6 x 600

I paid the price for drinking way too much wine last night. I drove over to the club workout which was 12 x 600 relay on the track. Each runner runs 6 of them and the recovery is the time it takes their partner to run their 600. Plus you have to walk or jog 200 meters to get ready for the hand-off. I was feeling pretty woozy and sort of out of it but I did a long warm up of close to 3 miles and then went down to the track and offered to pace Jake. He was shooting for a 6:30 pace which is 2:30 per 600.

Jake, I said, that is 3:15 800 pace. I had not seen him run that fast in a few years.

Rich, I am not running 800. I am only running 600.

OK, so we took off and I stuck to a 2:30 pace as exactly as I could. I figured I had better be able to do this given that this is goal pace for 3200 meters somewhere down the line. It had better feel easy. Not easy, easy. Just very doable.

And after shaking the cobwebs out, it began to feel very normal. I glanced at my HRM and it never was much above 171 until the last one which spiked to 175. Very low level AT, at least perceptually. Jake was in back of me struggling in the mid to high 2:30's but finally got down to his goal time on the last one.

A new girl was on the track. Her name was Wendy. Very tall, leggy and rather slender. She had an Elvis tote bag and I kidded her about it. She smiled. Afterwards she was talking to club members about joining. I am not asure she'll actaully join. She was walking and jogging and despite her body build she looked like she was not in running shape. But the club let her know she would be welcome. But then women are always welcome. Especially tall, leggy women. Danny and I agreed that he could get on my shoulders and then he would be about her height. My guess....6 feet.

Afterwards Jake, Dimitri, new guy..Jon and myself jogged around the campus.

Probably close to eight miles overall.

Lesson learned: Chardonnay is not a good pre-workout beverage of choice.

Speed Dating

Friday was an off day but I decided to double up anyway. A mid morning beakfast with friends followed later on by an interview with a perspective client for an interim HR VP job. I arrived at the clients at 2 pm and was led into a conference room. The CEO wasn't there yet so I idled by going over some notes from a meeting with another client. Finally the CEO walked in. He looked intense right off. He was looking at a copy of my resume.

Are you consulting now? he asked.

I said, yes and for the past 5 years.

What makes you want to come back inside?

I don't, I answered.

Oh. I only want people who are looking for full time regular jobs. He seemed to be chewing on his words.

That's not me I said flatly.

I smiled and he smiled. We exchanged business cards.

5 minutes had passed. I was in the lobby and headed for my car.

Something inside my gut told me that even if this had gone an hour, I would not have wanted to work for him. There was something rigid there. Not inept. Just rigid.

Double Day

Doubled on Thursday keeping the pace easy during both runs. I admit to feeling sluggish during the morning run. My legs were heavy and I dragged through the run. More than likely a result of Tuesday. The afternoon run was better. My legs felt good but it was warm and my HRM kept me from going very much above a jogging pace. I was soaked in sweat by the time I arrived home. A ten mile day though if anyone is counting.

Running With The Middle-Agers

I ran for about 45 minutes this morning and came back in the late afternoon and ran another 4 miles (give or take). Most of my afternoon run was a warm up with the club Tuesday night group which included Jeff, Tom, Mike and Becky. My legs felt good despite the back to back of running Monday and Tuesday. I just floated along hardly glancing at my HRM. Once, after we had come up a bit of a long hill I noticed that it was reading 155-56 but it dropped back down under 150 when we flattened out.

These runners are all faster and younger than I am. They are all about where I was when I was in my late 40's or early 50's. This is about their age range are too except Becky who is 41. We talked Bill Walsh and Niners a bit and then they switched to discussing the upcoming cross country season. I could feel the tug of wanting to be part of this but then I saw Danny down on the track and I came back to the reality. They moved on to some sort of hill repeat workout and I stood around with Danny and chatted about his upcoming 60th birthday. I was fine with it. But I could see the road back. It is the same as it was in 1975 when I began to train with John and Jake. Attach yourself to faster runners and hang on until you are faster. Believe you can run faster and then you are faster. It doesn't happen quickly. It is a change in a runner's belief system. You have to be smart about it but after awhile the momentum just carries you through.

Same Old

I ran for 45 minutes keeping my HRM in the high 130's and low 140's. It was a cool overcast day and my legs felt good.

I distrusted the tiredness I felt Saturday. It may be the intervals (never good for me). I need to get faster at the slower runs to get faster overall. I prefer the time trials over reps. They are more like what I face in races. I am too far down the road to trust an approach that has never worked well for me. I am beseiging 13 minutes for 3200 meters. A modest goal but one that I have not attained for years. I need to focus on that.


Once more unto the breach, dear friends, once more,
Or close the wall up with our English dead!
In peace there's nothing so becomes a man
As modest stillness and humility;
But when the blast of war blows in our ears,
Then imitate the action of the tiger:
Stiffen the sinews, summon up the blood.

"Henry V" (5.3.44-51)

Saratoga High School

Dimitri and I met at the lower parking lot at the college and jogged the 2 miles over to Saratoga High School for a workout. We did a few striders and then tried to replicate last week's workout of 4 x 1200 meters starting every 8 minutes.

I was totally flat during the first one and dropped at 600 meters. There was simply nothing in the tank. Whether it is was physiologocal of psychological, it made no difference. I felt like I was hanging on.

I did jog a lap and a lap and half just to finish off the 1200. I decided to try running 800 meters on the second one and this went well. We came through 2 laps at 3:17 and frankly and totally unlike the first one, I felt I could have gone on. When we started our 3rd I felt in a groove and as we came through 800, I said "I'm going run to 1000 meters." Then when we hit 1000 I said that I was going on to the finish. We ran 4:54 and frankly by this tiem I felt fine. The last one was another 4:54 and I ran relaxed throughout. Afterwards I wondered why the struggle early on. It didn't make sense.

We jogged back to the college and our cars.

I am accutely aware that these are resembling intervals. I promised not to do these and yet here I am breaking that promise. I need to think about this. I want to run under 13:13 sometime in August. I need to focus n that.

Easy 4

I jogged an easy 4 mile recovery run this morning. I want my legs to be in good shape for tomorrow's workout.

9 Miles With Striders

I drove over to Los Gatos High to run with Jake. I guess I can now call this Wednesday's with Jake.

He was up to his old tricks running 3.5 miles before we ran. We used to call this a secret workout. As we headed up the trail I could see that he was tired (there is this way he breathes) but I figured rather than worry about it, I would just keep moving along. Our warm up loop was 28 minutes which was 4 minutes faster than last week. Then we ran a hard loop in just a hair over 22 minutes. After that one I left Jake to run his last go around while I headed back to the track for 8 laps of 300 easy, 100 fast stride. The track was suddenly inundated with a class of prepubesent girls who quickly took over the 3 or 4 inside lanes so I decided to run my striders on the backstretch where there was less congestion. I averaged 17-18 seconds on the fast portions and my legs felt excellent. I then warmed down making my total somewhere close to 9 miles.

No Wednesday afternoon club workout again. Recently, the morning running has been just hard enough to insure that if I go back out and double, I will be doing so on dead legs. I will go out again. Just not now.

74:59

I ran 74 minutes and 59 seconds this morning. I thought hard about taking another step and making it an even 75 minutes but the moment passed and I was content.

My legs felt ok after a harder than usual last week. I was not speed on wheels but I ran around the neighborhood and then over to the college track with nary a blip. The college track was "inhabited" with Samaurai Warrior and a girl I will call "skinny". Her boyfriend stood guard over her while she ran laps. He placed himself on the ramp leading to the stands. He had pressed himself back into the shadows looking as malevolent as possible as he glared out at the track.

I tried to look disinterested at all times while I chased her around each lap. No, I did not gain on her. Even with legs that felt decent I seem unable to catch anyone these days. That power is gone forever with the pride of youth. It is like an old pitcher who used to have a decent fastball but knows it is gone. So he works the corners and throws junk and stuff that moves around a great deal. There is not much else in this ancient arm. I no longer throw flames but rather dust.

Never Say Never

This morning at the club workout, I warmed up for 2 miles with the slow, slow dog-meat group. Wally couldn't hang on when we threw in a couple of 11:30 pace mile surges as we straggled by the bathrooms. "We" being Jim Myers and John Petersen and Ken Noel.

I then went down to the track and did a never say never workout with Dimitri consisting of 4 x 1200 meters at 6:40 mile pace starting every 8 minutes. Afterwards we slow-jogged around campus for a warm down. I caught up with Dennis who had won the club race running in the mid 26's for Farwell-Horseshoe which is 4.68 miles. I once ran the old version of this race just under 25 minutes in a solo run for the then club record. No one had been under 25 minutes much less 26 minutes so I decided to be the first. It didn't last long. Jake saw what I had done and wiped my record from the books the next time the club ran that event.

Anyway, back to our workout: The pace of the reps didn't bother my breathing much but my legs were tired from Wednesday's Jake workout and Friday's chase the girl seven miler. I think I still tend to forget about what I am trying to do which is to simply break 13 minutes for 3200 meters on the track in a time trial.

I just did too much semi-hard stuff this week. It's funny. If I just bring down the time trial everything will probably get faster. It's all so simple.

{{{{Focus}}}}

Two Trails & The Tracks

I ran the railroad tracks this morning. I did cut away and ran the "two trails" between Prospect and Parker Ranch but then went back on the tracks. I kept the pace as slow as I could stand it for the first 4 miles and then picked it up over the last 3 miles coming home. I was chasing some gal in orange shorts who I had seen at the turn around down at Sunnyvale-Saratoga Avenue. She just kept pulling away and I realized that even if I went hard, I wasn't going to catch her. The strange thing was that at McClellan she disappeared off to the right or left. She was too far ahead and I figured she had made a turn on "her" course. As I was coming down the last section of the trail I could hear feet pawing dirt in back of me. It was the same girl. I was veering off the trail and heading home and as I did she rambled past me at flank speed. Whatever effort she was running, it wasn't easy. I could hear her breathing. She was working.

