Senior Olympian Sprinter

I have traveled the last two weeks, one trip to Mexico City and the other trip to Tulsa.  I flew Delta to Mexico City and Southwest to Tulsa.   The trip on Delta was older planes that were completely full and the flights were basically trouble free.   The only delay was in Atlanta when you go thru customs and then go thru the Atlanta Airport security line, it is always a 20 to 30 minute wait at the TSA security area and there is no PreCheck.  Atlanta does not give a shit about you and never will.  The only airport like it in the world.  The Southwest flights were only about 2/3 full and I decided to travel in the back of the plane instead of the exit rows.  The rear seats are three wide and only had one passenger in each.  When you give people a chance to spread out and they are not cramped or hurried, it makes for a lot more relaxed travel.  It was absolutely glaring the difference between cramped travel and the planes that ar...

Last year I ran a 5K on Thanksgiving as a test of my conditioning and I did it in 30:53 minutes.  I was trying to beat 30 minutes, which I have been trying to do for the last several 5 K races I have raced in the last 5 years.  I have run 3 5K races in the last 5 years.  I just struggle in these "marathons".  I signed up this year for the Grace Works 5K, which is run around the Cool Spring Galleria at 8:00 AM on Thanksgiving morning.   It was about 60 degrees at race time, pretty nice for this time of the year.  I was up early and put on 10 pieces of KT tape.  I put a tape job on both feet and knees and wore my best support wear to keep from getting any cramps or knee problems.  My knees have been getting a little loose lately and have on a rare occasions gotten twisted and that is a real annoyance.  I was taped and compressed to withstand anything that was to come.  Last year I struggled at the start because I g...

    This is my back yard entertainment this year.  If you spot some antlers, you are looking in the right spot.  Looks like an eight pointer is using our yard as his local hook up spot.      This is what he was after today just before dark.  Pretty good buck bait. Both pictures were taken at very low light.       I know the rut is in full swing now in Brentwood.  Deer have been everywhere and the bucks are 50 yards away--like this one-- and they are basically fearless of humans.  We have a nice buck in our backyard and I may have to get a crossbow so I can take he out.  he has ruined a lot of trees with his antlers and that is not why I planted them.     I ran a warm up for the 5K I plan on running on Thursday.  I ran my hilly course in 30:30 for the distance.  My goal on Thursday is less than 30 minutes and I should be close to getting under that time. I will rest my legs ...

I am getting a handle on the moles and now there is a buck white tail that is using my small trees as the his personal antler polish.  It has been so dry lately, I have not been mowing the yard and I have not had chance to see all the trees around the property. The other day I was walking around and two trees in the front of the house were torn up  pretty good.   I bought some 4 Inch drainage pipe to protect them, but several are in pretty bad shape and will probably need to be removed.  Deer and beaver are not my favorites in this area.  It is very frustrating to plant trees and keep them alive and then some idiot buck just shreds your work!  I am signed up for the Nationals next summer in Birmingham, Al.   The meet will be 5 days and they will run all the ages in those 5 days.  It is going to be crowded and busy.  In the past, the 65 and up ran a separate meet the week before the youngsters arrived.   That is a lot of ...

I live an area where moles enjoy just tearing thru my yard and enjoying life. Things have changed in the last two years for the little miners.   Where ever they have tunneled in the yard in the past has died out the following weeks and has made the yard a little unsightly.   I am not the biggest yard nut, but I do like to have a relatively smooth surface that has an even cover of grass.  The moles had become a problem and I needed to act in early 2015.  I mow over 1.5 acres total and about an acre is subject to mole damage.   I do not want to eliminate the grubs with pesticide so I have to address mole control a little differently. There several old tree root systems in the yard and from trees removed and trees that are still alive.  There are a lot of places for the grubs to survive and the moles know this.   The moles have a lot areas in which to find food and there is a lot of food available.   Last year I trie...

I have been really busy and have not followed up with the Chattanooga race results which was held over two weeks ago.  The conditions were very good for sprinters with a very light wind  and a very fast blue surface down by the river at the Girls School.   I ran in two races, the 100 and 200 meters.   I ran within 0.1 of my personal best in each race and the speed increase due to weight loss is real.  In the 100 m, there was no one ahead so I ran my own race and finished with a 13.39 hand timed.  In the 200 meters, there were three runners.   William Yelverton was in lane 4 and I was in lane 2.  He decided to run the race at the last minute and I was glad to have someone to pace me--so to speak-- or someone that I would try to catch. Bill race 24.89 and I ran a 27.39 and felt great.   That was the second fastest time in the 200 since started the Senior thing at 53 years old.   This time was faster than my Nat...

