A Bad Day At Black Rock

I ran an easy 20 minutes this morning and another 43 minutes this evening. Both were pitifully slow. Maybe too slow even for soreness and pain. It was obvious that as mealy as yesterday's workout was and the fact that I had taken two days off before yesterday, had made no difference. My legs had not recovered at all. It was a drag from start to finish. A Bad day at Black Rock.

Bowerman Again

I went out in the morning and did a very conservative Bowerman type workout.

20 minute warm up followed by some progressive striders (30 meter, 50 meters, 80 meters. The track was empty of any of the usual spread across the track type people. I did have Samurai runner who was chugging laps clockwise on the inside lane so every now and then we would play chicken for lane one as we hurtled towards each other and sub 7 minute pace.

Anyway, the meat of the workout:

2 x 800 in 3:31-3:28. 400 meter jog. 4 x 400 in 1:35 average which was faster than planned. 200 meter jog after each rep.

20 minutes jog back home.

My HR never reached AT so the workout must have been in my "range". Still, given that I usually do not do this type of workout, it was hard to get in the rhythm but by the time I got to the 400's I was feeling much better.

Probably 7 miles all told.

More Time In The Gray Zone

This morning I ran 3 plus slow miles with the club warmup crew and then ran another mile while waiting for the 5K on the track to get going. I got distracted talking to Ken Noel and ended up running 12 laps at just under an 8 minute pace (which is really in the grey zone for me) while the rain pitter pattered on the track, on the runners and on my semi cold, turning to cement, hands. Afterwards I ran another 8 laps chatting with Jim Howe who ran 19:48 in less that optimal conditions as a 60 year old.

It was kind of freeing. No HRM and no set idea of how fast or slow I would run. This also meant no 3 mile AT run but the idea of it seemed to slip away easily telling me that I really didn't want to do it after all.

9 miles all totaled

40 minutes easy

I went out mid morning and sucked it up with a 40 minute easy jog. I instinctively meandered over to the the DeAnza track without thinking about what PE class might be blocking the route. There was a class straddling the track after all but only the first 3-4 lanes so the rest was free for us joggers. Ultra thin Asian woman was there jogging, stretching and jump roping. She always seems to be there. Her life is on the track or at least in my world it is. She wears knee length tights, some sort of colorful hi-tech top and usually a hat which covers her ultra short hair. I usually run faster than she does but I have noticed that lately I do not catch up with her as easily as I once did. More aging no doubt.

Wednesday

I had a mid morning meeting with a potential new client and so for the first time in months I threw myself out the door at just after 7 AM. Of course it was like running in molasses (low 30's) and it took me a few miles just to get going.

4 miles very easy. No HRM. I just ran slow.

I went to West Valley to run this afternoon. The gates to the track were closed and locked. It must have happened suddenly because a lady with crutches was trapped and could not get out. Some of our club runners climbed the gates and got in. One went to find someone to open things back up. The group was splintered at first with half down on the track running 800's and the rest of us starting to do tennis course loops (.66 miles) but aborted when we saw one of the gates had been finally opened.
Turns out the maintenance people had put some "round up" (whatever that is) on the grass and thought we should all be protected from it. As Russ said, "Maybe 'round up' is another name for agent orange."

In any case my run ended up being 5 miles of more slow stuff.

80 minutes and a cloud of sunshine

80 minutes on the roads today. I kept my HR in the 140-150 range and felt really decent the whole way. The weather was spectacular. Sunny and cloudless. Very little wind. I was originally going to run 8 x 800 at 75% at DeAnza but opted not to run that workout. I wanted to really......But the track was in use by a P.E. Class that was stretched across all 9 lanes doing exercises. When I asked for one lane to run on I was told by the instructor that she intended to use the WHOLE track. I sucked it in and decided not to make an incident of it. Shades of 1986 (that is another story for another day). I decided she could have her track for one hour. It is mine the other 23 hours anyway.

Don't they ever change?

I may run the 5K on the West Valley College track Saturday as an AT run. Not sure yet. I plan to make that call later this week.

