February 11th, Sunday morning

Thoughts while enjoying coffee and homemade oatmeal cookies on a sunny deck with a gentle breeze………

Saturday was a total recovery day.  Arlene and I spent a pleasant afternoon listening to music on The Conch pier. We did manage a 30 minute walk along the inlet while waiting for the music to start. We then enjoyed a tasty dinner at Mango Mango,one of our favorite local eateries.

So, after a 10-hour sleep the discomfort in my right leg seems about 90% better. I guess that coming up shortly to that 75 year-old marker I have to reconfirm with myself that recovery is an integral part of the program, not a suspension of the program.

Stay smart, +70Runner guy.

Stats –

I-Mad and I-Mid = 2

a.m.HR =54BPM

Weight = #153

Sleep =10 hours

February 9th, Friday

“Put another nickel in the bank.”

Another MacGivneyism (RIP )

Today’s training session was scheduled to be a run. It began on a negative note. As I walkedtoward the beach to begin my run, I felt a significant discomfort in the area of my shin on my right leg. I was at a loss to figure out the cause since I had not run for two days. My first thought was shin splints, but it doesn’t seem as if I have been running enough miles to cause shin splints. The sharp pain occurred with each impact. So, I decided to do a longer non-impact warm-up  in the hopes that the discomfort would decrease as I drew more blood to the area. But that plan was only marginally successful. Still determined to accomplish something on the day, I entered the beach, found the softer sand and began to trudge along very slowly still experiencing quite a bit of discomfort.  Eventually I discovered that the tracks created by the cars that ride the beach were invitingly soft and flat. Running in these tracks I experienced less discomfort as the time went by. Ultimately I managed to stay in motion for 59 minutes including warm-up. All of it was slow with mile times around 12 minutes. I stopped running at the one hour mark not because of any aerobic discomfort but for fear of causing further damage to my leg. I actually finished the run with a few 50 stride pickups. I then walked the 16 blocks home.  The messages from my body told me that despite the slow pace of the workout I had worked very hard. I suppose running in loose sand takes quite a bit of toll. I guess I can say is that I salvaged something out of a potentially disastrous day. I now have two days to rest my legs and hope that the unexplained pain will find a way to resolve itself.   The last two nights I have slept like a log which indicates to me that I have been putting some demanding work on my body.

Stats –  No change

February 8th,  Thursday

40 minutes on the bike plus 15 minutes of upper body weights

Steady stats.

February 7th,  Wednesday

After driving our four-wheeler on the beach and setting up our new beach umbrella tent device today, we enjoyed the first 70 degree weather we have experienced on this trip to St Augustine. My body is feeling a bit warm/cold as I write this at 10pm.  I hope I did not get too much sun earlier today.

Afterwards, as the sun was setting, I swam my 42 laps in the pool, which I have determined equals just about 500m. It took me almost half an hour to do that.

Stats –

I-Mad = 0.       I-Mid = 2

a.m.HR = 54BPM

Weight = #152.6 😊

Sleep = 7 hours,  hot and restless🤐

Workout = 500m swim, 30 minutes

February 6th, Tuesday

A cool, 57*, sunny day…  Biked 25 minutes out o favorite neighborhood, ran 3 miles at 12:30, 11:30 and 10:30,  biked home again for 25 minutes.  A pretty draining workout!  I feel like my running  times are slower than I had previously been able to do and not sure why. But I can usually increase speed as time goes on as seen in today’s 3 mile run. At the outset after the 25 minutes on the bike, it was pretty uncomfortable trying to get into a running rhythm.  I will have to get used to this transition if I am going to complete a successful triathlon.  I am tempted to do a one mile time trial  in the near future. However, I am still a little nervous about picking up speed because of the effect it seems to have of making my feet sore.  It is indeed a pleasure to wake up in the morning and not feel pain.

Stats-

I-Mad and I-Mid = 1

a.m.HR =54BPM

Weight = #154

Sleep = 8 hours

February 4th and 5th , Sunday  and Monday

Sunday- On  a very rainy day I ran under the cover of the walkway for 35 minutes with a good number of pretty serious surges, albeit short ones.

