December 11- 15,  Saturday  – Wednesday

I am spending more time at the cinder track these days because it is archery deer haunting  seasin in Turkey Swamp Park and I look too much like a Buck when running.       Doe?        Fawn???

 Saturday and Sunday recovering,

Q

Monday at the cinders- 3.5 in 40 minutes,  Good day!

Tuesday back at the cinders for a rare consecutive workout,  2 miles in 27:00 with  6 x SS under 9:00 pace, fastest pace  in over  a month.  Progress

Wednesday recovering

Steady stats, legs and feet good

December 10, Friday

Today on the trails of Turkey Swamp Park I covered 3.2 miles.  (12:50 pace).  After Monday’s 10:50 pace I needed extra rest.  Sticking with the 40 minute plan for the time being.

Found a 60+ running site recently. It is full of inspiring stories and discussions about starting and continuing to run after 60 years old.  Worth a look for anyone considering starting to get going again.

Steady stats this week.

December 7,  Wednesday

Peggy  circa 1948 with little bro and me+l

It has been far too long since my last post.

A word about that to myself and also to my small cadre of loyal readers:

I began my +70 Runner blog  almost seven years ago with the idea of keeping a detailed log of my training accompanied by a few comments about the terrain and the weather.  I had not been writing anything for a while. The new task became very exciting, and I was motivated to write more detail about the local color and to include my personal, emotional experiences along the way.  As I began to enter competitions, reporting results became even more fun. At the time I was posting every day; details about my training, descriptions of the beauty of the environment and the joys of the run,  whines about my injuries and soreness,  mostly glowing reports about my competitions and the occasional anecdote from the coaching days of yore.

As my family and friends spread the news about my blog,  it became apparent that I was gathering a few loyal followers mostly from coaching ranks and former athletes.  Reconnecting with boys and girls that I once coached has been a delightful surprise. All of these wonderful motivators made writing a daily +70 RUNNER post an enjoyable part of my evening routine for almost five years.

In time, especially after the exciting period of racing in the Senior Nationals, I began to feel that my blog was becoming repetitive and boring.  I began to skip days and write weekly updates of mostly workout logs with little elaboration.  I suppose two years of civid lockdown has made my daily ramblings seem even more irrelevant.  The thrill of the write was gone

I am trying to rekindle my excitement for the game and the blogging.  The announcement that the Penn Relays are back on tap for this spring is very exciting. My new 40 minute run plan has been working very well for the last 3 weeks.  I am healthy and injury free. We are leaving for Florida for six weeks in January.  My cousin, Peggy aka Sister  Mary Kathleen, will turn 100 years old next Thursday!  I am writing a long post.   Come on, man !!…….Good stuff…….

40 minute plan

Purpose: to develops aerobic strength while avoiding injury

Since November 17th, 8 times at various venues mostly dirt and cinders

Interspersed with adequate rest and light cross training.

Extraordinarily beautiful running weather for early December.

11/17 – 3.21 miles – 12:27 pace

11/20  – 3.5 miles – 11:25 pace

11/24 – 3.31 miles  –  12:02 pace

11/28 – 3.29 miles –  12:10 pace

12/2 – 3.31 miles  – 12:19 pace

12/4 – 3.67 miles – 10:50 pace

12/6 – 3.82 miles  – 10:28 pace

Muscles and aerobics reeling strong!!

STATS-

Weight steady at  #144

Diet is excellent

Heart rate  steady at 54 bpm

Sleep 8-10 hours nightly

Legs and feet without issues

November 20, Saturday

“Like so many runners, if I don’t run, I don’t feel right. I don’t feel relaxed,  I don’t enjoy eating.”  – Fred Lebow

I have settled on the idea of running comfortable 40 minute efforts for the foreseeable future. Thursday at Turkey Swamp Park I covered 3.22 miles in 40 minutes.  Today at the Cinders was it was 3.5 miles. In between was a recovery day and 1 hour of work at the clubhouse.  I think the 40 minute limit allows for enough recovery in two days to run quality efforts with healthy legs.  Thinking positive!

Stats are holding steady in positive territory.

Legs and feet are without issues.🌝🌤

November 16, Tuesday

Mostly slow miles and swimming with days off for recovery..  This feels like a very funky training period. Not running with confidence and recovering slowly.  No routine, no plan and too many days off. Got to refocus.

