Senior Olympian Sprinter

Every year we go thru it--baking, shopping, sending cards, decorating the house, the tree, moving.   Whoa, what about the moving part??  Yea, in the middle of vacation and my busiest work period in years, we moved into our new house in Brentwood.  We moved in Dec 10--one of my 3 free days available before Christmas in December to move.  Just nuts getting all the work done-- stress level raised way up.  Linda has been awesome-- she has not been traveling and took care of the details and a lot of  the dirty work--plus she did a lot of packing.   2 Men and a Truck did the heavy work.  One note, the lead mover was very good, but his helper was dragging some major league ass late in the day.   We had some big stuff that went up the twisted stairs and he was gassed after that part of the move.  We have all the rooms in basic order and the boxes are basically gone.  So, we are ready for company.  4 kids show...

I did kill a deer last week.  The last drive of the last day, I killed a doe to get off the skunk list. Over all it was a lot of fun.   I did have some other shots at deer but they had the advantage, because they were really hauling ass past me.   Still, you gotta try.   As our Huntmaster sez:  "If you don't shoot, you don't have a chance to get a deer. "   It is best if you shoot.   I wore my heart rate monitor on Wednesday last week and had as much easier day with less pushing and more standing or waiting for the deer.  That day was only 3003 calories for 10 1/3 hours.  All the calorie burn was of the fat burn type.   Average heart rate was 94 for the period.   So, my overall calorie burn is probably around 4500 a day for the week, which I can maintain with cookies, Conn's Potato chips and PBR beer and other miscellaneous food.   I again had shoe issues and I am serious a...

I am in Ohio this week for my 6 days of fun in the great outdoors chasing white tail deer.   We use shotguns with slugs in Ohio and hunt in farming country with a pretty good mix of brush added.    I have hunted with the same group since I started hunting deer, which would be the early 80's.    We treat the hunt as a team sport and try to get everyone a chance to kill something.   That is not always possible, but we try to get you a chance, and if you are a bad shot, you just get chance you do not have to drag anything.   I was driver on Monday and did not sit--we had 5 'school kids' that hunted and we worked on getting them some chances. They did get some shots with no luck.   Monday, Tuesday and Saturday are usually days we work with the school kids to kill some deer.   On Monday I wore my heart rate monitor and left it on for 16 hours-- that was when I got dressed in the morning, til I had finished...

Birthday boy today!   The birthday has kinda got snowed over by a lot of other events, but that is fine with me.  We closed on our new house on Thursday and are working on  getting our move organized.   The previous owners are still in the process of moving out and should be out by the latest on Monday.  If they get out sooner, we will start hauling stuff into the house.   Linda and I leave for Thanksgiving with the kids on Wednesday and I will not return for about 18 days.  That is a probelm that will delay our move until mid December.   Kinda sucks because we are anxious to get into our 1880 Folk Victorian.    So we wait and plan. .    I have been doing some working out.  Today I did my heavy legs with fronts squats up to 245 pounds and some power cleans up to 155 pounds.   Felt good and my strength is improving slightly as expected in the winter.  Thankfully ...

We are in the process of buying a house, which in itself is an exhausting process, and are getting down to final days of providing endless streams of data upon demand  for the mortgage company--aka "Big Brother"    I think we have every infinite detail done, and got to meet the  present owners yesterday.  They are a retired couple and Dan was a commander in the Navy and flew jets.   They moved extensively during his career and are settling in Austin, TX.    Linda bought some furniture and fixtures and I worked on figuring out where all the mechanical stuff was located and how it worked--guy stuff.   I am finally getting the excitement cranked up a little, I think we have everything covered and nothing can happen to kill the deal.  We laid out how our bedroom would be situated and finalized which room would be the spare bedroom, master suite and guest bedroom.   We are anxious to get som...

