August 24, Wednesday, 10:00 p.m
“Get Back”
https://youtu.be/OY4XqksDQzY
All posts by Robby
Easy, Peasey
August 23rd, Tuesday, 10:00 p.m.
This evening I spent 40 minutes in motion, walking and jogging, while I watched the Liberty cross country boys run 10 x 400 meters uphill at Pine Park in Lakewood. Legs heavy! Need to rest for 5k on Sunday.
Stats –
I-Mad – 0
A.m.HR – 54BPM
Weight – 152#
Sleep – 8 hours
Workout – 40 minutes, walk and jog
84* 5 miler
August 22nd, Monday, 5:00 p.m.
On a shady back road in Jackson
“Manifesting enhanced fluidity” This is a pretty cool phrase that I dreamed up today while running and trying to work on improving my vocabulary used for describing good running. It in no way describes how I ran my 5 miler today. I was going to save it for the title of a future post, but I decided that I would probably forget it if I didn’t write it down today. In an article that I read when I first started posting by a fellow who had been posting for 10 years, one of the suggestions he made was to aways say what you’re thinking right away, don’t save it, because you will probably never use it. Anyhow, this phrase came to mind today about three and a half miles into the run. I had convinced myself that I needed to do a long aerobic run because my recent training has been lacking that particular type of workout. So I set as a goal to run a 4 mile Loop without any stopping. That sounds pretty modest by standards of three months ago before I was injured, but I had done little of that kind of work since I restarted training July 1st. The beginning of the run was very uncomfortable, and I struggled with myself throughout to keep from actually stopping. I was just determined to complete the format without stopping even if I had to run 12:00+ miles. So I struggled on. As I turned a corner to start up a long gradual one mile hill just past the 3-mile mark, everything changed. All the aches disappeared, my breathing became more relaxed and steady, and I begin to “manifest enhanced fluidity.” LOL at that point I decided to make my 4 miler a 5 miler. The enhanced fluidity did not manifest itself for very long. But I was determined to prove to myself that I was mentally tough enough to survive a struggle laden 5 miles. So, I finished the 5 feeling the most fatigued and drained as a result of any workout since I started running again. I hope this was not a Pyrrhic victory. (You can look that up.)
Stats –
I-Mad – 0
A.m.HR – 50BPM – Low
Sleep – 8.5 hours
Weight – 150# after run Down 6# in 4 days, Mega veggies!
Workout – 5 exhausting miles in 59:39
1500m strategy
August 22nd, Monday
Watch Peter Snell in 1964 1500 meter final blow the field away. This reminds me of exactly how Centrowitz did it Saturday night. I read Arthur lydiard’s article every year on how he trained Peter Snell to win in 1964. If you can get to 300 meters without fatigue, the fastest runner in the race be the winner. Matt controlled the race until the final lap, and he was the fastest man out there. Brilliant strategy!
Watch Matt; An authentic American running hero!
https://youtu.be/2kg8Pd34g7k
Weekend Update
August 20th and 21st, Saturday and Sunday
Not quite as clever as SNL’s version…
Saturday with the cross country boys at Clayton Park
I approached Clayton Park’s hilly and root-covered trails with trepidation on a steamy Saturday morning. I had only managed to get about five and a half hours sleep Friday night. My legs were feeling heavy and I had tweaked a little muscle in my lower back. I think I overdid some core work which left me vulnerable. After procrastinating for about 20 minutes, I cautiously entered the trails. My back would feel a little twinge when I traversed the uneven parts of the trail, and I was forced to basically walk going down the steep sections. I tried to take advantage of the up-hills and get a little work. After about 20 minutes of this , I exited the trails and headed for the open, flat fields. About this time the boys were returning from their run, and I joined them for their post run 150 meter pickups. I was able to run comfortably and at full stride with some pick up as I did the 150’s. Doing this also got my heart rate up to where I was hoping to reach . It turns out I did 52 minutes in motion, which was much better than I expected. At home I had coffee, a fruit salad, chocolate milk and a ham and egg sandwich on a hard roll. Yummy! It was a good tired feeling all day.
Stats seemed a little off for the last couple of days. My weight was up to 156# for the first time in a few months. My heart rate seems lower than normal down around 150 beats per minute. I wasn’t getting a lot of rest at night. My body seems to be more achy than usual, and my motivation to run was uncharacteristically low. It seems that the extremely hot weather has dimmed my desire to get out and do some serious work.
And so, remembering that I am a f…ing +70 Runner,
Saturday night I got 11 hours sleep, and…..
SUNDAY, I TOOK A DAY OFF!!
Reset……..!
30 in the pool
August 18th, Wednesday, 11:00 p.m
Snuck in 30 minutes running and swimming in the pool between obligations today. Felt lucky to get it done. The legs are a little sore but genuinely I feel good.
Stats – Standard
Pickups on grass
August 17th, Wednesday, 1:30 p.m
Looking for some speed work today, I headed out to a grassy straightaway in the neighborhood. I ran 10 X 100 meter pickups with about 1 minute rest. It was pretty hot, but the air was breathable. The total run, out and back, was 40 minutes. Positive day with legs feeling strong.
Stats –
I-Mad – 1
Am HR – 54BPM
Sleep – 9 hours
Weight – 152#
Workout – 40 mins ₩ 10 ×100m
Easy day
August 16th, Tuesday, 11:30 p.m.
Oxygen debt!
At XC practice tonight at Ocean County Park the air was so heavy it took me almost an hour to begin to even jog. It was going to be an easy, recovery day anyhow, but it was even less than planned. I finished up moving for about 15 minutes doing 50 stride pickups and walking in between. The surprising thing was that my legs felt quite good after last night’s interval work. The problem was getting air into my lungs in that extremely humid condition.
Good Stats today.
Loving the Cinders
August 15th, Monday, 10:00p.m.
Determined to perform a track workout today, I headed for the Horse Track at seven in the evening with the temperature still about 82 degrees.. Now, the 800-meter cinder track is exactly half in the shade around that time of night. So, I decided I would just run on the shaded part, which is 400 meters. I had three goals tonight. The first was to stay in motion for a full hour and the second was to include some 400 meter repeats in the middle of that effort. I hoped to complete 6 x 400’s in decreasing time from about 10 minute pace to below 9 minute pace. The third was to complete all of this with no negative effect on my recently injured calf muscle. I’m very happy to report that I completed the entire workout as planned with my times much faster than I anticipated and no leg issues. It was not an all out effort. However, it was definitely the most intense workout since I returned to running in July: and it felt great!
The heat did not bother me, although I was totally soaked and dripping by the time I finished the one hour.
Here are the 400m times with equal rest;
2:07, 2:03, 1:58, 1:49, 1:51, 1:45
That means I started at 8:28 pace and ended at 7:00 pace. Much faster than expected, feeling relaxed, fluid and efficient!
Back home to chocolate milk, rolling and Olympic track. USA’s Murphy bronze in 1:42.9!!!
Stats –
I-Mad – 1
Am HR – 54BPM
Sleep – 8 hours
Weight- 153#
Workout – 1 HR in motion ₩ 6 × 400m as above
Indoor 4 miler
August 13th, Saturday, 10 p.m.
So much Olympics! Why do I get stomach cramps watching 15 year old gymnasts once every 4 years..?
Anyhow, today I walked over to our clubhouse Fitness room in 109* to run on the treadmill. Now, this is never my favorite form of workout. But given the circumstances it was the best option for today. I did manage to force myself to complete 4 miles of pretty rough treadmill drudgery. Good for the head and good for the body I guess. Running some nice distance, on a cool day, on a shady road is sounding so much more wonderful. Can’t wait!