The HRM is a two edged sword

Another nothing is different 70 minute run. Almost perfect conditions this morning for Danny, Tom and I as we ran our usual route over at WVC. I did feel sluggish at the start but the HRM works both ways. The HRM is a two edged sword. It can keep you from going too fast and if you want it too, it can keep you from drag-assing it too. So today it was keeping my slow from being too slow. Tom and my HRM drove the pace and Danny, who had run some 90 second 400's the evening before, hung on for dear life. We were all a bit tired at the end but in a good way (I think).

Perfect Conditions

Slightly cool and overcast but otherwise perfect running conditions. No wind to speak of.

Tom and I ran our usual WVC course this morning covering 62 minutes. I had already done 8 minutes before so I got in another 70 minutes total. I admit that I felt good and strong. My HRM stayed mostly in the 140-150 range.

Danny showed up late and ran on his own. We caught up with him during our walk down (sort of like a warm down but with walking).

Cold, Wind, Wet

I went out around 9 am. It was cold wet and windy. I ran over to De Anza to check out the track. It was ripped up as expected. Some of the old trees cut down. Sorry to see that. I ran slowly for 40 minutes eventually arriving back at the house. Then I put on my HRM and ran 4 x "around the block". I call it 400 but I am not sure. Maybe it longer. In any case with the cold weather, I found I coukd not drive my heart rate up past 160 on the first teo reps. Finally on the 3rd and 4th I got up around 166. That's about 80-82%. about ten beats below norm. Colder conditions tend to do that.

Anyway, the effort was there.

50 minutes total.

Cold Run

I ran 60 minutes this morning. It was cooler but at least there was no rain. I did a short run around my house (shake down) and the rest over at WVC.  Did a short warm up with Danielle once I arrived at the college which caused her to miss the start of the club race. She started late, got off the course but ran well anyway. She looked strong when she came storming by me with 400 meters to go.

Warmed down around campus with Tom and Danielle after their race.

60 degrees and dry

The rain let up enough for Danny, Tom and I to get in a good run this morning. It was actually warmish. Can you say 60 degrees? I ran for 70 minutes and kept my HR low. 130-140. It seemed to make a difference. I was beat up and needed to recover. What beat me up? A combo of less sleep and some "too fast" social running. I always am fooled into thinking it's something else but it is almost always a accumulation of secret runs. Last Sunday was a slap in the face. The pace was right  but it was harder than it should have been. The HRM is the best tool to rein me in. That and some extra sleep. I am beginning to feel much better.

Bloody wet!

BLOODY WET 70 MINUTE RUN!

Actually not that bad. Steady though light rainfall throughout the run but no real wind. Tom, Danny and I ran our usual 70 minutes at WVC. Very slow today on purpose. No one pushed. No one complained about it either. Slow worked.

Finally realized that I am a bit run down.  I need to be much more careful. My recovery really stinks. It's a combo of things including some secret harder than necessary running, lousy sleep and some self inflicted stress.

5K Sub Tempo

Shel and I drove up to San Francisco to run the  DSE St. Patrick's Day 5K this morning.  It was typically overcast in the City. Rain or at least drizzle threatened. My plan was to get a good warmup and then run sub tempo effort. Sub tempo in my handbook is faster than training and slower than AT.

After twenty minutes of jogging we lined up. There was a larger than usual crowd (200 plus) for what basically passes as a well organized but low cost fun run. I took off mid pack. The trail along the bay was clogged and I was quickly swallowed  up by the back of the packers who had also moved up to get a good start. My bad, I guess. It took me about 600-800 meters to get out in the open.  My first mile was (((GAG))) somewhere around 8:30-9:00 minutes but then I started to run down around a 7:30 pace. Nothing spectacular but I gradually began to pass slower runners.  I closed things off in 24:55 for 5K (my time) . My legs were more tired than I expected but my breathing was fine. I easily chatted with several runners coming back.

Next time I start further up.

Film Crew Run

I drove over to Gunn High for the Juana Run. My job was to do some filming out on the course right around the two mile point. I did some running with Bob Anderson ahead of time and then ran out on the course. I found a great spot and filmed runners as they came by. I even laid down on the ground  on my back and shot the runners at an upward angle. Then I ran back to the finishing area. My total was around 45 minutes of running. Bob ran 33:13. A great race time for a guy in his age group.

It was strange being at the 8k today. Everyone was gearing up to race and all I could think of was getting out to the 2 mile point where I was going to shoot some video footage with a hand held mini cam. I was running the course and thinking that I felt really good about not having to race this morning.  Not one of the course monitors mistook me for the lead runner. I was first cameraman. That they understood.


The start of the race from a prior year.

Another 70

Ran my usual 70 minutes. Danny and Tom hauled along with me on the last sixty. It was cool at WVC but the wind was goners. I kept the Tom-O-Meter handy (aka HRM) and stayed in the 65-70% range. This resulted in our covering .3 of a mile mile more than on Tuesday in an hour. The pace was still glacial. Low 10's instead of high tens.

