June 18 to 22, Thursday  to Monday

“You only ever grow as a human being if you’re outside your comfort zone. ”  — Percy Cerutty

Thursday- Rested

Friday- 3 miles in 45 minures.   This was a very uncomfortable 45 minutes. In retrospect I should have just taken the day off.

Saturday- Rested

Sunday- 5 steady miles without a watch. Legs felt pretty good but I was extremely tired the rest of the evening after that run. Luckily I got between 10 and 11 hours sleep Sunday night.

Monday-  (Today)  finally a workout worth writing about. But first a word about how beautiful it is on the cinder track around 7:30 in the evening. The entire track is in the shade by this time. That is 800m in the shade!  It is simply delightful running. Tonight was no exception. Even though the temperature was about 84 degrees it was comfortable. And it doesn’t get dark until 9 o clock during the weeks before and after this summer solstice.

But I digress. Back to the workout which was worth talking about.   I thought it was time to do some Tempo work. Estimated my tempo goal to be about 10:00 per mile. I thought 20 minutes would be a good amount of time. So I figured on running 2 x 10:00 miles with a light rest in between.   I was somewhat concerned that my legs would be a little used up after a 5 Mile run yesterday.  During a 1-mile warm-up jog my legs felt quite good. I set out on my first Tempo mile and finished in 9:33. I was happy with that. I set out on number two and once again feeling quite good finished in 9:20. Feeling challenged but no aerobic or muscular distress , I decided to try a third 1 mile effort.  I told myself that I was getting comfortable being outside my comfort zone . I became more enthusiastic as the third mile went on and pushed the pace to finish in a surprising 8:50.   I concluded with an 800m cool-down jog to total 4.5 miles. This workout turned out to be much more positive than I had anticipated. I finished confident and invigorated.  Thank you, Percy Cerruty.

My statistics in all categories have been very positive and very steady.

“The ability to recover goes away as you age. What I found is that my recovery is slower, and I can’t do the pounding.”-  Frank Shorter

June 13  – 17;  Saturday  –  Wednesday

A lot of thoughts on my mind tonight. The first is that somehow five days I’ve gotten away since my last post. I don’t think I missed many single days during the last five years. I rationalize that not having a goal makes me less enthusiastic to write. Arlene and I have been out Arlene and I have been out to some gardening centers to pick up flowers  to set around the house and the patio.  So some of my time these last few days has been spent planting  flowers. I also repaired and replaced some window screens that had been busted up by our recent visitor ,  the rather large puppy, Gracie. But tonight I do feel that I have a number of running things to write about. And I can always turn to my distance running hero, Frank Shorter ,  to put things in perspective for me. These five days have been interesting and meaningful to me. And so I begin.

Saturday- As I described in my last post, Friday’s workout was five Progressive miles on the cinders. So,on Saturday I thought I would run a shorter workout with a little speed. I carefully measured a 100m segment on the cinder track.. I was pretty satisfied when I ran 15  x 100m, all in 25 seconds or less with 1 minute rest between each. The total mileage for the day with warm-up and cool-down was 2.75 miles. This was definitely the most intense speed work I have done in a while.

Sunday- Rested predictably sore legs.

Monday- I ran 4 miles on the Cinder track with still heavy legs. It took quite a while to get warmed up and loose. Finally, feeling a little more fluid, I increased effort on my 4th mile and finished that in 9 40.  Still recovering ie:  Frank Shorter

Tuesday – Still in a measuring mood, I mapped out a 1000m loop around my block. Then I ran 3 x 1k in 7:20,  6:12 and 5:30.  I was not happy with the feeling of pounding on the macadam ie: Frank Shorter.  That was at about noon. I toyed with the idea of going out in the evening to the cinder track for another workout, but the feeling in my legs made me give up on that idea.

And then there was Wednesday.

I stopped at the cinder track today on my way home from picking up a yummy prepackaged basket of fruits and vegetables from the takeout lane at Delicious Orchards in Colts Neck. The day was very humid with an almost constant mist in the air and about 74 degrees with a steady 8 mile per hour breeze. It felt to me like ideal running conditions. The mist and the breeze were quite refreshing. I forgot my Garmin: I decided that I would run five x  1k efforts  at just comfortable pace.  After a 1200m warm-up with frequent 20 stride pickups I began.  My guess is that I ran the first one in 7:00, the next two in about 6:00 with my sweat pants on.  Things were going swimmingly. As I approached #4, the mist turned into a gentle rain and the wind picked up.  I made a challenge to myself that, if I could break 5:00 on #4, I could skip  #5.  By this time I remembered that I had an old stopwatch in the car. The gentle rain and the breeze still seemed to be invigorating as I started out at a quick pace with sweatpants removed.  As I approached the 800-meter mark I started telling myself that, if I was under 4:00 at that point, I might consider completing a full 1600meffort.  I passed at 3:45.    Approaching the 1K mark I began to waver.  But I passed at 4:45 and decided to “Do What Frightens You.”  I excitedly pushed on to 1600m in 7:46.9!  I was a happy me.:-):-)    The rain and the wind subsided at this point. So,I bravely decided to tackle the fifth 1000m effort anyhow.  I completed it in a relaxed 7:00.   A 200m walk to my car completed a 7,800 meter day.

