Senior Olympian Sprinter

    If you leave the airport in US Virgin Island, look to your right and this beach will be right behind the thin line of trees and shrubs.  The beautiful water gets to you quick.   The water in the Virgin Islands is quite clear and plentiful.  Linda and I recently spent a week on St Thomas and enjoyed the weather, people, beaches and food.  We 'won' a trip last year at a fundraiser for the Nashville Rep Theatre and this is the trip we collected.  It our first trip to the Islands and we enjoyed it and would go back if given a chance.    The island we were on is really dependent on the tourist trade and the cruise ships are a large part of that equation.   Everybody that works on the island knew the ship schedules.   We went to a beach on the North side of the island and arrived before a boat docked on the South side of the island.  One hour after that boat docked, 1500 more people arrived at Magen's B...

I have been on my new meds for a couple of weeks and finally had a chance to test my speed at the local track this week. I have gained a couple of pounds--but I have had a very robust appetite. Med related???    I have been running only once a week and that makes for a lot of energy from the legs. I ran some 50 meters from the blocks and felt pretty good.  I did  a couple of stop watch runs without blocks and the numbers were pretty good and I think I should be able to get into the USATF bronze or silver award range in the 60 meters.  One of my fellow Sr. Olympians gave me a heads up about a USATF masters event on May 6.  I  will sign up.  I have not gotten an official time in the 60 meters and will definitely run that and the shorter sprints.   I think three races in on day are enough.  I do need recovery time and getting hurt now would be just stupid.  I think the 'rest' period that I have been enjoying ...

  I discussed doping my last post and I have continued to work on getting clean for racing.   I have successfully changed my blood pressure meds with a totally different active.  The follow up visits with my doctor have indicated that the BP is in my normal range and that change has been OK.   I have been experimenting with different actives for my allergy medication.   I have used Allegra D 24 for years and it is not legal for meets, but is OK during the rest of the year.  Tricky medicine to get out of your system as well.  I have calculated it would take around 72 hours to get clean after a dosage.  This pill is encapsulated for timed release and it makes getting the actives much more difficult to clear. I was in Canada a couple weeks ago and bought some Claritin and Allegra D 12 hour medicine to "trial".   The Allegra D 12 was effective while in Canada and not nearly as strong as that neutron bomb I had ...

I made some interesting discoveries this week about my daily medications, one is a banned substance and the other is only banned during competition.   USATF does do drug testing and there is a long list of no no's and also a list that are no no's during the meets but OK the rest of the year.  It makes it pretty messy to stay legal.  I went to my doctor today and we worked through the scenarios and we have changed my blood pressure medicine to a legal active ingredient.   The old drug was basically a diuretic and they do not like that stuff in your system because it will mask other illegal actives by changing the urine.   I will start my new BP med this week. My allergy medicine is a whole other kettle of fish.  I use Allegra D and the D is the bad boy. D is the antihistamine and it really works to dry up my sinus and keep me from becoming a snot factory--literally. The pseudoephedrine is the bad boy in this medication and it is le...

Last weekend I experienced for the first time a USATF National event and had a really good time.  Earlier this year I ran in an indoor USATF event and really enjoyed the meet and also met some interesting people that encouraged my to give the Nationals at shot in Albuquerque.   They were correct about me enjoying the event, it was a lot of fun and the best Masters athletes in the world are there to enjoy.  # 4 bib.  The meet is  in the Convention Center in downtown Albuquerque and the elevation is about 5100 feet at the location.  The thinner air does make for less wind resistance, but recovery is tough for the longer events.  I struggled after my 400 to recovery.   More about that later.  The track is portable and has substantial banking in the curves, which are a fun to negotiate at speed.  It is a quick surface and design. I arrived on Thursday from a call I had made in Canada and did not get on the track until F...

Bicentennial Blog as defined by Linda.   My first blog was 8-6-2012.  I think I have covered a lot of subjects in that time period and will continue to cover the ones that have biggest effect on me.  Well, today that is easy as pie.   I am in LAX or Los Angeles International Airport.  Holy cow is this place nuts!   I flew in Monday on Delta and needed to switched to WestJet for my leg into Vancouver, Canada.  Well, you get to go outside and wander thru a parking garage and then worm your way to the terminal across the way for WestJet.  Security into the International terminal was unlike any I have seen anywhere.  No habla Ingles was the rule.  Basically no one spoke English or knew what was going on.  Just herds of people flowing up steps and into the queue.  PreChek--you don't get no stinking PreChek! Absolutely crazy,  and I know how to navigate this crap.  Chaos at its finest.  ...

I am on my way West today for a visit in Vancouver through LAX.   I have been flying since I was 18 years old and have at least 300,000 air miles and I have never been to LAX!    I guess I do not have   any need to go to Southern California.    But today, I will pop in for short visit, eat some lunch and continue on my way to Vancouver.   Right now I am over the Grand Canyon and the clouds are breaking up—one big ditch you got down there.  One the way to Vancouver form LAX, there was a lot of snow in the mountains.  Hopefully the drought conditions will subside this season. I have the Masters Indoor Nationals coming up this weekend in New Mexico and I have been training as hard as I have for any meet. The last two weeks have been really hard.   I ran and went to the gym for 7 days in a row.   I knew I would have some off days when I went Tulsa and that is why I pushed for 7 days in a row.   Typical training is max of 3 d...