For Whom the Dogs Bark

73F, 95%, SSE 5 mph.  Very nice weather outside, but no good for running.  I had a high heart rate from the beginning and my achilles tendonitis returned.  After 14.5 my pace was up to 10:30+, so I gave up and ran the rest of it at marathon pace, which felt a little better.  Altogether 16.13 miles in 2:43:07, average pace 10:07 per mile.  Not a pretty run, and it is going to be warm again tomorrow, then it will cool off, hopefully for good. 

73F, 94% SW 3 mph to start, 68F, 94%, WNW 7 mph to end, but a lot happened in between.  I was pretty sore after yesterday, especially in my right achilles, so I was ready to pull the plug whenever it was needed.  As it turned out, I lasted the whole run and even felt a little better than yesterday, though my heart rate was no better.  I ran 16.08 miles in 2:43:06, average pace 10:09 per mile.  It was warm and muggy when I started, but the air was unsettled and cloud cover was very low, intermittent drizzles that didn't amount to much.  Then at about mile 5 I started running through heavy cells of rain, 30 seconds on and 30 seconds off.  Completely soaked but not a real good reason to stop.  There was no lightning or thunder, even though I listened hopefully without success.  Then that weather pattern stopped and things actually dried out a bit until sunrise.  Right at sunrise, mile 13.5, the sky got that angry look -- if you have ever lived here you know what I mean.  You know without checking that there is a severe weather warning out.  Still no thunder, though, so I kept going.  Right as the front passed, the shafts of warm and cold air became striated, I would run through warm for a while then cold then warm again.  This lasted for 5 minutes or so then it turned uniformly cool.  About 10 minutes later the clouds let loose and I was in a Texas frog strangler the rest of the way home.  2 miles of running in horizontal sheets of rain, but worst of all my neighbors all got a good look in broad daylight at the crazy guy who lives in the red brick house. 

Checked the severe weather report when I got home and it had all the predictable stuff, fast moving front, watch for funnel clouds, careful of rising water, blah, blah.  I liked this one though:  "Seek shelter in a sturdy structure or non-convertible automobile."  We have lots of rednecks around here; whenever there are tornadoes around the government tries to keep them out of trailer parks and 20-year old Cadillacs with the tops sawn off, although why I don't know.  As I think about it, though, there were no rednecks out in this weather except me.

51F, 96%, NNE 4 mph, clear.  Running weather has finally returned.  I ran 16.83 miles in 2:46:34, average pace 9:54 per mile, 129 bpm, so a better run.  I would have hoped to see my LHR pace dipping below 9:30 by this point in the cycle but it hasn't happened.  Possibly because of the training load, but possibly because I am getting slower.  I'm giving it 12 weeks in any event, middle of January.  Then I will start racing again and training for Boston.  In the meantime, trying to decide whether to race in the Turkey Trot tomorrow.  Hadn't planned to but the perfect weather, temperatures and festive atmosphere is going to make it difficult to refrain.

48F, 97%, ESE 2 mph and overcast, extraordinary running weather today.  I ate a big plate of fried catfish last night and woke up with the turkey trots.  One more entree goes on the pre-race verboten list.  I ran a little over 9 miles at 10.14 per mile, heart rate was all over the place but I think it was mostly a combination of a bad gut and inaccurate HRM read-out in the colder air.  Finally got things stabilized in time to leave for the race. 

We loaded up and drove to The Woodlands for the GE Run Through the Woods annual run.  I did this run last year but wasn't really interested in racing right now, trying to get in lots of base miles for the next month or two.  I took my daughter Jennifer and her husband Scott, and my son Clint.  I ran with Clint and had a good time.  Warmed up for almost a mile to get the stiffness out and got loose enough to keep up with Clint.  We ran the race (5.11 miles) at an average pace of 7:34, but I'll let him report on the details.  Altogether 15.19 miles today.

Hung with Wade awhile, ate the pancake breakfast, drove home and spent the rest of the day lounging around.  Good day.

49F, 100%, NNE 5 mph and clear.  Nice weather but it is going to be +60 again tomorrow, just for the Saturday long run, then back to winter temps.  My achilles was a little sore this morning after all the running around yesterday, so I didn't run the full program this morning.  Ran 10.13 LHR miles in 1:39:30, average pace 9:49 per mile and 130 bpm.  Good thing I stopped early, by the time I got home my younger granddaughter was up and ready for her day, wondering where the heck I was.  According to her mother she always gets up an hour earlier at grandma's house. 

65F, 97%, SE 3 mph.  That was the reading at 4 a.m.  By the time we started running it was warmer than that, at least according to the thermometer on my car.  This is the only warm day in several weeks, looking back or forward, so of course I invited slowjoe to run slow with me.  He always comes in town when it gets really hot and muggy.  I think he misses Iraq.

We met up a Memorial Park, which is inside the main loop here in Houston.  A well-lit jogging path with a 3-mile main loop.  I stopped at a gas station for one last bathroom break and Joe was there getting some Gatorade, so we drove into the park together and started.  I had hopes of doing this one sub-8s, but with the weather and the mileage on my legs this weeks I didn't try.  Joe was a good sport and went with whatever speed I picked.  I tried to hold mid-8:20s for most of the run, but slipped occasionally into the 8:30s and one or two 8:40s. 

Once it got light we left the park and ran to downtown and back.  There were some pretty muddy trails along Buffalo Bayou, including a lot of up and down, that forced me to pick up my feet and twist and turn a lot more.  The extra effort seemed to wake up my legs and by the end of the run I was in the low 8s.  By my watch, 20.06 miles in 2:48:56, 8:25 per mile, average heart rate 161, trending toward 170 at the end.  Joe's watch measured it just a little shorter.  It was great to get together again and get caught up.