bike and hike

Very warm on Friday and Sat, 70ºs and 60ºs, did the ATL neighborhood bike circuit 2x on Roya's bike, which includes 500' of hill climbs.  Hiked Pine Mountain on Saturday in Cartersville.  Even this little 700' 2.5 mile climb, I could feel some fatigue on the knees.  Hike pushed HR into 150s on the hike, and the bike - peaked around 170.  

It was a great day.  Roya really needed the time out.  I had an exceptionally unhealthy dinner but it was delicious.  A large fried haddock sandwich with french fries and a scoop of cappuccino chocolate chip ice cream for dessert.  I hadn't eaten french fries or fried fish in 8 months, (since I was trapped in an airport trying to get to NY).   Later that night, I felt some acid indigestion and cleansed myself with a liter of lemon water, which has now become my 'health tonic' of choice.  I drink a liter of water with lemon every morning before I eat anything, and another during the day.  I think it helps my digestive and renal system.  

Going back to Sewanee on Monday for a brief respite before I start the busiest week of my semester.  I'll be working 8 of the next 9 days, not long days but meetings, auditions, etc  .... A week from Monday, seeing a kidney surgeon about a cyst as a precaution, then Faculty Senate later that day, then my usual work week that ends Thurs.  Then a week off for spring break.  After that, the home stretch, just 6 weeks and I'm off for the summer by May 1 and looking forward to a yr half time sabbatical (F26-S27) where I'll be working about 6 hrs/ one day per week in Murfreesboro, and maybe 3 or 4 in Sewanee.  

A brief return to winter on Monday, supposed to be only in the 20ºs with a low of 15º Monday night.  I have my fireplace ready to light and wood in when I get home late afternoon Monday.  It's only going to be in the mid 40ºs on Tues but I'm thinking I may go out and run hills or wait til Friday and do stadium stairs at MTSU.  Will try to lose a fee lbs this week.  

drills n hills

 Nice day, low 60ºs hazy sun.  At the track but I did drills on turf, then hills on the road.

Stretches, drills

high knee running - 3 x 50m, 4 x 50m w/ 30 sec rest

2 x 100m hill sprints - 21.5, 21.1

Not running completely pain free so no full stride sprints.  Just high knees and hill runs.

Faster than last week.   A little at a time, will stay with 1x per week probably for the foreseeable future.

144.1 lbs after workout.

Bike climb

Super foggy on the mountain with drizzle, about 50º for my late afternoon bike climb.  It's been a while since I did one of these.  Over 5 weeks.   Since I've lost all that foundation fitness that I accumulated Sept-Nov, it was pretty hard and slow.  Thought I would do a 'leisurely climb' ... but biking up this mountain without stopping is never leisurely.  Much slower than I usually do this, but needed to get off my butt today.

Roark's Cove bike climb

Time - 25:25

Avg speed - 5.2 mph

Max HR - 181

HR over 170 - 8:09

Avg HR - 163

Top half of the road was socked in with fog, it cleared at the bottom half.  It was spooky, owls hooting and everything.  

I will be back out Tues for some track drills, and probably 100m hill runs if it feels ok.  There is really no rush to get back in running shape.  I need to really go slow and allow for maximum healing and strengthening.  I'm probably not going to worlds in Korea, but in about 13 months, World Indoor Championships are in FL.  That might be my last international meet if I find that I can train this summer.  

144 lbs after workout.   

weights

At the gym last night, did mostly lower body stuff.  Focused on glute machine and hexbar dead lifts.   Did one set of everything else and a few 30" box jumps.  Used very modest weight for dead lifts but I stacked up the glute machine.

4 x 5 deadlifts w/ 190lbs 

2 x 40 reps on glute machine with 305 lbs

5 x box jumps 30"

Leg extension, leg curl, upper body machines

Wanted to be careful with this one, especially with the dead lifts since it's been a while since I did a similar workout.  Tolerated it well.  Feel pretty good.  

Was surprised that my quads were slightly sore from even the tiny amount of running I did last Mon.  

Have gained weight though.  About 145 lbs.  Around the time I was having medical appointments in Jan, I was really light while not trying too hard to be, and it got me worried that I was losing too much weight, but that wasn't the case.  Now it's going to be harder to get back there.  

Monday and Tues look good for weather and maybe some hill runs.

A little running

Perfect day Monday, 62º sunny, and a day off so went to the track, first time in a month.  Did full warmup, small amount of running on turf and one hill to test the waters.

I wasn't 100% pain free in full stride, so I'm not going to launch into any running regime yet.  All this on turf except the hill/.  

Stretches, drills

4 x 50m high knee running w/ 30 sec rest 

2 x 50m (80%) -  7.49, 7.43

100m hill - 22.90

It was probably more than I should have done first time out because the knee was sore that night, but it feels ok today, the day after.  And recovery is what it's about.  Pretty much pain free in the limited stride things like the hill and high knee running.  Can feel just a slight amount of pain in full stride sprint.  Only when that goes away, will I do anything like a scheduled regime of running intervals.  For now, I'm going to stay conservative with mostly rowing and biking and strength.  However, the short choppy strides of hill and stair running are fine.  

Gained a little weight.  About 144  

Rower, drills, more wood cutting

Seems like it's been a long time since I did anything.  Have been very focused on the music performance I did Thurs and now that it's over, I can focus a bit more on training.  

The performance went really well, and it had to.  For many new faculty, administrators, and students, it was the first time they'd ever heard me play.   I hadn't played solo on that stage in almost 6 yrs.  In 2021, I was completely obsessed with athletic training.  It produced an amazing yr and a world #1 ranking, and guitar took a back seat.   I worked really hard to get ready for this and it paid off.  It was a showcase concert of faculty and everyone played one piece.   I arranged a really slow romantic lyrical piece to start, then finished with my most fiery flamenco dance, with lots of fast arpeggios, scales, tremolo, and rasgueado.  I specifically wrote some fast picado scale passages for the ending. Really a plethora of techniques and expression, all I could fit into 7 min.  The students were screaming by the end.  All my colleagues played great.  Unfortunately, they apparently did not post the video. 

