Ran on the cinder track last night (Monday) doing intervals at 8:00 pace; 2-4-2-2-4-2-2-4. Final 400 m at 1:48. Goon night!

That workout completed a seven day cycle of good work.

Wednesday- 3 miles on the track of MMF

Thursday- 4 miles on the Jackson Road for the first time in a few months

 Saturday- 3 miles of MMF on the cinders

I am racing a no pressure Big Bang mile on Sunday. It is a Jersey Shore AC event. So I like to do well. That always raises a rest issue. How much time does an 81 year-old guy need to recover in order to run a decent mile? I am still trying to figure that one out. I think this time I’m going to not worry about resting and keep training. There are two other miles that I will be running in the next three weeks. When is the mammoth mile on August 29, the other is the New Jersey senior games on September 6. That one is qualify for the senior nationals which will occur in Iowa sometime next summer. So I do have a chance to run a couple decent miles in the next month. After that, it will be cross country for about three months right now I am pretty happy with my training and the fact that I’m staying healthy. My stats are staying consistent and in good form I’m a lucky guy.

AM – Elegant Eights x 5

August 4th, Sunday

The weather forecast for Sunday morning was the low 70s. I took that opportunity to get out and do a workout at the cinder track. The weather hadn’t been out of the high 90s for almost a week.  As I began to warm up I was surprised that my legs were so tight and heavy. I hadn’t done a workout in sometime on the cinders,  but I had been working on the machines at the clubhouse; treadmill, bike and elliptical.  They must be more demanding than I thought on my legs. So, it took me a while to get loose and feel ready actually do some kind of work.  I wanted the total workout today to exceed 4 miles. So, I decided to do some Elegant Eights. That phrase was created by Rich Refi about a decade ago while I was working with him at Hillsborough high school cross country. On recovery days we would have our cross country guys run comfortable 800m repeats on the grass. We originally called them Lazy 8s, but we decided that Elegant Eights  was a more positive term. The objective was to cover some decent mileage at a decent pace without too much stress on the body.  The boys would often run 8-10 repeats, usually with progressive timing.. The result was a usually a solid recovery day workout.  The goal today was to complete at least 4 miles with some tempo along the way.  The 72° overcast morning was a big help. I was able to complete 5x  800m hitting almost  exactly 4:45 pace on each one.  All objectives were met. 🐸

Stats-

Weight is up to 148# because I have  been running less and eating more for the past two weeks since the Pan-American games in Cleveland.

Sleep has been steady at 8-10 hours per night.

I have not checked my morning heart rate in over two weeks. 🤑❤

Feet and legs are injury free!   👍👣👖

With less than a week to my 800m race at the Pan-American games in Cleveland I am beginning to become a little paranoid about not becoming injured.

None of my workouts in the past two weeks have been close to max speed because I continue to feel a slight injury in my right leg, high hamstring muscle. It’s possible to run continuously but if I extend my stride, I can feel a slight pain. So my plan is to keep training for aerobic fitness and run a few speed. segments of 100 to 300m with a very short stride. Early morning running this week has allowed me to get in some decent work. I hope that my race in Cleveland will allow me to run a full 800m and not have a serious mishap with my hamstring along the way. My fitness seems to be OK considering that in every workout the longer the workout lasts the stronger I feel. So, I guess I’ll just have to see what happens in Cleveland. 😊😊

The Pan-American Masters games begin in Cleveland in 19 days. I have decided to forgo running the 1500m race because of a nagging hamstring issue in my right leg. I’m not sure that I can recover fast enough to run the 800m on Wednesday if I run a 1500m on Sunday. I have not tried a serious workout in about a week for fear of further aggravating my hamstring. Over the previous two weeks I had successfully completed some arduous mid-distance interval workouts. That consisted of upgrading my normal training pace, which I believe, probably irritated my hamstring.

Hotel and flight reservations are in place. The objective remains to arrive in Cleveland ready to run a fast 800m.

Today, Monday, is a beautiful 80° summer day.The heat wave has broken, and I will be out on the cinder track this afternoon to see how well my leg is doing.



Trying to build mitochondria with some  600m repeats tonight.  1 mile warm-up and stretching. On the 800 m cinder track. I ran 600 and walked and jogged 200. The 600s were at eight minute pace. (3:00) The recovery was less than three minutes.

I was cautious because of A complaining right leg hamstring muscle.

The workout was positive, but I will need some time off to be sure my hamstring muscle is cared for. Tomorrow will be swimming, whirlpool, and weight room. It’s just about one month until thePan/ Am Masters games. So I cannot afford a hamstring injury.

Stats are positive-

Tonight on the cinders I ran 4 x 800m with 2/3 minutes rest: 4:55, 4:29, 4:12, 4:18. Bambi’s Daddy checked on me every lap. It felt ok on the third day out from a full mile and a 800m double on Sunday. It was the first time I’ve ever done that double on a single day with only an hour rest. I did not get a split time on the 800m from the relay. but I was surprised by how recovered I felt running it. My calves are still a bit tight from the addition of spikes for the races. I need to incorporate spikes in my training gradually over the next month to prevent that becoming a problem at Pan-Am Masters if I try the same double over 3 days.

