gym, rower

At the gym tonight to burn some calories.  Did a brief hard set on the rower then once around the machines.

stretches

concept 2 rower -  3 x 500m w/ 1 min rest - 1:59, 1:58, 2:02

machines - pec, shoulder press, bench, hams, leg press, adductors, abs

It pushed my HR to the max, 180 after the final rep.  I avg about 41 stokes/min.  A short but intense workout.

I didn't weigh myself today but my diet is still not so good.  Probably be about the same or heavier after next track workout. 

May go to the track tomorrow, depending on my foot and the weather.  Sunday looks better for weather so I may wait.  We're entering a rainy period next week.

2x300, 200, 3x100

Much better today.  Then foot was tolerable and I got a good one in, a little conditioning and a little speed.   Mostly sunny, S wind, and around 80º in mid afternoon at the Sewanee track.  

Hoka trainers on

stretches, drills, bands, 100m

100m - 14.26

Hoka Rocket X2s on

2 x 300m w/ 3min rest - 47.54, 48.35

100m - 12.75

200m - 27.13 (13.69, 13.44)

100m - 13.16

The 300m set was good enough to push my HR to near max.  It's a good median between the higher volume and slower intensive tempo, and the faster near race pace 300s.  My recovery was to 130 bpm in between 300s, but as soon as I stood up to get ready I was in the mid 140s.   During the 2nd 300, my HR hit 177 and increased to 183 20 sec afterward.  Stayed above 150 for almost 2.5 min after the run. 

I rested quite a while then ran a full out rolling 100m.   Pretty happy with the time.  Then rested and ran a hard 200m.  This was the most remarkable run because I ran the first 80m barely trying, and they turned on the gas coming off the turn and really focused more on form than effort.  It was a rare negative split for the 200m and not bad in trainers.  1100m total volume.  Not bad.  

Weight is under control at 141.6 lbs after workout. But... the bad news is I made another pastry.  My diet has been horrific.  Yesterday, just watermelon, nuts, and dried fruit.  Today, watermelon and pastry... that's it!  

Just counting the days til they tear up the track and start installing the new one.  

I may reconsider and race a few short races for fun this summer, probably not anytime soon.  

 

  

Track workout DNF, rower and weights

After my student's recital in Sewanee, I headed to the track on a picture perfect evening, clear, 72º, calm winds.  I was just going to run a few quality sprints but had to bail.  The foot just hurt too much.  I didn't really take yesterday to recover as I did some home projects, on my feet a lot.  

I ran a 100m in a about 14.3, then pulled up after 70m into a 200m.   I hate the feeling of limping while running, not being able to run freely due to pain.  No point in it so I shut it down.  I will likely shut down my competitive season for the year, although I will keep some semblance of training.  No point in racing if I'm not in racing shape.  

So, I went to the gym this evening.  Did a brief set on the rower and some weights, including a few kettle bells, good mornings, dead lifts, some cleans, chest machine, adductor machine.

Concept 2 rower - 3 x 500m w/ 1 min rest - 2:01, 2:02, 2:03

It was better than nothing, I did push my max HR to 180 by the end of rep 3 on the rower.  

I'm going to try and do a track workout maybe Friday.  Not much more time before this track is getting torn up and replaced.  

Have continued to gain weight.  143.3 lbs after workout.  

I had thought about racing in the Nashville Masters meet in 11 days, but probably not.

Video: 2024 Penn Relays Masters 100m

 

Back to the office, 300,200,100

Sunday.  First time back to the oval office since Penn.  I wanted to do some conditioning but not much volume.  Foot still a bit sore.  I was going to do 2x300m w/ 3 min but I did the first 300 pretty fast and ended up splitting the second 300. 

Hoka trainers on

Stretches, drills, 100m, bands

Hoka rocket x2s on

100m - 13.69

300m, 200m, 100m w/ 3 min rest - 45.20, 31.10, 13.71

The 200m was really a 300m on which I bailed.  Overall, wasn't much but it pushed my heart rate pretty high.  I got a phone call just after the set so I shut it down.  

Have gained some weight.  142.4 lbs after workout, and I ate quite a bit tonight.  

First recovery interval only got down to upper 140s, second recovery before the 100m, was in the low-mid 150s.   Hit max 181 at the end of both long sprints.  The rest of the chart was just sitting around, talking on the phone.  

Next workout will be Tues evening after my last classes in Sewanee.  Will probably rain in the morning so will go out in the evening after my student's final.  

Bike climb, moving forward

Still planning to write more on Penn, but first... 

Did a bike climb today, didn't work too hard except for the final sprint.  Got it done in about 22 min.  

I did reach a new max HR of 186 at the top.  9:10 min over 170, 15 min over 164.  

It was really beautiful.  The forest canopy is in and the wisteria and lilacs are blooming.  It was like a tunnel of green and purple.  Love Sewanee in the spring. 

 

HR Data:

 

Foot is finally starting to feel ok.  Planning on hitting the track tomorrow for a conditioning workout, but nothing too serious.  If I race again this summer, it will probably be a 100m or 200m.  I want to really start working on my top speed and strength.  

