March 12th & 13th – Sunday & Monday

Sunday – Resting and sleeping all day.   Multiple muscles are  still feeling quite sore today. It has become apparent to me that the  workout of repeats on Friday was quite a stress on my total system. I have to remember that DOMS for older runners means a 36 to 48  hour delay.  Also for the first time I am feeling tightness in my hamstring muscles. That is a sure sign that I  have upped my training level. I used to tell my runners that as training level intensifies, muscle soreness rises up the legs from calves to hamstrings,  and reaches the gluteus maximus (butt) as the highest levels of fitness are achieved.  Most middle-distance runners can remember that excruciating pain in the butt during workouts at the end of the season.  I can!

Monday  – I arose refreshed after about 12 hours of sleep.  With hamstrings still sore I chose to run some totally aerobic, 11:30, miles for approximately one hour today.  Walk and slow jog for 20 minutes and then 3.5 miles in 40 minutes.  It seemed like just what I needed to get back in the groove.

Stats- Lazy recording for 3 days, not good. Step Up O’Rourke!

March 11th, Saturday

Took day off to go to Farmer’s Market and St. Augustine Irish Festival. A lot of walking… a little sore.  All good!

March 10th,  Friday

Ideal conditions; 75*, overcast, gentle breeze and scenery on the beach improves markedly as Spring Break arrives.

An interesting run today of 6 miles in 1 hour and 22 minutes. The goal was to run some 400 meter intervals at 8:30 pace. Here is what happened. I jogged for 20 minutes to warm up. I ran 8 x  400 meters at about 8:30 pace in a 3 minute cycle. This was in fact the first true interval workout  I have tried in this journey toward the National Senior Games 1500m championship. It went pretty will I thought.  All this happened while running south, and I lost track of the distance.  So, when I turned around I was more than 3 miles from home. Now, I never intended to run a 6 mile workout today. So I started to jog the long journey back down the beach. Eventually I decided to walk because it looked really far.  Then I had the brilliant idea to take my shoes and socks off and soak my legs in the cool, stimulating ocean surf as I walked.  That was very refreshing, but I was making very little progress on my way back. With the Saint Augustine Pier, which was my starting point, looming far in the distance; I put my socks and shoes back on and began to run again because I was anxious to get home.  Remarkably my legs had recovered pretty dramatically from my work out, and I was able to run the remaining one mile home in about 9:35.  I was pleasantly surprised, exhausted  and exhilarated.

Stats are stable.

March 8th,  Wednesday

https://youtu.be/xrWM3vh41Bw

Scarey video from 2015  !!

Cloudy run on the beach this afternoon. Having seen the above video on Facebook recently, I was a bit spooked early on by lightning in the distance.  The ominous clouds drifted off to the northeast slowly.

 So I managed to get in three and a half miles in 44 minutes with a few brusts of from one to two minutes at 8:00 pace.  Seems like an appropriate recovery day run.

Stats – Stable

March 2, 3, 4, 5 and 6

Thursday  through Monday

Pre-race; Thursday I walked for 40 minutes.   Friday I did not run

RACE; Saturday I ran 5K in 26:50 All systems felt good. The time was faster than I anticipated.  I was very happy with my performance.

Post- race; Sunday I rested and enjoyed my performance.  Also drove to Strawberry Festival.

Monday I ran 4 miles in 50+ minutes, still recovering.  Left foot a little tender in same spot that hurt after race in Freehold last spring.  Not as bad, but present nonetheless on today’ s run.  Icing a few times a day.

Note to self; on the run up to the Nationals two years ago I ran 33 minutes at the Lighthouse 5K coming off an injury. I believe that means I am in better condition approaching the Nationals this time than I was in 2015.  The goal was to get home in April prepared to do some serious training. I think I will accomplish that goal.

Stats – Stable

S

March 1st, Wednesday

Continue reading Pre 5K, 5K →

February 27 & 28, Monday & Tuesday

As February slips away, I am taking some well needed rest.  I think that I got a little over zealous last week.  Took off two days.  A few easy pre-race days and a 5K on Saturday will reveal my current fitness level.

Stats- Stable

February 26th, Sunday

A “Happy Birthday” Day

Ran 4 miles on very tired legs today.  (54:35)  Nothing to write home about.

The St. Augustine  Lighthouse 5K is in 6 days.  So I will need to recover and rebuild my legs this week.  Looking for a solid 3.1 somewhere around /under 27 minutes.

Stats –

I-Mad = Still 0 !!?

Weight = #153

Sleep = 6 hrs. Up at sunrise ?over ocean for birthday.

a.m.HR = 153BPM

Workout = 4 tough miles at 13:23

February 25th, Saturday

I ran 2.65 miles  in 30:30 tonight along Beach A1A.  All the joints on the strip were jumping as the temperature remained near 80* at 7:p.m.   The lighting was much better for this after dark, easy, recovery run.

Stats – Stable

February 24,  Friday

First the facts. Today I ran for about an hour and 10 minutes. I covered five and a quarter miles with 10 pickups practicing my 180 strides per minute (SPM)cadence. That cadence is a little scary, but I am getting more confident as I get more comfortable at it. I have run frequent pickups for 30 seconds at that 180 SPM and a few pickups of one minute at that cadence.  My Garmin reords  that  when I am doing these pickups I am running at below seven minute per mile pace. Also more pool frolicking after.

So it appears that I have settled into a two day on- one day rest sequence. I chuckled to myself today as I was thinking of that concept. I developed that idea for a runner I once coached named Juan York. Juan was a very good distance runner who was in the same class with my son, Rob. He was having lots of leg problems one season. He was willing to work hard but was having serious problems completing workouts each day. So I created the two day on – one day off sequence for Juan.  I told him, “You make will be able to complete each workout because you are either coming off a day’s rest or you will have a day’s rest tomorrow.” Juan bought into the idea and had a very successful season. So now I’m selling that concept to myself. So far I have managed to avoid any leg problems using that sequence.

NEW TRAINING RUNS –  today while running in my shaded neighborhood I stumbled upon a fence with a pedestrian gate that led to Anastasia State Park. I followed a lady who was walking her dog through the gate and asked her about the place. It turns out that there are numerous shaded trails to run and eventually it winds back to the beach from which I can actually run home to our condo in Saint Augustine Beach.  So now I can access the State Park trails and the shaded neighborhood without running any public streets or roads.  That makes it easier and safer. I plan to make a lot of use of that area in the next month.

Stats- ?

I-Mad – Still 0 ?

a.m.HR -54BPM

Weight -#153

Sleep -9 hours

Workout -5 miles with 10 pickups @ 180SPM