80 minutes. Is it a long run or just another 8 miler?

Ran from the house this morning: 80 minutes. Is it a long run or just another 8 miler? Only my GPS knows.

I kept my HR in the 135-142 range. It was quietly warm but pleasant and I jogged along most of the run. So now the HRM seems to be acting normally or I am feeling the effects of 4 straight days of running (Wow! What a monster I am!)

37 Miles

8 + 10 + 7 + 7 + 5 = 37

Thirty seven miles for the past week! Who would have ever thunk it. It is my highest in some time. I finished off the week running 5 easy miles today. My HR stayed low throughout the run. Mostly in the high 120's and low 130's. I had no residual leg soreness.

My goal is to get into the 35-40 mpw range and stay there with a now and then down week to recover. I may go higher later on but right now just stabilizing in this range on 5 days a week training is a small but significant accomplishment.

The secret, so far, seems to be my willingness to run slow (very slow) on my easy days. That and not working too hard at consulting. I am just more relaxed.

New HRM

Another seven miles today. I did the 3 mile warmup with the club but had severe indigestion going up the hill. Probably was the energy drink I quaffed on my way over to the workout. I walked for about a half minute, almost immediately felt better and caught up with the back of the pack. After the warmup I put on my new HRM and clicked it on. Either something was weird or I am super rested because my HR was very low and stayed low througout the next 4 miles. I circled back to my car mid run and changed the display watch to my old one (it was the chest band that had gone bad) and ran on another 2miles but the result was the same.

Even though the workout was held early it was already warm out and I could feel the heat. Summer is coming. My least favorite time of the year (but I don't hate it...It's all relative).

No Jake or Dimitri today at breakfast. We still had a lively group. Danny was there and we put on our usual show.

Warming Up

Things are warming up. I went out at about 9 am without the HRM I just received in the mail and ran my 7 mile course (untimed). I kept the pace very easy throughout.

Dwight is at it again. He has a new energizer bunny to help me out. He tries and I know he means well. This time it is Mark Force's self help, health book. He tells me that he has rebounded big time and is running 100 mpw. He can easily persuade his body to do what his mind believes. That is how it is supposed to work, isn't it? All it tells me is that the energy was there all along or that he just needed some down time (for him..70 mpw) until he felt better again.

Anyway, the book is $29.95 and I may buy it but the last book that persuaded me to change was Galloway's Book On Running (1984). I need to do some more research and then make a decision. My house is littered with Dwight's good intentions. About $300.00 worth.

Danger Will Robinson!!!

I ran 7.5 miles this morning with Jake. 3 mile warmup, one mile at 6:44 (felt good) followed by 8 laps of 300 jog, 100 sprint averaging 17's and 18's. We then ran around campus for another mile and a half.

In the evening I went and ran another mile to warmup and then ran 6 x 100 with Ray and Dimitri (well..not with them..behind them) averaging 16's. I felt a slight pull (not painful..just tight) in my right buttock (OK, the right side of my ass). I then jogged an easy 5 laps around the track. Maybe 2.5 mile total with 10 miles for the day.

What have I learned? I can't run 100's in the morning and come back in the evening and run more of them.

So from now on it's either morning or evening for 100's. Not both. The question is if I take it easy how long will it take for this to heal?

A Bit of Kindness

I was not going to run in Santa Barbara on Sunday. It would have made 5 days on the road this week and it just wasn't a great idea.

Really, that was the plan. I only brought my very light (BRIGHT RED) racing shoes and but there were a pair of shorts and a long sleeve pullover in my suitcase. I put them on just to see how they looked. I lookled at myself in the full legth mirror in the hotel room. The reflection was of an aging male version of Dorothy in Oz wearing the ruby red slippers. The weather outside promised rain but it was nowhere near that and the wind was mild so I decided just to go out for a walk-jog.

