Ike Versus Week 1 of Houston Marathon Training

Most of Ike's impact on me was last week, with no running from Thursday through Sunday. I was "gun-shy" about violating the city's curfew to get my runs in before work, so this week was a gradual transition. I wasn't nearly as close to the Pfitz 18 week/70+ training plan as I was last year.


52½ miles for the week

M – 4½ miles recovery run, average pace 8:23 mpm, 72°F at 4:30AM. The nuke plant offered a hotel room in Matagorda with ELECTRICITY! [Matagorda]
Tu – 4 miles general aerobic fairly hard, average pace 7:01 mpm, 60s°F at 4AM First 60s for months!! I don't have the exact temperature because both the Clute and Angleton weather stations were still out of service for Ike [Dow-]
W – 5¾ miles, average pace 7:26 mpm, 65.2°F at 4AM [Dow/BS]
Th – 4 miles recovery run, average pace 8:54 mpm, 68°F at 4AM [Dow-]
F - 10¾ miles, average pace 7:53 mpm, 79°F at 10:30AM, sun with occasional clouds The trail is still "closed" and has several trees across it, but it's passable. [SeaC/SSTrail-BrazosRiverRoad/SeaC]
Sa – 7 miles recovery run, average pace 9:03 mpm, 82°F at nooon, sun and more humid [SeaC/SSTrail/SeaC]
Su – 16½ miles Long Run, 7:50 mpm, 76°F to 78°F starting at 9AM with the dewpoint well above 70°F [OaktoOCD-S.Oaks-RRT-Oak//SeaC/SSTrail/SeaC]

I saw three US Forest Service crews clearing trees on Oyster Creek Drive Sunday. There are over 1,000 lineman and treee clearers staying at the Lake Jackson Rec Center and Civic Center. It's a pretty amazing effort but over half the town still doesn't have electricity.

The HARRA Cross Country Relay is still on this Saturday despite Ike. I haven't raced for months, so I have no idea what I can run on that killer course. But I'm really looking forward to getting to see all of the Houston runners again after this long Summer.

Here's Monday morning's run through the metropolis of Matagorda (with a nice view of the nuke plant's cooling reservoir):

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