My HR during the early part of the run was rarely over 120 but during the last part it was rarely under 150.

Strong Day

Jake and I ran on the trail to Lexington Dam. It was a back and forth "loop" and for the first time in weeks he hadn't totally immolated himself in the days before we hooked up. I insisted that we jog the first loop very, very slowly. Everyone running on that trail in our direction easily passed us going out and coming back. We ran for 32 minutes give or take a few seconds.

On the second loop I let Jake set the pace and we did a strong 21:36. My HR hovered in the 145-152 range with a slight spike up to 158 at the very end. Jake then asked for a minute or two to recover and we went back up again and this time my HR monitor was consistently in the 155-164 range. Over the last few minutes we pushed hard and I came across in 20:50. Jake was 5 seconds behind me. I was trying to lead him in but he just had to back off in the last 100 meters. Still his best run of the year.

Jake said that the whole run was 8.5 miles.

I made the decison NOT to go out to the Wednesday evening workout. The last two times I did this I was just plain wasted. Jake and I are going in different directions. I am going to continue down the path of less is more and he is going to more is more. It not about who ends up to be the fittest or fastest. For me it is about running and feeling decent and enjoying the process. Since late 1990 that has not involved running more miles. I hope I can progress (while I inevitably get slower due to age). I can use age grading to track my progress. I thought I wouldn't care but as arbitrary as it is, it better than just seeing your times slow.

90 minutes

I went for a progressive 90 minute run this morning. It was already getting warm at 9 AM. I started at the slowest pace I could stand and ran that way for about 40 minutes keeping my HR down in the 120's. From 40 minutes on I just gradually pushed down on the accelerator and took my HR up into the 130's and 140's. I slept badly the night before and really didn't know how this run would go but by keeping it easy in the early stages I was able to work into the run and increase the effort. The run was uneventful (no Cricket this time around.

Perspective

13:13 for 3200 meters is a perspective thing. If I age grade it, it is the same as running 10:26 when I was 30. If I age grade it versus what I was doing at age 54 it is equivalent to a 12:13. Back then I was running time trials in around 12:22 so I am probably ahead of myself (If one counts age grading). I was around 19 minute 5K shape in my mid 50's. That would translate to the 20:30's now.

Could I run 20:30? For some reason I doubt it but perhaps over the next few months those doubts will go away. My plan is to work that 3200 meter down to 13:00 flat and under and to get used to running hard. I am not very good at running hard in case you haven't picked up that little bit of information. I don't mind tempo but race-like efforts are no longer familiar even though I felt a bit of it yesterday during the trial effort I ran. My plan is to become more familiar with that sort of effort. Race-like.

I won't do mileage though. That is not the path. The path, or so I believe, is by doing 2-3 big days a week and perhaps one other shorter day even though that 4th day is up for grabs.

The question is, how far can I go?

I will continue to work on 1600 and 3200 meters and everything else in between.

I will go as far as I can go.

13:13

Saturday club workout. Cool in the morning but getting warmer. I warmed up very slowly for about 2.5 miles. When I mean slow, I mean slow. Wally was running again after his minor heart attack two weeks ago. The guy never gives up. I ran part of my warm up with him and a few others. I was thinking 3200 meters on the track. The last time I had run 13:25 with a strong finish. This time I was thinking 13:20 (6:40 pace).

Dimitri was quietly and efficiently waiting for me on the track. Absolutely no wind. We did 3-4 strides. Then he led me out coming through the first 800 in 3:22. By the 1600 we were 6:42 and half way we were right on pace at 10 flat. I just stayed glued to a spot about 3-4 yards behind him and just focused on whatever lap we were running. I felt a slight shift on lap 7. Dimitri was picking it up ever so slightly but picking it up he was. At the end of lap 7 I looked down at my watch and saw that it was 11:40. I figured I had 13:20 no matter what. I was tired but not lagging. I was still feeling strong. Old but strong. The last lap was like pressing down the accelerator of a car(gradually...very gradually). We came across in 13:13 which was a PR of 13 seconds. We had run a 3:13 last 800 and a 93 second last lap. My last 1600 had been 6:31.

We then warmed down around campus. I mentioned doing some 100's but Dimitri recommended that we not do them. "You did your workout," he said emphatically. I knew he was right.

I felt redeemed. With the exceptions of the 1200 meter trials I had done zilch at 1600 or 3200 meters for the past 8 weeks. That 13:25 had been staring at me since May 30th. I feel close to 13:00 flat. Not there but close. The 13:13 age graded to 10:24 at age 30.

And Later That Afternoon

I showed up for the afternoon club workout. Danny and the Lockmart crowd were absent due to the Corporate Nationals and so it was just us unattached guys.

I had had a beer and a burger for lunch and I lurched around the track at a 10 minute pace for the first 800. Finally I gathered myself together and ran 3 more 800's at well under an 8 minute pace. But it was a lost cause and so I sat out the last two and drove home to a solo dinner. Sue was out for the evening.

Maybe a 9 mile day inclucing my morning run with Jake.

Los Gatos Run

Jake and I hooked up at Los Gatos High parking lot and ran 54 plus minutes up and down the trail to the dam. Jake set the pace which kept my HR in the mid 130's and mid 140's throughout the run. We were supposed to do 3 loops (up and backs) but Jake was done after two so we went to the track and I ran 5 laps with 5 x 100 striders (one strider per lap). My legs felt good so no complaints. Jake was "done" in as usual by continuing to run every day and by not starting out slow enough to work into the run. My 140's, which are easy for me, are too hard for Jake.

He just keeps himself in a constant state of tiredness. I wonder if he woud follow my workout recommendations for one month? His legs would feel much better but he would hate it.

Another Approach

I have been talking to George Beinhorn on email. He is a few years older than I am and seems at peace with his approach to running. He starts his runs very slow and works into it as long as it feels right. He also believes in putting most of his work in on a single day. The other two days he runs are short 30 minute recovery runs. His hard day is long and generally up in the hills. So we have been chatting and I just bought his book. Watching my peers crash and burn by constantly doing too much running tells me that as I age I need more rest or alternative workouts (walking???) to pounding every other day. I am ready to shift to one big day a week and 2-3 short recovery days. This will be my first shift since I went to every other day back in late 1990. Of course I realize that one running day is simply to burn calories. I can always walk that mileage instead.

Of course it will be strange but it was very strange back in 1990 after 15 years of running 7 days a week.

The "big" day could be a race or long-long run or a double day. The others just easy recovery runs. The rule would be no running if I am tired and sore.

This will be strange.

Cricket's Run

Beautiful morning. I lazed around the house but finally got out around 8:40. I started very slow with my HR in the 115-125 range. After about 40 minutes I kicked it up around 130-135. I was running a variation of my railroad track route and ended up taking a right on Sunnyvale Saratoga Avenue. I was about half way up to the side street where I planned to circl back when I saw cars swerving to avoid something. The something turned out to be small white and tan terrier of some sorts. I called the dog over to the side of the road and bent down to pet him. He had a collar on him with a name (Cricket) and a phone number. I grabbed him up (he seemed quite content just to hang with me) and I walked to a nearby house, borrowed a cell phone and called the number. No one was home so I left a message. There was a small shopping center nearby with a cat hospital so I dropped Cricket off there and asked the attendant to call the number on the tag again. I took their business card and decided that if no one had called by the time I ran home, that I would come and get the dog and let him stay with us until the owner contacted me.

I headed back home taking my HR up into the 140's. Actually my legs felt great. By the time I arrived at the house I had been running for around 80 minutes not including the time it had taken me to deal with Cricket. I called the cat place and the lady on the other end told me that the owners of the dog had come by and picked Cricket up.

So as Shakespeare once wrote:

"All well that ends well."

Floating a 5K

I went to the club workout. It was a 5K on the track. I had originally thought about running it at AT effort but ended up not running very hard at all. I ran a 2.5 mile warmup, then floated the 5K at 70-75% and ran around campus afterward. The reality was that I didn't want to run hard.

I ended up chatting with Jake during and after breakfast about all he was doing which is still 7 days a week of being tired. Dimitri thrashed himself all spring and blew his summer mile racing program so he is rebuilding for Hollister. Ray has moved back down to Paso Robles to open up a business in San Luis Obispo. Men of the 800 (or the mile) is officially inactive.

Not Another Runner

I ran a true 5 miler this morning adding an extra 400 to my usual 4 laps on the De Anza Track. The strange part was that the track was empty. Not a single other runner showed up during the 5 laps I ran there. Anway, I had time to think (or maybe I took time to think). I realized that slow as I am that if I want to run faster I need to go back to my program of 1990-1991 which was basically every other day running with an AT test run every 3rd to 4th week. Most of my other runs need to be at or below 70%. That means 4 runs one week, 3 the next. Back in 1990 I did about 10 miles a day and my guess is that I can still do 8-10 miles on the days I run. I may be able to get away with my present 4 day schedule as long as I run only 3 days during the next week. Older runners with as many miles as I have on my legs have to give something away. Either intensity or running days. I am watching my friend Jake just continue to dig himself into a hole with 7 days of running week after week at any pace. His body does not recover.

If all this works I probably should be able to do intervals and tempo runs from time to time but the first order of business is simply to get faster during my AT runs or during my easy runs.

I guess this is called eating my own dog food.

