June 1, Saturday

Too tired to look up a quote. LOL.

     But I do remember Frank Shorter, when asked what one thing would he change about his training throughout his career, saying , “I would do my easy days easier.”

My legs did mot feel sore this morning, which was a bit surprising because I covered  10 miles on the previous two days.   So, when I got to the cinder track this evening, I thought it might be a good day to run some quality 660’s.  I quickly realized that my legs were not going to cooperate as I warmed up.  I continued to do a few more progressive accelerations. I chose to try the 660’s eventually.  I set a modest goal of 3 minutes per effort.  I ran progressive times; 3:10,  3:00,  2.51.  Was hoping for 4, but felt quite exhausted after 3. So,I quit.  I felt like I didn’t do enough. So, I measured off and planned to run a few x 100m.  Did one in 23.5 and got scared and quit again.  Strange day!  Maybe better than nothing…..

Steady stats.

May 30, Friday

MMF in play

Ran a comfortable 4miles today on the cinders. It took 47 :-)minutes after a 14 minute warm up mile. I used the MMF approach, but at a less intense level . Keeping my heart rate elevated for 60 minutes was the goal. As I went on, I instinctively increased the distance of the faster segments.  I think it was good work for a recovery day.  For myself and for any reader who is interested, I’m going to restate the benefits of the plan that I am calling My Modified Fartlek (MMF). The plan is to modify long recovery runs by alternating equal segments of walking and running at a more accelerated pace then normal.                                    Benefits I perceive are ;

1- Markedly reduced foot strikes for overall run…..  I was reminded recently that the body has to absorb an impact of three times body weight with each foot strike in a normal running stride.  That impact is eliminated when walking.

2- More strides at a quicker stride-per-minute rate……. I am less and less convinced of the effectiveness of slow running or jogging.

3- Elevated heart rate can be sustained throughout by speed walking segments.

Stats-

Weight = steady at #148. 🙂

Sleep = 9 hours 🙂

Morning foot indexes a strong 🙂

A.m. heart rate equals 54 beats per minute. 🙂

Diet remains very positive.  🙂

Daily stretching is getting more consistent. 🙂

Working on I altitude simulation exercises.  🙂

May 30, Thursday

Yesterday was an unexpected, but I think needed, day off.  Today on the cinders I was in motion for 1 hour and 6 minutes covering 5.38 miles.  The warm-up mile took 17 minutes including walking, jogging, stretching and gradual pick-ups.  I continued for 4+ miles of MMF (My Modified Fartlek) with 21 SS.  The pattern was mostly 1 minute run and 1 minute quick power walk.  The mile pace was between 9:40 and 11:00 with most SS under 8:00. My heart rate remained at an elevated level throughout.  It felt like a very demanding and productive session.

I have begun some high altitude simulation exercises I found on the internet to be a little more prepared for the 5000 foot elevation in Albuquerque.

Stats –

Weight=  #148.8

Diet = 9/10

Indexes are steady and positive

Heart rate p.m. mid 50’s

Stretching = good.  Body weights on hold.

May 28, Tuesday

Following a day of rest,  today felt like a good day to get in some faster work.  It was fun to catch up with some of the boys from the Jackson Liberty 4 x 800m Sectional Championship team as I entered the track this afternoon. Warm-up was a mile of jog, walk and gradually intensifying 100m pick-ups.  Spiked up and began running 6 x  200m efforts  at target race pace (6:30) with 200m recovery. (walk 100m, jog 100m)

:54,  :51,  :50,  :49,  :49,  :48

800m cool down- 3 mile day

Not bad.

Good stats.

May 26, Sunday

” I’ve learned that it is what you do with your miles, rather than how many you’ve run.”               ~~~Rod DeHaven , USA Olympic Marathoner

4.76 miles in 64 minutes…… with 5 x 880 @  sub-4:50

I wanted to run these lazy 880 yard efforts in  under 5 minutes.  Rich Refi and I developed the concept of “Lazy 8’s” as a recovery day workout about 12 years ago for the Hillsborough cross country teams. We later decided to change the name, but I forgot the new name. The idea is that it is a little more focused than simply a long, easy run on a recovery day. It is also easier to monitor and to maintain a credible pace. I picked a 10 minute per mile pace as my goal.  It turned out that I easily exceeded that pace, running between 8 and 9 minute pace throughout the day. I approached number 4 and number 5 with trepidation because I was feeling pretty exhausted. But it turned out I ran each one faster than the last.  This turned out to be far more draining than I had anticipated. So, I decided to take today (Monday) off for a true recovery.   🙂

Stats are on course.

