History 2 – High School Daze

History

Schoolboy RobbyThe more I think about it the more I believe that I could write about high school endlessly.  However, there are three themes that dominate my memories of high school.  First, endlessly laughing and laughing and doing stupid stuff with the guys.  From the Lexington Ave. gang to all the new friends I met in high school, it was a nonstop ball.  I have no idea how the poor Sisters survived.

Next there where the girls.  I was equally attracted to, mystified by and  totally terrified of the pretty girls at st. Al’s.  You’re looking at a guy who was an altar boy through 12th grade and  went to Confession every Saturday,  unfortunately with nothing to confess.

But most of all there was running.  Running dominated everything.  I could not wait for practice at the end of every day and for the next competition.  In 10th grade I made Varsity cross-country.  Training with Kevin Hennessy , who  had replaced his brother Brian as the running alpha male in the area, forced me to get better and better.  With Eddie and Jack Healy and Richie Brown we won all the Championships.  Next year Eddie graduated and joined the Marines.  My childhood buddy, Richie Graham,  joined the cross country team for the first time in 11th grrade.  Richie was an All County basketball star.  Kevin and I dominated, and with Rich’s help we again won the major championships.  In Spring at the Penn Relays I was offered a full scholarship to run at Seton Hall by Coach John Gibson.  I had  run the 3/4 mile leg of the Distance Medley Relay again, this time in a pretty memorable 3:18.  Now, that’s pretty average today, but in 1960 it was pretty solid. That year Al Adams of St. Michael’s in Jersey City anchored the Distance Medley to win the Championship of America.  He was awarded High School Athlete of  the Meet for running a 4:23 mile.  Today that is considered pretty average too.  I’m certain that a good deal of Coach Gibson’s offer was due to the fact that John was running at the Hall at the time , and Coach Gibson lovedJohn!  Nevertheless, I was getting faster and  sitting on top of the world.  Summer after jr. year I trained harder than ever to prepare for my senior season. Summer training was not as common back in the 50s, so I think that gave me an edge.  By this time Willie was also running Varsity cross-country and along with Cliff Sprague, Richie and Billy Marino,  Pete Doody and Kenny Beil, we again won a number of championship titles.  I had a dream senior season winning City, County and Catholic Conference titles. I broke all of Brian and Kevin Hennessy’s records , set a new course record at Lincoln Park and was selected Runner of the year by the legendary sports writer  Ed Grant.  I was flying high and ready to conquer the world.   Next was Seton Hall University and probably the Olympics.

Now, the reader might have noticed that  there’s no mention in this entire High School discussion of academics.  That is actually because I don’t remember anything about academics in high school at all.  I must have learned some algebra and how to diagram some sentences and maybe even some history and English literature.  That is because I actually do know some of that stuff.   I think  a comment by my brother Eddie helps too explain a lot of this. He told me one day, “The only things I remember from any class in high school are the things my teachers told me about themselves.”  I have tried to remember that during my 35 years teaching in High School.  I took every opportunity possible to tell students about things going on in my life. Not personal things, but unusual things like about my dog chasing  a skunk or my car catching fire in the driveway.   And Eddie’s words come back to me everytime I meet a former student and they tell me,  “Hey Mister O,  remember that story about your dog chasing skunks ? That was hysterical!”  Hardley ever does the conversation turn to the War OF 1812 .

Slow blogging

Training

Good morning– It’s Thursday, March 24th at 9 a.m. 70 degrees, clear and calm. Beach pretty.

There are plenty of strollers, dog walkers, Runners and cyclists along the surf today. I arrived with unhappy muscles at 9 a.m. I was greeted by a cute little autistic boy digging in the sand with his parents nearby. He was responsive, communicative and interactive but all at somewhat low levels. I found out his name was Kobe. We talked about sand and Sun for a while with his parents interpreting when I looked confused. I asked Kobe if he would watch my sweats while I ran and he agreed.

My workout was a totally different matter. It began with a 10-minute walk. I started to jog but after about a minute stopped because of uncooperative muscles. I continued walking with waning confidence that this was going to be a productive day. I stripped down and reluctantly began my daily run while Koby watched my sweats. I decided to go shirtless today to bank some sunshine for the upcoming trip to the north. What followed was 4 miles of very uncomfortable running. My muscles never fully cooperated and my stride never felt smooth or open. Each step was a struggle. This is somewhat confusing to me because I completely took the day off yesterday, and that usually results in springy legs. No Spring today. My only other explanation is that possibly my body is still adapting to my new training level. I am confident that the last 7 days have been the most strenuous of my running career. I thought that one day off would be sufficient recovery, but my body tells me something different. I probably will repeat many times, because it is one of the key purposes of this blog, that listening to one’s body, especially among +70runners, is an absolute necessity for survival. So, I trudged through 4 more miles in 49 minutes surviving only by writing this blog in my head along the way. When I got back to Kobe and his parents my sweats were still secure. I played with Kobe for a few minutes. Then I told his parents what a lovely young boy they had and how lucky he was to have smart and loving parents. They seemed pleased. I said goodbye to Toby, and I hope I will see him again before we leave. So, even though the workout was kind of gruesome, it was a nice morning at the beach.

