Another big day: 11-12 miles

I ran 6 easy miles this morning and another 5-6 in the afternoon. Frankly, I am not sure how far I ran this afternoon. It was over 5 miles but not 6. In the afternoon session I added in 8 x 100 meters in 18 seconds average. It felt good to pick it up.

If I age grade it, the 18's are worth 14's at age 30.

It was hovering around 80 degrees in the afternoon but the heat didn't bother me very much. It was less humid. The morning run the exact opposite. Lower temps but higher humidity.

Ran into our club president Walt who ranted about how one of our 60 plus runners raced last weekend but didn't have a Pacific Association card so he didn't count in the scoring. He had to move one of our 70 plus runners down into the 60 plus category to cover. It didn't hurt our 70 team because we only had one runner. We have a relatively strong 60 plus team but most of us didn't race. Jim is getting over injuries. I am a no-op. I just had no desire to drive all the way up to Sacramento and race 8K. It's hot and steamy up there and I am sure it would have been a death march. One of our other decent 60 plus runners helped crew for a friend running Western States (100 miles through the Sierras). So good team but basically a bunch of no shows.

3 men score but we couldn't make it happen.

Frankly, I was more amused than anything else. My racing days are over. I did it for 25 years (or was it 23?). What keeps me running is the pure enjoyment of it or at least what joy is left. I am basically a loafer who runs. Not very good racing material.

8 mile day

I ran an easy 5 this morning and ran into John Busch on the track. We did 6 laps together and caught up on Sun. I would say that the conditions were moderate temperature wise but humid. My knee felt OK. No pain what-so-ever.

In the afternoon I ran another 3 plus miles including some striders on the track.
I had several jolts of knee pain going out but it disappeared as suddenly as it had come on. I think I was wearing my knee support strap too high but I adjusted it. It was warm and humid (again).

Not exactly the gradual ramp I planned (what else is new).

Mostly the humidity got to me. I am not overly in love with hot weather running in general. The smart thing to do whenever possible is to do most of my running in the morning and make the afternoon run short and sweet.

My motivation is low right now. This is about burning calories. At least i am sleeping well. Still keep thinking about taking time off. Maybe 30-60 days. I keep running but that thought keeps hanging around.

3 miles................ Maybe

Today, it was 15 minutes easy and then I caught up with Dimitri after he had run the club 3 miler and I ran around campus with him. Maybe the whole thing was 3 miles. My knee didn't bother me. I do get tomorrow off and then I will try something on Monday.

I hardly feel like a runner.

But at least I am running again.

10 minutes...WOW!

After 5 days off I went out this morning and ran 10 minutes slow.

My knee felt OK and I really kept the pace slow. It's going to be another heater. 90 for sure. Oh well.

TGFAC (Thank God For Air Conditioning)!

If I had a beach house I would be there.

Still not running

No running today. I am feeling better but still not a big appetite. My body is telling me something.

So no running until things feel normal. Actually I run by feel. If I feel like it, which is most of the time, I run. Right now, I just plain don't feel like it. So something is still amiss.

Big heat wave coming in for the remainder of the week. Looks like I am going to miss most of it.

Pride goes before something....

I began to feel nauseous yesterday in the late afternoon. It got worse as the evening progressed. Slight headache, stomach ache, chills....No appetite. Didn't eat dinner. Felt like I could have puked but didn't. So my record is still intact since 1967 (the last time I puked).

I am laying low today. Won't run on Monday. Don't even know if I will go into work for an 11 AM meeting. As I type this, I can honestly say I feel better than last night.

Since I rarely get stuff like this I wonder if it is the flu or a reaction to some of the new supplements I am taking. In any case I stopped thos for now. Of course it could have been back to back big days but usually the reaction I get from that sort of thing is not to feel sick. Just tired and then sometimes followed by a cold.

Anyway..Rest!

Back to back

I ran early today. The club was doing some sort of speed workout. I ran the 3 mile warmup and could feel my left knee tighten slightly up on the uphill portion of the first mile but by the time I hit the flats, any problems were non apparent. I caught Amanda who I never run with or even talk to and we got into it chatting about running, racing and injuries.

After the warmup I went out and ran another 5 plus miles easy and ended the session with 6 x 50 meters.

It was getting warm as I finished so I was glad not to repeat yesterday's high noon run.

Back to back running days. 10 plus yesterday and 8 plus today.

