Afib Run

Low key day. Tom, Danny and I ran an easy hour. Tom struggling with afib. He needs to take action. He doesn't get enough oxygen so the pace stays slow. It's Jake all over again.

My HR was rarely over 120 but I am not complaining. It was a total recovery run.

Big HEAT wave coming in. Thursday could be interesting.

Threshold Workout

I was planning to go up and run the DSE race in San Francisco but Shel called in sick last night so I decide to go to WVC and do a 1,000 meter threshold workout. It was overcast and windy and it was a heck of a lot further than I have gone so far since beginning this latest program.

Warmed up for 20 minutes
4 x .66 (5:07-12-10-09) at 85-90% of max. 2 minute recovery between reps.
warmed down for 10 minutes.

I averaged 7:48 for the workout. A looooong way from where I want to be. I ran it alone which made it mentally tougher than it had to be. I saw the HRM flicker at 175-76 once which means my operational max may be higher than I am judging it to be. Mostly, I stayed in the 167-173 range which is AT.

Easy stuff

Quiet day. I ran 65 minutes of easy stuff with Tom and Danny this morning.

MRI

65 minutes of run-walk ( mostly running ) with Ready to go Tom and back from Oregon, Danny.
It was windy and cool. We ran college loops plus the two mile warm up course. Then it was up to Bill Tarr's and breakfast afterward.

MRI on my shoulder in the afternoon. A study in discomfort. Something was jabbing the very spot below my shoulder blade that was being scanned. I dealt with it but I thought of hitting the panic button several times. You can't move and there's the rub.

20 minutes of pain. Low, throbbing pain.

It let up the moment they handed me my get out of MRI card.

Going to the mountain

Dimitri and I finally ran the going to the mountain course in the Los Altos Hills. This is a longer variation of our usual route. It adds one steep #@%* hill.

No wrong turns this time. 49 minutes to the summit and 30 minutes back down which shocked both of us given how easy it felt. Passed twice though by two young women (tall, brunette, athletic, cruising by us like we were jogging....Oh we were!). I kept my HR at or under 70%. If that meant walking some portions of the steeper hills, then I walked.

7:48's

Did my 8's this morning. Tom begged off due to heart rate issues. I ran 5 x 800 (2 minute rest) at a 7:48 pace. I used 168-172 as my AT range and right now I think it's right. I had to push early on to get up in zone but had to back off later to keep from going too high. The good news was that my recovery was excellent. My HR dropped back under 70% in a minute or less. Also, and this was the surprise, my reps got slightly faster as I progressed through them. The cool weather and two minute rest was probably the reason.

Good to Go Tom

It was Good to Go Tom today (versus Not Good to Go Tom). We didn't stay around the college much but instead ran Ray's warmup and the Northwest Passage that took us up to highway 9. It was cool but not cold so the running conditions were near perfect. I wore the HRM and mostly stayed in the 130 range. This was 15 beats below my target so the run wasn't hard.  Good Tom led the way. I hope he feels this good Thursday.

We hit an hour, walked a bit and called it a day.

KING OF THE FOURTH LANE

Another one of those days. An hour exacto, running slow at first and faster later on. I wore the HRM and let it run for me. My HR floated up to the mid 140's and I was actually passing other joggers on the track. For a brief time I was King of the Fourth Lane. The reality was a ten minute pace and sometimes faster. Age grade it and you have a 7:18 give or take. Mostly take.

8's with the HRM

8's this morning. Tom has been experimenting with not taking some of his meds to see if it would make a difference and it has! He stayed in the workout only taking one 800 off.

We ran 400-600-800 x 2 followed by a last 800. I wore the HRM and found that 166-170 was the range that I hit while doing the reps. After each rep my HR quickly dropped back under 70% so the recovery is about right.

Next week, no more mister nice guy. I'm going to do 2 x 400 followed by 4 x 800 followed by 2 x 400.

Easy hour run

Tom, Danny and I ran a very easy hour with walk breaks. T's and shorts. Seemed comfortable. First sign of summer. It's warming up. Real summer is several months off.

Altamont

Ran up Altamont to the park and back down the trails to Moody and then to the college.  I took it very easy. The hills did the work for me. 80 minutes total.

Dimitri joined me.

Real 8's

Ran 8's this morning. All four of us were there. Vince who had to be someplace before the meat of the workout began, Tom, who is dragging badly, and Danny who showed up halfway through dressed to the T's.

600-800-600-800-600-800.

I kept the pace closer to 8 minutes versus the 7:30 pace stuff I was doing. The goal is to go longer right now. Not faster. It turned out to be a good move. I felt good throughout.

Before the rain...

Storm came in and we figured it would be wet Tuesday morning but for some reason the calamity held off and we got in our run with only a few sprinkles. Tom who is tracing his problems to a probably calcium deficiency, ran fine and we did our hour. Danny did most of it coming out fashionably late (as always). It was cold and warm all at once depending if the sun came out from behind the gray clippers blowing over our heads. There wasn't much of a wind down below. It was all up high blowing clouds.

Later on I walked Lucy between the rain. So maybe I got in 7 miles today but I wouldn't bet on it.