February 15th, Friday

“Everyday you have to test yourself.  If you don’t, it’s a wasted day.”

Terry Butts, Marine Corps Male Athlete of the Year

Today’s plan was to try quick mile on the beach preceded by a warm-up that Rich Refi and I have been discussing lately. This warm-up does not consist of any slow running at all.  It consists of leg drills, short bursts, more leg drills + 2 x 40m is at 90 to 95%.   Conditions were good on the beach for a time trial; 60*, no wind, firm sand and a friendly, early evening cloud cover.  So I started out with a minimum goal of braking 10:00.  The pleasant result was an 8:25 mile run.  Now, I am training with a goal to run 1500m under 6:00 in June. So, 8:25 does not sound very close to that pace. So I am forced to seek mitigating factors to explain the slow pace.

It’s a beach not a rubberized track with spikes.

I am wearing heat saving tights.

The run was straight down and back with a 180* turn around.

My right quad was aching most of the way.

It was not a competition.

I never attempted to run at 100% effort.

It’s still February.

It was an experimental warm-up.

I had a double workout yesterday.

OK, I am reassured.     🙂

Stats –

Sleep = 9 hours

Weight = #152

Diet =10

a.m.HR = 54bpm

Morning Achilles tendon discomfort remains a wonderful 0.

Morning plantar fasciitis discomfort is getting better.

Daily stretching and daily Body Weights rating is fair.

February 13th and 14th

Wednesday –  Non impact day.

5 miles on bike in 35:00

Thursday – Double run today!

Finally did a run that covered 3 miles this morning.  It was not fast,  It was 3.0 in 37:19, but fed accomplish the goal.   Later I did some quicker work for 2 miles in 26:00.  That included 6 x SS of 30 seconds with max speed of 6:45

Stats-  Steady

February 12, Tuesday

“If I can get better, why not.”  Emil Zatopek

It was a summer like day in St Augustine today; high puffy clouds, deep blue sky, temperature in the mid-80s and a steady soft southern breeze.  We went to the beach and set up our little tent and  cool, new Tommy Bahama beach chairs (Hot $5.00 buy at an estate sale.) at about 1:30 p.m. . The idea was to have a walk and a workout run. That idea was quickly abandoned amid the overbearing heat.  We enjoyed the summary conditions for about an hour before heading back home for an early dinner.   Dinner at 4 p.m. and a cool run at 6:30 p.m. became the new plan. That worked out very well because by 6:30 the temperature was about 65 degrees as the sun was setting. I ran on the dark beach, a little spooky, for 53 minutes and covered 4 miles. Throughout the run I did frequent SS including three x 400m and 13 x 75m. My pace for the 400m segments was at 8:00 per mile and the  75m segments came in at between 7:00 and 6 :00.  My Garmin actually clocked my last SS at 5:40 pace.  That’s pretty quick!

Steady stats.  A no impact day definitely helps to keep plantar fasciitis in check.

February 11, Monday

Seven leisurely miles on the flat roads in 1 hour with a few detours.

Stats-

Weight  = 151.5 after ride, almost “fighting weight”

Sleep = 9 hours

Diet = Excellent

a.m.HR = 54 bpm

a.m. discomfort indexes.  PF = 3. AT = 0

Stretching = G       BWE = F

February 10th, Sunday

60*, overcast, foggy, crisp north wind; a perfect running day

Speed Segments (SS) is my new vocabulary term1 for what I have previous!y referred to as strides or pick-ups.  My training going forward will be focused on using fast running to build more and more powerful mitochondria.  So there will be many SS included. l will still include long runs and high intensity middle distance interval training (HIMDIT).

Today: 4 miles in 54:54 including warm-up of 1 mile w 5 x SS of 50 strides followed by 3 miles consisting of 17 x SS.  Each speed segment consisted of 30 seconds and 75 to 85 strides. Each was followed by a recovery phase of 1 minute with 30 seconds walking 30 seconds jog.  My HR was consistently in the range of 135 to 150 BPM.    Running north I enjoyed battling the wind: running south was a little like floating on the firm but forgiving sand.  The workout was quite exhilarating.

Good stats all around…

February 8th, Friday

Two great quotes when seen together:  (I am loving this book.)

Percy Cerutty,  “Great people and great athletes realize early in their lives their destiny, and accept it.”

Jim  Ryan, (My hero)  ” I ran to get a letter jacket, a girlfriend.”

