Sorry for your loss Dave. So many young lives cut short in that part of the world.
Sorry for your loss Dave. So many young lives cut short in that part of the world.
Oh Dave, such sad sad news. I pray for strength and peace for your sister and your family.
Yes, Dave, condolences. Never easy, particularly during the holiday season. Assuming military, or else a private security detail. Sorry for your sister's loss.
Reflection:
The plan for last year changed completely which is pretty standard for me but the Goal was accomplished.
Goals:
2014 Goals same as last year.
Goals:
1. REMAIN INJURY FREE FOR ALL OF 2013 AND BEYOND!!!!
2. REMEMBER GOAL NUMBER ONE.
3. REMEMBER GOAL NUMBER TWO.
Plan:
Remain Dynamic keep running fresh and interesting
Resolution:
Eats only fruits,veggies and beans with small amounts of dairy and meat.
Gratitude:
Any day I get to run I am truly thankful.
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Week 135
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Happy 2014, 50+ers. Not much to offer this week, as the complicated travel schedule has made it impossible to get into a routine. Very much looking forward to starting at the gym with some low impact aerobic work, and continuing with the dynamic PT routines. I think I'm at the point, though, where I don't really see the PT guy doing me much good. He seems to be fishing for answers that are no better than what I would come up with on my own. So I may just check in once every couple of months from here on out. Thoughts?
Charlie has it right, and I think that I'm going to have to do a better job of figuring out how to get there. MikeF always reminds us of Arthur Lydiard's immortal words, "train, don't strain". I still have to find where that sweet spot is....I didn't think I was particularly straining, but obviously, I was.
We're up in the frozen tundra for at least another day before heading back southward. They're predicting a low temperatures of -24F tonight, and only a high of -11F tomorrow. Given the wind-chill, my wife feels we should delay travel for another day and head back on Tuesday, when the high here in Wisconsin will be a balmy 3F.
Hope all is going well in your neck of the woods, and those of you in the northern half of US, be safe during this Arctic blast!!
Oh, and Go Pack!!
Thanks everyone for your kind thoughts...
I've got a nice start to the New Year. Averaging about 10 miles/day with just easy runs. I'd like to see if I can handle 70 mile weeks again. Didn't have any last year. Most years I start off trying to get in 1000 miles in the first 100 days. Think I've only made it a few times. I'll give it a go and see how long I can last...
Weather is nasty but I'm loving my treadmill these days. It never seems as bad as I used to remember.
Bagged the 40 race's in a year idea...
Lastly L2b, I'm a lifelong Bears fan. Nothing more to say...
Dave
Happy New Year all! My post-Club Nationals recovery continues to move along slowly but steadily. In the 3 weeks since the race I now have gone 14mi, 18mi, and now 30mi with runs everyday this week. The goal for the coming week is back to 50+. All the running still is easy pace except the Saturday mornings with my son and daughter-in-law. Once everything feels stable and healthy at 50+ per week I will start thinking about workouts again. So far, my training plan says one thing, but my body has said something else. I'd like to get them to match up by the end of this month.
Managed to run two 5K's on the track this week, plus desert runs and the treadmill. Working on arms and core daily.
Have a good week!
A couple of short paddles of 3 or so kms on Monday and Tuesday.
I ran 13k pretty solid on Wednesday but pulled up with a very sore heal.
Thursday was a 25k ride inc one section of seriously steep trails, about 90 minutes. Friday, a wild old 7k paddle on the lake, blowing a gale and some big "surf". Saturday, 30k on the bike mostly farm roads about 90 minutes.
Sunday, headed up the back on my tough trails for a run. Climbing was ok but the flats and downhills were bothering the heal. I pulled the pin after 10 easy kms.
I had entered a 28km trail race next Sunday. I had no plans of really racing it, I don't have the flat running fitness to really go for it on this sort of course.
I will take the rest of the week off from running in the hope the sore heal comes up.
Long, long time.
THE hardest "comeback" ever in a 44 year running career following autumn surgery...I guess being nearly 58 doesn't help.
As I'm in between age groups, am focusing on strengthening as many weak links prior to hitting next age group.
We typically train to our "strengths" rather than step outside the comfort zone...on paper at least the strategy should lay a better foundation once the time is ripe to go after "specific" modality.
That being said, am personally immensely grateful every single day that i can run/ train (not strain)...we just lost a teammate pal to heart failure a few weeks back and he too was 58 and one of the very very toughest cross country runners I've ever known...all the way to the end...point being, take NOTHING for granted.
Completed 21 consecutive days today...longest since surgery and a multitude of false starts...21 is the generally accepted number re: behavioralism that it takes to create/kick any habit (for you resolution sorts)
Managed 119 miles in those 21 days including 11 today that was easily my best run since August.
