50+ Masters Training and Racing Open Forum

Still continuing modest progress on my recovery from runners' knee. I dropped a couple of miles to 24 for this week, because I took a rest day. My runs were a bit faster.

M- 4 miles at 8:04/mi (8:47/mi last week)

T- 4 walking

W- 4 miles at 7:52/mi (8:09/mi last week)

Th- 4 walking

F- rest - tired

S- 4 miles of walk 1mi/ run 1mi with runs at 9:45/mi. - I still felt really tired

Su-4 walking

I did two strength workouts this week.

Brad Barton runs 4:01.77 in an exhibition Masters 1500m race at the Olympic Trials to take another 4s off the M50 record time he set a few weeks ago. Wow! Now he needs to race David Heath!

Against my better judgment, I signed up for the 10K race tomorrow. Forecast is now 80-90% chance of rain---thunderstorms are a real possibility. What was I thinking?

Cheers!

dhaaga wrote:

--DHaaga, why not join us?--

thanks. will do. I'm well-qualified by age, turning 55 later this month. Pretty good week, mostly easy recovery from a road 5k last Saturday night (18:32 with rough last mile incl. staggering up a long gradual hill). To lock the barn door after horse's escape, I emphasized hills this week.

Mon. 8 miles

tues. 10

weds. 40:00 stationary bike am, 8 miles pm

thurs. 8

fri. 32:00 stationary bike am, 9 with 4 X 3:00 (2:00 recovery) treadmill hills

Sat. 8 am, 40:00 stationary bike pm

Sun. 15 with 3 X fairly long (half-mile? a bit less?) hill 3:32/3:17/3:18

Working on specifying my numerological goals for new age group. When I turned 50 I completed them over about 18 months (

Good week in Boulder, capped by a trip to the Finger Lakes in upstate NY for family holiday time.

My fall marathon site is nearby in Corning, NY, but I'm not feeling geeked enough to go scout the course. It sounds flat and fast ... what else would I need to know?

Monday: Easy bike spin, plus weights, after Sunday's 13-miler

Tuesday: Challenging trail run, 6 miles and 1200+ feet of vertical

Wednesday: Easy on trails, 6.5 miles

Thursday: Easy on roads, 6 miles

Friday: Tempo run at 7:15 pace, 6 miles (with a very brief warmup, last mile at cool down pace)

Saturday: Travel

Sunday: Roads for 10 miles, working down to 7:30 pace

Happy to be getting the milage up and staying healthy. Which probably means it's all about to go pear shaped on me ... but hopefully not!

Had a 3rd consecutive good week. Solid training with no issues. Two workouts consisted of Tuesdays 5xCV 1000's all around 3:36 +/5x100 strides and a comfortable 12.2 on Friday at 7:34/mile. Logged 62 miles for the week.

Mondays race never happened. Long story short... I was ready to go. Warmed up and on the line at 8:00. Race director announced a 5 min delay to the start. Ok, things happen. 10 minutes later we're still standing there, 20 minutes, 30 minutes same thing. Now my patience has expired, I really don't feel like running now, and getting pissed is starting to take over. The warmup has long since passed. I decided I'm running at 8:35, race or no race. Asked if anyone else is coming with me; no one did. So at 8:35 I took off my number and ran. Decided on a 3 mile tempo. On cold legs I went 6:16.6,6:02.0,5:34.9 (17:53.5) over the hilly course then 654,637,631 off the course around town. Then I just drove the 45 minutes home. Found out the race went off at 8:42...

Whatever...

Looking to keep the miles up this week with no planned workouts. We're on vacation but are staying home. Son and family will be up for the weekend tomorrow from SC. So there will be the usual eating and libations that are to be had...

Have a good week,

Dave

C0l0rado asked:

My fall marathon site is nearby in Corning, NY, but I'm not feeling geeked enough to go scout the course. It sounds flat and fast ... what else would I need to know?

I've living in Corning for 17+ years and have run the full marathon once, the half once, and the three-person relay (which is no longer available) several times.

It is flat, but not alway fast if there is a headwind or the temperatures are too warm or too cold. Normally there is a 6-8 MPH tailwind, but it seems to be at best a 50% chance for that to be the case on race day. The first 18 miles are pretty scenic, but then there is a bleak stretch along Rt. 452 as you head into Painted Post that can break you if it's a hot day due to lack of shade. The last 5 miles include a bike path and quite a few turns, and it's quite easy to end up being isolated and to wonder if you missed a turn. But the course is well-marked, and the volunteers at the water stations and spectators along the course are always enthusiastic.

The Wineglass is always the same day as the Masters Road 5k in Syracuse, so I usually run that and then drive back to Corning to share a few beers and stories with friends who ran.

Scott

Hello All:

A down week for me.

M 14 hours in the car driving home from Ottawa.

T 5 miles easy

W 5 miles easy - medium. Left knee sore.

