Back home

 Back home to the paradise of the Cumberland Plateau.  Arriving after midnight, I was greeted with a full moon, a roaring creek, and a panorama of a white fog-filled valley.   A splendid day forecast for today, Monday, sunny and mid 80's.   After a week of not running, and nearly sedentary life, save for some light swimming and hiking, the damage was about a 3 to 4 lb weight gain.  I was 143.8 around noon today.  Today, the cross training begins with a lake swim this afternoon and a bike climb this evening.  Maybe some light resistance work also.

Although my weather station recorded a healthy 6" of rain this past week, no significant flooding at either of my homes in Middle TN.  

I'm thinking I'll take one more week off from running and slowing begin again with one or two sessions on grass per week.   The soreness of the lower ab and proximal hamstring tendinopathy is almost gone.  

Rankings 

As I had expected, the British Masters Championships resulted in some great performances and John W. has made his mark as the leading M60 UK sprinter, recording times in the 100m and 200m just a few hundredths off of my season bests, .0.05 faster in the 100m, and .06 slower in the 200m.  He knocked me down to 3rd in the 100m rankings, and I remained at 3rd in the 200m.  He did not run the 400m and there were no exceptional performances in my age group, only one under a minute at 59.  So, I remain now well over a second (1.33) ahead of the world in the 400m M60 rankings, and I have been on top since my first race July 25 of last year (57.49).   It's a long time to hold the top spot, I'm wondering if any of the German's are in shape to top it?  

I did get a video of the end of my 400m race in Toronto.   It shows just how unremarkable my finish was, running the final 60m in only about 9 sec and rigging in the last 10-15m.   Some at the finish were looking at their watches to see if I would break Earl Fee's record, saying that I ran somewhere around 57.  Still amazed I ran 56.23.  I think my 3rd 100m must have been fast.  

 

I may do one more outdoor meet this year on Oct 16th just to see where I am. I ran 16 meets and 28 races this season, comparable to my '17 season where I ran 29 races in 12 meets, but three of those included WMACi in Korea, USATF Nationals, and NCCWMA in Toronto - multi race meets with rounds.   

Indoor season meets sometimes start as early as Thanksgiving week in Nov and run through to USATF Masters Championships March 18-20 at the Armory. Then... Finland for the next WMAC world meet in late June.