Sprinting At 60

Wednesday, June 26, 2024 Recovery and Strength Building  For the past week or so (since last post), I have been in recovery and strengthening mode. I have been doing cardio work at the gym on stair machine--30 minutes of good cardio building. I have been doing my Pilates lessons and mat, and doing weights for my body, and the hamstring strengthening exercises every other day. Sunday I went to track practice, and I was able to complete the workout that Lorraine brought. It was two 200 meters (both at like 40 seconds), with 2 minutes between, then five minute rest, then a 400 (1:30), a 300 (1:00), a 400 (1:30) (with 2 minutes between each). Ten minutes rest, then two 200 meters (34). My hamstring did not bother me--though in the last 200 and in the following cool down, I started to "feel" it--it was getting tight and a little achy.  The running felt good--great to be on the track again. Here are the times: First two 200 meters: 37 seconds and 37 seconds First 400: 1:27 300 mete...

 Sunday, June 16, 2024 Recovery and Cross Training It has been a week and a half since I've updated this blog. I went to track practice last Sunday, and I tried the 100 meter "tests." I only did three and still wasn't able to get to 50% of full sprint. I have been religiously doing the hamstring recovery/strengthening exercises every other day. I have been doing the Mill Climb (stairs) machine at the gym for cardio (30 minutes, lots of sweat and a good elevated heart rate). No pain with that. I have seen Dr. Aaron twice for acupuncture and cupping. It seems to really help. I have maintained my Pilates sessions with Megan and the daily truncated mat routine on days when I don't go to the studio for instruction. My hamstring is getting a little better each day. More flexibility, less tightness. I have registered for two more track meets this outdoor season: the USATF NJ (& Mid Atlantic) championship at Kean University in Union NJ on June 30th (two weeks from tod...

Wednesday, June 5, 2024 Hamstring Recovery Protocol So, I have re-watched that great hamstring recovery video (I posted on a previous post or two). Since I don't have any pain walking, and the icing period is over, I decided to go over to the track and attempt the three 100m runs (first 20m slow, next 60m at 50%, last 20m slow). You have to have no pain or (as a minimum bar) a pain level of 4 or less. I could not get up to 50% effort . . . the hammy hurt. So I ran all three 100ms SLOW. But I tried the stadium stairs, and felt little or no pain, so I went ahead and did 20 reps of the lower tier. My legs got wobbly and I was breathy. So I rode my bike home. The new sliders arrived, so I will use them do to the exercises as they are laid out in the video. Trying to follow the protocol best I can to see if I can recover enough to run in another meet or two this outdoor season. I see Dr. Aaron on Friday. I have a Pilates private lesson again tomorrow. After that, I'll go to gym for ...

First Official 400 Meter Race! Competed at the Elliot Denman NJ International Track & Field Meet at Monmouth University, on Sunday, June 2, 2024 This was my first 400 meter race in 40 years.  I am so grateful I was able to run, grateful for the ability to move my body! I did pretty well--MUCH better than I expected. There were 3 sections of 400 Masters for the race. I was in the last (and slowest) heat (save the one high school kid who finished in like 54 seconds LOL--who, by the way, was way out in lane 8 or 9, and I couldn't even see him to try to catch him--would have needed my glasses!). My best competition in this heat was Jeff Flock (a 66-year-old on my team, and a 35-year-old unattached runner next to me in lane 2 [I was in 3]). I had put my qualifying time in as 1:20 (because, honestly, I hadn't run faster than like 1:18 in practices--so I was going in hoping to run at 1:15 or maybe 1:10 with my best effort). I was a little concerned, too, about my hamstring, as wel...