Windy again

I ran 4 miles easy this morning. It was very windy. Frankly, I could have used a sail.

The last few weeks have been tough. It's either been cold, windy or raining or a combination of all three. It's like Seattle's weather has moved south and engulfed the Bay Area.

This is what it lookes like over the next four days. Nice weather if you live in Green Bay.

Partly Cloudy
High: 63°Low: 46°

Showers
High: 61°Low: 48°

Rain
High: 59°Low: 43°

Showers
High: 58°Low: 43

The day after and two days after that.

I ran double 5 milers on Monday. Same on Wednesday. My legs were tired from going back to back on Sunday-Monday and I still felt a bit slow on Wednesday morning. I decided not to run hard intervals on Wednesday with the club at the track. This was smart. My legs felt recovered and I ran OK (even though different shades of slow).

I want to do a 95% (not all out) two mile trial soon somwhere between 13:12 and 13:25. This indicates that I am in 20:02-20:22 shape. Not where I want to be but better than last year when I couldn't break 21 minutes.

Dolphin Club 8K

Shel and I drove up to the city to run the Dolphin Club 8K in Golden Gate Park.
This race used to start right at the sout side of the Polo Fields where Sue and I met on February 10th 1980. Back then the race was 4.7miles. I got oukicked for 1st place by a college runner. The difference between us was less than a blink.

But that was back then. 25 years later I am no longer a local stud and the course starts in a new location closer to the beach. After about 3 miles of warmup the race began. I went out slowly not only because it was uphill but because I did not intend to run very hard. After about a mile I settled in behind a woman runner and her "escort". For some reason whenver I run Dolphin Runs at about this effort I end running with this gal. She rarely if ever talks to me and I just usually end up cruising along side or just behind her. It's not really by design. It's just the way it works. Let's not make this hard, I think. Just a steady run.

She tends to start easy and then grind down the female competition. I was running rather easily and just ghosting along as we began to pick off runners.
This went on for about 3 miles and she had was running in 3rd place for women. On the way back and heading downhill, I began to pull away and catch up to the woman in front of her. I may have picked it up slightly (my legs felt ok) and I caught her quickly, passed her and then crusied on into the finish.

I didn't get my time so right now I have no idea of what I ran. Nothing outstanding unless I am a small race, locally ranked female runner, which I am not.

Anyway, 8 miles altogether.

51 Times

51 times I have written to this bog. I doubt anyone reads it. How would they know? Why would they care. When I first 38 years ago no one cared. I saw no one out on the roads. I ran alone. In a way I am running alone again.

But I know. I know what I am trying to do.

I am trying to come back.

Today I ran 7 miles with the HRM strapped to my chest. My hamstrings are sore from Wednesday night's workout. I exceeded my capabilities but went and ran none-the-less. It's a matter of time now. I don't have forever. My job will end soon and I will go free again and I will train like never before.

It always about reaching.

I Am Back

I ran 3 easy miles this morning before heading in to work.

In the late afternoon I ran an easy 2 mile warmup and then went to the track and clicked off 3:07-3:07-3:06-3:04-3:03-3:03. Fastest yet in this comeback effort. The weather was near perfect. Very little wind and tempo in the low 60's.
The effort was guarded especially during the first two. I was thinking 3:10-12 but my body simply shifted into the right gear and moved along. No one really near me. Several runners ahead of me in the 2:40's and 50's and then me. Another group well in back of me. So mostly I was alone.

A bit sore afterwards but then I have a whole week to recover.

So taking 8 days off for last week's cold seems to have been the right move.

Day's total was 8 miles.

First Run In A Week.

My first run in a week. Well actually 8 days. 2 miles (I think).

Legs felt fine but then with 8 days off, shouldn't they?

Book It!

Book it! Dump week is ending. Zero miles.

I think my week of being sick with a cold is ending. Bad sleep the last two nights but that's to be expected. My sinuses feel like they have been excavated. That Afrin is strong stuff!

Whoa.

There goes my whole science project on how to avoid a cold and the flu. Well 50% at least. I haven't gotten the flu and no flu shots this year.

The question now is whether I can rally myself to run a decent Zippys 5K in 4 weeks.

The Beat Goes Drumming On......

My slow moving cold, like the weather, lingers. We're well into the runny nose stage. If I were 30 instead of 60 I would run. But the week is gone as far as running is concerned. I am throwing in the towel and just letting the cold virus beat its way through my system.

Too much stress. Why am I working 5 days a week??????

Might have over trained. Sheehan (if he were alive) would say so. he certainly says so in his writings. My body seemed to hold on while I was working and let go as soon as I went on vacation. LOL.

Some vacation!

A slow recovery week next week if all goes well.

It's Seattle Oustide

It is evening. 10:45 PM to be exact. It is Seattle outside. The rain is falling steadily. I haven't run this week. My throat is still scratchy (wine helps). I am going to try not to take Nyquil tonight. It is the laudnum of the 21st century. I wake up feeling fuzzy (well, fuzzier than usual).

I am sleeping upstairs in the den so I don't keep my wife up with my slightly runny nose and sometime cough. It is traditional that when one of is sick, one of us moves. Generally me. I am the portable one.

