Senior Olympian Sprinter

I had a lot of positive feedback from the latest post about the race and I appreciate that.   I am happy somebody actually  reads these posts.  Linda is my biggest cheerleader and I thank her for posts and links that let a lot of people know how the meet went and the results.  Thanks Honey!! After the race, I had a chance to look realistically at my performance and I am quite happy with the times in the shorter events.  The 400 was a little slow to be competitive at Nationals.    As a result, I am going to work on a little different training regiment to see if I can get that time a little lower.  I have not broke 1 minute since I started this Sr. Olympian and that is still a goal.  I did a 61.03 in 2010.   I have two meets in September that I plan on participating--TN District Qualifier and the KY State Finals which this year is in Lexington.   I will use these events as a way to test the different training and see if there has been any time improvement.   KY is an open meet to all s

 Eleanor is why the Senior Olympics exist--hope for everyone to achieve their best.   She participated in the 800 and 1500 meters events at this last weekend's Tennessee Senior Olympics State Finals. She spent 20 years in a wheel chair and finally had both knees replaced with artificial joints two years ago.  During her recovery, her trainer-- that she hired , encouraged her to get into the Senior Olympics.  Here she is, going round the track in stifling heat, loving it.  I heard her yell out " these zippers in my knees are coming loose" and knew she had knee replacements.  I told my wife about her and they had a good cry together.  Compete?  Why not, Evelyn is living proof.    In the middle is George Speros and on the right is Charlie Baker.  I am not sure about the gentlemen on the left.  George does most of the track events and gives maximum effort the entire event.  He is the classic bulldog that is not gonna let go.  I just love watching and yelling for him.  

Tonight was the final work out before the meet this weekend. I went back to the same track for the third night running and did my usual warm up and ran 8 sets of parachutes runs of 150 meters each.   Parachute running help me get my running form correct with great arm swing without going real fast and minimizes any injury threat.  It is also fun, because of the exaggeration of the running form.  I did not do my usual taping of my right foot and I did notice that I was carrying that leg a little differently while running. So, the KT is still a necessary part of my running equipment.   I was just an old guy at the track,  running some parachutes with sweat dripping off every part of my skin.  I was listening to Kacey Musgraves sing about trailers, bad relationships and being a poor waitress and really enjoying the workout.  As the workout progressed, I was getting into my own little world.  Kids were playing soccer next door, the groundskeeper was running his weed eater and the old

Tomatoes and corn patch The Farmer's Almanac predicted a hotter than normal summer this year in the mid South-- yep they were right.  I am in Kentucky this week and it is really hot and really dry here.   The Almanac was right on the money again.   I put in the water pumping system to water the garden and yard because of their predictions for this season.  With the temperature in the mid 90's and the sun beating pretty hard without a cloud anywhere, getting in some afternoon running has been a challenge.   Plus the track is black rubber. I have been running closer to sunset and just some jogging really after a  lengthy warm up period. My overall workout intensity is down about 35% on the calorie counter.     On Monday and Tuesday I worked on my leg soreness.  Quads were sore today and the hammies yesterday.   I ran hard on Sunday morning, as well.  I did a 200 meter in 28.6 seconds with spikes and ran 4 really hard 50 meters in the mid 7's.   The 200 meters and 50 tim

One more week until the Tennessee State Finals, which is the qualifier for the 2015 Nationals.  I ran this morning to simulate the time schedule for next week end.  I felt pretty good and had a good run as well.  On Saturday next week I will run the 400 meters in the morning and the 50 and 200 the next morning.     Today I had a very good warm up and and asked one of the Ravenwood track athletes to do me a 'massive' favor and time my 400.   She agreed, and  I ran a 68.4 with my rubber shoes, no spikes, and felt pretty strong all the way.    I looked at the National qualifying rules again and if you finish 4 th or better in your state qualifier, you can go to Nationals.   I should be safe with that time, I only know two guys that can beat it.  I will probably run again tomorrow morning,  to do it back to back and see how much soreness has developed and how big a deal warm up becomes.   The different approach to training this season has been a much safer route and I feel health

I have been getting to the track at least 3 times a week the last 3 weeks.   I have been working on  endurance and speed, running some shorter 50 meter hard sprints and more leisurely ( more painful )   400 and 600 meter distances to get my wind and endurance.   This is a little different type of training for me this year and it is designed to prevent the last minute injury that plagued the previous years.  I am sprinting up to 95% speed in the short stuff and doing the 400 at 85% pace currently.  I ran today in the heat of the day just to get used the sun beating down.  I was at Ravenwood which has a black track.   I lasted over an hour, but I could feel the heat and an hour later it is still trying to get out of my body.  I plan on running again tomorrow as well.  My legs have been holding up pretty good.  My heart rate has been at 100 to 105% at the last 100 meters, but I have not been binding up and running right through to the finish. That is a great feeling to still be strong a