A Bit of Kindness

I was not going to run in Santa Barbara on Sunday. It would have made 5 days on the road this week and it just wasn't a great idea.

Really, that was the plan. I only brought my very light (BRIGHT RED) racing shoes and but there were a pair of shorts and a long sleeve pullover in my suitcase. I put them on just to see how they looked. I lookled at myself in the full legth mirror in the hotel room. The reflection was of an aging male version of Dorothy in Oz wearing the ruby red slippers. The weather outside promised rain but it was nowhere near that and the wind was mild so I decided just to go out for a walk-jog.

That didn't last long. I crossed the street in front of out hotel and headed down the walking path along the Ocean running at pace that was just on this side of any leg discomfort. I headed east (The beach runs East to West or vice-versa). The street people were out in force (they always are). I kept running at a very easy effort until I passed the beach volley ball area (girls and women in bikini's) and kept going around a lake towards a nature preserve. Eventually, everytime I take this route, I run into the same sign.

"Thank you for your kindness"

It leads onto to some short marsh land trails and it was there, having to go really bad (REALLY BAD) that I left some kindness off in the bushes. I don't believe that is what they had in mind but based on the toilet paper remnants, I was not the only one who had been kind recently.

On my way back a young, slender girl runner whipped by me, stopped off at one of the restrooms, came back out and passed me again (OH, HOW THE MIGHTY HAVE FALLEN!). Then she stopped for drink at a water fountain and passed me a second time. At that moment of extreme humilation I suddenly saw Kelly, who was from my running club coming the other way so we stopped a chatted. She was visiting an aunt. My wife and I were on a hit and run mini vacation. We were both almost at end of our respective runs so no company there for either of us. So we just talked for about 5-10 minutes and then I jogged back to the hotel.

I was out for more than 50 minutes with no HRM which actually was sort of nice. I had a stop watch on but only so I would have a rough idea of when to turn back.

62*

I drove over to the club workout and did a slow 3 mile warmup (the pack pulled away from me rather quickly during the first mile). My legs were stiff from those 100's (I am paying the price at last). The club went to the track to run 600's while I went around campus over and over again to put in another 5 miles for 8 total on the day. My HRM gave out mid run. I knew something was wrong when it was giving a readout of 187 during a very slow jog portion of the run. Now and then it would flicker back on the actual HR but then it would go crazy again.

I had to rush through breakfast so I could take our 11.5 year old Golden (Amber) to the kennel. We're headed out of town for a short two days. Our destination is Santa Barbara.

Turned 62* today.

* I always start using whatever age I am going to be on April 21st as early as January 1st of that same year. That way I have almost 4 months to get used to it.

Easy..Easy

I ran an easy 45 minutes this morning between rain events. I had my HRM on but for some reason I did not swtich it on until about mid run, saw my HR was in the 130's and then switched it off again. I still feel those fast 100's from Wednesday but it is more like certain muscles were recruited for that effort and I could feel their soreness but that in no way effected the use of slow twitch fibres for today's easy run. In other words, legs felt fine.

And Later That Evening

I went back to the track and did a mile warm up then joined Ray and Dimitri for 8 x 100 meters (easy walk back for recovery). They are so far ahead of me doing 13's and 14's while I have, on occasion, been struggling to go under 17. But it was a good early evening. I did the first one in 18 followed by 2 in 16 and then another 4 in the 15's. I let off on the last one and ran a 16. This was as fast I was at the end of the summer last year so the pure speed is still there.

So yes I was shocked but nothing pulled and I seem to have survived it.

I ran another mile as a warm down.

Dinner (the BIG salad with dressing on the side) and then home.

SPLAT...CRASH

I told Jake that I was going to pace us to run under 15 minutes for the two mile time trial. After a 3 mile warm-up (during which Jake tripped and went splat) in the cool morning air we went down to the track and once again did the run. Jake sounded bad after about 3 laps and I knew he wasn't going to make it. I just kept going covering the first mile in 7:36 and the second mile in 7:12 (my HR was up in the 80-85% range). I never felt uncomfortable but like Jake, who dropped out, I seem to have fallen off the cliff again. More than likely it was the Van Aaken 500 meter runs. I am just not strong enough to handle those. I was not dragging after today's run though so I warmed down around campus as the wind kicked up. Jake and I agreed to do 100's for the next several weeks and run slowly otherwise. Jake feels he needs more miles and I would like to run more miles but I know that unless I do that every other day I crater.

My plan is not to abandon the 2 mile trial but to do it only twice a month (at most) and try to work it down gradually over time.

John Clary drove down and joined Jake and I for breakfast. It was like old times.

Runnable

I ran about 8 miles this morning. It was warmer than it has been in days and I wore shorts and a t-shirt. I ran the RR Tracks and found that the workers had releveled large sections making them runnable again. Kept my HR in the 140-150 range. I also kept my eyes on the turf not wanting to fall again but I never came close. Uneventuful run.

On the East Coast thousands were running the Boston Marathon in rain and wind. John Clary's son Ryan ran 5 hours and change. Deena Kastor, America's top woman marathoner wanted to send a message that she had arrived. Well, she arrived 5th woman but then the marathon is a tough mistress and you never know what you are going to get on a specific day.

A Kenyan won the men's and a Russian won the woman's race. American men were non evident but who said they had to be.

Jake, John, Rich, Dave

When we all trained together Jake and John would run in front and Dave and I would run behind them. Generally the noise (chat) came from John, Jake and I with David remaining silent except for a well placed incisive comment now and then.

It is amazing that we trained and raced together for ten long years. The only real interruption was John's moving to Phoenix for 4 years but he would still come up to the Bay Area on business trips or we would travel down there and so we kept the string alive.

At the beginning Jake was the fastest but John came on to become the quickest and literally dominated 1976-1979. Jake remained in second place and I was usually in third with Dave bringing up the rear. That all changed in the late 1970's when Dave suddenly seemed to speed up and began running times much faster than we had seen him do before. Of course it was the fact that he simply was training more and harder and the combination of miles and quality workouts began to take effect.

By the time John returned from Phoenix I had moved up so that I was usually competing with all 3 runners. The gap closed. John got a bit slower, I got a bit faster and in 1983-85 we were all the closest we had been in ability and race times. After that Dave really dominated as John and Jake began to slow. My last good year was 1985 and then I began to fall off too.

Fast forward to 2007. John no longer runs (his knee), Jake is slow but still runs hard, Dave is still running but is dealing with chronic health problems and now I am finally the fastest.

And who cares. As far as racing is concerned, we all had our day but it is over (O-V-E-R). I really retired from competition in 1995 and since then, when I race, I run tempo, not all out. That flame is extinguished. I still enjoy getting out there running with the ghosts of the 4 of us. But it isn't the same as those years. The best running years. That is where the gold was and is. In our minds in that tightly held past.

Friday..Saturday

Friday:

Ran an easy 4 miles. I let it go at that even though I thought about going out again in the afternoon. Enough of this leg bashing.

Enough!


Saturday:

Went over to the club workout. The sky was the color of lead. Expected the rain to come in so the question was could we get in our workout before the skies opened up. Ran the 3-mile plus warm-up, followed by Douglas (2.75 miles) and then a turn around campus. Maybe 7.5 to 8 miles total keeping my HR in the 140’s most of the way. Nothing very fast but my legs felt good so that counts for something. Dave Garcia was in town so Jake, Dave and I sat next to each other at breakfast and bored Dimitri with stories of the good old days when we were fast. Blah...Blah…Blah!

That evening the 4 amigos, John, Dave, Jake and I got together with our wives at the Blue Pheasant. Great evening. Here were 4 runners that trained almost every day together for ten years and ended up being locally ranked runners in NorCal. Obviously none of us are now what we were running-wise but we're all still around and in the game. We all broke 33 minutes for 10K. 3 of us broke 54 minutes for 10 miles (I was the one who didn't). We all ran in the 4:30's or faster for the mile and all broke ten minutes for two miles with John running 9:27 while Jake and I ran in the low 9:40's. We all broke 26 minutes for 5 miles more than once. At least 3 of us won one or more competitve races outright. That was very hard to do back during the running boom.

We certainly were not world class or even national class but we were all local class guys who put running at the center of our lives for well over a decade.

Blind Man's Bluff

It was drizzling this morning when I ran my car over to WVC to run with Jake. We warmed up about 3 miles and then ran a two mile trial. Jake didn't feel good (again). He had run 3 days back to back to back covering 90 minutes each day. I suggested he NOT look at the time but just run to effort. We were way off the pace of two weeks ago coming through the mile at 7:46. We ended up running 15:32 or about 50 seconds slower than last time.

As we warmed down, Jake said he would fire his coach.

I think as long as Jake continues to thump his legs and body this sort of thing will happen. He really seems to have no control. Well, he does but he, like many of us, chooses not to exercise that control. It's sort of like blind man's bluff or maybe Russian Roulette.

I told him that next week we were going to run under 15 minutes so "Figure out what you'll have to do get ready for that level of effort", I suggested.

Of course who am I to cast stones after a week's worth of mouth sores from my own "secret training".

In the late afternoon I came back to WVC and ran an easy 4 + miles hanging out with the club. Went to dinner with Dimitri.
Close to an 11 mile day moslty to burn calories.

80 minutes

I ran a more agressive 80 minutes this morning keeping my HR in the 140-150 range. I felt OK throughout. Mouth sores almost gone (but not gone yet). It was sunny but windy, t-shirt conditions so I got blown around when I headed east (or is it north?).

Banzai was on the track tearing around clockwise in lane number one. Asian woman was there too. The plump one who hangs with the skinny one (who has not been out in a week or so). School is back in after Easter break so "studentia's" were everywhere. Soon the exercise classes will be on the track blocking lanes but that will be fun. I get to practice "threading" between groups of walkers and runners, moving forward, totally "track" unaware.

Still Standing

I still have a mouth sore or two so I must still be worn out (or something like that). Originally I was thinking about running 10K followed by 3 x 500 meters but decided to keep things slow but I still covered about 8 miles keeping my HR at around 140. Not a stellar week of running but I am "still standing".

Recovery from anything hard continues to be an issue and I am sure will become more a challenge as the years go by. This isn't going away.

