Monday – In AC to prepare condo for summer rental. A chilly and wet work day, no workout .
Tuesday – During a brief break in the crappy weather today, I took a break from condo staging to attempt a boardwalk run. Now, maybe it was because I was working all day, ( I don’t do much actual work these days.) or maybe my body is still feeling the effects of my progressive miles workout on Saturday, but my legs felt like lead today. I walked, stretched, jogged, tried a few weak pickups and finally ran about an 11:00 mile, all in 70 minutes. None of it was pretty or pleasant. It was one of those days where you feel like you have to force yourself to do something because there’s some guy in Kentucky or Wyoming who is working out today and is going to kick your ass in three weeks. I actually took a hot bath today after my run which is something I don’t know if I have ever done before. So tomorrow I will continue my quest to stay fit and avoid injury for the next 3 weeks.
“Don’t forget your spikes, O’Rourke.” Coach Bob Short
Today was the first day I wore my spikes. It was a recovery day. So I ran 3 miles total at 12:00 pace. At the two and a half mile mark I stopped, put on my spikes and ran 4 x 100m strides on the grass. During those strides I became totally focused on the fact that my 1500m race is exactly 3 weeks away. Spikes have that effect on me. Wearing spikes is the only time I run without socks. It brings back that wonderful, heart-pounding sensation of floating on air as the fabric gently hugs my feet. Throughout my high school and college running career that always meant Race Day! Treasured memories…..one of the joys of my current, +70 running experience.
Stable stats.
On the 800-meter cinder track today I ran 4.5 total miles. Prepared with heat and layers including my fill leg running tights. Warm-up first mile fully dressed in 11:40, including progressive pickups . Second mile was in 10:24. Third mile was 9:43. Final mile was in 8:30. During the final 2 miles I added 8 x 100 stride pickups. Don’t know if anybody was watching as I dropped pieces of clothing each lap. ( 800-meter cool down) I am training without injury or pain right now and the result has been consistent, strong work days. With only three weeks to Nationals I am feeling as fit as I have in quite a while.
It just occurred to me that I better start doing some short runs with my spikes if I plan to race with them in Birmingham. I haven’t had them on in almost two years.
On a breezy and cool boardwalk in Atlantic City today , I covered about 4 miles with no real plan. I did complete my six stride warm-up plan after about a mile. Then I stretched and ran a 8:16 mile pretty comfortably. A 800m cool down followed. The whole effort took about an hour.
Felt very good today on the track at Hillsborough High School during the Somerset County championship meet today. It was about 80* as the sun set. I ran 2.5 miles with my new warm-up of 6 pickups, and followed that with a series of quick 100m to 150m strides on the rubberized track. My legs were surprisingly quite springy after the workout yesterday. Tomorrow will tell a tale.
On a breezy, May Monday I headed to the cinder track for a bit of work. I began with a mile of jogging and walking, stretching and 5 x increasingly longer pickups. My current warm-up plan consists of completing 6 pickups of 50, 60, 70, 80, 90 and 100 strides . The goal is to become accustomed to a specific warm-up that I can duplicate on race day .
The workout consisted of 2 x 800m in 4:00 each, followed by 2 × 400m in 1:43 and 1:40. I still hesitate to train too fast for fear that I will re-injure my legs and hinder my performance at the Nationals.
It is a coaching dilemma. Is one able to race fast without training fast?