12 Mile Day

I drove up to Los Gatos High to run with Jake. We took off at about 8 am and did an easy 2.5 miles. Then we came back to the track to run a 2-3 miler at Jakes AT HR. The track was crowded with football players doing 40 yard dashes. They had no track awareness so everytime we came by the front straight heading towards the finish line we were challenged with kids walking back and forth across the inside lane. We bailed after one lap because Jake's HR monitor readout was sticking. Then we began again running at an 8 pace for 6 laps before Jake just dropped. After that he decided to run up to the dam and run close to 150 HR up and back of a specific portion of the 3.5 mile distance. That part actually felt really decent. It was a gradual ascent going out but the reverse coming back. We were doing about an 8 minute pace on the way to the high school and my HR was about 140.

I told Jake that his results were not making me want to run 7 days a week at any pace. I am more convinced than ever that the way to go for us old legged runners* is 4-5 days a week running more miles on the days we run rather than adding extra days. Optimal may still be every other day.

* Old legged Runners are those of us who have been running for 35-40 years or more and have accumulated 75,000 and more miles on their legs. Young legged, older runners have still have life in their legs. They don't have the years of pounding.

Later that same afternoon I went out and did another 4 miles with the club at WVC track. I strided 5 x 100 in 20-21 seconds but frankly my legs were tired from 8 miles this morning and a 12 mile total running day.

Thinnest Girl On The Track

I cut back my Monday morning run to about 7 miles keeping my HR below 140 most of the way. Legs felt Ok but not great. I have a nice case of the plods. I ran into "Ohio" and we talked sports for about 15-20 minutes. Good guy. Seems to have a great deal of obscure sports knowledge like me. Stuff that people just don't care much about (except for guys like us). Chinese Girl was charging around the track towards the end of my run. Same dark tights and orange jacket she seems to always wear. She is the thinnest girl on the track but she works at it. But she also wears a great deal of makeup. She was still in her running phase when I headed back home so I missed the jumping rope phase.

4:43

Saturday club workout again. "Ta dah". No Glucosamine for the last two days. I think this may be contributing to my heartburn. I warmed up slowly for close to 3 miles with no problems. I did some striders with Dimitri before launching into a 1200 meters "redemption" time trial. "What do you want," he asked. "4:45 give or take," I responded. I was still wary after Wednesday's 3:50 "and my legs were tired" effort. But today went ok. We went out a bit slow coming through the 400 in 1:39 but then we picked it up to a 97 and did the last lap in 87. That gave me a 4:43. The key was that I was able to accelerate on the last two laps.

We did another 4 laps with 4 x 100 meter strides and then went around campus for a warm down.

Walt was out timing and then later joined us for breakfast. He had bacon, eggs and hashbrowns for breakfast. He can't run for a month (doctor's orders). So he had a heart attack on Wednesday, a stent put in on Thursday and Saturday he is out joking with us at breakfast.

Whoa!

6 miles, Heart Attacks & a 5:30 Mile

The last two days have been real heaters. I went to the track yesterday evening and watched Dimitri run a 5:30 mile. He was very (VERY) unhappy. He had hope that this would be the year of the sub-five minute mile. I can remember how that felt in my competitive days. He was just about to cash in the summer but I told him to wait a a few days and see if he still felt the same. He is struggling with the fact that his mile training has gone down the toilet. I believe he killed off his legs with numerous "secret" hard workouts instead of allowing the speed to just come to him. He doesn't see it because his running log is not on paper but in his mind and the mind plays funny tricks on us all.

Danny was there too. He told me that Wally had had his second heart attack Wednesday after a hard set of 400's. The doctors put another stent in (his 6th) and my guess is that he'll be banned from running. The fact I am writing about it in this manner says that he'll be ok for now. Just another clogged artery. His genetics are trying to take him down. He keeps surviving regardless of his DNA.

I went out this morning and ran 6 miles. It was already warm. I ran the RR tracks out to Sunnyvale-Saratoga and back. I kept my HR in the 140-150 range. My legs felt ok but not great. There is no magic there. A 9 minute pace is beginning to become normal. It is no longer an aberration.

Back With Jake

Back with Jake this morning at Los Gatos High School. We met in the parking lot at 7:30 AM and it was already getting hot. Ran up the trail to just below the dam. Jake said it was between 3.5 and 3.75 miles round trip. Ended up bumping into McKayla Plank who is a top collegiate runner and an old friend of ours. We also saw Christine Kennedy who is a top class 50 plus woman runner who has the goal of running 2:50 at Chicago in the fall. Her 10K's say 2:58-3:00 hours but she gets stronger as she goes longer.

By the time we got back to the track I sort of knew that this wasn't my day despite the very easy pace. I tried a 1600 meter trial but gave up at 3 laps. Just didn't feel that energetic. It wasn't any leg soreness. I was just body tired from two nights of sub-par sleep. Jake and I ran back up the trail again as a warm down (from what?) and 2 laps around the track for another 3+ miles. Altogether I ran around 8 miles.

Jake felt better about his running. He is keeping his HR down on almost all of his runs even though I still think he runs too much. If I ran 7 days a week, I would keep my HR low and run about an hour a day just like I did in ancient times. Back then I could run about 9 miles in an hour without an great strain. It might be 6-7 miles in that same hour at age 62 but the load would be much the same. Anyway, something to think about.

We went to breakfast with the club. I decided to sit next to Madelyn and Danny and had a great time. I own half the issue here so I decided to swim in the belly of the beast. Hopefully this is the beginning of an upturn with Madelyn.

Railroad Track Route

I ran early today. I was on the road by around 8 am. I did the RR Track route going all the way out to Saratoga and back. It took about 80 minutes. My HR was in the 140-144 range most of the way.

The weather is going to get tough this week. Expect highs in the 90's by Wednesday.
I plan to keep my running to the early mornings.

Bad Day At WVC

The original idea for this morning was for me to go to the track and run either 1200 meters or a mile trial effort. I was warming up and realized that I was having one of those acid-reflux days and it wasn't good. I ate potato chips late yesterday afternoon and it seemed to have kicked off a bad reaction. I paid for it today. I did not take Zantac and Prilosec before chowing down and while that has been OK some evenings it did not work last night. I ended up playing it smart and running about 6 miles at a slow jog.

I am just going to have take this condition (burp) much more seriously and watch it. Funny thing is, once again, Saturday seems to be my regular bad day. I may have to get up earlier or bag running until later in the morning (not my first choice).

Jake was back in town and is running with the HRM and keeping his runs slow. He knows he is in a recovery stage and seems very focused on getting himself back to a point where he feels good running. We're going to run Wednesday but play what we do by ear.

I did Actually Run

I actually did run today even though it seemed trivial. I went out around 10:30 this morning. I ran as slow as I could stand it for about 38 minutes. The track at the local junior (aka community) college was closed. Graduation day. The stand was set up and everything. So I added a figure eight around my normal campus loop. This was strictly a recovery run. Plenty of sweat but slow and plodding. A calorie burning run at best. The club mile on the track is tomorrow (Saturday). I may do it but I am not highly motivated.

Danny says he is going to run 6:20 give or take. He ran 6:37 for 1600 meters a month ago and he is improving. He may do it. Jim is headed to the Masters Meet to try and break 40 minutes for 10K. The race is at 7 AM (ugh). Jim just ran an 8K last weekend that says he is close. It will be smart pacing that gets him under. if he goes out too fast, it will be another 40 plus race.

Just What The Doctor Ordered

A rest day. I went in at 5 pm and met with the CEO of one of my long term clients and pitched my approach to leadership development and change. I told him that I wished he were coming to me rather me coming to him. It may be too late to retrieve the situation. It happens. Whenever I don't listen to my very experienced "gut" I find myself in these types of situations. My gut said two things in the past 7-8 months.

1. 2006 should have been my last year doing work with that client. I do better when I leave. I know when that time is. I stayed. My mistake. It's a gentle mistake but a mistake none the less.

2. Our consulting approach was not succeeding with the CEO. We had stopped "listening" and were just "doing". What we knew got in the way of what we needed to learn. My warnings that this was happening were ignored and I felt myself getting pushed off into a corner by my own colleagues. No one was evil here.

I feel a bit like Ney walking across the last bridge as the last man out of Russia after Napoleon's invasion had failed. I am facing the enemy and I moving backward rather calmly.

I am ready to move on if we don't get the leadership work. If we do, I will go in full force.

Afterwards, needing tons of fresh air, I decided to go to the all comers meet and watch the boys run. Dimitri hit a 5:31. He wasn't happy but for a first mile I didn't think it was too bad. Dennis, after running 3 x 1600 meters hard last night at WVC, came back and ran a 4:57 mile. The guy has talent. Afterewards we all went to dinner.

Bird of Prey

Morning Run:

I went out early for me (around eight AM) and ran 45 minutes at an easy pace. It was relatively cool but it seems like it may end up being a warm day. I ran out to the college, did 4 laps and ran back. The campus has shifted to summer-mode. Few students around and a girls soccer camp getting kick started.

I felt a bit carbo deprived. Yesterday seemed like it was mostly mocha's and frappuchino's with some fruit and health bars thrown in the mix. I did have chicken last night with a yam, bread and veggies. Well balanced by normal standards.

Afternoon Run:

Back to WVC as usual for a Wednesday late afternoon run. I ran another 5 miles. Danny and I kept each other company during the 3 x 1600 meter part of the run. We ran in the 8:30-45 minute range. Dennis was circling Stacy like a bird of prey before and after the run. I wonder if she knows what is happening? The weather was warm but not hot. No complaints there.

Long Run

Brian Low and I hooked up at 9 AM for a long run. I ran about 5-6 minutes beforehand and then we proceeded to run up the railroad tracks to the baseball fields beyond Cox and near the RR overpass at Saratoga. We came back by a slightly different route running 81 minutes together. I think my total run was closer to 90 minutes but I am not sure. We stopped once to hit the rest rooms and I forgot to restart my watch. My best guess is that I missed about 2-3 minutes.

