Sweat-Soaked Shoes on Christmas: Week 15

94¼ miles for the week (December 22nd to 28th)
Three more weeks until the Houston Marathon

M AM – 4¾ miles recovery run, average pace 8:25 mpm, 42°F at 4AM
M PM - 6¼ miles recovery run, average pace 8:19 mpm, 48°F at 9PM
Tu AM – 4 miles recovery run, average pace 8:18 mpm, 64°F at 4AM
Tu PM - 6¼ miles recovery run, average pace 8:11 mpm, 69°F at 9PM
W - 13 miles with one mile hard four times, average pace 7:24 mpm, 74°F at 11AM and very humid
Th AM – 15 miles, average pace 7:34 mpm, 75°F at Noon, very warm and humid, shoes were sweat-soaked on mile 11
Th PM - 4 miles recovery run, average pace 8:18 mpm, foggy 71°F at 9PM
F - 12 miles general aerobic, average pace 7:18 mpm, 76°F from 10:45 AM still very humid and windy
Sa – 11 miles recovery run, average pace 8:20 mpm, 75°F at 10:30AM still very humid and windy
Su – 18 miles, average pace 7:08 mpm, wanted to run 22 miles but just ran out of time, a nice and cool 49°F starting at 3:40PM

I actually ran all of the scheduled doubles this week. Well, sort of ran them all; Saturday was supposed to be a 6 and 4 recovery double but I just ran 11 easy miles all together. Tuesday through Saturday was a long stretch of unusually warm and humid weather. I know if January 18th is anything like those days, even sub-3 is out the window.

Week 14: Trying to Get Back on Track Again

83¾ miles for the week (December 15th through 21st)
Four more weeks until the Houston Marathon

M – 11 miles general aerobic, average pace 7:04 mpm, 47°F at 5PM, vacation day
Tu – 15¾ miles, average pace 6:59 mpm, 45°F at 3PM with fog and mist, vacation day
W - 11 miles recovery run, average pace 8:39 mpm, 61°F at 5PM with more fog and mist, vacation day
Th – 6¾ miles general aerobic, average pace 7:22 mpm, more fog 66°F at 4AM
F - 11 miles general aerobic, average pace 6:57 mpm, 72°F from 4:30 PM and soaked in sweat
Sa – 9 miles recovery run, average pace 8:28 mpm, 76°F at 2PM
Su – 20 miles, average pace 7:16 mpm, windy but a nice and cool 52°F starting at 2PM

My first week above 80 miles. I was just trying to bring the mileage back up this past week. Now I'm going to try and get back on the original training plan with some 1200s this week.

Off Track Again: Week 13

Houston Marathon Training Week 13
29¾ miles for the week (December 8th to December 14th)

M – 9 miles recovery run, average pace 8:21 mpm, 71°F at 10:40AM, vacation day [SeaC/SSTrail-2M/SeaC]
Tu - 16 miles, average pace 7:25 mpm, 74°F and a strong Gulf breeze at 10:30AM, vacation day [Oak-OCD-SOaks-RR-Oak//SeaC/SSTrail/SeaC]
W – 4¾ miles recovery run, average pace 8:25 mpm, 39°F at 4AM and windy [Dow]
Th – missed
F - missed
Sa – missed
Su – missed

That's right, four missed days in a row. Just before my run on Thursday, we had to make an emergency trip to North Central Texas to work on our old house. I still own a house up in Glen Rose, near Texas's other nuclear power plant. We had a renter up until a couple months ago and now we're finally selling it. But the furnace wasn't working during Wednesday's big cold front (it was even colder up in Glen Rose). We went up Thursday to prevent the pipes from freezing and stayed through Sunday night. There was plenty of physical work but no running. I prefer living near Houston, but I still have fond memories of that old house and Glen Rose. It was difficult to work in an empty room that 18 to 23 years ago was overflowing with books. I would spend at least an hour every evening in that room reading to my kids before they would go to sleep. They were so different back then. I was different back then too.

That's my excuse for missing the 30K race. I think I've run every 30K since 1997 up until now. I'm still not sure how my my training is going. But I doubt I would have raced well yesterday with the warm and humid temperatures.

