May 10th,  Tuesday,  10 p.m.

?

Well, it looks like I’m off the roads for a while.

My foot has been hurting me since the end of the race on Saturday with no relief in sight.  My first belief was that I had a cramp, but it never went away. So I began to believe that I was suffering some form  of plantar fasciitis.  I contacted Dr. Mirkin and explained my symptoms and circumstances.  His response was quick. He thinks that I have a stress fracture of one of the bones in my foot.  Over the last two days I have come to agree with him.  My pain is very specific.  The area is point tender.  The pain has not decreased at all in three days.  Another thing that makes me believe it  not plantar fasciitis is that the discomfort is no greater in the morning after sleeping.  It’s just the same as it is all day. That is one of the common symptoms of plantar fasciitis, that early morning pain.  Dr. Mirkin’s recommendation was that I stay off my foot for 3 weeks.  He says ride and swim but do not run until the pain has completely disappeared.

Today I did get to the clubhouse after being off for 2 days.  I rode the bike for 20 minutes, swam for 25 minutes and ran in the deep end for 10 minutes hanging on a noodle. That appears to be the extent of my workouts for 3 weeks. I do intend to do some work in the weight room with the machines and some free weights.  I recently read an article that suggests for older folks a good weight lifting routine is to complete 10  very slow reps with a lightweight.  Research Studies have shown that has the same effect of doing heavy lifts quicker on strength gain.  I will test it out  for a while .

I moved my membership start at the Centrestate fitness center to June 1st, so I will have access for the entire summer. They have that new zero gravity running machine that is the only one in the state of New Jersey that I can use. That should help me to come back a little more cautiously  from my injury.

So life goes on.  Fortunately,  I have my new PR and I was not planning any races for a while anyhow.

PS – I just did some research on a concept that is new to me known as the stress reaction.  I have heard reference to this from which Rice Refi not long ago and I thought maybe I was in that situation now.  I’m going to do some more reading and I will let you know what I found out tomorrow.  It seems that the stress reaction is designated as a first stage of a stress fracture.

Run healthy my friends!

Stats –

I–Mad   – 1Am heart rate  — 54 BPM

Weight –  152 pounds

Sleep – 9 hours

 Workout –  stationary bike 20 minutes, swim 25 minutes, floating Run 10 minutes

May 8th,   Sunday around noon

Happy Mother’s Day to all the moms out there!

Had a wonderful 11 hours sleep last night.  Really needed that.  I don’t have any races planned for the near future.  So I’m going to back off and relax.  I will try to take advantage of the new membership in the center State Hospital exercise facility.

I have been experiencing a lot of pain in the left foot since the race.  I can’t explain what it’s all about.  All last night and this morning it was very difficult to walk.  It’s not anything to do with the Achilles tendon.  I hope that it is not plantar fasciitis. That’s a condition that I had maybe 20 years ago while I was still teaching.   Haven’t had that sensation in a long time.  But plantar fasciitis is difficult to manage, a genuine pain in the butt.  This doesn’t really feel like that.  It’s on the right side of the arch  just forward of the heel.  It hurts when I push off on my toes. The general feeling is like a bruise, as if I stepped on a rock while I was running.  I felt no pain at all whIle  I was running, but after the race it felt like there was a cramp in my arch.  I thought I would walk it off and things would be fine, but it has persisted this morning.  I am tempted to use ice on it but have lost faith in ice.  Since I stopped using ice on my Achilles  they have seemed to improve  dramatically.  So I am  putting heat on this morning and being very careful.

Training for Hills

I need thoughts on this subject from anyone who would like to contribute.

Yesterday’s unexpectedly weak experience on the hill has gotten me to thinking.  I have always believed that if a distance runner is aerobically fit, Hills would not be an issue during a race.  I think the question needs to be asked;

Do you have to train on Hills to run Hills successfully in a competition?    and

How does this apply to the plus70runner in particular?

