My legs have asked for a rest

My legs have asked for a rest. First they begged (3 calf pulls surrounded by dead legged runs) and now they have insisted (groin pull, calf again). I finally hear the request even though it was less respectful than anticipated. The universe only cares when you are at the top of your game and the injury of one more over the hill, aging runner is of little consequence even to the runner himself.

I chatted with Mr. Saturday Morning, Ray just a few minutes ago. He lives down in SLO on the central coast. He is thinking about a comeback.

"Just to be in the top 5," he said. That would be enough. I thrived for years being in the top five. The group shifted over time but I stayed up there for ten years. Even at 50 I was still "up there" but it meant less by that time and I knew I had to let go. Letting go of racing is one thing. Letting go of running is another. I have been contemplating this serioulsy for quite some time. It wasn't that I was going to give up on running. I was going to take a vacation from it. But of course, in the end, I had to pushed out the door.

I am out of the running room. Out in the hallway. I hope that is enough for now.

Last run for quite a while.

I lied. I ran one more time and that was once too often. Today my legs gave out during a very easy 30 minute run. Within minutes(as if acting in concert with each other) my left calf and my right groin both pulled. My body was someplace else and it is taking the rest of me there, not where I might want to go.

The penny has dropped. It will be quite some time before I can even try running again. Walking is not an immediate alternative.

Rest and diet.

My old nemesis' from the 1960's.

Not Running (for a time)

Xmas day: Rain and wind outside. I am hunkered down for now. I haven't run since Saturday. On antibiotics just in case I have an infection of some sort. At this point resting is training as strange as that might seem.

It's not so much that I haven't run but more that I don't mind NOT running. My mind and body are elsewhere.

Touch of Something

I ran 50 minutes on Saturday but was constantly looking for a WC. Something is broken in the works. Probably a touch of the flu. I am not sure. Taking Sunday off. Will try to get into see the doctor on Monday. Maybe this is what is dragging me down.

Ringing True

The Silicon Valley Warrior wasn't very warrioring this morning. I dragged myself out for 41 minutes in between showers. The weather was warmer (high 40's) but that seemed to make no difference whatsoever. I just punked out. Yeah, I felt better over time but never good enough to justify me being out there. I think my head and body just weren't in it and one tends to follow the other. I could just as well stayed inside, had another cup of coffee and taken my time getting ready to work. Of course when I looked out the window at lunch it wasn't raining but it was windy. I am sure the Baylands would have been fun.

Bottom Line: I am not over trained and I am getting enough sleep. Either I am bonking on too few carbs or I am simply not motivated anymore. The last ring truest.

I could go to the Danny model which is running 4-5 days a week and keep the miles low. Maybe one longer run a week. He runs 3-5 miles a workout. I am not an interval sort of guy but maybe some time trials 1-2 x a week..

But nothing "has" to be done. No single workout "has" to be run.

Oops, it's too cold outside. I think I'll skip the run. I wonder how bad that could be?

Or I could just give it all a rest.

Some Progress

Went out in the clear quiet freezer quality cold of the morning and ran an easy 40 minutes. My legs felt better. The nicks and bruises and sore spots were miraculously gone. What was left was a sludge feeling like gunked up oil. I moved slowly and pathetically but somehow got out to the college and back without incident.

At lunch the temps were in the low 50's and there was a nice breeze to cool things down further but I ran a warm up loop of 12 minutes and then set off to run a time trail on the dirt, gravel bayland trail that circles the park. The course is imperfect. yes, measured years back so I know where the quarter mile marks are but still rutted and with a few gentle but insistent rollers along the way.

Nothing exciting but progress.

1:40-3:20-4:50 for 1320.

13 minute easy warm down thrown in to drain off some of the lactic acid (lol). To think I once ran sub 6 pace for 20 miles 32 years ago.

It was enough and too much

8 x 100 seems so little but it pretty much beat up my legs. I walked around Sunday evening and most of Monday with sore spots on my right hamstring and right instep and plantar. I decided to take an extra day or two off. So no running on Tuesday. We'll see about Wednesday. The weather made it easier. Cold and wet weather coming down from Palinville (oops, I mean Alaska). I looked ahead. Intermittent rain and continued cold. I have the tights out. Time to protect my legs and just get through to the spring.

