Senior Olympian Sprinter

I traveled to North Carolina this week and usually travel via Interstate 40.   Coming back I took a short cut thru the Great Smokey Mountains National Park.  It is shorter as the crow flies, but time wise it is a couple hours more.  I decided that sometimes you need to smell the roses or they will die and you will miss them.   The roses up on top of the Smokies smell and look pretty good.  What a view!  Next week I will be out West and may get a chance to visit the Grand Canyon.  Even though it is the prime tourist season, I may try to hike a bit.  The elevation is around 7000 feet, and I will have ,to wait and see how I adjust to the thin air.  If I adjust well, I will do some hiking, otherwise just smell the roses with some site seeing. I finally got out on the track today and ran some sprints.  I worked on running 400 and 300 meters with the same time for the first section as the last.  I also experimented with a new parachut...

I traveled this week and spent several days crisscrossing the Western portions of Oregon and Washington.  It was very clear and Mt Hood looked fantastic.  I also got a chance to check out Mt Hood from the air.  It looks good either way.  We were in the Columbia River Gorge  as well, and the scenery was really something.   That is definitely big country out there. The weather was really warm and dry in Albany, Oregon and I did try to run outside and it was so dry I really struggled with my breathing, so I just ran inside on the treadmill.  I am working on my endurance and weight loss, so I am doing 800 meter and 1600 meter runs.   I have finalized my racing schedule for the rest of the season.  I will run in Kentucky and do the 100 400 double.  They are electronic timed and I really want to get a good 400 time and break 62 seconds if possible.  Kentucky is a Sunday meet and that  helps logistics as well.   My last meet ...

The dark side exists.    This is a post that I have been thinking about for around a week and I need to get it out in the open.   Those who have known me long realize that I can get depressed in the winter due to the lower levels of light.  I have been dealing with it for a long time and I think the situation is under control.  I understand I have a problem and Linda is very helpful in reminding me that I am slipping and I need to fix it.  A couple of days before the meet last weekend, my left side lower jaw was hurting.  I could eat, but the pain was significant enough to think about getting some help.   It was too late to get it looked at before the meet, so I had to just deal with the situation.  I have had some injuries on the left side of my head decades ago, but side effects of  those things will pop up after time.  I chewed long leaf tobacco for thirty some year and was a 'left sider'.  Two thi...

200 meter finals podium.    I ran seventh and just did not really have the zing for the race. I ran fifth in two straight National Finals in the 400 meters.  The 400 is 'my' race and the results are close, but still not far enough up the podium to suit me.  I want metal, not ribbon....   I dug out some info that was written by the coach for Michael Johnson and Jeremy Wariner, who were the premier 400 m athletes in their generation.  They both attended Baylor University and the Baylor track coach-Clyde Hart- has some definite experience in creating quarter mile champs.  There are ways to predict your 400 meter time that is achievable with the proper training.   Take your best 200 time, double that and add 3.5 seconds.   27.7 x 2 +3.5= 58.9 seconds.   I finished the race in 62.55 seconds.   There is a couple of seconds out there that I need to go find.   Coach Hart has writt...

Finals day, everything counts today.   Although this is actually written on Wednesday, we will for the my sanity, write as if it is still Monday.  The weather was warm and still breezy, but the wind was now at your back down the main staight, this was a radical change from the first two days.   My first race is the 200 and I am in lane 1.   I went through my normal routine and felt ready to go when we ran.  I got a good start and was ready to kick it after the curve and looked around and I was already in the dust!! Since,  I had two more races and I was definitely out of the money here, I basically crusied home which is really rare for me.  I ran a 27.9 seconds, which was on 0.2 seconds off my qualifying time, it was OK, but not near good enough.  I ran 7 th.   Some days you got it, some days you don't, today was not a got it day. Now the pressure is on to perform in the 400.  After a couple of hours of waiting and warming up we lined u...

Another day of racing.  I ran the 400m prelim in Jerry Crowe's heat and knew if I could stick with him I would get to the finals-which is the goal for the race.  I started with blocks which I rarely do in the 400, and we were off.   The track is set up with a giant screen at the turn3/4 end and I was cruising down the backstretch feeling good, said hello to my wife as she was recording the race, and looked up at the video at my time and I Was kinda stunned--it was around 26 seconds at the 200 pole.  Wow, I was screaming.  No, you did not factor in the lane seven start, I was still in good shape.  The wind was at my back in the backstretch and turn 3 and the main straight had a good 10 mph breeze, which can really knock your speed down.  Making the turn, Jerry made up the stagger and went past me and I hung on to him for a second place finish of 63.5 seconds.  The fastest I had ran since Cleveland in 2013.   We both made the finals!!!  He...

