400, 300

Beautiful day in Sewanee, mid 60ºs and mostly cloudy, light winds.  Quiet, had the track to myself.  Wanted to push the distance a bit today, but not the speed  Still low volume.  Only 800m total.  

Hoka trainers on 

Stretches, drills, bands, 2 x 100m

100m - 14.62

400m - 63.48 (30.65, 32.83)

300m - 44.71

Yep, that's it.  All I wanted to do as my body adapts to the load and the injury continues to heal.  At this rate, I should be race ready by my goal of May 28.   The 400m was a confidence builder, as it was of course not full out, and felt no lactic, telling me I'm probably in shape to run close to 60 - 61.  But, I truly am out of 400m shape and it's going to be a struggle to get it back.  Hopefully by next week, I can increase my volume a bit.  No hurry to increase the speed.  In 2 weeks I hope to get back to a 'normal' training cycle with 1 day over distance, 1 day intensive tempo, and one day long speed.  

Weight slowly coming down.  143.5 lbs after workout

World Masters Indoor Canceled 

The news came down this weekend that Edmonton has canceled the WMACi World Indoor Championships for next winter/spring.   This is 11 months away and is literally at the last minute to find a host.  It is actually not out of the realm of possibility that there may NOT be a World Indoor Championship in '23 since Edmonton backed out so late in the game.  It gives me more of an impetus to go to Finland for this summer's world Championships.  I was leaning against it, somewhat strongly, but since my health is steadily improving and the prospects for no World Indoor meet, have me reconsidering.  So far, the registration turnout is small but that will change as we get closer to the deadline.  I may register to keep my options open.  

200s, 300

Beautiful weather in Sewanee, 71º and south wind.   Happy to have the track to myself early afternoon.  Still easing into my training, no significant volume yet.

Hoka trainers on

stretches, drills, 2 x 100m, bands

100m - 14.74

2 x 200m w / 60 sec rest - 29.97, 30.19

300m - 46.65

The long sprints were all about 15-15.5 sec 100m pace.  Need to start slowing down a tad and slowly adding more volume.  Injury is not gone and I am carefully monitoring it.  Definitely better than 2 weeks ago so making progress.  The 200 set was hard, pushed my heart rate up close to 150.  It gave me a moment of "can I really do this?"  Maybe next tempo set, try a little more, like 3x200 w 60 sec at 31-32. 

The 300m actually felt pretty strong, although not fast, still indicates I could run low 60s right now in a 400m.  

143 lbs after workout.  At the point where further fat loss is really tough.  The last 4-5 lbs are the hardest and take the longest.  If I want to race next month, it's got to go.   

150s

Did a brief workout today and I'm slowly bringing up the distance.  Partly sunny, about 70º with S wind in Sewanee on this perfect spring day.  Felt a tad sore from my first track workout on Sunday and the RDLs I've been doing... not to mention the bike up the mtn last 3 of 4 days.  

Hoka trainers on

stretches, drills, bands, foam roller, 50m high knees, 100m stride

100m - 14.97

3 x 150m - 22.00, 21.17, 20.63

After a cautious 100m, I ran these running the turn in the opposite direction (R turn) and they felt ok.  My last one was just over a second above 400m race pace.  My first 100m (of my last 150) was 13.60   I didn't want to do any more because I'm still easing back in.  These were still pretty quick although nothing close to all out.  Next time I may try a longer slow foundation run.   I won't run stairs on Thurs but return to the track on Friday if all feels well.   Need to start building volume.  My speed is sufficient for some meaningful tempo suffering, and it will be hard.

After the workout, took a hike down into the beautiful wildflowers.  Love this time of year.  

Finally getting my weight under control.  Gave up bread for a while.  A little intermittent fasting.  Finding good food substitutes ... low carb konjac noodles, turnip fries instead of potato.  Good stuff.   

142.8 lbs after workout.  

I'm back ... again

Beautiful weather, in the 70ºs and sunny, south wind.   First track workout in almost 8 weeks since a slight reinjury on 2/15.  I started today with short straight intervals, a moderate 'safe' speed.  

Results and impressions:  Tolerated it well.  Man, I'm out of shape.  This is going to take a while.   It was great to put the Clifton 1s on again.

