Cold College

Woke up early. 5:15 (((am)))

Ugh.

My mother is dying up in Santa Rosa. 91 years old. She's in hospice. EOL ain't pretty. Reminds me to enjoy life by the ounce. At least she gets to die in her house. We don't know when. Days. Weeks. Deathwatch by any other name.

I got out for my 60 minute run with Tom. Cold College but warmed up later on in the bright sun. Ended up alone at breakfast. Tom got a call from his wife, right after we ordered, that Ratman had showed up unannounced. Tom had to go so I was left alone with my pancakes.

Calorie Burner

Danny is still not running or walking. Tom and I ran an hour joined by Vince. Believe me, this run was nothing special. A calorie burner at best but I felt good especially with the continued addition of walk breaks of one minute in every ten minutes (9-1). Once again it was cool weather and overcast. I am still sticking with short sleeves and gloves but I can see where that is going to end soon.

Vince is a good addition. He is on his way to becoming a police officer so we may lose him to work. Good guy. Hope he shows up more.

81 minutes

Overcast and cool morning. Dimitri and I running the long hill from Foothill College to the park and back. It took a long time to climb into the sun. We took our friggin ease getting up to the halfway point. Two minutes slower than last time. No guard at the shack like there was all summer so no one to stop us from rootin' around the trails if we'd been of a mind to do so. But like cowards we turned back dropping down the same trail with urgency until we hit Moody and ran in like real athletes.

81 minutes. 48 up and out, 33 down and back.

Saw Jimmy and his wife in the parking lot. We chatted a bit. Then a coffee and a power bar recovery tango. Came home hungrier than ever and scarfed da bagel and yogurt.

Gallowalking

Another sixty minutes with Tom. Cool and overcast as we ran WVC loops. We've incorporated one minute walks every ten minutes. I read someplace that it's called Gallowalking after Jeff Galloway. Whatever it's called it seems to help with the continuous pounding.

These days it's all about keeping the legs fresh. Can't go nowhere on dead legs.

Sixty minutes of recovery

Recovery from Sunday was good. I ran an easy 60 minutes with Tom around WVC. Cool and overcast.

I am really slow

Showed up at Foothill for my Sunday morning run with Dimitri. The plan was for him to 8 laps on the track while I jumped in for six of them. The trouble was that some organization had taken over the stadium so we were out of luck. Instead we ran up Moody Road to the top ( just before the twisters begin ) and came back at AT pace. I ran an inglorious 15:10 ( 7:02-8:10 ).  The reason for the faster first mile is because the course drops steeply for the first 800 and then begins to flatten and roll out while still do continuing to gradually go downhill.

I am really slow. That's the takeaway.

But it was fun anyway.

Easy run

36 minutes of easy running around the track and the campus. The club was doing a track workout but us dog meat runners circled around and socialized. Nice breakfast afterward.

Cool morning but once the sun was up, it warmed up.

Return to Wally Wista

 Thursday was campus loops and Valle Vista (Wally Wista ) with Tom.

Tom is rounding back in shape and had to walk every five minutes heading up the hill.  I was glad to accompany him being the lazy bastard I am. If there is a slower way, I'll find it.

The return trip downhill was nice. We finally finished up in the track in 60 minutes. HRM was rarely over 135 the whole way.

Slow jog

Showed up to find Tom ( the walker ) ready to run. We did a cool sixty minutes at a slow jog. My HR was down in the 120's most of the time. I recommended that we walk one minute every 10 minutes which made it easier on Tom ( and me ). We also walked to cool down afterwards. So probably 65 minutes total.

Cool, sunny, slight breeze.

The Weekend

Saturday: The usual socializing, hanging out at the track, thirty minutes of easy jogging while Danielle ran her 4 x 400 rep workout.

Sunday: Dimitri and I ran up to Foothill Park and back. 80 minutes of super slow bliss. Great weather. Sunny and cool but warming to the 60's.

Better running

Thursday was interesting. Danny text. See you at breakfast. He has PF. No choice but to rest it.

Tom was at WVC but nursing a hammie and walking. Rick and I ran together. Felt more energetic due to focusing on carbs the day before. 60 minutes of mostly running but with some walking. Ended up on the track with some striders.

Cool weather at the beginning but it warmed up nicely.

Burning calories

On Monday I walked 5 miles. Between my 2 mile Lucy walk and a three mile round trip to Tom's Cafe for lunch with Bob and his houseguest, Charles, I burned up an extra 500 calories.

Tuesday was another dead legged day. 50 minutes of running and ten minutes of walking. Rick and Tom joined me. Danny was resting his injured foot. Something was not right. I was dragging and decided not to run 100's at the end.

We went to breakfast afterward. Tom said his hamstring was sore. The wages of going from mostly walking to mostly running in one big gulp.

Cashed it in

Not feeling that hot. Ran 30 minutes on Saturday and another 50 minutes on Sunday. Feeling lethargic and I seem to have a slightly upset stomach. I was going to run a time trial 800 Sunday but after warming up I (((knew))) it was not my day so I cashed it in. Went for coffee anyway. That and a slice of blueberry cake did the job.

I have been struggling with my running. That has been ongoing for some time. Like in late 1990 when I finally went to an every other day schedule, I know it is way past the time to shift again. I figure three days a week will be enough with walking as cross training. I plan to use the HRM to make sure I don't overtrain even though almost anything constitutes overtraining these days.

So I figure it this way.

3 days of running
Dog walks with Lucy most days
1-2 extended walks of an hour or more to burn calories

Now and then threshold workouts or tempo runs to see if I reverse the slow over the past year. Forget last year. That wasn't so good but it was faster than this year just because of age.

The other Rich

Ran at WVC ( boy, am I in a rut ). Danny and Tom....absent. Tom back in cheese head land and Danny doing something else. I didn't rush over. Had the extra cup of coffee and drifted over around 8:45. Rick (the other Rich) was there running so we joined up and ran together. It was an easy 50 minutes for me with some easy striders on the track to finish things off.

It was good to catch up with Rick. Last Thursday was a bit combatitive. The economy (blah...blah...blah...). 

Like flies

My running partners are going down like flies. Tom is having back issues and is reduced to walking. Danny has some mysterious foot problem and can't run at all.

I ran alone putting in a modest 50 minutes peppered with 100 meter strides and a 39 second 200.

The good news is that we all made it to breakfast.

Thursday I am on my own.