Tonight, August 29, I ran the Mammoth Mile in 7:28. That was a 43 second improvement over my unimpressive run at the Big Bang Mile ten days ago. My goal was to break 7:30; so I am happy with this performance.

On September 6, I will be competing in the New Jersey senior Olympics in order to qualify in the 1500 m and 800 m for the national senior games next summer. I approached these three events in a relaxed manner and have trained in a similar fashion.

I’ve managed to keep my body free of injury and at the same time maintain a competitive fitness level.



Ran on the cinder track last night (Monday) doing intervals at 8:00 pace; 2-4-2-2-4-2-2-4. Final 400 m at 1:48. Goon night!

That workout completed a seven day cycle of good work.

Wednesday- 3 miles on the track of MMF

Thursday- 4 miles on the Jackson Road for the first time in a few months

 Saturday- 3 miles of MMF on the cinders

I am racing a no pressure Big Bang mile on Sunday. It is a Jersey Shore AC event. So I like to do well. That always raises a rest issue. How much time does an 81 year-old guy need to recover in order to run a decent mile? I am still trying to figure that one out. I think this time I’m going to not worry about resting and keep training. There are two other miles that I will be running in the next three weeks. When is the mammoth mile on August 29, the other is the New Jersey senior games on September 6. That one is qualify for the senior nationals which will occur in Iowa sometime next summer. So I do have a chance to run a couple decent miles in the next month. After that, it will be cross country for about three months right now I am pretty happy with my training and the fact that I’m staying healthy. My stats are staying consistent and in good form I’m a lucky guy.

AM – Elegant Eights x 5

August 4th, Sunday

The weather forecast for Sunday morning was the low 70s. I took that opportunity to get out and do a workout at the cinder track. The weather hadn’t been out of the high 90s for almost a week.  As I began to warm up I was surprised that my legs were so tight and heavy. I hadn’t done a workout in sometime on the cinders,  but I had been working on the machines at the clubhouse; treadmill, bike and elliptical.  They must be more demanding than I thought on my legs. So, it took me a while to get loose and feel ready actually do some kind of work.  I wanted the total workout today to exceed 4 miles. So, I decided to do some Elegant Eights. That phrase was created by Rich Refi about a decade ago while I was working with him at Hillsborough high school cross country. On recovery days we would have our cross country guys run comfortable 800m repeats on the grass. We originally called them Lazy 8s, but we decided that Elegant Eights  was a more positive term. The objective was to cover some decent mileage at a decent pace without too much stress on the body.  The boys would often run 8-10 repeats, usually with progressive timing.. The result was a usually a solid recovery day workout.  The goal today was to complete at least 4 miles with some tempo along the way.  The 72° overcast morning was a big help. I was able to complete 5x  800m hitting almost  exactly 4:45 pace on each one.  All objectives were met. 🐸

Stats-

Weight is up to 148# because I have  been running less and eating more for the past two weeks since the Pan-American games in Cleveland.

Sleep has been steady at 8-10 hours per night.

I have not checked my morning heart rate in over two weeks. 🤑❤

Feet and legs are injury free!   👍👣👖