusting the distance from 3.15 to 3.1, assuming my Garmin measured the course more closely than the fun run crew) translates to 3:53:39 for the marathon distance.  On January 1 I ran 4:13:45 although I am pretty sure I could have run 4:10 with a less aggressive strategy.  So some real progress it appears, but I will be re-evaluating this week, trying to decide whether to stay the course, correct a little, or move in a new direction.  Lots of factors as I turn 55 later this month, embracing a new age group and a new BQ time of 3:45.  I woke up at 3:30 (a.m., not BQ time) with all of this on my mind.  One advantage of getting a little bit older is having more time to think.

64F, cloudy but no rain.  Ran 10.30 in 2:01:27, average pace 11:48, low heart rate.  Everything seems back to normal this morning, although temperatures are almost in the summer range, hopefully only temporarily.

I just read Burt's entry from this morning and happened anyway to have been thinking a lot lately about things more important than running.  My mom has had cancer for a while, although she has other age-related issues that will probably take her first.  And two families I home teach (church-related visits) also have cancer in the family.  In one, an older lady has been fighting it for years.  She expected to pass away about two years ago.  She and her family spoke of it openly and made plans -- but instead she is in complete remission and happy as a lark, as are her family obviously.  Never met a sweeter lady.  Then in the last month the father in the other family, 4 young kids, got a rare form of esophogal cancer.  He starts radiation and chemo on Monday, so I will be going over there on Sunday night to try to help.  I talked to him last night.  He and his wife had a long session yesterday with the head doctor on his team, a very talented and caring woman who told them she will not let him die.  We have world class cancer facilities here at the M.D. Anderson Cancer Center, possibly the best, both in terms of scientific prowess and legendary compassion.  It seems like they cure stuff that nobody else cures.  I had a colleague 15 years ago who got brain cancer, an aggressive form with a 5-year survival rate under 15%.  He actively researched and pursued all avenues here in Houston and also ended up with very good care.  His cancer eventually stabilized and he quit his job and moved to Utah to be close to both familes.  He can't practice law anymore, but is an instructor in the philosophy department at BYU and in the last year has seen one son finish a mission and a daughter marry very well.  Sometimes life can be bad for a while before it gets quite good.  Other times the inevitable happens, I have seen some of those in the last year as well.  So best wishes to anyone out there who is struggling.  Struggle well. 

74F, windy and dry.  I got up early and worked 4 hours, then went out and ran 4 warmup miles in my new shoes (see below) with my daughter.  Then I changed shoes and went back out for some faster running.  I ran another mile slow, then 3x1 mile with 1/2 mile rest intervals.  The first two threshold miles were 7:46 and 7:44.  I didn't get a split on the third one since I am a klutz with the Garmin, but I think it was a little slower.  Then one mile warm down.  Overall I ran 10.10 in 1:39:51, average pace 9:53 per mile, no heart rate monitor.  Good run, first trial of the year in the heat, our answer to training at altitude.

I bought some running flats and first tried them out for one mile yesterday.  I found that I was faster at the same heart rate.  I wore them for 4 miles today, but I am trying to be careful since they tug and pull on different muscles and tendons -- once I am used to them I think they will be a good choice.  Here is what they look like (thanks to Burt for the tutorial on posting pictures):

This particular pair is Brazilian (Jinga) and somebody at work told me they look good.  That was not my intent, but OK.  They are cheaper than regular shoes but I am skeptical they will last as long.  Even though the soles are made of PVC, I can already see a little bit of wear after 5 miles.  But man it feels good to run right on the ground.  If they don't last I'll find something else that will, but I suspect I will be going in this direction if it helps to minimize injury risk.

60F, cloudy and calm.  Ran 10.27 miles in 1:59:27, average pace 11:38/mile, low heart rate.  I was pleased that I felt good enough to run this well after the hard mid-day run yesterday.  I stopped again before the end of the run to do weights and I can feel those more than the run.

I am trying to decide which mixture of workouts will help the most this year as well as longer term.  Not sure if the same plan would be optimal for both goals.  One choice is to keep doing what I am doing until I stop improving.  Another is to take the LSD guys at their word and never let my heart rate exceed 132 for three or four months.  Another is to run some really long stuff at least once a week, to try to beat the final 10K in the marathon.  Or I could jsut do what most people do, which is more harder and longer runs.  Or mix and match.  Plus I really need to do something about my form.  Suddenly October doesn't seem so far away.

50F, wind N. 10-20 mph but clear.  Ran 10.07 miles in 1:51:17, average pace 11:03/mile, low heart rate.  I ran the whole thing in my flats and beat my best previous average pace by about 25 seconds per mile.  My average for the run was better than my previous low heart rate best for a single mile, and today I got my first mile with a 10 in front of it, 7 of them actually.  As best I can tell, the flats improved my speed at the same effort by about 30 seconds per mile.  Yesterday was 11:45 per mile, coming off a speed day on Wednesday, but I am guessing in regular shoes today I would have been around 11:30/mile and would have been happy.  If this is really true it could translate to a free 10-15 minutes in a full marathon.  My reason for switching is to go longer periods between injuries, I wasn't expecting a speed windfall.  It may not hold up, but for now I am impressed.

49F at beginning, 66F at end, wind WNW 18 mph, ran 27.67 miles in 5:03:35, average pace 10:58 per mile.  The theory on this run is that I have been getting killed the last 10K of every marathon.  I hardly ever run more than 20 miles and sure enough, right around mile 20 I lose it every time.  I think younger runners can get through the last quarter by digging deep, but for me I am what I ran getting ready for the race.  So I am thinking that if I start running 30+ miles twice a month I can get that monkey off my back, or at least make him lose some weight.  So for a while instead of running 15-20 hard every Saturday I am going to run longer but easy about every other weekend, and for now keep doing hard runs on the other two weekends as long as I can tolerate them.

Today I planned to make 30 but it didn't happen.  Is that what they call a DNF?  I ran the first 10 at low heart rate, almost exactly 12:00 per mile.  Then I picked my heart rate up to 150 for the next 10, which equated to about 9:45 to 10:00 per mile for a while.  But then my heart rate began edging up pretty fast, like the needle on an overheated engine, so by the time I got to mile 22 or so I was getting pretty trashed -- it felt remarkably like a race.  I pushed through to the marathon distance in 4:45:13 (a time I would have killed for at St. George last fall) then kept on a little further before getting to the house and deciding to pass on the extra loop.  My wife called just after I reached marathon distance, wondering where the heck I was, then she called me a slob when I told her I had decided not to do 30 -- she was just kidding of course.

I think if anything this run proves that I need to do more of these.  Those last miles are really tough and I think it is naive for me to assume they won't be tough in a race if I haven't been running them to get ready for the race, even if I only run them easy.  So there you go.

I am thankful to be relatively injury-free and to have the health to run.