Falling: A new type of cross training

I went out for an easy 50 minute jog this morning. About ahalf mile out I was running on the trail next to the RR Tracks and I stumbled and went down hard.The RR folks have been replacing track and rock so that there was loose rock everywhere. Luckily I had on my cycling gloves. As a result I took the major part of the impact on my hands and the soft part of the gloves. I rolled over , stopped my watch (key) and dusted myself off. I did a quick inventory and found that no cuts or other injuries were apparent so I just continued my run.

Pushing to the Edge

I went over early to WVC to run with Jake. As we warmed up I felt slightly worn out. Not sleeping that well. Not sure what is causing it. I have had a mouth sore or two and that may be because of less sleep or (OR) what is symptomatic of what is causing me not to sleep as well. But Jake said "My legs feel like S--T!" and I said back rather quickly "Well, let's do something else." So we ran 5 miles easy and went to the track to do 3 x 500 meters (Van Aaken). I let Jake get a lead on me on each one and I tried to catch him. This resulted in me running 1:48-1:46-1:44. My best yet as an old guy. We then ran around campus for an easy warmdown. Maybe 7.5-8 miles total. By that time I had pretty much decided NOT to run the evening workout. I was not bashed but I was tired and those mouth sores were warning me not to push too hard.

Undaunted 80 minutes

It was the last roundup this morning. Dropped my car off for maintenace. BIG maintenance. Two of the rear outside tail lights had gone out. The driver's side window didn't always go up. Noticeable vibrations in the steering wheel when braking at higher speeds. Needed an oil change. Turned out the timing belt and water pump were beginning to go. $$$$$$$$$$$$$$ kah ching!

$2,000 later.

AAAAAAARRRRRRRRRRRRGGGGGGGGGGGHHHHHHHHHHHHH!!!!!!!!!

Still, undaunted I went out and ran an easy 80 minutes with 4 miles of 350 meter jog and 50 meter walk thrown in right in the middle. I kept it easy and my legs never felt tired.

I shared the track with Asian Girls and Traditional Indian Couple. I ran clockwise. Everyone else ran counter. No one smiles or talked to anyone. It was a silent day at De Anza.

Back to Back Van Aaken

I duplicated much of yesterday's workout by again running around 5 miles very slowly and then going to the track at WVC and running 3 x 500 meters followed by a mile warmdown.

The 500's were 1:53-1:50-148. More mile goal pace than 5K.

It was an experiment to see if I could handle this type of thing. I would prefer having 2-3 days in between this type of workout but Van Aaken had his runners do this in the day. Anyway, nothing even resembling "hard" until Wednesday's 2 mile time trial with Jake.

The slow running is very calming (almost meditative). Jakes was saying at breakfast that he when he feels good he wants to run hard. I laughed saying that when I felt good, I knew that was the time to slow down.

Got Better AS I Ran

I woke up feeling out of it this morning. Not sick. Just sort of in need of large amounts of coffee.
The weather was/is incredible and while slothed around to about 10 AM, I finally went out just to see if i could run. I figured if I didn't feel that peppy that I would turn back and call it a day. The longer I was though, the better I felt (I kept my HR around 130) and by 5 miles I just so happened to be swinging by De Anza College and decided to cut over to the track and run 3 x 500. The first one was 1:58, the second 1:50 and last 1:49. I then jogged a very easy ten minutes back home. The whole thing may have been 7 miles. So a very Van Aaken workout.

Two Mile Time Trial

I drove over to WVC this morning to run with Jake. The weather, which had been mild, reverted to COLD. It had to be in the high 30's but at least there was no wind.

We warmed up 3 miles (talking about how the high school kids Jake coached seem to need little or no warmup). We did some easy strides and then ran a two mile trial. Jake's goal was simply to break 15 minutes. I let him set the pace even though I was theoretically the pacer. Jake gets paced best when he the pacer is in the rear. Anyway, we blew through the first mile in in about 7:24 and then ran the second mile in 7:18 for a 14:42. Except for the last lap and half my HR stayed right around 75% of max. A good sign.

I ran a 2 mile easy warm down around the college afterward for a total of 7 miles.

7 miles total.

In the late afternoon I came back to WVC with the club and ran 4 slow miles. My legs felt good.

11 miles total for the day

Working Into It

As good as I felt Saturday that was how "not good" I felt today. But I went out anyway figuring I could do an hour standing on my head. It took me about a half hour of very slow running to begin to work into it and over time I began to feel decent and extended the run to 80 minutes. I ran 14 laps on the college track in the middle of the session realizing how hard as you age it is to find that seam anymore. Or this is the seam for me. Just being able to run.

There was a fitness class on the track and as I ran clockwise they ran the opposite way. One girl caught my eye (NOT THAT WAY). Young, pretty but fighting the "I am going to gain weight" battle. She was short and wearing an Aniston Team Shirt. I guess Brad Pitt is no longer on that team. She would run and then walk and then run and so on. Most of the others in the class, some thinner, just walked. She chugged along.

I spun by them all running in the outer lanes and giving way. As they ran and walked I noticed that they gradually went from being spread across 4-5 lanes to hugging the inside lane. Cutting the tangent as they wore down. Rain had been forecast for the morning but it held off and I received the benefit of running in the sun. Later in the afternoon a thick rain-like drizzle came in and soaked down the valley.

Playing Around at WVC

I went to WVC this morning (cool..sunny..gloves) and ran around with the club. Did the 3 mile warmup with Bill Dunn and Art Mitchum and hung near the leaders which meant that my legs felt good. Still, after that I ran around campus covering another 3 miles but I kept it very slow. I kidded overtime with Chris (I am always kidding her about something). Don said I went out of my way to "do" her but actually it was not out of my way at all. She was right on my way to the car.

At breakfast Jake said he would prefer to run a two mile time trial on Wednesday at about a 7:30 pace. Based on his fastest (recent) 3 mile time trial this should be very doable.

I felt very good the day after my Van Aaken workout so I am beginning to get some confidence in my ability to modify my workouts enough to keep my legs from getting trashed. Tomorrow I am going up to the DSE run in GG Park but given that I plan on running Monday (rain or shine) I may opt not to run but just watch and have breakfast afterwards with Bob Bean should he show up. I will make the run/no run decision in the morning.

A Late Winter Morning in the Valley

Winter in the valley is tough. It was in the mid 50's this morning with sunny skies. There was a slight breeze but nothing bothersome.

I decided to do a Van Aaken workout. I jogged 2 miles over to the college very slowly and then ran 12 laps with a 350 meter jog and a 50 meter walk each go around. Then I ran 3 x 500 meters in 2:04-1:58-1:56. I walked for about 200 meters between each rep.I ran the reps with intent (not intensity) keeping the effort smooth and even. I thought as I did this, "Who trains this way?"

The answer: No one I know.

I jogged back to the house (another mile and then some).

7 miles total

OK But Not As Good As Last Week

The Morning

I drove over to WVC and did the usual 3 mile run with Jake. First we warmed up 3 miles and then ran the workout. It was not as good as last week. Between Jake's secret hard workouts this weekend and heavy duty work (moving and burning brush on his property) on Tuesday he was tired out. I could tell he wasn't up to it. My HR in the first mile was down around 148-150 which is a 70% effort. Normally we jump up to 75% pretty quickly. He made it 2.5 miles but bonked and had to drop out after the 10th lap. I pushed on adding in a couple of laps at 85% of max and finished in 23:09. We then warmed down around campus for about 1.5 miles.

We ran into Sandy Vaurs who was an old girlfriend of Jakes and a team mate of mine way back in the 1970's. She still looks great at age 66.

I am thinking of making this workout a once every other week AT run. I can give Jake a head start of a lap or two and try to catch him while running 85-90% of max.

12K total

The Late Afternoon

I went back out to WVC for the club workout. Walked down to the track with Chris Blue (former cheerleader back in the day). Warmed up while engaging in a mile's worht of trash talking with others on the club. Then ran 6 x 800 with 8 x 100 in the 19-17 second range). My legs felt surprisingly good incomparison to last week when I was practically hobblling after the morning run.

4 miles total.

Went to dinner with Danny. It's been a long (long) time and it was good for the two of us to get out and just chat.

Musing on Racing

Last night I was surfing the web and looking at all the race results. I still find them interesting to read. I keep thinking how few times I find my name there and when I do how I get this OOMPH when I see my finishing times. I have to go back to 1995 to find a race where I felt I was competitve and still had the drive. To be comptitve these days I would have to be running a high 18 low 19 minute 5K. For me that was at least ten years ago. It is hard to see what sort of "thing" would get me going in that direction again.

I am not heavy but I could lose way more weight and make myself light as a feather. I was not as light as a feather when I ran my best times so it would be different. My best times can at 135-140 lbs. I am about 138-142 these days. Most of the good runners in my age group are leaner. I am built more like Prefontaine. Stocky I guess (for a runner).

I could just go out and run as hard as I could stand it for as long as I could stand it in races. This is the kamakazi approach. You just hang with the guys you want to race wth until you can stay with them and then move up to the next target. This can be very painful. The latter stages of races can be pretty awful looking. You can be with your target and then suddenly lose 20 seconds or more over the last half of race. I ran best when I was in conttrol at 2/3rds of the way through a race and then could run hard in (pain or not). I don't think my body is trained for this. I hate intervals but time trials might get me there or they might exhaust me.

Racing in my 60's is a far cry from 30 years ago. At 32 I was race hardened and could jump into anything from a mile to a marathon and just be ready to go. And all this being said, I doube it will get me down to the low 19's or high 18's.

Reverse Track

I got up early and threw myself out the door for a 75 minute slow run. My HR was generally around 130. I ran over to the track and ran the reverse direction for 12 laps before coming back home. Cool, sunny with some clouds coming in. Heavy fog gripping the hills. All around nice.

The Asian girls were there. The skinny one and the not so skinny one. They ran in the outside lane yapping the whole time. The school was generally quiet. Getting there early helps avoid the crowds and the PE classes. The Asian girls are there forever though.

Another Van Aaken Day

I ran another Van Aaken type of workout Saturday morning while the club ran Valle Vista (3 hilly miles). 8K easy run with my HR in the 130-140 range. Then I went to the track and ran 4 x 400 with a 200 meter walk interval. 96-94-92-90. Short jog afterwards.

It was relatively cool and overcast and my sun glasses kept fogging up.

