After a day off for recovery, it was time to get back to running 1K repeats. I awoke at 6 AM and made a quick decision to get out for a workout before the oppressive heat. I arrived at the cinder track by 6:30 and after a brief warm-up, proceeded to run 4 x 1K with minimal rest at an average of 7:00 per repeat. Covered 3.4 miles total in 49 minutes and ended pretty used up. Count up to 15 times 1K in four workouts toward the 1000 goal. 😎 🏃🏿‍♂️🏃‍♂️‍➡️

Seeking aerobic development, a few days ago I came up with a wacky plan. Throughout my coaching career, and while

working with many successful coaches as an assistant after I retired, the workout of 1000m repeats has been a staple. Hence, I have decided to make that the staple of my aerobic effort going forward. So, being an optimist and a fool, and a bit of a show off, I concluded that it would be an aerobically wise idea to set as a goal to run 1000 times 1K❗️ Admittedly, it might take a year, but I’ve got time. For a month or two I plan to run repeat thousands almost daily if I can with no particular pace goal. Just run a pace that is making my heart work.

In three consecutive days since my plan was created, I have run a total of 11 x 1K.  So far I like it. Who knows how far it will go, but it’s been fun.

I took a shot at the Big Bang Mile on Saturday to get a reading on my aerobic fitness level. And it verified what I was quite sure was true, and that is that my aerobic fitness level has declined significantly in the last year. Mile time was 9:29.! Admittedly my legs were quite heavy throughout, and I was struggling just to get to the finish line. There may have been other reasons for that.  But, clearly, I have a long way to go to get back to where I was a year ago. I have renewed my commitment to do everything I can to accomplish that.

So, the training goal for the next few months has to be solely aerobic development. There can be no improvement in any race times until I become more aerobically fit.

The anxiously anticipated and simultaneously dreaded return to racing on July 11 has come and gone. My split of 3:42 was better than expected and the source of considerable relief. I managed to emerge from the event with sore muscles but no bodily injury. Plus my 80 year-old team did set a new American record for the 4x800m relay, which was our goal.

The week beginning July 13 was mostly relief and recovery. I walked a lot and swam a few times and did a lot of core work and Upper body weight lifting while my legs recovered.

Then I agreed to join the Shore Athletic Club team effort in the Big Bang Mile scheduled for August 1.

Starting on Sunday July 19 I began to ramp up my training a bit in anticipation of running a mile.

On Sunday I ran 3 miles of Fartlek on the Cinder track.

On Monday the 20th I ran 3 miles with pickups at Turkey Swamp Park in 44 minutes.

On Tuesday I did upper body weight and a very good hard core workout.

Then I read a workout that Josh Kerr did a week before he broke the world record in the mile that intrigued me. He ran 12 times 400 meters and 12 times 200 meters. I thought maybe I could do it age appropriately modified.

So, on Wednesday at Turkey Swamp Park I ran 12 times 400 meters in 2 minutes with a 1 minute recovery. It was pretty difficult but I completed it successfully. I was pretty tired, but I thought I would try the 200s if my body could handle it. The only problem was that my heart rate would quickly rise to over 150 b/m as soon as I started to run the 200m. This convinced me that I had reached my maximum for the day.

I was tired and sore on Thursday and Friday. I only did core work and weights. Also my calf muscles were for the 1st time quite sore.

On Saturday I did the second half of the Josh Kerr workout. I tried to run through the soreness in my left calf muscle. The 200 meter workout seemed harder than the 400 meter workout probably because I was not fully recovered and I was worried about my calf.

On Sunday my back was also very tight and achy. So that became a total day off.

On Monday, today, I took a 3 hour nap in the afternoon instead of doing a workout because my body was signaling me. I am not yet Josh Kerr!😋

The mile race is on Saturday. I will do some moderate work for the rest of the week and hope to compete well on that day.

Training has been going quite well, I believe. Today, after 2 days rest, I did quite an extensive workout at our community pool and weight room facility. I did 30 minutes on the elliptical machine, lifted the weights for about 15 minutes and then went in the pool for 30 more minutes of running and swimming. It was a lot of work, but I felt quite Invigorated afterwards rather than worn out. Most of my workouts, basically all of my workouts, have been shorter and more intense rather than long and Gentle. I make every effort to avoid hard surfaces, roads and sidewalks. Distances covered Amount to about 2 1⁄2-3 1⁄2 miles for the most part. A recent development is that I have become much more comfortable working on the elliptical machine. I had essentially disdained that as a viable workout option in the past. This evolution has allowed me to get a lot more work done without impact which I find very rewarding.
So it looks like 7 days of work
and a few days of recovery. Then take a shot at running a respectable 800 meters.

On day nine of the 42 day countdown to my opening 800M race I have completed my plan. I will be operating on a 4 day cycle. The 4 components of the cycle are high intensity Interval training, Hills, Pool work and the Elliptical machine. I have concluded that long continual impact runs are not beneficial to my back. So, my aerobic work will be done in the pool and on the elliptical machine. On the alternate days I will do a hill workout and an Interval workout on the track. I will be including 2 workouts of arm and shoulder weights and 2 workouts of core drills in each cycle.

I have established a goal of 3:36 for my first 800m on July 11. My Interval workouts will be done at that pace.

I consider this an ambitious yet conservative plan. The objective is to be consistent and avoid injury at the same time.

I just learned today that I will be anchoring a 4x800m relay on July 11th. That news is very exciting and more than a bit terrifying. It has motivated me to develop a solid six week program starting tomorrow. I am not able to set a goal time yet because I don’t have any idea of my current fitness level. I am still looking for the ideal time and place to run an 800m trial. I need that to set a six week goal and establish solid training pace.

Running is finally fun again. and having a goal is the icing on the cake.

Ran 5 more hills on Sunday between the rain showers. I did a significant warm-up indoors before going out. Then I ran about a mile before I got to the hill. My legs felt excellent today. This surprised me because the workout was totally on the road which I have essentially avoided since my back injury. So, I ran the hills pretty aggressively. The workout was about 2.2 miles in total. I am very curious to find out how my legs will respond to two  consecutive days of hills.