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4,716 Views | 53 Replies | Last: 2 yr ago by Sweep4-2
Sweep4-2
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Yeah, the temperature does have such a big impact on time/effort. I normally run late morning (to get away from stress at work), so running last night while still warm (I'm also in Houston) it felt so much cooler than my normal time.

The training approach you mention makes sense, especially with regard to heart rate and taking a measured approach.

I'll follow that strategy you mention below (in terms of miles and negative splits) for the 10-Miler (it's the Sienna 10 Miler on September 26th) and see how it goes. The next 'race' after that one is the St. Arnold Art Car IPA 5k, which looks like a fun time.

I went to my son's cross country meet today and I watched the kids who were running in the high 7's and low 8's come by.....and it looked soooooo slow. And I realized that's what I look like running....but just so much older. I told my wife to please never record me running, as I run so much faster in my own mind!!
94chem
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McNeil Invitational next week in Round Rock. They said we have to have 4 runners under 19 minutes to enter the gold division. We actually have 3, and will have 7 once the weather cools...but those hill country organizers have no clue what we deal with in Houston. Year after year our times are a minute slower than the Centex teams, but somehow we seem to be faster than them at state.
94chem,
That, sir, was the greatest post in the history of TexAgs. I salute you. -- Dough
94chem
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I saw 2 8th grade girls right at 13 minutes this morning in this heat on a 2 miler. Very impressive. #3 & 4 came in at 14 flat.
94chem,
That, sir, was the greatest post in the history of TexAgs. I salute you. -- Dough
Sweep4-2
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I had to share how my somewhat ill-advised 10-Mile event went today so y'all wouldn't think I had backed out or passed out.

Overall, it went well. Beautiful weather and lots of nice people running/cheering. I finished well back of the real runners, but ran faster than expected. First 5 split/loop had me averaging 8:13/mile, second 5 split/loop I dropped to 7:45/mile average, overall average for 10 was 7:59/mile.

Met some nice folks I hope to run into again at a future 10-Miler (perhaps with a bit more specified training!).
DargelSkout
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AG
Did your daughter run in Round Rock? My son ran in the Middle School race on Saturday. Finished 55th out of 236. Their team finished 4th.
94chem
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DargelSkout said:

Did your daughter run in Round Rock? My son ran in the Middle School race on Saturday. Finished 55th out of 236. Their team finished 4th.
Yeah, they ran the gold race Sat. morning. She was about 50th. Team finished 7th, but tight splits were a good sign of things to come. Lucas Lovejoy basically stole everybody's lunch money in the girls' race, and the Grapevine boys were even more dominant.
94chem,
That, sir, was the greatest post in the history of TexAgs. I salute you. -- Dough
94chem
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Sweep4-2 said:

I had to share how my somewhat ill-advised 10-Mile event went today so y'all wouldn't think I had backed out or passed out.

Overall, it went well. Beautiful weather and lots of nice people running/cheering. I finished well back of the real runners, but ran faster than expected. First 5 split/loop had me averaging 8:13/mile, second 5 split/loop I dropped to 7:45/mile average, overall average for 10 was 7:59/mile.

Met some nice folks I hope to run into again at a future 10-Miler (perhaps with a bit more specified training!).
Good work. Those time drops will be there late in the race if you are patient. In my opinion, the half marathon is a great distance for older runners because it doesn't require any special carb loading, or hydration (in cool weather), or 18+ mile training runs like the marathon. And as you found out training for the mile, it doesn't require the hellacious speed work needed to improve 5K or shorter distances. You can get in tremendous shape without having to do the things that lead to injuries. 5K's and 10K's are also great races, but the time drops come more slowly and if you are competitive, the race days are not fun.

I want to get my half to sub-8 (1:45), and my full under 4:00. Right now I'm at 1:47 and 4:02:30. We'll see if father time and race discipline will allow it...
94chem,
That, sir, was the greatest post in the history of TexAgs. I salute you. -- Dough
Sweep4-2
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Thanks! Yeah, I felt like the 10 miles was a nice distance compared to the mile and 5k. Those were brutal and not fun. The 10 felt like an endurance event but I had enough energy to finish fast (for me anyway).

Sounds like you are really close to your goal times. When is your next run/race? With cool temps coming up it should help. Also, you mention age….I couldn't believe how fast folks in their 60's were at this event. Crazy fast given their age.

Oh, but I am running a 5k in Nov. but it's the St Arnold's Art Car 5k, but I'm only running it for the after party.
ag97tx
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AG
My daughter ran a course this past weekend that took them through a mud pit where a lot of runners lost shoes. My daughter lost both of hers and ended up running 2/3 of the course without shoes. Four out of the 7 girls on her team that ran this race also lost shoes on this course. When people were retrieving shoes after the race it was that sticky mud and some shoes were down about a foot in the mud. I didn't think we were going to be able to find her 2nd shoe but a kid from another school pulled it out.

Any advice for keeping them on if she encounters a course like that again?

94chem
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ag97tx said:

My daughter ran a course this past weekend that took them through a mud pit where a lot of runners lost shoes. My daughter lost both of hers and ended up running 2/3 of the course without shoes. Four out of the 7 girls on her team that ran this race also lost shoes on this course. When people were retrieving shoes after the race it was that sticky mud and some shoes were down about a foot in the mud. I didn't think we were going to be able to find her 2nd shoe but a kid from another school pulled it out.