The next day (Sunday) my legs felt good but I held back from running for now. This was rarity. Not the holding back but having my legs feel decent enough that I could think of running.

Van Aaken for an hour

Given that I was trashed Wednesday eveing I decided to take a very easy run today of about an hour. I used the Ernst Van Aaken method running very slow over to the track and then running 8 laps of 350 meters jogging and 50 meters of walking. I then ran very slowing back home focusing on not picking it up at any time. If Harold Norporth could stand stuff like this this so could I. Norpoth has a withering kick and once during a race hung right behind Prefonatine until a lap to go and then blazed by him. Prefonatine really got pissed. He didn't see it as an honorable way to run.

Norpoth's 5K PR was 13:20.


Norpoth 9 summer weeks in 1962

Week 1
MON – warmup+5X2000m/7:30 pace Rec=400m jog + 3X500m in 76sec to 71 sec.
TUE – Travel to Hamburg. 10 kilos easy in Hamburg
WED – 1500m RACE. – 1st in 3:42.8; last 500m in 69.8, last 400 in 54.6
THU – Travel back. Rest day
FRI – warmup + 5X2000m/7:30 pace Rec=400m jog + 4X500m/76sec,74sec,73sec,71sec
SAT - warmup+5X2000m/7: :30 pace Rec=400m jog + 3X500m in 73sec/72sec/71 sec.
SUN - 15 kilos easy run in Wald

Week 2
MON – rest day
TUE – warmup + 15kilos run in Waldniel. 5X3kilos outdoor circuit laps in negative split.
WED – 15kilos easy in Waldniel circuit
THU – 10 kilos easy
FRI – 10kilos easy in Wald.
SAT – warmup + 3X10X200m (first set group average 36.5; second 34.5; third 33.5
fourth 31.7 Rec=200m jog. Last set in 25seconds.
SUN – 20kilos easy in Wald.

Week 3
MON – warmup+5X2000m/7:30 pace Rec=400m jog + 3X500m in 76sec to 71 sec.
TUE – Travel to Hamburg. 10 kilos easy in Hamburg
WED – 1500m RACE. – 1st in 3:42.8; last 500m in 69.8, last 400 in 54.6
THU – Travel back. Rest day
FRI – warmup + 5X2000m/7:30 pace Rec=400m jog + 4X500m/76sec,74sec,73sec,71sec
SAT - warmup+5X2000m/7: :30 pace Rec=400m jog + 3X500m in 73sec/72sec/71 sec.
SUN - 15 kilos easy run in Wald.

Week 4
MON – 10 kilos in Wald.
TUE – rest day
WED –rest day
THU – Travel back. Rest day
FRI – warmup + 5X2000m/7:30 pace Rec=400m jog + 4X500m/76sec,74sec,73sec,71sec
SAT - warmup+5X2000m/7: :30 pace Rec=400m jog + 3X500m in 73sec/72sec/71 sec.
SUN - 15 kilos easy run in Wald.

Week 5
MON – rest day
TUE – travel to Malmo. Rest day
WED – 10 kilos easy
THU – 10 kilos easy
FRI – 3 kilos warmup + 20X1min Tempo 1 minute pause + 4 kilos cooldown
SAT – rest day
SUN - 1500m RACE. In Malmo – 1st in 3:42.0

Week 6
MON – Travel back from Malmo. Rest day
TUE –15kilos run in Waldniel, that´s 5X3kilos outdoor tempo as circuit laps in negative split.
WED – 8 kilos esy run in Wald.
THU – 12 kilos easy
FRI – 15 kilos easy run with SHORT PAUSES FOR RECOVER
SAT – rest day

Week 7
SUN – 15kilos run in Waldniel. 5X3kilos outdoor circuit laps in negative split.
MON – 12 kilos easy
TUE – 15kilos run in Waldniel. 5X3kilos outdoor circuit laps in negative split.
WED – 3 kilos warmup + 20X1min Tempo 1 minute pause + 4 kilos cooldown
THU – rest day
FRI – rest day
SAT – 3000m RACE in 8:17.5
SUN – 10 kilos easy in Wald. with SHORT PAUSES FOR RECOVER

Week 8
MON – warmup+5X2000m/7:30 pace Rec=400m jog + 3X500m in 76sec to 71 sec.
TUE –10 kilos easy
WED – 3 kilos warmup + 20X1min Tempo 1 minute pause + 4 kilos cooldown
THU – Rest day
FRI – warmup + 10X200m in 36sec REC=200m jog + 4X500m/76sec, 74sec,73sec,71sec
SAT – 15 kilos easy run in Wald.
SUN - 15 kilos easy run in Wald. with SHORT PAUSES FOR RECOVER

Week 9
MON - 3 kilos warmup + 20X1min Tempo 1 minute pause + 4 kilos cooldown
TUE – 15 kilos easy
WED – rest day
THU – warmup + 9kilos negative split that´s an outdoor 3X3kilos circuit
FRI - warmup+5X2000m/7:30 pace Rec=400m jog + 3X500m in 76sec to 71 sec.
SAT – warmup + 4X5X200m in 34sec; 31sec 28 sec: 26 sec REC=200m jog + cooldown
SUN - 15 kilos easy run in Wald. with SHORT PAUSES FOR RECOVER



Norporth – second part

1964 (Begins Sept. 1)

01.09 – 18km easy + 2x1200m/3:25 + 1X500m/1:12
02.09 – 9.6kilos (8laps) in 40min
03.09 – rest day
04.09 – 5000m warmup + 2X2400m outdoor run (2 laps of 1200m)/8:44/8;27 Rec= 5 to 10 minutes.
05.09 – rest day
06.09 – rest day
07.09 – 15kilos (12 laps)
08.09 - 15kilos (12 laps)
09.09 - 15kilos (12 laps)

10.09 – travel to Cologne. rest day
11.09 – 5000m run in Cologne – 13:58 win over the Polish runner Boguszewich
12.09 – travel back
13.09 – 50min easy run
14.09 - 50min easy run
15.09 - 50min easy run
16.09 – rest day
17.09 - 50min easy run
18.09 - 50min easy run
19.09 – rest day
20.09 - 50min easy run
21.09 – rest day
22.09 - 50min easy run
23.09 - 50min easy run«
24.09 - 50min easy run
25.09 – 7200m easy run (6 laps in 30min) + 2X500m/75sec Rec=5minutes pause
26.09 – rest day
27.09 – warmup + 1500m tempo run in 3:52
28.09 – rest day
29.09 – 18 kilos easy run
30.09 15kilos=That´s 12 circuit laps in crescendum (negative split) from easy run to tempo pace in 55:48 total duration (1st - slower lap in 4:55; last – faster one in 3:58)

01.10 – 45min run
02.10 – Travel to Toquio
03.10 – X
04.10 – 45min as 1min fast-1min slow
05.10 – 20 kilos easy run with short rest recover periods
06.10 – 20 kilos easy run with short rest recover periods
07.10 – 4 kilos easy +6000m with runners Lutz Philipp and Leizrich
08.10 – 6kilos medium run + 1000m track 5000m pace tempo + 5X80-100meters strides + 4000m cooldown
09.10 – 16kilos =8kilos easy and last 8kilos in negative split
10.10 – In Toquio stadium – warmup + 5X2000m/7:06/7:20/7:00/6:23/6:05 – with 62 sec last lap set. Rec=400m walking + 2000m cooldown
11.10 – 4X2000m warmup up with 400m walk + 10X400m/63.5 Rec=400m walk+2000m cooldown
12.10 – 2000m easy run + 3X1000m/2:41 – 2:41 – 2:39 Rec=several minutes
13:10 - 40m easy run
14.10 – short easy run
15.10 - 5kilos easy
16.10 – warmup + 5000m (heat ?) in 14:11
17.10 – very easy run
18.10 – 5000m Toquio – warmup +Silver medal

1964 TOQUIO 5000m final
1 Bob Schul, USA 13,48,8
2 Harald Norpoth FRG 13,49,6
3 Bill Dellinger USA 13,49,8
4 Michel Jazy FRA 13,49,8
5 Kipchoge Keino KEN 13,50,4
6 Bill Baillie NZL 13,51,0
7 Nikolay Dutov URS 13,53,8
8 Thor Helland NOR 13,57,0

Jake's Time Trial

I headed over to WVC early to run another time trial with Jake. He promised he would rest this time around. He ran 6 miles Monday and another six on Tuesday. So he was good to his word. We warmed up with our usual 3 miler and met on the track. Once we got going I decided not to fret and just ignored the elapsed time but glanced now and then at my HR. Jake seemed relaxed and strong and my HR seemed to settle in around 155-160 and just stayed there. At 8 laps I finally glanced at my watch and saw that we were around 15:40. I half expected Jake to pick it up but he stayed on pace for another two laps. With 800 meters to go I could feel him pick it up. My HR went up to 165 on the 11th lap and then leveled out at 170 for the last lap.

We crossed the line in 23:07 so we had run the last mile in 7:27.

We warmed down around campus and then went and had coffee at Burger King (Jake's place of choice).

I came back that evening and ran an easy 3 miles with my club but this may have been a mistake. As good as I felt in the morning, that was how badly I felt in the afternoon. My legs were sore and I felt beat up afterwards. So maybe these pacing runs I do with Jake a great deal tougher on me than I figured.

Climbing back out of the barrel

My first run since last Wednesday. I did an easy 4 miles but everything seemed OK. I am supposed to go run another one of those 3 mile time trials with Jake tomorrow. I can only hope he didn't sneak in some God awful workout and scuttle his effort again.

Dwight, he of the 100 mile training weeks, ran in the low 32 at the 50 plus 8K. He won his age group but his time was slow given the amount of work he does. He'll probably tell me that he was training through the race but then when you run 100 mpw you have to train through everything including brick walls.

A Cold in a Minor Key

I have been dealing with a minor cold for the past few days. I have chirstened it a cold but it may well have been an allergy "attack". The only reason for that is that I kept running into folks who had the same problem.

Anyway, I didn't feel that badly except for an overactive nose that alternately kept plugging up and then running like a spigot. I think I am over the worst of it but I always take these things as a warning. So no running until I feel decent.