Monday-  30 minutes in motion in the pool; 10 run, 20 swim

February 2nd,  Friday

Today was a strange Training Day. It was scheduled to be a swim day. After having had a nice bike ride yesterday and a solid running workout on Wednesday, I was determined  to put in a solid swim session today in the heated pool. However,  when I woke up this morning the weather was not pleasant. The sky had a heavy overcast,  the temperature was in the upper 50s and the wind was humming pretty steadily.  My quadriceps were quite tight and sore from yesterday’s bike workout.  Wednesday and Thursday had seen the two most aggressive workouts I had done in sometime.  I could feel myself sinking slowly into the wimp stage. But I sucked it up, dressed quite warm and headed out to do a very slow run. It was a struggle at first, but I spent the first 15 minutes doing extended warm up. I threw in some leg swings some karaoke and a few squats and lunges. I managed to push through three pretty slow miles with achy quadriceps that did improve as time went on. The entire workout was about 56 minutes with 50 minutes of warm up and 3 miles in about 40 minutes. By the time I got back the sun was out,  the temperature had risen and the skies had cleared. So I sucked it up once more and headed to the pool a little while nervous about how I would feel in water. In the pool I did a few more exercises and then swim 20 laps 250. All in all I got more done than I thought I was going to get done early in the morning and I’m pretty happy with the whole day. We will see how my legs respond in the morning.

Stats-

I-Mad and I-Mid = 1/2

Weight = #153 😊

Workout = NOT WHIMPY 56 MINUTES

February 1st, Thursday

Today I biked 11 miles along the shore on my $35, Panama Jack beach bike.  That equals the first time that I have ridden the actual length of the  triathlon bike segment.  Good progress .

It continues to amaze me how firm and flat and long the St Augustine beach is.

Stats are stable.

January 31st, Wednesday

Endless beach……

This morning I was inspired by a post by my friend James Willis, who posts under the name Running on Old Legs.  James is an ultra Mountain Runner who is a remarkable athlete. This morning as I was waking up I read his post which detailed a 29.3 km run with his friends. He is a beast. So I got out of bed and determined to complete my longest run to date. I had already decided that I would run at least three miles today on the beach. That was my goal.  I dressed for the 55 degree, sunny, blue sky weather. I did remember to put on my sunscreen. The beach and surf were glorious today. I have posted above a picture that I took with my ancient telephone. The other thing that I took note of today was that I did not see in the entire length of my run a single iota of trash or litter anywhere. This beach is at most places 50m wide, but I could not spot one item along the way. In fact at one point I accidentally dropped the kleenex that I was using to blowing my nose . I panicked and chased the wind-blown kleenex for at least 200M trying to recover it; all the time fearing that I was going to become the first human to desecrate this pristine expanse of nature. I did catch it.😂

Duly inspired by both James and the wonders of nature I managed to run 5 miles in 62 minutes. I actually ran the first 4 miles in 46:30 with 10 x pickups of 50m to 100m.  (AVERAGE – 11:33)  My right calf muscle began to slightly cramp as the 4th mile ended.  So, out of an abundance of caution, I  walked for a while before slowly jogging the final mile in 16:00 . Both time and distance were the longest in many months.  Fortunately, my feet continue to thrive with the new training plan; run, bike, swim.

Stats –

I-Mad and I-Mid = 1

a.m.HR = 54BPM

Sleep = 9 hours

Weight = #154

WORKOUT = 4 miles + 10 × 50m to 100m pickups (46:30) + 1 mile  cool down  total. 62

January 29th,  Monday

My private pool.

Today was another 40 minutes in the heated pool under that same heavily clouded sky as yesterday.  The result was that I once again had my own private pool for my own private workout.  The pool is pictured in the photo above taken from  the balcony of our condominium.  During the past 24 hours, from the time I finished my run and bike workout yesterday, it has been raining practically non stop.  I swam another 42 laps (500m) in the pool plus 10 minutes of running in the 5-foot end of the pool.    GOOD WORK!

Stats –

I-Mad and I-Mid = 0😊

Weight = #154

Sleep – Yuck!  Broken and too hot.  4/5 hours 😞

a.m.HR – 54BPM

WORKOUT = 40 MINUTES SWIMMING AND RUNNING IN POOL