3x150 tempo, 200m, sled

 The turf field was not viable today.  Longest stretch to run would have been barely 70m.   So, I got on the indoor track.  My first real running workout post Saturday's race.  I needed it.  

Fortunately, I picked a good time.  No one was there except me and the track coach who was running laps.  I said to him, 'this is better than nothing'... he wholly agreed.  

Hoka trainers on

stretches, drills, bands, 2x50m

Hoka Rocket X2s on

3 x 150m w/ 30 sec rest ~ 22, 23, 24

200m - 27.12

2 x 50m weight sled pulls

I usually do 4x150 w/ 30sec, but I took it faster and did 3x.  I was surprised how fast they were, the first one was 21.96, so after 3x, I was toast.  I rested and ran a hard 200m, again, surprised it was that fast.

Wasn't so bad.  One circuit is 176m in lane 4.   Maybe I'll race in here this season, now that I've met the coach and know he welcomes masters.  Would be tough to break a minute here in a 400m.  

Then I pulled the 'bull' 2x, wheeled variable resistance weight sled with harness.  It was pretty hard even on the second lowest setting.   

I haven't done a track workout in this building in a long time.  It had to be done.  And with the low volume, I'll likely be back tomorrow.

138.7 lbs after workout.  

MTSU closed again today, shut for the whole week.  

Another blast of cold air comes Friday and Sat after some freezing rain and maybe a little snow overnight tonight.   Will finally be above freezing on Monday then a warmer rainy pattern for the next week with temperatures in the 50ºs.  Maybe that was it for winter?  We'll see.   I doubt it.  

I signed up for the 400m and 200m on Sunday.  This timing outfit has been known to use all 6 lanes in a 400m, so if I get a bad lane draw in both races, I won't go.  Or I'll just run whichever event gives me the best lane.  Yes, it does make that much difference.   

gym, rower, box jumps

 No place to train outside so I hit the Fowler center gym.  Did my usual warmup but the foot still sore so I didn't run much.  Did drills, hip flexor machine, then 42" box jumps, then a hard set on the rowing machine. 

2 x 15 hip flexor machine

5x 42" box jumps

Concept 2 rower:  3 x 500m w/ 1 min rest - 1:59, 2:02, 2:02

I had looked back and saw that I did 5x500 w/ 1 min avg 2:04 previously and I thought I was in better shape now, but after 3 of these I was toast.  I had already done the box jumps and hip flexors so maybe tired.  

Met Sewanee's new track coach.  Seems ok, will be open to having masters compete.  So, come all!

I'm really hoping I can get a tempo set in tomorrow.  I need at least one conditioning workout this week but it seems that may be impossible.  Track is packed in with snow and it's not forecast to get above freezing until early afternoon tomorrow, and then it's forecast to begin freezing rain.   Nice. 

Guess I can continue to cross train but.... specificity ... NOT!

137.8 lbs after workout.   

frozen in, schedule change

Yesterday, I drove around Sewanee for some sightseeing.  I opened the gate to Brakefield Rd and drove into the woods.  The snow was at it's heaviest, coming down in huge flakes.  

The trees were encrusted in ice, beautiful against the blue sky.   It got up to about 12ºF during the day.

Jumpoff Rd., Sewanee

Then I drove to the track, was surprised to see the Lacrosse coach and team shoveling snow off the field.  They had almost half of it done.  Hopefully, they'll do all of it so I can use the field if not the track.

I was determined to do something so I tried riding my mountain bike.   Snow too crusty.   So then I did 5 x 75m sprints up my driveway.   Felt bad, foot sore.  Probably due to the cold since it was 10º, bad footing, and all that wood hauling on Sunday.

My driveway

So, I registered for the KMS meet in Birmingham on Sunday.  I'm likely not going to the Jan 28, Coach Miami meet.   With poor training conditions this week, I doubt I will be able to improve my time from the faster Vandy track, but it will give me a chance to race against some low level college guys, unlike Vandy where I raced some of the best.  Sewanee's team will be there and maybe I'll meet the new coach.  It's the first meet of the season for many of them so there will be slow guys in this mostly DIII meet.   Last year, there were 6 who ran over a minute, quite a low level for collegiate men.  

One big question is health and fitness.  Roya came back from her trip last night with COVID.  1st time.  I may have been exposed.  She knew she was sick so we kept our distance so I'm hoping for the best.   I've never had covid so I really never want to get it.  I tested negative yesterday because I wanted to make sure I didn't get it at Vandy.  I'll test again in the next days.  Feel fine now. 

The Fowler center is open, I will go there for a workout today.  If the field is clear, I may do a tempo set of 100 repeats on turf.  Still in the mid to upper teens, but sunny, light winds.   Fowler has some of those wheeled weight sleds so I'll bring my harness, do some strength and speed. 

I was happy to hear fellow M63 masters Duane D. was granted permission to race at Vandy this weekend, even though he had to withdraw due to injury.  He said he's had some very good communication with the coach and she doesn't seem too hostile to masters competitors.   He told me he cited my example of running there, so I guess the new coach is aware of us masters now.    If I had known, I would have also requested permission for this weekend because I love that track, and will race there every chance I get.  

Still light.  138 this morning.  

Photo: 400m 1/5/24, Birmingham

Racing 19 yr olds.  

Beat one.  

