A Little Better Tuesday Tempo Run

This was another full tempo run (a mile warmup in my neighborhood and then my "Dow Course", for 5¾ miles total) with the concentration more on the two 2-mile segmengts, similar to last week. It was even warmer this week, 71°F at 5AM, with a fairly strong South (Gulf) wind. The "Dow Minus" two-mile splits were 12:26 and 13:03. The "Dow Minus" total was a season's best 25:29, and my third best ever, less than 5 seconds off my personal world's record. Not too bad for a warm, humid, and windy day.

We're supposed to get a cool front on Friday so Saturday's morning low might even get all the way down into the upper 50s. Maybe there's still hope for this Saturday's 5K?

Last Week's Training: Another Mediocre Race

45¼ miles for the week

M – 0 miles, sleep, 67°F at 4AM
Tu – 5¾ miles tempo run, average pace 6:59 minutes per mile (mpm) with the measured “Dow-Minus” two-miles in a wind-aided 12:20 and a 13:18 into the wind, 67°F at 4AM and Windy [S-B/Dow]
W – 5¼ miles with 3x800/400rec, 8:06 mpm overall pace (800s in 2:55, 2:51, and 2:48 but I ran them in lane 4 so the actual 800s were a several seconds faster than these times) , 70°F at 7PM with steady rain [B’Wood HS]
Th – 4¾ miles, recovery run, pace 8:47 minutes per mile, 68°F at 4AM [Dow]
F - 7½ miles recovery run, average pace 8:51 mpm, humid and windy 76°F at 4PM [SeaC/Ntrail-MBT/SeaC]
Sa – 8¼ miles, with an 8K race at 6:14 pace, mostly cloudy and humid 72°F at 8AM
Su – 13¾, average pace 7:32 mpm, 76-77°F and humid, mostly cloudy from Noon. [PlantBridge//SeaC/Ntrail-MBT-2x(2M-MBT)/SeaC]



The Law Week 8K Race in Downtown Houston on Saturday went OK. I always enjoy running this race, but that didn't help me break out of this slump though. I’ll give it another try this weekend with a 5K either in Bellaire or locally in Brazosport.

I ordered some new shoes last week, but haven't received them yet. I think I'm starting to feel the old shoes in my lower legs.

Boston Numbers Are Posted

The bib numbers for the Boston Marathon have been assigned. I'm so jealous I can't go. We're going to be refuleing one of the nuclear plants in April, so no vacation is allowed for nuke runners.

I'll be here


Instead of here


Some great Boston Marathon Maps

Me and the Citgo sign back in 2005 ( Team Hoyt in the distance too)

Tuesday's Tempo Run: A Wind-Aided "Half Dow-Minus" PR

This was the full tempo run (a mile warmup in my neighborhood and then my "Dow Course", for 5¾ miles total) with the mile warmup run slower to concentrate more on hitting lactate threshold pace for two 2-mile segmengts. It was warm, 67°F at 4AM, with a fairly strong SouthEast (Gulf) wind. This made the first 2-mile segment with the wind. The "Dow Minus" two-mile splits were 12:20 and 13:18. The wind-aided 12:20 beat my previous all-time PR for a "Half Dow-Minus" by 17 seconds. The "Dow Minus" total was a season's best 25:38, but that's still well off several runs in the Spring of 2004 and 14 seconds off my personal world's record.

With apologies to Carnot and my thermodynamics professors, here are my Laws of Running in the Wind:

Regis's First Law: When you run into the wind you'll be slower, except if it's so warm that your pace is limited by heat dissipation.

Regis's Second Law: On a windy day, you'll run slower even on a loop or out-and-back course; you'll lose more speed running into the wind than you can ever gain in the opposite direction running with the wind.


I guess I should be happy coming within 14 seconds of my "Dow-Minus" world record.