Two days off and then 10 miles

I went through a colonoscopy on Fridayin the late morning so I had to fast Thursday and half of Friday. I finally got a frappuchino and and a lemon scone down around noon and then napped most of the afternoon. I had some pasta for dinner. I took both days off from running. On Saturday I dropped Sue off at the airport early and went over to club workout and ran 5 miles. My legs felt rested but I had very little glycogen in the bank and the it took a while for the energy to get flowing.

My early afternoon 5 miler was much better. I had had breakfast with all the usual suspects in the carbo family.

10 miles total.

The Evening Show..Same Day

I participated in another merger call this afternoon that went on and on. Finally got off at 5:15 PM and warmed up for a mile around West Valley. Felt stiff and sore and creaky for about a 2/3rds of a mile and then began to feel really loose. Where did that come from? We ran 12 x 400 easy with 100 meter strides on the first 8 reps. The temps dropped quickly once the sun went down going from the high 50's to the low 40's in about an hour. I had long sleeve, tights and gloves so I was OK. A few of the women running with us began to complain about cold hands. Chris asked, "Did it suddenly get cold?" Same with Stacey. Cold hands. Offered her my gloves but she said that she would be OK.

Strange evening. More women than men. Youth Dew and the slight scent of perfume all over the track. Sort of like running in the tropics bathed in the smell of flowers (but colder). No Danny again. Even Madelyn admitted that he probably was not sorry to have missed this run. It was cool but also windless so in a way, very pleasant.

Next two days off. Fast on Thursday and medical procedure on Friday. Back at it on Saturday.

The Blessing of mid day runs

I had a merger meeting with a client this morning so I didn't get out until early afternoon for the first of my two run. I guess if I were religious I would say it was a blessing. Shorts and T-shirt weather. Light breezes and plenty of sun. Anyway 5 slow miles. Legs still tired from Monday.

The drum beating in my head over and over. Forget the rules. They just don't apply to you. Just run easy. Throw in some hills and some striders. I don't run well on tired legs. Never did and never will. Somehow my circuitry is wired differently.

Oh and the picture above. It's the 1981 me running a 10K. Right behind me is one of the best master runners in the USA in his age group. Ulrich Kaemph. Gone now. Died of cancer last year. Great competitor. We ran in the low 33's in this race.

6 x 1200

I waited until late morning to go out and run. The temps had climbed from the 20's at sunrise into the high 40's by 11:30 AM. Winds were mild.

I ran 3 miles for a warmup with some 50 meter strides towards the end. Legs felt very good. Then I did the meat of the workout running 6 x 1200 at 75-77% of max with a 200 meter jog in between each rep. Once again the legs felt good but the times of the reps were less than stellar. I was rarely under an 8 minute pace which was disappointing. The good news is that the last one felt very much like the first one. I then ran 2 miles back home for a total of 10 + miles.

On the way back I finally felt the effort. I was not dragging but I was tired. I will see how I rebound by Wednesday.

10:37 PM: Later in the evening: Sorry what a spoiler. My back is sore and my legs are a bit beat up. I am walking around like I have a stick up my ass. Finally gave in and took advil.

Good Running

The early morning temps were down in the mid 20's. It was a hard, dry chill. We couldn't see our own breath.

I ran the 3 mile warm up feeling very good. My legs (given a steady onslaught of 9-10 minute miles in the preceeding weeks) felt energized. Everyone was commenting and complaining about the cold but I mostly noticed how good my legs felt. While the club went down to the track to run 3 x 1600, I kept running covering another 5 miles and felt strong from start to stop.

At breakfast I commented to Dimitri that now was the time when I usually added in something hard which would proabbly send me spinning off into another slump. So the answer to that is..NOT!

I will continue running the Brian Clark version of Bowerman. I am in the shock-adaption phase. Monday will be 6 x 1200 at 75-77% of max with a 200 meter jog in between reps. No mercy..... ;-)

Slight Movement

Cold morning. 35 degrees. I bundled up and went out for an easy 5 miles and actually felt GOOD!