It was slightly warm but we both felt good and we flowed along through the whole run.

A Day Off

A day off. I am eating badly having already downed a large frappuchino, part of a pastry, and several pieces of sour dough white bread. I did have a banana and a yogurt health bar in the morning after a big cup of coffee. Tomorrow I am going to meet Brian and we'll run long. Maybe 8-10 miles. I asked him via email to keep it easy. My legs feel fine but I am having some plantar issues with my right foot. This seemed to just show up. I am adviling and taping my way through it.

I may run some of the two milers at the all comers meets on Thursday evenings. Heat will be the main modifier. If is hot I will just not do it. I will have to adjust my schedule so that I don't end up running too many days in a row. Maybe shift to Tuesday-Thursday-Saturday-Sunday. I am not sure I want to do this. Somehow running them alone of with a pacer makes me stronger. Doing it in front of crowd makes it is a performance.

In any case, I am really beginning to think about pushing my trial times down. The key is not to kill myself off and make them too race-like.

4:39

I drove over to the Saturday morning workout.

Warmed up with the dog meat group for 2 miles and then through in another half mile with some striders. Dimitri, true to his word, paced me through a 1200. I asked for a 4:45-4:48 and got a 4:39 for no extra charge. 97-3:13-4:39. Felt very strong even though the last lap was 86. Could have run the 3rd lap 4-5 seconds slower and kicked a 4th if need be.

We then jogged around the campus.

I was satisfied seeing that I had not run a time trial for 3.5 weeks. I am back in the saddle (so to speak).

Sex On The Track

A quiet Friday. I jogged over the the college, ran around the track and jogged back. 5 miles.

Chinese girl was skipping rope when I showed up but transitioning to situps. As she progressed through these she began to make deep breathing sounds like she was having sex.

I wonder if I am the only one who notices.

An Agreement Over Veggie Burgers

I hit the roads relatively early this morning (for me). 4 miles untimed and with no HRM. How brave I am! I ran over the the college, dicked around for 3 laps and came back home. I still felt Monday's effort so I kept my pace at the "no discomfort" threshold. Summer school must have started because there were students walking around. Asian Woman was on the track in her usual workout outfit. Calf length tights and orange warm-up. She was just transitioning from running to skipping rope when I showed up. I could hear the soft hum of the whirling rope each time I ran by.

Tim sent me an email that Shasta had been put down. She was a 16-17 year old cat. I took care of her when Tim was traveling. I'll miss her whining mew outside our house when she wanted to go inside to eat. Oh well, Olso (the other cat) still lives. Still time to be a cat-sitter.

I went back out to WVC in the late afternoon and ran another slow and easy 5 miles. I did not run that time trial I had promised myself I would do. No one was running near the pace I was looking for and frankly I knew that I would not go it alone. I have become a real time trial wimp. Danny was there without his "guardian". It was nice. Like old times. Old times that won't really ever come again. But nice anyway.

At dinner (veggie brugers)I talked to Dimitri. He is running a 1200 meter trial Saturday and I offered to help him over the last 300-400 meters if he would pace me through part or all of a 4:45 1200 afterwards. We agreed to take lots of rest between efforts so he could recover and so could I.

So unless things break down we're on for Saturday. After the trial I will decide about whether I will run the club mile the following weekend.

We Are Training

Bill Dunn made a very important comment the other day (when I missed Saturday's breakfast).

He said that we older runners are training when we take a day off. It is a good thing to remember. I ran hard yesterday or at least the workout felt very difficult at the end. I had run 3 days in a row which was a a mistake. I had not eaten very much in the way of carbo's the day before so I was fueled optimally. Now the workout was only a stake in the ground. A place to measure myself somewhere around 4-6 weeks from now. It takes 6 weeks minimally for the body to adjust to new levels of training. It's not so much that I am doing anything different though. I am not building miles and I am not running less. I am just running as I always do. I just can't make the mistake of running 3 days in a row again and have the 3rd day include some sort of test run. I also am running too hard on Wednesday evenings. When I don't run some subset of the workout hard, I tend to chunk down the pace. It feels very doable while I am in process but I pay the price later on. I need to stop doing this too.

So if I want to see the fast side of myself again I need to tweak some habits and I think after that my running will be a better experience.

As Jake always says (but doesn't do), I have to take care of business.

HADD

3rd day in a row. A big NO NO but I did it anyway.

I ran this HADD test workout at the De Anza track. I took a two mile easy jog before and then I ran the following:

Heart rate: Distance: Time

140: 1600: 9:21
150: 1600: 8:51
160: 1600: 8:05
170: 1600: 7:30
180: 1600: 6:50

I took a 90 second walk between each. Hadd recommends that the reps be 2400 meters but I knew that that was just too much for me right now.

The idea is that I am supposed to do this every 6 weeks to see if the times comes down.

Warmed down by running a mile back to my house. 8 miles total

It was getting warm and I could feel the heat. I was not rested like getting ready for a race as HADD recommends. I had a big protein day yesterday and did not really fuel up on carbs. Regardless, I felt OK until the last 1600. That was tough. The job back to my house was tough.

DSE Run & Don Again

Ran a 1 mile poop run at home and then drove up to GG park warmed up another mile and ran a 5K DSE Race very easily in 27 flat. Warmed down another mile. 6 mile total.

The race was held up near the Conservatory at the east end of Kennedy Drive. Bob met me there wth Don (my retired dentist) and his daughter Loyce out from Colorado. It was great to see Don who is really battling Alzheimer. He recognized me and I was grateful for it. I gave him the big bear hug and he was glad ot it. He evn ran the race (with Loyce shepherding him). He obvioulsy has not given up the fight. The sense of humor and the wry smile was still there.

I ran easily surrounded by slow folks who talked amongst each other as we ran. I knew none of them unlike years ago when I knew all of them (except all of them were different runners. Not these people). The wheel had turned another spoke. Twenty-seven years ago I would have been up front leading or fighting for one of the top 5 spots. Now, I was just trying to fill in some miles, burn some calories and go have breakfast afterwards at the Beach Boy. At least the breakfast part hadn't changed.

If Don, Bob and Loyce hadn't been there, I would not have known anyone. There is comfort in that. Don't ask me why. It was ok.

Blew Off Breakfast

I drove over to the club Saturday morning workout. I did the 3 mile plus warm up with little or no Saturday Morning Syndrome. Tom and I ran towards the front which is almost unheard of. I then took a long tour (1.8 miles) around the outside of the campus and finally ended up running 12 laps on the track with Tom.

After the run I stood around talking to Art and Bill and basically had such a good time that I blew off breakfast. That was a first. I never miss breakfast but frankly today it didn't bother me. What in the hell was that about? I think I am feeling disenfranchised and disengaged from the normal group I hang with which means that I being partially paranoid. Dimitri hangs with Ray and talks running strategy and Danny and I can only talk in passing because his partner has the "hates" for me. First she was in the banshee stage where she would openly attack. Now she has moved to the glazed eyes, vacant smile approach. Practicing for Alzheimer I guess.

How strange this has all gotten.

As I drove home I realized (again) that I need to get back in the saddle and start my trial runs again. I was at 13:25 for 3200 meters and 6:18 for 1600 meters. It's been about 2.5 weeks since I did anything so I have lost momentum and I may have to drop back a bit and come on again.

8 mile total (or so I believe)

Later that same day: HEATER!

It was close to 100 degrees at the track late this afternoon and that about wrecked any workout plans I had so I hung back and ran 5 miles including 6 x 800 at about an 8 minute pace. This was really the first very warm day of the summer. I am sure it won't be the last. I was smart and hydrated before the run so even though the heat slowed me down (and scorched my will power) I was still able to run the workout withour totally going down the toilet.

10 mile day

OHIO

I went out just after 8 AM and it was already warming up. I ran my 5 mile course and around De Anza College. Bumped into "Ohio" and we talked about sports (like we always do) for about 10 minutes. Ohio State lost two national championships in the last 6 months. Football and basketball. Now the Cav's are on the verge of being swept in the NBA championship. Then we started to chat about the great Browns and Indian Teams of the 50's. Of course I love doing this but finally I had to move on and finish my run. Another five minutes and I would have walked home and made some coffee.

I did finish my run. Track was semi-deserted. I expect that some sort of summer exercise class will begin staking out their territory pretty soon or...

OR....as Mike warned me....

The school will close off the track and resurface it.

As predicted it was will be a warm one at the track tonight. Not sure exactly what I will end up doing.

Al

My friend Al died in Charleston on May 25th but I just found out today. Marla called me and left me the sad message.

Al worked his whole life to finally get the type of place he loved. Out in the country with no fences and buried in the deep old south surrounded by remnants of the Revolutionary and Civil Wars. He finally got there but cancer found him too and snuffed out his life. It isn't unfair. It is the way of things. Death comes when death is ready. It rarely comes when you are ready.

Al and I were staying in touch by email but he went silent in mid May. Now I know why. He died alone. His sister was one day from going out from the West Coast to see him.

He died alone. Maybe that is the unfair part. Someone should have been there who cared about him.

Al: Generous to a fault.

75 minutes

I was out on the roads shortly after 8 AM this morning. No coffee beforehand to further test the Saturday Syndrome. I ran about 75 minutes keeping my HR in the high 130's and low 140's. No problems except slightly tired legs. The best part was that there was not even a hint of heartburn. So next Saturday I will skip the coffee (damn!) and see what happens.I will take a Prilosec and Zantac before I go over to the college. It may be overkill but I do not want another repeat of last Saturday. I am hopeful.

It is supposed to heat up over the next few days. Could be interesting on Wednesday. I may shift my harder running to the morning.

