December 6th, Thursday

Tuesday and Wednesday were rest days after my demanding workout on Monday. The fact that the weather was bitter cold did play a role in my decision to take off.  So,  today I spent 90 minutes in motion at the weight room and the pool. It was a pretty depleting workout. I did a little work on the bike and on the elliptical machine, 20 minutes on the treadmill,  a good set of leg drills, a solid set of upper body weights, 10 minutes swimming and 10 minutes running in the pool. The goal was to keep the heart rate elevated throughout, a goal which I believe was accomplished. I am pretty beat tonight.

Stats – Steady 

December 3rd, Monday

Charlie Heidecker, ” If you want to get stronger, add weight.”

After hearing a dire weather forecast for the next week, I decided to try a ambitious workout this afternoon on the cinders. The temperature was 57 degrees with a brisk wind on the back straightaway. My goal was to run three interval miles under 10 minutes with about 3 minutes recovery. The outcome was much better than I expected.   I ran the miles at what seemed like a comfortable but demanding 5K pace. The first was a perfectly even 9:12 pace.  The last two I ran in a negative fashion. ( #2  was 4:39 and 4: 33 = 9:12)   (#3 was 4:33 and 4:10 = 8:43)   With a mile up and a mile down it was a 5-mile day. This is the most substantial work I’ve done in many months, both distance and intensity. The finishing pace  on my third mile  was 6:38. That might be a little too quick for this stage of my training. My legs are quite beat up tonight, and I will see what happens tomorrow and Wednesday.

Stats –

Weight = #154

Diet  = 10

Morning heart rate equals 54 beats per minute.

Sleep = 9 hours

Indexes are good. Let’s hope they stay good after today.

December 1st, Saturday

Some pretty good work…. mostly injury free.

December 1st, Saturday

Just 40 minutes at the club;

10 weights, 15 swim, 15 water run   + 10 in hot tub.

Stats-

Sleep = 9 hours

Weight = #153

Morning heart rate = 54 beats per minute

Diet = 10

I-Mad = 0

I-Mpfd = 3/4

November 30th, Friday

Recovery dinner with Arl at Klein’s, Belmar, NJ

The weather was 45° and calm as I arrived at the cinder track about 2 p.m. this afternoon.  I had heated my legs before leaving home.  I warmed up with a mile jog and some leg drills for about 18 minutes. I decided to start some 400m intervals running at 10:00 pace. That went very well, and I gradually got the pace down to under 8 minutes. Instead of taking a full 400m recovery this time I only did a jog back and return to start in less than 2:00.  I had the feeling of running relaxed and efficient. Six x 400m was the goal and it was accomplished with a final 800m interval added at 9:10 pace.  The day covered a total of 4.71 miles including warm-up  and cool down.  No leg or foot issues .Good stuff 🙂

Stats –  Steady and sound

November 28th, Wednesday

It’s only cold if you’re standing still.  🙂

Another very windy late November day had me waiting for the weather to get better before I headed out for my run. My plan was to run at the cinder track, but by the time I got out it was getting dark already.   So I chose to stay in my neighborhood and run on the sidewalks.  Getting started was a chore because it was pretty cold and I was bundled in multiple layers. I struggled through the first mile in about 14 minutes. Things got better, and as I passed home I threw some of my layers off and continued. I fonshed up running for 4 miles in a total of 48:30.  Last two miles were both about 11 minutes a piece. Along the way I did about 8 very conservative surges to keep my heart rate elevated. All in alI think it was a positive workout on a sketchy day. I was pretty proud of my determination and what I will call toughness on this afternoon run. Never really expected to get  miles in when I started.

Stats-

Weight = 153 lb

Sleep = seven and a half hours

Morning heart rate = 54 beats per minute

Diet = 8

Indexes are consistent and getting a little better each day. No Achilles issues at all. Plantar fasciitis issues under control. Nothing hurts while I’m running at this point.

November 27th, Tuesday

After a day off I went to the club for a 60 minute workout.  It seemed too cold and windy to go outside.

20 minutes of upper body and arm weights

20 minutes of solid swimming

20 minutes running in pool

Solid stats…..

November 25th, Sunday

Today was a strikingly beautiful November afternoon to do a workout on the cinders. I did a 20-minute warm-up including walking, stretching, jogging and drills with Arlene. Then I did seven more laps covering three and a half miles that included 4 intervals. I did three 400m in under 2:00 pace and ended with an 800m in 4:18.  I ran  400 meters between each of the repeats.  The workout portion of the day covered 44 minutes. I felt strong throughout  and had no foot or leg issues. Good day.!

Stats are good.

November 23rd, Friday

On a cold Friday afternoon I bundled up and headed out to the cinders with hopes of running a solid 3 miles.  Once again I started modestly with a 13:03 mile. During the next two miles I ran 8 pick-ups of increasing length  from 50 strides to100 strides.   I made the decision to run a fourth mile and completed it in about 10 minutes with no pick-ups.  Another positive day….   Ending HR was low 120 BPM.

4 Miles-  45:58

1-13:02.   2- 11:45.   3- 10:43.    4- 10:17

Stats-

Weight = #155

Sleep = 7 hours

Diet = 9

a.m.HR = 54BPM

Foot indexes are getting better.

November 21st, Wednesday

1

After a day of recovering from my hot 200m workout on Monday, I ran 30 minutes at quick pace on the treadmill and swam for 15 minutes.   It felt good.  A 15 minute hot whirlpool led to total relaxation.  To top off the night, Rob prepared an epiqurian delight of local sea bass for dinner.  Arlene and I had watched as the seafood guy cut the fillets out of a fresh fish at Klein’s Seafood Market this afternoon in  Belmar.  A hard to beat pre-Thanksgiving evening!!

Good stats.