The mile time trial is was a modest success. 7/:21 seems ok for my first mile in over a year. It felt like I was running conservatively and hit the half in close to 3:30, but the second half was not strong enough, 3:50. Will need a little bit more middle distance aerobic strength and a little more guts to get under 7:00 in a month. Looking for 3;20 and 3:38/9.

Stats: Weight – 142+ !! Sleep – solid 8/10 nightly. Diet – 9. Legs/feet are injury free. Resting heart rate- 54bpm

Today I revised an old favorite from my coaching days at North Hunterdon.  After a steady week of work I had decided over the weekend to take 2 recovery days to bring some life back into my legs. The workout consists of running 1600m repeats with surges and cruise segments at specified speeds. The segment are 200 meters, 500 meters, 200 meters, 500 meters, 200 meters. For the high school boys the goal was to run the 200m segment in 32 seconds with a 5:08 target 1600m. I decided that at my level I should make the target 10:00. The 800 meter cinder track Is only marked for two 400 meter segments. So I decided to run my segments in time rather than distance. I would surge for 1:00, cruise for 3:30, surge for 1:00,  cruise for 3:30 and surge for 1:00 to, hopefully, complete the 1600m at the 10:00 mark.

My performance surprised me. On the 1st effort I passed the 1600m mark in      8:58.  Feeling a bit of fatigue and out of an abundance of caution I decided to half the segments in the second and try to run at 800m in 5:00.  Trying to be very controlled I still pass the 800m mark in 4:18.  The ease with which I did that emboldened me to try another 1600 m.  Once again being very controlled I still completed 1600m in 8:55.    I was a big hit on the cinders tonight as 3 people stopped to tell me how impressed they were with my running. 😊

Stats are steady and sound with no leg or foot issues. 👣💟

Two weeks ago, when Robert and Kristen were here for Easter, I mentioned that I was planning to run a race this July in the Pan/American Masters games in Cleveland, Ohio. I explained that the race was exactly 100 days away and that I was creating a 100 day training plan to prepare for the race. They became quite excited and animated. They insisted that I create, in fact they created for me, an Instagram account to publish my daily workouts for the hundred day countdown. So, I learned how to do Instagram stuff and have been posting and telling my story for two weeks. We are now down to day 85. Therefore, I have not been posting here as +70 Runner but have been Instagraming daily as +80 Runner. 😊

Cycle one of the plan involves 20 days of base building. I have concluded that, if I want to achieve my goal to run an 800m close to 3:00, I will have to have a stronger base so I can do more strenuous workouts in the final stage of the hundred day plan. So far that has gone quite well. My legs are definitely tired from the increased workload. I have not taken off a single day. I even ran a comfortable 5K race in 30:19 last Sunday with no pre-race taper.

Anyone who chooses can keep up with my countdown training on Instagram under my new tag name. +80 Runner

Stats –

-leg muscles and feet are somewhat shaky and sore every morning, but there are no injuries🙏

-weight is a steady 144 pounds‼️

– resting heart rate remains constant in the low 50s❤️

- diet is healthy except for beer and ice cream, but I run to maintain some vices 🏃🏿‍♂️🏃🏿‍♂️🏃🏿‍♂️🏃🏿‍♂️🏃🏿‍♂️

Made a decision yesterday to plan to run the pan-am Masters games in July in Cleveland. It’s 100 days away so it seems like a cool idea to put together a 100 day plan to see if I can run a fast 800 m in July. I was able to run 3:15 at Ocean breeze two weeks ago. That time would have won the USATF national championships 80 year old category by 38 seconds. So, I think I am one of the better 800 runners in the country right now. I believe that I have accomplished that with rather moderate training for mid distances. The plan is to up the level of my middle distance training in the next 100 days with the goal of running a fast 800m, maybe close to three minutes, at the outdoor masters Pan-American meet in July. It seems like a fun thing to try.

Yesterday, Wednesday, I spent 45 minutes in the exercise room at our clubhouse. (ER) Today, Thursday, I ran a steady 45 minutes on the Cinder track at the senior center. (SS) Tuesday was a total washout.

During the previous 10 days, over Easter, I did a surprising Amount of work comprising over 10 miles and included some middle distance intervals and speed segments. I ran an 8:45 mile during one workout and have done a good number of 200s on the track.

The next few months should be interesting if I survive.

My stats have been holding up well. At one point during that 10 day stretch I did have an elevated basic heart rate. That led me to take two days off to make sure I was not overtraining. Everything else is holding up.

Easter Sunday with the family. Spectacular Ukrainian Easter feast!

Too much food and drink, but it is a day that was tagged as a recovery day.

After two pretty serious workouts on Friday and Saturday I noticed that  my resting heart rate was higher than normal, a signal that I needed to slow down for additional recovery.

Friday was  a one hour ago workout on the track with 6 x 200m strong  in between 2 x 20 minutes easy.

Saturday was  a 8:45 mile and a 5:00 800m between two easy runs on the cinders.

Committed to upping my training level to run fast 800m  without injury.  I can be a major play in the National Masters world if I can do it.  The 3:14 800m  that I ran at Ocean Breeze last week would have won the USATF MASTERS Nationals by 38 seconds.