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):

View Larger Map

IKE

18 foot storm surge






I sincerely hope our area (or any area) doesn't look like this Saturday morning.


With Ike on the way, I can't get this song out of my head.

I see a bad moon arising.
I see trouble on the way.
I see earthquakes and lightnin'.
I see bad times today.

Don't go around tonight,
Well, it's bound to take your life,
There's a bad moon on the rise.

I hear hurricanes a-blowing.
I know the end is coming soon.
I fear rivers overflowing.
I hear the voice of rage and ruin.

Don't go around tonight,
Well, it's bound to take your life,
There's a bad moon on the rise.
All right!

Hope you got your things together.
Hope you are quite prepared to die.
Looks like we're in for nasty weather.
One eye is taken for an eye.

Don't go around tonight,
Well, it's bound to take your life,
There's a bad moon on the rise.

Don't go around tonight,
Well, it's bound to take your life,
There's a bad moon on the rise.

Bad moon rising
Uploaded by unecricri

When a man collapses of a stroke, Marge Simpson tells her husband to do CPR. Homer Simpson desperately replies by singing, "I see a bad moon rising." Marge replies, "I said CPR, not CCR!"

What more can I say?

A Beautiful Weekend

After a warm, humid and sweaty Wednesday evening on the track, I woke to a nice cool (less than 80°F) and dry north wind Thursday morning. The cooler and much drier air stayed around all the way through Sunday morning. It was wonderful!
My only regret is I started my long run too late Sunday morning. Sunday had the lowest temperature in months, all the down to 71.4°F, but by the time I started my run the moister Gulf air was already heading inland. I was able to finish 13 miles at an acceptable pace, but I was hoping for 15.

This is the last week before the 18-week Houston Marathon training starts. I'm going to try using Pete Pfitzinger's 18-week 70+ miles per week plan from Advanced Marathoning.

Here's The Plan . I'm sure I'll have to make several changes to make it fit my crazy work schedule and to fit in the HARRA Fall Race Series. I think I'm ready to go, but I am worried about that first 17-miler on the 21st. Maybe we'll some even cooler temperatures by then? and Hurricane Ike will fizzle out before he reaches the Gulf?

Summer Break

I'm back to running in South Texas. It's still warm and humid, the mosquitoes are horrendous, and Hurricane Gustav threatens to come up the Gulf. But there is light up ahead. The constellation Orion is up in the eastern sky during the morning runs before work. When Orion is up, it's time to start serious training for the Houston Marathon. As training progresses Orion will slowly walk his way across the sky, and by the time the marathon taper comes he'll be walking along the edge of the western horizon.

I really needed the summer break. Running in the heat every day was wearing me down. Now that I'm back, it's still hot and humid but September is only a few days away and that first cool front can't be much farther away. It might not come until October, but that's still close enough to have hope. Those four runs in the UK reminded me how much more enjoyable running is when the conditions are decent. I'm excited about starting another Fall racing series. Bring it on!


Here's the Sunday early morning run through London to Regent's Park and Hyde Park (11 1/4 miles, 57*F with occasional light mist):

View Larger Map

Crieff Trails

This was a really fun run on the trails around Crieff in Perthshire Scotland.


View Larger Map





This was a very steep hill.








Big dumb American running through the woods


Up the trail to The Knock through the purple heather

UK08

Vacation

I've been on vacation the past week and a half. I haven't been able to run much. That's frustrating because the temperature hasn't ever been above 70*F. Yesterday on Skye it was down to 9*C (less than 49*F) during the middle of the day. I was able to run twice in Crieff. Both runs were on the hilly trails behind the town. Sunday morning's run turned into a 10.5 miler. I was shocked when I looked at the Garmin after making it back to the house. The run was so effortless (except the uphill bits) I was thinking it would only be 5 or 6 miles.

Cheers

Busy, But Still Running (at least trying)

I've been much too busy the past couple of weeks. I spent the last week of July in Charleston, SC at a meeting of nuclear power plant service water engineers. It was a little cooler in Charleston, but only by a few degrees. I did have some nice runs through the historic streets and over the Cooper River Bridge. I have bad memories of the Charleston Weapons Base from my Navy days, but I was pleasantly surprised with downtown Charleston. It's a very walkable area filled with historic homes and churches.

I tried a medium long run this morning but crashed hard. I started at 7:40 with the sun shining and a pretty steady rain. The rain only lasted about a mile, but it was hard enough to soak my shoes. The clouds cleared pretty quickly and the sun warmed the air even quicker and the dewpoint shot up to the low 80s. From 8AM to 9AM the average temperature was 86.2*F. I ended up taking a survival shuffle home, cutting the run short to 9 miles. The last two miles were over 10 minutes per mile.