Coffee-less Test Run

I made coffee this morning but decided not to drink it. I poured it out in the sink.I then went out for a two mile run. The goal or test was to see if the Saturday Morning Syndrome struck me down. I went easy for about 3/4ths of a mile and then picked it up slightly. My legs felt surprisingly good for having a hard 6 on Friday and almost 8 miles yesterday.

No problems.

Next Saturday I will pass on the coffee but take my heartburn cocktail anyway and see what happens.

35 mile week

Saturday Morning Syndrome

I went over to WVC to run with the club this morning. I planned to run the warm up, the 2.75 club course and a warm down. Maybe 7.5-8 miles total. It was a struggle but I completed my workout. It was two days since I taken my last Prilosec and I was stopped 3 times by heart-burn. Once again it was the Saturday morning syndrome and I just can't quite a get nail driven into the center of the problem.

Why only Saturdays? I literally have almost no symptoms on any other running day. In fact I hardly ever have symptoms at any other time during the day.

My suspicion is that coffee followed by a run within less than an hour is is the culprit. During the week I have much more time between drinking coffee and the actually beginning of a run. Tom recommended that if I was having symptoms then my drug was being effective. He recommended that I add Zantac to my morning cocktail. Prilosec, Zantac and then go run. He 's been down this road. I stopped by the drug store and purchased some tablets. We'll see how it works.

Next Saturday my plan is to take the cocktail with water first thing in the morning and skip the coffee until after the run. If this doesn't work then it's back to the doctor for some advice. Maybe a stress test too just to make sure it's not something else.

God, this is getting to be like medical center.

Clipping Along

I met up with Brian Low and we headed out to Stevens Creek Reservoir. He told me that from his house it was 5.4 miles round trip so it was probably closer to 6 miles for me because my house is about a third of mile further down the road. The course climbs in steady stages up to the reservoir and Brian set a pretty fast pace on the way out. I was running 70-75% of max right off. I literally never do that when I run alone. I was admittedly gulping air. Brian was running along like he was shot from a cannon.

Up at the lake, I finally caught my breath and felt comfortable. On the way back I felt stronger and helped set the pace. It was the exact reverse of going up so the course was mostly downhill. By the time I dropped Brian off I was "clipping" along at a decent effort.

Double Day

I was very slow getting out this morning. It was one of those "do I really want to run" types of days. I pushed myself out the door anyway and slogged down the road. After about 100 yards I realized that I actually felt ok and so I went ahead and ran an easy 45 minutes. There was a nasty head-wind coming back that gusted now and then. It blew me to a stop about a half mile out. All in all (though), not a bad run.

Went back out this evening to the track. I warmed up for 2 miles and ran the club workout of 12 x 400 running every 3rd one in around 89-90 seconds and jogging all the others. So, it was 4 x 400 in 89-90. The fast pace felt fairly comfortable. I figured I would map it into my mind for the last lap or two of those time trials I am doing.

This evening's workout was interesting. We had a higher than normal turnout of women of all ages, shapes and sizes including Danielle who brought along her friend from her days at UC Santa Cruz who looks like she could be her sister. They were roughly the same height and both are carrying a few extra pounds. They could also grind out 400's in under 90 seconds (or faster) so I was left in the dust as usual. Russ showed back up wearing double knee braces (come to think about it, I had my Protech on this evening too). He looked very fragile and gimpy until we began to run fast and then he reeled off a series of low to mid 90 second 400's.

I ran my slow 400's with Chris who used to be cheerleader back in the day. I asked several months ago if she had been a cheerleader in high school and she looked at me strangely (not weirdly) and then smiled and said yes and how did I know.

The fact is I know my cheerleaders past and present.

10 mile day

Dinner with Ray and Dimtiri at the Diner.

Feeling Very Lazy

Went out the front door around 8:45 AM and ran 90 minutes with most of it along the railroad tracks. It took me a while to get into this run. I was generally feeling lazy and not very inspired but the longer I was out the more I got into it. I am keeping my pace down but my legs are not responding (or perhaps I just have the plods). I haven't decided what I am going to do Wednesday. Either I will continue to run time trials or I will go to the track and run a few fast reps to get my legs used to going at a quicker tempo. The goal of fast reps is simply to enable faster time trials. One of the traps I fall into is doing too many of these for too long. My next major goal for the 1600 is sub 6:10 so I have to be able to run 3:05-3:10 for several 800's and not be at max. So maybe the next 3-4 weeks looks like this.

Week One: 4 x 400 in 90

Week Two: 2 x 800 in 3:05-3:10

Week Three: 1 x 1200 in 4:45

Week Four: 1 x 1600 in 6:15

Mission Accomplished..Barely

The Saturday club workout was the short six course. I did not want to go that far so I ran the 3 mile warm up with Dimitri and Ray and then set out on my own for another 5 miles. Mission accomplished. I ran 8 miles total instead of 9. Sort of like saying I don't want to run a marathon so I will stop at 25.2 miles.

It was one of those low HR days where as I ran I got stronger and had to push to get my HR up into the 130's. I had my typical Saturday INDIGESTION and I still can't figure out why that happens mostly on Saturdays and not other days. It's a work in progress.

Slow Run

It was the day after "the day after". I ran 4 uninspired miles in the morning. No HRM or stop watch. I just ran slow.

I briefly considered running another 4 when I got home from an afternoon of consulting but decided that a big piece of a Hershey's chocolate almond bar was more inviting.

13:25

Showed up to run with Jake at WVC. Jake still beat up. I was tired too but feeling better. We warmed up for 3 miles and I ran 3200 meters in 13:25 which is my fastest yet on this program. The splits were negative. I ran 6:46-6:39. I was able to complete the workout but did not feel strong. Jake ran 6 laps and dropped out again. I wish I could help him but he has run himself into the ground again (DEEP...DEEP...into the ground) which is something I have done now and then in the past.

We warmed down around campus after the trial. We skipped the 100's and as a result I did not bury myself.

Jake is heading off to Texas for four weeks so I am on my own. He left me some wise words.

"Don't change anything."

In the evening I came back to the track and ran another 3 miles. My legs were a bit stiff from the morning workout but they loosened up. I was thinking that this would be a good time to add in those lost 100's but then thought better of it.

10 mile day

The Railroad Track World

I ran early. The railroad track world seemed deserted. I did my 9 miler keeping the pace easy throughout the whole run. I felt the pull of the college track but decided to get myself 45 minutes out and away from the house so that it would take close to that time to get back.

Very nice morning. Slight breeze going on. Not hot at all. The mild weather is great but it can't last. It has to get HOT eventually.

I was glad I took Sunday off. While I would not go so far as to say I felt like Mr. Wonderful, I did feel stronger as the run went along. I now know (as I did before) that I needed to get away from doing 4 days in a row. The problem of raising my mileage is still there. What I know in spades, is that it has to be done in 4 days. I need the other days off. So, I either extend my runs or double. I am not so sure I want to do either. I just want my time trials to get faster over time. So whatever it takes to do that.

If I had been a pitcher

This is what I could best call a day that I should not have run one lick.
However I ended up doing around 5 miles of piddling running. There are just some days that are best forgotten. If I had been a pitcher I would have been bombed in the first inning.

S-L-O-W

75 minutes of pure s-l-o-w as I could go running starting at just past 8 AM. I drifted over to the college via the long way (Jollyman Park) alternately running on all of my favorite surfaces. Concrete, Trail and track. Samurai Runner and I introduced ourselves. He told me he runs 5 miles a day (on the track). Geisha-Woman (except I think she is Chinese) does not make eye contact with anyone she does not know. I will give it to her though. She runs, skips rope and then grunts through a series of belly busters and push-ups. Her grunting sounds like the last part of sex so at least I know what she sounds like when she is on the verge of having an orgasm. It's a nice additional touch.

2400 meters in 9:55

Photo of a Arnold Palmer Drink


It was Jake and Rich at WVC day. My plan was to run 2400 meters (6 laps if you are counting) at slightly ahead of date pace for two miles. We warmed up for 3 plus miles and then I took off and ran 9:55 which was slightly ahead of my goal. I realized that I was tired going into the run but I kept nailing 100 second laps and then ran the last 800 in 3:15. We then ran 6 x 100 with a 300 meter jog. We warmed down by running around campus. Age graded my 2400 meters was a 7:50.

Jake is still recovering from his cold. He did well on the 100's but only did 4 of the 6 laps. I told he he was still over-training and that his body wasn't recovering.

We settled things by going out for coffee.

Next week the plan is to run two miles (3200 meters actually) at date pace. Then Jake is gone for the month of June so I will be on my own.

In the evening I went out and ran another 3 miles with the club. It was around 85 degrees but I was well hydrated after drinking 3 Arnold Palmer's (Ice tea mixed with Lemonade) during lunch and felt decent. I ran with Russ and talked about the Doolittle Raid and the Battle of Midway. Typical Russ-Rich history talk. Stacy called for Dr. Rich and asked me about a butt-pull. Luckily, I am covered by liability insurance. Turns out she ran some aggressive hills. Something she was not used to doing. She paid a small price. I told her to go sit on an ice pack twice a day for 15 minutes and to stay off the hills for a while.

I think I ran about 11 miles total.

It Didn't Work

I slept in and then lounged around the house drinking coffee and surfing the web. I finally went out about 9:30 AM and ran 75 minutes. Actually this was one of my old 80 minute courses and I added some distance to it because I have been covering ground a bit faster these last several weeks.

It didn't work.

I added distance and still came in at 75 minutes. My HR ran between 140-148 most of the way.

Bay to Breakers was yesterday. My time for the 7.63 miles I ran in 1981 converted to 12K or 7.456 miles would have put me in the top 50 again. In 1981 I finished 88th place and just ahead of the first woman.

40 mile Week.