Any advice for keeping them on if she encounters a course like that again?




I don't know. They should have changed that to a street race. I've never run in spikes, and I wear a relatively low end neutral shoe (Nike Winflo or Downshifted), with the laces very loose and no laces in the top grommet. If I were in that race, I'd keep the laces loose, but use all of the grommets. I've seen kids get barfed on too, so maybe you got lucky
94chem,
That, sir, was the greatest post in the history of TexAgs. I salute you. -- Dough
94chem
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Sweep4-2 said:

Thanks! Yeah, I felt like the 10 miles was a nice distance compared to the mile and 5k. Those were brutal and not fun. The 10 felt like an endurance event but I had enough energy to finish fast (for me anyway).

Sounds like you are really close to your goal times. When is your next run/race? With cool temps coming up it should help. Also, you mention age….I couldn't believe how fast folks in their 60's were at this event. Crazy fast given their age.

Oh, but I am running a 5k in Nov. but it's the St Arnold's Art Car 5k, but I'm only running it for the after party.


Mile trial this Friday. Hoped for 6, but I just don't see it. I have pretty obvious exercised-induced asthma, and just nailed a 4 mile PR at 89 degrees after trying Albuterol for the first time. We'll see if that helps, but after the mile, the next goal is a 22 minute 5K once the weather gets cool. Should be able to do it easily, but I think this breathing has been holding me back for a long time. Gotta get to the allergist and see what happens.
94chem,
That, sir, was the greatest post in the history of TexAgs. I salute you. -- Dough
94chem
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Was at Nike South at The Woodlands this morning. Our girls put up a 25 second 1-5 split, so they're beginning to round into form. Very tough to win state without a top 10 runner or 2, but our pack is lurking
94chem,
That, sir, was the greatest post in the history of TexAgs. I salute you. -- Dough
Sweep4-2
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Hope your mile attempt goes well Friday! This cooler weather makes for nice running.

On the CC subject, just had a hilarious training run with my son. He overslept for Saturday practice so I made him run with me. Started raining immediately when we started and drenched us for 4 miles of trail running, with the trails quickly going underwater, ankle deep in numerous places. Talking flash flooding level rain for 35 minutes.

My son said it was the most fun he's ever had on a training run haha.

94chem
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The mile was tonight. I ran 6:07. Big shout out to the Albuterol. I've got to get to the allergist.

My daughter ran a 5:13 PR.

We're both happy with our times. I still think I can go under 6 if I can get more air, tolerate more strenuous training...
94chem,
That, sir, was the greatest post in the history of TexAgs. I salute you. -- Dough
Sweep4-2
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Awesome job on your mile!! That's so close. Did you run solo or with pacing? With some cool weather, mile training, etc I bet you'll be under 6 next time.

Awesome time btw for your daughter! That's impressive. My son practices every day but he just hasn't found the 'drive' to get faster and he's stuck at 5:45.

I tried to get under 22:00 for my 5k earlier this week but didn't make it. Gave up at 3.0 miles and 21:45. My last two miles were 7:04 and 6:59 but I couldn't overcome the 7:43 first mile.
94chem
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It was the parent run for all of the CC athletes. It's such a brutal race. Splits were something like 90, 92, 95, and 90. 6:07 seems close, but every second is huge. On the other hand, I knocked 10 seconds off from my final time trial 4 days earlier. I haven't run a 6 minute mile in 25 years. It would be nice to do it one more time.
94chem,
That, sir, was the greatest post in the history of TexAgs. I salute you. -- Dough
Sweep4-2
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That sounds fun (in a painful way). Yeah, I understand what you mean about every second. When I ran my 6:09 a couple months ago I realized how far away 9 seconds is in terms of distance.

I don't know whether to make another try at the mile, or to just focus on some upcoming 10k's and 10-Milers. I'm still too injured (pulled groin) to train BJJ/Wrestling at the level I'm used to and I'm really enjoying running local fun runs and training with friends.

Do you have a target date for your next mile attempt?

94chem
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Seeing the allergist this week. Want to get an inhaler. My breathing had been too labored for my whole life. Runners would tell me all the time about dead legs. I've never had my legs give out before mile 15, usually mile 20+. It's always the lungs. The other runners collapse on the track. I double over panting. If the Albuterol allows me to train harder, and I can start doing 800 repeats around 3 minutes with jogging recovery, then the 6:00 mile should be easy (well, you know what I mean). If I can't train harder, then it will be torture. I dropped 13 seconds in the past week with the inhaler to get from 6:20 to 6:07. Need to use it for training too.
94chem,
That, sir, was the greatest post in the history of TexAgs. I salute you. -- Dough
94chem
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Kingwood girls won Region III today in brutal heat. 96 degrees heat index at the start...at 12:45. I've hated the UIL for my entire life, but this disregard for these athletes was pathetic. And no thanks either to Sam Houston State, who ran the event. They should make their runners run in those conditions if they think it's okay.
94chem,
That, sir, was the greatest post in the history of TexAgs. I salute you. -- Dough
Sweep4-2
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Yeah, my son was up there today. He didn't even run (he's JV) and he said it was still miserable when the Varsity Boys and Girls ran for 6A. I think the boys were at 1:30, just crazy.

In much slower news, I"m running a 10k Sunday morning (Houston Half and 10k) and the weather looks GREAT for Sunday morning.
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