Sunday, March 17, 2024

definite setback, but the work is done

This morning, the injury, and yes  ... I'm now calling it an injury - the L proximal ham felt worse than it had in 2 yrs.  Really bad timing.  I sort of panicked this morning feeling like I'd never recover by Friday, but this evening, I'm a bit more optimistic.  Having been on the track consecutive days, including 8 of 10 days during one stretch, 5 days is a really long time before the race.  Taking 2 days off felt like a week.  So, the plan is no running at all until race day, just cross training.  I should be recovered to race by Friday.  I can't control so much the healing process as I can other things, my cross training, my diet and weight, so that's what I'm concentrating on.  Alan said I could take a month off and probably still win, but that's never the entire point.  I wanted to run 58.5 or better.  Maybe a WL.  But now, my goals are a bit more modest.  Just to win without injury.   

Drove to the Fowler Center tonight and the a-holes closed it early without any announcement.  It's a 25 min round trip to get there and I let the director know I wasn't happy.  So tonight, I did a set of hip flexors/abs with ankle weights and some upper body.  Tomorrow, to the gym in earnest with a conditioning set of rowing, stairmaster.  The rest of the week, just light stuff.  

Have achieved race weight.  In the 138.5 lb range.  

The hay is in the barn.


Saturday, March 16, 2024

forced taper - 300, 100, hills, rower. New HR monitor

Even after 2 days off from running, I'm still feeling a tad of nerve pain in the area of my '22 proximal ham injury.  This is in no way as bad as it was then, and it's just 'a feeling' more than anything being strained or torn, but it's a cause for concern and a damn unfortunate time, 6 days away from the National Masters Indoor Championship 400m race.   This is not at all a deal breaker and I will be well enough to race that 400m.   But, the 200m is in limbo.  I'm not 100%.   

I was going to just run hills today but I got to the track and warmed up, felt ok, ran a just 14.3 100m and thought, well maybe I can do a  4x300 tempo as planned since I'll not be running faster than 16 sec 100s.  I ran the first at 47.4 without much effort and pulled up after 120m into my second one out of caution.  

I then went to the hill and ran a 100m and 200m.   Short stride, cautious.  It was fine.   So, I decided the best and safest course is to cross train on the stair master and rower mostly until nationals.   I can get some killer endurance workouts on both machines, safely.  Kind of a shame though, this is the time I wanted to be doing speed, maybe a time trial or race.   

Hoka trainers on

stretches, drills, bands, 100m

Hoka Rocket X2 on

100m - 14.32

300m - 47.41 / 3min rest / 100m ~ 15

100m hill run 

200m hill run - 46

Concept 2 rower - 500m - 1:58 / rest 1 min / 500m - 2:02

It was a decent workout, despite the lack of specificity.  I really think I can benefit from some hard cross training and maintain the gains I've worked hard for to get where I am.  I feel really light and fast now.  

138.8 lbs after workout.

Moving forward, daily cross training on the stairmaster and rower.  One more light running hill session on Tues and thats all.  Honestly, taking 2 days off from running feels like a week at this point.  

Heart Rate Monitor

I got this Coros arm strap heart monitor because I found some readings on my watch monitor a bit suspect.  Specifically, I recorded a max HR of 185 during my last tempo set.  Didn't seem possible.   Well, that seems certainly feasible now that I've measured my HR at 176 after my second sprint on the rower today.  I also measured a low of 47 overnight in deep sleep.   Quite a range.  Max HR of 185 would be considered a normal maximum HR for a trained athlete age 35.   


Wednesday, March 13, 2024

4x150 tempo

A brief conditioning maintenance workout on turf, 8:30 am, beautiful weather, already 60º in bright sun.

Hoka trainers on

stretches, drills, 100

100m - 14.25

Hoka rocket X2s on

4 x 150m w/ 30 sec rest on turf - 22.77, 24.17, 23.83, 25.01 (avg 23.94)

Brief but hard.  Concerned that the L proximal ham is a sore, probably over training.  I'm going to take Thurs and Friday off from running.   I'm hoping to be well enough to do 2 more hard conditioning workouts on Sat and Monday, then maybe a light workout Wed and that's it before Nationals.  This is not an injury, more of an ache and pain.  But may indicate a vulnerability, so I need to be careful.  Thinking about replacing one of my conditioning workouts with a hill workout.  Safer.  

Anyway, feel like I'm in rockin shape despite the issues.  138.0 lbs.  I really think I could win the 400m with my B game at this point but I'm more concerned with running 2 rounds of the 200m and a relay.   

Good morning from the track. 




Tuesday, March 12, 2024

Bike climb, resistance

Gorgeous day, 67º, sunny.  Had to keep myself from running today, needed the recovery but I did a hard bike climb up the mountain in 20 min flat, and I did it after my resistance workout.  Just 1:15 slower than my PR.  My watch said my HR peaked at 172.  I bought a more accurate arm strap sensor to go with my watch, so I'll get more accurate max HR readings after Thurs.  

Tomorrow, not much time so I'm planning an early morning tempo set on turf, 150s, then Thursday completely off.  

    Bike climb - Roark's cove rd. (900' in 2.5 miles) - 20:00

    Resistance circuit, hip flexors, glutes, ab wheel, pushups, and pullups.

Did a PR set of 24 consecutive pullups today.

138.9 lbs after workout.

May do some race pace Friday but thunderstorms expected.  Then, the rest of the week looks fine except for a cold snap on Monday-Tues with wind, temps only in the mid 40ºs.   I'm planning my last hard conditioning workouts on Sat and Monday, then taper to some race pace, maybe a time trial Wed morning.   Too bad it has to be cold for these last few workouts next week.  Not much time left.  Leave a week from Thurs for Chicago, 400m Championship, a week from Friday.  