That didn't last long. I crossed the street in front of out hotel and headed down the walking path along the Ocean running at pace that was just on this side of any leg discomfort. I headed east (The beach runs East to West or vice-versa). The street people were out in force (they always are). I kept running at a very easy effort until I passed the beach volley ball area (girls and women in bikini's) and kept going around a lake towards a nature preserve. Eventually, everytime I take this route, I run into the same sign.

"Thank you for your kindness"

It leads onto to some short marsh land trails and it was there, having to go really bad (REALLY BAD) that I left some kindness off in the bushes. I don't believe that is what they had in mind but based on the toilet paper remnants, I was not the only one who had been kind recently.

On my way back a young, slender girl runner whipped by me, stopped off at one of the restrooms, came back out and passed me again (OH, HOW THE MIGHTY HAVE FALLEN!). Then she stopped for drink at a water fountain and passed me a second time. At that moment of extreme humilation I suddenly saw Kelly, who was from my running club coming the other way so we stopped a chatted. She was visiting an aunt. My wife and I were on a hit and run mini vacation. We were both almost at end of our respective runs so no company there for either of us. So we just talked for about 5-10 minutes and then I jogged back to the hotel.

I was out for more than 50 minutes with no HRM which actually was sort of nice. I had a stop watch on but only so I would have a rough idea of when to turn back.

62*

I drove over to the club workout and did a slow 3 mile warmup (the pack pulled away from me rather quickly during the first mile). My legs were stiff from those 100's (I am paying the price at last). The club went to the track to run 600's while I went around campus over and over again to put in another 5 miles for 8 total on the day. My HRM gave out mid run. I knew something was wrong when it was giving a readout of 187 during a very slow jog portion of the run. Now and then it would flicker back on the actual HR but then it would go crazy again.

I had to rush through breakfast so I could take our 11.5 year old Golden (Amber) to the kennel. We're headed out of town for a short two days. Our destination is Santa Barbara.

Turned 62* today.

* I always start using whatever age I am going to be on April 21st as early as January 1st of that same year. That way I have almost 4 months to get used to it.

Easy..Easy

I ran an easy 45 minutes this morning between rain events. I had my HRM on but for some reason I did not swtich it on until about mid run, saw my HR was in the 130's and then switched it off again. I still feel those fast 100's from Wednesday but it is more like certain muscles were recruited for that effort and I could feel their soreness but that in no way effected the use of slow twitch fibres for today's easy run. In other words, legs felt fine.

And Later That Evening

I went back to the track and did a mile warm up then joined Ray and Dimitri for 8 x 100 meters (easy walk back for recovery). They are so far ahead of me doing 13's and 14's while I have, on occasion, been struggling to go under 17. But it was a good early evening. I did the first one in 18 followed by 2 in 16 and then another 4 in the 15's. I let off on the last one and ran a 16. This was as fast I was at the end of the summer last year so the pure speed is still there.

So yes I was shocked but nothing pulled and I seem to have survived it.

I ran another mile as a warm down.

Dinner (the BIG salad with dressing on the side) and then home.

SPLAT...CRASH

I told Jake that I was going to pace us to run under 15 minutes for the two mile time trial. After a 3 mile warm-up (during which Jake tripped and went splat) in the cool morning air we went down to the track and once again did the run. Jake sounded bad after about 3 laps and I knew he wasn't going to make it. I just kept going covering the first mile in 7:36 and the second mile in 7:12 (my HR was up in the 80-85% range). I never felt uncomfortable but like Jake, who dropped out, I seem to have fallen off the cliff again. More than likely it was the Van Aaken 500 meter runs. I am just not strong enough to handle those. I was not dragging after today's run though so I warmed down around campus as the wind kicked up. Jake and I agreed to do 100's for the next several weeks and run slowly otherwise. Jake feels he needs more miles and I would like to run more miles but I know that unless I do that every other day I crater.

My plan is not to abandon the 2 mile trial but to do it only twice a month (at most) and try to work it down gradually over time.

John Clary drove down and joined Jake and I for breakfast. It was like old times.