Running seems a long way off. 12 x 400 or 6 x 800 seems months ago. That body broke (cracked really) because I didn't pay attention to the signs. I was struggling ever so slightly. Running too hard for times I was seeing. The intervals looked good. That fooled me for a time. I had stopped wearing the HRM. Diving into the big, silky pool of self satisfaction.

I am not going to do a big reset. Just more use of the HRM on my recovery days and I am going to slow my intervals down to a realistic 5K date/goal pace. so maybe 6 x 800. 4 in 3:15 (date) and 2 in 3:10 (goal).

Next week, as soon as I get past this thing, I will be back at it. I keep saying that to reassure myself. Bear with me.

The Ultimate Dump Week

This is the ultimate dump week. Unplanned of course but here I am not running until this cold passes through on its way to wherever cold germs go.

I can probably start running Saturday with a short run. It will take me a week to build back up.

Rule #1 with colds: Don't run with one until the symptoms have passed.

Rule #2: You are going to have to take a week to build back up. Maybe two.

Rule #3: No matter how much you try to avoid them (and I tried very hard) there is another cold waiting out there for you.

Actually I was in my flu avoidance mode. So far it worked but a cold virus seems to have penetrated my defensive network anyway.

Damn! All that hand washing for nothing?

LOL

A Slow Moving Cold

I have a cold. It is slow moving and mild but it coming through never-the-less. Mostly so far it has been a sore throat.

Good timing. I am on vacation. A week off from work.

No running until the worst of it has passed.

Wussing

I ran an easy 5 miles on Friday morning.

It was hovering around 38 degrees on Saturday morning (snow on the hills) so I decided to ditch the idea of running 800's on the track and I just ran the club workout at a medium pace pacing Tom Warfel who also decided not to push it.

I have become a real wuss in my old age.

Blah, Cool and Windy

I ran 4 miles this morning before work and another easy 5 miles after work.
Pretty blah day. This evening it was cold and windy. Not optimal conditions for running very hard.

My plan is to run something hard on Saturday.

Not Bloody At All

Turned out the storm passed through late Sunday night. I woke up once and could hear it coming down hard outside.

Monday morning it was fairly clear so I went out and ran a very slow 75 minutes. Maybe 8 or 8.5 miles. Who knows? I seem to be recovering because my legs felt OK throughout. God knows how slow i was running through. I don't dwell on it but I would bet soem ofmy early miles were a 10 minute pace. 9's later on.

I didn't double. It wasn't raining at lunch but the idea of going out for another 3 or 4 miles just to get them in didn't appeal to me so I skipped. Maybe later on when the weather get decent.

12 x 400: Chapter Two

I didn't end up running the 1.46 milers afterall. It was cold this morning. Maybe 36-37 degree. I warmed up with Todd, Tom and Bill and tied with Bill for first place in the warmup. Tom and Todd peeled off with 300 meters to go to use the restroom.

It was taking Walt a long time to handicap the teams and I finally just decided to go down to the track and run 400's. So I ended up running 12 x 400 in a 90 second average with a 200 meter jog. It was tough running them alone, on a cold day and on a slick track but I did the workout anyway. I finished strong and didn't feel too beat up. My body just kept responding. Once I thought to myself, I will just do 8 of them. Then when I got through that barrier I thought to myself, I will just do 10 of them. But then I felt stronger and went on doing 12 of them with the last two 400's feeling something like during the last mile of a 5K race.

It was a sizeable improvement over my January 18th 12 x 400 workout. Maybe too fast but it felt ok. Seeing that my secret goal is to run 3 x 1600 meters in 6:08-12 I will have to be very comfortable at a 90 second pace at least up through 800.

Anway another storm is coming into the Bay Area. Monday could be bloody.

Back from the Offsite

I was back from the two day (no running) offsite. I ran about 4 miles easy this morning. It was mostly cold. Very little rain at all. Then I dashed up to Menlo Park to Big Bill Tarr for an adjustment (he's my chiro) and then back down to Sunnyvale to work but I adsmit that did stop along the way and grabbed a cup of coffee with an old colleague from Sun Microsystems.

Mouth sores cresting. Can't do anything about that now. Even with the low miles I am walking a tightrope due to added work stress.

Still haven't decided whether I do the test effort 2 x 1.46 miles on Saturday.
It's a two man relay but I may chose to pace someone instead of running on a team. I can always choose someone near my ability. It is more race-like. That's the type of experience I need right now.

Finished the first rounds of interviews for my successor at work. I am passing the best to the CEO and hopefully he'll find someone in that group that fits. Then I can go back to project and part time work (or nothing at all if no one calls). Relief pitching is a bitch. lol....

More energy for running and flying. I don't think my instructor believes I am going to come back. But I will be back. I just have to whittle my life down to 3 big things again.

• Family
• Running
• Flying

A Day Off

It's Wednesday. I am sitting in an all day meeting. No running today. It's probably a good thing. Mouth sores and a slightly aching hip. A whole slew of exec's doing email and swapping stories while we wait for a new projector (the one we were using stopped working).

More of the same Thursday.

My main goal is to not overeat.

I was thinking (as I sit here) 25 years ago I was able to break 16 minutes for 5K. 15 years ago I was running in the 17's. Now I am trying to get under 20 minutes.
I am slower but in relationship to my age group competition I am faster.