65 minutes

Got out early. I drove over to WVC and ran the campus and then up the hill to Valle Vista. I wanted an hour run but also needed to burn time until Bob Anderson came by the 1.5 mile point of a four mile race so I could snap a photo as he raced by. Mission accomplished (see above). There was a big field of primarily fun runners. The leader was ahead by quite a bit. As I ran back down the hill to the college and my car Joe Hurtado, one of my club buddies, joined me. I ended up running 65 minutes.

65 minutes

I doubled today running 30 minutes over at WVC while club ran their road run. Then I went to Foothill in the early afternoon running another 35 minutes. I finished off with a track workout. D was there to both jog and time me. 2 x 100 in the 17's. This was fine but I expected at least one of them to be in the 16's. I then ran 300 in 56. I was a bit disappointed. I had hoped for a 55 but there was a headwind down the stretch and it slowed me down. Of course it might have also helped the first part of the run. Who knows? I decided to finish on a positive note ( for me ) and tore off a low 16 second 100. Felt very strong doing it. I realized that I should have gotten out faster during the first part of the 300.

Another 70 minutes

Things back to normal. I was able to go through my usual routine this morning rather than spend an hour dealing with a hacked email account. So, coffee, 10 minute neighborhood jog, drive to West Valley, 60 more minutes of running, breakfast. Strange run though. My HR stayed down around 130 most of the early to mid part of the run. It felt like we were going harder though but according to my running buddy, Tom, we were only in the high 9's. Danny who dropped Tuesday seemed fine today.

65 minutes

This morning my email was hacked. Sort of threw me off as I sat around changing passwords and making sure none of our accounts were compromised. I finally got out and ran 65 minutes with Tom and Danny using my new Garmin for the first time. It was a good stress reliever. Probably the major damage was losing all my past email and email folders. Yahoo will try to retrieve per the online form I filled out and submitted. UGH!

3 miles easy

I drove up to Golden Gate Park to watch Bob and Bill race Zippy's 5K. My job was to help Bob warmup and also to film Bob at the first and second mile marks. Between all the running around and I did, I covered around 3 miles. Fourth unintentional day in a row. 70 minutes, 3 miles, 66 minutes and 3 miles again. I feel fine though but Monday will be a day off.

Bill ran about what we expected but Bob was off (slower) by around a minute. The 60-69 field was very deep. You really needed to run in the 18's to be among the leaders. And late 60's is very different than early 60's. Like another world. In a way, I am glad I am out of it.

Double Day

Double day. Morning and a early afternoon workout. I ran a very easy 45 minutes at WVC this morning. Obviously it's going to be another hot day. I have already committed myself to running at 1 pm over at Foothill Track. It'll be in the 80's. The workout will be shorter and include some strides and maybe a rep or two. My plan is to get in and out relatively quickly.

Later on that same day.....

Okay, now it is hours later and the workout is over. It was hot. I am sure it was in the low 80's but on the track it was much hotter. I jogged another 21 minutes with D and then did some warm up strides. I felt pretty loose but then the warm weather tends to make you feel pretty loose.

I ran two x 100 in 17-16.  I then walked to the far turn and blasted off a 200 coming through the first 100 in around 18 and finishing with a 17 down the stretch. 35 seconds with some change. I walked a lap and called it a day.

5k with Bob Anderson

I ran 5k with Bob Anderson. The weather had warmed up and we ended up running midday. Bob ran my slow pace. The course was pure Los Altos Hills. Back roads, no sidewalks and rolling terrain. Hard to stop sweating. I finally sat in my car and ran the air conditioning. We went out for lunch afterward.

Slow...slow...slow

Tom and Danny both bashed themselves Wednesday doing non running activities. Tom biked and Danny moved bricks. So I recommended that we run easy. How nice of me...right? My heart rate monitor was in the 120's and 130's throughout the run. Very easy for me but then my legs felt fine. I won't ride a bike and moving bricks will destroy my back.

75 minutes

I ran an easy seventy-five minutes this morning with Danny and Tom. Kept the HRM in the 130's and 140's. So it was nice and easy. Weather was really great. Spring time conditions.

Speed is still there

Ran an easy 75 minutes with some fast strides mixed in over at Foothill College aka "The Track of Bob". This is where Bob Anderson does his speed work.

I broke the 17 second barrier on two of my 100's (finally). I then ran a solo 200 in 36. If I age grade the time it is like running 27 at age 30.

Good sign that my speed is still there.

Social Run

Jogged for 41 minutes over at the college. I watched the club run and socialized. I meant to get in a good hour but spent too much time standing around chatting. I am thinking of going out for another run. Not sure if I am that motivated.