Runnable

I ran about 8 miles this morning. It was warmer than it has been in days and I wore shorts and a t-shirt. I ran the RR Tracks and found that the workers had releveled large sections making them runnable again. Kept my HR in the 140-150 range. I also kept my eyes on the turf not wanting to fall again but I never came close. Uneventuful run.

On the East Coast thousands were running the Boston Marathon in rain and wind. John Clary's son Ryan ran 5 hours and change. Deena Kastor, America's top woman marathoner wanted to send a message that she had arrived. Well, she arrived 5th woman but then the marathon is a tough mistress and you never know what you are going to get on a specific day.

A Kenyan won the men's and a Russian won the woman's race. American men were non evident but who said they had to be.

Jake, John, Rich, Dave

When we all trained together Jake and John would run in front and Dave and I would run behind them. Generally the noise (chat) came from John, Jake and I with David remaining silent except for a well placed incisive comment now and then.

It is amazing that we trained and raced together for ten long years. The only real interruption was John's moving to Phoenix for 4 years but he would still come up to the Bay Area on business trips or we would travel down there and so we kept the string alive.

At the beginning Jake was the fastest but John came on to become the quickest and literally dominated 1976-1979. Jake remained in second place and I was usually in third with Dave bringing up the rear. That all changed in the late 1970's when Dave suddenly seemed to speed up and began running times much faster than we had seen him do before. Of course it was the fact that he simply was training more and harder and the combination of miles and quality workouts began to take effect.

By the time John returned from Phoenix I had moved up so that I was usually competing with all 3 runners. The gap closed. John got a bit slower, I got a bit faster and in 1983-85 we were all the closest we had been in ability and race times. After that Dave really dominated as John and Jake began to slow. My last good year was 1985 and then I began to fall off too.

Fast forward to 2007. John no longer runs (his knee), Jake is slow but still runs hard, Dave is still running but is dealing with chronic health problems and now I am finally the fastest.

And who cares. As far as racing is concerned, we all had our day but it is over (O-V-E-R). I really retired from competition in 1995 and since then, when I race, I run tempo, not all out. That flame is extinguished. I still enjoy getting out there running with the ghosts of the 4 of us. But it isn't the same as those years. The best running years. That is where the gold was and is. In our minds in that tightly held past.

Friday..Saturday

Friday:

Ran an easy 4 miles. I let it go at that even though I thought about going out again in the afternoon. Enough of this leg bashing.

Enough!


Saturday:

Went over to the club workout. The sky was the color of lead. Expected the rain to come in so the question was could we get in our workout before the skies opened up. Ran the 3-mile plus warm-up, followed by Douglas (2.75 miles) and then a turn around campus. Maybe 7.5 to 8 miles total keeping my HR in the 140’s most of the way. Nothing very fast but my legs felt good so that counts for something. Dave Garcia was in town so Jake, Dave and I sat next to each other at breakfast and bored Dimitri with stories of the good old days when we were fast. Blah...Blah…Blah!

That evening the 4 amigos, John, Dave, Jake and I got together with our wives at the Blue Pheasant. Great evening. Here were 4 runners that trained almost every day together for ten years and ended up being locally ranked runners in NorCal. Obviously none of us are now what we were running-wise but we're all still around and in the game. We all broke 33 minutes for 10K. 3 of us broke 54 minutes for 10 miles (I was the one who didn't). We all ran in the 4:30's or faster for the mile and all broke ten minutes for two miles with John running 9:27 while Jake and I ran in the low 9:40's. We all broke 26 minutes for 5 miles more than once. At least 3 of us won one or more competitve races outright. That was very hard to do back during the running boom.

We certainly were not world class or even national class but we were all local class guys who put running at the center of our lives for well over a decade.

Blind Man's Bluff

It was drizzling this morning when I ran my car over to WVC to run with Jake. We warmed up about 3 miles and then ran a two mile trial. Jake didn't feel good (again). He had run 3 days back to back to back covering 90 minutes each day. I suggested he NOT look at the time but just run to effort. We were way off the pace of two weeks ago coming through the mile at 7:46. We ended up running 15:32 or about 50 seconds slower than last time.