STATS ARE GOOD!

JUNE 12, FRIDAY

Felt like another brick in the wall.

Tonight was another beautiful time to run. It was 77 degrees with no wind. The track was quite empty so is he chances of encountering individuals was very slim. I started out with modest expectations but quickly decided that a comfortable five miles would be the optimal workout tonight.  Along the way I added frequent 30 second speed segments at a very moderate pace just to elevate the heart rate. I didn’t feel the need to walk at any point along the way which was good. Each mile was progressively quicker with the final mile at a surprising 9:30. I am quite happy with this aerobic 59 minute workout.

Stats-

Diet =  9

Weight = 144 pounds

Sleep = 9 hours

Leg muscles are sore but respond well after about 20 minutes of warm-up.

Foot indexes are all in the low one or two range. I am currently running almost exclusively on the cinders because I feel it greatly benefits my legs and feet.  The impact of the pavement seems to Rattle through my legs these days. And since my recent fall I have become someone reluctant to take a long bike ride. So the cinder track currently fits the bill.  Soft and safe…and 7 minutes away.

As the setting sun cast  wonderful colors across the sky, Kristen and I enjoyed a run on the Cinder track. My legs felt light after a day of rest. So, I kept in motion for 1 hour doing a variety of running jogging and walking segments.  Mostly ran at a solid pace 30 second and 60 second and 2 minute speed  segments with periods of walking and jogging to recover. I stopped only because of darkness as my legs continued to feel fine after the whole hour.  All of the segments were timed that under 8 minute pace and many as low as 7;10.

Stats on solid and stable.

June 4, Thursday

Wednesday-

Deliberate restart today…..  1 mile apprehensive  bike ride followed by 3 miles in 40 minutes with 8 x SS of moderate pace each followed by a short walk, all on the Jackson roads.

Today

Early evening 4 mile, warm, humid run on the Jackson roads……no SS, no walks, 46:28

Leg muscles and feet feeling recovered while cuts, scrapes and bruises slowly heal.  No breathing problems or chest pain.  Lucky!

STATS-

SLEEP – 9/10 hours average

WEIGHT  – staying below 145lb

DIET – 8. Not as much gourmet since Rob Is back in Hoboken

Foot and muscle indexes – All good after 4 days rest

June 2, Tuesday

“Courage is a mean with regard to fear and confidence.”  Aristotle

I called upon Aristotle today to help me get back on my bike after a nasty spill a few days ago.  I have been resting since late on Saturday afternoon when I scraped and bruised myself, nothing serious. My seat came loose and twisted my body and I went down. Wasn’t going very fast but hit pretty hard. Most troubling is a bruise on the left rib cage which I hope is not a fracture. I’ve had fractured ribs twice and this discomfort seems to be diminishing more rapidly which is hopeful.  Elevated fear, diminished confidence, seek the mean. So.I tightened my seat and rode around the block once. OK!  Maybe run tomorrow………..

I think my legs will probably thank me for a few days of needed rest.

May 28, Thursday

“There are as many ways to be successful as a distance runner as their are athletes. You have to develop a training schedule of your own.”  Craig Virgin

I have been going to the cnder track almost exclusively for the last few workouts.  I have become less and less confident of the advantages of running on macadam roads these days.  In fact I am becoming less and less confident of slow-running of any kind. For instant my most recent two mile warm-ups consist mainly of running comfortable strides of increasing length while walking in between.

On Tuesday I did a series of  5 x 800m repeats. 4:29, 4:23, 4:13, 4:11, 4:23

I stopped out of caution even though I still felt pretty good. After short rest I ran a final 400 meter run in 1:53.  Covered 4.5 miles

It took a while to work into feeling comfortable at this pace for 800 meters. But after a while the repeats seemed very easy.

Wednesday I rested once again out of an abundance of caution.