(I don’t know why this machine is capitalizing the word ‘Hill’ every time I say it.)  LOL

I’m thinking that having reached the 25-minute range for a 5K that I need to reevaluate my goals  and my training.  I was very happy with yesterday’s performance clearly.  But the experience on the hill made me think that maybe I am reaching the upside limit for the kind of training that I’m doing. I’ve never attempted Hill training because I didn’t feel that I was a serious Runner who needed to do that kind of work.  Now I believe that if I want to go to another level, in the lower twenties,  I would have to elevate  my training.  I will have to do harder workouts, probably longer workouts.  I thought this would just come naturally overtime, and I could just enjoy the whole experience. Maybe that is the attitude I have to take and not get too crazy.  However, I do remember running a 5k two years ago being so impressed by a 70year old guy that ran 25:30 to win the + 70 division.  I am now that guy!   How much additional stress do I want to put my body though?  This should not be so difficult.  I am having a great time training, competing and writing about my experience.  Responses I get from old Runners and new friends give me a reason to wake every day.  As you may have figured out by now I don’t have an answer here. But talking about it helps me to put things in perspective. So today is a healing day, a resting day and a thoughtful day.  The sun has appeared in New Jersey for the first time in a week.  I am planning to enjoy it.

Stats –

The only stat I can report today is that my I-MAD was 0!   That’s probably the first time I could report that in many weeks.  The variable is I did not take very definitive steps this morning when I woke up because of the pain in my foot.  So I will say 0 with a grain of salt.

May  7th, Saturday,  6:30 p.m.

I have to like the outcome of today’s 5K race. I reached my goal which was to break 26 minutes and have a 25 in front of my finishing time. Official time was 25:46.23.

Had a little trouble sleeping last night but was up on time.  Had a coffee and some toast and left for the race by 7:30, which was the plan.   Arrived in time, things were a little slow at the site, not easy to find the check-in area.  I did begin my planned extended warm up on time.  I was well bundled for the 50* day. The conditions were actually quite excellent at 50* with no wind and a cloud cover.  I completed my warmup with a series of one minute pickups at 8:50.  Then I went looking for the starting line which seemed very elusive.  I have to say this was not the most well organized event I have ever attended.  Well, it turned out that the 5K race was not scheduled for 9 a.m. but for 10a.m. . Yikes!  So I had to reevaluate my warmup.  I went back to the car with a half a bagel and a juice.  Rested inside for 40 minutes to stay warm.  Got Back to the racing area at 9:50, still unable to find anybody who knew where the starting line actually was.  Eventually people started gathering at some site and by 10 o’clock there may have been 30 people there with no sign of a  meet directoror officials.  People came strolling toward the start for the next 20 minutes. Somewhere around 10:20 a guy showed up and said that he was going to start the race by saying , “On your mark, get set, go.” Now there was an official timing System and they did a pretty good job, but it was not very impressive, the whole setup.

Despite all these things, I remained confident.  My legs feel good, my warm up was good, and when the go word was shouted I begin in a relaxed fashion.  Since this was not a very competitive race, I was up near the front right away with the first 15 runners.  My concentration was on my pace which was around 7:45 to 7:50 for the first mile, very comfortable.  Second Mile was a whole new story.  I hadn’t realized how much of the first mile was on a gentle down slope. So in the middle of mile two  I turned a corner and saw a substantial hill.   In checking my Garmin watch after the race I discovered that this was a 55 meter rise, pretty significant.  So my mile time for the second mile was somewhere around 8:35.  That left me at about 16:15 for 2 miles, a little bit off my goal. Not to mention I was pretty banged up by the hill.  I have not run  any Hills on any workout anywhere!   In the third mile I can’t say that I actually went into the Black Box.  I approached it, I peeked in and then I stayed on the perimeter.   I ran a decent 3rd mile around 8:30 and final  .1 under one minute. The whole time came out to be 25:46.3, well within my goal!