I got up early and ran an easy 4 miles to take my weekly total to 40 miles. I then showered and tried to drive up to Santa Rosa to see my mother but the Bay to Breakers traffic was so bad that I ended up in the parking lot also know as 19th avenue. I would have taken an alternative route but I was too far gone and running out of time. Also many of the side streets were cut off due to the race. Finally I had to give up and head back home. Called my mother and she understood. We had a nice long phone conversation while I was sitting in auto alley. This is the second time this has happened to me. The last time was Memorial Day several years back.

Which reminds me. Next week is Memorial Day so don't deja vu again.

The picture at the top is what 19th Avenue used to look like in 1937. Note that the street is torn up because the city was widening the road. My take is that they didn't widen it enough.

Dogmeat

I ran with the club this morning at WVC. I did the warmup and then some, the workout (stayed in the back with the dogmeat runners) and then ran around the college. All in all maybe 8.5 to 9 miles total.

Jim Howe told me that he has been reading my blog now and then.

6:18!

he said pointing his finger at me.

I was straight up with him. If I can drop the time of that trial closer to 6 minutes maybe I will try a race or a club run. Then there is the 2 miler. Got to get that down too. I have to see it.

Jake was at breakfast. He is pretty beat up between the very high mileage and the cold he is battling. I would have taken a 5-7 days off but Jake has run right through it. I would rather run too but my body won't tolerate it and recovery is slow. If I take the time off I come back faster.

Neighborhood Run

75 minutes of easy running this morning. I did trip on a small low retaining wall rounding a corner into a driveway and went down but I had on my trusty cycling gloves and came away unscathed. I bounced right back up, checked for damage and outside of a bruised thumb I was fine so I just came on running. I had planned to run over at the college but the whole track and soccer field area was swarming with kids wearing Kiwanis shirts and it was quickly obvious to me that I needed to get away from there (It was crowded). My run basically ended up being a tour of the local neighborhoods.

6:18

Key workout. Wednesday morning with Jake. He showed up with a bad cold. We warmed up for our usual 3 miler but I could tell that he was dragging. He ran almost 3 hours Monday including time on the eliptical trainer. His body broke. Not the BIG broke. Just a small warning. A cold.

I offered to forget the mile time trial and just go run 100's but he declined. He wanted to have a go at it.

I had run 6:27 last time out and wanted to improve on that effort. I told Jake to start out ahead of me and I would try and catch him. The local PE class was doing 6 laps on the track so I knew would have to run around them. Jake lumbered around the first two turns and I took off thinking that while this didn't have to be painful that I would still need to go out faster than 3:30 like I did last week. I came through in 98-3:16, then threw in a 96. Jake had dropped out and was hanging around the finish waiting to go run the last lap with me. I saw 4:52 which had been my target. Jake caught right up on my shoulder. It helped to have him there. I kept picking it up and as I came off the turn I just went into a fast strider all the way in and saw 6:18 flat as I crossed the line. Age grade that and it's a sub 5 minute effort. I ended up running a good part of the last two laps hugging lane two as I passed the PE class. Briefly, in my age graded glory, I was the fastest man on the track.

Jake and I walked and then we did our 8 x 100 with a 300 meter jog. Jake stopped at 6. I think he was just out of gas. Then we jogged around campus, changed and went out for coffee.

In the evening I went back out for a social 6 x 800 at a very easy pace. Dinner with the Pick, Dimitri and Ray afterward.

Another 4th day-in-a-row run.

Another 4th day-in-a-row run.

I took off at 8:30 AM and ran just under 80 minutes. No HRM. Just clock timed.
I made sure the pace just drifted along at a very slow tempo. Ran into Ohio and we chatted about the Cleveland Browns. He's been a fan since their first year which was 1946. Samaruai runner and fat cell phone gal were on the track along with a few others I didn't know. I just kept to myself except for stopping to talk with Ohio.

Legs felt OK.

39:24

This is a good example of a book that could really mess up my running. It's not that I don't agree with its philosophy which is to run fewer days but harder and cross train, it's just that it doesn't work for me. It was simple. I looked at the workouts that I would have had to run when I was at my peak 25-30 years ago and I realized that those very workouts would have destroyed me.

Bottom line. Good book but not for me.

Today: Sunday: Weather: Sunny, cool and very little wind.

I went out and ran my 5 miler pushing my HR up to 70% as quickly as I could. It was much easier getting my HR in the zone today than yesterday. Still, I ran 39:24 which is faster than the 40:27 that I ran back in February.


http://lastrunnerstanding.blogspot.com/2007/02/short-5-4027.html

It was Sunday and no Samurai runner on the track today. Just walkers, kids and 3 Tae Kwon Do students doing their martial fist jabs by the track just in back of the bathrooms.

A Strange Run

Yesterday: Saturday: A strange run.

I warmed up with my club for 3 miles staying at the back of the pack. Then I put on my HRM and ran another 3 miles perplexed that it was diffuckt t drive my HR "up" into the usual zone. I was not leg tired or exhausted. My HR just stayed low. Finally I tacked a 1000 meters on the end of my run at 70% and did it at a 7:13 pace. My HR didn't even hit 70% until the last 200 meters.

What is the heck is going on? Either I am in the shape of my 60 plus or my max HR dropped 15-20 points over the last few weeks.....;-)

I thought that perhaps the HRM was malfunctioning but I checked my HR manually 3 or 4 times during the run and got the same relative reading.

There is nothing in my workouts to indicate that suddenly I have a big breakthrough. The 7:13 pace for the 1000 meters wasn't exhausting but it wasn't that easy either. I had to push!

As I said. A strange run.

Time Trial

I showed up at WVC and ran a 3 mile warm up with Jake. We then went down to the track and ran a time trial mile. Jake's goal was sub 7 minutes. My goal was faster than the last time (6:44). I did feel lazy though and decided to run with Jake for the first two laps and then pick it up. So it was 1:44-3:30 and then I drove a 90 second lap followed by an 87 second lap. 6:27! Jake ran 6:50.

We followed this with 8 x 100 meters with a 300 jog averaging in the 18's for most of them. I nailed a 16 on the last one and Jake ran a low 17.

We then jogged around campus. Maybe 8 miles total.

The 5 miler That Wasn't

It was already becoming warm as I hit the road at a little past 8:30 AM. I kept my HR down under 140 most of the way but on the way back picked it up a bit glancing at the watch and thinking, "Wow! I haven't run a 5 miler this quick in years."

SENIOR MOMENT!

SENIOR MOMENT!

It took another half minute to realize that I was running a 4 miler, not a 5 miler.

So much for the fastest in years training run.

Anyway on the mundane side, the woman in the picture is Paris Hilton's mother Kathy. She was 22 when she had Paris in 1981. So now she crawling towards 50

Someone wrote:

Ever wondered where Paris Hilton got her strong moral fiber? I don't want to jump to any conclusions, but I suspect it may have come from her mother. The folks at ohnotheydidn't have some images of Kathy Hilton shaking her breasts in a see through shirt with her daughter Nicky Hilton in the background. Paris is nowhere to be seen, but I can only assume she's standing somewhere off camera, helping out the homeless and not being filmed having sex.

Why do not rich people hate rich people? There have always been folks like this around. Some of them have even ruled great empires. Cleopatra loved to party.
I wouldn't stow Paris Hilton away in some dank jail cell where she would be hidden away from public view. I would have her clean garbage every weekend on the side of freeways like the rest of us. Give her the reflective vest and let her go at it. We need her as badly as she needs us. She needs us to pay attention to her and we seem to have a sickening need to pay her that very attention she so craves.

Down Week

This next seven days will be the infamous "Down Week" Where I run about half my goal miles. I plan to do this every 3rd or 4th week as I climb up the mileage ladder. It is pure Galloway from his original 1984 book on running. Eventually, if I can handle it my weeks will look like this.

45
40
45
20

Early summer weather has arrived. It is supposed to be in the high 80's or low 90's today.

38 Mile Week

I ran 8 miles today. No HRM. I decided to run one of my known 8 milers and forget measuring heart rate. I did run on the clock beginning at 9:02 AM and finishing at 10:16 AM. I stopped for traffic several times and to piss so it probably took under 74 minutes running time. Faster than the 80 minutes it was taking me several weeks back. The key point was that I didn't push.

This was a 38 mile week. I did this in 5 days which is very similar to what I use to do in 5 days years ago. I would hit 38-40 miles on Friday and add in another 20-25 miles during the weekend. Right now I have no aspirations to replicate that sort of thing. This is all another experiement on whether at age 62 I can handle higher mileage.

So far the secret seems to be:

. Run most of it very slow.

. Run most of it alone.

. Make sure you run only one only hard day a week.

. Make sure that one day is not too hard.

. Take days off.

IN-DI-GES-TION

I went over to WVC, warmed up for 3 miles with the club and then ran 5 miles by my lonesome for 8 total.

I had that IN-DI-GES-TION feeling again. So it's either the coffee or the banana I had before I ran. Or maybe it is the niacin I have been taking. Something different is kicking this off. I was able to run through it and it quickly went away. So now I experiment and stop taking things. First the banana, then the niacin and if that doesn't work and finally (gasp) the coffee.

Jake showed up at breakfast. He said he ran hard the day after our Wednesday run and is now paying the price for it. I actually felt very good today. I kept pushing my HR up because it was easily staying in the 130's. I was down in the low 8's as I grazed the edeges of 140-142 BPM's. My legs felt good so regardless of my stomach problems and a continuing stiff neck (but seemingly getting better) my running legs feel pretty good.

Sweet and Sour Pork

70 minute minute mid morning, easy-easy run in a light drizzle. I kept my HR in the 130-140 range except for the last mile where I pushed up to 145.

Now for the rest of the story....




