10x300m average 46 seconds

Today was a cold rainy day. I decided I needed to work on my speed after doing a lot of base work. I started with 5x300m @ 47,47,46,45,46 and did a lap jog and finished with 5x300m @ 46,46,45,45,43. I finished with 2x200 @ 32,31 seconds at a very low perceived effort. I also did about 2o minutes of weight training. I recovered with a lot of rope stretching and the foam roller.

Yesterday I did 8x100m hill sprints

I was feeling a bit tired and felt like doing a short workout. I also ran about 3 miles easy.

8 mile run @ 7:30/mile pace

I am spending Christmas in McMinnville. I ran an 8 mile run in a rain storm with my nephew who is trying to get fit for indoor track.

4 mile warm up and 4 mile tempo run

In the morning I did a 4 mile warmup on the Nike campus. I then ran 4 miles @ 5:45/mile pace with my good friend Jason Odem. After that I played a fun gig at the MOTA church with my good friend Andre St James. It was a beautiful Christmas Eve Service. Later in the evening I gave a classical piano concert at my sister's house. Now I am trying to decide if I am a classical pianist trying to be a jazz pianist or a jazz pianist trying to be a classical pianist.

12 mile run on Leif Ericson

A good 12 miler on Leif Ericson trail. Averaged about 7:00 min pace.

3 mile warmup 4 mile tempo run 3 mile cool down

Tempo run on the Nike track with my friend Jason Odem. Averaged 5:40 pace. Finished with 61 second 400m.

14 mile run on Nike campus

An easy 14 mile run. I ran the last few miles around 6 minute pace. Yesterday was a rest day. I finished with some light weight training.

7 mile run last half mile all out.

I ran a good 7 mile run up a big hill and back. On the last 1/2 mile I decided to go 100 percent all out. I finished with 4x100 meter strides. It was a beautiful day. I am off to another Christmas party tonight to play the piano.

10 mile run on the Nike campus yesterday

Another 10 miler followed by weight training. I also had a fun gig playing the piano in the evening.

10 mile run on nike campus

I ran a nice 10 miles on the NIke campus. I sprinted up the hills on the last loop. I will be focusing on mileage and building my aerobic base this month.

5 mile tempo run on treadmill

5 miles @ 6 minute pace last mile @ 5:30 followed by light weight training.

Recovery Day

I worked most of this morning video editing for a client. After a long nap, I went to the gym and ran 30 minutes on the treadmill followed by some light weight training. Now I am feeling recovered.

1st place in the 800m at the University of Portland Indoor

I felt like I ran a good effort after coming off a bad illness. I never got my official time. I think it was around 2:02. It was a solo effort since I led the whole race. This was my first official race as a master runner. I plan to get my mileage back up for the next month.

Solid Track Session

Today I ran a short speed workout in freezing conditions. I was able to warm up and cool down on the indoor track. I then went to the outdoor track and managed to run around world record pace for my 40-45 masters age group. My last 200 was in 27 seconds and I focused on staying relaxed. It was definitely the easiest interval. The key to running fast is to focus on not straining.
I did 2x300+200 @ 41,28,41,27 with 200 jog rest between intervals and 400m jog rest between sets.

I recovered with stretching, foam roller, whey protein recovery drink, and a 16 ounce glass of fresh made red cabbage, ginger, carrot, apple, beet juice. I am pretty sure that my exercise and nutrition routine is keeping me healthy and feeling and looking 15 years younger.

Easy 20 minute run yesterday and Hill repeats today

Today I found an 80m hill and ran up it at 90% effort 6 times.
I felt pretty strong after taking several days off. I also had a good weight
training session three days ago. The weather is freezing so its nice to have
an indoor track facility near my house. I am considering doing an 800m
time trial/race on Sunday night.

preventative medicine

Why are the side effects of most prescription medications worst than the symptoms they are designed to cure. I laugh every time I see a drug commercial on TV because it seems like a bad joke. That is why I prefer taking preventative measures to be healthy and prevent diseases are caused from environmental and lifestyle choices.