History – How it all started

History

My first memories of track and field are of my older brothers John and Eddie running in track meets at Persian Field in downtown Jersey City. I don’t know if I ever ran there, but I do remember that they were very good and came home with medals and ribbons. My brothers are John, Eddie and Willie. Everybody called me Robby. To this day nobody in my family knows who is “Bob” the adopted name that I was given as a track runner and coach. John was always John. However, there is a family legend of the Jersey City street name for John, Chico. The origin of Chico has never been explained. John was a type A,h first born child. He was as straight as an arrow and as tough as nails. Those qualities probably helped him become an outstanding quarter mile runner in high school. Running 51 seconds for a 440 in the mid-fifties was enough to earn John a partial scholarship to Seton Hall University under coach John Gibson. He entered Seton Hall University in 1957 as I entered st. Aloysius High School as a freshman. Eddie, entering his junior year, was also on the track team. So it seemed pretty much determined that I would be joining the track program as I entered High School. It turned out I was a pretty good distance Runner. Legendary coach Bob Short, who had produced many quality distance runners over the past 10 years at St. Aloysius, seemed to think I had talent. Coach Short is the first adult I ever remember calling by a first name. He told us to call him Bob. He called me Bobby.

Two key events I remember from freshman year set the stage for a lifetime in track and field. I finished in second place in the Freshman division of the North Jersey Catholic Track Conference Championship in Lincoln Park. Bob and my brother Eddie were both very impressed with that performance. Their words made me feel very important, maybe for the first time in my life. I was going to be a cross country star like Brian Hennessy, the reigning city and county cross country champion from St. Al’s!

The other event was the surprise that in the spring I qualified for a spot on the distance medley relay team scheduled to compete at the Penn Relays at the University of Pennsylvania in Philadelphia. This was a huge deal. As a fifteen-year-old I had never been away from home overnight or stayed in a hotel. This was kind of a culture shock taking a trip to a big city with the team. There were too many new experiences that weekend for me to list here. If anyone would like to hear them all, leave me a note and I’ll write a separate post. But the one event that I have said changed my life occurred at the stadium, Franklin Field. My race itself, three-quarters of a mile leg on the distance medley relay, was unmemorable. I was so overwhelmed by running in a large stadium in front of probably thirty thousand people at the time I could not even absorb it. But later that day I witnessed the St. Francis Prep High School mile relay run the first-ever sub 3:20 mile relay to win the
Championship of America. By then there were more like fifty thousand people in the stadium who were chanting wildly as this team of four boys took a Victory lap around the Franklin Field track. That moment is embedded in my brain. I was hooked for life.

Time for a day off.

Training

Wednesday, March 23rd. Another nice spring day in Florida

Slept this morning till 10:30. Just listening to my body! I guess yesterday was not as much of a recovery as I thought it was. Set alarm for 7 a.m. again. When it went off I awoke and felt like my body hurt in every possible place. Made a quick decision to turn over and continue to heal. Is now 12:30 and I’m planning a day with as much walking as possible, no running.

Weighed 151 pounds after I ran yesterday, lowest ever. I am not trying to lose weight. I think running more and eating well is producing that result. I was 177 pounds when I started running again. After a few good meals and a day of rest, I will most likely be back up to 154 pounds which has been my standard weight for the last year and a half.

Sad to say the time has come to start planning for our trip back to New Jersey. Hopefully we bring some of the nice weather with us as many have suggested. Departure date is March 31st. So we do have some time left to enjoy St.Augustine. No more shopping for groceries. Eat everything in the house and dine out for the next week.