Yesterday was a really unusual day. I drove over to Santa Cruz and had lunch with a friend of mine from High School and college, Nick Bilardello. I had not seen Nick for 40 years. We were very close friends back in the mid 1960's but then he joined the Peace Corp and I moved to the South Bay and by the time he got back in town, we had lost touch.

It was good to catch up and see each other again. We had both aged but he was still the Nick I knew. A great guy.

We met in a place called 99 Bottles in downtown Santa Cruz. Nick had a plaque on the wall with many others. You earned the plaque if you had tried all the beers (all 99 of them). I could have started my own quest but driving over the hill while slightly wasted wouldn't work out to well so I decided to rethink my strategy on how I get a plaque. There are always great challenges in life. Ha ha!

Faucet Nose

My nose started running life a faucet last night which either means bad allergies or a cold. The funny thing is my colds (the few I get) are always preceded by a sore throat. None in this case. Nada. Just the nose running.

Claritin seems to be helping. I did banish myself to the den for sleeping so my snorting doesn't keep my wife awake. I may take a few extra days off depending on how this thing goes.

Exhausted Jake

It was AT day for Jake and once agin I showed up to run 3 miles on the track in the role of designated pacer. We warmed up 3 miles and then lined up for the workout. The deal was the I would lead the first mile. I was already wonering if Jake would be able to handle any pace. He told me during the warmup that he had run 17 miles on Monday and ten miles on Sunday and somewhere around 6 miles with intervals on Saturday.

I had a sneaking feeling that I would run some of this alone.

I took us out slower than last week and Jake later told me he felt like he was jogging. (That is a good thing). Two laps later his legs started to go and on the 8th lap he told he was going to drop for a 400 and then step back in. I kept the effort fairly smooth. My HRM was reading between 75 and 77% but it did spike up to 80% several times but always dropped back.

Jake did drop the 9th lap but then stepped back in as I began my 10th but he was gasping right away unlike last week where he seemed renewed. No renewal this time. He was paying a big price for Saturday, Sunday and Monday. He hung in through.

I must have been off my game slightly because I ran slower at a higher HR. Not big but still there. It was warmer than last week and that can effect things or I may have been feeling my long run this past Monday.

The good news was that there was one of fitness classes on the track and the instructor had her class move over and give us the inside lane and we never asked (after DeAnza I may never ask again). We thanked her afterwards. I figure it was Jake. He is the reason they were so nice. It couldn't have been evil Rich.

Never!!!!

A Strange Run

I got out on the roads just before 9 AM this morning. It was a fine day as in very little wind and good sunshine. I was actually running in shorts and T-shirt. That part of the run worked very well. There were several parts that didn't. First, I felt sluggish as if I had been on an all night bender. My legs weren't stiff or sore. I just had trouble getting uncorked. Secondly, I chose to run up the railroad tracks. There is a great wide, flat dirt trail to one side of the track which, unless it has been raining, is very runable. The problem is that the crews have been doing track maintenance and the trail was badly torn up and rutted in many places so that I had to tip toe through more than a few rock strewn sections slowing me way down. It wasn't fun. Challenging but not fun. I got through it though without turning an ankle but finally abandoned the trail for the road and made my way in that way running just over 90 minutes. I got out of my funk about halfway through the run and was able to push the pace a bit. I still kept my HR under 150 and spent most of the run in the low 140's.

It was a generally a slog run. I think that unless the crews go back and grade the trail, it will be a tough place to run until the thousands of walkers and runners pound the dirt back down.

Saturday

I woke up at 6:15 AM and realized I was not going back to sleep. I had been thinking (stupid me) that if I slept in I would just go over to the club workout late. As it was, I was there at 7:30 AM just in time to run last during the 3 mile warmup Tom Rostege was right with me.

"We're dog meat. Right". He agreed. Tim: He who had once run under 53 minutes for 10 miles as a master and I who had twice ran under 26 minutes for 5 miles. The group pulled away from us gradually and we both made no attempt to close the gap. At our age it is not about staying up. It is just showing up. Tim still run about 60 miles a week but most of it is at a 10 minute mile pace.

I ended up running another 45 minutes afterwards most of it with Dimitri as we continued our unending conversation about what is the right training to break 5 minutes for a mile at age 50. When we get going the other runners find some other place to hang out. I can't say as I blame them.

I am not sure of my total. Maybe 8 to 8.5 miles.

60 minutes

60 minutes of easy running in the early AM on Friday. Legs felt good.
I thought about going out for a second, shorter run in the afternoon but ended up watching a movie on TV instead. I lack the will to double right now. On the other hand, I really am not that motivated.

Time Trial

I met Jake over at WVC and we ran a 3 mile warmup. My goal (like last week) was to pace him through a 3 mile time trial. It was on the cold side but no rain or wind. Jake led the first two laps and just took himself out too fast. I just loped along off his shoulder. By mile one (7:40)I could see he was struggling and I stepped up next to him. My HR was in that same 75-77% of max that it was last week.
By the middle of lap number 8 Jake told me that he was tired and that he would drop out for lap and then step back in. I just kept going basically staying in the same heart rate range.

Jake came right back in after I had run another lap and he was obviously feeling very recovered. AT lap 12 I was 23:34 which was 22 seconds faster than last week with an overall similar HR. Jake wanted to go on a lap to get in his 12 so I turned off my HRM and ran another lap at his pace which was basically faster than what either of had been running.

Afterwards we warmed down about 1.5 miles around campus. I felt stong and Jake didn't tie up so we were both happy.

My total mileage was around 7.5-8 (not sure). My HR during the trial was in the 158-162 range with a few spikes up around 164-166 but it didn't stay there long and always dropped back in that 75-77% range even though my pace did't vary much.

75 minutes

I made it early (for me). 7:40 AM...UGH! Basically my run was dry. The rain held off. I did a course that usually takes 80 minutes but got back in about 75 with my HR in the 140-144 range. My ITB bothered me so I wore a Pro-Tech strap which seemed to help. The big thing is that after the run I felt almost nothing.

Used Endurathon before the run. I didn't seem to feel any negative side effects. The Captain of Recovery tells me this should help.

The Rains Came (again)

I made the right decision to run Saturday instead of Sunday. The rains and wind came in last night and were still blowing this morning. Of course it is supposed to rain on Monday so I will get caught in it anyway. I am not that big a wuss. I will go out in it anyway. The rain doesn't bother me that much. It's the wind. That will keep indoors if it is blowing hard. I just don't have enough sail to navigate.

Dwight's been running indoors more often than not but he is in Colorado and winters can be tough in Fort Collins. 2 hours on the treadmill. Ugh!

I don't think I am motivated enough to do that. I would just lay back and wait for the weather to clear up. A big change from the old days.

Another Glacial Run..But......

Another cool morning. 38 degrees. Not Green Bay cool. Not even Maine cool. Just Bay Area cool. I drove over to the club workout after downing a tankard of coffee. Warmed up 3.25 miles, ran Farwell with Tom which was another 3.5 miles and then warmed down a mile. 7.75 miles in all.

The pace of Farwell was not very fast. My glide along "I don't want to hurt" pace is glacial these days. But (and this is the big B-U-T) if I age grade the run it is like running a 6:48 pace in the old days. The run today felt very much like that sort of run. 6:48 was my old gliding along pace (actually 6:45-7:00 was the range of that sort of run).

I don't mean to beat the age grading thing to death. It's just what it is.

To Hell With It

After a day of rain it cleared up this morning but was cold and windy. I did the old "should I wait until later to go out" but finally decided to hell with it. I would go early (or relatively early). I was out well before 9 am and ran for 60 minutes and felt good throughout. The ITB bothered me slightly (will this thing never go away???). I kept my HR around 138-142 most of the way. For once this was not a ten minute pace, 6 mile run. It was closer to 7 miles and despite the scorching 8 pace workout on Wednesday I had obviously recovered.

I did not take Metabol today. I am awaiting the shipment of Dwight's magic 4 to see if they help me recover or that at least I get a decent placebo effect from the stuff.

I haven't decided yet whether I will run Saturday or Sunday this weekend. If it is based on weather than it has to be Saturday because it is slated to rain on Sunday morning.

Pacing Chores

I got up early and drove over to Los Gatos High School to meet Jake. We warmed up 3 plus miles on the old dam run course and then went to the track and ran 3 miles. Jake wanted me to pace him to an 8 pace (Whoa, how the mighty have fallen). We pretty ran right on pace the whole way but picked up the last mile a bit to get in under 24:00 flat. My watch showed 23:55 and Jake was a second behind. The good news was until the last lap my HRM hovered in the 75-77% of max range so I was while the run could not be classified as easy or true recovery, it never approached hard. I never heard audible breathing except for Jake's.

I may go to the track again tonight and do some strides but that will depend on the weather.

Feeling better but not there yet....

Today was close to incredible. Bright sun and slight wind. Temperatures hovered in the low 60's.

I ran once in the morning and again in the mid afternoon while covering 45 minutes each time. Another day of Metabol. My legs feel good. Must be what Dimtiri calls the placebo effect. When I compare these runs versus a week or two ago, I would have to say that I feel stronger but I am not there yet. I am not tracking my per mile pace today but focusing on heart rate. Both runs were in the 140's so I was pushing a bit harder but not feeling exhausted like before. Anyway, 90 minutes broken up into two runs. Very digestable workout.

On Wednesday Jake and I are supposed to meet in Los Gatos and do a time trial 3 miler on the track. I hope we'll take a Bowerman approach and do the first one at a pace we can easily handle and then over time we can bring the pace down closer to 10K pace (whatever that is these days). It should be a great deal slower than our sub 16 minute 3 miulers we did back in the 1970's and 80's.

Captain of Recovery

After another two days off I went out and ran around 9.5 miles with the club including the 4 mile plus warmup and the 5.4 mile Valentine's Relay. I stayed in the back and ran my Big Jim Myers really stayed slow until the last 1.5 when Jim began to pick it up. The run was mostly 70-75% of max but it moved up to AT after that.

I took Metabol before and after to see if it would help my recovery. My legs felt Ok throughout and they felt really decent after sitting at breakfast for 90 minutes. Probably a placebo effect. I have consulted with the "Captain of Recovery" (Dwight) about what he uses and ordered some "secret" stuff on-line. A 60 year old guy who can run 80-100 mpw for years on end without breaking down must know something so I will try it out and see what comes of it.