Not for publication!

Monday, November 9

“Every day is a good day when you run.”      Kevin Nelson

I ran three moderate miles on Saturday on the dirt trail at Turkey Swamp Park with no adverse results.  Today at the Jackson Liberty high school track I covered 3.1 intermittent miles with my calves feeling well and stopped, feeling refreshed, only out of an abundance of caution.  These are good signs that my calf muscles have healed. The comfortable fall weather over the next few days should give me some more chances for aerobic work.

My current plan is to train through the holidays with the goal of running a credible mile at one of the Monmouth University winter meets in January.  I will have to resist tte many Thanksgiving and Christmas 5k races along the way unless I want to jump in one or two as a tempo run.

I have been fortunate that my stats have remained positive and consistent during the period of minimal actual training.

Weight-  144

Sleep- 9 HR +

Heart rare 54 bpm

VO2MAX (NEW). as reported by my Garmen  = 41  They say that is good!

‘Hello Yes and leg indexes are all very good Hello

October 30, Saturday

Despite dire weather forecasts for this morning, the running conditions were excellent at Holmdel Park for today’s final 5k of the Fall Cross Country Series.  My race performance was not as good as I expected.  I ran 30:34.  I am disappointed because during the race I felt like I was running very well.   I broke well and covered the first hills in a relaxed manner.  I approached the first mile mark with confidence and ran the bowl under control. I skirted the large hill without burning legs for the first time and recovered quickly for a  surge to the teannis courts.  The final  1200m seemed quick with a solid finishing kick.  Reading  the clock at the end was  an unpleasant surprise.  So, I finished 2nd in my age group for the series.   😏

My summary of the series.  I ran very well in race one and beat the guy who ultimately won the age group.  Ran the  next four race with basically no training  and sore calf muscles. Even skipped one because of night time calf cramps.  My hunch is that the lack of  training for a whole month caught up with me today.  My legs felt fine at last, but I had no aerobic strength to sustain pace.   The good news is that my legs are sound and I am ready to move forward and get back into shape.  That begins with a month of aerobic work. I see a turkey race somewhere in the near future!  🦃

Stats are all back on track!

October 25, Monday

I wish that I had said this. It should be posted in every high school cross country locker room.

Bad Athletes- Don’t take much seriously

Average Athletes- Take track meets seriously

Good Athletes- Take Meets and Practice seriously

Great Athletes- Take academics, nutrition, rest, hydration, warm-ups, cool downs, summer workouts, practice and meets extremely seriously

October 22, Saturday

This morning marked week five of the fall cross country series. The race was held at Fox Hill Recreation area, a course I had never run before.  The racing conditions were ideal. It was 53*, with a lite sprinkle of rain, a beautiful grass covered course and I was fortified with my modified calf sleeves.  After three weeks of very light training because of sore calves, my legs felt quite lively as I warmed up today.

I am proud  say I started  strongly and ran competitively throughout the race.  My right half muscle ached throughout, but it didn’t have an impact on my ability to run. The result was my best time of the season;  27:44.  I am much more confident now that this puts me on track for a positive finish in the final 5K of the season at Holmdel Park next Saturday.

Steady Stats.

October 19,  Tuesday

Workouts and postings are still being hampered by sore calves.  Today was the best workout I did it in over a week. At the clubhouse I rode the bike for 10, elliptical for 10, treadmill for 10,  weights for 10 and swam for 20 minutes, followed by 15 minutes in hot whirlpool.  I plan to repeat that scenario tomorrow. Every time I have tried to do a running workout for the last two weeks my calves have  seized on me and made it impossible to run.  Night time cramps have also plagued my sleep.  Have not had sleeping cramps since college.  But today was better. Yesterday I actually cut my compression socks to make them simply calf sleeves. That might have helped.  Also using heat a few times a day.  It might have been a good idea to do these measures sooner, but I did not understand or appreciate the depth of this injury. I expected the soreness to simply disappear in a day or two.  Well, that never happened for almost three weeks.  I skipped Saturday’s race at Big Brook Park for fear of  aggravating the injury. I am hoping to try racing on Saturday at Wolf Mountain, a course I have never seen.  It would be great to be ready to  race hard at Holmdel Park on October 30, the final race of the Autumn season.  To be continued………..🤔💭

Stats –  I have been too bummed out to note.  Ok I guess.