December 31, Saturday

End of year 4 on a crisp  New Year’s Eve

Felt surprisingly good today.  Ran 4 Progressive miles today feeling no ill effects anywhere.  I spent about a half an hour warming up indoors today.   I have become able to do a series of drills standing on one leg.   I layered up about four deep before I left because I really don’t like to be cold. After I returned I weighed my wardrobe  and it came up in excess of 8 pounds (lol).  Still started out very slowly. I inserted 5 50 stride pickups each time I came to a slight incline. Afterwards I iced and rolled my feet.

Mile splits;

13:44,    12:01,     11:19,    11;08.     =    48:12

Stats are steady.

HJ

December 30th, Friday

Basically jogged 30 minutes today.  Not much energy in the legs.

Thought of this article as I ran today. (I also cannot stop singing Rudolph the Red-Nosed Reindeer while running for the past 3 days. Making me a little crazy.) There is nothing new in this article, but it’s always a good idea to refresh on the most important things.

http://www.runnersworld.com/health/4-things-we-can-all-learn-from-masters-runners#

I guess you would have to copy and paste the url address into your browser because I can’t get it to open from this post. In case you don’t want to read the entire article, here are the four key ideas;

Get plenty of rest , Hydrate constantly,  Strength train,  Worry less and enjoy.

Here’s to happy and healthy running in 2017.??

December 29th,  Thursday  4:00p.m

Today I was proud to get out early in the drizzling rain for what turned out to be a very successful 4 Mile Run in under 50 minutes wearing Rob’s 25 year old Notre Dame, Starter jacket. ( Kind of fun & feeling a little toughness, too)   I didn’t have my Garmin because it was not charged. So I don’t have specific times per mile, but I’m certain the miles were ‘progressive.’  ( Each faster than the last)   I did not wear support socks and tied my shoes very loosely today hoping to avoid cramps. So, there were no cramps in my feet or my calves  or any place else,  all of which is very encouraging.  Good day!

Golf ball rolling daily.

Stats –

I-Mad = .5. Very good

Weight = #153 Steady

a.m.HR = 54BPM  Steady

Sleep = 8 hours  OK

Workout = 4 progressive miles

December 25th,  Sunday

This is out of order because I didn’t publish it after I wrote it on Sunday.

Today was another nice December day for a run. It was also Christmas day which was nice. I covered 4 miles 48:20.  I found it interesting that at the conclusion of the run my heart rate was only at 126BPM.  Two minutes later it was 105BPM.  I think those are pretty low numbers following a run of 4 miles. Admittedly I was not trying to run very fast use my miles were in the 11:30 to 12:15 range.  But that still seems pretty low. I suppose I should take it as a sign of a positive level of fitness.

Stats –

I-Mad =1

Sleep =9 hours

a.m.HR= 57BPM

Weight = #153

Workout = 4 miles in 49:20

DECEMBER 26TH & 27TH ,  Monday & Tuesday

This is likely to be a bit of a rambling post. I have a few things I want talk to myself about. So this is a good place for me to get it straightened out in my brain.?

First, it has occurred to me that I’m very disappointed in the effort that I demonstrated trying to become involved in the Jackson Liberty boys indoor track program this year. There is a very nice group of young men who have a lot of potential on the team. They have always been very kind and supportive of me. I should have spent more time helping Coach Brown and staying close to these young men. That takes me to my second point. I am amazed at how quickly the time slips away and that is part of my excuse for not having a more close involvement with the Liberty team.  I just let it get away.?

Writing this blog for the last 10 months has constantly reminded me of how quickly time goes by. All too often I find that I’ve missed a day of posting, and so I’m happy that this endeavor of mine keeps me focused on the present. I plan to make every effort to post daily from here on out. I especially want to share and have a record for myself of my training for the June, National Senior Games.