Back at it....

After taking 3 days off I finally went out Wednesday and ran a double workout. I ran 4 miles in the mid afternoon then drove up to the club workout and ran another 5 miles with 8 x 100 striders. I would not say that my legs felt rejuventated but they did feel more spunky than last Saturday.

Only a few people showed up for the workout. I guess this was mostly due to Valentines Day. I was off the hook because Sue had a medical procedure mid day and I promised I would fend for myself for dinner. She conked out and napped away most of the mid to late afternoon. I had covered the marriage bases though by buying her a quart of Chocolate Cookie Dough Ice Cream. She had gotten mne gigantic slab of Hershey's Chocolate. So there are fatty calories waiting silently, in our home, for us to consume them.

My ITB bothered me after the run so I went after it with Advil, Ice and more Advil.

3rd Day

Tuesday: 3rd day without running. My legs feel good again. Little or no soreness (at all). I looked at the Advil. What was that for? It is obviously that I needed to rest. Well, at least it is obvious now. Of course a non runner would have said it to me long ago.

What would life be like without running? It's only been since 1968. A few stops for injury and a few more for colds or the flu. But basically I have been a runner forever or so it seems. In the meantime works closes in again. A new client. Interesting work. The HR VP has gone native. It happens. You lose persepctive. "Heart of Darkness" way up the river. Eventually they have to send people after you to bring you out.

Walkin'

I walked 63 minutes today starting around noon. I probably covered 4 miles. The way my legs have felt lately this was better than another drag-ass run.

Amber our 11 year old golden joined me for the first part of the walk. Now, several hours later, she is laying on her bed, conked out and dead to the world. Well at least until I get up and go for the fridge.

Dead Legs

What a strange day. My legs were dead throughout 9.5 miles of running. I ran with Tom W who told me his legs were dead too and then at breakfast Jake told me that his legs were beat up. So 3 old guys (OK, well veterans) all have an off day. The weather was not bad. Drizzle and rain but not cold or windy. Since the general trend of late has been a very slow pace with dead legs, something is not working very well. My ability to recover seems to be compromised.

So (once again) does this mean (1) stay the course, (2) take time off completely from running, (3) shift to a 3 day running week or (4) go to ground zero and do a rebuild but wihtout taking time off.

It means something. Aging, yes but more. The slope has been pretty slippery lately.

The Track Was Mine

Work intervened in my life and blew away my morning run. I finally got out for 45 minutes (give or take) in the mid afternoon. It alternately rained and drizzled but I have to admit that it felt good just getting out there. I ran my usual 5 miler covering 4 laps on the track.

The track was mine! On a Friday afternoon with crummy weather, no one was out there. So I just cruised. Where was P.E. Bitch now? Hiding no doubt from the rain. It was my 23 hours.

"Sorry, but I will be needing the whole track for the next 10 minutes." Of course all of this would have been more impressive if my pace resembles real running but as usual, it was little more than a jog. My HR was consistently in the 125-135 range. I am getting way too use to it.

But this is it. Slow pace daily jogs and test AT runs every month for the most part.

Getting out ahead of the rain

It was supposed to rain today. It may have rained someplace but around here it drizzled but never really got going. I was sipping my coffee this morning thinking about how it was going to rain and how quiet the sky was at that moment and I realized that I should just get out the door and run right then.

So I did.

90 minutes of easy running later I was back at the house and the only real change was that the wind had picked up slightly and some dark clouds were gathering thickly over the coast hills. The run went well enough but once again I felt a bit beat up the rest of the day.

My body doesn't really want to do this right now and I am sort of forcing it to go out every other day and run anyway. But what it feels like is that it wants is a big break.

Still, I burned off 800-900 calories and that may be the last reason I still run.

I have renewed my email dialogue with BIG D in Colorado. He of the 100 mile weeks at age 60. He is still on the quest for the holy grail. I told him that when Galahad found the Grail, he and it disappeared.

The Afternoon Show

I waited until 3 pm to head out. The weather was incredible. Low 60's and windless. I jogged at a slow (SLOW) pace staying out for almost 90 minutes. I guess this qualifies as a long run. It certainly wasn't tough but it did make me feel creakly later on in the evening and into the next morning. Finally I took some advil and felt better within 30 minutes. Cheaper than a massage and a visit to Big Bill (Chiro).

Tennis Court Loops

I drove over the club workout this morning. It was cold again (at least for the Bay Area). Mid to high 30's. Double gloves, wool cap and tights. I warmed up slowly with the club for 3 miles and then struck out on my own for another 3. The club was doing the tennis court relays which is two man teams with each runner doing 4 x .66 each. I joined Tom W. for his last 3 and paced him through averaging 4:24 or thereabouts.
It was rough for Tom but easy for me. I stayed on the aerobic side of lactic acid at a 6:40 pace which if I age-graded it was like doing a 5:16 pace in my prime.

The reason I was able to do this was because I ran really easy all week with Wednesday being particularly slow and dismal. So like it or not, there is no pace so slow that it does not help to make my legs feel decent.

If I go up to the DSE run next Sunday and run a 5K AT run my plan is to make this a down week and go in very rested.

Short 5: 40:27

This was it. I ran my short 5 in 40:27. A good sign that something is still there if I leave it be. I kept my HR in the 145-148 range. The track was clear of PE classes. Just a golf class hovering around the edge and "Samurai" Runner screaming towards me with each lap. No matter which way I run he seems to be coming right at me. I always give him the inside of the inside lane. A brief gesture with my hand says "You have the inside!" It is unerving but I am getting used to it.

A Bad Day At Black Rock

I ran an easy 20 minutes this morning and another 43 minutes this evening. Both were pitifully slow. Maybe too slow even for soreness and pain. It was obvious that as mealy as yesterday's workout was and the fact that I had taken two days off before yesterday, had made no difference. My legs had not recovered at all. It was a drag from start to finish. A Bad day at Black Rock.

Bowerman Again

I went out in the morning and did a very conservative Bowerman type workout.

20 minute warm up followed by some progressive striders (30 meter, 50 meters, 80 meters. The track was empty of any of the usual spread across the track type people. I did have Samurai runner who was chugging laps clockwise on the inside lane so every now and then we would play chicken for lane one as we hurtled towards each other and sub 7 minute pace.

Anyway, the meat of the workout:

2 x 800 in 3:31-3:28. 400 meter jog. 4 x 400 in 1:35 average which was faster than planned. 200 meter jog after each rep.

20 minutes jog back home.

My HR never reached AT so the workout must have been in my "range". Still, given that I usually do not do this type of workout, it was hard to get in the rhythm but by the time I got to the 400's I was feeling much better.

Probably 7 miles all told.

More Time In The Gray Zone

This morning I ran 3 plus slow miles with the club warmup crew and then ran another mile while waiting for the 5K on the track to get going. I got distracted talking to Ken Noel and ended up running 12 laps at just under an 8 minute pace (which is really in the grey zone for me) while the rain pitter pattered on the track, on the runners and on my semi cold, turning to cement, hands. Afterwards I ran another 8 laps chatting with Jim Howe who ran 19:48 in less that optimal conditions as a 60 year old.

It was kind of freeing. No HRM and no set idea of how fast or slow I would run. This also meant no 3 mile AT run but the idea of it seemed to slip away easily telling me that I really didn't want to do it after all.

9 miles all totaled

40 minutes easy

I went out mid morning and sucked it up with a 40 minute easy jog. I instinctively meandered over to the the DeAnza track without thinking about what PE class might be blocking the route. There was a class straddling the track after all but only the first 3-4 lanes so the rest was free for us joggers. Ultra thin Asian woman was there jogging, stretching and jump roping. She always seems to be there. Her life is on the track or at least in my world it is. She wears knee length tights, some sort of colorful hi-tech top and usually a hat which covers her ultra short hair. I usually run faster than she does but I have noticed that lately I do not catch up with her as easily as I once did. More aging no doubt.

Wednesday

I had a mid morning meeting with a potential new client and so for the first time in months I threw myself out the door at just after 7 AM. Of course it was like running in molasses (low 30's) and it took me a few miles just to get going.

4 miles very easy. No HRM. I just ran slow.

I went to West Valley to run this afternoon. The gates to the track were closed and locked. It must have happened suddenly because a lady with crutches was trapped and could not get out. Some of our club runners climbed the gates and got in. One went to find someone to open things back up. The group was splintered at first with half down on the track running 800's and the rest of us starting to do tennis course loops (.66 miles) but aborted when we saw one of the gates had been finally opened.
Turns out the maintenance people had put some "round up" (whatever that is) on the grass and thought we should all be protected from it. As Russ said, "Maybe 'round up' is another name for agent orange."

In any case my run ended up being 5 miles of more slow stuff.

80 minutes and a cloud of sunshine

80 minutes on the roads today. I kept my HR in the 140-150 range and felt really decent the whole way. The weather was spectacular. Sunny and cloudless. Very little wind. I was originally going to run 8 x 800 at 75% at DeAnza but opted not to run that workout. I wanted to really......But the track was in use by a P.E. Class that was stretched across all 9 lanes doing exercises. When I asked for one lane to run on I was told by the instructor that she intended to use the WHOLE track. I sucked it in and decided not to make an incident of it. Shades of 1986 (that is another story for another day). I decided she could have her track for one hour. It is mine the other 23 hours anyway.

Don't they ever change?

I may run the 5K on the West Valley College track Saturday as an AT run. Not sure yet. I plan to make that call later this week.

Two days off and then 10 miles

I went through a colonoscopy on Fridayin the late morning so I had to fast Thursday and half of Friday. I finally got a frappuchino and and a lemon scone down around noon and then napped most of the afternoon. I had some pasta for dinner. I took both days off from running. On Saturday I dropped Sue off at the airport early and went over to club workout and ran 5 miles. My legs felt rested but I had very little glycogen in the bank and the it took a while for the energy to get flowing.

My early afternoon 5 miler was much better. I had had breakfast with all the usual suspects in the carbo family.

10 miles total.