Friday, I did another hard session on the rower, one set of weights, some sprint drills and high knee running.   Definitely have lost fitness.  Also, gained a small amount of weight, mostly due to anxiety over health concerns.  But it seems that these concerns may have been a bit overblown. 

Stretches, drills 

Concept 2 rower - 4x500m w/ 1 min rest:  2:01, 2:04, 2:12, 2:09 (avg 2:07)

It must have been an anomalous reading but my HR monitor said 192 at one point.  

Saturday I cut more firewood but it wasn't as hard a workout as my last session of wood cutting because I handled less wood and lighter season oak.  Should be set for the rest of the winter.  Weather is now changing to warm. Possibly no freezing weather for the foreseeable future.  Into the 30ºs on some nights but not freezing.  Will take my plants out.  50ºs today.  Near 70º by Tues.  We'll probably have a few more blasts of cold before the winter is over, but we've probably seen the worst.   I really don't mind the cold, love the snow.  

Looking back at my previous knee surgery, it was a full 18 months before I competed again, largely due to the pandemic and some plantar fasciitis.  I feel I pushed too early too hard with this second surgery, with the idea of racing indoor within a year of my surgery.  Probably a bad idea that cost me.  

I am going to try and run a little on Tuesday, a full 4 weeks since my last attempt to run.  Just warmup and a few strides.  It was suggested that I could train for the short sprints and abandon the volume required to race the 400m.  Might be a viable option.   I can presently do strength work and even squat jumps without pain.  Someone also suggested longer distance which is completely crazy and out of the question because of the volume. 

Retirement from competition is definitely on the table.  I'm NOT the guy who wants to run in all ages local meets and pose on FB with generic medals designated for kids.   (I know masters like this).  If I can't contend at the national level, I don't want to do it.  I know one of these guys my age who is continuing to race on a badly damaged knee and posts photos at these meets with his medals, sometimes because he was the only one entered in his age group ... always 'praying' on his fitness and his knee.  Not the sharpest tool. 

Will go to the gym tonight.   Need to up the strength work.  Was thinking about a hill climb today but have house work to do.  Have really enjoyed watching the Olympics.  Especially the men and women's down hill races.  

Hanging at about 142 lbs.

UPDATE:

Someone suggested abandoning 400m training and focusing on short sprints.  That may be a viable option.  Easier on the body.    

Stairmaster, thoughts, memories

Tired of the rowing so I did a stairmaster session last night at the gym.  Knee was ok, occasional slight pain but very minor.  Was able to complete a 16 min hill session on level 15 which is usually as high as I go.  The most important thing is no swelling or pain afterward or the next morning.

Stairmaster - hill program, level 15 - 16 min

Max HR - 169

Avg HR - 152

Ham curls and leg extension - light weight

Looking back, and forward.  

Looking back, 10 yrs ago today I raced Marvin Bracy, 2nd fastest man in the world (2022) in a 60m race.  He's a 9.85 sprinter.  To my right in that race was Adrian Griffith from the Bahamas, a 10.1 sprinter and national record holder.  It truly was a privilege to be doing this at age 55.  Looking at the video, I got out pretty well.  Was a full second behind Bracy but, hey.... 7.7 to his 6.7.  Great memory.   Takes me back to what was a great year.  I had just won my first outdoor national title the previous summer, and was running in a bunch of college meets that year to get ready for indoor nationals, where I had one of my greatest meets, winning the 400m in 55.22 unchallenged, and an indoor PR of 24.65 in the 200m. We also set a WR in the 4x200m relay.  That summer, went on to win my third consecutive 400m title in Grand Rapids, MI.

I guess I mention all this because it's a continuous adjustment to not be going to Indoor Nationals and possibly retiring from competition, although no firm decision on that.  In those semi-conscious moments when drifting off to sleep in the hot tub, I sometimes go back to that mindset, where I'm thinking about what workout I'm going to do, how much wind is there, how am I going to dress, the smell of the track, the training shoes and equipment bag, etc...   It's a transition to a different realm, then and now.

Reminds me of a few Olympian friends of mine, David - 400m hurdler and Kamari - long track speed skater.  I corresponded with both of them about their retirement from elite athletics, and they retired late 20s / early 30s.  Major transition.  I also used to follow the youtube channel of Olympian Natasha H., 400m sprinter who retired 2 yrs ago.  She had thousands of views on her channel and then, suddenly ... it ended.  No new posts.  Same thing with Derval O's blog, an Irish Olympic hurdler I was following.  One day her blog was all about training.  Then it was gone.  (She did come back to post later about motherhood and recipes). Now she's trying to sell workout plans as a 'fitness influencer.'    I don't want that to happen with this blog, whether I continue to compete or not.  I will continue to post here and keep up a wellness and fitness blog, even if I can't sprint forever.  

Looking forward, I haven't given up the idea of competing totally.  I could certainly compete relatively untrained and run slow, but that's not me.  It all comes down to how much and how quickly I can recover from a running workout.  I could probably be competitive even if I could do just 2x week, but that would be a minimum.  Maybe I'll set my goals for that.  I had really achieved quite a decent foundation by late Nov, running a 62 but all or most of that is lost now and I'll have to start from scratch.  

Almost 3 weeks since I've tried any running and maybe I'll give it another week.  Busy week and a performance coming up and so is warmer weather.  I'll probably wait til next week to give it a go.  Trying some new knee strengthening exercises.