Yesterday afternoon was gorgeous and I wanted to do some running on a track before the weather finally made it to winter.    Linda and I went to one of the closer tracks at Ravenwood High school and when I pulled up I said to her " I forgot my shoes".    I typically run in my rubber soled shoes in the off season and I had planned to do that today and had my shoes laid out, but I did not put them in the car.   OOPS.    So what to do?    The football field was still lined and was in good shape.  So, I put on my KT tape on each foot and added some athletic tape to hold it in place on the bottom of my feet,  and ran in the grass.   I have done this before and I enjoy the feeling of the feet in the grass.   I actually just run with shorts--no shirt or shoes--no problem.   I did 8 x 100 meters at an average of 16 seconds.  I ran the last 100 meter at 14.2 seconds, I was impressed...

Hurricane Sandy is bearing down on the East coast.  I was supposed to fly into Newark, NJ  tomorrow, but Delta cancelled my flight.  I was planning on not going anyways, but now I have a real excuse.  I suspect they will get drowned with rain, lose power for extented period and have a major mess on their hands.  I will reschedule to go in two weeks.   I will    work out my schedule on Monday with several changes the next couple of weeks.  I am basically traveling every week except for Thanksgiving and Christmas.  For professional travelers, those weeks  are way too busy with rookies and it is impossible to get the flights you need to get anywhere. I did do a couple of work outs over the weekend in the weight room.  I did heavy legs one day followed by an upper body the next.   I am a little sore which is expected in the legs.  I think next week, I will have some time to do some running and k...

I think my little training vacation may be coming to an end.   The busy meter is going to be pegging the next 8 weeks.   Linda and I are buying a house in Brentwood, TN.  The current owners want to close by mid November and we need to have the money, insurance, other messy details completed.  Throw in moving around the Holidays and we have the real American dream coming true.   The moving is pretty straight forward, we do that a lot and we are quite good and 2 Men and a Truck do the rest. I have my heaviest work load of the year is also coming up with a new tissue machine start up and the annual deer hunt thrown in the middle of it all.    But I have always liked challenges and this winter will be up at the top of the list.   I am in Corvallis, Oregon this week and the weather is quite winter like in comparison to Tennessee.  I ran on the treadmill tonite and actually ran 1 miles in 8 minutes. ...

I am in Minnesota this week, and the clouds are telling to "run boy, run".  get out of here before the winter starts.   There has been the low clouds all week, that are  common to the upper Midwest during the winter and they are a major reason that I will not return.  They just sap the energy from your body for some reason.   I like the sun, without a steady supply of sun, I get weak and can descend into some pretty nasty depression.    You will get to hear about this as the days grow shorter.  Early January is when I can feel the slippage into the darkness.   Like the clouds are saying--"Run Boy, Run"  I am a getting home today.   A little correction on the weight gain, I forgot my blood pressure medicine last week.  It is strong water pill, so to speak, so I was retaining too much liquid.  I took them as normal when I returned and peed about 75 times  the next day and the scales ...

I have been resting or loafing since last weekend's meet in KY.  Well, this is really overrated.   I have not worked out in any form, but I have gained about 5 pounds!!  It seemed to show up in two days.   I have a lot of other activities this weekend and next and may get to do a little running this week, who knows.   I will go to Brainerd, Minn and I would like to do a little slow speed running and work on my fitness some.   Next weekend, Linda and I will travel to Ohio and help make a batch of homemade applebutter,  My great grandfather Gustav Saunier was making this stuff before I was born and the family still uses the original copper kettle and recipe.   It is fun day  with the family--who I rarely get to see--and the applebutter is really good.  It is a winter time staple, it gets some quick energy in the diet-- apples, cider, sugar and cinnamon.   Yumm!  I can remember it bei...

The starting pistol at the Ky races was by far the loadest I have ever experienced.   I swear the guy had a .45 caliber or deer rifle!!!   Wow.   On the 50 m dash, he started us and the gun when --click.   Everyone just stood up, laughed,  and he used the other blaster to get us started, even the click was load enough to start a race.  I am in KY today and working at the new tissue mill that will start up in a couple of weeks.   It is always exciting to get a new tissue machine out of the box, set it up and make bath tissue.   Kinda like Christmas, but you need 200 people to get your present going properly. I am still doing some resting and will probably work on some running this weekend.  I think I will start my training over, and do the 5K stuff at 8 min/mile pace and work on my stamina.  I also need to settle on a target weight for next summer.  I will have to do some ser...