Back after taking three days off due a bad chest cold.

I came down with a bad chest cold on Friday and took the weekend off from training. I was able to get over this terrible virus that went straight to my lungs with some natural remedies. I slept most of the day yesterday and today. I also took extra doses of astragalus, bovine colostrum, echinacea, apple cider vinegar, vitamin d, and zinc. I am sure that my immune system was compromised due to my lack of sun exposure, hence the low vitamin d levels indicated by a recent blood test.

Today I went to an indoor track and ran 20 minutes easy, 40 minutes of weight training, and 20 min jog cool down. I recovered with a large glass of fresh made red cabbage, ginger, carrot, and apple juice. I hardly have any cold symptoms and I am glad to be over this.

The last few days

I have been busy in the recording studio the last few days. I still managed to do a few good workouts. Yesterday morning I did 10x200m on the track in training flats. I ran 29 seconds for the first 5 and 28 seconds on the second. The day before I did a 3 mile run @ 6 minute pace followed by 2x1 mile @ 5 minutes. I have been taking extra rest days in order to complete more intense workouts without feeling over trained.

2 miles @ 10 minutes then 4x200 @ 27 seconds

Three days ago I did a good workout starting with 10 minute tempo run then followed by 4x200m on a windy, rainy, and cold dark track. I managed to average around 27 seconds with 200m jogs.

14 mile run and feeling fine

Yesterday I decided to put in some miles and ran 14 miles on the nike campus. There are a few hills to contend with but makes for a more challenging long run.

Pretty good track workout despite feeling a little lethargic

Today was another dark cloudy and 35 degrees. It is beginning to feel like winter. I took yesterday off from training since I had a busy day setting up for an early evening gig. I ended up taking a rest day and coming back today with 6x300m cut downs @ 48,47,46,45,45,42 and then finished with another 200m @ 28. I felt a lot better as I got into the workout. My last two intervals were in spikes and definitely helped my speed. My achilles were feeling pretty good at the end of this training session. Hopefully I can continue to keep them strong and injury free.
I have found that sometimes I have to do a special therapy on my achilles in order to break up scar tissue. This means wearing a sock and pressing in with my fingernails in a vertical direction. I wear a thick sock in order to prevent damage to my skin. I will often follow this therapy with some topical DMSO. I also do the contrast showers that seem to help reduce inflammation.

I ended with some light weight training, foam roller, and good stretching. Tonight I plan to load up on some good fresh vegetable and do some serious juicing. My goal is to drink about 2 pints of fresh vegetable/fruit juice to help me recover. My stomach always feels much better if I take some digestive enzymes after I juice.

Alternate with Hard and Easy for Maximum results

Lately I have been training with a lot of intensity one day and taking the next day almost completely off from training. Today I ran an easy 30 min jog as slow as possible since yesterday was a very hard workout for me. By alternating like this, I have had much more productive workouts on the hard days. Sometimes I forget that the real benefits occur when your body is resting and rebuilding from the previous workout. I have been focusing more on recovery and noticing huge improvements in my aerobic fitness. I have not doubt that in 1 month I will be able to run 20 minutes for 4 miles if I can continue doing a lot of intervals at 5 minute pace. When I was running 3:45 for 1500m, a 20 minute 4 minute tempo run would be a bench mark workout. My main focus this winter is going to be building aerobic fitness through threshold training.

Getting Aerobically Fit

Yesterday was a rest day. Today was a V02 max building workout. I started with 2 miles @ 10 minutes. Then 2x1 mile @ 5 minutes. I felt very good on the last mile and probably could have done another 10 minute 2 mile. My goal is to get fit enough to run 4 miles in 20 minutes. Once I achieve this fitness level, I will feel ready to compete.