The coach in me likes GOALS better than resolutions...if you set some, make sure that you write them down and visit and re-visit those written goals regularly...consciously visualize a positive end result for your written goals and your liklihood of actually accomplishing them is exponentially greater.
Don't write them, don't re-visit regularly, don't consciously visualize and your just blowing smoke...be real, be committed.
Oh, and train, don't strain.
Warm regards and wishes for your ongoing success,
MikeF
Happy 2014! My gosh, what the heck happened to 2013?!
Goal for 2014: Run a 3:20 (or better) marathon time at Oklahoma City marathon (late April).
Last two weeks - Family visits and skiing trip with my husband and all the kids took precedence over long runs on the weekends. Had a great ski trip in Mount Crested Butte, CO. My husband and I would downhill ski with our kids for 5 or 6 hours per day. In the afternoons, we would run 4(ish) miles on nordic ski trails downhill to the town of Crested Butte. Then ride a free mountain shuttle back up to the condo we were staying in.
It was a fun trip - especially being able to keep up with our kids all day on the slopes! Certainly the training and running we do makes it possible for us to do that.
So running took a back seat to other activities over the holidays and trip. Ready now both mentally and physically to begin training for OKC in April....and will start in ernest tomorrow...
Best wishes to all in 2014 in everything and good luck in achieving all your running goals.
Happy New Year to all. Haven't posted in a while as December came and went quickly. I actually returned from China with a respiratory issue that lasted forever. Seemed to linger for 4 weeks which was concerning due to all the bird flu issues they have there. But, I'm back to running consistently.
I'm a BIG resolution guy because I always commit to them. It's a big challenge for me to accomplish them. Especially when it comes to giving up Pepsi or chocolate or something like that. But this year, it's adding yoga and adding weights to my routine. It will happen. We'll see if I notice any advantages from them.
And last year will be hard to top but I'll try. My daughter finished 4th in the state Champs (swimming) and I coach a kid who won the Footlocker Nat'l Champs. Those two things highlighted my 2013. I didn't race at all (basically) as coaching gets in the way of my fitness quite often. Maybe in 2014!
Last week was a 39 mile total, all run outdoors. Included was an 11.5 miler. Felt some soreness from an old injury of last summer, though, that is around my spine/butt area, of concern.
Yesterday was the first day indoors, d/t windchill below zero, and my wife's lack of fondness for this, esp. how it hurts her toes. Same with today, but if it does reach 30 degrees tomorrow, back on the roads!
Am considering a fairly flat 50 km race on April 26, can I get over 20 miles in training by then is the big question! Sure hope to get above 40 mpw average as well.
Had a GREAT hurdle practice on Saturday and then rolled that momentum into a tough lifting session on Sunday. Today is a rest day. It seems the most I can do is 4 workouts a week --one lifting, one hurdles, one speed endurance, and one speed work. Unfortunately I have a long commute that eats up the time during the work week and that makes it tough to train during the week. But that workout plan seems to be working. My first meet is the association championships on the 26th. After not competing due to injury in 2013, I just want to stay injury-free and enjoy competing in 2014.
Currently on a planned week off, fortunate it coincided with a sore throat.
I did the HIAT workout again but this time I moved their lower intensity 3rd & last interval (80%, 10mph for me) to the 2nd spot, which made the workout easier to do and which also allowed me to do an extra 4th interval (this one @ 90% effort like #'s 1 & 3).
The 2 min recovery jog between @ 50% (6mph) was fine. However, I did a 10 min warm-up on the treadmill, including some strides up to 11mph (90% pace). I don't think it advisable to follow their protocol on a treadmill using only a 3 min warm-up, perhaps on a bike.
I then read Steve Magness' commentary on mixing it up, which I agree with. I had added two gentle hill runs to my weekly treadmill runs: 2 hill runs, 2 Interval sessions, 2 easy runs, and two calisthenics sessions, as well as my standard day off.
Thinking about the results of the study and Magness' comments made me think about the value of changing things from time to time. I think that at our age aerobic fitness is fine, and comes back quickly, but the other types of training are often overlooked for the carrot of mileage.
Have a good week all!
lucKY2b wrote:
Very much looking forward to starting at the gym with some low impact aerobic work, and continuing with the dynamic PT routines. I think I'm at the point, though, where I don't really see the PT guy doing me much good. He seems to be fishing for answers that are no better than what I would come up with on my own. So I may just check in once every couple of months from here on out. Thoughts?