There are only three more solid marathon training weeks left. Sometimes I want to go out and run hard each week with mileage in the 90s and at other times I think it would be best to focus on a Spring marathon.

What a Change!

Yesterday I ran 16 miles soaked in sweat. The temperature was in the mid-70s and the dewpoint was in the low-70s. By the end of the run, my shoes were leaving wet footprints. Tonight it's snowing.

Week 12

Houston Marathon Training Week 12
78¾ miles for the week (December 1st to December 7th)

M – 9 miles recovery run, average pace 8:14 mpm, 55°F at 10AM, vacation day [SeaC/SSTrail-2M/SeaC]
Tu - 5¾ miles general aerobic, average pace 7:11 mpm, 40°F at 4AM [Dow/BS]
W – 15 miles, average pace 7:12 mpm, 77°F at 10AM, vacation day [SeaC/SSTrail-4x2M/SeaC]
Th – 9 miles recovery run, average pace 8:25 mpm, 52°F at Noon, vacation day [SeaC/SSTrail-2M/SeaC]
F - 13 miles, average pace 6:51 mpm, 48°F from 1PM, the last two miles were under 6:20 pace [SeaC/SSTrail-3x2M/SeaC]
Sa – 9 miles recovery run, average pace 8:26 mpm, 61°F at 1PM very nice sunny day [SeaC/SSTrail-2M/SeaC]
Su – 17 miles, average pace 7:05 mpm, 62°F to 59°F starting at 4PM, [SeaC/SSTrail-5x2M/SeaC]


I'd planned on running 20 miles Sunday, but the water supply pipe outside my house broke open Sunday morning. After a few trips to the home supply store, I was able to turn the water back on and squeeze in 17 miles before it got dark.
This wasn't a bad week. I was a able to run 15 miles on Wednesday at a decent pace despite a warm and humid day. Friday's 13 miler included a 13:01 SeaC return, my second fastest ever. And Sunday's 17-miler was also fairly quick despite having to squeeze it in at the last minute. I still haven't even signed up for Sunday's 30K race. I have no idea what I can do. The 30K has been very kind to me. I'm probably one of the only people in the Houston Area who enjoys running this race. I think the 1:57:07 (6:17 pace) in 2005 was one of my best races ever. I looked at my log from 2005 and I'm actually running the hard runs faster now than I was back then. But I can barely conceive running over 18 miles at 6:17 pace now. Sunday's forecast doesn't look very good, with a strong Gulf flow predicted. The 30K isn't very fun in those conditions.

Did anyone else see DianaH's time at the California International Marathon? Wow! What an awesome race!

Trying to Get Back on Track - Houston Marathon Training Weeks 8, 9, 10, and 11

Houston Marathon Training Week 8
70¼ miles for the week (November 3rd to November 9th)

M AM – 7 miles recovery run, average pace 8:30 mpm, 74°F at 9AM, waiting to go to work for more refueling outage inspections [SeaC/SSTrail/SeaC]
M PM – missed
Tu AM – 5¼ miles recovery run, average pace 8:30 mpm, 70°F at 4AM [Dow/Ol]
Tu PM – missed
W AM - 5¾ miles general aerobic, average pace 7:28 mpm, 75°F at 4AM [Dow/BS]
W PM – 10 miles on the track, average pace 6:59 mpm, 76°F at 7PM and completely soaked in sweat [B’Wood track]
Th AM – 5¼ miles recovery run, average pace 8:44 mpm, 74°F at 4AM [Dow/Ol]
Th PM – missed
F - 11 miles, average pace 7:34 mpm, this was supposed to be 12 miles with 6 miles at LT pace, but my left knee was bothering me so I took it easy, 67°F from 9AM [SeaC/SSTrail-2x2M/SeaC]
Sa – 8¾ miles recovery run, average pace 9:15 mpm, 76°F at 11:30AM, left knee still bothering me [SeaC/SSTrail-MBT/SeaC]
Su – 17¾ miles, with a 25K race at average pace 6:41 mpm, 50°F to 64°F at Hobby starting at 7AM, [Memorial Drive]



Houston Marathon Training Week 9
35½ miles for the week (November 10th to November 16th)