Today is an example of time slipping away as I have  not posted since Sunday .  So here goes for today . Yesterday I took the day off to allow my body to rest after my longest run in a while, 4+ miles. I was pretty proud of myself on Sunday. Today Arlene and I drove to the beach in Avon  because of the beautiful spring like, 63 degree weather. We walked the boardwalk and then I decided to jog for a few moments. As I was jogging, a pretty serious pain developed on the bottom of my right foot. It felt like a cramp and I couldn’t shake it during the whole time. I guess I ran a little over a mile on the boardwalk most of it quite distressed by this constant pain. When I finished I took off my support socks and my shoes, then Arlene  actually did a very deep massage of the instep of my foot which hurt quite a bit. We drove home and stopped at the ShopRite for some groceries. Afterward I decided to run again to test if this was going to be a continual problem with my foot. I ran about a mile and a quarter with no pain at all in the right foot. Now the variables; I got the massage from Arl, and I wasn’t wearing my tight support socks and I laced my shoes very, very loosely. So I didn’t get very much of a workout in today. I’m going to have to see what happens tomorrow when I try to run under normal conditions. Hopefully it will be a nice day to run as today was.?

So I am rationalizing training this week by saying that I never expected to be training at all this week after my operation. Everything I had heard about post-operative behaviour was that I would have to cease running for two full weeks. I’ve had at least three decent distance runs in the past week, and so I take that to be I am ahead of the game already. January 1st was going to be my goal to start training. I decided today that my long run for this training sequence is going to be 6 miles once per week. In  thinking about what 5K Runners are doing, it occurred to me they run 12 to 15 Mile distances once a week. My target race is 1500m.  So if I make my long run 5 times my goal race distance, that should be long enough once per week. My aim is to continue running 10 – 12 minute pace until I can comfortably run 6 miles, hopefully close to 60 minutes. At that point I can begin some tempo and interval work as we move to St. Augustine.⛱

I’m going to stop now and recheck this narrative because I have been speaking this entire post without a single check.   Checked and corrected……

STATS – Remain stable…

December 24th, Saturday

Today is Christmas Eve. I took a day of rest to err on the side of caution.  All is well.

December 23, Friday, Evening

Today I completed three miles in about 37 minutes. Still running very carefully not trying to increase the pace yet. My entire workout was about 60 minutes, as I did one-legged running drills prior to the run and walked about three-quarters of a mile at the end of the run. It was another mild afternoon in the middle of a pleasant winter day, about 40 degrees and sunny. I am pleased with the condition of my body after a layoff for surgery.  My former lower leg and foot issues have disappeared making the run quite effortless and enjoyable.  I hope that I can gradually increase the length and intensity of my workouts while avoiding the return of problems.

” Self-inflicted injuries are the enemy of progress.”

Stats –

I-Mad = 1

Sleep = 8 hours

Weight = #152 after run

a.m.HR = MISSED IT …!

WORKOUT = 3 MILES  @FSML, +  drills & walk 1200m

December 22nd, Thursday

https://youtu.be/cgXRc0cNf4g

I have loved that song for almost 50 years!

I was very excited to get the OK from my eye surgeon today to resume running. It’s been a week, and I was exhilarated to return to the cinder track today for 40 minutes in motion with basically jogging and some running drills. It was a lovely afternoon for the first day of winter.  I plan to continue light running until the first of the year. By then I feel I will be ready to resume a normal schedule of training.  I will have five months  to prepare for the Nationals in Birmingham, Alabama.  That will consist of a frigid January, two months on the lovely St. Augustine beaches, and then the spring months of April and May back in New Jersey.  I am very excited!

I will not belabor my readers with the full story of the cataract operation. Suffice it to say, it was little more than an inconvenience for about a week. Medicare covers most of the cost. So, if any of my  senior friends have thought about it, drop me a note and I will give you the full story via personal message.

Stats resume tomorrow.

December 20th

5 days into break for eye surgery

Progressing steadily; Missing running…..

December 16th, Friday
So, yesterday I had an operation on my left eye to remove a cataract. It was a relatively simple procedure, everything went very well and I was in and out in less than three hours; no pain, no discomfort. The rub is that I cannot run for at least two weeks! I will survive and continue to post about things that interest me (and I hope you) regarding +70Running, and try to not go stir crazy.
Thanks again to my loyal and occasional readers.