October 22,  Tuesday

“There’s no such thing as bad weather, just soft people.”     Bill Bowerman

5 x 1 mile with 2:30 rest

12:10.     11:38.      9:39.     9:51.       10:28

On a windy,wet and cool afternoon at Liberty High School I managed to get in the best workout I’ve had in almost a month. Coach Engle had a plan to run the JV boys at 5 repeat miles with specific paces for each runner.  Looking for a challenging workout, I decided I would attempt a few of the miles which  we’re being run on the grassy cross-country course.  I ran the first one very conservatively in my complete warm-up sweats.  I peeled off layers as I went along, and by the third mile I was down to my t-shirt and shorts.  I was surprised and happy to find that I was able to run miles 3 and 4 under 10 minutes and a final mile in 10:28.  I had a very low expectation of actually completing 5 x 1 mile today. So, just accomplishing that would have been considered a successful day.  The times that I ran  were even more encouraging.   Trying not to be soft!

Stats-

Weight = 148.8 lbs

Sleep = 8 hours usually

Diet  = 9

a.m. foot discomfort indexes are all low 2/3

Need to get back to the weight room!

More stretching!

October 14,   Monday

Gracie, 3 month old Shepapoodle

The last three days I have been getting back to running by working out with Gracie who we have been dog sitting this week.  Gracie is a beautiful, intelligent, affectionate and fast three month old puppy, It has the double effect of getting me back in motion and tiring out Gracie for a long night’s sleep.   So far it is working.  🙂

Stats-

Weight = 150lbs

Sleep = 9 hours.  Back to normal after a week of rough nights.

Diet = 9

Heart rate= 54 bpm

Foot indexes – all good

Stretching and body weights need to be improved as I reboot after week of sickness.

October 6 to 10, Thursday

This has been a lost training week due to serious sinus issues preventing me from sleeping at night and draining me physically.  On the mend, but still not close to 100%.

October 4th, Friday

+

Facing and unrelenting afternoon wind on the Jackson Liberty High School track, I ran 4 miles with 22 speed segments of 100m or longer.  I felt better and more relaxed with each new attempt to pick up the pace.  Two days of rest definitely puts a little spring back in the old legs. Looking back at my Garmin, I find that all of my SS were in under 8:00 per mile pace. It was a good day of work under the conditions.

Stats are steady.

September 30, Monday

Today marks the close of September. It’s been seven days since I posted and I don’t quite know why. I have been working out quite effectively for the last week But for some reason I have not been posting. I can’t say that I’m extremely busy or don’t have the time because neither of those would be true.  I think I just have gotten out of the strict posting regimen that I had developed over the past five years since I returned from Senior Nationals.  I must admit that training has been less mentally intense for the last few months.  I do believe I am working as hard as ever, but feeling less pressure.

So here’s my 7 day catch up.

September 24, Tuesday – 6 mile recovery bike ride in 40 minutes.  My first day on the bike in a month.

September 25, Wednesday  – 6 mile run on the boardwalk in Belmar with a quick 8:39 mile in the middle. Pretty exhausting….

September 26, Thursday  – 9 miles on bike in 59 minutes Also pretty exhausting….

September 27, Friday  – 1.5 miles on track in 20 minutes  with 12 x 100m speed segments

September 28, Saturday  – 2.5 quick miles on the grass at Thompson Park with heavy legs.

September 29 – Sunday  –  Much needed rest after 11 hours sleep.  +30 minute hot whirlpool   Giants win!

September 30 –  Good 3 miles on the boardwalk with 16 speed segments  of from 50 to 150 strides. Legs feeling recovered.

Stats –

Sleep- Average 7/8 hours,  One 11 hour night

Foot indexes were a bit higher with a steady work load  3/4

Weight remaining at 149 to 152 lbs throughout

Diet is excellent

Heart rate is steady at 54 bom in a.m.

September 22, Sunday

On an unseasonably hot evening in Belmar, I ran  5 miles in 58:00 moving time with the Jackson Liberty cross country boys.   It was hard to believe that I got caught both ways with the Belmar/Avon  bridge over the inlet raised.  Very  pleased with a solid 5th mile in the mid 10:00’s.  ( Albeit after a short rest at the raised bridge just before mile 5.)  Floating on the boards……..

Stats –

Weight = 149lbs after run 🙂

Diet = 9

Sleep = 7/9 hours average

Stretching and drills = 7

Foot pain indexes =  2

Heart rate = Steady at 54 BPM

September 15, Sunday and

September 16, Monday

“What am I doing— nobody cares. It’s just personal satisfaction. ~~~Kenny Moore USA  (4th 1972 Olympics)

Feeling more and more like this every day. And that is perfectly okay.

Sunday was a beautiful evening on the beach in Belmar. I ran along with the boys for 4 miles. Along the way I did about 15 Speed Segments (SS) that felt fast, smooth and relaxed(MMF). Afterwards I ran four x 100m with the guys. It was a very nice night.

Today I started out with tired legs but did a lot of warm up exercises and some slow running on the track at Jackson Liberty. I began by running some 100m strides  (SS) with about 2 minutes rest in between at about 25 seconds per.  After about six of those, I timed the cross country runners in their pre-meet 200m runs. After they left I ran 2 x 1 mile efforts in 9:06 and 8:37. I was pretty impressed with my performance on tired legs.  I am continuing to practice mindfulness and belly breathing as I do these workouts.

Stats-

Weight – 151 lb.  Steady

Diet – 7   Too much beer and ice cream.  All else good….

Sleep – Getting 6 to 8 daily

Foot indexes –   3/4 in a.m. for first few steps.  No distress while running…

September 8, Sunday

After a lengthy debate with myself this afternoon, I decided to head back to the cinders to attempt the aborted thousand repeats workout  from last night.   It was a perfect night for running and I got out early enough to avoid the darkness. I decided to try five times 1,000m. I thought it might be possible to do them in a progressive manner because I felt better on the second one last night than the first one. I use the 1,000m as basically a warm-up in 6:50. I took about 2 minutes rest in between. Each one did get progressively better.

5:54,    5:46,    5:27,    5:17

I finished running relaxed and very strong. Positive work!

Quick note-  Rhythmic belly breathing, mindfulness and short striding have contributed greatly to recent successful workouts.

September 7th, Saturday

Late tonight I went over to the cinder track to do some work. I wanted to run a serious workout of some 1000m repeats. I only managed to do two cuz it was getting dark and the cinder half mile is a little scary and lonely when it’s dark out on the far turn. I did run 2 x 1000m. The first in 6:20 and the second and 5:36.  Finished up with 8 x 30/30 speed segments on the lighted side.. Not bad, but I have to get out earlier because darkness is coming sooner every night. I think I could have done four or five times 1000m if I was not spooked by the monsters of the night..

Yesterday, Friday, was an off day because I was very tired. The previous three day’s workouts had consisted almost exclusively of various speed segments. The distance was only approaching three miles on each of these days. I’m not quite sure why I was running such limited mileage. I guess I was crunched for time during these workouts.  My legs were shot on Friday morning.

So, I have been getting some work done and I did get a new calendar and all Is right with the training program. I’m still searching for a  goal race in the next couple of months. I think I will become much more focussed once I have established that.  Maybe a Turkey Trot on Thanksgiving is the thing.

Poor stat keeping……..