WOW. To my absolute surprise I finished first in the 80 to 84-year-old 800 m finals today at the national senior games in Pittsburgh. I lead the field of 13 runners from start to finish. I actually ran and negative race. The first 400 m was 139 and the second 400 was 137. The winning margin was a remarkable 18 seconds. I approached this race with a ton of apprehension about various nicks and bumps that I felt in my legs over the last month. It seemed like every time I finished a work out something else was aching. During and after the race I felt no issues whatsoever so tomorrow I get to run 1500 m and I am as apprehensive about that as I could possibly be but I already have one championship locked in and that is pretty fucking cool.

We arrived in Pittsburgh this Tuesday evening to prepare for running the 800m on Thursday and 1500m on Friday. Our hotel is very comfortable. Tomorrow I have to check in at the convention center downtown and check out the track at the local high school. Training has been a little spotty over the last two weeks. The best I can say is I will be completely recovered and rested.. Thursday is the key as I am defending my title in 800m race.

June 26 and 28, Monday and Wednesday

“All I want to do is drink beer and train like an animal.” Rod Dixon

ONE OF MY ALL TIME FAVORITES…….!!!

Monday- Being neither a Mad Dog or an Englishman, I chose not to go out in the midday sun.  Instead I chose the Shady Trails of Turkey Swamp Park to do a few miles of my favorite Modified Fartlek (MMF).  The workout consisted of 3.3 miles of work with 12 series of walk/ jog /run, 30 seconds each segment.  The total time in motion was 41:00.  Run segments averaged around 8:00 pace.  Seemed like a good day.

Weight, Sleep and Diet are good.  No leg or foot issues. 🙂 🙂

Wednesday – On the cinders as dusk loomed I did a workout of 6 x 400m with a 1 mile warm-up and a 1 mile cool-down, total of 3.5 miles in 37:30.  I was pleasantly surprised that I was able to maintain the goal that I set at the beginning of the workout to initiate each 400m interval at 3:00. I hoped to run 2:15 with a :45  recovery and back in motion at 3:00.  That would be 9:00 pace.  I had not done such a tightly structured workout as this for many months. So the sequence was 17:00 as follows;

2:15 – :45.   2:10 – :50.    2:15 – :45.   2:02 – :58.     2:05 – :55.          2:00.   =    17:00

I feared throughout that I would be unable to hold the pace with such a short recovery, but I was able to do so quite handily. I really love this kind of track work. I hope my body can handle it, and I can do a few more of these before July 13th.  Chocolate milk to follow, and the Mets and a Bud Light and bed………zzzzzzz

Steady stats.  🙂

On a hot and muggy Saturday afternoon at the Peddie School I competed in a 1500m race. I was using it as a time trial in preparation for the Nation Senior Games. My finishing time was a respectable 6:57, but that was slower than I had hoped to run.

I approached the race with some trepidation because I had been feeling some nagging injuries in my leg muscles during training. I even considered withdrawing from the race for fear of aggravating injury. My impression from my performance is that it was a below par effort, especially in the second half of the race. I realized early that my splits were too slow for me to achieve my pre-race goal. I think that led me to have no enthusiasm for the final 800m. For now that will have to suffice as my rationale.

The outcome of the race on my physical well-being is much more positive. I felt nothing of the leg muscle issues that I noted during the warm-up, the race or post race cooldown. Plus, on this rainy Sunday morning I am experiencing none of the muscle soreness that I felt after last week’s 800m time trial. It could be because of a less demanding effort. Or it could be because my legs are becoming more fit. I would like to think the latter, but it’s probably a little bit of each. In any event, I look forward to two more weeks of solid training and a fun trip to Pittsburgh with Arlene for the nationals.

The 800m time trial proved to be more successful than I. even hoped.. For a number of reasons I felt in the dark regarding my level of fitness for an 800m track race. One year ago in the same meet I ran 3:24 on a similar relay running essentially by myself on the anchor leg 200m behind the field. That was disappointing. Since that time, and passing the 80 year old mark, I have become much more concerned about the development of injury my approach to training. I take more days off for recovery and limit my longest distance efforts to 4 miles, only rarely exceeding that mark. Plus I run exclusively on dirt and cinders and rubber tracks now, no roads. The result has been a decrease in total miles, albeit hopefully an increase in quality of workouts. So, the outcome of that change was to be determined with yesterday’s time trial.

The race evolved in an interesting way. There were three of us on the starting line. The other two were younger and sure to break three minutes. So, I would be chasing from the start. During the first 200m I was surprised at how springy my legs felt.