Brutal Slow Running

Palo Alto Baylands Trail

I ran 6 miles early. It already felt warm. Then I went back out at lunch and met Rick at the Baylands (San Antonio Road..Picture above) and ran another 4.6 miles. It was about 82-83 degress at the start but the temperature climbed quickly and it became a minor death march for Rick coming back. He finally broke into a walk with about a half mile to go while I kept running keeping the pace slow enough to stay under 70% on the HRM. The pace was close to a slog. Rick would walk for a 30 seconds and then run up to my shoulder, stay there for a minute and then walk again. In the end, he just walked.

By the time we both had finished I thought tomyself that this was the hottest low 80's I had felt in some time. We got into some dry clothes and drove to a local cafe for lunch. My car's outside temp gauge registered 93 degrees. No wonder it was a hot low 80's. It was in the 90's. The flames of noon time heat and our age were consuming us. Rick is also out of running shape and he paid that price too.

At lunch I nearly drowned myself in 2 BIG glasses of water and 2 BIG glasses of Coke. Rick drank a beer. "I need a beer," he said. "I need a beer."

12 mile day

I spent Monday and Tuesday at Seascape. Two all day meetings. Beautiful place to run but with no real time to run.

Today (Wednesday) I got back on the horse and rode it 12 miles by running 6 miles in the morning and another 6 in the late afternoon. Both runs were low key but my legs felt great. I could have piled on a few more miles if I had wanted to.

One issue: My left knee is slightly stiff at the very beginning of my runs. This has been going on for the last week or so. Once I get about 8-10 minutes into the run the stiffness goes completely away as if it had never been a problem. It does not hurt when I walk around but sometimes I feel it going upstairs. I am icing, adviling (cautiously) and also bought one of those knee straps that fits just below the patella. I plan to wear that Friday when I go out and see if it helps.

I have a rule. If it gets better as I run, I keep going. If it gets worse I stop. Right now I keep running.

Life at the Back of the Pack

I went up to the DSE run in GG Park with Shel today and ran very easy.

I didn't get to bed until late trying to wrestle with a Windows XP spyware problem. So I finally staggered to bed around 12:30. I felt stupid staying up that late but I was a bit obsessed.

I staggered out of bed at about 6:15, poured down a tankard of coffee and got going. It was foggy and cool in the park and I ran a short 3 miles before the 5K and another mile (plus) afterward. During the run I kept my HRM at under 150 but even with the cool weather I was slow. I spent most of the run next to a short, plump girl who wore black shorts over Lycra and a tall brunette who had died (oops dyed) her hair blond but hadn't done a very good job of it. There was also an older guy who would run hard, then walk and then run hard again. He lurched along like this during the whole run. For a time I thought he was using Galloway walking break method but now I am not so sure.

Anyway this was life at the back of the pack.

I got home in the late morning and worked on my computer (we had shifted to light sabers in our relentless duel ) before I finally figured a way to get rid of the spyware (at least I hope it is gone).

I am on the verge of leaving Windows for a Mac. I am just plain tired of viruses and spyware. As a Mac users said to me recently, if you can be free, why not not now?

65 minutes very easy

Friday: I ran about 65 minutes very slowly keeping the HRM in the 130-140 range. Very easy day all around. Lunch out with a colleague, nice dinner at home with Sue. Little or no work.

I could get bored doing it this way and frankly right now I need to loaf.

Saturday will be a no run day. Sunday I go with Shel to GG Park for a DSE race.

Monday morning will begin the two day offsite with a client. Seascape. Nice place to run if I had time which I doubt I will. The schedule of meetings is pretty tight so I will probably have to be satisfied with walking whenever I get a break.

Double Day

I took Tuesday off as promised and so my lesg felt much better on Wednesday for both runs.

Morning was an uneventful 5 miler. Afternoon was another 5 over at the Srartoga High School Track with the club. I did a warmup along Herriman (ugly..traffic) and then ran the club workout which was 12 x 400. We had a good crowd. The track is up and exposed, not down in a bowl like West Valley so even though it was in the high 70's, it was cooler with soem cross winds.

I ran every third interval hard just as a test. My legs responded nicely.

90-88-85-80. When I reached down it was there.

The rest of the 400's I ran easy and at the back of the pack. The point being that every other day running is critical for me. I didn't feel beat up at all.

I also went into work at my clients for 3 hours. We are gearing up for an offsite next week on Monday and Tuesday. I admit that I hate offsites. I just don't see the need to trapse off to a resort to do this sort of thing. And it's two days. We'll be sucking sand by the end of the second day. Not the way I do things but that's the breaks. Anyway that is a whole other post. I doubt I will run either day unless I am willing to get up very early on the second day or run after the offsite is over. Or I can just wait it out and jump on my regular schedule of Wed-Fri-Sat or Sun and then pick it up from there.