M AM – 4 miles recovery run, average pace 9:11 mpm, 74°F at 4AM [Dow-]
M PM – missed
Tu AM – missed, 70°F at 4AM
Tu PM – missed
W AM - missed, 66°F at 4AM
W PM – missed
Th AM – missed, 63°F at 4AM
Th PM – missed
F - 9 miles, average pace 7:25 mpm, this was supposed to be 13 miles but I took it easy, 79°F from 3PM [SeaC/SSTrail-2M/SeaC]
Sa – 7 miles recovery run, average pace 8:26 mpm, 53°F at 6PM [SeaC/SSTrail/SeaC]
Su – 15½ miles, average pace 7:11 mpm, felt pretty good but kept it short to avoid re-injury, 55°F starting at Noon very nice and sunny [FWRes-MacL/SSTrail4x2M/SeaC]



Houston Marathon Training Week 10
56¼ miles for the week (November 17th to November 23rd)

M AM – missed 46°F at 4AM
M PM – missed
Tu AM – 5¾ miles general aerobic, average pace 6:51 mpm, 50°F at 4AM [Dow/BS]
W – 8 miles on the track, average pace 6:55 mpm, this was supposed to be 600s but I just ran a slowly increasing speed run, 67°F at 7PM [B’Wood track]
Th AM – 4 miles recovery run, average pace 8:10 mpm, 62°F at 4AM [Dow-]
Th PM – missed
F AM - 13 miles, average pace 7:08 mpm, 55°F from 1PM [SeaC/SSTrail-3x2M/SeaC]
F PM – missed
Sa – 8½ miles recovery run, average pace 9:02 mpm, 66°F at 1PM [SeaC/SSTrail-MBT/SeaC]
Su – 17 miles, average pace 7:45 mpm, 76°F at 11AM, [FWRes/SSTrail5x2M/SeaC]



Houston Marathon Training Week 11
76¾ miles for the week (November 24th to November 30th)

M AM – 4¾ miles recovery run, average pace 8:55 mpm, 71°F at 4AM [Dow]
M PM – missed
Tu – 11 miles general aerobic, average pace 7:36 mpm, 62°F at 11AM, vacation day [SeaC/SSTrail-2x2M/SeaC]
W – 15 miles, average pace 7:36 mpm, 73°F at 1PM, vacation day [SeaC/SSTrail-4x2M/SeaC]
Th AM – missed 64°F at 6AM
Th PM – missed, Thanksgiving Day nap instead
F AM - 13 miles, average pace 7:22 mpm, 80°F from 2PM, this was supposed to be 12 with 7 miles at LT but I didn't feel capable of an LT run in this heat and humidity [SeaC/SSTrail-3x2M/SeaC]
F PM – missed
Sa – 9 miles recovery run, average pace 8:22 mpm, 64°F at 4PM [SeaC/SSTrail-2M/SeaC]
Su – 24 miles, average pace 7:20 mpm, 61°F to 64°F starting at 11AM, [Oak-OCD-SOaks-Oak//SeaC/SSTrail-4x2M/SeaC]


November was not a good month. I ran the 25K race poorly. I took three days off to help my left knee, but the problem didn't completely go away. The 24-miler was encouraging. The last 6 miles were all under 7mpm. Last year's 24-miler was better, but I am hoping I can get back on track and still run a good marathon in January.

A Few Pictures from the Trails

I finally managed to extract the pictures from my cellphone. The quality isn't very good, but here are a few pictures I took during some of my runs.

I was running the dirt road along the reservoir when I saw a small fawn run into the grass just ahead of me. I stopped and slowly approached the area where the fawn went into the grass and got within a few feet of it to take this picture. Amazing how well it blends into the grass.


This cropped version might show the fawn a little better. The fawn has it's head turned back towards the camera so both eyes and both ears should be visible.


Here the fawn finally had enough of me and took of down toward the reservoir.


Of course there are always plenty of snakes on the trails.




This is the only coral snake I saw this year.



Here's a hawk feather on the reservoir trail.


Flowers on the beach.


Water hyacinths on the fresh water canal.


Blackberries from this Spring.


The reservoir road.


November is armadillo season along the trail.