The Evening Show..Same Day

I participated in another merger call this afternoon that went on and on. Finally got off at 5:15 PM and warmed up for a mile around West Valley. Felt stiff and sore and creaky for about a 2/3rds of a mile and then began to feel really loose. Where did that come from? We ran 12 x 400 easy with 100 meter strides on the first 8 reps. The temps dropped quickly once the sun went down going from the high 50's to the low 40's in about an hour. I had long sleeve, tights and gloves so I was OK. A few of the women running with us began to complain about cold hands. Chris asked, "Did it suddenly get cold?" Same with Stacey. Cold hands. Offered her my gloves but she said that she would be OK.

Strange evening. More women than men. Youth Dew and the slight scent of perfume all over the track. Sort of like running in the tropics bathed in the smell of flowers (but colder). No Danny again. Even Madelyn admitted that he probably was not sorry to have missed this run. It was cool but also windless so in a way, very pleasant.

Next two days off. Fast on Thursday and medical procedure on Friday. Back at it on Saturday.

The Blessing of mid day runs

I had a merger meeting with a client this morning so I didn't get out until early afternoon for the first of my two run. I guess if I were religious I would say it was a blessing. Shorts and T-shirt weather. Light breezes and plenty of sun. Anyway 5 slow miles. Legs still tired from Monday.

The drum beating in my head over and over. Forget the rules. They just don't apply to you. Just run easy. Throw in some hills and some striders. I don't run well on tired legs. Never did and never will. Somehow my circuitry is wired differently.

Oh and the picture above. It's the 1981 me running a 10K. Right behind me is one of the best master runners in the USA in his age group. Ulrich Kaemph. Gone now. Died of cancer last year. Great competitor. We ran in the low 33's in this race.

6 x 1200

I waited until late morning to go out and run. The temps had climbed from the 20's at sunrise into the high 40's by 11:30 AM. Winds were mild.

I ran 3 miles for a warmup with some 50 meter strides towards the end. Legs felt very good. Then I did the meat of the workout running 6 x 1200 at 75-77% of max with a 200 meter jog in between each rep. Once again the legs felt good but the times of the reps were less than stellar. I was rarely under an 8 minute pace which was disappointing. The good news is that the last one felt very much like the first one. I then ran 2 miles back home for a total of 10 + miles.

On the way back I finally felt the effort. I was not dragging but I was tired. I will see how I rebound by Wednesday.

10:37 PM: Later in the evening: Sorry what a spoiler. My back is sore and my legs are a bit beat up. I am walking around like I have a stick up my ass. Finally gave in and took advil.

Good Running

The early morning temps were down in the mid 20's. It was a hard, dry chill. We couldn't see our own breath.

I ran the 3 mile warm up feeling very good. My legs (given a steady onslaught of 9-10 minute miles in the preceeding weeks) felt energized. Everyone was commenting and complaining about the cold but I mostly noticed how good my legs felt. While the club went down to the track to run 3 x 1600, I kept running covering another 5 miles and felt strong from start to stop.

At breakfast I commented to Dimitri that now was the time when I usually added in something hard which would proabbly send me spinning off into another slump. So the answer to that is..NOT!

I will continue running the Brian Clark version of Bowerman. I am in the shock-adaption phase. Monday will be 6 x 1200 at 75-77% of max with a 200 meter jog in between reps. No mercy..... ;-)

Slight Movement

Cold morning. 35 degrees. I bundled up and went out for an easy 5 miles and actually felt GOOD!

I didn't keep track of my time but most of the run was in the 145-148 range on my HRM. The wind was kicking up as I came back home so it was a bit of a slug fest until I turned left at Stevens Creek.

Glacial 2 x 5 miles

2 x 5 miles today. Both runs ruthlessly slow. Is this really running? Dimitri asked me at dinner after the evening 5 miler (as I quaffed down a bowl of chili accompanies by hot tea) , didn't I still enjoy running? Not like before. I do it to burn calories and socialize. It is the fabric of my life, I thought. So many of my friends and colleagues RUN. So if I can put aside speed and flow and real tempo (those running sensations that used to be so seductive) I can guess I can stand the glacial pace of my present day efforts. At least for now. Besides, I am getting inventive about ways to inject some realtive speed and tempo I to my weekly workouts.
And of course my running path os close to 40 years is littered with the bones of all those who stopped running or no longer CAN run. So being the Last Runner is becoming a truth because my intent it to keep going until I can't tun anymore.

The good news is that the very slow pacing has helped to begin to clear up my leg problems. Especially my left leg. But I still feel creaky espcially with the Artic air mass descending upon us. I can only imagine what Fiday and Saturday mornings will be like when I journey out. I mean we're talking high 20's.

Tempo

I was out of the house around 8:40. Headed over to the track for a tempo workout that I had originally planned for last Saturday. The weather was mild so I was able to get away with shorts and a long sleeve T.

2 miles very easy. HR in the 120-130 range.

8 x 800 beginning at 70% and working quickly up to 75% . 200 meter jog between each with HR coming back down to 140. 8k total. Very windy on the back stretch of each rep so I didn't worry about pace as much as focusing on HR. This workout felt very doable and not very stressful at all. I would rate it as being comfortable.

2 miles very easy heading home.

9 miles total

34 degrees

I showed up at the club workout this morning at around 7:30 AM. My car's temp guage read 34 degrees. The warmup was a slow affair but my legs felt very good so I celebrated by running the Triangle course at an equally slow pace. I chatted with John Peterson and watched the rest of the pack pull away. Walt was the only runner behind us as he struggled to run a sub 10 minute pace.

Actually this was a disciplined, easy paced run. I could have gone down to the track and run ice cube 800's or I could have run the workout faster but I knew that right now I just needed to chill (no pun intented).

Bracing 5 miler

Got out in the early morning and ran 5 slow miles in the cold chill and biting wind. It was bracing to say the least.

Had a long drive up to Santa Rosa and back (lunch with Mother) so I had to get the run over and done with.
I admit that I wasn't that motivated to run given the weather but I went out and ran on memory. Just get out there and bang out the miles and get back in.

10 miles slow

I did the double 5 today. I ran in the late morning and again in the late afternoon. Both runs were balmy and I frankly overdressed for the late afternoon/evening workout. The temp stayed at 60. There was no sudden freeze at sunset. Both workouts were slow, slow and easy. Just calorie burners really.

Pauline showed up for the first time in a year or so and asked where Danny was?

One must ask. Where was Danny?

I ended up being the clock-timer custodian. I will lug it to the Saturday workout. I believe it will be the Triangle Run. Don't know if I want to do that or run 75%, 800's on the track.

2007

I waited to go out this morning until 9:30. The sun was up and warming things. I went out dressed to the T's. Double top, gloves and tights with a hat. I might have overdone it. I kept passing the new year's resolution runners (meaning that after the first rain I won't see them again) wearing t-shirts and shorts. It is easy to spot them. They always have the latest gear on and new shoes. This time next year they will still be new.

I mostly kept my HR in the 140-150 range and drifted around Cupertino for 90 minutes. I started very slow and felt best in the middle of the run but faded somewhat later on (are carbs that important????). The mantra kept playing towards the end.

I am slow...

I could walk...

The universe doesn't care about either of the above.

Keep running (every other day).

When I arrived back home, I sucked down water and ate a big bowl of oatmeal with raisens. The shower could wait.

Crossroads

I am at a crossroads (again).

I will give 2007 a chance but it will have to be my way or the highway. It is not about running. It is whether I will compete at any level again or just give it up and just become the junior jogger I often resemble. I mean I am good at giving up on things and moving on. I gave up on Skiing and climbing after 1979. I gave up on flying this past year. I gave up on the idea of being an employee of any company in 2002. I give up when it doesn't fit it my life anymore. I am a bit of a bastard about things like that. It has helped me move on though.

I don't give up easily but running, while still fun at a social level and also as a way of burning calories, has also become a burden. I keep thinking, well maybe there is one more season in me. I am 61 going on 62 and last year I ran several races and trial efforts that indicated that I was in 20:40 5K shape.

Lousy? Not too bad but at best I am that 8-8 or 7-9 NFL fringe team and I am not sure I want to be that. Sure I make the playoffs now and then but I go quietly in the first round. I never accepted that in my best days even though at times I was just that, meaning 8-8 and out in the first round. But I was a fighter. Now I am not. I get there because I am better than than most runners my age. Not because I am competitive.

So here's the plan and this is really it because there is no other way I am going to get back to see what is there.

Every other day for the most part. (Boring..More of the same old, same old).

AT test runs every 3-4 weeks to see where I am. I would like to get under 20 minutes for 3 miles. I was down to 20:15 in late August.

No speed work. It just doesn't work for me. 6-8 x 100 is fine but that is about it.

I will get back up in the hills once a week. This can be a steady hill run or circuits.

If I see some sizable improvement by the spring I may do cross country next fall.

If my body can't handle it anymore I am going to "give up" and move on.

Pacing Chores

I ran a broken 8 miles this morning. Typical club workout with 2 x Valley Vista and another 2 miles added on. My main goal was to help with pacing chores for Walt who said he would be ecstatic if he broke 27 minutes for 3 miles. He ended up running 26:34 and he did seem happy afterwards.

It was in the low 30's and seemed frozen until the sun got high enough to warm us up.

Even though I ran a very slow 4 miles yesterday, I was a bit tired. 3 days in a row.

Almost Walking

I ran 40 minutes very slow late in the morning. I kept my HR down around 120 most of the run thinking to myself that I was almost walking. I am not sure whether running 3 days in a row is a good idea but it looks like little lost running-hood is going to do it anyway. The plan for Saturday is for me to pace Walt through a 3 miler (Valley Vista), a hilly club course. He said he would be ecstatic to run under 27 minutes so given the fact that I ran 23:14 last week with no undo discomfort, I should be able to accomplish this job. With a warmup and warmdown or a run later in the day I should be back on schedule.

Grey Zone Workout

I finally got out of the house to run at about 11 am this morning. It was in the low 50's, sunny and windy. I felt rested after several days cooped up.

I ran over to De Anza track which was still closed for the holiday and opted to do my 7 x 800 meter workout on the path that ran around the Gym, Pool and Track. According to a rough Gmaps pedometer calculation I ran .52 miles each rep. This is 832 meters. I kept the effort at 75-77% of max and averaged in the mid 4:20's. I jogged an easy 80 seconds after each rep. Given the fact that a good part of the very beginning and the whole long last straight were gradual uphill, I guess it wasn't too bad. I would have preferred to do this on the track but with the wind that was gusting out there today, I would have been blown to a stop on the back straight of each lap. Plus I would have had to jump the fence to get on the track in the first place.