As we warmed down, Jake said he would fire his coach.

I think as long as Jake continues to thump his legs and body this sort of thing will happen. He really seems to have no control. Well, he does but he, like many of us, chooses not to exercise that control. It's sort of like blind man's bluff or maybe Russian Roulette.

I told him that next week we were going to run under 15 minutes so "Figure out what you'll have to do get ready for that level of effort", I suggested.

Of course who am I to cast stones after a week's worth of mouth sores from my own "secret training".

In the late afternoon I came back to WVC and ran an easy 4 + miles hanging out with the club. Went to dinner with Dimitri.
Close to an 11 mile day moslty to burn calories.

80 minutes

I ran a more agressive 80 minutes this morning keeping my HR in the 140-150 range. I felt OK throughout. Mouth sores almost gone (but not gone yet). It was sunny but windy, t-shirt conditions so I got blown around when I headed east (or is it north?).

Banzai was on the track tearing around clockwise in lane number one. Asian woman was there too. The plump one who hangs with the skinny one (who has not been out in a week or so). School is back in after Easter break so "studentia's" were everywhere. Soon the exercise classes will be on the track blocking lanes but that will be fun. I get to practice "threading" between groups of walkers and runners, moving forward, totally "track" unaware.

Still Standing

I still have a mouth sore or two so I must still be worn out (or something like that). Originally I was thinking about running 10K followed by 3 x 500 meters but decided to keep things slow but I still covered about 8 miles keeping my HR at around 140. Not a stellar week of running but I am "still standing".

Recovery from anything hard continues to be an issue and I am sure will become more a challenge as the years go by. This isn't going away.

Falling: A new type of cross training

I went out for an easy 50 minute jog this morning. About ahalf mile out I was running on the trail next to the RR Tracks and I stumbled and went down hard.The RR folks have been replacing track and rock so that there was loose rock everywhere. Luckily I had on my cycling gloves. As a result I took the major part of the impact on my hands and the soft part of the gloves. I rolled over , stopped my watch (key) and dusted myself off. I did a quick inventory and found that no cuts or other injuries were apparent so I just continued my run.

Pushing to the Edge

I went over early to WVC to run with Jake. As we warmed up I felt slightly worn out. Not sleeping that well. Not sure what is causing it. I have had a mouth sore or two and that may be because of less sleep or (OR) what is symptomatic of what is causing me not to sleep as well. But Jake said "My legs feel like S--T!" and I said back rather quickly "Well, let's do something else." So we ran 5 miles easy and went to the track to do 3 x 500 meters (Van Aaken). I let Jake get a lead on me on each one and I tried to catch him. This resulted in me running 1:48-1:46-1:44. My best yet as an old guy. We then ran around campus for an easy warmdown. Maybe 7.5-8 miles total. By that time I had pretty much decided NOT to run the evening workout. I was not bashed but I was tired and those mouth sores were warning me not to push too hard.

Undaunted 80 minutes

It was the last roundup this morning. Dropped my car off for maintenace. BIG maintenance. Two of the rear outside tail lights had gone out. The driver's side window didn't always go up. Noticeable vibrations in the steering wheel when braking at higher speeds. Needed an oil change. Turned out the timing belt and water pump were beginning to go. $$$$$$$$$$$$$$ kah ching!

$2,000 later.

AAAAAAARRRRRRRRRRRRGGGGGGGGGGGHHHHHHHHHHHHH!!!!!!!!!

Still, undaunted I went out and ran an easy 80 minutes with 4 miles of 350 meter jog and 50 meter walk thrown in right in the middle. I kept it easy and my legs never felt tired.

I shared the track with Asian Girls and Traditional Indian Couple. I ran clockwise. Everyone else ran counter. No one smiles or talked to anyone. It was a silent day at De Anza.