R rest

F 85 minutes hockey hard. Knee still sore but manageable.

S rest

S rest

So only two runs totaling ten miles. I think the travel and what for me was high mileage of the week before was getting to me, and I'm concerned about my left knee. It seems like a pretty obvious overuse injury so we'll see how that comes along. I was really sore all weekend because of my first skate in more than a month plus building/yard work all three days. Yesterday's run was awful but I feel back on track now.

Enjoy the week everyone.

I will start this week off since I will be resting Sunday. I have taken suggestions from several of you and it seems to be making a difference. Two days of hard running seems a pretty good mix for someone of my vintage. Also, with more easy to moderate days I am able to increase my volume a bit. The advantages to the quality are there as well.

Monday: 6 miles hilly trail run

Tuesday: 3 miles easy

Wednesday: 2 miles easy; lunges; 5 x 1,000 meters tempo @ 7:35-7:50 pace / 2:00 rest; 800 meters easy; 4 x 200 meters @ 55 / 200 meters easy; mile easy

Thursday: 3.25 miles walk

Friday: 3 miles easy

Saturday: 2 miles easy; running drills; 800 meters @ 3:16; 800 meters easy; 4 x 200 meters @ 44, 43, 43, 39 / 200 meters easy; mile easy

Sunday: Rest

Stretching and exercises most days.

Igy

Bernard (Kip) Lagat. Always a class act to us masters athletes. Went out of his way in cold wind & rain for a group photo with Masters Milers at Drake Relays years ago. Been gracious to any person, any ability, for as long as I've known him. Now he inspires us with a quote forever. "If you believe you're an old man, you'll run like an old man".

-Kip Lagat. 5x Olympian, 2016 National 5000m Champ, age 41.

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Week 266

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Salutations, 50+ers! Thanks for getting things going, Igy. Sorry for my late start; had a few things to attend to this morning. A little brief output last week; hope we'll get some more discussion after today.

I have no idea what I'm doing these days; I have no training plan--I'm just running when I can, running how I feel, and trying to beat the heat, I guess. Managed about 31 miles on 5 days including a sad 10K race on Monday and a few "speedy" miles the rest of the week. Log reads as such:

Sun: off (several hours of yard work)

Mon: 7.0 w/10K@43:12 (stopped for 1:40 @mile-4)

Tues: 4.0 easy, w/6-laps of pace modulation

Wed: off (more hours of yard work)

Thur: 5.0 fairly easy (7:36 pace)

Fri: 5.2 mostly easy, w/1@6:20

Sat: 10.0 progression (8:30 -> 6:30)

Save a couple days a week and a half ago, we've been suffering high humidity for quite some time now, and I fear it's taken its toll on me--probably more psychologically than physically. Every day feels like a slog. I added a few harder miles mixed in to my runs late in the week, but otherwise, mostly easy to moderately easy miles since the debacle Monday.

So race report: another Bluegrass 10000 in the books and it was my worst race ever; low expectations didn't help matters either. It was 73 degrees at start time, with a dew point of 71 degrees, so that tells you something right there (would have been better had the clouds let loose, unfortunately, the rain held off.) I didn't do much warm-up figuring that there was plenty of time to warm-up in the race. I'd planned to go out in 6:40 pace and just see how things unfolded. Came through the mile at 6:37 thinking this was a good pace. Continued picking off a few runners and settling in, we hit mile 2 at 13:11 (6:34), still feeling pretty good about things. The third mile is a deceptively big climb and I started to overheat as we headed out of downtown. I played tricks on myself to get to the 3-mile mark at 20:07 (6:56) at which point there is a long steady downhill to mile-4. Normally, I recover a bit on the downhill so that when we turn around and head back up the same hill, I'm ready to go, but this time, the energy just kept getting sapped from me and I overheated more and more. I forced myself to get to the 4-mile mark @26:45 (6:38), but with the hill looming and getting a bit light-headed, I decided to bow out. I stood there in a daze watching runners go by, trying to regain my senses. When a lady friend passed about 1-1/2 minutes later, I decided to reenter the race, and at least try to run it in with her. We climbed the hill together, but by this point, I'd regained some initiative to started to push the pace again. Including the 1:40 standing around, I got through the 5-mile mark at 35:15 (8:30) and proceeded to eye a 50-year old buddy of mine that had passed me while I was standing around. I caught him on the downhill back into town, pulling even with him at about 600m to go on the flat downtown section. By this point, I figured my day was shot, so I used that last 600m trying to encourage my friend to finish strong, running along with him through the finish @43:12 (6:31 pace for the final 1.2). We'd taken our club picture before the race, so people dispersed pretty quickly afterwards, which was fine with me as I finished out of the money (6th age-group) for the first time since who knows when. Being undertrained and overweight, I can live with the result, but it does give me motivation to put a little more focus in my training and nutrition.