The truth seems to be that I can't measure this effort against a track workout so in the future I will keep this workout ON the track.

With the warmup and warmdown this was somewhere between 8.5 and 9 miles total.

Ok, So I Was A Coward

Ok, so I was a coward. It was blowing holy hell today and the power went out (all day). It was in the low 50's with a windchill of about 30-35 degrees. Except for going out to get some coffee in the morning and meeting a friend for lunch I stayed in and read books. Two days, no running. I will be back out on the roads on Thursday.

A day Off and Some Resolutions

OK, one of those pesky days off. Xmas is now in the rear view mirror. Sue is more back to her happy self. My legs actually are feeling decent (or maybe pre-decent). made eye contcat with a woman at Starbucks. She looked a bit like an older version of a girl I dated back in the 1970's. BUT IT COULDN'T BE! She kept glancing at me though.

Just for ID purposes, I do look like an older version of my 1970's self.

My wife asked me about resolutions for New Years.

OK here goes.

This is my last year working at what I am presently doing or maybe better said, this is the last year i am going to do it this way.

I am going to do my version of Lawrence of Arabia combined with Howard Roark. Should be interesting.

I may try to run the cross country series next fall. I will run with the 45-49 team or the 50-54 team if they will have me. The 60 plus guys are not interested as far as this is concerned. I grok that. It means plenty of traveling and I won't score for the team unless everyone but our two top runners fall down during the evnt and can't get up. Anway, no talking anyone into doing this. I will just run as many of the races as I can and see what happens.

I am going to use Brian's program to build my tempo and hill running abilty. Mostly easy-easy running with sub AT until the end. I figure I can wrangle two racing seasons out of this. One in the sping and one in the fall.

I will probably think up a couple of other resolutions as time goes on. I have never bracketed myself by calendar years anyway.

I have no idea how far I ran

A Foggy and gloomy XMAS morning. Temps in the low 40's.

But LSR (Last Runner Standing) went out running anyway going very slowly at first and gradually feeling better and better as I ran. This turned out to be a "I have no idea how far I ran" workout. I was out about 75 minutes. It might have been 7 miles of it might have been 8. Part of my course went by the track but it was closed and empty. An Asian girl out running tried to get in to the bathroom by the pool but that was all closed off too. I felt sorry for her. I can just stand by a bush and piss ( and look very casual about it) but she has to pull down her tights and squat. How do you look casual about that? Well, you can always smile.

Photo OP!

Rampaged through the book Brian sent me. "Running By Feeling". Great read. He had a real comeback at 50 which is strange because that was the age I had my last comeback. Now we're in our 60's. Time for one more. First I will have to truly settle for the runner I am now, not what I think i should be.

James Bowie: You know, if you live five more years, you might just be a great man.
William Travis: I think I will probably have to settle for what I am now.

"The Alamo": 2004

XMAS eve

The last runner standing is sitting down right now. It is XMAS eve. The last runner standing is Jewish and is more of an atheist than a religious guy. The last runner standing is kind of spiritual and believes that the power comes from within, not from without. The last runner standing enjoys the holiday season but thinks most of it, at least where he lives, is commercial rather than religious. Still people try to act nice. XMAS makes my lovely wife depressed. She misses the BIG family but can't come to grip with the fact that she does miss it. She actually missesd what she thought XMAS was like rather than what it was really like but that's OK. We all miss THAT.

The last runner standing did not run today. He will run on XMAS day.

Happy Hannukah uh err XMAS

I Was Not Very Fast But......

I was not very fast but my legs felt really good. I ran the 3 mile club warmup and then ran the same course as a progressive workout hitting 75-77% during the first uphill mile, 80% during the second mile and 85% over the last downhill mile. The end time was 23:14. Nothing to sneeze at or to celebrate. Just a workout I can try to improve upon as time goes on.

The temperature was in the 30's during the warmup and climbed into the low 40's during the "race".

Warmed down around campus afterwards.

Maybe 8 miles total.

The Cable Guy

I had a breakfast meeting planned this morning and it ran late. Then I spent the afternoon waiting for the cable guy. He hasn't shown up yet and it is getting dark and cold outside. Looks like I won't run today. Now I understand what the Seinfeld episode was about. Kramer (Pre-Racist comments) won't let the phone guy in so he gets a sample of what it is like to wait..forever.

Dick Broadmoor

I ran 2 x 5 miles in what is supposed to pass for a long day. My morning run was another frozen ultra slow run and the late afternoon run was a two mile warmup with ray and 12 x 400 as slow as I could stand them.

Hence: 10 miles. The good news is that my IT band continues to feel MUCH better. Not there yet but better than before.

Ray, Dimitri and I: We decided my porn name should be Dick Boradmoor. Dick was my nickname when I was a a little kid and my parents first home was in Broadmoor, California right next to Colma and Daly City.

So now we have Ray "Boots Meridian", Dimitri "Yanni Monroe" and me "Dick Broadmoor".

Ultra Slow

I ran 5 miles ultra slow this morning. The temp hovered in the mid 30's. It was sunny though. The schools must be closing for Xmas because there was damn little traffic. The track was inhabited mostly by walkers. The near turn is in continuous shade and moss is growing on the all weather surface.

I ran clockwise to take some pressure off of the IT band.

Two layers of gloves
Wool Cap
Tights
Two T's.

I took me around 47-48 minutes to get this run in. HR mostly around 130.

Dark Coffee

I took today off. I woke up early (5:30 AM) thinking about a meeting at one of my clients. I tried to fall back but it was no deal. My wife was restless too. So finally I gave in to the coffee gods and sat out on the couch in the early morning half light sipping the dark stuff until I woke up enough to shave. Amber, our 11 year old golden retriever did her pee run and slunk back in the house curling up on her warm bed. She peered at me for a moment just to see if there was any treat in it for her and then seeing that it was hopeless, would herself tight into a primordial ball of fur.

I think of myself as retired but let's face it. I am not. Not if I still wake up on edge due to a meeting. You can take me out of work but not work out of me.

Cha Cha Cha!

The temperature was in the mid 30's while I was driving in. I was just ahead of the school traffic.

Merger talk and power point slides lay waiting for me.

I put myself on autopilot. Just get in there, do it.

Frozen

I ran a 38 minute and change re3covery jog this morning keeping my HRM at 130 and under. So this was about as slow as I could run.

The weather was sunny but cold (under 40 degrees) but warming slightly throughout the run. I ran over to DeAnza which was basically deserted except for several walkers and some older guys standing near the far side of the straightaway peering at some papers on a table they had set up there. I had no idea of their purpose and was too frozen to go ask.

The alternative was to go up to Lake Merced and run around the lake while hundreds of runners participated in the Xmas relays. Last year I was on the winning seniors relay team but went unasked this year. With Howe, Chimenti, Schmidt and Hurtado I was just the odd man out. If I go to the relays again, I will have to earn my way back. I had entertained the idea of blasting a lap and showing them I belonged (it would have been eloquent) but with my pegs (read...legs) would not have been up to it.

If I can get clear of sore legs and being generally tired and beat up maybe I can make a long run at the event. These days I don't plan things long term. My physical self is just not that reliable.

Brian Clarke Workout

No running Thursday and Friday. Thursday was a planned day off but Friday's run was cut off by the rescheduling of a lunch time meeting to 9 AM. That wasn't so bad but we all agreeed to get in early to review a presentation that we were going to give so that became 8 AM. The idea of getting up early ear;y to run just didn't float so I let it slide.

I slept in Saturday morning but joined the club for breakfast. Finally in the cold windy early afternoon I went out and tried a Brian Clarke workout. Who is Brian you ask????

http://www.amazon.com/5K-10K-Training-Brian-Clarke/dp/0736059407

Brian didn't get too many decent reviews except the one from George Beinhorn who is a very knowledgeable runner and writer about sports and other subjects and it is his remarks I respect.

Anyhow, when I read Clarke and when he talked about runners who had dug themselves into a big hole, he seemed to be speaking about me. So I decided to give one of his recommended workouts a try.

2 miles easy.

3-4 50 meters striders

6 x 800 at 155-158 HR which is about 75% of max. Each 800 was followed by a 200 meter slow jog. This is what might be termed a tempo interval workout but vsub-anaerobic by design so that the runner does not get too tired.

2 miles slow and easy back home.

The six 800's totaled 23:41 or an average of 3:57. Nothing to get excited about but a beginning of something or nothing. We'll see.

Strange

I ran 4 miles this morning. It was slow as planned. My legs felt ok.

This evening's 5 miles with 2 x 800 in 2:59-2:54) was not as good. I struggled and my left leg was bothering me along the IT band below the knee. I came home and iced and took some advil. The torque of running fast causes it to flare up. I may have to usde a less stressful type of workout to build powert and stay away from the fast stuff. I have been reading Brian Clarke's book on 5 & 10K training and he has what seems to be a decent approach.

Strange (but maybe not so strange) after all of these years finally the wear and tear is showing up in constant leg problems. So far I have had issues with my knee and IT band on the that side.

I know...

I know...

There's always rest and if all else fails then time off it will be.......

Not Dragging-For Once!

The rained cleared out so that Monday morning was rather nice. I planned a shorter run but ended up running about 7 miles at an easy (light) pace. I felt good for the first time in about a week or two. For once I wasn't just draggin along.

I believe I have been paying the price for "fooling around" with my training. It sucked me into my lastest down period. Every time I run well it is been after a long period of very slow running with either some 100's or that 1 mile of speed. If I look back over this last prelude, I was doing quite a few longer tempo runs pacing Jake on Saturdays or the 10K tempo, DSE run in November. I was also not running Wednesday evening workouts at an easy pace. They were secret hard runs because as I felt decent I would push them down in pace.

The results were simple. I had trouble sleeping, felt beat up and sore and my tempo runs fell off drastically. I really had no choice but to cut way back last week and keep taking it easy for the immediate future.

My idea of running 2 x 800 on Wednesday evenings is not bad as long as I recognize that this is my hard run of the week. I am well into what Van Aaken called the 20-1 territory. I can do about one mile hard in 20. Now and then I can run other stuff but that has to be it for the week. No 800's on Wednesday and then tempo on Saturday for example.