After the race I learned there was an award ceremony and that I had been the top finisher in the “old guy” category, that is anybody from 60 to 99. Turns out I was the oldest guy in the race but I beat all of the younger 60 year old types. Another interesting development was that one of the prizes for the race was a 3 month membership into the hospital connected Fitness and Rehab Center. This is a state-of-the-art high quality all the bells and whistles fitness center. It has every machine known to man.  It has two pools, saltwater.  One of these pools is a heated rehab pool, the other is a lap pool.  There is a running machine which completely and totally simulates the running motion including the knee Flex.  You can do a full stride from back kick through leg extension. The gentleman that signed me up told me that it is the only one in the state of New Jersey.  So on days that I don’t want foot strikes that would be a great place to get a full range of motion workout. I will try this stuff out and see how it works.  I’m hoping that I don’t get talked into doing a weight program.   I have a meeting with a trainer and a nurse on Monday to do orientation and work out a so-called training plan. All this came as a surprise to me so I’m still trying to process it.

So Thursday off put me in a good position, my warm-up plan worked, and I had a really nice morning running a low-key race for PR. Tough to be that. I did come away with soreness in my left foot at the very bottom of the foot. Not sure what brought that on, but I need to take a day or two to let that recover I think. But the good news is no Achilles issues, no calves issues and my right quadricep was totally quiet before, during and after the race. All in all a very nice Saturday morning.

I-Mad –  1 this morning

Am heart rate –  52 BPM

Sleep – 6 hours

Weight -150 after the race    Another adult low.

Workout –  nice warm up of two and a half miles, plus another half mile, +5K @ 25:46

Just returned from 5K in Freehold. Very happy with performance- 25:40. Finished first in 60 and above division. Got that 25 number in front!!

Will post full story in a while.   Need beer.

May 6th, Friday,  7 o’clock p.m.

Always a little nervous……

After being  justly chastised by a former runner, Meet of Champions winner Chris Robinson,  for whining about the weather, I set out boldly for a pre-race run in the cold, rainy, windy, crappy weather today.  Dressed once again for a February run, this time including the gloves, I managed to cover two and a half miles in 33 minutes.  I think it was enough for a pre-race effort.

Early to bed and up early for a 9 a.m. start.  l will have to preheat Achilles and calves plus a sore right quad before I leave home in the morning.

My race plan is to hit 2 miles under 16 minutes, then go into Black Box for the 3rd.   Hopefully,  I will survive my 2.5 mile test warm-up plan.

STATS –

I-MAD  – 2

AmHR  – 54 BPM

Weight  – 151#

Sleep – 7 hours

Workout – 2.5 miles in 33:00

May 5th , Thursday,   5 p.m.

The “Thursday Day Off Theory” is an idea that I developed after a number of years of coaching experience relating to how to prepare for an important race.  I chose to take the day off today because my body was feeling  very tired, the weather was still unpleasant and I have a race on Saturday.  The circumstances brought to my mind the concept of “The Thursday Day Off.”  Now I know of no science behind this whatsoever.   I know of no physiological realities that support this theory.  But what I discovered after a number of years was that in preparing for an important Saturday race, Friday’s off did not seem to have the desired positive impact.  We did take off Thursday frequently.   On Friday we would do a pre-race type of workout which could range from a 40-minute run to some race pace 400m’s on the track. I did not share this idea with many people because I thought it was our little secret.   I will let the results speak for themselves . There is an interesting story to go along with this.

One Monday morning while I was teaching class at North Hunterdon High School, I received notice that I had an important phone call. This is a very unusual event to be called out of class for a phone call. So I was a bit  concerned when I reached the phone.  Turned out the call was from a coach friend.  Now he was not a close friend, but someone I had met had a number of track meets. We had spoken and had similar thoughts on many track related issues.  But he knew my reputation well. He told me that he had a guy running Saturday in the Meet of Champions. This guy was one of the top 5 runners in the state but had never beaten the best guys around.   He said to me,

“Coach, you have had more individual success at the Meet of Champions than anybody I know. Do you have any suggestions that you would share with me to prepare my guy for Saturday.”

In a moment either of weakness or of kindness, I’m not sure  which, I told him the “Thursday Day Off Theory.”  My friend responded,

“This guy has not taken off a day in 2 years.  I don’t think he will do it.”

I said, ” All other things being equal, that’s the only thing I can tell you that might change the situation. Tell him to take the day off!”

He said, ” I’ll give it a shot and see how he responds, thanks coach.”