Today I wanted to see if I could run a 10 minute mile or better on the beach. After I thought about it for a while I decided to just try for half a mile. I did about a 15 minute warm up that included 8 pick-ups from 25 to 50 strides. I was looking for a 5-minute half what started out running way too fast. I was very comfortable at 7:30  to 8:00 and completed the 800 meters in 4:25 after backing off considerably. At that point two simultaneous things were  happening. I was thinking of pushing the trial on to the mile distance, but my right quadricep muscle was starting to hurt. I did push on pretty strong to the 1200m mark, but stopped out of an abundance of caution. I was experiencing no aerobic stress at all. That was a very good sign. I walked and jogged a half-mile back and then began trying a few more pickups.  I think it is possible that, had I warmed up for 10 more minutes before the trial, I may have not experienced the quadriceps pain at all.

I am not unhappy with the results of this effort today.

I want a letter jacket!

Stats-

Weight = #153.5

Sleep  = 9 hours

Diet = 7/8

Morning heart rate consisted of 54 beats per minute

Morning indexes good after 2 out of three days of rest.

I am adding two new indexes so that I become more aware of my behavior. The first is for daily stretching (DS) which will be rated as Good, Fair, Poor or Absent. The other will be a measure of my daily behavior concerning body weight exercises (BWE) for upper body and arms and core based on the same ratings.

Today – Stretching = P .    PWE  =  A

February 5th, 6th and 7th

“If the furnace is hot enough, it will burn anything.”

-John L. Parker Jr.   in  Once A Runner

Tuesday – Rest day

Wednesday – Another day with even faster pick-ups                                            -35 minutes total                                                                                             I ran 10 x 30 seconds with a 60 second walk or                               jog recovery flanked by a short run before and                             after.  My pace descended from 9:00 to 6:40 as                               I became warmer and more fluid.                                                         I concentrated on short quick strides.                                                 The stride count reached 160 per minute.

Thursday – Rested today with tired legs.

Stats have been consistent in positive range.

February 4th, Monday

The next time you are out there training, think about your mitochondria sucking up that oxygen and powering your body.  They are your friends…diligently providing the matrix a portion of the enzymes responsible for the chemical reactions which power your muscles.  It would also be a good idea to think about how to efficiently get more of them when trying to build your aerobic engine as big as it can be.  Generally, you have to go hard to make them grow! The bigger the engine, the faster one can go!  Train hard, rest hard, train hard again, and have fun along the way.

“Mitochondria: The Aerobic Engines”

 Kirk Willett (Source:biketechreview.com)

After reading more about the process of building muscle power by creating more and more powerful mitochondria,  I chose to do a quicker workout today.  With my legs feeling a little more lively after a bike day, I ran 10 strides at from 6:40 to 8:20  after a steady 15 minute warm-up. finished with a 15 minute jog and walk to cool down.  My legs felt good and quick.  The totals were 3 miles in 39 minutes.  It was fun!  

Steady stats….

February 2nd and 3rd

*My basic philosophy can be summed up by an expression we use in Norwegian: hurry slowly, Get there, but be patient.”        Grete Waitz

As the cool, cloudy, windy, St. Augustine winter continues,  I have been able to escalate the quality and consistency of my training.   55* and overcast is not beach bathing weather, but a pretty  sound running environment.

Saturday;  45 minutes on windy beach without Garmin- about 3.3 miles with frequent pickups of 50 to 100 strides. Legs are good.

Sunday;  1 hour of biking on beach (6.9 miles) with a few running strides at the 4 mile mark    No leg issues.

Steady stats.

February 1st, Friday

A few positive training developments today…

First,  I got my hands on a beach bike that seems to be working pretty well. I rode it for about 5 miles today. It turned out to be a good warm-up for my run.

Second, the weather improved, mainly the wind lessened and the temperature went up to low 60s.  So I went out and ran 3 miles in 39 minutes. The calf muscle feels completely healed. But I still get a little pain in my right quadricep. It doesn’t prevent me from running or from accelerating, but it is annoying.  Lots of heating and stretching seems to have helped both issues.

A good Training Day.

Stats-

Weight = 152 and 1/2 lb

Sleep = 9 hours

Morning heart rate stable at 54 beats per minute

Diet has been very good.

Morning plantar fasciitis pain is still at level five but disappears within minutes and does not bother me while running.

Morning Achilles tendon pain is non-existent, thankfully.