“What ever happened Tuesday is so slow”

Training

Whatever happened
Tuesday is so slow

Van Morrison, covered by Jimmy Buffett     “Brown Eyed Girl”

I feel like I should give Jimmy a shout out before he sends me a bill. I am using a lot of his material,

5 p.m. 58* wind NE 10 to 15 mph. Beach conditions very nice, flat and firm

Today was designed to be a recovery day. Happily, I got in 4 miles in 46 minutes, not too bad. I decided to try this one Kenyan Style, that is wearing sweats for the entire run. About 3 miles into the run I began to feel smooth and relaxed. Each mile was a little quicker and the final mile was under 10 minutes. I guess those Kenyans know what they are doing. I had to keep something in the tank for West Coast swing dancing tonight. Quadriceps were sore after the run but, remarkably, got better as we continued dancing. We just got home. Its 10:30 heading for bed.

Just a note. have noticed that constructing blogs while I am running makes my workouts and Miles go much quicker. Today I started writing in my head about how I began running and the effects that my brothers had on me in those early days in the 50s. If things go as expected I plan to post that blog tomorrow. Goodnight

Early evening run

Training

7 p.m. 70 degrees and very light wind. Ideal conditions 4 for an early evening run along the ocean. The Panorama of the sky was striking. A hazy, gray full moon hung over the eastern ocean horizon gazing westwood at a golden fireball sinking into the Matanzas River. Strollers on the beach must have been quite confused watching an old guy running on the beach with a wide smile on his face.

The happy runner had a number of reasons for sporting a smile.
1-the mesmerizing sky of course
2- running along in the evening without pain
3- performing a workout that far exceeded his expectations for that evening

Tonight I covered five miles on my journey along the ocean. At the start of the workout it seemed that things were going to be tedious. My quads were sore and heavy and my calves were whining. All this no doubt is a result of yesterday’s rather difficult and demanding workout. As I have mentioned earlier, it seems my workouts are getting longer, more in the five to six mile range rather then in the three to four mile range that had been my previous norm. Warm up was about a mile and a half of walking and jogging which took 20 minutes. Feeling a little better, I decided to try to do a few mile intervals wondering if I could run better than 9:30 pace. I was surprised to find that I ran a quite comfortable 8:24 for the first mile. After a four minute jog I ran an 8:13 mile! I had some idea that I might go for 3, but my Achllie’s tendon started to ache slightly during the second mile. So I opted to err on the side of caution. The workout concluded with a one-mile cool-down jog. I am pretty sure I could have run three. I think that if I can run a number of 8 minute miles during workouts over the next fiew weeks, I have a chance to reach my goal 5K time of 25 minutes.

We just finished a delicious dinner cooked by Arlene of a fish we have discovered in Florida. It’s name is trigger. The folks at the local fish store claim it is one of the most popular in the area and it is tasty and versatile. We both liked it end probably will have it again before we leave. I don’t know if it is available in New Jersey.

Post Run Bliss

Training

Noon now and resting after 6 miles on the beach. Uploaded workout data from my Garmin to my ancient Apple, drank my chocolate milk and icing and enjoying a cocktail of green tea and pure tart cherry juice. It has become a delightful spring like day.
Wow, what a difference two days can make! Doing the right thing is pretty f****** important. I should have that figured out by now. Rested and prepared properly today and had a wonderful run. With apologies for repeating I have to say the beach was flat and firm, and the cloud covered sky and cool breeze made it just perfect. Today I felt pain free, powerful and most importantly pretty. My athletes often laughed when I told them to run pretty. But I am perfectly serious about the importance of running beautiful. I guess coaches call it running efficiently or with good form but to me it is just pretty. One of the things that made me proudest while I was coaching was that a number of people I respected told me that most of my runners looked similar in their running form,that they were smooth and under control. I call that pretty. I reminded kids frequently of how often they would hear someone say after a race that the winning athlete looked like he was hardly even trying. A very nice gentleman from Scranton Pennsylvania approached me one year at the New Jersey Meet of Champions practically with tears in his eyes to tell me how disappointed he was that Brendan Heffernan was not competing that day. He said he only came to the meet from Scranton to see Brendan run because of how much he enjoyed watching his beautiful running Style. I don’t think I have ever told Brandon that story, and I hope he is reading this because it would be a very nice thing for him to hear.
But I digress as I frequently will because that is how my brain works these days.
Preparing properly allowed me to have a comfortable and productive run for which I am very be grateful. I was able to concentrate on a shorter stride and soft, firm foot strikes. I was also able to put in 10 surges of from 50 to stride. I am more comfortable counting strides of these days been trying to keep track of the duration of the surge because it helps me to synchronize my strides and my breathing. Speaking of breathing, I have become a strong proponent of belly breathing while running distance these days. The concept of belly breathing is relatively new to me but not totally new.. It was introduced to me recently by coach Mike Paul who is a friend,a former assistant coach of my mine and arguably one of the most knowledgeable coaches in the state of New Jersey. Mike suggested that I consider trying to belly breathe during my runs after watching me in a race at Hillsborough about 2 years ago. I have tried it during training and racing and I found it to be quite helpful to me. I will probably speak a lot more about this in the future but there is also an interesting story to go along with that. Way back in the eighties, when I was coaching with the legendary Bob McGivney, I would hear him constantly telling his girls during training and racing to belly breathe. Now Bob was one of the most successful girls cross country coaches in New Jersey history. North Hunterdon girls basically owned the sport throughout the 1980s. Bob and I spoke frequently about coaching training and distance running. I don’t remember ever asking him about the belly breathing thing and I don’t know why. But I can only say that his girls employed the concept and were ridiculously successful. So I guess Mac knew what he was doing. So when Mike Paul brought the concept up I began practicing it and have been belly breathing now for the better part of two maybe three years. It has helped me to improve my training and racing. Thank you Michael Paul.