Nines

Another very cold morning. High 30's with a mild but steady wind blowing. I got out before 10 AM dressed to the "nines".

1. Wool cap
2 & 3 two sets of gloves
4 socks
5 briefs
6 tights
7-8 two tops (long sleeve over short)
9 shoes

So..hence nines as in 9 items.

I ran for 25 minutes keeping the pace slow
Then I hit the track for 8 x 100 (walking back for recovery). I didn't time the first 4 but caught the last 4 in an average of 18. Then 20 minutes back to the house.

It's a battle drawn up between my will power, my aging legs and the substantial lack of desire to run especially on cold days. Today will power won.

60 minutes before the rain

Unashamedly I slept in to 7:30.

Why didn't my 6:30 AM alarm go off? Not sure. Maybe I forgot to set it.

I made breakfast though. Coffee and toast. Very ascetic.

I finally made it out onto the roads after 1 pm. Windy with rain coming in. I ran an easy 60 minutes scouting out the college track thinking to myself that this was time trial day. But it wasn't. Too windy so I bailed and kept up the slow tempo. It was just starting to come down as I hit one hour. Too late to get drenched.

I was home.

Frozen Sun

I ran twice again today. It was in the 30's when I trotted out this monrning from home. 48 minutes at a slow, easy pace.

I went out again for no good reason at lunch to burn off more calories. I ran two BIG loops which turned out to be 24 minutes. It was in the low 60's and frankly it was stark, raving perfect.

2 x 40

Doubled today running 40 frozen minutes before work and another 40 minutes during lunch. All done at a very slow pace. It's the willingness to go slow that keeps me in the game.

Smita sighting?

I got early today and ran for 50 minutes. I kept it slow. The weather was cool and slightly overcast. I may have had a Smita sighting but did not follow up.

3:08

I slept in until almost 8 AM. The day of the long knives exhausted me (I guess). I went out and had breakfast with the club and then ran in the early afternoon. Sunny with very little wind. Almost perfect.

18 minute easy warm up. Legs and that right calf felt good.

1 x 800 in 3:08 (97-91)

24 minute slow warm down.

Galloway Was Right

Galloway was right about older runners.

As you age you need less running days.

You need to take walking breaks in your daily running.

It helps to run slow. As slow as you can stand it and then some.

Gliders (or striders) are essential to keep up leg speed or turnover.

I watch my buddy Jake trying to run every day and how he bonks. His legs go dead on him. There is a day where all that stuff doesn't work. Jimbo can do it because he took much of his 50's off from running. He recovered. But for those of us who spent 40 years doing this, well the great days are over. We can stay in the game (maybe) but we need more rest and we need to put our ego's aside and just run slower. That is the price of continuing to run. Somewhere out there is an end day (the day where we stop running) so every day we can run is a gift.

An Empty Desolate Place

I met Jake at Forbes at 8 AM. I wrapped my right foot across the instep and under the arch with coban tape. We ran the first up and back in 25:44. My calf held up. We went back a second time running 25:42. I had some faint echos of tightness but no pain. My legs seem OK. I was surprised at how fresh I felt given that I had woken early at around 5 AM, an empty desolate place on the clock. Coffee had warmed me up. Amber, the wonder dog had stirred on her pillow and had stared at me sleepily and then had fallen back off with a slight but persistent snoring.

I still seem to be a runner.

Tight Calf

I ran twice yesterday in very different sort of conditions. The morning run was in a steady drizzle. I did an easy 38 minutes and noticed right off that my right calf was tight.

In the early afternoon I ran another 40 minutes. The calf seemed OK but I did have several incidents where it tightened up. Then after a few seconds it wouldn't bother me at all. Very strange. I guess that "burning" 7:06 slightly strained it.

So this is the calf that wasn't bother me. The good calf.

