Recent runs

Aug 23: Lean Horse 100 Mile. Stopped at 25 miles and 5 hours. Just didn't want to do it.

Aug 24: 0. Depressed.

Aug 25: 3 miles in 25

Aug 26: AM 4 in 33 with 8x200m in 38; PM 4 in 33

Aug 27: AM 3 in 22; PM 5 in 38.5

Aug 28: AM 5 in 37 with 8x500m in 1:56; PM 3 in 28.5

Aug 29: 4 in 31.5

Aug 30: AM 7 in 52; PM 3 in 29.5

Aug 31: AM 5 in 43; PM 3 in 21.5

Sep 1: AM 4 in 31.5; PM 4 in 31.5

Sep 2: AM 3 in 25.5 with 12 sprints (50m in 6.5-8 sec.); PM 3 in 28.5

Sep 3: AM 4 in 37; PM 3 in 27

Sep 4: 3 in 27.5; PM 4 in 31.5 w/ 3x800m in 3:00

Sep. 5: 4 easy, untimed

The 26th was my first track run in years and I was apprehensive. The first challenge was to find a track on which to run. The nearest, Harding High, is locked. Next is the sand and dirt Johnson High track. Then North St. Paul. Then a couple of colleges. I ended up going to the White Bear Lake High School north campus track; the south campus has a very nice synthetic track, but I went to the crushed stone oval that's never used. It's so old, I think it's not metric - I'm not willing to wheel it to find out, though. The 200's were not all-out, but as fast as I could reasonably run for eight repetitions and indicated I'm in about 6:15 mile shape. Worse than I thought.

The Friday workout got my heart rate to maximum and I was at 95% max for several minutes. It suggested a mile of 6:10, so Wednesday's run wasn't just a first-timer's problem. The second run was garbage; I was wiped.

Saturday, I headed to Phalen Lake and got into an impromptu race with a 20 year-old. I clocked a mile in 6:20. Skoolin punx! That I could comfortably pop off that time (I wanted to keep the kid close to me and tease him, not demolish him with one burst) and doing it the day after a hard workout gave me a good feeling.

Sunday, I was at Lakes Calhoun and Harriet in Minneapolis. It was supposed to be a slow easy run, but I just wanted to pass people. So many vacuous insipid people! On my side of town, runners are heavier, worse-dressed and less likely to be of European ancestry; I'd forgotten that there was such a difference. I ended up pushing past runner after runner, catching everyone but one guy I could spy ahead - who turned out to be from Team USA Minnesota. I'm not exactly in that class! The second run that day, I was dead.

Monday evening, I passed the same young guy I passed on Saturday. He didn't even try.

Wednesday's sprint workout was WAY harder than I expected and I was wiped for days, though Thursday night, I did speed up to pass the Johnson High x-country team.

Friday, I had hoped to run in the North St. Paul alumni x-country meet. I hadn't been invited in a couple of years (perhaps due to the fact that, though I'm older than their dads, I'm kicking their asses year after year), but I hoped they still had it at the same place and time - they didn't. So, I went to see if the White Bear track was open, but there were school activities going on and a shaggy middle-aged guy isn't exactly welcome at high schools these days. So I went to the old track and did a few halves, which didn't feel hard at all, but I still couldn't have done them any faster. I'm now feeling I'm in 5:45-5:50 mile shape, not too shabby an improvement in two weeks, but I'm having trouble not recalling glory days when 8 halves in 2:30 were common.