8's and it rained last night

Tom, Danny and I ran 8's on the track. 6 x 700 and 1 x 400. Averaged under an eight pace. Tom was strong. Danny was running like he never took time off. It rained last night but the track wasn't very slick. I was still feeling Peach Hill from Tuesday and it was rep five before I began to feel decent. I never struggled though. My body goes onto eight pace auto pilot and I just sort of settle in.

Peach Hill

It was a full house today. Vince, Danny, Tom and myself. Tom and I ran a couple of college loops and then with Vince and Danny in tow, we ran Peach Hill. I wore my Fitbit off the front of my right hip where it seems to get the best reading. We chugged up Fruitvale, crossed highway 9 and then up (up) into the sidewalk-less neighborhoods of Saratoga. I was kinda dragging at the rear all the way to the top but recovered going back down. When we finished, sans Danny who made a life saving dash to the bathrooms as we re-entered the campus, I had 6 miles and change on my device. Tom's GPS watch had almost exactly the same reading.  The difference was a few 100's.

We were all pretty tired but breakfast and coffee perked us up.

A morning at the track

Today was a nowhere run...

60 minutes of the slowest running imaginable over at Foothill College Track . I warmed up with Dimitri very slowly, jogged around while he did his two mile trial and then warmed down with him afterward. There was a field hockey game going on and some of the mothers and kids seemed blissfully unaware of track etiquette. Not as bad as Saratoga High  School Track though. I chased one mother and her young daughter off the inside two lanes where she had parked her baby stroller. I was nice about it and so was she. Dimitri was coming by around and it had accident written all over it.

I thoroughly enjoyed it all. A fat Asian guy blazed jogged by us we were running so slowly.

8's on the track

8's on the track with Tom. Danny joined us for the last part of the workout. We're up to 6 x 600 and 2 x 400. I was my usual sluggish self for the first 3 x 600 but began to settle in after that. Pretty much stayed around an 8 pace or just under. The last several 600 we're 2:55. The last 400 was 1:53. All were sub tempo and I did them under control.

Tom hung in there until the 7th rep and then he didn't.

He still averaged around an 8 pace except for the 7th.

The warmup was 20 minutes. The warm down was walking to the car.

Another Fitbit Calibration Run

Tom and I ran sixty minutes at the college. Tried to further calibrate the Fitbit but it was way off this time. Ran the tennis court loop and a campus loop. We know the distances because the loops have been measured by a calibrated wheel but the Fitbit didn't even come close. It's seems more valuable on my walks.

Anyway, my legs felt good and Tom who juggled medications ran well too. Danny joined us for the last straightaway.

Fitbit

Dimitri and I ran a very pedestrian 89 minute up and back from Foothill College. We reached the upper park in an all time slow 50 minutes and came back down to our cars in 39 minutes. We were around 85 minutes at the last Y before you go into the college. It took us another 4 minutes to reach home base.

I took along the a Fitbit device that Tom and I calibrated on Thursday to see what the distance might be. The device said that we were over 8 miles but I would take that with a grain of salt until we use a GPS device to get a closer read. Fitbit "calibrated" said 8.25. It seems to read 5% less than actual.

But who knows for sure.

The day started cool but warmed up nicely.

Back out...back in

I threw my back out Monday and didn't run again until this morning. I took it easy jogging with Tom and Vince. We did 60 minutes with walk breaks every five. My back didn't tighten up so I am going to guess that I can return to regular training next week.

Chiro and massage helped to speed the healing process.

60 minutes at Foothill

I drove over to Foothill to run with Dimitri. We slowly warmed up together as he got ready for a one mile time trial. After that I picked up the effort taking my HR up to 140. I checked the pace and it was right around 9:20 per mile. Nothing FANTASTIC but good enough for my old body. It was a 6:54 effort age graded. I felt very strong and smooth doing this. 2-3 months ago this would have been a ten mpm pace.

After Dimitri had finished we slow jogged for another twenty minutes. I ended up about with an hour total.

The track was crowded. There was a kids field hockey game going on and people were walking back and forth across the track. Oblivious of course to runners.

Eights on the track

8 pace day on the track with Tom. We warmed up for 20 minutes and then launched into our veteran's version of tempo.

600-600-400-600-600-400-600-400 (200 walk recovery).

The first three were not easy but then from the fourth rep on things just flowed. Tom had exactly the opposite experience. He struggled from the first one all the way through to the end. He was literally staggering. I tried to talk him into backing off or just stopping but the guy is amazingly tough minded.  So he completed the workout but as I got faster and smoother (lucky me) he was getting slower and looked ragged.

But he finished. 

60 minutes

Met up with Tom and ran 60 minutes. We almost forget our walk breaks. Made 40 minutes before we decided to stop and stroll a bit. Still on the cool side. Hanging in the 30's but warms up to the 60's my midday.  I need a mental adjustment about cool weather. This is nothing in comparison to the arctic blast hanging over the Midwest.

Thursday is eight pace day. We're working our way up to 5 x 600 and 3 x 400. Danny showed up and walked around campus and then we all drove up to Bill Tarr's office for an adjustment.  Breakfast after. A GIANT bowl of oatmeal.

73 minute calorie burner

73 minutes of very easy running at a Foothill College with Dimitri. Temps were in the high 30's but frankly it felt much colder. We stayed down on campus so we could run in the sunlight versus the shade. A bit weenie but at least it helped get us through the run.

We ran into a group of marathoners doing mile repeats Galloway style.

4 x 400-600

Another relatively cold morning. 30's.....

Tom and I ran a good warmup and then reeled off 4 x 400-600 sets at a sub eight pace. I, for one, had trouble getting untracked but once we finished the first set (400-600) I began to go onto automatic. Tom hung in well today. Had no issues keeping up. Danny came down and walked for a while before we all went to breakfast.

I recovered from Peach Hill on Tuesday. I was concerned that it had taken too much out of me. Didn't bother Tom either.