Monday, October 23rd

On a perfect autumn, sunny, 64° afternoon I headed to the Cinder track with the intention of running for Progressive miles. I used the first mile as a warm up in 12:20 and began to strip down my sweatshirts. My Sunday joggers remained on for the entire workout. My right Achilles tendon had my attention for the four miles but seemed to survive the total effort. This was the longest workout in 2 weeks. So,I was a bit nervous. Tomorrow will definitely be a pool day.

The final three miles were 10:08, 9:50 and 9:33.   I am very satisfied with that progression.

STATS are stable and positive.

Bah, Humbug

So, I left Florida after my 5K nationals race with a slightly inflamed Achilles tendon. I am very confident that wearing my track spikes for that 5K run is what brought on the Achilles problem. Having experienced Achilles tendon issues that lasted almost a year in past, I decided to be ultra conservative about this situation. So for the next two weeks I stayed off impact running and spent time in the pool and the weight room. I had forgotten that how much I actually enjoyed swimming and pool running. In fact over the last 2 weeks I did not miss a day of training, and I think I have maintained much of my fitness.  The good news that during a 3 Mile Run on the cinders yesterday I had no discomfort in my Achilles tendon. !!

My only goals going forward are to remain healthy and fit and maybe run a decent 5K before winter arrives. Plus find a quality cross-country, non-spike, racing shoe somewhere along the way…..

All stats holding steady and positive.  🙂

Sunday, October 8th

Back in New Jersey after a whirlwind trip to Boca Raton to run in the USA Track and Field national cross country championships  on Saturday. I left Friday morning, ran Saturday morning and returned by Saturday night late. I emerged from the race in  pretty good shape after running an acceptable but less than outstanding 31 minute 5K. It was, however, good enough to help our 70+  team from the Shore Athletic Club finish second in the overall Team Championship.  I learned that there are some serious Masters 5K runners at these meets.  I actually finished 4th out of eight 80 year old guys.  On the positive side the time was a minute and a half faster than my 5K last Saturday. It was a picturesque, grass covered course and the temperature was about 90° at the gun. My lack of aerobic fitness was apparent as my mile times went from 9 minutes to 10 minutes to 11 minutes along the course of the race. My recovery was much more difficult and much longer then usual, I would guess as a result of the heat. It was an interesting experience and a lot of fun to be part of a team. But the toll that the travel takes on my body makes me believe I will be running races closer to home for the foreseeable future. But it is also nice to have a USA TF Masters National Championship medal!

STATS are steady and positive.  I am feeling a little soreness in my achilles tendon right foot today probably as a result of wearing spikes for 5K for the first time. I will have to watch that carefully.

Saturday, October 30

Today I ran the first of the six 5k autumn series sponsored by Shore AC. It was rainy and the course was a mud slog most of the way at Big Brook Park.

My time of 32:34 was quite slow and the hills took a toll on my legs. Fortunately, I had reduced expectations for this event because I was using it as a training run in preparation for next Saturday’s race in the masters, national championship. I was disappointed in how poorly I performed on the hills and I will have to work on it over the next few weeks. The nagging ache in my right Quadricep was also a factor on the hills. All I can do next week is be fully recovered and run the best I can as part of the Shore AC team. Plus hope that the Boca Raton course is flat. LOL

The good news is that my legs felt fine on a short run today which means that the 5K did not have as big a toll as I had expected on my legs. I am thinking of a few tempo 1000s on Monday and a longer run on Tuesday to set up this weeks training. Three recovery days has worked in the past to help me have my best performance.

Statistics are steady and my legs are fine except for that little quadricep issue. In training, it usually goes away after about 20 minutes into a workout. I did finish the last thousand without any pain but that seems like a long time to wait. Maybe I need a better warm-up plan for Saturday.