February 7 and 8,   Friday and Saturday

Yesterday I ran three very slow miles in 42 minutes on the soft sand on the beach. Today, I stretched and did some exercises and walked on the beach. I have been feeling as though my legs have not had rest for quite a while and needed a bit of a sabbatical. I am trying to put together a credible plan for the next 3 weeks. I’m running a 5k on the 29th.  I have run this race five or six times now. . I have finished first in my age group a number of times. . It always seems to make me nervous and motivated at the same time. This may be the longest injury-free time that I have experienced approaching this race. . I worry if I have sacrificed conditioning by taking better care with my legs. But it is very gratifying to have no soreness in my feet or my achilles tendons.

February 6, Thursday

By 3 this afternoon it was 84 degrees in St Augustine. The wind was blowing pretty briskly down along the beach. It was a strong wind but very warm. So, I decided to head out to my favorite running neighborhood and try to do some Progressive miles. IYesterday as an easy day only doing a 5-mile bike ride. I completed 5 miles with walking 2 minutes to 4 minutes between each. The time dropped from mid 14:00 for a warm up first mile, down to 11:00 for #2,  followed by 10:20 & 10:08 for #s 3 and 4.  and 11:24 for# 5.  I debated the wisdom of running number five after I had completed the first four. I was pretty beat. But I had just read an article sent to me by Rich Refi about Glenn Cunningham.  So, inspired, I decided to go for #5. I began with some trepidation but maintained a fairly strong pace to finish below 11:30. I was glad I had done it, but my body felt extremely hot  as I approached my car. I feared for a few moments that I had underestimated the effect of the heat. I haven’t run in anything near 84° for months.  The ride home with the cool breezes blowing  helped to cool down and I feel okay tonight. Tomorrow is scheduled to be another typical St Augustine winter day with temperatures reaching only high 50s or low 60s. If the wind is not bad it seems like a good day for a comfortable 5 mile beach run

I do remember running some sub 9 minute miles on this circuit a few years back. I will have to check my log for the exact circumstances. I haven’t felt like I can run sub 9 on this course right now. Maybe I need a few days rest to have that kind of confidence in my legs before a workout.

Steady stats.

 February 4, Tuesday

I had little motivation to train today even though I took off yesterday to rest.  I felt overall tired and my footstrikes for the first 15 minutes rattled my legs. I was tempted to turn around a few times and call it a day.  But I settled on a series of 30 second  SS at a very modest pace with a 30 second walk between.  A few months ago I was calling that MMF for My Modified Fartlek.  The body began to respond as the run progressed.  The result was 2.75 miles with 22 SS in 38:40.   The SS were progressively dropping from 10:30 pace to under 9:00 for the quicker efforts.  I worked on quick, short strides with relaxed  Belly Breathing until I got my stride count up to above 80 for the 30 seconds.  It was a productive aerobic day, not too anaerobicly demanding, better than expected.

Steady stats.

February 2, Sunday

The flat, firm, endless, St Augustine beach always provides an exhilarating experience.

The sun came out in St Augustine today. The temperature was in the high sixties.  I biked for 20 minutes to loosen up. Then Arlene and I walked for 45 minutes on the beach. Then I ran a pretty solid 4 miles in 41:53.    🙂  🙂      I walked the first minute of mile 2 and mile 3 but continued non-stop from there on.  It felt like about an 85% effort.

 11:16,  9:29,  11:26,  9:43 = 41:53

SUPER BOWL TIME!

January 31,  Friday

Today it felt like I did a substantial bit of work on the beach. I ran a half mile to the beach and began running a ladder. The ladder consisted of bursts of speed with 1 to 2 minute  recovery in between each.  The steps in the ladder were 1 minute, 2 minutes, 3 minutes, 4 minutes, 5-minutes, 4 minutes, 3 minutes, 2 minutes and a final 3 minutes.  I think that adds up to 27 minutes.  With a half-mile jog home the day was a total of 5 miles.