 

No track today, wood

 I was feeling a bit tired from racing but still wanted to get to the track ahead of the snow, but I did wood instead.  It was hard, 4.5 hours of work from tree to shed.  

cut with saw

lift and load trailer

lift and empty trailer

split wood with hydraulic splitter

throw wood

fill wheel barrow a dozen times

wheel to shed

empty and stack

Did some serious dead lifts, some pieces were 100+ lbs.  Also some good medicine ball (log) throws.  Tough on the hands though.   Hard work and really feel it in my back and hands.

139.5 lbs after the work.  Cut about a months worth of home heating.  

Vanderbilt Commodore meet report

This took a lot of audacity.  The place was packed.  I was very intimidated by the scene.  The meet had elites and in this league, almost every athlete is on track scholarship.  The meet was being streamed nationally on ESPN's SEC+ network.  What the hell is a nearly 64 yr old doing here with track spikes?

Not too bad for this early in the season, another M60 World Lead for now:  

58.84

When I arrived to pick up my competition credentials, the guy at the admittance desk was totally confused when I told him I was racing.  He looked at me incredulously and then someone else spoke up and directed me to the athlete's area.  

I walked around intimidated for a while, then finally saw some familiar faces.  Randall, Mike, and Ernie, track officials that have been seeing me race for more than a decade.  Then I felt better.  I found a great place to warmup where no one else generally was, along the home stretch across from the main grandstand.  I was able to get my usual warmup in.  

I watched as the heats went by.  Every single heat had at least a few guys running under 50.  My heat would be no exception.  There was one scratch and I had lane 3.  There was a short sprinter in 4 and fast guys in 2 and 6 - full scholarship dudes, high school state champions.  

Predictably, I was smoked in the first 100m.  They went out in probably 11.5, maybe faster.  I was easily 20m+ behind after just 100m.   The guy in lane 4 tried to stay with the two real 400m guys and he did for about 200m, then he pretty much folded and was running about my speed.  The winners finished in 49 flat and 49 low, the guy in front of me finished in 56+ and me 2+ seconds behind.  When I was running down the stretch, the crowd broke into cheers.  It was nice.  I did rig up a bit toward the end and was worried I might not break 59, but I did, just.  Happy about that.  Could have been worse.  It was slightly faster than I ran in Poland last yr and a full second faster than my winning time at Nationals in '23.  Of course, this was much faster track.  

The stadium announcer mentioned my name, said "not bad for age 62" (I'm 63).  He must have Googled me because he also said, "that was William Yelverton, a USA Masters athlete who has won several masters titles."  

I had a number of kids come up to me for selfies, and say to me "you're an inspiration!"  Geez, famous for being old. Worlds oldest college sprinter...definitely an anomaly.   Frankly, even at my peak in college, I'd not been able to hang with the best at this level.  Maybe mid-pack if I worked as hard as I do now.   

It was probably the lightest I've ever been for a race.  138 lbs.  Not sure if that is my best race weight or not.

Anyway, this was my 60th college track meet after the age of 50.  With all the Masters titles and World Masters Medals, still more proud to race in a Div I college meet and finish last.   

The week ahead... 

I thought about racing next weekend but there is no sneaking into the next Vandy meet again.  Plus, the weather looks bad this week, tough training weather.  I'll probably wait 2 weeks before I race again in Birmingham.  

It's going to be below freezing all day, but I'm going to try and get a workout in and cut some firewood.  Or maybe I'll just work on firewood.  Snow and brutal cold starts Sun night and now they're saying we could get 5-6" of snow by Tues, which means there is a near certainty the University will be closed, and the track will be under snow probably til Thurs.  If it's sunny, even with it being below freezing, maybe it will melt by Wed.  I guess I could do something at the indoor track.  I think there's an even chance I won't be working at all this coming week due to weather.  

200s in spikes, 100, blocks

Today by far will be the best and warmest day in the foreseeable future.  53º, sunny, light to calm winds, beautiful training weather.   Beginning tomorrow night, the bottom drops out with 2 successive cold fronts with that will plunge lows to the single numbers by Tues night, with snow expected Mon.  Beginning Sat night, it will remain below freezing for at least 4 days with daytime highs only in the mid-upper teens on Tues.  May have to use the indoor track for one or 2 workouts.  

Wanted to work on my race form today in spikes.  The biggest challenge in the next meet, as usual, to not chase the kids and go out too fast.  Today felt good, but it was too fast.  I tried to replicate a first 200m at race pace.  

Hoka trainers on

stretches, drills, bands, 2x100m

Hoka Rocket X2s on

100m - 13.10

Adidas Prime SPs spikes

200m (rolling) - 26.50 (12.75, 13.75)

2 x block starts 

200m (from blocks) - 26.35 (13.06, 13.29)

I was surprised the second 200m from blocks was faster than the first.   I really tried to stretch it out on the second 100m and my splits were a little better.  So many things I need to remind myself when racing.  

Was going to do more but decided to save my foot, which has been feeling better.  This was a bit of a confidence builder.  Although I won't be within 50m of the slowest college guy on Saturday, if I pace correctly, I should break 59.   

I came a click away from registering for the Sunday meet in Birmingham.  Was thinking about going down there to run the 200m, if I got a good lane.  But a day after a 400m, probably not a great idea.  I already threw away $39 when I registered for the Dec meet and didn't go.  

Interesting how so many of my aches and pains go away when I get this light and fit.  From the arthritis in my foot, to the arthritis in my thumbs.  Also, interesting how much easier it is to run fast.  

137.7 lbs after workout, season low.  I'm probably 9 or 10% body fat at this point.