I ran in Kentucky Saturday,  at their State Finals.  The weather was not as bad as I had expected--I thought it would rain, but it was dry, clear and really crisp.   It was in the mid 50's but the wind made it feel a lot colder.   I had entered all four sprints and my intention was to see if I could improve on my times  and see if the different type of training was effective.  I ran a 7.27 second 50 meters which was an 0.08 improvement and the 100 was also the season best at 13.25 or an improvement of 0.12 seconds.   I was second in both events.  I was beaten by Jamie Tyler who is from Tennessee and had an injured calf and was out of the Tenn Finals in July.  He  was healed, because he did run very well.  He has great speed out of the blocks. I won the 200 meters with a time of 27.73 seconds.  I ran faster at the district meet in May, but it was an absolute neck and neck race the whole way, so I reall...

                                     Linda videoes a lot of my events and you will hear her during the race.  I did win this one.  I was in the center lanes--I have a green top-- and Jamie Tyler--in black-- who beat me in the 50 and 100 was outside of me.  I was able to run a real race and actually check them out rounding the curve and then I accelerated coming into the home stretch.  This strategy has been effective in my last couple of 200's.

                                                2012 Kentucky State Finals I ran last weekend at the Kentucky State Finals and place second in the 50 and 100 meters with my best times this season and won the 200 meters.   I did not run the 400 meters beacause of the wind and also we were getting very little  rest and I was really whipped after the 200 meters.  So, skipped the one lapper.

Is early in the morning and it is race day.   Guess what, the weather is not real friendly today, or in other words, it sucks for sprinters.     The weather has taken its first really big change for the season last night.     I expect  sprinkles, 50 degrees with little sun.  I think some snow even went thru the track last night.   Yesterday would have been perfect, warm and dry.  It is amazing how 24 hours makes that kind of different.   I tried a different prerace routine this time, I had a light work out yesterday and did a really complete stretching regiment. I worked the legs, core and arms. I have noticed in my speed work, that if I am sore from weights that I get some really good times in the 50 meter.  So, I tried to get a little weight work in and we will see what happens.   I had spaghetti last night for dinner and no beer yesterday--that part is the toughest. ...

I was thinking today, which the most scary words I can say to my wife, Linda.  But I really was thinking during my track time at Ravenwood.  I am going to run next Saturday at the Kentucky State meet for seniors.   I could be a state champ in a couple of states, which is interesting.  But, what really came to me, was I am the Tennessee State Recorder holder in the 50 meters for 55 to 59 years old.  Why did this fact just show up recently???  Well, it is the first time this event has been run, so by devault, the first winner--me--would be the record holder!!  Hopefully, I can make the time quicker next year.  I run 50 meter sprints on the track with spikes to work on my speed.  I will run 6 to 10 sets at 95% effort.     I have a goal of beating 6 flat in the 50 m with a running start.   Today after coming close several times in the last month, I ran a 5.92 second 50 meters with a running start after ru...

I was running yesterday and a gentleman a little younger than me asked me a question, " why do you run on grass barefoot, what is the benefit?"   I struggled with an answer and never really had anything concrete, but I think there are a couple of benefits.   1)  It is fun.  You get to pretend you are a kid--so to speak.  I do not think I ever quit to tell you the truth. 2) My feet get some rest.  They are constantly under strain on the track and they do give me some pain normally after using spikes. 3) You can work on your stride length because I run on a football field and you can see how long your strides are reaching as you go past the 5 yard markers  4) It gives you time to work on your form.  I can use big arm movements or not.  I also tend to have a much higher knees when running on grass. This must be due to how your feet tend to sink in just a bit into the soft soil.  Traction is ...

Andy is one of the best to give a good examine and butt chewing to what or whom ever needed it bad.   My gripe is hotel trash containers.   They are way too small and they are placed at the spot that is easiest for the maid to set them back in your room.  So, most trash cans are near the door--I do not generally stay near the door, I stay near the bed or desk.  So, when you have trash--food wrappers, empty liquid bottle, etc you have to go throw it in, or in my case bring it to where I live--in the room.  I fill them up after moving them to a normal spot in the room and the next day--they are next to the door again!!  I move them every day.    While we are on that subject, the containers are entirely too small.  If you have 2 beers, some food in a go conatiner, newspapers and other normal trash-- it falls all over the floor. The so called plastic liner--uses at least half the container for trapped air and also ...