Time, you need time.... Been thinking about your PT, not sure how much you are doing but it is likely too much. The area you have injured is not designed for "strength". It won't respond to training the way the big muscle groups (quads, triceps, pectorals) would do. (I knew a girl who wanted to get fit fast. Day one she did 100 situps. Day two she did 100 situps. Day three she could not get out of bed. Luckily she was only a teenager so day four she was able to drag herself to school.) Maybe Charlie can tell you what kind of muscle fibers we have down there, but I do know they are pretty wimpy.
Think about the best way to train abdominals (high reps low intensity), then on account of your injury do way LESS than that! My prescription is 3 miles of jogging 2x per week, 30 minutes easy elliptical 2x per week, REST (no stretching, no PT, not much walking) 3x per week. As you heal and build abdominal strength you can phase out the elliptical and the rest days, later increase the duration, and only much later add intensity. You are looking at 6-12 months to about 90% recovery, and you may never see 100%. I can tell you that after more than four years I still have a visible bulge (much less visible now), and soreness after any run longer than an hour (much less soreness these days). Very difficult to train those muscles....
lucKY2b wrote:
Very much looking forward to starting at the gym with some low impact aerobic work, and continuing with the dynamic PT routines. I think I'm at the point, though, where I don't really see the PT guy doing me much good. He seems to be fishing for answers that are no better than what I would come up with on my own. So I may just check in once every couple of months from here on out. Thoughts?
Although any advice you get on a message board should be taken with a grain of salt, I’ll say I like Alan’s RX. The elliptical kept me in some kind of shape even when I was in a cast. I did use the arms but that would be a judgment call on your part whether it hurts or helps. Short easy runs, never two in a row sure helped me.
But short hard runs…..not so good on a sore calf. So I had a little bit of a setback week as I had thought my right calf was totally well but it reminded me it is not. Tue and Thr I ran moderately hard with just a bit of pushing the pace. Thur’s run was on a slightly hilly course and the calf complained about that. Saturday at the track I just wanted to slip into the 7’s for pace but the calf tightened up after just 2 miles. This is frustrating because I was improving so quickly it’s hard to go backwards, even temporarily. So, at least until it’s fully healed I cannot do anything that requires a hard push-off with my right foot. I’ll make this week an easy and flat one. On a positive note, the left heel that had bedeviled me for 18 months is doing just fine. Also, I’ve bumped up the weight workout to 25 reps on 9 different dumbbell exercises every other day.
LucKY2b you know you got it right way back on July 28th:
http://www.letsrun.com/forum/flat_read.php?thread=4064465&page=138
Breaking up the scar tissue is the start of the healing process
So maybe give a really good deep tissue massage therapist a try!
They can find the exact location of the tear then break up scar tissue , get the blood flowing / healing and do a ROLF like reboot to get rid of muscle spasms.
When I had chronic calf tears and my calf muscles were literally had the texture of concrete this friend massage therapist fixed me up. It hurt like hell but man it worked wonders.
Thanks, guys. Appreciate your comments and suggestions. I will be strongly considering them as I try to develop a new course of action. Truth be told, I have really cut back on the PT the past 3 weeks, and almost completely this past week as I reassess.
I had talked to the PT about deep massage, and he cautioned that depending on what it is that we're dealing with, it could do more harm than good. Of course, same is true about the level of PT, as well.
AlanB, curious about the walking. Why limit it?
Finally, I plan on finally getting over to the gym this afternoon to just experiment a little. No core work (not intentional, at any rate), mostly low-impact aerobic.
Cheers!
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Week 136
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Greetings 50+ers. Bump for the week, still not training, so not TOO much to report.
We started the week in Wisconsin, and Monday was about as cold as advertised never warming up above negative double-digits and we finally head back to Lexington via Chicago on Tuesday. D0ave & Ken, the roads in Northern Indiana were just plain awful; not really sure why they even bothered to open I-65....but we somehow managed to make it through, although it took us more than twice the usual time to get from Chicago to Indy.
Only exercise news to report is that I can definitely do spinning with absolutely no tinge of pain or delayed effect, so stationary recumbent bike will become part of my aerobic routine. Friday, I did 1/2-hour on the bike in interval mode (3-heavier resistance/3-easy) with the level set at 9 (whatever that means). During the hard minutes, the HR got to 168-175, and would drop back to about 125-135. I tried to keep the cadence steady and made it 7.2 "miles" for the 1/2-hour (again, not sure quite what that means yet.) The legs were definitely a little wobbly when I got off; I love that feeling of being spent! I will mix it with some light running or elliptical, and will throw in some other gym stuff (hamstring curls, adductor and abductor exercises, etc.) as appropriate, but I'm going to shy away from targeted core exercises for a while.
That's about all I got. Hope you are running/recovering well for your first full week of the new year.
Best Wishes!