Enough for now.

Doing it smarter

Training

Happy Spring! 68* cloudy and calm

Blogging before running this morning because I am doing much more deliberate pre-workout preparation. Answered the alarm at 7 a.m.,took my time, had coffee, heating my calves and achilles and doing some gentle stretching. One more item to add to the list of old retired guy benefits. We have time.
I spent the whole afternoon yesterday wearing my compression sleeves on lower leg around town. That really felt good. (Had to show off my newly acquired technological skills yesterday by taking a picture of my leg with my tablet and finding a way to actually import it to this blog.) Also got some nice comments from total strangers! I have read articles about studies on compression and there is a mixed opinion about the effects and benefits. The true physiological effects have not been proven, but the results show that those who expect performance to be improved have improved performance. There is also a difference of opinion as to whether benefits are more substantial wearing during workout or wearing between workouts as an aid to recovery. I guess the truth remains, as with all preported running enhancements, if you believe it works it probably works for you. I am not convinced either way. I don’t know what that means in terms of the effect on me. I am wearing them today for my workout. Time to start running and stop talking.

Morning musings – Every day is Saturday when you’re retired. March 19th

Training

68 degrees,91% humidity and calm in St Augustine this morning. Having zero mph wind is very, very unusual in St.augustine. We arrived February 1st and the wind did not stop for 3 weeks.
I was out of bed at 7 a.m. today but have not run yet. It is now 9:30. Still dealing with sore achilles on left leg. Lots of heat!
Having made a decision to write each day about my training has made me think a lot more about what I’m actually doing. I have a tendency to forget the advise of people close to me at times. Two things happened in the last 24 hours to adjust my perspective on the sore leg I have been whining about. I recalled the advice of my friend, Rich Refi. He always reminds me to, “Do what you tell your athletes to do.” He is a pretty smart guy. So, if I’m such a good coach why don’t I listen to myself. I have told my athletes for years who are having soreness in lower legs calves and achilles tendons to heat the legs before each run. I was in the habit of doing that myself back in New Jersey and had stopped since I came to Florida in February. Maybe I thought the warm weather made that unnecessary. But I definitely got out of the habit. So I will be heating my legs before each run from now on. Secondly, Arlene reminded me this morning of the reason why I had decided to begin rising at 7 a.m. this week. It was because the weather had become 88 – 92 degrees. Running in the afternoon, which is my normal habit, became intolerable. There was no need to force myself out onto the beach at 7 a.m. I also reminded myself that I have no competition schedules for the foreseeable future. So I write today much less stressed and much smarter than yesterday. Thank you Rich, Arlene and Old Coach O.

My plan for sore achilles tendon problems is the following. This is what I did yesterday and my leg feels much better. Rest and take one ibuprofen every 4 hours. Heat your lower legs before each run and ice after each one. I have done it simply by dangling my feet on the edge of the cold pool. But 15 to 20 minutes with an ice pack will do the job. It is not necessary to freeze the muscle or the tendon. I also plan to start again to use my lower leg compression sleeves. That is another thing that I stopped doing since I came to Florida. Not sure why, maybe just because they are a little hard to put on and I got lazy.

So, sitting on this lovely deck, temperature about 75 degrees now, watching the ocean and the beach on a Saturday morning as still as church during Consecration (That is the best simile I could think of.) I am totally stress-free and relaxed.

I will continue the treatment for one more day and try a gentle walk this afternoon.
We are heading into Old Town in a while to a Fair of some sort with good food and beer I am told. Sounds like a nice afternoon.

THANK YOU to all my friends and relatives who commented and liked my post on Facebook. I hope some of you are reading this and you enjoy it. I am definitely having fun. Please leave any comments with your thoughts or suggestions.