Rehab Week

Tuesday and Thursday: both easy 60 minute runs. Rehabbing the right leg ( which is feeling okay ).

Friday: three miles of walking and running with Lucy. 23 minutes was spent running. New world best for Lucy.

Saturday: 40 minute easy jog.

Sunday: 80 minutes of easy jogging.

Hydrate!!!!

Dissapearing Danny

Tuesday: 70 minute run with Tom and dissapearing Danny. I mean it. We're coming back by where the cars are parked and suddenly Danny says "I gotta go". Meaning leave. Of course his spouse is there so no doubt it was preplanned.

Bought Tonic water to see if it will help calf cramps. Dunno. It has quinine. Also received magnesium oil in the mail. Used it Thursday morning after my blitz water conserving shower.

Wednesday: 45 minute walk with Lucy. Threw in 18 minutes of running.

Thursday: 70 minutes with Tom. Danny walked today. He was beat up from yard work.

Saturday: 52 minutes mostly on the track. Calf cramped, but I ran through it. Second Saturday in a row for this kind of thing.

Sunday: 70 minutes of very slow running. As usual the calf issues disappeared as silently as it came upon me. Dimitri, who has no problem with slow and low (track) ran an easy pace alongside me.

Covering the bases

Tuesday: 73 minute easy MAFEVA run with Tom and Danny.

Wednesday: 2 miles ++ Dawg walk with Lucy. 15 x 1 minute jogs

Thursday: 65 minutes of 120-130 heart rate. Tom and Danny. Cool but a bit humid.

Saturday: 20 minute warmup. Ran 2.75 with Tom in 26:24. 8 minute ++ easy jog afterwards. High achilles cramp during the 2.75. I was able to run through it.

Sunday: 70 minutes mostly running. Did two loops of the Blackberry Farm Trail. The first with Lucy in 38 minutes ( plenty of walks ). The second by myself in 32 minutes ( less walks ). No problem with achilles, but I put in an extra heel lift on both shoes and stayed flat as much as possible. Back on magnesium. Gotta cover the bases.

Testing Achilles

Tuesday: Danny was out of town. Tom and I ran 71 minutes of MAFEVA in moderate conditions. Heat wave coming in today. Just not in quite yet. My quads were a tiny bit sore from Sunday's hills, but outside of that, all was well.

Wednesday: Dawg walk with Lucy. Threw in 10 x 1 minute if easy running.

Thursday:  72 minutes with Danny and Tom. Warm and humid.

Saturday: 60 minutes of MAFEVA. Socialized a great deal.

Sunday: 70 minutes with striders on the track to test that achilles. Everything seems fine.

Rehabbing in a minor key

Tuesday: I slogged an easy 70 minutes once again mostly on the track but I did do a loop or two (walking the short hills). My upper Achilles was sore from Monday's massage, but there was no tightness. The last 30 minutes were totally symptom free.

Thursday: 70 minutes of soooooooo-sloooooooooow with Tom and Danny. No soreness. HR down under 120 most of the run.

Saturday: 60 minutes of MAF running. More really low heart rate stuff. 99% on the track. No tightness or pain. The club ran the mile. I watched.

Sunday: 90 minute run from my house with a climb up to Steven Creek Reservoir thrown in to test the achilles.  Dimitri joined me. We both enjoyed the run. Roads, trails and paths. So varied surfaces.

The high cost of speed

Tuesday: Ran 60 minutes sandwiching in 3 x 200 fast strides. 43-40-40.  I felt clumsy on the first one but then things came together. Danny ran 4-5 seconds faster on each one. I stayed away of pressing the pace. I'll just get injured.

Tom wisely stuck to low heart rate work.

Thursday: I felt good after several nights of excellent sleep. I was running along at about 40 minutes when my right achilles started to act up. I dropped to the track (as in flat) to finish up. Got in 57 minutes. When I got home I wrapped my foot, iced and used capsaicin. Put an extra heel lift in each shoe.

Friday: Achilles feels better. 200's that fast???? Lesson learned.

Saturday: Walked and ran for a half hour. I stayed down on the track and kept things easy. My achilles tightened up a bit, several times but was no worse for wear at the end. Every time it bothered me I walked. Then I'd run again and so on.

Sunday: Slow...SLOW...SLOW 60 minute run run. Most of this effort was done on the WVC Track at the lower end of MAF. I could have walked just as fast. Anyway, my heart rate was rarely over 110. My achilles felt MUCH better than Thursday or yesterday. I admit that the extra heel lifts had me towering well over my usual height. 

Dunno where that came from

Saturday: 34 minutes of easy running. Warmed down with the fast runners. Stayed up with the back group. my legs felt strong despite the faster than usual pace.


Sunday email to my buddy Steve:

Small victory today. 60 minute run MAFEVA ( mostly MAF ) at a hair under a ten minute per mile pace.  I averaged 125 which is a good twenty-five beats below 70%. 