Because the day was dreary with a heavy overcast and a barely perceptible mist, my Garmin watch recorded some crazy numbers.   The visibility was only about 100 meters. My perceived effort indicated to me that I was running most of the speed segment’s between 8:30 and 9:30 mile pace.  The steady wind made the final segments  quite challenging.  When I got home my clothes was sopping wet clear through, sweaty from the inside and Misty from the outside. LOL

February 1, Saturday

The St Augustine Lighthouse 5K is in 29 days, Leap Year Day!

As a recovery day, today I rode 5 miles in 35 minutes on the bike.

STATS ARE STABLE

 January 30, Thursday

Once again I avoided the windy beach in favor of my protected neighborhood.  My legs are still recovering from the return to biking  this week. So, I needed a two mile warm up with frequent, increasingly more intense pick-ups..  That was followed by 10 x 200m repeats at 8:00 pace with one minute rest.  This was the quickest work that I have done so far in St. Augustine.  3.6 miles.

Good stats

January 29, Wednesday

Just a Simi-demanding bile ride.  1 hour

Check out my activity on Strava: https://strava.app.link/3fwFpUhIE3

January 28th, Tuesday

It was very good to get back on the road today after a little bit of a scare with a sore knee for two days. I think the sore knee was a product of riding my new bicycle for six miles the first time out. Anyhow, I only walked for the last two days and used some heat and some ibuprofen to overcome the soreness. Today I was able to run five miles non-stop in my favorite neighborhood. It was 60° when Arlene and I went to the beach. But the wind was a vicious 18 to 20 miles and non-stop from the north. The loop I ran was a little in excess of one mile. So four laps with a little addition came out to be 5 miles on the nose in one hour. OK…

Stats-

Weight  = 149lb

Sleep  = sporadic last night. Happy nap this early evening.

Diet = Getting on track in new setting.  Too many out of home meals.  6/7

Resting HR = 52/54

No foot issues.  Right  knee pain has subsided.

Poor body weight  and stretch consistency.  Humbug!

HR after 5 miles was 134

January 23, Thursday

North wind steady at 18-20mph and 63*

Today’s run turned into a much tougher event than expected.  Running south on the beach with the steady north wind pushing me along from behind, I drifted, easily, much further than I realized.  When I turned north onto Route A1A, there were nearly 3 miles of tough,  wind-buffeted roads to go.  I could feel  the effect of 5 miles on my legs from yesterday as I  hammered toward home.  Those final 3 miles took the heaviest toll on my legs that I have felt.  I wondered if I was doing more damage than good at times. Tomorrow will tell I guess.   Legs are sore tonight.

Plus-      I think that I underestimate every year the negative effects  on my body of those two  days of eight hour driving.

Stats-

Weight  = 150lbs

Diet = 7/8  Haven’t gotten motivated to start healthy home cooking yet.  Soon.

a.m.HR = 54bpm

Sleep  = 9 hours average

Foot indexes are good @ 2

Need to do better at stretching and body weights.

January 22, Wednesday

No relevance. Just like this picture of Gracie!

The first few days in Florida have been a weather roller coaster. Day one was Sunday about Iwhich I posted a delightful run in the beautiful 75 degree weather on the beach. Monday and Tuesday were a weather nightmare with howling winds and temperatures in the high 30s. It was basically impossible to get out and run. Today the winds we’re still strong but the temperature edged into the fifties. I was determined to get out. So I drove to my favorite St Augustine running neighborhood which is sheltered from the worst of the gusts. It was very satisfying to complete a full five miles in 1 hour and 3 minutes with a few speed segments interspersed throughout. So my reference to neighborhood transmits a double meaning. The welcome to our new Florida neighborhood has been a bit chilly. But the welcome to my favorite running neighborhood was much warmer. 🙂

Lazy stat  keeping. Better tomorrow.  Nothing apparently negative.