60 minute test run

Seventy minutes of 70% running over at WVC this morning. Tom kept me company. We were trying to see how far we could go in an hour at 70% of max heart rate. To give us a decent chance of going further than the last test several weeks back, we ran a combo of tennis court loops and laps around the track. I felt strong and for the first 15 minutes my HR stayed in the 130's so I thought we had it nailed (but alas we didn't). The run degenerated into a struggle to keep my HR from going over 70%. From the half way point on, I could feel that today wasn't my day. I kept having to cut back on pace to maintain heart rate. And yet I never was in any sort of distress.

The pace was the pace...

The rate was the rate.

Ended up with 6.28 miles and that's rounding up. Tom told me later that we were at 3.5 miles at the halfway point but dropped off sharply after that. So maybe we went out too hard. It certainly was cool enough. No wind to speak of.

There will be another day. Dum de dum dum!

Not-a-Track

Got out and ran my neighborhood for 45 minutes. I lucked out and missed the rain. I jogged over to the college and looked at the track or rather the not-a-track. It's all gone. Just a swath of dirt where the track and stands used to be. Most of the eucalyptus trees are gone too. The hill at the west end still stands but for how long? It will be interesting to see what kind of super loop course will exist when the work is done.

Not Running!

In the spirit of not running, I am taking two days off. I was on the road yesterday, a normal day off anyway. But my plan is to not run Tuesday either. I may run some Wednesday but won't really get back to it until Thursday.

The abiding secrets of master's running since I was in my mid 40's has been (and is) :

Run more on the days you run and take the intervening days off.

Use a HRM to make sure you don't get into trouble. You don't have to use every day but should use it most days. Recovery runs are 65-70%.

No pace is too slow.

Deep tissue massage every 3-4 weeks.

A good chiropractor.

In races or workouts, just try to beat what you did last year.  Forget the old days.

Whoosh

Ran an easy 65 minutes with most of it over in Bob Anderson territory-AKA Foothill Track. I capped off my workout with 2 x 100 in 17 and then a 37 second 200. Dimitri let me lead this last one. I didn't push the 100's or the 200. I glided. "Whoosh". The speed was right there. I was smart. I decided not to take out the nail gun and hammer myself to death. A 37 is like running around 27-28 back in the day.

Besides, I was shaking out the cobwebs of the last 3-4 months.

Weather was superb. Sunny with almost no wind. The track was pretty much empty. Easter Sunday, I guess. Folks started to show up around the time I was winding down.

60 minutes

I ran for an hour over at WVC mostly with Danielle. We took it easy while the club ran 300's on the track. Cool and sunny. Great weather.

Under powered

I woke up to a cold windy morning. But I ran anyway. 70 minutes to be exact including an hour with Tom and Danny. We ran are usual WVC-Valle Vista  course. I wore my HRM and it told me early on that I was going to be running slow. Had to fight to stay under 70% much of the way (but fight I did). In this case slowing down. No one complained. We were all a bit tired or in my case perhaps under powered. I ate the BIG SALAD for dinner last night. Very good but not enough dense carbs to power my aging engine. The good news was that my legs felt great. No doubt it was a benefit from the massage this past Monday.

Variations of the Dental Plaque Run

I ran my usual 70 minutes this morning. My knee feels better. Dr. Bill believes it patellar tendinitis. I think he right. So I am doing cross friction massage and stretching my knee and quads.

Anyhow, we ran a variation of familiar courses including the backside of the Valentine's run. We bored each other with stories about The Dental Plaque Run (circa 1982). It was run on the same course as thw Valentine's Run but was 10k instead of 5.34 miles.

I was sore from the Monday's massage but we took it easy. Thursday (or the following week) may be an hour on the track. An attempt to see how far we can go.

17's....Really?

The rain went away over night and I was greeted by really clear skies but also a quartering head wind coming from north-northwest. But I was really ready to run after two days off. I ran the neighborhood and then drove over to Foothill College and ran some more. Dimitri joined me (still nursing his plantar Fascia issue). I kept jogging easy but I admit that my legs felt great! I capped things off by running 5 x 100 meters (walking back for recovery). I made sure the wind was at my back. It had calmed down quite a bit but I still wanted the push if I could get it.

I ran all of them in the 17's. No hard running. Just striding through. Two seconds faster than last week. The wind must have helped but no two seconds worth. I even tried to slow down on the last two but still nailed 17's.

It must of been a very green run. Wind powered.

About 65 minutes of total running.