For years whenever I had chinese food I always ordered sweet and sour pork. Not the hot stuff. Just the run nohe mill manadarin style sweet and sour pork. About a year ago I went to a Chinese Restaurant and had my favorite dish. Starting about a day later I had a nice case of indigestion that went on for several days until I finally took some Prilosec got it under control.

End of problem.

Well..No.

Six months later I went out to the same restaurant again and had their sweet and sour pork. A day later I had a nice case of acid reflux (heartburn) and this time I had a devil of time getting it under control. Finally between my chiropractor (who had a nifty adjustment that seemed to relax the situation almost immediately) and Prilosec I got it under control again. I also went to a doctor who specializes in stuff like this and he did an endoscopy (God, this is starting to sound like Medical Center) I found out that while my problem was not anything to worry about, taking Prilosec on a daily basis might help avoid these attacks. So since then I have been taking one of those red tablets (almost advil-like in color) every morning.

The problem goes away. I seem to be able to eat whatever I want.

A week ago Thursday, I go out to my local Chinese eatery (a different restaurant) and I order Sweet and Sour Pork. YEAH MAN! Friday comes and goes. I run 5 miles. No problems. No heartburn. No heartburn all day. I am good to go.

Saturday I am out running and in the first half mile I get this feeling like I swallowed an apple, whole. I had to stop and walk until the feeling passed. I feel it again Sunday and to a lessor extent on Monday. All week I had mild (very mild) heartburn.

Lesson for the week: My days of eating sweet and sour pork may be over.

I will be sorry to see it go.

Eating My Own Poison

By the way, I am eating a bit of my own poison. I haven't raced (really) in twelve years. So I am running weekly time trials at various distance and working them down. I started off pacing Jake through 2 and 3 mile weekly trails that were tough for him but easy for me. Finally I thought that maybe I should find out what this felt like so I began going harder running at about 90-95% effort (perceived not Heart Rate). So they are tempo-hard but not painful.

I was not too surprised that the transition from running 9-10 minute mile paced training runs for months to these would be difficult. Pacing Jake, we ran 2 miles (at our fastest) in 14:42 which felt very easy for me. So last week I ran a 6:44 mile. Typical reverse splits going out in a seven minute pace for the first 400 and then gradually bringing each lap down until I had run the 6:44. No sprint though. Just a strong effort. Very similar to the time trials we used to do years and years ago. Strong but feeling that we could have gone a bit.

Jake said that he thought I could run under 14 but the 6:44 mile equates to a 14:22 so I figured if I could run a similar effort for two miles I would run around that. I decide not to worry about the clock this week and just run. I came through the first mile in just over 7 minutes and felt very decent. I pushed a bit on the second mile and ended up running 13:51. Nothing to write home about but perceptually harder than what I had been doing.

Now if I go back to the mile again in the next week or two, that equates to a 6:29. I don't know if I am up to that but I will find out. In any case I believe I will get there eventually. If not in a week or two then in a month or two. The idea is to simply work it and keep trying to push the times down over the next weeks and months. No big agenda. No races planned. Just a "harder" workout. Progression.

I am just trying to get used to perceptually going fast again over an extended distance.

the 13:51 age graded to a 10:54 at age 30. At age 30 I ran my two mile time trials in the 10:08-10:16 range so if I could get down to the equivalent times, that would be nice.

3 mile warm-up, 2 mile trial, 2 mile warm-down for 7 miles total

80 minutes. Is it a long run or just another 8 miler?

Ran from the house this morning: 80 minutes. Is it a long run or just another 8 miler? Only my GPS knows.

I kept my HR in the 135-142 range. It was quietly warm but pleasant and I jogged along most of the run. So now the HRM seems to be acting normally or I am feeling the effects of 4 straight days of running (Wow! What a monster I am!)

37 Miles

8 + 10 + 7 + 7 + 5 = 37

Thirty seven miles for the past week! Who would have ever thunk it. It is my highest in some time. I finished off the week running 5 easy miles today. My HR stayed low throughout the run. Mostly in the high 120's and low 130's. I had no residual leg soreness.

My goal is to get into the 35-40 mpw range and stay there with a now and then down week to recover. I may go higher later on but right now just stabilizing in this range on 5 days a week training is a small but significant accomplishment.

The secret, so far, seems to be my willingness to run slow (very slow) on my easy days. That and not working too hard at consulting. I am just more relaxed.

New HRM

Another seven miles today. I did the 3 mile warmup with the club but had severe indigestion going up the hill. Probably was the energy drink I quaffed on my way over to the workout. I walked for about a half minute, almost immediately felt better and caught up with the back of the pack. After the warmup I put on my new HRM and clicked it on. Either something was weird or I am super rested because my HR was very low and stayed low througout the next 4 miles. I circled back to my car mid run and changed the display watch to my old one (it was the chest band that had gone bad) and ran on another 2miles but the result was the same.

Even though the workout was held early it was already warm out and I could feel the heat. Summer is coming. My least favorite time of the year (but I don't hate it...It's all relative).

No Jake or Dimitri today at breakfast. We still had a lively group. Danny was there and we put on our usual show.

Warming Up

Things are warming up. I went out at about 9 am without the HRM I just received in the mail and ran my 7 mile course (untimed). I kept the pace very easy throughout.

Dwight is at it again. He has a new energizer bunny to help me out. He tries and I know he means well. This time it is Mark Force's self help, health book. He tells me that he has rebounded big time and is running 100 mpw. He can easily persuade his body to do what his mind believes. That is how it is supposed to work, isn't it? All it tells me is that the energy was there all along or that he just needed some down time (for him..70 mpw) until he felt better again.

Anyway, the book is $29.95 and I may buy it but the last book that persuaded me to change was Galloway's Book On Running (1984). I need to do some more research and then make a decision. My house is littered with Dwight's good intentions. About $300.00 worth.

Danger Will Robinson!!!

I ran 7.5 miles this morning with Jake. 3 mile warmup, one mile at 6:44 (felt good) followed by 8 laps of 300 jog, 100 sprint averaging 17's and 18's. We then ran around campus for another mile and a half.

In the evening I went and ran another mile to warmup and then ran 6 x 100 with Ray and Dimitri (well..not with them..behind them) averaging 16's. I felt a slight pull (not painful..just tight) in my right buttock (OK, the right side of my ass). I then jogged an easy 5 laps around the track. Maybe 2.5 mile total with 10 miles for the day.

What have I learned? I can't run 100's in the morning and come back in the evening and run more of them.

So from now on it's either morning or evening for 100's. Not both. The question is if I take it easy how long will it take for this to heal?

A Bit of Kindness

I was not going to run in Santa Barbara on Sunday. It would have made 5 days on the road this week and it just wasn't a great idea.

Really, that was the plan. I only brought my very light (BRIGHT RED) racing shoes and but there were a pair of shorts and a long sleeve pullover in my suitcase. I put them on just to see how they looked. I lookled at myself in the full legth mirror in the hotel room. The reflection was of an aging male version of Dorothy in Oz wearing the ruby red slippers. The weather outside promised rain but it was nowhere near that and the wind was mild so I decided just to go out for a walk-jog.

That didn't last long. I crossed the street in front of out hotel and headed down the walking path along the Ocean running at pace that was just on this side of any leg discomfort. I headed east (The beach runs East to West or vice-versa). The street people were out in force (they always are). I kept running at a very easy effort until I passed the beach volley ball area (girls and women in bikini's) and kept going around a lake towards a nature preserve. Eventually, everytime I take this route, I run into the same sign.

"Thank you for your kindness"

It leads onto to some short marsh land trails and it was there, having to go really bad (REALLY BAD) that I left some kindness off in the bushes. I don't believe that is what they had in mind but based on the toilet paper remnants, I was not the only one who had been kind recently.

On my way back a young, slender girl runner whipped by me, stopped off at one of the restrooms, came back out and passed me again (OH, HOW THE MIGHTY HAVE FALLEN!). Then she stopped for drink at a water fountain and passed me a second time. At that moment of extreme humilation I suddenly saw Kelly, who was from my running club coming the other way so we stopped a chatted. She was visiting an aunt. My wife and I were on a hit and run mini vacation. We were both almost at end of our respective runs so no company there for either of us. So we just talked for about 5-10 minutes and then I jogged back to the hotel.

I was out for more than 50 minutes with no HRM which actually was sort of nice. I had a stop watch on but only so I would have a rough idea of when to turn back.

62*

I drove over to the club workout and did a slow 3 mile warmup (the pack pulled away from me rather quickly during the first mile). My legs were stiff from those 100's (I am paying the price at last). The club went to the track to run 600's while I went around campus over and over again to put in another 5 miles for 8 total on the day. My HRM gave out mid run. I knew something was wrong when it was giving a readout of 187 during a very slow jog portion of the run. Now and then it would flicker back on the actual HR but then it would go crazy again.

I had to rush through breakfast so I could take our 11.5 year old Golden (Amber) to the kennel. We're headed out of town for a short two days. Our destination is Santa Barbara.

Turned 62* today.

* I always start using whatever age I am going to be on April 21st as early as January 1st of that same year. That way I have almost 4 months to get used to it.

Easy..Easy

I ran an easy 45 minutes this morning between rain events. I had my HRM on but for some reason I did not swtich it on until about mid run, saw my HR was in the 130's and then switched it off again. I still feel those fast 100's from Wednesday but it is more like certain muscles were recruited for that effort and I could feel their soreness but that in no way effected the use of slow twitch fibres for today's easy run. In other words, legs felt fine.

And Later That Evening

I went back to the track and did a mile warm up then joined Ray and Dimitri for 8 x 100 meters (easy walk back for recovery). They are so far ahead of me doing 13's and 14's while I have, on occasion, been struggling to go under 17. But it was a good early evening. I did the first one in 18 followed by 2 in 16 and then another 4 in the 15's. I let off on the last one and ran a 16. This was as fast I was at the end of the summer last year so the pure speed is still there.

