For Whom the Dogs Bark

35F, sunny and calm.  Back in Houston now.  I decided I needed one more hard run before the marathon.  Not a hero run, I just thought I could get some useful data points by seeing how hard I could go for 8 or 10 miles.  I toyed with trying to run 10 miles at an 8:00 pace, I settled for 8 miles at an 8:33 pace, which is plenty for me right now.  I warmed up for 2, then ran the following splits:  8:30, 8:34, 8:34, 8:32, 8:34, 8:37, 8:36, 8:26.  These splits are almost exactly a BQ pace for me, unfortunately you have to run 26 of them to do that.  Progress nevertheless.  I am thinking that I will try to run the first half of the marathon at a 9:30 pace and see if I can pick it up from there.  I was pretty spent after running 8:30s for that long.  From here on out only easy runs.

55F, calm and dry.  It is almost balmy this morning.  Perfect day for a long run.  Ran 10.06 miles in 2:02:50, average pace 12:12, low heart rate.  This equals my best pace at low heart rate, and it is a longer distance and the day after running hard, so I am pretty happy about this run.  Need to keep my eye on the ball, though, need to keep my miles down this week so my legs can recover.  Interesting, though, I have fewer nagging aches and pains than I have had in a long time.  Knee pain is non-existent, and the tendon insertion point in my right heel has been fine since the middle of last week.  I am grateful for that.

66F, warm and windy with intermittent rain.  Man, I have run in a lot of different weather lately.  I am trying to cut down my miles, so this morning I started out slowly and picked it up a little bit each mile, until I was almost to my 10K pace at the end.  Splits were 11:27, 10:29, 9:22, 9:08, 8:33 and 1:29 (11:10 pace).   The 9:22 pace felt very sustainable, which is a good sign.

Yesterday toward the end of my run I heard an ambulance which sounded like it was right in the neighborhood, driving around looking for an address.  Then all of a sudden there it was, parked in front of somebody's house as I ran past, empty but lights still flashing.  I assume a heart attack, since early morning is the most common time to have one.  I haven't heard anything since, though.  What a Christmas downer for that family if that is what it was.  Even if it isn't a heart attack, an ambulance in front of your house cannot be a good thing, whatever the reason.  Whatever risks we take on by running for extended lengths of time at high exertion levels, they are small compared to the risk of not running at all.

51F, wind W 8 mph, 5.11 miles in 1:00:18, average pace 11:49/mile, low heart rate.  I felt very fatigued last night, especially my legs, even though I hadn't run hard yesterday.  But I got a rare 8 hours of sleep and when I ran my first mile in 12:22 I knew it would go well.  My best mile was 11:30, a low heart rate record for me.  The overall pace is also a record by 23 seconds per mile.  Now off to the stores.

Yesterday I was at the end of a long checkout line in a sporting goods store when somebody opened a register right next to me, looked at me and said "no waiting".  I was right there.  Then a lady about my age (i.e., indeterminate age) started kicking up a fuss, saying she was ahead of me in the old line.  I'm like what the heck, doesn't she know holiday shopping is a competitive sport?  Then I realized of course she knew.  She thought since I was a man I wouldn't know.  Smirking here in Houston.

31F, wind NNW 7 mph, wind chill 24F, 5.12 miles in 53:55, average pace 10:32/mile, warmed up two miles then did 5 x 400 at maximum effort, splits were 1:48 (7:10), 1:45 (7:00), 1:47 (7:08), 1:44 (6:57), 1:47 (7:02), then jogged it in.  Legs felt very tired today, stayed up late getting Christmas ready and was hurrying to finish the run before everybody woke up.

It was a good day today, merry Christmas everybody.

33F, no wind, 10.09 miles in 1:35:22, average pace 9:27 per mile.  I decided to do my last "long" run at a potential marathon pace and it felt comfortable.  Only 10 miles, but that seemed far enough to get a good feel, at least compared to the last time I ran at this speed, which was more difficult.  I'll shoot for this pace on Friday through the first 20 and then decide what to do for the last quarter.  We  now have cool weather forecast all the way through to the day of the marathon.  It is still too early to rely on forecasts much, but it would be very good if the starting temperature were in the 30s.  It takes longer to get going but the payoff is on the back end.  Both Ogden and St. George had finishing temperatures in the mid-60s, too high for my delicate constitution.