Big calorie burning day

80 minutes of walking proceeded by 60 minutes of Tom-Style running (1 minute run, 30 seconds walking). A big calorie burning day. I decided not to go to the gym. I plan to go once this week and go further at a 9 pace. At this stage of the game it is more important that I feel good than doing stuff that beats me up.

New workout buddy

Walked Lucy this morning for thirty minutes. Nice and cool. Up the RR tracks and back.

In the afternoon I dropped by the gym several hours after lunch and ran 20 minutes on the treadmill at a 9 pace. Pretty slow (@6:40 age grade) but tough because I tend to run 11-12 minutes a mile on the roads. So it's a bit of a shock when the belt starts moving. I generally settle down after several minutes and then I am jus' fine. Ramping up slowly though.  Need to add in a warmup to the workout.

The treadmill is my new workout buddy. If I survive, then it'll help me get more comfortable running at faster paces.

The Smell of the Lambs

The usual. 60 minute run with Danny and Tom over at WVC this morning with some walking thrown in. At midday I went back out for a walk with Lucy (the blond golden retriever). We traipsed down to Blackberry Farm and visited the goats and lambs (you can smell them before you can see them) at McClellan Ranch.

Note to self: I decided to put off the treadmill run until Friday since I will be on the road Saturday and will not have much time to run.

Dreadmill Run

80 minutes today. Whoopee!

I ran and walked 60 minutes this morning with Danny and Tom. I mostly ran but I have to admit, I like those walking breaks especially the day after getting deep tissue massage. My legs were sore.

In the afternoon I finally returned to the gym and did 20 minutes on the treadmill. First treadmill run in years. I think the last time was during a stress test. Hmmmm. 18 years ago. I was 50.

It was a strange feeling. The belt moves and you either stay up or fall off.  I set the speed for around a 9 pace which is faster than I run on the roads. It was ( sad to say ) challenging but not too tough. For now it's the dreadmill or nothing because the elliptical seems to hurt my back.

68

75 minutes around Foothill up and down Moody Road. The last section at threshold pace. It was warm and HR climbed quickly but we covered the tough part in around 11 minutes. 80 seconds faster than last week.

Ran into Jimmy who was back from Ireland. He ran a tough half in 1:50. I am impressed.  Tough course and conditions plus he is packing, by own omission, about two stone more than he should be to run his potential. Still though.....

Turned 68 today. Getting old but I will never again be younger.

Kept a lid on it. Just another milepost.

Had dinner with Sue and Alex and Lucy. Opened some nice gifts.

Since Tuesday

I ran and walked 70 minutes on Thursday. Mostly running but the blurring line between the two is becoming less obvious.

On Saturday I jogged 45 minutes ( some walks ) and then walked with Lucy in the afternoon. So 75-80 minutes total.

I am finding that if I walk but insert one minute runs, the whole 17- 18 minute mile thing drops to the 15's. Tom, running the club workout yesterday, ran one minute and walked two for 4.68 miles. His pace was in the 12's. Not that far from the 10-11 minute pace we normally run.

As I age ( I am turning 68 on Sunday ) all of this makes me rethink my approach to running.

Cutting back

I am cutting back! Wham, bang, thank you ma'am.   I ran and walked (mostly ran) for 62 minutes this morning. I decided not to go to Shawsu and start the treadmill. At least not yet. Maybe next week. The delta between doing it and overdoing it, is as narrow as I can ever remember. I am that close to going off the edge.

Sort of a big day

I felt pretty good after limiting Saturday to walking. I ran around 15 minutes before hooking up with Dimitri over at Foothill College. We ran at an easy slog up Moody Road, cut off at the trail and kept running past the overhanging tree branch all the way up to the Vineyard. That was 35 minutes. Further than we traveled in the same time period last week. We took it easy coming back down the trail until we hit Moody and gradually picked it up. It took us 12 minutes to get back to the stop sign at Moody and the road into the campus. Most of it was at AT effort. Then we slow jogged back to the track.

