August 12th, Friday, 9:00p.m.
All posts by Robby
Strong day
August 11th, Thursday, 5 p.m.
I’ve got to admit it’s “Getting Better.”
You know the words.
I am very pleased to record a positive day of good, hard work at the CentraState Fitness Center. My body feels strong and rested today. So I took the opportunity to beat up my core and upper-body pretty well. Then I went into the pool for 35 minutes. The saltwater pool is truly energizing. Today is the first time I actually noticed a difference in my body’s ability to control in the water. I am much more relaxed and under control as I swim. In particular I noticed how relaxed my core was during the backstroke. This I believe is a direct result of the two months of core work I’ve been doing, and I am thrilled by the results. Swimming has never been a strength. But today I actually felt as though I was propelling myself forward on all my strokes. Watching Olympic swimmers is exhilarating!
I am ready for a real running workout tomorrow. Very excited!
Stats –
I-Mad – Solid 0?
Sleep – Solid 8 hours ?
a.m.HR – 54BPM
Weight – 153.5# Better!
Workout – 70 minutes – core, upper body + pool swim & run ???
Getting on…
August 9th, Tuesday
I tested my legs at the cross country practice last night with the Liberty boys team. They were running 1,000m repeats and I ran about 3 minutes each time they set off and got back in time to catch the finish. My leg survived this 4 times without any indication of cramping or any discomfort. So I guess we’re on the right track. I chose not to blog about it yesterday because it seemed uninteresting. But I’m entering into my personal log for the record.
Stats – Stable
Workout- 12 minutes easy jogging
“Fit” to be tied?
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August 8th, Monday, 6:00 p.m.
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?It’s a Runner’s question, I’d like to know ?
Tried to run a little bit this morning, but it’s not going to happen yet. Walking is not a problem, but 3 or 4 minutes of easy jogging brings back a negative sensation in my right calf. Just have to wait a little longer. In the meantime I am trying to stay fit by biking and swimming and spending time in the fitness room. I am a little nervous because I am not totally convinced that this kind of conditioning really gets one in shape to run. Now, I really don’t have to run fast. I want to make a respectable showing in the Jason Walton Memorial 5K in Hillsborough on the 28th of August. But all my Hillsborough friends will forgive me if I have a poor showing, I’m certain. The main thing is I need to be able to complete a decent 1500 meters at the New Jersey Senior Games for which I registered this morning. That event is on September 10th at Woodbridge High School. Once I qualify for the Nationals, I will have 9 months to prepare for the finals which will be in Birmingham, Alabama sometime next July.
So today I returned to the fitness center for 30 minutes upper body and core work. In addition I swam and ran in the pool for 30 minutes. That amounts to a pretty draining workout and I believe it helps me to stay fit. But the question is,
“Does it help me to run faster?” I still don’t know.
Stats –
I-Mad – 0?
a.m.HR – 57BPM?
Weight – 153# ?
Sleep – 10.5 hours ?
Workout – 1 hour, fitness room and pool ₩
5 x ( 30-20-10 )
Back on the bike
August 7th, Sunday, 11 p.m.
A deep blue sky and white puffy clouds looking just like a painting greeted me as I started out on my bike ride this afternoon. I set a goal to ride for one hour having no idea how many miles that would cover. The temperature was about 84 degrees but never seemed to be a problem along the way. I finished in one hour and two minutes and that coveted 11.9 miles which surprised me. That’s about the best workout I can hope for until my calf muscle becomes runable. Tomorrow I will shoot for some time in the pool and some core work in the fitness lab.
Stats –
I-Mad – 0
A.m.HR – 54BPM
Sleep – 10 hours Better!
Weight – 155#
Workout – 1 hour, 12 miles on bike
Long day
August 6th, Saturday, 11 p.m.
Too much party…….