Linda has a new knee and now has a matched set of Zimmer knees that should last her a really long time.  The knee surgery recovery is going very well.  Some other pain that was developing before the surgery is causing some problems with back pain that she does not need!   We are going to address that soon and hope to cure a lot of pain problems very quickly, that is our hope.     So in the meantime, a lot of ice and cold packs are getting used.   The freezer is half cold packs and they are constantly in motion.   Linda is improving daily and can walk without her walker after 7 days!   Progress! I tested some new shoes this week.  These models by Asics and New Balance are supposed to be targeted to the 400 meter runners.   Both have very aggressive and are built with a quite stiff fore foot which feels great and they both have great traction with Omni Lite 7 mm spikes.  The NB does have a much...

Racing when you are older-- 59 years old in my case--is risky business.   Injuries are a part of any sporting activity, whether you are running on the track, the sidewalk, or driving a car very fast.  You are going to get hurt if you take enough chances and in many cases do not take the right precautions.  The hard part of the entire process is to know how to challenge your self and perform training that will address your weaknesses and make you more competitive.   And when meet day arrives,  running at the best of your ability and not exceeding  your capability is very tricky.   When we arrive at capability and ability the waters get very muddy and experience is the best teacher if you listen to your body properly.  The real difficult part of this process is that there is almost no material that has been published to address training as a senior athlete.  I have looked, it does not exist.  The materi...

Saturday was the Greater Nashville Qualifier race for the Tennessee State Finals next summer.   It was probably one of my best meets.   The competition was not the best, but there was plenty of incentive to put up some fast times and I did get in one really good race that was incredibly satisfying to win!  And winning a great race is what the sport part of this is all about.  This is racing in the most basic form.  Saturday started as a very nice day at Brentwood High School track.  A light wind out of the South and that is great for sprinters,  a tail wind down the finish straight--my favorite wind when racing.  But right after that race, the rain started and it kept coming down for the rest of the running events.  We were lucky that we did not get a storm with lightning, just rain and everything  was soaking wet.  I do not get to run in the rain much, but it happens and you race through it the best you can....

The District Qualifier is tomorrow.   I did my last day of race prep this morning.  I warmed up at the gym and did a very thorough stretch.   Ran a few cool down laps and that is it for today.  I feel pretty good, although my left buttock has been a little tight for a couple of weeks.  Nothing bad, but I think the lactic will show up there first tomorrow.   The weather should be warm and sunny--which means dehydration issues.  I will be drinking a lot of water today and working on some electrolytes as well.  The running order for me is 100, 200, 50, 400.  The 100 is right at 9:00 and then a small break before the 200.   I am not that concerned about the 100, but want to run hard for the 200 to see if I have made any progress with the training this summer.   The 50 is always crazy fast and what is left will be used on the 400.   My weight is stabilized at 194 pounds and that is as light as I hav...

Greater Nashville qualifier meet is coming up and it will be next weekend at Brentwood High School on Sept 16. I have been doing some training with Lyon Fleming as he recovers from a nasty heel injury.  He is getting up to speed pretty quickly and actually looking at doing the 400 as part of his sprint racing.  Taking on the 400 is just crazy in my opinion, but he is actually doing pretty well.  He ran a 67 second 400 the other morning and I think he should be very competitive in the younger man's group --55 to 59.    He is going to do fine.  I have been running about every other day with a lot more weight training this cycle.  My weight is around 194 and I am actually feeling some gains at the lower weight.   My recovery for the 400 meters is much better now when training.  I have actually done a lot more 400's as part of my training this summer.  I recovered so poorly in the past, I basically avoided any 400 ...

      I made a trip to Oregon this week and stayed in Eugene a couple of nights--that only means one thing to me--Hayward Field.    I did not get to run on the track this trip, it was only open in the morning the day I had a chance to work out.  I checked the track out in the morning and it was open and busy with runners, but in the afternoon when I returned to do my work out--it was locked up.   U of O has a lot of very nice field right behind the track for intramural soccer (4) and also a warm up track that is square and 3 lanes wide. I think it is used for events at Hayward Field when they hold the meets.    Running conditions were about as good as you can imagine.  No clouds anywhere, 85 degrees, breezy and humidity under 30% !!!!  The lack of humidity was very noticeable the entire trip.   As soon as the door opened in Nashville, that blast of wet air reminded rather quickly a...