So the silver lining is that I can improve from here and hopefully show some discipline in getting my weight back under control and slowly build my mileage back to where it should be.

OK, that's enough for today. Hope you all are in a good place, and look forward to reading about it!

All the Best!

PS-Yes, KP! What about Lagat! Superb!

sorry to hear the race didn't go well for you but impressive that you jumped back in after stopping. I often find it hard to get my head back in it after a race or even hard workout is clearly falling short of goal.

as it happens, I had a disappointing race in high humidity also. the week was....

M 9 easy

Tu 8 with 3k (12:03) of intended 5k tempo -- truncated due to heat I wasn't ready for [in DC june was not bad)

W 12

Th 8 + 48:00 stationary bike

F 32:00 stationary bike easy in am/ 4 pm with track mile 5:21.4 (3rd M50)

Sa 6 + 56:00 stationary bike

Su 16 steady with some good hills

Slowest mile race of my life, and 10 sec slower than a road mile 2 months ago. Dewpoint got to 77 Friday, but race was in the evening and others did well so I'm not sure what to make of it. Just couldn't get going -- intending to run 77's and ran one 80 lap after another.

Wasn't pointing for that race in particular or doing mile-specific training, but even so would have expected better. Will try to redeem myself in a 2-mile next month.

have a great week,

Dave

lucKY2b,

Sorry if I stepped on the protocol for the thread. Must have been the excitment coming from my Saturday workout!

A friend says that as you age you need to schedule yard/house work as a hard training day. I have noticed as I have been running more the yard work has gotten easier.

On humidity, the hardest race I ever ran was 10k at the 2006 USATF Masters Championships in Charlotte, NC. High temperatures and humidity. It took everything I had just to finish.

Igy

There is no "protocol", Igy. Glad you stepped in and got it going! And nice workout Saturday, BTW!

Dave, 77 degree dewpoint is insane! Surprised you even tried to run a mile in that soup! I, for one, think you did alright (even if you think otherwise.)

Cheers!

4th consecutive week at 40+ miles, but like many really struggled with the first bout of humidity and high temps in Minnesota.

Inspired by the Frank Shorter article in Runner's World I wouldn't let myself take a day off or cut a couple runs very short as my mind and body were screaming for a break. At least on one of those six milers a decent run emerged, but mostly it was just a grind.

My break for the week was only 3 miles today with my 12 year old. Ironically I saw her pushing the pace and me wanting a break.

Tough week.

Sorry about your race lucKY but I sure can sympathize. I did a 3 mile tempo as a test Sat and it was a rather rude slap in the face. But, I’ll take it as a wake-up call. Seems Alan’s summation last week is pretty accurate for me:

You can’t go fast if you always go slow.

OK week. The PF stayed mostly quiet as I got off the road more and worked on my non-weight bearing foot strengthening exercises.

Mon = 90 min easy, mountain gravel road

Tue = Rest

Wed = 90 min easy, 45 min road, 45 min trail

Thu = 90 min, easy, rocky trail

Fri = Rest

Sat = 1-mile warmup then a 3-miles hard @ 7:45 pace

Sun = 150 min hike Mt Rogers with youngest son

Two more Summer Series races to volunteer for here in Phoenix.

Try to run them too.

Have been terrorized by prostate problems.

Diagnosed with cancer.

Small, so it was active surveillance.

Random 3 month PSA test went from 12 to 26.

Got surgeon lined up, urologist wanted me to do one more quick PSA...

My mind in the meantime was just terrorized...sleepless nights..

Another PSA test a week and a half later..

PSA went from 26 to 8.

So, hopefully back to active surveillance..

very stressful.

vbn,

Best wishes on that. I have an enlarged prostate but no issues yet. I get the annual physical and PSA.

Igy

At the moment I am envious of you guys who can have "bad" races. I hope that I am no more than 6 weeks away from being able to race again since that's when the local XC series will commence. My runner's knee feels like it is about 85% better at this point, but this was a bit of a down week. On Monday I ran 4 miles at 9:04 pace and felt like it was a hard effort. I just walked 4 miles at about 15:00 pace each day after Monday. I had a mild anxiety about a new injury Thursday. I woke up and thought maybe I had suddenly developed a case of PF because the forward part of my heel was so sore. However, I had my wife look at it (my hamstrings are so tight I can barely look at the bottom of my feet), and I had stepped on something and had gotten an infected spot on the bottom of my foot. I went surfing on Tuesday and probably stepped on a sea urchin when I was getting out of the water. My wife dug out whatever was in the spot and my foot has felt progressively better each day.

At the present my knee feels pretty good, so I am planning to just walk every day this coming week to recover more and hopefully get my knee to the point where I feel ready to get back to serious workouts until XC starts.

Stay healthy everyone,the alternative is no fun.

Awesome -- thanks!