On Saturday his guy  won the Meet of Champions. After the race he said to me, “Coach we did it. We took the day off on Thursday, but it was a battle.  On Thursday we came to Holmdel  and very slowly walked the course; that’s all!  Thank you.”

I have not told many people that story. But it is one of my favorites.

So, I took the day off but decided I needed to post anyhow because I have not missed a day of blogging since its inception. It’s not that Saturday is such a great big important race. I do hope I finish with the time that has a 25 in front of it. That would be kind of a Benchmark in my plus70running career.  It was in my brain the original goal I set for myself 4 years ago. And tomorrow is projected to be a Nor’easter type day in New Jersey. What I can get in tomorrow I do not know, but I’m definitely going out for some kind of work, hopefully between the torrents of rain.

STATS

A.M.HR – 50BPM   Low?

I-MAD –     3

SLEEP –  8 HOURS

WEIGHT –  152#

WORKOUT –  Nothing         YIKES!

Toughness and stupidity: are they mutually exclusive?

Set out to the Cinders today dressed for February weather.  I had four layers on top, 3 on my legs, a hat and a hood. And believe it or not I was cold through the entire episode. When I started driving it was cold and cloudy. When I arrived at the cinder track it was cold, cloudy, windy and raining.   My hands were freezing.  Who brings gloves in May?

My thought pattern was the following.   I didn’t do any running yesterday.  I am racing on Saturday.  Wednesday is the only day this week that I want to do serious training.  So despite all these negatives I pushed on.  I could not accept letting this day go by without any running.  It was wet and cold and took a long time to achieve any fluidity.  I did finally get to the point where I could do some 30-second pickups,  2 per lap on the half-mile track.  I did five 30 second pickups. When doing these I count 75 strides , that equals about 100 yards. The total after all was 3 miles in 36:40.   As I plodded on,  I congratulated myself for being tough and chastised myself for being stupid at the same time.

I guess maybe these realities can be mutually exclusive!

PS :  An article published yesterday by Runner’s  World on Twitter added validity to Dr. Mirkin’s article in which he quoted studies that touted  the benefits of the 30-20–10 Workout.   (See my post from April 20th.)   I will definitely be coming back to that workout.

Stats

I-MAD –  2

AmHR – 54BPM

Weight –  151 .4 pounds

Sleep –  8 hours

Workout – 3 miles and 36:40 with five 30 second  pickups.

May3rd, Tuesday   7:00pm

Take the challenge.

After a record performance yesterday in my 4 mile run, I decided to take a day off today from running.  The fact that it was a cold and rainy miserable day had a little bit to do with it.   Ha Ha ….Spent 25 minutes swimming and running in the pool and 15 minutes in the whirlpool.  My right quad is still aching a little,  so I spent most of the time in the whirlpool blowing heat on to it.

I did sign up for the 5K race at CentraState Hospital on Saturday!

That’s going to be my warm up test.  Running two and a half miles before the race is a chance I’m going to take to see if it affects my performance.  Will report.

What’s your challenge?

Stats –

I-Mad –  2.5

Weight -150.4 pounds      Lowest ever!

A.m. HR – 54 BPM

SLEEP – 9 hours

Workout-  20 minutes in the pool

May 2nd, Monday, 9 p.m.

“On the Road Again” Canned Heat

Good things about running on the roads in Jackson are; 1- there are hardly any cars, and 2 – there are very convenient loops. Today I set out with a goal to  run 4 miles under 40 minutes on a very nice 4-mile Loop.  I heatee in my legs for 20 minutes. Then did a 20 minute walk and Jog and stretch warm up. Then I set out running; mile one in 10:27,  mile 2 in 9:57 , mile 3 in 9:23 and mile 4 in 9:19. That totaled 39:06,  well within my goal.  I’m pretty sure that  is the fastest I’ve ever run 4 miles in practice and I am very happy with that.  Cool down was a half-mile for a total of five and a half miles. A good day.

I hope some of you guys are having some successful workouts.  I’d be happy to hear about anything that is working for you.

STATS –

A.M HR – 52BPM

I-Mad – 2

WEIGHT 151.4#

Sleep – 7 hours

Workout – 5.4 miles    4 miles  in  39:06     Practice  PR!