April 9th,  Saturday around noon

Deterred by the ominous weather forecast, I am spending the morning doing research of my blogs of training over the last 5 years in preparation for a Blog about the history of my senior running experience.  Yes, I discovered it has actually been 5 years that I have been trying to get fit.  Most of my logs are written in random notebooks and are sporadic with fits and starts. Some are very detailed; others are very sketchy with many gaps.  Since I have installed Garmin Connect on my laptop, I do have the details of many of the runs, at least those in which I was wearing my wristwatch. (My Garmin charger is somewhere between Jackson and Florida being shipped I hope. So my recent runs have been without a timer.)  It has become very clear to me that my decision to start this blog has put the pressure on me to log more consistently and in greater detail.  It has now been 20 consecutive days. I hope it has been worth reading. It has definitely seemed worth writing.

I am planning to walk over to the clubhouse and run on the treadmill and swim a few laps and maybe get a whirlpool for today’s workout.

Interesting that my morning pulse rate was very low today.  I took it twice and it came out 50 to52.  I don’t know what that means, but it was maybe the first time I actually took the pulse before even moving a muscle in bed.  I asked Arlene to give me the count, and we did it twice.  It came out the same.     Soooo, that’s an interesting development………

Well it’s 5 o’clock now, no snow has arrived but I have returned from the clubhouse.  I spent 45 minutes on the treadmill. That was 20 minutes warm up walking and jogging,   2 miles at 10 minute pace and 5 minutes cool down – not bad.  I don’t feel comfortable going faster than 10 minute miles on the running machine. This was a good opportunity for me to work on running form.  The things I like to work on when I have this time are as listed below.

1st – Foot Strike  This involves concentrating on a perfectly level landing.  This became a problem when I was altering  my Landing as a result of pain in my left Achilles tendon. I think I have corrected it but have to be very aware. Sometimes I notice myself doing that during the first  few steps I take after getting out of bed in the morning.

2nd –   Stride    Keeping stride short with concentration on better knee lift.3rd-  Arm  Carry

3rd –  Arm Carry    Keep arms low with hands open and thumb lightly resting index finger.

4th-  Belly  Breath    This involves breathing in and out using abdominal muscles instead of chest muscles. I tell anyone who asks about this that they need to let the air fall into the belly  through the lungs as the belly expands. Then, using the abdominal muscles to contract, force the air out.  It helps to practice this resting your hand on your stomach to feel the in/out motion.

Running at a comfortable 10 minute pace today allowed me to concentrate on these four things that contribute 2 running efficiency in my view.

After that I went in the pool and ran for 10 minutes and swam for 10 minutes. My pool running I have devised the plan as follows. I place a noodle across my chest under my arms and hang in the deepest end of the pool which allows me to run without touching the bottom. Today I did slow motion full range of motion strides in the pool. That is with a full back kick, exaggerated  knee lift and full lower leg extension on each stride. I think this just helps with development of running efficiency and smoothness.

A 15 minutes soak in the Whirlpool felt very nice. That is a bit different from icing and we will have to wait for tomorrow to see the effects.

That’s all for now. Happy running.