Wednesday, Aug. 31st . . . hard workout with barefoot warm-up

6 min. barefoot warm-up, then laced up the shoes and alternated between 5k and 10k pace running for 1 hr., finishing the last mile in 5:41 (also threw in 6x300 meter surges). I've significantly cut back on the amount of pace work I do and I've maintained my speed. Goes to show you don't need that much pace work as high level aerobic running is the most valuable (95% of my running). I use to do 3 race pace workouts per week but now I only do 1 race pace workout every 6-8 days.

Harry

Tuesday, Aug. 30th . . . put the shoes down

After 11 straight days of running my body called a meeting this morning, told me to not even think about putting on running shoes, and take the day off and of course I listened. It's the main reason I'm going on 3 yrs. of injury free running. I'm trending at about 10-14 days of consecutive running then a rest day.

Harry

Monday, Aug. 29th . . . pure recovery

Pure 30 min. recovery run. I call it the "blood flow" run to repair torn muscles. Only purpose is to focus on form with short crisp strides and to get the blood flowing after hard running with race pace intervals the past few days. My goal is to never run faster than a 9:00 pace on a pure recovery day . . . it's essentially a rest day.

Harry

Sunday, Aug. 28th . . . on tired legs . . .

1 hr. run. Not much left in my legs after yesterday's run but I pleased that I could keep good form and everything felt good. Picked it up the last 2 miles increasing pace every 800 meters down to a 5:30 pace. A bit faster pace than I would like on tired legs but I "run by feel" so my body must have been fine with it.

Harry

Saturday, Aug. 27th . . . blow off steam run . . .

I so needed this 85 min. run (a bit over 10 miles) to blow off steam after dealing with obnoxious tennis parents yesterday. It took all I had to hold back from letting one of them have it. Kids are wonderful but parents are a problem.

Harry

Friday, Aug. 26th . . . crusin' mach 13 style

I tried the new Brooks Mach 13 XC's this morning for the first time and did a nice 50 min. trail run and they felt great. I did acquire a few blisters which I generally expect in new shoes since I run sock-less. The Mach 13's feel really good and lock in the foot. I ordered a half size larger (11.5) than my true size and I thought they might still be too tight but not after running in them as they are designed to lock the foot for cross country running and they do just that.

It's early so we'll see how I feel about them after putting some real mileage on them.

Harry

Thursday, Aug. 25th . . . and yesterday . . .

45 min. run yesterday; 35 min. short run today as I had some muscle soreness so I took it nice and easy.

Harry

Tuesday, Aug. 23rd . . . fartlek with does of pace . . .

I felt like a good run to get the legs turning. Varied the paces from 5k to half marathon pace during this 45 min. run. Hit the hills hard and relaxed downhill.

Harry

Monday, Aug. 22nd . . . getting back into it . . .

My daughter's tennis dominated the weekend so my running schedule was off a bit and I had to take yesterday off so I decided to be very conservative 45 min. short easy run today, a bit longer tomorrow, then resume my normal stuff . . .

Harry

Daughter and Tennis trumps running :)

Had to take the day off as my daughter's tennis schedule is crazy today with her playing singles in multiple divisions resulting in 3-4 matches today. No running for me today but I get to do something even better which is be a supportive dad :)

Harry

Saturday, August 20th . . .long XC run

85 min . fun run on grass, dirt fields and trails. Finished the final 1 mile at 6:00 pace.

Harry

Why I don't run with a watch (garmin) or any technology

http://mzungofire.blogspot.com/2010/01/are-kenyans-wearing-heart-rate-monitors.html

Friday, Aug. 19th . . . trail tempo run . . . but it wasn't planned . . .

Headed out for a very easy run but after the first 600 meters my body said "go," and since I "run by feel," I listened to my body and it turned into a controlled 10k tempo type run (6:30 pace). I made sure to stay in my aerobic zone.

I ended with a good 15 minute warm down and some stretching. I never know what the day holds for me since I never predetermine my run . . . I just do what my body wants to do.

Harry

Thursday, Aug. 18th . . . nice easy run . . .

55 min. easy run and what I thought about while running . . .

I know I'm likely stating the obvious but I've been thinking a lot while running (nothing new there) about injuries and what causes it and specifically as it relates to speed and fast running and I think one of the major reasons speed increases the changes of injury is due to an insufficient warm-up and I mean a complete warm-up.

I've been taking note of myself and it can take me 40-60 minutes to warm-up before I can move into 10k or 5k paces. That's a long time which is why I only run race pace about 10% of the time because like many, I don't have enough time each day to properly warm-up then start a race pace workout. However, this is exactly what elite and professional runners get to do and we often overlook it, or a minimum we underscore it. I mean, you read that a 1-2 mile or 10-15 minute warm-up is sufficient and I call bull on that . . . it's crap. That's not enough time in my opinion especially for master's running like many of us.

This is one reason I often tack on race pace running at the end of my long run because I've spent up to 1 hr. of running nice and easy and my body is fully warmed-up and I often even stop and do 5 minutes of dynamic stretching then start to increase my pace.

This is one major reason I'm running so effortlessly because I'm completely given in to my body and I let my body dictate everything. I have no idea what type of run, how far or how fast I will run on a given day. I just head out and start running slowly and let my body decide the rest. At this point, all I know is easy, medium and hard running and that's all I need to know. Easy is obviously, medium is tempo; hard is race pace . . . I love the simplicity I've found.