Pictures are in the state final album.  This picture loading is bad news for me.

I made it to one the great tracks in the world--Hayward Field in Eugene, Oregon.  Home of the Ducks.   The Nike brand shoes and jogging both evolved from this site.  Bill Bowerman coached track here for nearly 25 years and had some great runners, including Steve Prefontaine,  and he helped co found Nike--he wanted better shoes for his athletes.   The US Olympics qualifiers were held here in 2012.   It is on TV everyear for some major event.   I had go since I was so close.  I was working in Halsey. On Tuesday morning we were not needed in the tissue mill until around 10:00 AM. It was also my 8 th anniversery of my wedding with Linda--this was a really special day.  So I drove down to the field and walked around a little to see if a gate was open--somebody ALWAYS leaves a gate open.  Nothing was apparent, so I went in the through a door way that appeared to be to some offices and wa...

You know what I mean.  Run your mouth and then regret it a week later.  Well, I am going to run my mouth.  I have not had any real health or injury issues to deal with for several weeks. There I said it, my foot will probably break on Friday.   Looking at my training since the Tennessee State Finals, I have done less sessions but with more intensity.  I have been taking  2 or 3 day a week off to rest, and I don't do hard days back to back like I did in the past.    And I think I have the upper hand on the 'over training' that is too easy to do and I have definitely been quilty of in the past,  sports hernia and plantar fasciitis are evident of such.   My speed is actually getting better.  Kentucky will let me know in 4 weeks. Today I had a chance to get to the gym to do some of the weird stuff I do. I did some shoulder work and also kicks.  My upper thigh was the only sore sport from yesterday.  ...

This is the blog that I could not publish from over  Kansas when flying to Denver.  I was in my draft file.  It's a little late Life is full of first and many you really remember well, and most of that is somehow related to women and babies.  But, today I am blogging from 35,000 feet while on a SW plane to Denver.  Linda and I are going to a wedding of daughter of some good friends.  It is a first on the blogging from altitide, but I do not expect this 'event ' to be remembered for very long of have much meaning in the big picture of life.  I went see my man Geoff today for a massage.  It was the first time in a long time that I did not have anything really acting up or hurting.  So, he worked on the back so I would be ready for the plane ride.   68 minutes to go, by the way.  There is a counter on the SW web page.   I took the day off of exercise, I had a lot of prep work for the trip ...

The last weekend in Denver was a breath of air--there was no humidity at 6000 feet.  I can see why the professional cyclist train in the high desert around Denver, you can survive heavy training without drinking massive quanitities of water.  I ran last night on the local high school track and the humidity was again up against the limits of survivable.   The temperature was not that high--80's, but when I got warmed up and was running at speed, every exhale was blowing water off my face, like running into your own rain.    But, I got in a good work out and most of all, I  was really fast!  I worked really hard on form and arm swing and it must be working--I ran well and one other gentle who was doing some track work commented on my form being 'very good'.  All the weight work with the shoulder and hips is hopefully paying off.    I was able to run without any tape on my feet and no odd ball aches and pains--just some minor...

This was supposed to post yesterday while I was flying on SouthWest from Nashville to Denver for a wedding of a daughter of some friends.  I was attempting to do something as a 'first',  but technology would not allow my first and I am setting in a hotel bed trying to remember my brilliant lost blog.  The header of  the SouthWest web page covered the publish button and I could not get it to post.   I get frustrated by technology that does not deliver, plus I paid $5 for the wifi service.  I think I only got $ 2 worth.   I ran on Wednesday after dark in Memphis on the Central High track and new synthetic sports turf.  I did at least 8 x 100m sprints on the sports turf at 65% speed to work on my stride and arms.  Isaac was closing in and the wind was quite firm and I also got out the parachute to do some strides,  The wind was so firm that the parachute velcro was over powered and it would just fly off.  So, I ju...