Just arrived home after a long day trying to run and visiting and partying. The day began at 7 a.m. when I awoke to prepare to head to Spring Lake for cross country practice with the Jackson Liberty boys cross-country team on the boardwalk. It was a lovely morning with a beautiful breeze and a cloud cover that made the temperature just about perfect. I tried to warm up very slowly and walk to be sure my calf muscle would be prepared for a nice 40-minute run on the boardwalk. That was not about to happen. About two and a half minutes into my run my calf muscle began to speak to me about not feeling too well. It became obvious that if I continued I would have another severe cramp. So I had to stop. I left Spring Lake and headed home to make breakfast. It was a nice morning because Kristen was around, and we prepared to head to our first party of the day. It was a family pool party at Pat Conway’s spactacular party house a bit north in Old Bridge, about a 35 minute ride. The entire O’Rourke family was present with dozens of little kiddies running around and playing in the pool. It is always very nice to see everybody and catch up. However, we had to leave way too soon and head to South Jersey for the second party of the day. It was a birthday party for our friend Denny who is the boyfriend of Arlene’s niece, Rosemarie. The party was about a one-hour ride back south to Mount Holly. It was a very nice affair, tasty dinner, and it was good to catch up with Rosemarie and Denny and meet his family. The aborted run in the morning was disappointing, but on the whole it was a very enjoyable day .
I will have to spend some extra time in motion to account for all I ate and drank this day.
Need to get back into a solid routine!
Stats-
I-Mad – 0
a.m. HR- 54BPM
Weight – 155# Too much!
Sleep- 6 hrs -Not enough!
Workout – yuck×=+%₩¥£ 0
Solid one hour
August 5th, Friday, 5:00p.m.
Today I completed 40 minutes of core and upper body work in the fitness room plus 20 minutes of swimming and running in the pool.
The calf is feeling better. I will test it on the boardwalk in Spring Lake tomorrow where the Liberty boys cross-country team will be having practice at 8 a.m.
Stats –
I-Mad – 0
a.m HR – 54BPM
Sleep – 7.5
Weight – 153#
Workout – 1 hour; 40-minute core & upper body + 20 minutes in pool
9 on the bike
August 4th, Thursday at 2:00 p.m.
After careful consideration I opted for a bike ride today to give my sore calf one more day to rebound. Things are getting rapidly better, thankfully. I completed 9 miles on the bike in about 48 minutes with 8 x 50 pedal surges in the Dr. Mirkin mode. It was a pleasant ride on a pleasant afternoon in Jackson. I finished feeling exhilarated and satisfied with a solid aerobic effort. There were no negative effects on my legs.
Off to xc practice tonight where I plan to add some core work with the Liberty boys.
Stats –
I-Mad – 0
a.m.HR – 54BPM
Sleep – 7 hours
Weight – 153#
Workout – Nice 9 miles on bike with 8 x 50 pedal surges
Walking only
August 3rd, Wednesday, 10:00 p.m.
Smile!
Very depressed to have to give up another day because of my sore calf. I’m not quite sure what I did, but my right calf muscle is aching, and it’s tender to the touch, and it tightens up every time I sit for a few minutes. I was able to walk a few laps at the Avon boardwalk this evening with Arlene, which I couldn’t do after the event that occurred while I was running last night. I’m convinced that I did some damage to some portion of the calf muscle. I rolled it and massaged it. Can’t decide if I should I use heat or cold on it. So I did neither.
Tomorrow I will definitely get in some serious work. If I can’t run, then it will be swimming and work the fitness room. It’s getting dangerously close to August 28th, when I plan to run 5K in Hillsboro at the Jason Walton Memorial Run and the NJ Senior Games two weeks later.
Sorry for the whining, I just want to log the events for learning purposes.
Stats –
I-Mad – 0
A.m.HR – 52BPM
WEIGHT – 153#
SLEEP – 9 hours
Workout – Just walking. Humbug!
Calf muscle cramp
August 2nd, Tuesday, 10 p.m.
Had to stop my run tonight after only four minutes because of a severe cramp in my right calf. Came out of nowhere and made it impossible to even walk for over an hour. Pain is gone now. After being totally perplexed for a few hours, I have to conclude that the cause must be that I danced barefoot with Arlene for an hour this afternoon. That was mostly on my toes! Then I went to practice and did not take enough time to warm up. Hopefully, this is only a one day setback.
Stats- Stable except for broken sleep.