Still no pictures.  My all Apple set up is struggling with pictures.  I will get it figured out.  The race is loaded on my Facebook as a video.  Linda did great job of routing and filming. I won my heat today in the 200 meters prelim and had to wait thru 3 more heats to see if I transferred to Monday's final.   I know how the folks in auto racing feel when they put a good time and wait until everyone else runs to see how they qualify or get the pole.  That wait was worth it, I qualified 7 th and get to run on Monday!  Yea! That is exciting... I was in lane one, which is typically not a preferred lane, but I got a good start and made up the stagger at the 80 meter mark and dropped the hammer and actually pulled away in the last 20 meters.  It felt good to get there first.   I ran a 27.73 which is 0.7 seconds faster than my last Nationals.  27.7 would have qualified me in 7 th there as well. My training has been better and smarter. ...

It is Saturday or Day 1 for me at the Nationals.   We flew in yesterday and checked in at the convention center and had some lunch, we were starving.   After we got to our hotel, took a break, we decided to attend the Athlete Welcome at the local baseball stadium.   I did not do the welcome when in Cleveland, but it was a fun event.   PJ carried the Tennessee flag for state as we marched into the stadium.   It would put the participation at 1500 athletes.  Linda took some pictures of the event, but I am have trouble getting them linked to the blog.   Alive and Kicking was a vocal group that put on a show.  About two dozen seniors rocked the stage for 15 minutes--from Queen "We are Champions" to Lady GaGa-" Born this Way". They were fun. While in St Paul you must eat at Mickeys diner.  This diner was in the final scene of the movie "A Prairie Home Companion". Divey and wonderful.  I had a banana milk shake and steak and eggs.  Lind...

I had my last 'hard' workout last night.  The weather was pretty hot all day and I like to run in the early evening, so I waited until after 6 PM.   I was already in my car and headed to the local park to do some 50 meter sprints on grass with my grass spikes when the wind whipped up and it started to rain.   If it rains during the meet, you run in the rain, so let's get some practice.  I ran in the rain two weeks ago and got some experience of running in the weather.     The soccer fields , where I like to run, were closed due to being too wet, so I headed to the Eddy Arnold Amphitheater to get started.   The Eddy Arnold Amphitheater is a natural amphitheater that has beautiful covered stage and would seat about 2000 on the grass.  I warmed up with some sprints up the hill and did my stretching on the stage which was dry.  By the end of my stretching, the rain had slacked up and I did my sprints u...

Last chance to get it right for the Nationals this weekend.  I had a really hard work out yesterday on the local high school track.  I typically burn 700 to 800 calories for a 60 minute work out and I was over 1100 calories in 75 minutes when I was finally done yesterday!   I did some curve starts at 95% with blocks and spikes and ran at speed for the entire curve and ran a 200 meter with a baton in less than 30 seconds.   I also worked in some steps on the bleachers to practice fast foot and arm speed for good measure.   Today I visited the hot tub and then stretched out.   That will be it for today, tomorrow another workout with spikes and some more intensity at the local track.  The rest of the week will be light workouts with a daily stretch.  But I will stretch daily. I now need to make sure all my gear is ready, have my spares lined up and rest a lot.   I need to repaint my blocks and disassemble for the trip.  It appears we...

55 to 59 200 meters medalists I have trying to write this blog since the State Finals meets almost two weeks ago, I have been busy to say the least.  But the meet was very successful and it was a great tune up for the Nationals in 9 days.   I medaled in all three events I was in.   I did not get any golds this trip, I won two silvers and a bronze.   But I ran really fast in the 50 m and 200 meters and was beaten by the new and younger guy-- Lyon Fleming # 1387.  He is just starting his career in the Sr Circuit.   I was visiting with Lyon and he indicated that he ran longer distance stuff and was working out one day when he was basically approached by George Siros --a star in the 80-84 mens division-- and thought he would give it a shot.   He ran a 28.09 200 meter and a 7.01 50 meters and won both events!   George found some real talent in Lyon.  The picture of Lyon and me with J...