62 more minutes for me added to the 15 I had already done. 77 total. So sort of a big day with some faster running.

The Foothill Track is below. In 1976 I ran a 10 flat 2 mile here. The next year I ran 9:58 in a solo effort at San Jose City Track and then a year later I blitzed a 9:44 at Los Gator Track.

The weekend goeth

I walked on Saturday. I joined Tom riding drag over Saratoga Douglas. 2.75 miles. We did some short 30 second running 4-5 x but the rest was just walking. All in all I got in an hour of moving along. Douglas was only too 42 minutes and change. A sub 16 minute pace. Wow wee! The rest of the hour came from my warm up walk beforehand.

 

Gallowayish

Thursday's workout was a recovery from just plain being tired. I ran and walked and hour. I used a 4-1 ratio which means four minutes of running to one minute of walking. Very Gallowayish. I ran over at WVC with Rick (now retired). Danny had a dental appointment and Tom is still walking (but feeling better),

I am thinking more and more about shifting to a three day running week.  I have been thinking about it for some time but now the time may have come. Between running, walking and elliptical, I wiped myself out.  No question that doing the elliptical on my supposed XT* days does not work. I simply don't recover. I am not sure the elliptical is in my future anyway because I am almost positive it is screwing up my back (go figure).

I have decided to try the treadmill (or the dread-mill as one colleague calls it). I'll do it on the afternoons that I run in the morning. We'll see how that works out. It'll be a chance to run a faster pace in a controlled environment. 7:42 on the dread mill is roughly an 8 pace on the roads.

These days walking is way too close to running not to have an effect. I am committed to walking Lucy. I can't not walk her. So I have to recognize that walking is a workout these days.




*XT   Cross Training

My back is back!

My back is back. Not sure exactly was is causing my back to go out but it is out. I can run and walk but the transition from bed or couch to standing is no fun. Popping ibuprofen. That's not good either.
I have a suspicion that the elliptical is causing the issue. I plan to stand down on doing it for a week or two and see hat happens.

In any case as I said, I am okay once I am walking or running. Today I ran for an hour on massaged legs and then went to lunch at Tom's with Bob which was another hour round trip. So two hours of action. By the time I got home I was tired enough so that I did not walk Lucy....guilt...guilt...

I'll make sure she gets a good walk on Wednesday. Early too. Supposed to be warm.

Another of those weekends

Another of those weekends. No matter how early I get to the Saturday workout, I still do NOT get in very much work. Saturday was 35 minutes of jogging around and socializing.

Sunday was better. Fewer distractions. After walking Lucy, I ended up running 70 minutes with most of it up and down Moody Road with Dimitri. Coming back we picked up the effort making the workout a modified progression run. Finished strong and actually felt like a runner again ( however briefly ).

Hammering home the simple truth

Monday and Wednesday were walks with Lucy. On Tuesday I did what is now a mammoth workout. 60 minutes running, 40 minutes walking Lucy and 30 minutes on the elliptical. 11 miles! On Thursday I ran 60 minutes and then went to the gym in the afternoon and added in another 30 minutes on the elliptical. 9 miles.

It seems easier to do the elliptical on the days I run rather than on the day I recover hammering home the simple truth. My 67 year old body ( soon to be 68 ) needs whole days off. Of course there are the Lucy walks but I take those pretty easy anyway.

Takeaways

Friday: Walked Lucy. Pretty tired out. Between walking, running and elliptical, I am not recovering.

Saturday: 45 minute club run around WVC. Achilles was sore. I mostly felt it on the uphills. Asic's may be too low in the heel for support. As a result I pulled out my last pair of Adidas Supernova's and immediately noticed the difference. Walked Lucy for 35 minutes.

Sunday: Ran 40 minutes up in SF with Shel. The run included some nice hills. NO PROBLEMO.

Takeaway: I need days off....walk Lucy that's it.