Thursday was a cloudy, hot and humid afternoon when I set out to the cinder track once again. I was hoping to run some very comfortable 1200m repeats.  It took over two miles of warm up before I felt I was ready to begin an actual workout. I managed 4  x 1200m progressively.                                       7:18,   6:56,   6:38,   6:38

I was in motion for a total of 1 hour and 13 minutes covering 5.2 miles. When I returned home from this workout I weighed 141 lb.  That could easily be my lowest weight in 50 years. I have not been trying to lose weight. I continue to eat hardy and healthy meals, drink beer, crunch cookies and frequently splurge on ice cream after dinner. I sleep 9 to 10 hours each night. My stats remain constant and positive and I have managed to avoid leg and foot injuries for a number of months now.  By all these indications I should be becoming a stronger Runner. I hope that will prove to be the case when I get a chance to enter a competition some day in the future.  In the meantime I am having fun running. 🙂

MAY 25,  Monday

Sunday –  9.5 on the bike

Monday- went to the cinder track on a splendid May running day with low expectations because of yesterday’s 9.5 mile bike ride.  Everybody respects social distancing on the wide 880yd track My legs surprised me with a bit of energy.  It turned into a 5mile day on the cinders with 8 x 400m repeats at below 8:00 per mile pace in the middle.  I did take equal time walking recovery between repeats with an extra long recovery after #5.  It was challenging and draining but not overly difficult. Upon checking my Garmin data this evening , I was pleased to see some pretty quick stats making the eight 400m repeats recorded.  Plus the 5th mile cool down displayed some below 9:00 segments.  An encouraging day…

STATS are steady and solid.

May 22, Friday

Lots of thoughts are running through my mind today as I sit waiting for the weather to clear for a chance to attempt a workout session. As a result this will most likely be a stream-of- conscience post.

Five days ago I decided to you try a time trial to see if I have made any progress in my training lately. I have had this fantasy goal for a while now that maybe I can run a 6:00 mile if I did the right training for about a year. I have never run anything close to that in the last seven years that I have returned to training. My fastest 1500m  effort was 6:13 three years ago. I figure that to be about a 6:40 mile. I have run  2:57 at 800m which indicates that I have the speed to run 6:00, but I have not demonstrated the aerobic capacity to do that.  So, the plan on Sunday was to run something at 6:00 per mile pace.  I did run 2 x 400m to 6:00 per mile pace and felt quite pleased.  But it is now Thursday and I don’t believe my legs are fully recovered. I have kept moving during the intervening days but have not been able to run comfortably. My legs are heavy and sore each day. So I have been asking myself if running at 6:00 per mile at this time is really a good idea.  My evaluation after running the two 400m was that I am lacking middle-distance repetition workouts to develop the aerobic strength I need. I will be adding from now on a session per  week of repetitions ranging from 600-1200m.  Probably the next time I will compete in a track middle-distance event will be in September if they hold the New Jersey Senior Games in Woodbridge. That gives me 13 weeks to prepare . I would consider it a major accomplishment if in September I could run the 1500m under 6:00. That would convert to a mile under 6:30.  The National 1500m race was won in 6:01 buy a fellow from New Mexico last June. I finished third in 6:40, which I believe was somewhat affected by the altitude.  The next National Senior Games will be held in 2021 in Fort Lauderdale, Florida.  My friend, perennial national  champion, Gary Patton, will be in the 76 to 80 year old category by that time.  It would be fun to challenge him at that time if he comes to Fort Lauderdale. I hold little hope of beating a man who has the national record for the 1-mile at 5:01, but it would be fun to make him work a little for it.

Well, I have opted for beer and barbecue instead of a workout today. I will have to settle for a 30-minute walk with the dog.

I am still trying to understand why it is harder to post every day during a quarantine, when I have more time on my hands than ever, than it was to post daily before the quarantine.

That is all for now.

I like this quote from the incomparable Emil Zatopek.

“Track and field is not like ice skating. It is not necessary to smile and make a wonderful impression on the judges.”

May 12, Tuesday – Rest and walk after a hard, speed day.

May 13, Wednesday  – 5 Progressive miles on the Jackson roads in 56 minutes. 12:30, 11:55, 1138, 10:24, 10:16. Felt strong today.

May  14, Thursday  – 10 miles on the bike  About 5 with my friend, George, very pleasant! 1 hour

May 15, Friday – Today was another pretty good day.  I ran 20 speed segments quite fast on the grass with my new, Kayano 26 running shoes. Each segment is 135 meters. The fastest runs were close to 6 minutes per mile pace. With a warm-up and cool-down the day covered 3 miles in about 50 minutes.

May 16, Saturday  –   Today was an easy day on sore legs. Only two miles with a few weak attempts to pick up the pace that didn’t last very long.

May 17, Sunday –  Today I was determined to try a time trial on the cinders. The original intent was to go for an 800m trial, but I kind of punked out and settled for a 400m.  The goal was to run at 6 minute pace which means I would have to run 1:30 for 400m. I did an extensive one mile warm-up consisting of six increasingly longer strides. I approached this first 400m with trepidation but was able to hold a decent pace and finish in 1:31. I thought maybe being more warmed up I could do a second one faster. After a 400m walk and stretching my calf muscles, I ran a 1:29.  I am satisfied with those efforts but definitely can feel the need to do some mid-distance repetition workouts.  4 miles in total

Stats-  all are holding steady in positive range