So yes I was shocked but nothing pulled and I seem to have survived it.

I ran another mile as a warm down.

Dinner (the BIG salad with dressing on the side) and then home.

SPLAT...CRASH

I told Jake that I was going to pace us to run under 15 minutes for the two mile time trial. After a 3 mile warm-up (during which Jake tripped and went splat) in the cool morning air we went down to the track and once again did the run. Jake sounded bad after about 3 laps and I knew he wasn't going to make it. I just kept going covering the first mile in 7:36 and the second mile in 7:12 (my HR was up in the 80-85% range). I never felt uncomfortable but like Jake, who dropped out, I seem to have fallen off the cliff again. More than likely it was the Van Aaken 500 meter runs. I am just not strong enough to handle those. I was not dragging after today's run though so I warmed down around campus as the wind kicked up. Jake and I agreed to do 100's for the next several weeks and run slowly otherwise. Jake feels he needs more miles and I would like to run more miles but I know that unless I do that every other day I crater.

My plan is not to abandon the 2 mile trial but to do it only twice a month (at most) and try to work it down gradually over time.

John Clary drove down and joined Jake and I for breakfast. It was like old times.

Runnable

I ran about 8 miles this morning. It was warmer than it has been in days and I wore shorts and a t-shirt. I ran the RR Tracks and found that the workers had releveled large sections making them runnable again. Kept my HR in the 140-150 range. I also kept my eyes on the turf not wanting to fall again but I never came close. Uneventuful run.

On the East Coast thousands were running the Boston Marathon in rain and wind. John Clary's son Ryan ran 5 hours and change. Deena Kastor, America's top woman marathoner wanted to send a message that she had arrived. Well, she arrived 5th woman but then the marathon is a tough mistress and you never know what you are going to get on a specific day.

A Kenyan won the men's and a Russian won the woman's race. American men were non evident but who said they had to be.

Jake, John, Rich, Dave

When we all trained together Jake and John would run in front and Dave and I would run behind them. Generally the noise (chat) came from John, Jake and I with David remaining silent except for a well placed incisive comment now and then.

It is amazing that we trained and raced together for ten long years. The only real interruption was John's moving to Phoenix for 4 years but he would still come up to the Bay Area on business trips or we would travel down there and so we kept the string alive.

At the beginning Jake was the fastest but John came on to become the quickest and literally dominated 1976-1979. Jake remained in second place and I was usually in third with Dave bringing up the rear. That all changed in the late 1970's when Dave suddenly seemed to speed up and began running times much faster than we had seen him do before. Of course it was the fact that he simply was training more and harder and the combination of miles and quality workouts began to take effect.

By the time John returned from Phoenix I had moved up so that I was usually competing with all 3 runners. The gap closed. John got a bit slower, I got a bit faster and in 1983-85 we were all the closest we had been in ability and race times. After that Dave really dominated as John and Jake began to slow. My last good year was 1985 and then I began to fall off too.

Fast forward to 2007. John no longer runs (his knee), Jake is slow but still runs hard, Dave is still running but is dealing with chronic health problems and now I am finally the fastest.

And who cares. As far as racing is concerned, we all had our day but it is over (O-V-E-R). I really retired from competition in 1995 and since then, when I race, I run tempo, not all out. That flame is extinguished. I still enjoy getting out there running with the ghosts of the 4 of us. But it isn't the same as those years. The best running years. That is where the gold was and is. In our minds in that tightly held past.

Friday..Saturday

Friday:

Ran an easy 4 miles. I let it go at that even though I thought about going out again in the afternoon. Enough of this leg bashing.

Enough!


Saturday:

Went over to the club workout. The sky was the color of lead. Expected the rain to come in so the question was could we get in our workout before the skies opened up. Ran the 3-mile plus warm-up, followed by Douglas (2.75 miles) and then a turn around campus. Maybe 7.5 to 8 miles total keeping my HR in the 140’s most of the way. Nothing very fast but my legs felt good so that counts for something. Dave Garcia was in town so Jake, Dave and I sat next to each other at breakfast and bored Dimitri with stories of the good old days when we were fast. Blah...Blah…Blah!

That evening the 4 amigos, John, Dave, Jake and I got together with our wives at the Blue Pheasant. Great evening. Here were 4 runners that trained almost every day together for ten years and ended up being locally ranked runners in NorCal. Obviously none of us are now what we were running-wise but we're all still around and in the game. We all broke 33 minutes for 10K. 3 of us broke 54 minutes for 10 miles (I was the one who didn't). We all ran in the 4:30's or faster for the mile and all broke ten minutes for two miles with John running 9:27 while Jake and I ran in the low 9:40's. We all broke 26 minutes for 5 miles more than once. At least 3 of us won one or more competitve races outright. That was very hard to do back during the running boom.

We certainly were not world class or even national class but we were all local class guys who put running at the center of our lives for well over a decade.

Blind Man's Bluff

It was drizzling this morning when I ran my car over to WVC to run with Jake. We warmed up about 3 miles and then ran a two mile trial. Jake didn't feel good (again). He had run 3 days back to back to back covering 90 minutes each day. I suggested he NOT look at the time but just run to effort. We were way off the pace of two weeks ago coming through the mile at 7:46. We ended up running 15:32 or about 50 seconds slower than last time.

As we warmed down, Jake said he would fire his coach.

I think as long as Jake continues to thump his legs and body this sort of thing will happen. He really seems to have no control. Well, he does but he, like many of us, chooses not to exercise that control. It's sort of like blind man's bluff or maybe Russian Roulette.

I told him that next week we were going to run under 15 minutes so "Figure out what you'll have to do get ready for that level of effort", I suggested.

Of course who am I to cast stones after a week's worth of mouth sores from my own "secret training".

In the late afternoon I came back to WVC and ran an easy 4 + miles hanging out with the club. Went to dinner with Dimitri.
Close to an 11 mile day moslty to burn calories.

80 minutes

I ran a more agressive 80 minutes this morning keeping my HR in the 140-150 range. I felt OK throughout. Mouth sores almost gone (but not gone yet). It was sunny but windy, t-shirt conditions so I got blown around when I headed east (or is it north?).

Banzai was on the track tearing around clockwise in lane number one. Asian woman was there too. The plump one who hangs with the skinny one (who has not been out in a week or so). School is back in after Easter break so "studentia's" were everywhere. Soon the exercise classes will be on the track blocking lanes but that will be fun. I get to practice "threading" between groups of walkers and runners, moving forward, totally "track" unaware.

Still Standing

I still have a mouth sore or two so I must still be worn out (or something like that). Originally I was thinking about running 10K followed by 3 x 500 meters but decided to keep things slow but I still covered about 8 miles keeping my HR at around 140. Not a stellar week of running but I am "still standing".

Recovery from anything hard continues to be an issue and I am sure will become more a challenge as the years go by. This isn't going away.

Falling: A new type of cross training

I went out for an easy 50 minute jog this morning. About ahalf mile out I was running on the trail next to the RR Tracks and I stumbled and went down hard.The RR folks have been replacing track and rock so that there was loose rock everywhere. Luckily I had on my cycling gloves. As a result I took the major part of the impact on my hands and the soft part of the gloves. I rolled over , stopped my watch (key) and dusted myself off. I did a quick inventory and found that no cuts or other injuries were apparent so I just continued my run.

Pushing to the Edge

I went over early to WVC to run with Jake. As we warmed up I felt slightly worn out. Not sleeping that well. Not sure what is causing it. I have had a mouth sore or two and that may be because of less sleep or (OR) what is symptomatic of what is causing me not to sleep as well. But Jake said "My legs feel like S--T!" and I said back rather quickly "Well, let's do something else." So we ran 5 miles easy and went to the track to do 3 x 500 meters (Van Aaken). I let Jake get a lead on me on each one and I tried to catch him. This resulted in me running 1:48-1:46-1:44. My best yet as an old guy. We then ran around campus for an easy warmdown. Maybe 7.5-8 miles total. By that time I had pretty much decided NOT to run the evening workout. I was not bashed but I was tired and those mouth sores were warning me not to push too hard.

Undaunted 80 minutes

It was the last roundup this morning. Dropped my car off for maintenace. BIG maintenance. Two of the rear outside tail lights had gone out. The driver's side window didn't always go up. Noticeable vibrations in the steering wheel when braking at higher speeds. Needed an oil change. Turned out the timing belt and water pump were beginning to go. $$$$$$$$$$$$$$ kah ching!

$2,000 later.

AAAAAAARRRRRRRRRRRRGGGGGGGGGGGHHHHHHHHHHHHH!!!!!!!!!

Still, undaunted I went out and ran an easy 80 minutes with 4 miles of 350 meter jog and 50 meter walk thrown in right in the middle. I kept it easy and my legs never felt tired.

I shared the track with Asian Girls and Traditional Indian Couple. I ran clockwise. Everyone else ran counter. No one smiles or talked to anyone. It was a silent day at De Anza.

Back to Back Van Aaken

I duplicated much of yesterday's workout by again running around 5 miles very slowly and then going to the track at WVC and running 3 x 500 meters followed by a mile warmdown.

The 500's were 1:53-1:50-148. More mile goal pace than 5K.

It was an experiment to see if I could handle this type of thing. I would prefer having 2-3 days in between this type of workout but Van Aaken had his runners do this in the day. Anyway, nothing even resembling "hard" until Wednesday's 2 mile time trial with Jake.

The slow running is very calming (almost meditative). Jakes was saying at breakfast that he when he feels good he wants to run hard. I laughed saying that when I felt good, I knew that was the time to slow down.