Early in our run there was Chantelle running intervals on the track. She waved. I finally got the spelling of her name right.

Twenty Minutes

Twenty minutes of running at Rancho with Bob, Chantal and Christine (they ran further..I couldn't keep up). I also hiked another 10 minutes with Michael and Waitman setting up and shooting some video. They did the real work and I mostly talked about running. Blah..blah..blah..

Tachometer Run

Ran 70 minutes this morning at WVC. It was windy as heck! The parking area above the tennis courts was like a wind tunnel. The good news was that once Tom, Danny and I got out away from the college and ran the hills, the wind dropped  and it warmed up nicely. I kept the HRM on to insure we didn't do our usual job of running too hard and it worked out fine. I used it like a tachometer. When I could see that we were edging up into the high 140's I throttled back.

Breakfast with Jake (who is not running..injured ankle) , Tom and Danny afterward.

First AT Workout

I decided to do 1.5 miles of AT work in the form of 3 x 800. The plan was to stay in the 88-92 % range. Roughly this was a HR range of 174-178.

I drove over to Foothill and warmed up for 28 minutes running very easily with Dimitri. He has been dealing with a plantar issue but has been able to continue to run.

I then did several strides. I noticed that it was warming up. My guess was mid 60's.

We took off with me leading the way. We ran the first 800 in 3:33. My HR was around 85% at the finish. We stood around chatting until my HR dropped down to 70% and then took off and ran the second 800 in 3:42. This slowdown is normal due to the short rest. Each rep generally will be slower. But your body doesn't register pace. Only effort and given that my HR stayed around 90%, the effort was pretty much the same. Dimitri made the comment that we had had only a minutes rest between the first and second 800.

The HRM dropped down to 70% in less than a minute and so we launched the last one. This turned out go be the slowest yet. 3:50. All of them fell in the 85-90% range.

We jogged down for ten minutes and called it a morning.

For a first, post calf injury semi-tough workout I was ambivalent. It was about what I expected.

78 minutes

I ran an hour with Michael Anderson but sneaked in 18 minutes beforehand. So it was a grand total of 78 minutes. I am going to call it 8 miles.

We ran in Los Gatos by Old Forbes Mill on the Los Gatos Creek Trail.

Beautiful day. Sunny and cool with no wind.

Valle Vista

I ran 70 minutes with my buddy Tom over at WVC in the morning. Weather was overcast with sprinkles ( some may call it rain ). Stayed at 70% or less on the HRM the entire run which meant that I felt really good throughout. Did Valle Vista for the first time since I pulled my calf. No problems. Just kept it slow going up.

DeAnza Track Is Going Down!

Ran the neighborhood and on over to De Anza College. Work crews were dismantling and moving equipment (hurdles, par course, etc). Turns out that they are finally going to rebuild the whole stadium complex including the track.

I did a total of 65 minutes running. Kept the HRM in the 65-70% range. Got some drizzle but no rain.

I have decided that I am going to have to use the HRM regularly. Nothing fancy. Just run 4 days a week and do either threshold intervals or AT runs keeping them under 8-10% of total running time.

Forty Easy

Forty minutes of easy running over at Foothill. Dimitri joined me for the last 30 minutes.
Bad, bad allergy attack yesterday. I finally began to see progress out of the nasal morass this morning. Some Claritin helped.

80 minutes

I ran 80 minutes today. 57 minutes with my club in the morning at WVC and then another 23 minutes over at the Los Gatos All Comers meet. I warmed up with Bryan (Conroy) and Bob Anderson until I knew it was time for me to call it quits. Then I called lap splits for Bob during his 5K race. Bob ran a gutty race and broke 21 while Bryan ran in the low 20's. Bob wanted sub 20 but it was not to be. It's tough running on the track. Back in the day, I never broke 16 for 5K on the track but ran under 16 on the roads a half dozen or more times.

Brain Trust before the 5K (Bryan-Me-Bob)

Total Recovery Run

Total recovery run this morning mostly at WVC. I ran a very easy 70 minutes with the last 60 toe to toe with my buddy Danny. Funny. Spring type temps. I didn't really think about my calf at all. Gentle hills are not bothering me at all.

Clock Winding Down

I did a sixty minute run this morning at WVC . It was my fourth day in a row. Frankly while my legs weren't sore, I could feely my clock winding down towards the end.

Went with Danny afterward for a chiro adjustment and then a massage and of course Breakfast!

Just about sure that I am ready to get back in the hills soon.

Ran with Bob, Bill and JoAnne up Moody Road. Because I am a big weenie and the pace was a bit fast, it was a chore to stay with up. No pain but just not quite used to running in the 8's. Once we started to hit the steep hill with about 400-600 meters from the turnaround and because I was still babying my calf, I dropped back. Finally I just stopped and walked for a minute and waited for my friends to come back down. Then I joined up and ran in feeling very strong the whole way.

The calf never bothered me so good news on that front.

My total running time including some minutes I did around Monte Vista, was close to 50 minutes.