I finished my workout with 40x400lbs inclined leg press. I think it is great to do lower body weights following a tempo run. I believe I am recruiting more muscle fibers. Also if I am able to go straight to doing weights while still in oxygen debt, I am able to train my muscles to fire in an extremely fatigued and oxygen deprived state. My theory is that this type of training helps me to be able to finish stronger at the end of a race.

I also spent a bunch of time calling up bass players and drummers for some upcoming gigs.

Blood Report

Today I got my report back from my blood test. Everything is perfect according to the doctor. I had a very high red blood cell count and hematocrit. I had slightly low vitamin D levels. I guess that is what what you get when you live where the sun hardly shines.

Easy 30 minute , weight training, and piano practice

Early this morning was my Sunday church gig. It takes a bit out of me and I end up coming home and crashing for about 2 hours. When I woke up I took it easy and ran a 30 minute recovery run. I also did a good upper body weight workout. I need to be careful and not bulk up too much from weight training. I also did some plyometric box jumps. These are pretty difficult when you use a knee high box and jumps. I have also been wearing compression socks after workouts and I feel that it helps speed up my recovery.

I also put in a good two hours of intense piano music on some difficult classical music. I am starting to nail it and ready to do a recital very soon. I am not really a classical pianist but I am slowly gaining more confidence. The key for me is slowing down to practice and listening by staying focused. It is definitely an awesome challenge to take on some of those crazy Liszt and Chopin compositions.

Easy 10 mile run on the Nike campus. Felt great.

I decided to put in some easy miles today. I also treated my body to three ounces of wheat grass after the run. Some call it the green blood since it has nearly the same molecular structure as hemoglobin. What better way to improve your oxygen carrying capacity than putting green blood into your body?

Getting it done

Today I was feeling a bit lethargic since I have been fighting a cold and working hard in the studio. I have also been staying up late to program web sites and fixing bugs. It is difficult doing the job that usually takes 3 or 4 people to do and have it done in the same amount of time. I haven't been getting the greatest sleep. Today the weather was windy, cold, rainy, and dark. I decided I needed a little introduction to my race pace as I prepare for indoor track. I decided to do 2x(400m+300m+200m).
I am saving my achilles by doing my interval training in orthotics and road racing shoes instead of spikes. My workout went pretty well despite the conditions and not being in great shape. So my times were 400m @ 62 sec, 300m @ 46 sec, 200m 29 sec then a one lap jog and 1x400m @ 62, 1x300m@ 46, and 1x200m @ 28. I had about 300m jog rest between intervals. I finished with an intense lower body weight workout. One was doing 50 reps of leg presses of a full rack of 300 lbs. I usually do this until my legs are burning with lactic acid and I do 20 more reps. I was also a bit tired from doing 3x1 mile repeats at 5 minutes the other day.

My recovery included foam roller, stretching, undenatured whey protein drink. I also broke out the juicer and made 2 pints of fresh carrot, spinach, apple, ginger juice. A great way to end my day of training and help my body to recover and hopefully become stronger from a hard day of training.

3x1 mile @ 5 minutes

Did a 3x1 mile @ 5 minutes on the treadmill after taking a rest day yesterday.
It felt a bit difficult. It is a little depressing knowing that I once ran a twelve mile tempo run on the Leif Ericson trail in 63 minutes. I would love to get back into that kind of shape. It gets a lot more difficult to train high mileage as you get older. I guess biological age is all relative and I will continue to train as long as my body can handle it.

12 mile run today

Yesterday I spent working all day working on my pacing robot. I decided to take the day off since I was feeling very tired. I may have been fighting a virus. I ended up having a great time playing the piano in church with a good bass player and drummer. I had someone say I sounded like Vince Guaraldi which was a huge compliment. Today I felt good and decided to go for a 12 miler. It is the longest I have gone in a while for my long run. I through in some surges and felt like I was activating dormant muscle fibers. I think it is imperative to do at least one long run per week in order to maintain aerobic fitness. My long run now is going alternate between 12 and 14 miles.

A link to a race last year

http://www.runnerspace.com/video.php?video_id=19708