Week 2 – Day 5 – Aerobic day – Sunday
The cinder track was in excellent shape today as I set out to do some Elegant Eights. My legs were a little heavy getting started as a result of what I considered a pretty demanding workout yesterday. The goal was just to cover about 4 miles at a moderate pace today. Progressive miles entered my mind. I quickly backed off that idea as I began my 1st effort and settled for a comfortable 800 meter instead. It felt slow but ended up being a 5:15. I was pleasantly surprised at that. I quickly set a goal of 6 times 800 meters at that pace. I was once again pleasantly surprised as each repeat seemed much more comfortable and quicker;
5:15, 5:08 5 04, 4:52, 4:45, 4:56. With a warm up that constituted a positive, 4 mile, aerobic day.

I set out again today with no idea of where I was going to do the workout. I was bundled with four
No layers everywhere. And still the cold was Cutting. It was another dark, dank, drizzly, damp, 40° day. It was bound to be muddy everywhere. So, I decided to take a chance on the high school 400 meter track at Jackson Liberty. I drove this 7 miles to the school and i onmmediately realized that the gates were locked for Reasons that I can never understand. But I decided to jog the perimeter in case 1 of the gates was left open by mistake. And I found one on the far field. I had to walk and jog through about 100 yd of mushy muddy field to get to the rubberized track, but it was worth it. I wasn’t suretp if I could actually do a workout in this miserable weather. But I started moving and did a typical warm up. Then I just decided to be a badass and start my 8 x 400 meter interval workout that I had planned. After removing half of my layers, I seLt out with the goal to run as close to 2:15 as possible taking off each time at the 4 minute mark. I had no idea if this workout was actually possible under the conditions. But, because I am a badass, I banged out all 8 under 2:10.😎 The total time was 32 minutes lus half mile cool down. I arrived home cold and wet and totally pumped up.!!

Day 2, Thursday – HIIT

The weather was surprisingly pleasant at the cinder track this morning. After a long slow warm up, I managed 5×600 m repeats at between 3:10 and 3:30. And my gone and watch tells me I increased my VO2 max number by one point from 35 to 36. That produced a smile. 😊

Day 3, Friday- aerobic

Tonight was kind of like a spy or workout. It consisted of one hour in the pool area that was 15 minutes in the hot whirlpool to loosen up and stretch. Next was 30 minutes in the pool swimming and running. Then 15 more minutes in the hot whirlpool, just relaxing. To top it all off, it was just me and the lifeguard the entire time.

MIXED DAY – today’s workout turned into a half-and-half event. After yesterday‘s recovery I thought an interval workout on the cinders was in order. It was cold, but I was layered up. After a standard warm-up I ran two four minute intervals. By the end of the second one it was apparent that my legs were tired, too tired to be doing an interval  workout.  I then realized that I had done an interval workout last on Monday. So,I should be doing an aerobic workout. I proceeded to run two steady miles to complete a 3 1/2 mile day. It wasn’t perfect, but it was pretty good.

I will try some intervals tomorrow if I can get it in between the raindrops.🌧️☔️☔️⛈️

A good aerobic day 5 on the cinders

3.4 miles with multiple pick ups

2.5 under 30:00

 It was another cold and damp day that required some steeling to get out onto the track. However, after a warm-up, it felt like a fine running day.

Today, day six, was a duplicate of yesterday, cold and wet all day. I waited all day again for a break in the rain. But it never came. At 4 o’clock. I bundled up and set out looking for somewhere to do some HIIT.  I actually pulled into the clubhouse parking lot thinking that my only choice was to work on the indoor treadmill again. After contemplating for a while I made a call. The only possible available, non-muddy, soft surface was the Jackson liberty high school track. Outdoor running conditions were going to be much worse tomorrow, so I drove the 7 miles to Jackson liberty high school hoping that the track was not locked. It wasn’t!  I did a standard warm-up of 800 m, stretching and three strides.  Then I did four 600 m intervals at 3:15 with two minute recovery. It was pretty rough, but I was also pretty layered up, and I was looking for some serious work. So, I was very satisfied with the workout and with myself for not backing down. 😊

