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If you wish to reach me: lastchancerunner@gmail.com

Tuesday, July 30, 2013

A return to the big easy

71 minutes of easy running with Danny and Tom at WVC. Did 5 strides on the track towards the end.

Sunday, July 28, 2013

Ran an hour total with Dimitri over at Foothill. We stayed on the track while he ran a 2 mile tempo run. I ran with him ( sort of ) by doing the following.


Warmup

800 at an 8 minute mile pace
400 rest (Dimitri kept running)
800 at an 8 minute mile pace
400 rest (Dimitri kept running)
800 at an 8 minute mile pace

Warm down

It is not surprising how tough an eight pace can be if you mostly run really slow training run week after week and month after month. I admit that each 800 got easier.

So 800's in order...

Shock
Less shock
No shock








Saturday, July 27, 2013

Chatting it up

Easy 40 minute run at WVC chatting it up while the club ran 5k on the track.


Thursday, July 25, 2013

Bottom

Another hour run. Tom, Danny and I finished up on the track and ran 5 x 100 striders.

Tom and Danny are planning on running the club 5K this weekend. I have no desire to run the race. The impetus just isn't there. Might be fun to run every other lap though.

Wow.  Talk about hitting bottom.

Tuesday, July 23, 2013

An hour

When you have run most of our adult life, other people, non runners just don't understand how much a part of you it becomes. A runner is more than just working out and racing.

It becomes you.

No longer competitive.

No longer fast.

Still a runner.

They could lay you off or fire you or whatever but as long as you could run, it was okay. I know because I lost or left plenty of jobs over the years. The running was consistent.

Danny, Tom and I ran an hour today. Well, Danny started late and Tom didn't feel good but we still got in our run. At the very end Danny and I ( at my urging, for no good reason ) did 4 x 100 meter strides.

Then we drove up to see Big Bill and get adjusted and have breakfast.


Sunday, July 21, 2013

Long run

83 minutes of running up in the Los Altos hills in back of Foothill College with Dimitri. Stiff legged going out but then after the halfway point I began to loosen up and feel better. Reached Foothill-PA Park again before turning around. There was a ranger on duty to stop us from going in but once I explained to him that we were just using the bathrooms and getting water, he waved us in.


Saturday, July 20, 2013

Easy easy

40 minute easy easy  jogging while Danielle did 2 x 800 in 2:55. This also included a warm down around campus.

Walked for 30 minutes with Lucy afterward.

Thursday, July 18, 2013

Tuesday and Thursday

Ran 60 minutes both days with Tom and Danny. I felt good Tuesday but more like running on empty on Thursday. These are times that try men's soles (lol). Nothing is easy anymore. My body is heading south of the Mason-Dixon line but I think I am still in the Carolinas.

Tom and I are talking about doing some pickups during next Tuesday's run.

Sunday, July 14, 2013

800 meter

I ran for about an hour today mostly over at Foothill College Track. Sandwiched in the middle of the run was a 3:30 800 meter which was harder than I figured it would be. It wasn't all out but no question it was a bit of a gut buster. Dimitri was running a 7 minute mile so I just hung with him for two laps.

Saturday, July 13, 2013

40 minutes easy

Drove over to watch the club workout which was the mile on the track. I jogged around chatting with various runners while piling up ;-) 40 minutes.

Thursday, July 11, 2013

Tuesday...Thursday

Tuesday

60 minute run on Tuesday with Danny and Tom. Managing my right knee. Now and then I get a jolt while running.  Most of the run is fine but no question "it" is there. I am icing and doing leg exercises to strengthen the knee.

Thursday

I ran 66 minutes. Five over at the house and 61 at WVC and Valle Vista. Tom was my pardner today. Knee felt better. I read an excerpt from a Chi Running website on running with knee problems. I adapted more a lean from my ankles upward (ever so slight) and the run was without pain or incident. I kept my knees low and relaxed. It seemed to help.

Good strong run.


Sunday, July 07, 2013

82 minutes

I am nursing a slightly sore right achilles and a bothersome right knee issue. The good news is that neither seems to keep me from running. Actually the achilles was not even a bother today. The knee is out of whack though it only bothers me in the first few minutes of a run and then pretty much goes away. No sharp pain but I can feel it.

I am sure it is a result of the fall I took 2.5 weeks ago.

I am Advilling and icing it.

I didn't expect to be able to my usual Sunday long run but I did a five minute test around my neighborhood and everything seemed good to go so I went.

Dimitri and I ran the usual....

Foothill College to Palo Alto Park (hills and all) and back. 77 easy minutes. 44 minutes up, 33 minutes back.

The weather was mild and my legs felt okay.




Friday, July 05, 2013

Lonely Progression Run

Dropped by Los Altos Fitness (the new name for Shawsu) and did a progression run on the treadmill. I had the place to myself. 2:30 PM and it was virtually empty.

I started out at a ten minute mile effort and ratcheted the speed up every five minutes until I was down to a  8:27 pace at the end. That's a 6:15 age graded. I shut things down at 30 minutes. I was actually okay. Not struggling, just running sub tempo.

My right knee was a tiny bit sore when I started running today. It was sore on Tuesday and Thursday too but both times the soreness went away after a few minutes. Same today. It doesn't feel anything like when I tore the meniscus last year but it is "there" non-the-less so I am monitoring it.


Thursday, July 04, 2013

Humidity R US

Met Tom and Danny over at WVC for an hour run. It was hot and humid at 8 am. We stayed on the campus running in the shade as much as was possible. My legs felt good but it was still tough given the weather. In the Central Valley they would say it was cool but here it was still too warm. We all felt it.

The volleyball crew was out and playing. They waved, we waved. We're beginning to know each other.

Breakfast afterward. Our normally half deserted restaurant was packed with (large) folk.

Tuesday, July 02, 2013

Oh for a spot of shade

I got up early and had coffee outside in the backyard because if I drank it inside I broke into a sweat. Drove over to WVC and met up with Tom (staring wistfully out at the track) and Danny who showed up fifteen minutes in arrears. We ran 58 minutes and walked another six.

Team volleyball was bikinied up and playing in the soft white beach they have created next to the track.

It was their weather (HOT) not ours. We ran while feeling our way along from shaded spot to shaded stretch. I told Danny later that maybe we should have run much earlier or not at all. But we did get our run in.

Sound of one hand clapping...

Bob and I walked three miles at lunch to and from Tom's Cafe in Loyola Corners. It had to be in the 90's.

Chock up a weak 9 mile day.

I was pretty wiped out by the time I got home in the early afternoon. Guzzled water and napped.


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