Dunno where that came from. 

Ramped it up

I ramped things up a bit this week running 77 minutes on Tuesday and 70 minutes on Thursday. Tom and Danny were here both days. We kept the pace MAF-like and Tom admitted that he was feeling stronger. At our age low heart rate = better recovery.

At the end of Thursday's workout Danny and I ran 3 x 200.

42-40-40 with a 200 meter walk in between. Danny was streaking ahead at 38-37-36. Both of us ran faster for three x than last week's 2 x 400.

Sooooo sloooooow

I paced alongside Tom on Saturday. My first club workout in ages. It was all courses day so we ran the 2.75. With warmup and warm down, around 5 miles total. We ran a 9:45 pace. I stayed at or under 70% all the way until Tom kicked at the very end. By the by, 9:45 is 7 flat age graded. So not too bad.

Sunday was 80 minutes of MAF with Dimitri. Sooooo sloooooow, but that's the way it is these days. It was warm out, but my heart rate stayed down regardless.

MAFEVA week

Tuesday: Slow easy 70 minute run with Tom. MAF run more than MAFEVA.

Thursday: Slow MAF type of hour run. Tom and Danny. Then for fun we ran 2 x 200. I averaged 42. Danny under 40. We did not push. The goal was fast-relaxed and not too much.

Saturday:

35 minute easy run.



Sunday:

Ran a not very flat 2.75 mile AT run this morning. The last mile is a long gradual uphill. My longest AT to date. I was figuring 22's or 23's at 88-92%. 

I hit 22:54 which is in range, but I had a tough time getting my heart rate up above 165 through most of the run. That usually means body tired. My heart rate finally climbed above 165 over that long last mile. It went to 90% on the last bump of the last hill and stayed there all the way in. 

It wasn't too warm (60's), but it felt humid.

20 minute warmup and 17 minute warm down. So a tick under an hour of running.

Dimitri ran alongside of me throughout. 

Low Key Week-Low on sleep

Low key week. 60 minutes on Tuesday and Thursday. I kept my hear rate low. Sleep has not been that great. I keep waking up early. My legs were heavy Tuesday, but felt better today. I keep thinking it's the magnesium supplement.
I've decided that I'm going to stop taking it in the morning or the night and see if things change. I'm not saying it is...jus saying....

Productive weekend

Saturday: Ran a easy 35 minutes.

Sunday: Easy run for 20 minutes followed by 50 minutes of 350-50 (run-walk) taking my heart rate up to 70% during the 350's.

Warmer Sunday.

Danny Return Week

Ran 60 minutes on Tuesday and 65 minutes on Thursday. Danny (back from Hawaiian cruise) joined me for both runs. I kept the pace moderate on both days. Cool, overcast weather conditions.

C&C

I took most of the week off from running. I'm pretty sure I had a very mild cold so I didn't run again until Sunday. I took a conservative return approach by running an easy hour this morning. The weather was calm and cool (C&C).

This past week I caught up on sleep and vegged except for some dog walks.

Regular training next week....

Passing through

I ran an easy 70 minutes with Tom on Tuesday but walked for an hour Thursday. Something nasty was passing through my system (as in a cold). Runny nose, slight cough. Probably won't run again until Saturday or Sunday. My first cold in years. 

14:20

Ran an easy 35 minutes on Saturday. Kept it low key because Sunday was gonna be hard tempo.

Sunday: warmed up for 20 minutes and did strides. Then ran 3000 meter Blackberry Farm course.

New PR of 14:20.

D was shoulder to shoulder with me. The run wasn't easy. Wasn't race-like either. More like 92-95% of operational max heart rate. My heart rate was at 170 within 200 meters so I'm beginning to think, hmmmmmmm.....maybe 185 is not my max. On the way back my heart rate was 175-177. By a half mile to go it was flickering at 179. Over the last 800 meters I saw 181-183. I was leg weary but could still talk.

I think my max is closer to 190. I think I'm getting more proficient at higher heart rates. Last year running 168-170 was tougher than 172-75 was today.

After the 3000 we did a slow 30 minute plus jog.

More slow running

Tuesday: 75 minute slow run with Tom. 115-120 heart rate

Thursday: 70 minute slow run with Tom. 115-120 heart rate. Light rain.

Slow, slow and more slow.

Saturday: Slow running with Tom. 60 minutes

Sunday: slow running with Dimitri. 80 minutes. Lots of hills.....

Decent back to back old man days.

Easy peasy

I took it easy peasy this week running 70 minutes on Tuesday and 60 minutes on Thursday. Low heart rate efforts. It heated up on the second day. Danny and Tom both days. Danny gone the next two weeks and Tom leaves the week after next. I'll be back to running alone for a week or two.