I had a chance to experiment tonight on one of my favorite tracks--Muscle Shoals High School-- home of the Trojans.  Their synthetic track is one of the few that is actually laid out symmetrically, the start and finish of the 100 meters is midway in each endzone, so you can figure out very accurately where you are at all times.     I worked on some 50 m at 95 % speed and compared curve times with straight away times.  All my tests were with a 25 m running start, so the poor starts can be discounted.  The curve 50 m averaged 6.6 sec and the straight aways were 6.4 seconds.  I ran all the curves in lane 1.  I then compared lane 1 to lane 4 curves and there was little difference.  The curves must be run with a long stride to be fast regardless of lane.   Today was the first day in several days that my legs actually had some energy.  They were loose and stretched out quickly, and that was from two days of real rest....

I ran yesterday in the evening at Ravenwood High School.  There was at least a dozen people getting the field ready for the football season opener today.   The band was practicing in the parking lot, the soccer team had a game going on, it was time to get football going.   I worked out for over an hour and the field crew was at it the entire time, getting the end zones painted.   I get to work out at various tracks all over the US and my suggestion would be buy a plastic field.   They never need watered, lined, painted, mowed, replanted, new drainage added....    They appear to last at least 10 years and I think the labor and water costs have to be a huge saving.  I saw a field in Tulsa, OK and it was pristine at 5 years old.   Plus, they always look perfect.    If it was raining yesterday they would have been screwed on having the field ready. I rested the previous day-- I was real sore. ...

I had a chance to get into the weight room today and get some heavy leg work.  I have been thinking about doing power cleans and finally found a youtube video that showed the technique.  So, today I did some power cleans with 3 sets of 135 pounds.  Felt pretty good, but my back will hurt tomorrow. I also did the front sqauats with knee wraps.  I also worked on a deeper squat, in the past I did not go down to 90 degree knee bend.  Today, I on went up to 205 pounds max and got a little deeper.  The next two days will let me know how it went.   Also, in the mix was the kicks and some kettle bell hammies.  I was gassed after this work out.  I am in Florence, AL tonight watching some football on HD TV-- HD is a real plus when traveling.   The Comfort Suites delivers on HD.   And there is more....NFL Network is also in HD!!!  OMG!!  Linda is in Florida and she looked really good when she left this morning, ...

I made it back to the track today.  Linda did some walking with her fancy new knee brace-- it is tiger stripe patterned and as cool as these kinds of things can be.  So I had some company.   Yesterday morning I had my massage and Geoff indicated that I was quite tight and he worked very hard to loosen up my quads--it hurt like hell--he can inflict some pain.   But he was able to tell that I have been easing off a little on the training and stretching, so I got busted and need to get back with the program.   The quads the quickest muscle in the body to atrophy and shrink-- you gotta work em.    I looked up power cleans on youtube and will add power cleans to my front squat routine that I do weekly.       Last night we went to the movies and saw 'Hope Springs' with Tommy Lee Jones as the old worn out husband and Meryl Strep as the frustrated wife whose marriage is deader than the preverbial ...

I had planned on some track work tonight after I finished in the tissue mill, but it was pouring rain for a couple of hours and that plan was dead.  So I did the next best thing--I took a nap.  After the nap, it was still too wet and I did treadmill runs.  I ran a 800, 2--600 's and 2 --300's to get some endurance work in.   The treadmill work cause extreme sweating because you have no wind blowing past to cool you.  Believe it not, running on a track is a little cooler and much drier. One of great things about being "out East" is the diner.  I had dinner at a local 24 hour diner.  They have pastry, hot food, liquor, carryout beer and breakfast anytime.  They are like going to friend's house to eat.  Always comfortable and unhurried.    The menu are generally 8 pages of laminated plastic.  No exception at the "Arena".  The pork chop diner was very good. Linda send me a link to a new song from one of...