May 25, Saturday

So, here is the story of my long fall. Looking for an aerobic day today I went to Turkey Swamp Park to run on the dirt roads. I had the brilliant idea when I arrived to try one of the wooded Trails instead of the dirt road. As I should have expected the trail was covered with the roots of the forest. About a half-mile into the trail my back foot clipped the root and sent me into the Staggering long fall. I struggled for balance for about seven strides before I hit the ground. That 7 strives is like a slow-motion eternity. Just enough time for flashes of a similar fall two years ago that left me with two broken ribs. Fortunately my hands took most of the brunt of the fall, but my left hip also hit pretty hard.  I got up shakily and walked out of the woods back to the road.  My hip is bruised and battered a little, but I think I avoided the worst possible outcomes.

Back on the road, which is flat and very safe, I began my patented SS / walk workout. I covered about three and a half miles running an SS for 1 minute followed by walking for 1 minute. Maybe it was because I was feeling angry or feeling lucky or both, but I really was pounding the speed segments along the way. I wound up doing 17  x 1 minute SS in the process of three and a half miles.   My Garmin says that the pace for many of the SS was under 7:00 which is he kind of speed I am shooting for in this workout.  The total distance moving for the day was 5 miles ( including the fall  🙂 ), in motion for 71 minutes.    I feel like I managed to salvage what could’ve been a disaster of a day.

Stable Stats

May 24, Friday

Rocking the Cinders

Yesterday was a day off.   So, today I ran some hard stuff on the cinders after the shade covered about half of the 880 yard oval. I warmed up with 1-mile of jogging, walking, stretching and about six gradual accelerations.  I began with a quick mile in 7:58, very even splits along the way.  I then did three x 400 meters with equal recovery.  The times got better with each effort;  1:51,  1:45 and 1:41.  Half mile cool down.

Stats-

Weight = 148.8 lbs I think that’s the lowest I’ve weighed since I’ve been an adult.

a.m. HR = 50 bpm    Trending lower than usual for the last few days.

Sleep = 8 hours

Diet = 9

Morning feet are good, no leg issues

Better stretching and lots of heating before running today.

May 20, 21 & 22

“You must do the thing you think you cannot do.”

~~~ Eleanor Roosevelt

Monday-   A complex set of circumstances too inconsequential to mention caused me to call off today’s workout after about 10 minutes.  Just calling this one a recovery day.

Tuesday- A very relaxed 58 minutes on the dirt trails at Turkey Swamp Park just down the road.  This place may well become my new recovery day workout venue.

Wednesday –  Today I covered three and a quarter miles in 40 minutes on the cinders.  That consisted of a 1-mile warm up, 10 X 200m between :50 and :55 and a 1000m cool down.  Between the 200m SS I walked about 1 minute recovery. It was an unexpectedly positive work session in the early evening shade as hundreds of two foot high kids in soccer uniforms scurried around the infield manifesting no discernible pattern while hundreds of young moms sat and watched and cheered.

Stats are remaining stable and positive.

May 19th, Sunday

Summer was pushing its way into the late May afternoon as I set out for a lazy recovery run on the roads. I hoped that yesterday’s hamstring ache would not be a factor as I moved along cautiously. I used my MMF strategy and managed to insert 10 serious  2 to 3 minute SS in between some walking segments.   The pace averaged 12:15 for a total of 48:55.  The first mile was over 14 minutes with warm-up walking. The final three miles were closer to 11 minutes.  My Garmin recorded the SS at between 7:30 and 8:30 pace.  No hamstring issues!  Finished pretty tired and very wet. This turned out to be a better-than-expected run. It’s amazing how a few cars are on the road in Jackson on a Sunday afternoon.

Stats-

Weight = 151 lb

Diet = very good  9

Sleep = 8 hours

Morning foot indexes are good.

Heart rate = 50 bpm

Stretching  is good.

Body weights are on hold.

May 17 and 18th,  Friday and Saturday

Friday-  On a pleasant afternoon we drove to Belmar for the opening of the Seafood Festival.  I intended to do a workout when I got home. But we ate so much seafood that I conked out at 6 p.m.!    Rest day!

Saturday – the conditions seem optimal today for a time trial in an 800m to see the effect of the hard work I’ve been doing recently.  It was after a day off, and the late afternoon weather conditions were perfect for a quick run.  So, I did a good warm up, laced up my spikes and headed to the starting line.  I wanted to see if I could run a comfortably quick 3:30 without exerting maximum effort. The one caveat to this event was a bit of a nagging hamstring that seemed to a occur while I was doing some work around the house this morning. I could feel it throughout the run and as a result backed off somewhat. The run itself was quite comfortable. I ended  running 3:26 which surpassed my expectations. I was never in any aerobic distress. I think this bodes well for my conditioning level right now. The lower hamstring issue was pretty obvious when I finished and I decided not to do any more for the day.  I think the next few days will need to be some aerobic long runs to allow my muscle to return to normal. No more housework until after Albuquerque.

Weak effort on stats.  Man up, O’Rourke……………….