October 11th, 12th, 13th and 14th

Couple of things happened over the last few days that I want to share with myself in this journal and with my readers. First I came to the realization that the blogging that I have been doing, sometimes bloviating, is helpful to me in that it keeps me focused on my training. It also helps me to evaluate training by forcing me to formulate thoughts and express them.  And, of course, it feeds my ego when friends and former athletes comment on my thoughts and accomplishments.  But one thing that the blog format does not provide is an opportunity to see the big picture at a glance.  So I decided to return to my old practice of recording my workout on a large desk calendar. A training calendar with smiley faces to indicate progress with something I had recommended to Runners at my  presentation this summer at the Push Your Pace  camp. I had to purchase a 2019 calendar and recalibrate the months of September, October, November and December in order to accomplish this. But that is beside the point.  (Picture below)

Second, while looking at my new calendar after the first 10 days of the month, I saw red smiling faces  on seven of those 10 days. After not running for months with any consistency, that seemed a little overdone.  So, I opted for a recovery period on the 11th and the 12th and the 13th to avoid a return of injury. On these days I walked quite a bit and did some lite running at Ocean County Park during a triangular meet.  On Sunday the 14th I went back to work. That’s my story of the last 4 days.

October 15th, Sunday

a.m. –  30 minutes …… 15 bike, 15 run

p.m. –  45 minutes  in exercise room.   25 on treadmill, 25 weights and drills

Stats are steady and positive.

October 10th, Wednesday

“Hot sun in the autumn time”

The new workout I am calling 3R1W was so much fun (x5) yesterday that I did a version it (x2) again today on the track.  I was anxious to see if I could comfortably hit 600m in three minutes.  The second one was 610m, (7:59 pace) so I stopped.  Later, while watching the boys run on the track, I did the 300m run 100m walk workout they were doing for 20 minutes. I did not have the watch running during the second 20 minutes of work. It seemed like a tough enough day because the sun was really hot on the track.  (84*) Summer does not want to go away.  They are predicting a break in the heat by Saturday.

Stats –

Diet = 9

Sleep = 8 hours

Weight = #153

HR = 54bpm

Indexes = steady good.   a.m. soreness still, but not running,  Still heating and rolling in p.m.

October 9th, Tuesday

Today I chased the Liberty Cross Country Boys around Ocean County Park as they won a triangle with meet to go five and one on the season. It was a good warmup for the workout I did after the race. Before I did my workout and after the race I monitored the boys doing 10 strides as a cool down, a new idea I pitched to Todd after the race. I think it worked out pretty well. Then I did a new workout I read on the internet today. It consists of running for 3 minutes at a steady pace and taking a one minute walk in between. I did that five times for 15 minutes running  at an average of about 9:00 pace.  It came to 21 minutes with the walks in between.  I liked that workout and will probably do it much more in the future. The idea would be to cover more ground for 3 minutes segment as time goes by rather than increase the time. The three minutes segments allow for increasing speed while keeping the length of the workout shorter and to avoid overuse injuries.

All stats are steady and positive.  Running without pain!

October 8th, Monday

Recovery day- 15 weight circuit, 15 swim, 15 water run

That’s it!

October 7th,  Sunday

Lamp-post to lamp-post……..

In the article below Galen Rupp talks about preparing for the Chicago Marathon .  Getting through the tough spots in a workout by pushing through one lamp-post at a time. That’s how I got through my sweltering three miles tonight.

https://www.runnersworld.com/news/a23585015/galen-rupp-before-2018-chicago/

Update: Rupp finished 5th in 2:06:21.  Sir Mo Farah of Britain won in 2:05:11

Arlene and I went to the boardwalk in Belmar on this sultry, summer like, October evening.  As we drove toward the beach, I remembered that the Liberty boys were planning a Sunday run on the boards that evening.  We caught up to the boys and Coach Engle on 19th street. I was able to congratulate the boys on their very successful run at the Shore Coach’s meet at Holmdel on Saturday. They ran 8 to 9 miles, Arlene walked on the beach and I ran 3 miles in 34:35 after a 30 minute warm-up.   (11:34 per mile)  I finished the run looking like I had taken a dip in the ocean along the way I was so wet with perspiration. I am also a little confused because it didn’t feel like I was running so much slower than I did on Friday when my watch was reading close to 9:00 per mile on the track.  I guess I’m just a track kind of guy.  🙂

It was a productive, pleasant and fortuitous evening

Happy, steady, positive stats….!

October 5th,  Friday

On a 68° day at the track I ran 3 miles in 27:18.   I had taken a recovery day yesterday and was pleasantly surprised when I began running.  My legs were light and I had no soreness or pain.  I had also done a lengthy series of leg and hip exercises prior to starting. That seems to have been a major factor.  It was shocking to me as I glanced at my watch throughout the run to see a pace of 9:30 and ultimately below 9:00 along the way. I have not seen numbers like that in months during training. So I have to assume that my fitness level is better than I had believed it to be. This is a very good thing. I am encouraged and excited and motivated.

Steady stats.

October 1st, Monday

Sunday was a day off after my 5 miles at Manasquan Reservoir on Saturday.  I did perform a lot of rolling and stretching on my left foot to try to avoid any return of plantar fasciitis pain.  Fortunately, as I began to run this afternoon at Cross Country Practice, my legs and my feet felt quite good.  I was able to run pretty comfortably for three-and-a-half to four  miles on the track in the course of the afternoon. I did add in a few 50 stride pickups along the way. I actually accomplished more running today than I expected I could.  More signs of progress…….:-)

Stats –

Lots of good sleep – 10 hours +

Still #151.4

  Good diet

Good indexes

Steady heart rate