I really like this new workout plan.🏃‍♂️‍➡️🏃‍➡️🏃‍♂️‍➡️

Day 4 – HIIT I pushed through my negative feelings about the TREADMILL tonight. I waited all day hoping for a clearing. But it never happened. It was the kind of cold, deep damp day that chilled a guy to the bones. Finally I headed to the exercise room and the shredded treadmill. I repeated the workout from Wednesday adding 1 additional 4 minute interval. I thought it worked out pretty well. The whole workout covered about 45 minutes. Hoping for better weather tomorrow.

On day 2 of my the new workout plan to improve vo2Max it was a 30 minute aerobic run in AAFartlek mode.

I have in till now labeled my training runs done jog-run-walk as MMF meaning “My Modified Fartlek.” I have decided to change that to Age Adjusted Fartlek. It smacks of less hubris.

The total plan consists of 10 weeks of running alternating days of HIIT and aerobic training. Day one was HIIT. Day two was aerobic. Since this was the first week I chose to make day three a water running day with no impact out of an abundance of caution.

Tomorrow will be HIIT again.

April 2, Tuesday

Here with renewed Motivation to write and train.

Competing at the USATF Masters Nationals and the World Masters Championships these recent weeks has been exciting, enlightening and encouraging. Exciting because it transported me back to my days of running competition in high school and college. Enlightening because I was introduced to the world of masters competition nationally and internationally. Encouraging because I performed at a level beyond my expectations. Because of that I am motivated to train at a more competitive level in hopes of exceeding the level of performance that I have currently achieved. Second place is too close to let it go!

Today’s workout was on the Cinder track. It was my 1st attempt at an interval workout in months. My goal is to improve my Aerobic Capacity (VO2 max) over the next 2 months.
I was able to maintain a solid pace for 600 meters during my 800 meter race at world masters. But I could not maintain that pace for the final 200 meters. I interpret that to mean I need to improve my endurance or aerobic fitness. (:46 – :47 – :47 – :52) 3:13. (:52!?)

The workout began with a warm up of 1000 meters, plus stretching, plus 3 Straightaways. The main segment was 4 times 4 Minute runs with 2 minutes recovery. I covered 2 miles in 24 minutes. It is a workout I plan to repeat frequently over the next 2 months. The purpose of today’s workout under pretty cool and windy conditions was to establish a baseline to monitor improvement.So, I will try to establish a sustained training program while remaining healthy.

It is good to be back!

Tuesday, September 17

I just want to record this workout because it’s the best  that I’ve had in quite a while. I set out to the cinder track with the goal of running 10 x 400m at 10:00pace. That would be 2:30 per 400m. As it turned out I found that it was almost impossible for me to run that slow. I’m not quite sure why.  The recovery varied. Essentially I waited until I was breathing comfortably.   I did not time the recovery. At no time during the entire workout did my legs feel as though they were giving

out or getting very tired.

Hear are the times that I ran;

2:17, 2:17, 2:15, 2:07, 2:07, 2:02, 2:06, 2:17, 2:15, 2:07.

I am sure that I heard the iconic voice of Coach Bob Short in the background.

My body was quite used up by the effort and I slept nearly 11 hours last night.   My legs do not feel terrible today but I have not done anything but walk with the dog.

My training plan for the next 2 months is just to build up base so that I can begin to do some serious workouts in December and January in preparation to run the  800m Masters National Championship   and the World Masters 800m Championship in February and March 2025 both in Gainesville, Florida.

Tonight, August 29, I ran the Mammoth Mile in 7:28. That was a 43 second improvement over my unimpressive run at the Big Bang Mile ten days ago. My goal was to break 7:30; so I am happy with this performance.

On September 6, I will be competing in the New Jersey senior Olympics in order to qualify in the 1500 m and 800 m for the national senior games next summer. I approached these three events in a relaxed manner and have trained in a similar fashion.

I’ve managed to keep my body free of injury and at the same time maintain a competitive fitness level.