Last Week's Training

50¼ miles for the week

M – 0 miles, sleep, 66°F at 4AM and thunderstorms
Tu – 5¾ miles tempo run, average pace 6:46 minutes per mile (mpm) with the measured “Dow-Minus” two-miles in 13:08 and 12:48, 61°F at 4AM and foggy on the way back [S-B/Dow]
W – 5¼ miles with 6x400/200rec, 8:06 mpm overall pace (400s in 89, 86, 84, 81, 80, and 79 but I ran them in lane 4 so the actual 400s were a few seconds faster than these times) , 59°F at 7PM with steady rain [B’Wood HS]
Th – 5¼ miles, recovery run, pace 8:39 minutes per mile, 62°F at 4AM [Dow/Ol]
F - 11¼ miles, average pace 7:17 mpm with a 6:09 mile thrown in after the middle, nice and sunny with dry air 70°F at Noon [PlantBridge//SeaC/Ntrail-MBT-2M-MBT/SeaC]
Sa – 8¾ miles, easy run at 8:00 pace with a few stops to take pictures on the trail, sunny with dry air 68°F at Noon [PlantBridge//SeaC/Ntrail-MBT/SeaC]
Su – 14 miles, average pace 7:13 mpm, 74°F and a little more humid, partly cloudy with a fairly strong Gulf breeze at 2:30PM. [PlantBridge//Ol/SeaC/Ntrail-MBT-2x(2M-MBT)/SeaC]



The Law Week 8K Race in Downtown Houston is Saturday. I don’t think I’m ready to break out of this slump yet, but I’ll give it a try this weekend. At least my weight is in the lower 180s now.

Bottomlands Park

Most of my daylight runs have been in Bottomlands Park. Before I went to college in Houston, I always thought of Texas as the dry, treeless grasslands around Amarillo. As I drove from Denver to Houston, that impression went away pretty fast, especially past Dallas down I-45. Bottomlands Park is nearly the opposite of Amarillo. There's just a mile long asphalt path, but there are several dirt trails that can be combined to give a good 2½ mile loop. Here are some pictures from an easy run on Saturday.

This is the asphalt trail where it goes up and down over a river dyke:


The warning is real


This is a harmless little blotched water snake (?I think?)


No gators today, but a few turtles were hanging out


Where I grew up, ferns grew on the ground

Certainly never on tree branches


I love running the dirt trails (at least until the banana spiders and mosquitoes take over)






I tried using a stump and the self-timer to show some fool running down the trail

Last Week's Training: Dismal Failure

52¼ miles for the week

M – 4¾ miles, recovery run, pace 8:36 minutes per mile, beautiful starry sky and 40°F at 4AM Very cold for March!
Tu – 5¾ miles tempo run, average pace 6:41 mpm with the measured “Dow-Minus” two miles in 13:09 and 12:54 (at least I didn’t slow down, but these really should be faster especially on such a nice morning), 51°F at 4AM
W – 5¾ miles with 3x1Mile/400rec, 7:02 mpm overall pace (Miles in 5:59, 5:57, and 5:53), 61°F at 7PM
Th – 4 miles, recovery run, pace 8:25 minutes per mile, 56°F at 4AM
F - 8¾ miles, very easy at 8:56 mpm, I meant to run shorter but my dog wanted to run too, getting humid again 72°F at 10AM
Sa – 9½ miles with a 10K Race, race at 6:31 pace, sunny with some fog, 62 to 64°F in Houston from 8AM (it was 72°F down on the coast where I live at 8AM)
Su – 13¾, average pace 7:17 mpm, 72°F mostly cloudy to partly cloudy, starting at 10:30AM. During Sunday's run I saw a cottonmouth in classic cottonmouth pose, coiled up and ready to strike with fangs exposed and white mouth wide open!


OK, it's time for an honest assessment. My racing performance lately has stunk. I've been just plain awful. How can someone race a 10K slower than what they ran 10K during a marathon? I just did it.
Why?

My weight is well up in the 180s. That isn't where I should be. I've been eating way too much junk. Those 4 for a dollar candy bars are killing me.

I'm supposed to be training for short races. My mileage has been down, but my intensity hasn't improved. I've run pretty well on my medium long runs but I've been lazy on my tempo runs.

I've gotten negative too early during my races. Racing isn't easy and until you overcome the initial discomfort you can't reach your best. When things get a litte difficult, I've gotten lazy and just struggled in to the finish.


I really need to do something different before the 8K race.