The anxiously anticipated and simultaneously dreaded return to racing on July 11 has come and gone. My split of 3:42 was better than expected and the source of considerable relief. I managed to emerge from the event with sore muscles but no bodily injury. Plus my 80 year-old team did set a new American record for the 4x800m relay, which was our goal.

The week beginning July 13 was mostly relief and recovery. I walked a lot and swam a few times and did a lot of core work and Upper body weight lifting while my legs recovered.

Then I agreed to join the Shore Athletic Club team effort in the Big Bang Mile scheduled for August 1.

Starting on Sunday July 19 I began to ramp up my training a bit in anticipation of running a mile.

On Sunday I ran 3 miles of Fartlek on the Cinder track.

On Monday the 20th I ran 3 miles with pickups at Turkey Swamp Park in 44 minutes.

On Tuesday I did upper body weight and a very good hard core workout.

Then I read a workout that Josh Kerr did a week before he broke the world record in the mile that intrigued me. He ran 12 times 400 meters and 12 times 200 meters. I thought maybe I could do it age appropriately modified.

So, on Wednesday at Turkey Swamp Park I ran 12 times 400 meters in 2 minutes with a 1 minute recovery. It was pretty difficult but I completed it successfully. I was pretty tired, but I thought I would try the 200s if my body could handle it. The only problem was that my heart rate would quickly rise to over 150 b/m as soon as I started to run the 200m. This convinced me that I had reached my maximum for the day.

I was tired and sore on Thursday and Friday. I only did core work and weights. Also my calf muscles were for the 1st time quite sore.

On Saturday I did the second half of the Josh Kerr workout. I tried to run through the soreness in my left calf muscle. The 200 meter workout seemed harder than the 400 meter workout probably because I was not fully recovered and I was worried about my calf.

On Sunday my back was also very tight and achy. So that became a total day off.

On Monday, today, I took a 3 hour nap in the afternoon instead of doing a workout because my body was signaling me. I am not yet Josh Kerr!😋

The mile race is on Saturday. I will do some moderate work for the rest of the week and hope to compete well on that day.

Training has been going quite well, I believe. Today, after 2 days rest, I did quite an extensive workout at our community pool and weight room facility. I did 30 minutes on the elliptical machine, lifted the weights for about 15 minutes and then went in the pool for 30 more minutes of running and swimming. It was a lot of work, but I felt quite Invigorated afterwards rather than worn out. Most of my workouts, basically all of my workouts, have been shorter and more intense rather than long and Gentle. I make every effort to avoid hard surfaces, roads and sidewalks. Distances covered Amount to about 2 1⁄2-3 1⁄2 miles for the most part. A recent development is that I have become much more comfortable working on the elliptical machine. I had essentially disdained that as a viable workout option in the past. This evolution has allowed me to get a lot more work done without impact which I find very rewarding.
So it looks like 7 days of work
and a few days of recovery. Then take a shot at running a respectable 800 meters.

On day nine of the 42 day countdown to my opening 800M race I have completed my plan. I will be operating on a 4 day cycle. The 4 components of the cycle are high intensity Interval training, Hills, Pool work and the Elliptical machine. I have concluded that long continual impact runs are not beneficial to my back. So, my aerobic work will be done in the pool and on the elliptical machine. On the alternate days I will do a hill workout and an Interval workout on the track. I will be including 2 workouts of arm and shoulder weights and 2 workouts of core drills in each cycle.

I have established a goal of 3:36 for my first 800m on July 11. My Interval workouts will be done at that pace.

I consider this an ambitious yet conservative plan. The objective is to be consistent and avoid injury at the same time.

I just learned today that I will be anchoring a 4x800m relay on July 11th. That news is very exciting and more than a bit terrifying. It has motivated me to develop a solid six week program starting tomorrow. I am not able to set a goal time yet because I don’t have any idea of my current fitness level. I am still looking for the ideal time and place to run an 800m trial. I need that to set a six week goal and establish solid training pace.

Running is finally fun again. and having a goal is the icing on the cake.

Ran 5 more hills on Sunday between the rain showers. I did a significant warm-up indoors before going out. Then I ran about a mile before I got to the hill. My legs felt excellent today. This surprised me because the workout was totally on the road which I have essentially avoided since my back injury. So, I ran the hills pretty aggressively. The workout was about 2.2 miles in total. I am very curious to find out how my legs will respond to two  consecutive days of hills.

I was very pleased today to get in a workout that I’ve been longing to do for quite a while. And a cool, rainy afternoon was a perfect time to do it. This was a less than 15 minute workout. I did a 30 minute warm-up in the house that includes stretching and warm-up leg drills. Then I headed out into the rain to a hill that is 50 strides long about 600m from my house.

I ran five very strong bursts up the hill with walks down the hill and then returned home.  I think it was a top-notch aerobic day.

Working on VO2 max and core

Thus far in May my track training sessions have been intervals plus almost daily core work. I need to get back to some more serious weightlifting, but I’m happy with the current progress. My Vo2MAX has returned to 36. I have been able to successfully compete interval workouts of 200, 400, 600 and 800m @ close to or better than 8:00/9:00 per mile pace.

An update on my back injury/recovery:

Thankfully, my back does not hurt at all while I am running. But stiffness and pain does occur after sitting for an hour or so. It is tolerable. but it requires rest and stretching, and then some light movement for a day or so before I can do another workout. In between I do a lot of core work, walk and go to the swimming pool to swim and run impactless. (Is that a word?)

I am feeling very lucky these days that I am back to running with purpose.  I have not sent a goal for a race date yet, but that may be coming soon.🏃🏿‍♂️😊

A respectable 3 1/2 miles at Turkey swamp Park concluding with five hills of about 170 m.