150 mark and we are bucking the wind   I made a short trip to Oakland University in Michigan for their Senior Games State Qualifier  the last weekend.   Linda was supposed to join me by taking a later flight on Friday that was cancelled by Southwest. Her flight was scheduled leave Nashville at 8:40 PM and was delayed until 3:40 PM takeoff !!! before it was cancelled.   She missed the show.   And I missed my cheering section.   I got into town on Friday afternoon and made it to the track to stretch and check out the facility for shade, restrooms and all that stuff you need to survive a meet.  I got in a good stretch and shot the breeze with another sprinter who was from Ohio and was in the 70-74 age group.  He still refs high school football and had a bad injury a few years ago when his patella and quad separated on a inception play where he planted his leg at the goal line and it just went. He looked ...

    Linda and I made it last weekend to the Pro Football HOF induction in Canton, Ohio.  Brett Favre was going in along with Ken Stabler, Tony Dungy, Marvin Harrison, Orlando Pace, Kevin Greene and Dick Stanfel and Eddy Bartolo.   Some of the well know Raider fans were there as well.  I really feel bad for the Raider Fans. Stabler died just before the announcement that he was going in the hall.  If you get inducted after you die, the speech is eliminated and you get short changed.   We enjoyed ourselves and met a lot of great football fans.  The Raider fans were really good fans and were fun to talk football.  The majority of the fans were Green Bay and most were drunk. It was game weekend to them.   PARTY !!!    We attended the induction and the roundtable.  The roundtable was a great way to get some off the cuff stories and get a feel for the real person.  The game was cancelled,...

  With the hot weather the last couple of weeks, the tomatoes have been turning red by the bucket.  I planted some Roma tomatoes for sauce--pizza and spaghetti, and I found a variety that claimed to be good for sun drying.  Linda likes sun dried tomatoes, so I thought I would give them a shot.  I have two large cookie sheets in the oven now drying.  Sun drying is basically done in the oven if you do not live in an arid area.   Hopefully they work.  I am allergic to garlic and that allergy is not getting any better as I age.  So getting any sort of tomato sauce or sun dried tomatoes without added garlic is nearly impossible.  We fixed that problem by doing it ourselves.  We did make a batch of pizza sauce--picture above--that was olive oil, basil, salt and  Roma tomatoes.  Add some heat and cook it down and you have pizza sauce.  We have already eaten on jar and I am going to repeat the process this weeken...

1975 Track photo I found this photo in my box of track memories and this was the state of the art of track wear in 1975.  A little singlet  and the billowing lightweight pants with your jock strap underneath.  I would probably cry if I had to wear this today.  I need the modern systems that support the calves, hips and upper body.  I do not miss wearing this stuff.  And the shoes were just really starting any sort of development, they were still awful. Time marched on and I am really glad!   I have been adding some additional core work to get the waist a little trimmer.  It is helpful, as is the fresh garden veggies that we have been eating for a couple of weeks.  Beans, tomatoes, corn, peppers, carrots and cukes are all plentiful and we are enjoying picking and eating them.  The fence I put up last winter is keeping the deer out and we can keep our veggies instead of feeding the wildlife. Another big help on the core and r...

Most engineers, at the least the good ones,  like to learn from their experiences and take notes and just kind of keep track of things.   Engineers are just stupid about calculating fuel mileage, gas prices, project costs, household budgets, loan principal remaining, exercise journals and so on.   I have done all of these and still continue to keep an exercise log( two formats) also keep track of my projects and loans.    My training log is actually in Excel and is over 2600 lines at this point.   I keep track of location and any environmental oddities and the calories, body weight, time, intensity and the heart rate and elapsed time for each distance ran.  Excessive recordkeeping?  Maybe, but it is helpful to review after good or poor performances and try and find the key factor that has effected the outcome.  The latest meet was very successful.  I felt very good and still had a little left at the finish of the 20...

400 meter race with Richard Westbrook 70 meters to go  Richard Silver, I took Gold 200 meter with 70 m to go. World class speed, 55.55 sec 400 meters on left, 55.78 on right!   Another successful State Finals over the weekend! It was the usual hot Tennessee summer weekend spent on a black rubber track!  The competition was very spirited with multiple records in all the classes--just great athletes from Charles Baker to William Yelverton.   Charlie Baker is in the 90-94 age group and was running by himself and still setting records in the sprints.  His doctor did not want him to run, he had something acting up, but Charlie stated -"I have to run" and indeed he did.  Charlie is nearing the end of his career but wants to go to Birmingham next summer and win some more National medals.  He is truly Senior Olympian royalty.   Yelverton usually does the USATF Masters but lives relatively close to Birmingham and wants to b...