I massaged the heck out of yesterday whenever I got a chance. I wrapped my right instep and arch with coban tape. This often takes pressure off the calf.

My legs seem to be sending very clear messages to my brain.

VERY Slow Running

I waited until mid day to go out and run. The temps were in the low 60's and there was little or no wind. Almost perfect conditions for a slow (very slow) 60 minute jog. I kept my HR down in the low 130's most of the way. The price of still running after 41 years is VERY slow running.

My 7:06 from yesterday shouldn't really be a surprise. I train at a 10 minute pace these days. When I ran at a 6:30 to 7 minute pace, I could run the mile in the 4:30's. So none of this should be a surprise.

7:06 in a low key

This is the track, isn't it????








I finally got back to the track of a time trial. It's been about 17-18 months and in the interlude I lost my momentum. I had run a 6:18, 1600 meter and a 13:13, 3200 meter. I was on the verge of breaking the 13 minute barrier.

That was a year and half ago. 3 pulled calf muscles ago.

I knew that starting up again would not be pretty but like the proverbial journey it has to begin someplace.

I ran a very easy 25 minutes over to and around De Anza. Then I did a couple of striders.

My goal was to run somewhere in the range between 7 and 7:15. I ran the first two laps in 3:45 and then picked up the last 800 running 7:06.I ran another 13 minutes back home.

I am at least a minute away from where I need to be to have a chance at breaking 13 minutes.

Dimitri and I have decided to start doing our weekly trial runs in January.

I will do something like this.

Set date initial goal for 3200

1600 20 seconds faster than pace
2400 @date pace
3200 Date pace

Set new goal pace

Who Am I Trying To Convince

I was listening to myself this past week (or two). I have said a hundred times that I went back inside (work) to get benefits. I have said it so many times that it seems that I am trying to convince myself that that is the reason I went back in. Now I understand why Dena and Steve looked at me strangely and absently so many years ago. Work is so interwoven into my way of thinking that I can't shake it loose.

The past 3 months have shown what a slave I am to work even though I have played at not being a slave. I am my master's most favorite servant.

I am not against work. Don't read that into what I am writing here.

I am against being a slave to it.

Last night I listened to John talk about work even though he no longer works at all. But it's his son's work or my son's work. He drones on and one about it. John is a good guy. More than that he is generous and true if you are in a bind. But 40 years of over identifying with companies has done him in. I did this with running.

I was a runner. Got that? I WAS A RUNNER!

Now I am a jogger of the lowest ilk. I don't identify myself with being a runner anymore or at least not hardly.

I believe I have just replaced one master with another and forgot that the self mastery is the key.

Things I am going to stop doing

Telling folks I went back in for the benefits. It is partially true but it's not the whole story.

Telling people I don't really need to work.

The truth is work is random for me. I do it because I can and want to (at times). My best guess about my random self is that I will stop working when I decide that I no longer want to (or people stop calling me).

I don't need to be superior or needy about explaining this to anyone.

Yes, if I had 5 million in the bank I might not work. I am not sure. I don't know myself that well. I don't want to know myself that well.

I just want to stop boring myself and others.

Low Grade Tempo

Thanksgiving morning. The club 7.22 mile run. It was just tough for me to get the heck up and drive myself over there. I am so unused to doing this. I had not planned to do the actual run but had decided to go do a low grade tempo workout on the track that would, with my warm up and warm down, take about 60 minutes.

It worked to a "T". I ran for a very easy 15 minutes and then ran 6 x 800 keeping my HR in the 150-154 range during the 800 and jogging a very slow 200 meters in between. If I thought about the workout there is no question that the 800's felt like the first mile of a race used to. The 800-200 section took 34:15 which is woefully slow but it is what it is! Afterward, I ran another 11 minutes to hit 60 minutes. I was just finishing as the runners started to finish during the 7.22.

Things I am willing to do

Run every other day
Double now and then
Run tempo efforts
Time Trials
Run 60-70 minutes

Things I am not willing to do

Run every day
Run long
Intervals
Race
Run before 7 am in the morning
Raise my mileage