Houston Marathon Dilemma

No, not my dilemma. I'm registered for the 1/2 and am targeting Dallas for a full. But when 22,000 spots are gone in two days, IN JULY for crying out loud, we have a problem. I don't think the answer is to continue to try to open up more and more spots. Another 3000 spots would have meant what? It sold out on Monday instead of Sunday? And do I really want the Chevron Houston Marathon to become a 35,000 entrant monstrosity? And starting half the field 30 minutes later can be a bummer if it's one of those warm January mornings. And who wants to race only 1/2 the field? Don't you want to be on the course at the same time with everyone who is running it?

I think the answer is a 2nd Houston Marathon. Many large cities have two marathons. When I lived in Phoenix years ago they had two. Toronto has two and I think Chicago does as well. Now, I know there's a marathon in Kingwood on Jan. 1 and Lucky Trails in March. But both are at best, suburban races, not truly "Houston" events. And neither is capable of scaling up to a 10 or 15,000 entrant event. Maybe that USA Fit marathon can grow - I don't know anything about it, other than it was born of necessity, which is essentially what I'm talking about here. But I'm envisioning another full-scale major marathon here in Houston, maybe in December, maybe in February, whatever. Maybe the Rock and Roll people step in and put on their own event. I would certainly think there's another 15,000 runners, many of them from out-of-town, who would like to run a marathon in Houston this winter but can't. I'm a capitalist so if there's a demand that's not being met then Adam Smith's invisible hand principle should guide the market to offer a 2nd marathon to satisfy that demand.

This post isn't in any way a complaint abut the Chevron Houston Marathon. I think they're doing all they can to accommodate demand. But the city needs another option. And short of another major marathon the only thing I can think of is to have the 1/2 marathon the day before. But that presents all sorts of problems too, not the least of which is two straight days of road closures.

Another Solid Week Of Training - Is It Fall Yet?

I had another strong week of training, though I didn't manage to get in any speedwork. Outside of that though it was a good week which began with 14 miles Sunday evening at 6 PM with Steve Schroeder in Greatwood. Monday I did 8.56 miles right after work in the heat and managed to hold a 7:19 pace, with the first three miles done at about 6:40 pace. Tuesday I was wiped out tired and went to bed early. Wednesday night I went out for 9.6 miles and was able to make it a tempo run - 7:01 pace. Thursday I did 7.31 at a modest 7:48 pace and last night I took my two boys out in the jogging stroller for an easy 5-miler.

This morning I was joined by Assynt McCleod and Brian King at 5:30 AM for a 17 miler. We stopped twice, briefly, and finished with a 7:47 pace overall, including the two stops. I'm somewhere around 61-62 miles for the week, which ends today.

Hard Work Pays

Most of you who read my blog or know me know that my philosophy about running is that generally if you pay your dues you'll be rewarded. Lord knows there are exceptions and head-scratching race performances, and I've had plenty. But overall if I've worked hard and got my ducks in a row, good things usually happen on race day. These past few weeks are a good example.


Last week I detailed my week and mentioned that I did 60 miles of training, with two speed work sessions, runs in the heat, a long-run, etc. This past week I did 6.5 miles on Monday (it hit 99 on Monday) at 5:15 PM. Then on Tuesday night at 8:45 PM I went out and did mile repeats when the temps weren't so bad. I did four, with a .4 mile jogging recovery after each, and they were all good quality, with no drop off in the pace from the first to the last. The times were (in order): 5:52, 5:51, 5:54, 5:51. Wednesday we did our 400 repeats at the track but took it easy on the pace, posting mostly 1:22s and 1:23s. I also did three sets of squats Wednesday night, which gave my legs two and a half days to recover. Thursday I took the day off since I was planning to race the Lunar Rendezvous Saturday morning. But I did go out Friday morning before work and got in 3.5 miles and wore a long-sleeve cotton shirt just to make sure I didn't get too comfortable.

Saturday morning I set out for the 5K with all systems go. Even my weight was right where I wanted it to be. And it all paid off. I posted my third best 5K ever and picked up 2nd in the 45-49 age group. My time was an 18:16, which averages to just about what I averaged when I did the mile repeats.

I plan to have another big milage week this week (60+) and will take advantage of the cooler temps that are forecast to try to get in some quality tempo work. I'm also going to do the mile repeats again.

Rest of the Week

On Wednesday evening Assynt and I went out for nine miles in the heat at 6 PM. It was rough but we survived.

On Thursday we did our 400s again at the track though we dialed them back to 1:20-1:23.

I wasn't able to get in any milage on Friday but Saturday morning I did 15 miles with Brian King and Assynt McCleod. We started at 5 AM which turned out to be a great idea. We were nearly finished before the sun came up and I was able to hammer a sub-7 pace for the final five miles. Then I picked up 3.3 easy miles at my mom's house last night to hit 60 miles for the week. I actually did the 3.3 with my wife, which was alot of fun. With two little ones it's nearly impossible for us to get to run together but the boys stayed with my mom while we were gone.

Sorry

Sorry it's been one month today since I last posted. By no means have I not been training. I've been hitting it pretty good, and all outside in the heat. I don't particularly like running in the mornings so most of my runs have been from 5:15 PM to as late as 8:30 PM. In fact, there have been many nights that I intended to blog but just ran out of time once I finished my run and showered.

Not sure whether to recap in detail the past month or just hit the high spots. Or not blog about the past four weeks at all. I guess I'll just summarize each week.

Week of 6/07 (which started the day after I ran an 18:31 5K at the Heights 5K Fun Run) - Did 73.01 miles which included a 7.1 hard tempo with Brian King, 12 x 400 meter repeats at the track, and a 16 mile long-run.

Week of 6/14 - after a big milage week I rolled it back quite a bit and ran only 28.71 miles. My daughter was in town visiting all week so it was a good time to have a light week. But I did have a speedwork session (5 x .7 mile repeats) and another 16 mile long-run.

Week of 6/21 - back in the groove this week and posted 67.64 miles, including two speedwork sessions (5 x .7 mile repeats and 6 x .4 mile intervals), and a 14.20 mile long-run.

Week of 6/28 - another light week that followed a big week. I wanted to take it easy this week and have a good 5K race on Saturday (Freedom 5K in Sugar Land). Total milage was only 26.44 but I managed a nice 18:38 at the race.

Week of 7/05 so far - Did a 12.65 mile long-run on Sunday, 6.05 yesterday which included 3.82 miles at 6:31 pace, then speedwork today at Memorial Park. The speedwork was 6 x 800 meter repeats. Splits were: 2:46, 2:50, 2:48, 2:47, 2:49, 2:46. I can't remember the last time I did 800s but these really weren't very difficult for me. The sub-6 pace felt just mildly uncomfortable, and that was only the last couple hundred meters.