The other two guys were gone, but it seemed like the first lap was going well. As I passed the 400m mark the clock read 1:35, and I realized that I might be able to actually run a decent time. Drawing on decades of coaching advice, I determined to run the third 200m with a little balls. I reached the 600m mark exhilarated that I was still standing and pushed excitedly for the finish. Approaching the finish, I saw that it was possible to break 3:15. I tried to relax and close. It was a thrill to see 3:14 on the clock as I passed the baton.

Next week I will run a 1500m trial with, I hope, a similar outcome. Then off to Nationals!!

Stats are stable and positive.

I am trying to balance upgrading my training and staying healthy. I am working on a training program that I developed for some of my athletes in high school who complained about sore legs frequently. The program involves two days of training with one day of recovery following . I told these athletes that they couldn’t complain about your legs because they either just came off a day of rest or we’re going to have a day of rest tomorrow. It worked pretty well for some young men. So, I did one series on last Thursday, Friday and Saturday. Than began another on Sunday. But by Monday my legs were dangerously sore. So I swam and ran in the pool for about40 minutes instead of running at the track.. Today is a scheduled recovery and the rest of the walk will be moderate in preparation for Saturday’s 800m trial.

On Saturday I am running a leg on a 4 x 800 m relay at the New Jersey international track meet at Monmouth University. I’m also considering running a competitive individual mile later in the day. Both of these will serve as a time trial to see what is the status of my conditioning in preparation for the senior nationals on July 13 and 14th.

Ladder – 3200m

200 – :55

600 – 2:59

800 – 4:06

400- 1:58

600 – 3:04

400 – 1:58

200 – :48

Saturday, May 27

JUST ANOTHER BRICK IN THE WALL

The late May weather has been ideal for interval training. I arrived at the cinder track at about 7:00 p.m.  Most of the 800m oval was shaded and the temperature was in the high 60s. My plan was to get a good warm up and run some quick 400m intervals.  I was a bit tentative seeing as this was the first three consecutive days of. training  In quite a while. I took a long warm up of running and walking and stretching and straightaways. Feeling no leg issues, I began my first 400 interval at a very conservative pace of  2:O2.  I was pleasantly surprised. After a 3 minute walk and jog I managed a second interval at 1:55. And the third one was at 1:59. I was not feeling any aerobic stress only worrying about my legs that were starting to get heavy. But I decided to push the last one a little bit and ran a very credible 1:46. It took a while to recover but I pressed forward and ran a comfortable 800m to conclude the workout. The entire event was over three miles in about 42 minutes including warm up and cool down.

I really can’t judge the level of my fitness at this point, but I kind of like the way it’s going. I will be running  two tune-up races in mid June that should give me a good idea where I stand as I head to Pittsburgh in mid July for the Nationals.

Stats remain steady and legs are feeling good. Tomorrow, Sunday, will be a day off.

• 5/17 –  3  miles at Turkey Swamp Park. 36:00
• 5/18 – Walk
• 5/19 – Swim and running water for 40 minutes
• 5/20 – Walk
• 5/21 – Walk
• 5/22 – 4 miles on cinders 61 minutes in motion, with 3 miles  in 33: 00 of modified Fartlek, 18 speed segments of 1 minute at below 8 minute pace.
• 5/23 – Walk
• 5/24 – Walk
• 5/25 – 3.22 miles on cinders in 51:00 with 18 speed segments at 8:00  pace or better
• 5/26 – 2 miles run and walk at turkey swamp park in 30 minutes.
• Lately I’ve been doing extended walking on rest days. Taking more frequent rest days to avoid injury training toward senior nationals.
• Relying on Modified Fartlek technique on workdays.  It allows me to get more mileage and significant speed work with limited amount of foot strike a
• Stats are stable, weight (145), sleep (9 hrs av.), diet (9),and am heart rate (54); feet and legs are injury free

Good series
May 9 – 3 miles at a Turkey Swamp Park with speed segments throughout and three hills at the end.
May 10 – rest
May 11 – at Cinder track 3.8 miles in one hour and seven minutes total – warm-up 1 mile with five speed segments – workout -4×400 m in 147 to 151+ one
final 400 m at 2:08.
May 12 – rest
May 13 – weighs
May 15 – on cinders warm-up was 1000 m plus stretch +5×100 m speed segments Workout was 3×1000 m at 5:30 – cool down 800 m .- total distance 4 1/2 miles
The goal was to run thousand meter repeats under 10 minutes. It turned out I was able to run all of them under nine minute pace to my surprise. I have been putting off that work out for a while for fear of not being able to complete it successfully. I’m glad I did it.

Stats – weight is 144 pounds – sleep is averaging 9 to 10 hours nightly – resting heart rate remains consistent at 54 bpm – no leg or foot issues – diet is consistent and healthy.
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