I have not been very Lawrence-like over the past several weeks. My goal has been to detach from my HR role and really become a consultant again. I think my successor is well established and the few times I do come in events seem to be flowing around me. When I do come back in I want what I do to be very different. Pure influencing of the "tribal structure"of the organziation will be my main strategic role.

4th day in a row

Despite tired legs and 4 days in a row, I rebounded a bit today running 4 in the morning and 5 in the early afternoon. But this is the end. In looking back i realized the following.

I looked back over the last 10-15 years and realized several things.

When I ran well these were the constants:

I was not running high miles. Generally 25-35 mpw

I did little or no speedwork. What little I did was speed oriented versus VO2 max oriented.

I generally ran every other day

I did not do long runs as a rule. 8-9 miles was enough.

I did AT runs every 3-4 weeks and if they got faster than everything got faster

I really enjoyed my running

and this last one is the most important........................

At the very moment of success I would feel so good about myself that I would either add in VO2 max workouts, raise my miles or start running more days a week and then after about 2-3 months I would crash hard.

Reminds me of early 1982. I was running well. Really enjoying my training, my daily runs. I had run several great races and had just run a 10k PR. I stayed away from speedwork for the most part and used races to get racing fit. I ran each day at a steady pace. I had a perceived effort and as the weeks progressed I got faster at the same effort. Everything was working well.

Several days after the 10k PR I did 200 meters hill charges with my running buddies. Now I never did hill charges to get there in the first place but I was feeling so damn smug that I figured that I could break my rule and run some hard work two stinking days after my race.

By the end of the week I was coming down with a cold that led to a flu that I struggled with all spring and summer. Finally I got past it but it was well into 1983 before I ran well again.

So me not learning BIG lessons is not a new thing. It is an old thing.

Let's see:

Don't run in cowboy boots. That was lesson number one. 1968.

Don't run in deck shoes. That was lesson number two. 1969.

After that it became much more complex than just about shoes.

Oh yeah.

Don't do one day that which you can't repeat the next day (or these days the day after that).

Keep hard runs at under 7-8% of total monthly miles.

Run Walk

I decided not to call it quits. I went out and ran and walked for about 45 minutes this morning. It was already getting warm. I ran and walked over towards the college where some sort of kids olympics was going on disrupting the usual sunday quiet of the track and campus.

All in all another 40 mile week.

At this point I have to run just to run. Sort of like going out for Sushi now and then.

There is no more "more" in my legs. I am lucky to be running and how silly it is of me to worry about this anymore. I am surrounded by guys who can still run and race (when they are not injured). I was once that very person except I was younger (MUCH YOUNGER).

If I look at my crowd I can see how it all works out.

Me: Still running. I am 3rd tier for my age group. 21's for 5K. Now and then show promise of running under 21. Known for shooting self in foot (mataphor). In NFL football terms I am the quintessential 7-9 or 8-8 team. I make the playoffs now and then but not much anymore.

Jake: Still running but slower than me at any distance. This from the first good runner that I went after and cared about beating. In beating him, we became friends.


John: Can't run anymore. On eof his knees is shot. He rides a mean cycle though.

Dave: Still runs but not very much or very quickly. Has a major health problem so that fact he runs at all is amazing (unless you know Dave).

Bill: Knees gone. Runs some but mostly rides a bike these days.

Tim: Still runs but very slowly.

There are more. I run into them from time to time. Most are injured, run very little or have given it up altogether.

Secretly I think I run to burn calories.

Short Six

The last runner standing is quickly becoming just that. I ran the short six club course (5.74 miles) today. Even though it relatively early it was still warm. I kept the HRM at 80-85% and ran 45 minutes and change. Along with the 3 plus mile warmup I probably ended up with about 9 miles total.

I can see that I am struggling. I may decide to take some time off. I think I may need 3-4 weeks total rest. Maybe more.

Then I can build back up gradually. I am not injured but I can tell that physically I am not there. It happens from time to time. It has never hurt me to take time off.

I just hate dieting to keep my weight down.

6 plus miles today

I ran for about 56 minutes this morning. Went out before 8 am because it felt like it was going to be warm. I ran into one of the managers I worked with at Sun and we chatted and ran around De Anza track.

I am having conversations with Dwight about coaching me in recovery techniques. I have decided that from now on I will decide on the workouts and freqency but I need help in the holistic's of recovery and getting stronger.

X Train: Sushi Day

I took the day off from running and crossed trained by going out for lunch (sushi-bento) and I am also going out for dinner (Bricks) . It's a bit of pig out day if I don't control things.

The weather got warmer today and muggy.