Monday, March 11, 2024

4x200 tempo

Cool, 59º, mostly sunny and light winds at the Sewanee track.  #2 of 4 of my last conditioning workouts before Nationals, and I continue to one-up myself from last year's regime.  

Hoka trainers on

stretches, drills, bands, 2x100

Hoka Rocket X2s on

4 x 200m w/ 1 min rest - 30.00, 30.41, 31.67, 31.53 (avg 30.90)

200m - 28.80

This was .30 sec faster on average than the 4x200 w/1min set I did a yr ago (31.20)

The last 200m was supposed to be a 300m but I cut it short because I felt some soreness in my L proximal ham.  It's fine, just a bit over worked.   Have run 8 of the last 10 days.  I really probably shouldn't run tomorrow and maybe do something light early Wed.  

Must decide about the meet on Sat.  Might be better and safer to do my last 2 conditioning workouts Sat and Monday, instead of Sunday and Mon.  Then run race pace or event run this Friday.  SO... I'm leaning against racing on Sat.  

Been eating well.  Just one of those high fiber 70 calorie Royo bagels in the morning and cappuccino.  Then one main meal, tonight chicken with roasted brussels sprouts and beets.  No snacking.  

138.5 lbs after workout.  

Tried to record my heart rate with the sport watch.  It said I reached a max of 185 in my tempo set.  Can't be right.  Maybe I'll order the arm cuff accessory to dial in exact readings.  

I found a rare pair of Adidas Prime Sp2s in my size at Dick's online, so snagged em.  





Sunday, March 10, 2024

'split 700', 200m

Today began the hard stuff.   Upper 50ºs, sunny, and very windy at the Marist track today.  I have 12 days before the Masters Indoor Championship and this was the first of 4 tough conditioning workouts I intend to complete before.  This was the first 'split 700' I've been able to complete in a year.  It went ok, despite the high winds.

Hoka trainers on

stretches, drills, 100m, bands

2 x 100m strides ~ 15.5

Hoka rocket Xs on

'split 700' - 500m - 81.08 (63.08, 18.00)/ 90 sec rest / 200m - 32.43  (1:53.51 total)

200m - 27.93

This is one hard motha.  Not only lactic burn but lung burn as well.  I was on the ground for quite a while afterward.  My 400m was a bit faster than intended and my last 100m of the 500m was into a stiff wind.  Compared to the 2 split 700s I did last yr, this final 200m was the fastest, and also total time was the fastest.  So, I'm on target.  Finished with a relaxed 200m.  Was going to do more but planning another hard one tomorrow so kept the volume nominal.

Certainly a bit late in the season to try anything new, but I ordered a hip thrust device for working the glutes, and a Coros sports watch to track heart rate.   

137.9 lbs after workout.   

Friday, March 8, 2024

bike climbs, 6x100 hill sprints

Same workout as Tues, except I chose a different and longer hill.   One hill was about 325m, the other about 400m.   I did each 5x, 10 hills, sprinting on the bike with my butt off the seat.  

After a rest, did 6x100m hill sprints on the street.

Hoka Rincons on

Bike climbs - 5x400m and 325m

Stretches

6 x 100m hill sprints - 14.44 - 15.78

The first hill, I ran as a warmup in 19 sec, then sprinted the next 5.

Rain tomorrow and definitely no running.  I've run 6 of the last 7 days.

139.3 lbs after workout.  

Pre Nationals training plan:

After no running tomorrow, the next 12 days I'm going to try and replicate the training I did last year before I peaked with those 2 consecutive time trial days last year where I ran 57.7, 56.8.  I did notice that during that time I did two of the dreaded 'split 700s' and two hard tempo sets: 4x3 and 4x2.  That would be a tall order to cram into the next 10 days, but I may give it a shot.  I also ran an 800m on a recovery day and had 2 relatively light days and some weight pulls.  Have a 'plan A' if I race at Emory Sat, and a 'plan B' if I don't.  Built into the schedule are some consecutive workout days but also 2 consecutive off days next week, Wed-Thurs, and a couple low volume days, and a day off for travel.  It's a ball buster of a regime, we'll see how it goes.   So it starts on Sunday with a 'split 700.'

Although I didn't register for the meet, they gave me lane tomorrow at Clark's meet!   LOL...  I'm NOT going to race.  If I didn't workout so hard today, I'd be tempted and if the weather were better.  I have to decide if I'm racing at Emory on 3/16 by Wed. morning.  Depends much on the weather.  

Also, I was mistaken in a previous comment.  Roland G. is still in the M55 age group so the M60 WL is still 58.40, but that will likely change after European Championships.  It's a bigger meet than US Nationals.  I think mid 58 and maybe a WL is in my wheel house with my A game.  

The 4x400m M60 WR attempt isn't completely off but at this time, dubious.  Jerry asked me to join him and Oscar for an attempt but with those guys, very doubtful.  After pressing me on it, I just told him that 1) we'll see if it's possible based on times run in the 400m final; and 2) if we want to take a shot at it, we'll choose the 4 fastest guys and go with it.  Vadim is in for a 4x800 WR attempt and if he does it, he may not even race the 400m, and he is one of the only guys I think can break 60.   Without him, the 4x4 WR attempt isn't happening.   Otherwise, I'll just run with my team.  Frankly, club relays and medals are fairly meaningless to me at Nationals compared to a possible WR, but Penn is a different story.  Want my team to win at Penn.