I didn't keep track of my time but most of the run was in the 145-148 range on my HRM. The wind was kicking up as I came back home so it was a bit of a slug fest until I turned left at Stevens Creek.

Glacial 2 x 5 miles

2 x 5 miles today. Both runs ruthlessly slow. Is this really running? Dimitri asked me at dinner after the evening 5 miler (as I quaffed down a bowl of chili accompanies by hot tea) , didn't I still enjoy running? Not like before. I do it to burn calories and socialize. It is the fabric of my life, I thought. So many of my friends and colleagues RUN. So if I can put aside speed and flow and real tempo (those running sensations that used to be so seductive) I can guess I can stand the glacial pace of my present day efforts. At least for now. Besides, I am getting inventive about ways to inject some realtive speed and tempo I to my weekly workouts.
And of course my running path os close to 40 years is littered with the bones of all those who stopped running or no longer CAN run. So being the Last Runner is becoming a truth because my intent it to keep going until I can't tun anymore.

The good news is that the very slow pacing has helped to begin to clear up my leg problems. Especially my left leg. But I still feel creaky espcially with the Artic air mass descending upon us. I can only imagine what Fiday and Saturday mornings will be like when I journey out. I mean we're talking high 20's.

Tempo

I was out of the house around 8:40. Headed over to the track for a tempo workout that I had originally planned for last Saturday. The weather was mild so I was able to get away with shorts and a long sleeve T.

2 miles very easy. HR in the 120-130 range.

8 x 800 beginning at 70% and working quickly up to 75% . 200 meter jog between each with HR coming back down to 140. 8k total. Very windy on the back stretch of each rep so I didn't worry about pace as much as focusing on HR. This workout felt very doable and not very stressful at all. I would rate it as being comfortable.

2 miles very easy heading home.

9 miles total

34 degrees

I showed up at the club workout this morning at around 7:30 AM. My car's temp guage read 34 degrees. The warmup was a slow affair but my legs felt very good so I celebrated by running the Triangle course at an equally slow pace. I chatted with John Peterson and watched the rest of the pack pull away. Walt was the only runner behind us as he struggled to run a sub 10 minute pace.

Actually this was a disciplined, easy paced run. I could have gone down to the track and run ice cube 800's or I could have run the workout faster but I knew that right now I just needed to chill (no pun intented).

Bracing 5 miler

Got out in the early morning and ran 5 slow miles in the cold chill and biting wind. It was bracing to say the least.

Had a long drive up to Santa Rosa and back (lunch with Mother) so I had to get the run over and done with.
I admit that I wasn't that motivated to run given the weather but I went out and ran on memory. Just get out there and bang out the miles and get back in.

10 miles slow

I did the double 5 today. I ran in the late morning and again in the late afternoon. Both runs were balmy and I frankly overdressed for the late afternoon/evening workout. The temp stayed at 60. There was no sudden freeze at sunset. Both workouts were slow, slow and easy. Just calorie burners really.

Pauline showed up for the first time in a year or so and asked where Danny was?

One must ask. Where was Danny?

I ended up being the clock-timer custodian. I will lug it to the Saturday workout. I believe it will be the Triangle Run. Don't know if I want to do that or run 75%, 800's on the track.

2007

I waited to go out this morning until 9:30. The sun was up and warming things. I went out dressed to the T's. Double top, gloves and tights with a hat. I might have overdone it. I kept passing the new year's resolution runners (meaning that after the first rain I won't see them again) wearing t-shirts and shorts. It is easy to spot them. They always have the latest gear on and new shoes. This time next year they will still be new.

I mostly kept my HR in the 140-150 range and drifted around Cupertino for 90 minutes. I started very slow and felt best in the middle of the run but faded somewhat later on (are carbs that important????). The mantra kept playing towards the end.

I am slow...

I could walk...

The universe doesn't care about either of the above.

Keep running (every other day).

When I arrived back home, I sucked down water and ate a big bowl of oatmeal with raisens. The shower could wait.