My diet has tanked in the past few days.  I made traditional kataifi pistachio pastry today.  But my weight hasn't yet gotten out of control.  

143 ish

Tea and pastry at sunset.  Life is good.  

 

100m Gold at Penn Relays, 2 Silver in relays

Brought home my first individual Gold medal at the Penn Relays yesterday in 100m.   The 100m is the only individual sprint event offered for masters athletes at this, the oldest and largest track meet in the world.   Being a Penn Relays Champion has been on my bucket list for a while, since I ran my first 100m race here 12 yrs ago (PR 12.17).  Since then, I ran the Penn masters 100m in '17 (Silver - 12.25), in '23 (Bronze - 13.19), and this year ... so this was my 4th attempt.  Although quite slow, 13.23, a win is a win.  Like last yr, this was without starting blocks, and on a cool and windy day, so conditions not perfect.  

I also anchored my GPTC track club to 2 Silver medals in the 4x100m and the 4x400m relays.  

The whole experience was a whirlwind... fly out midday Wednesday, return home Thursday after the meet.  Didn't get back to Sewanee til after midnight this morning.  I'll talk about the trip, stay, and travel more in another post, but first about the races.

The schedule seemed crazy... 4x100m at noon, then the 100m 30m later and the 4x400m 30m after that.  I was the only person in my age group and one of just very few in the meet to do all 3 masters events in the meet, all in a space of 1 hour.  

But, it was actually good.  I only had to warm up once and the 4x100m relay was a really good warmup for the 100m race.  

100m

It wasn't the slowest M60 100m win, but close.  Actually a few hundredths slower than I ran last year when I won Bronze.  At least it was faster than the age groups above, including last years M60 winner.  There were supposed to be 8 people in the race but 3 scratched.  Former world champion and many time previous winner Don M., may have been injured but was in the race and lined up to my right, definitely something wrong since he finished well back in 4th.   I knew Zac was fast but I didn't know the other guys.  Last year, I think I lost the race in the last 15m so I didn't want that to happen again, so I made sure I relaxed and tried to maintain what little good running form I had til the end.  It paid off.  I got a fair start, decent reaction not a great drive phase, due to no blocks and very little practice with starts this season.  I felt it stayed quite close through 70m and Gerald finished on the inside was just 0.16 behind me, Zac just 0.03 behind him, less than 0.20 separating the medals.     This is the second year we've been required to race with no blocks.  Never used to be this way.   Afterward I took my spikes off and let my feet rest for a few minutes before having to jog to the start line for the 4x4.  During my brief rest, was happy to have talked with Zac a bit and to learn his daughter is also a musician.  That's the great thing about this event, the people.  Especially to a loner like me who lives pretty much in isolation.  

Photo: about 30m into the race

Relays

4x100 - Backing up to the first event, we were told to get there at 9:30.  Well, I was 10 min early and ended up waiting almost an hour before Chuck left the table and delivered our packets.  By the time we got to our team place in the stands, We had about 30m to sit before going to the field to warmup.  When we left to enter the field, we were direct to the massive line at the paddock but it seemed like a ridiculously long line. So we later learned we were to enter at the masters table.  So... we walked around the stadium one full revolution before we actually went in, so stupid and unnecessary.  My foot didn't need that.  I think one of the 100m guys missed his race because he was misdirected also.  

Bruce led off and got totally smoked.  He was I think tied for 4th in his leg.  He looked injured, wasn't sure what happened.  Daryl made up a little ground and handed it to Wally in third, well behind Flashpoint (Ron's all-star team) in first.  Pony Express Club's 3rd leg was really slow and Wally handed it to me in second but by that time Don M. had nearly a 20m lead on me.  I did make up some but the race was over before I got the stick.  Anyway, a good opportunity to run at full speed and feel the track.  Now I was warmed up.  

After the 100m, I was pretty happy and not really looking forward to the 4x400, but like the 4x100, the race was already decided by the time I ran the anchor leg.  Ron had 30m on me by the time I got the stick.   Scott led off for us and we were down by 20m at first exchange.  Bruce made up quite a bit of time on the leading team with a good 62 sec leg and Mark took the stick less than 10m behind.  Mark lost almost 4 sec to the leading team, managing only a 65.37 leg (to Jerry's 61.86), so Ron had more than a 5 sec lead and it was over.  I ran a respectable leg but didn't kill myself, my 61.19 split was the fastest of my team and the third fastest among all teams (behind Ron 59.80 and Oscar 60.14).  Not a bad workout and I was able to sprint to the end with no rigging.  

So I collected 3 more Penn Relays Medals, I now have 9 total.  6 from relays, and 3 from the 100m event.  Here's the tally:  100m: Gold ('24), Silver ('17), Bronze ('23).   Relays:  Gold ('23), 3 Silver, 2 Bronze.

Winning the 100m at Penn was a nice consolation after the experience at Nationals and it puts me closer to the end of my competitive season and closer to wellness.  More about the travel and the Penn Relays experience in the next post.