I just thought I'd share it with others. I hear about the challenges many of you are going through and it's many of the same issues and challenges I faced for years and I really want to share all I can so that others can reach the point I'm at because it's heavenly. Running unconsciously, without serious pain or injury, then moving throughout the day without any issues. Honestly, I feel guilty because I want everyone to experience this . . . but the point is anyone can reach this point and each person's journey will be different but perhaps little tid bits from others that have gone through it will help along the way.

Harry

Day off and a quote

When my children were young, I ran for my sanity, I ran for myself, I ran to set a good example because they watched me move. Today they move alongside me. We run because we can.

Kristin Armstrong, Author and runner

Tuesday, Aug. 16th . . . interval time

A great 60 minute run with 2 miles at 5:35 ish' pace including 6x400 surges alternating between 5k and 10k pace. Most of last week was good hard aerobic running so it was nice to turn it up a notch.

Harry

Monday, Aug. 15th . . . recovery time . . .

A pure recovery run. Short and sweet . . . 35 minutes. I forced myself to stop. True recovery runs are so important.

Harry

Sunday, Aug. 14th . . . easy long run . . .

Nice easy and relaxed 80 minute run, with the last 3 minutes at 5k pace just to end with some leg turnover. The entire run was so relaxed and effortless. I'm not pushing over 700 miles on my pair of racing flats so who says they don't last :)

Harry

Saturday, Aug. 13th . . . adjustment back to high elevation . . .

After taking Friday off as I had to fly back home, I took out for a nice easy 45 minute run to re-acclimate with high elevation running. After 7 days at sea level, I'm back to the mile high city so I took it very easy.

Harry

Thursday, Aug. 11th . . . running with a smile through Stanford . . .

Awesome 1 hr. recovery run through Stanford Univ. I had tired legs but my form and stride felt great. Perfect weather. Couldn't ask for more.

Harry

Wednesday, Aug. 10th . . . page mill road loopin'

55 min. run up and down and around page mill road to stanford road and a bit of this and that, all of which equaled an awesome run!!!!!!!!!!!! just diggin' Stanford Univ.

Harry

Tuesday, Aug. 9th . . . a stroll through Stanford . . .

A nice 45 minute recovery run all through Stanford University. I ended by running the stadium stairs at the famous Taube tennis stadium then threw in 3 100 meter strides. Overall, a beautiful and fun run.

Harry

Monday, Aug. 8th . . . The "famous" Stanford Dish Loop . . .

After all these years traveling to Silicon Valley I finally had the opportunity to run the famous Stanford dish loop. I've been told you haven't really run at Stanford until you complete the dish loop and it's true. Extremely hilly route but you get rewarded with spectacular views of the bay area. The basic loop is about 3.5 miles but I added some of the off trails (not sure if they have rattlesnakes but I was looking :) to get a longer run in (40 minutes and just over 5 miles).

Lucky for me I come from the mile high city and run in the mountains a lot so the hills were no big deal and I get a big benefit in terms of breathing when running at sea level vs. elevation. Just a breath taking run. When I reached the top of the mountain I was reminded why I run.

Harry

Sunday, Aug. 7th . . . a river runs through Stanford Univ.

Awesome 1 hr. run through the beautiful Stanford Univ. campus. Plenty of dirt areas and trails. Loved it!!! Also visited the best shoe store in the U.S. (ZombieRunner) . . . what an awesome running store. Had breakfast at the farmer's market . . .it really doesn't get better than this . . .

Harry

Saturday, Aug. 6th . . .

65 minutes of running including 5.5 miles at sub 6:30 pace. Felt great and finished right before the heat. Ran in a old pair of Asics Hyperspeed 3's. I think I can run in just about any shoe now.

Harry

Friday, Aug. 5th . . . back to speed . . .

Yesterday's slow run was exactly what I needed as I felt refreshed today and hit a nice medium effort tempo run . . . 5 miles at 6:45 pace.

Harry

August 4th . . . the beauty in slowing down . . .

There's just nothing like nature. I decided this morning to slow the hell down. I found some nice trails and forced myself to run slow. I spent most of my 65 min. run looking at the snow capped mountains in the background, the trees, flowers, and waved to a few coyotes (they looked at me like I was crazy :).

Speed is nice and I enjoy running fast but it was a reminder that sometimes you can run so fast that you run right past the reasons you love running in the first place. I loved this run and I literally felt the inspiration and love for running returning with each stride. It was another reminder about balance. I've learned to "run by feel," and with all my road racing my body adjusted to running pretty hard and fast on a daily basis and it took a concentrated effort to slow down and smell the flowers. Although I wasn't in the mountains, I did pick the most uneven terrain I could which helped me slow down.

There's absolute beauty in running slower.

Harry

Wednesday, Aug. 3rd . . . nice and easy goes it . . .

Nice and easy 40 min. run. Focused on my breathing. This is exactly what my body wanted to do today. This is the perfect easy/recovery type run. I hit my stride in the last 10 min. and before I allowed my body to start to head toward race pace, I shut it down.

Harry

What's my next challenge?

I started running 4 years ago with a few goals in mind. First, enjoy my running and run as injury free as possible. Second, a sub 18:00 5k. Third, a sub 38:00 10k. Well, I've achieved those goals. I haven't been injured in 26+ months and I've achieved those race times. Now, I'm bored :). I can't believe it. I have to find a new challenge!!!

Harry

Monday, Aug. 1st . . . 40 acres and a mule . . .

I don't know, I just felt like saying that. It was a good 45 min. trail run . . . more of a recovery run after yesterday's workout.

Harry