I traveled to Newark, NJ today for work.  I was scheduled for arrival around noon with a trip thru Baltimore.  But the plane broke,  and would take 4 hours to fix.  Southwest did the usual great job of rescheduling  me thru MDW--Midway and I got here with just an hour delay.  But I did get the center seat on each trip and on the first leg, I sat next to a guy that was big, he was 58 Short jacket size.  So I spent that leg twisted so I could actually breathe.   The next leg I had a better opportunity to find two women to sit with, they were normal size and I had a lot of room.   Whew!! I am staying where I can see the new Liberty Tower from my hotel room.  It has its final height, they are just getting the siding on.  It is definitely the tallest building on Manhattan.  I hope it turns out to be a real showplace.  I ran some slower strides today, 8 cycles of 100 m on a sport turf feild...

The athletics as it is called by the British or track and field as called by us is the "New World"  was wonderful with some really fast runners and  great wins by the US.  The Bahamas sprinters were basically untouchable, but it was great theatre and I loved it.    I did learn that Usain takes 4 to 5 (41 total) less strides than the competition during the 100 m.   I have a long stride that I use at the end of races sometimes.   I think I need to spend some time developing this longer stride and see it it is faster for me.   I do have very long legs for a 5' 11" man,  very 'long femurs' as my envious wife claims.  So, we need to get out the camera and clock and do some experimenting.   That may have been my advantage in high school, and I now to exploit this advantage.  I won a lot or races my senior year in high school. Yesterday was a travel day so I rested.  I got up at 4:00 AM and ge...

Usain Bolt is really fast,  I just watched the 200 m finals and he handed out  another  really bad beating.  That must feel good to have that ability.    He is one of the alltime greats. Enough about him, how about me??  I have been in OK this week and have been working out on a really nice high school track in Catoosa.  The Catoosa Indians, home of "The Tribe".   I ran the other night on the synthetic track and ran four 200 m sets around 30 seconds.  That was without spikes, which makes these 200's around 90% and the last on was 29.5.    I finished up with some other speed work and felt great for 6:00 am.  The sprinklers were on and that felt good when I ran thru them at the finish.   This track was quite busy with several people getting work outs.  I was glad to see some other healthy folks.     This afternoon I returned an...

Well as I guessed, it is quite hot in the Sooner state, 105 today.   I baby sitted a tissue machine all day and may get some energy to do some running.  I need to find a track--I think that is why google maps was created.   But, I can also take a day off, which is part of the program--resting.  I was thinking of some different subjects for my blog.  I have some high school pictures on my long jumping and in my track uniform. I was 5 ' 11" and 168 pounds, depending on how close to feeding time.  I am still 5'11", but the weight is 197 and going down slowly.  I am moving muscle from the upper body to the lower.  Linda is not a fan of this, she likes upper body muscles--her toys.  But speed comes from the hips and thighs and that is what is growing and getting the most weight work.   So that should be a  fun subject. Another subject is gear.   I have always been curious about the new stuff and I got it...

Humidity is measured as percent, with 100% being the maximum.  Yesterday was a day that the old scale really did not reflect how much water was in the air.   I did some road work on the local streets and managed to completely soak every item of clothing on my body.  Then Linda and I went to see "Train" at an outdoor venue after some rain, with more on the way.  The humidity was incredible.   You just sit there and dehydrate.  Train put on a great show in 55 minutes, played a lot of hits and threw beach balls and T shirts into the crowd.   They also took pictures with cell phones that were tossed up on the stage.    Times do change.   But they had a lot of fun.. so did we.  I would like to see them again in a full 2 hour show.   This "rain or shine" event was shortened because a storm was coming--lightning and wind scares the insurance people when you have a portable stage.  Back to humi...

Have you ever been one year away from somthing that you really wanted to do?  I am there for the second time in my senior olympian running career.  I was ready to compete in the 2011 senior nations in Houston, Tx......but I got hurt and had to cancel out.  It sucked.   You only get a chance every 2 years.   How it must change your life to fail to get in the real olympics--every 4 years.    I like to plan ahead--many surprises in the athletic world are not the type of events that I like.  so, I like to find any advantage I have and try to exploit it.    I am qualified for 4 events in Cleveland, Ohio--where the senior nations will be held in late  July 2013.   I am reviewing the running schedule and like my chances in the 50 m and 400 m races.   The 400 m is usually the weakest competition because it hurts the most and really knocks you out of any other sprints.  It is the event that...