I have been reading Brian Clarke's book 5K and 10K Training. He, who once ran a 4:06 mile under Bowerman back in the 1960's. The book makes good sense. I amy email him. I sound very much like his once a week hard day runner. Brian believes in every day running and things a runner can adjust to it if he or she keep recovery days short and very slow. He does not believe in hard training as such but rather at keeping easy days very easy and hard days at sub-tempo. he would have a veteran runner like me not going over 75% of max HR in the early going on my hard days. That would mean workouts like 6 x 800 at 75% with a short 80 second jog. Eventually after the runner adjusts, they can add in a hill circuit days also not exceeding 75% on the uphill portions.

75% for me is 155-158 HR.

His program calls for daily evaluation of workouts so that the runner can handle the next workout successfully.

I am not keen on every day running but would rather shift two of the recovery days to morning runs on days where I either run hard in the afternoon or do two easy recovery runs or...OR...just stick with 4 days aweek with 3 of them being BIG days.

Friday & Saturday

I ran 4 miles on Friday and 30 minutes on Saturday. My legs still tired from Wednesday.

2 x 800

I finally felt decent enough to go run a few miles this evening with the club. I opted for a 2 mile warmup and 2 x 800.

The first one was close to 3:00 minutes and I struggled with the first lap coming through in 92. There was no magic pickup. I just pushed harder and got an 88 for my 3 flat. I ran this one all alone (always tougher) with Ray and Dimitri far ahead in the darkness and with Jim Bordoni closer but not within reach.

On the nex one I hung closer to Jim and came though in 86. The second lap was the same as i fought for control and form over push. So 2:52 which was more than fast enough.

I walked down a lap.

This might have been 3 miles total.

Wednesday now becomes the KING of all workouts and any others will be submissive to that evening run. Next week I will run a another 2 x 800 with no other goal than to run in the same neighborhood that I did this evening.

All my other runs will be short and slow. 2, 3 or 4 miles. This will be it for now except for a 7-8 miler once a week.

100 hours of not running

I haven't run since Saturday morning. My legs were just too beat up. I have to admit that after 100 hours of not running, my legs feel MUCH better. I can actually walk. So maybe I will go out to the club workout late this afternoon and resume my march towards destiny.

By the way, today is the 26th wedding anniversary for Sue and I. We actually celebrated last night with a nice dinner at a local eatery. I had THE BIG STEAK and THE BIG GLASS OF WINE!

Let's see. In 1980, the year we were married, I could run the following give or take 10-15 seconds.

5K 15:46 minutes
5 miles: 25:45
10K: 33:16 minutes (32:34)
10 miles: 55:11 minutes (54:45)
Half Marathon: 73:54 (73:39)

I would get faster ( )

Bonk!

I ran 8 miles today but felt leg sore and tired throughout.

Not a great experience.

Whoosh!

Another cold morning. I stayed inside until 9 AM and finally decided to go out and run. It had warmed slightly but was still in the 40's. I did a variation on my B-O-R-I-N-G five (5) miler with several miles on the track. That little spike of a girl was out there as I hit the tartan and I just wooshed by her (total opposite of my Monday run) but after a short while she stopped and I figured she was calling it a day.

Nope.

She then ran straightaway sprints while I continued to circle the track. So I figure she had already ran hard and I "wooshed" by her during her warmdown. No BIG victory there. :-(

I finally headed home. By this time I could easily have been in a long sleeve and shorts because it warmed up quickly.

The Works

It was in the low 40's when I went out for a slow 5 mile run this morning. So it is THAT time of year.

The good news is that I was once again the fastest guy during my mile portion on the local track. It was all walkers and slow, slow runners so I (running a sizzling 9:30-10 minute pace) was king of the track. This is what aging is about. I am now truly running paces that I never imagined I would subject myself to. 20-25 years ago this would have been an 8 minute pace run. That was my really, really slow pace. My dialy pace was 6:30-45.

I am recovering from latest bout of 3-days-in-a-rowitis. My legs feel good again and I slept well last night.

I still have tonight's club workout. I plan to wear the works. Tights, gloves and cap. The works!


And later......

OK, back now from my evening 5 miles with the club. I ran 8 minute pace the track and felt very decent. It was cold but "the works" kept my ass from freezing.

7 miles slow

Glad I took the extra day off. I slept well Sunday night and felt OK on Monday. I took off at about 8:30 AM and ran one of my 7 mile courses that includes about 3 miles on the track. There was a little slender, spike of girl (under 5 feet tall for sure) who showed up about the time I got there and took off running what looked to be a fast pace. I figured she must have been running close to 7 minute miles (as she blew by me several times). Finally I timed one of her laps and was surprised that she was running an 8 minute pace.

So what was I running? I decided not to find out. It was way too horrible to even speculate. 9 minute miles? 10 minute miles?

Oh the horror.

At my age

I decided not to run today. Felt slightly washed out. At my age, how I feel wins every time.

Coldest Yet

Coldest morning so far. I went down to the Saturday morning workout and ran an easy 6 miles while the club did 1200's on the track. Joe, Bob and Jim dueled each other whenever they came into contact. There is no "off" switch with these guys. It's what makes them so tough in races. I am such a wuss ;-)

It warmed up nicely later on but frankly I threw away my plans of running anything hard (even though I am due) because of the cold weather. I keep eyeing my running tights but haven't worn them yet.

Jim and I walked around the track and had our usual discussion about long timers who just didn't value competing anymore. In football terms Jim is a playoff team in our age group. Maybe 10-6 or 11-5. Porteous is a 13-3 or 14-2. Goldman is a solid 11-5 or 12-4.

I am a 9-7 (if things go right) or 8-8. Sometimes I am a 7-9.

What does that make Jake and Tim?

Thanksgiving Day Run

Joined the club for our traditional 7:30 AM Thanksgiving day run. It is 7.25 miles. Even though this was my 3rd running day in a row I felt very strong and covered the distance in about 60 minutes. When I feel like this I know my slow-slow (sub aerobic) running approach is a good one. My legs just felt good throughout.

There was a fun moment about 6 miles into the run where Dimitri said that this was a tough course. "Tough," I shot back. "It is pretty normal." You know. Some hills. Some gradual up and downs but mostly nothing too challenging. Then i realized it was my legs. They just felt good. Of course Dimitri ran some hard 400's the night before.

I am going to take Friday off and run Saturday and Sunday if I feel decent.

The Month of Terror

Cool and quiet this morning. I took off at around 10 AM and ran 5 miles at a very easy pace (again). This is a great time to run. The commute traffic has had time to bleed off and I am not dodging cars whipping around corners filled with desparate parents and half asleep kids.

In the evening I went to the club workout and warmed up for 2 plus miles with Dimitri and then ran two miles on the track in the form of 8 x 400 in 2 minutes each. My legs felt really loose and decent. I really can't complain. Not many people there. Thanksgiving tomorrow whcih means many of them are headed out of town or are entertaing family and friends. So begins the month of terror. Thanksgiving, XMAS and New Years. In another world I would disappear from town and go someplace where people didn't really care about the holidays and all the craziness that goes with it. Luckily Sue and Alex are low key about it so we work hard at keeping the stress to a minimum. I know Sue misses her family but whenever I say to her, let's go to Seattle, she makes it plain that the trip is not worth the cost.

Mini-Ed Whitlock

Took Monday off and ran today for 75 minutes. As usual my legs felt tight the first several miles and then began to loosen up. The 61 year old body does not want to run but if I can fool myself through the first part, then I actually want to run. I went out in the mid morning so I was feeling pretty rested. Got stronger as the run went on and finished strong.

This week should be interesting because the plan is to run Tuesday, Wednesday and Thursday, take Friday off and then run Saturday and Sunday. I hope to hit 35 miles in a gradual build up to 40 mpw. I am taking the Mini-Ed Whitlock approach with plenty of slow miles and then I will use tempo runs for relative speed. The goal is to burn more calories, not faster racing.

Rocketman Mile

It was the Danny dowhill mile again. Danny Moon ran 4:57 the last two years on this course to keep his 26 year streak alive of breaking 5 minutes for the mile. This year it was not to be. Injuries, lack of training and a significant weight gain finally slowed Rocketman down. He still ran 5:35. This made sense given his 5:59 at Hollister. Last year he ran 5:23 at Hollister and then ran 4:57 at the Downhill mile. The same the year before. Danny gets about 24-26 seconds advantage on this course.

I warmed up by jogging to the start and then paced Jake down the hill running 6:10. I then warmed down with Dimitri. I felt fine before, during and after the run. I check my HR during the mile and the highest it got was 168 and that was in the last 440 and I didn't kick.

Danny and I took everyone out for breakfast afterwards.

Mon-Wed-Saturday

I ran 7 miles on Monday, 9 miles in two runs on Wednesday and 8 miles on Saturday. I was going to run Friday but had a lousy nights sleep Thursday and decided to shelve it for a day.

My legs felt washed out so I am taking it easy.

DSE 10K

This morning I drove up to SF with my buddy Shedon. We ran the DSE Embarcadero 10K which I decided to do at an AT effort. The conditions were just about perfect. Cool with a bit of a headwind going out and tail wind coming back. After running the previous two days I got about what I expected. Even though both previous days were easy runs of 4-5 miles my legs were still tired (and maybe my body too) because the first sign I had that I was not "with it" was that I could not get my HR up to 90%. It took 4 miles to finally get there. Now one might say "well you are in great shape and so it should be harder" but that is not the way it works for me. Usually it takes a mile or maybe a mile and a half but I was still in the low 170's at the turn around point and finally reached 180 because it simply was warmer heading back with a slight tailwind plus I was wearing a long sleeve cotten shirt. Generally my legs were tired while my breathing was OK throughout.

All in all I ran 45 minutes and change. If I age graded the effort it would have been like running a low 36 minute 10K at age 30. Maybe a minute or more off what I would consider to be par.

So what did I do that might have contributed to this sub par effort?

1. I ran 3 days in a row.

2. My sleep has been spotty. Several good night surrounded by nights where 6 hours was norm.

3. I ran too hard wednesday evening at the track. I did some grey area runs as Jack Daniels call them.

What do I plan to do about this?

Nada. It is what it is. I will get back on my program and try to stick with it.