Hoka trainers on

stretches, drills, bands, massage gun, 50m high knees, 100m stride

6 x 100m w/ 30 sec rest, avg 16.7

2 x 100m - 14.8, 13.9

I rested and pushed the last 2 a little, still remaining cautious.  Felt fine.  The tempo 100s were really hard in my present shape.  I was doing 10X w/30 sec in Feb.   Only the last one really felt good, tall and strong, like a sprint.   I'm thinking I may even go out on Tues again if I feel no soreness.  So far so good.  Testing it afterward with RDLs and bands, I feel the injury only very very slightly.  No real pain or while running.  Still, I need to be patient.

Yesterday, it was much colder, I biked up the mountain in 24 min.  Friday night, I weighed an astonishing 149.5 lbs.  So, yesterday, I ate very little and only ate after workout this Sunday evening.  I'm definitely overweight about 4-5 lbs.  

143.9 lbs after workout, almost 6 lbs less than I was 40 hrs ago.  As I get lighter, stronger, the workouts will be more meaningful.  Still tolerating the usual foot pain, but not any worse than it has been.  Did a little less aggressive rehab last few days to allow for maximum healing before running.   

It's going to take a while.  Even if I'm able to jump right in to 3 track workouts a week, I probably won't be race ready much before Memorial day.  

Definitely overweight.  Even a little bit of fat shows up in training tights.

stairmaster, rowing

Cold with snow showers today, in the 30ºs most of the day.  Needed to burn some calories and lose some weight, so went to the gym tonight.

Staimaster hill program - 20 min

Concept 2 rower - 2000m / 9min

weights, adductor, abductor, hams 

Still cool tomorrow and windy, temps in the upper 40s but... weather looks beautiful on Sunday, so I expect to be on the track.   Looking forward to beginning again. 

Stairs

Nicely cool and sunny, low 50ºs this morning at the MTSU stadium.  Always feels warmer at the stadium in full morning sun.  I ran the last few shirtless.   

Again, hard to find a way in but the garbage man left a gate open again.  Finally, upon leaving the stadium, instead of walking back to the open gate on the opposite side of the stadium, I had the temerity to casually walk through the football training facility, a much shorter route to my car.  Seem like I can always get in the stadium this way if I need to, now that I know the layout of the building.    

Hoka trainers on

stretches

16x stadium stairs 

Weather will be a challenge in the upcoming days.  Very cold, windy, damp and dark tomorrow, highs in the mid 40ºs.  Sat. a little warmer but cool.  Then a rainy period next week.  

Need to lose weight.  144 lb after workout.  

Hills

Great day in Sewanee. 71º and sunny.  Went to the track to warmup, did drills, some high knee and backward running; then on to the hill.

I ran these much faster than last time.  Last time I did 2 of 5 about 20.5.   This time I did  4 of 6, 20.5 or under. Fastest one was 19.88.   That would equate to about a 13.5 flat 100m.  These hill sprints are about 1.5 times the effort and time of same flat distance.  So, this workout was equivalent to about 6 x 150.  

Hoka trainers on

stretches, drills, 3x50m high knees, 2x50m backward

6 x 100m hill sprints - 22, 22.32, 19.88,  20.33, 20.50, 21.91

It was pretty hard and tells me how out of shape I am.  Probably at least 4 lbs overweight.  Daily range is about 142 - 145.5.   But the good news is no soreness associated with my injury.  I'm on target for my first light track workout in a week, and it's going to be small.  Like a small set of tempo 100s.  

I was asked to summarize my 2021 pre-Nationals workout regime.  Looking back, it was frankly intimidating the level of training I was doing last year at this time.  It'll be months and a lot of pain before I'm back to that level.  I was in pretty amazing shape,  but was under performing in meets in April and May.  Just really poor execution.  I should have logged more 56s last spring instead of the 58s.   

Once I start training on the track, it will be probably 3 weeks or so before I ramp up the volume to anything meaningful depending on how it goes.  I'm starting with low volume, then maybe try some longer foundation.  Want to be up to 3x a week soon as I can.

Stadium stairs on Thursday morning.