50+ Masters Training and Racing Open Forum

Heading into the last month before Oct. 2 marathon. Feels about like it should I guess -- tired but still improving, and hoping to stay healthy.

Mon: 8.4 steady from Encinitas to Roberto's in Solana Beach

Tues: Rest/travel back to CO

Weds: 7.5 Treadmill run with 5 X (3 min float, 2 min steady, 1 minute hard) plus wu/cd and weights

Thurs: 5.5 slow and easy

Friday: 8 Felt cruddy when I woke, then decided to just run it hard at >7:30 pace

Sat: 5 slow and easy

Sun: 16.5 with a middle 5 miles around 7:30, then easy 2, then 4 back to 7:30, then steady home. Good run for me.

Got home from today's long run just in time to see the Oly marathon finish. Great showing from the US team. I have to think Rupp would have been silver without the 10K attempt but good on him for being so audacious. Ward made a huge step forward and was pure class after the race. Meb is both a warrior and a sweet guy. Congrats to the whole field.

61 years old. Running since 1977. Prostate cancer, two knee surgeries and 6 epidurals since 2005.

Mon: 10K 53:51 pace

Tues: 10K 53:04, weight lifting.

Wed: 5K recovery

Thurs: 10K 53:28 pace

Fri: 5Mi.

Sat: 10K 56:55 pace and 5x300

Sun: 7.5 mi. 1:09.28

Have run 13 days straight and I don't like it. Even in my prime from 77 to 85, I didn't like doing that. Always enjoyed one day off. I have to run more days though because I am on the "active surveillance" program for my prostate cancer.

I have to take the last 3 days off of this month, because my blood test for PSA is on the first day of the month.

I now have to have labs and an office appointment every 2 months.

If I run day before or 2 days before the blood test my PSA skyrockets.

(once I took only one day off between workouts, PSA went from 8 to 36)

Last time I took 3 days off it went back to 8.

Don't want to rush in to any surgeries.

Week 172: 8 hr 28 min in 7 runs.

Mon - 1 hr easy

Tue - 1 hr 15 min moderate

Wed - 1 hr easy

Thu - 1 hr easy

Fri - 1 hr: 20 easy, 20 tempo, 20 easy

Sat - 2 hr 11 min: 1:10 out with 9:30 group, 1:01 back with 9:00 group

Sun - 1 hr 2 min slow

A tough week, pretty tired from the running. I will do it again for two more weeks, and if all goes well each week will be better than the last.

Alan Bennet wrote:

Week 172: 8 hr 28 min in 7 runs.

Mon - 1 hr easy

Tue - 1 hr 15 min moderate

Wed - 1 hr easy

Thu - 1 hr easy

Fri - 1 hr: 20 easy, 20 tempo, 20 easy

Sat - 2 hr 11 min: 1:10 out with 9:30 group, 1:01 back with 9:00 group

Sun - 1 hr 2 min slow

A tough week, pretty tired from the running. I will do it again for two more weeks, and if all goes well each week will be better than the last.

Alan, you have given me several pieces of good advice, so I will just remind you, listen to your body. Don't put yourself in a hole of fatigue, if your body is not quite up to your training plan. When things are going well most of us want to push a little harder rather than rest a little more. I hope it keeps going well for your training but do pay attention to the signals your body sends,

The week for me

Tues 4x1 mile at 5K pace (waaay to fast)

Wed 6 miles easy

Thursday 6 miles threshold

Saturday 7 miles easy 2 at threshold

Sunday 13 easy

I'm feeling really good and feel like I have made big strides in my fitness. Just need more long miles. Question, should I add another day, making it 6 days a week?

Thanks for the concern, old guy II ! But in the classic words of Harkin in Hot Dog ... The Movie (Are you qualified to do that [jump]?):

"Well, I'm gonna do it."

paul061 wrote:

Question, should I add another day, making it 6 days a week?

Depends on your training plan. You are following a plan, right? When is your BQ attempt?

Right now I'm not following a plan, other than a mishmash of several. I'm planning on running The Ghost of Seattle at Thanksgiving. Real BQ is not until next year. Now I'm just trying to get strong.

Right. So you roll your own plan. Whatever your peak week will look like around the beginning of November, work backwards from there. For a marathon plan I would say you need six days. Some people like keeping the one day off, others like to spread the mileage out over seven days.

Short answer - yes go to six days, sooner or later.

I don't like how your week is structured, but if it is working and you want to keep it like that you could try this:

Mon - 6 miles easy

Tue - workout, e.g. 3x mile at 5K RP (still hard but not crazy like 4x)

Wed - 3 miles easy

Later increase the Wednesday run to 6.

Thanks Alan. My thought behind the schedule was to have an off day after my long run to recoup and an off day on Friday to rest for the long run.

That is very interesting about PSA levels and running before the test. At 62 years old I have concerns about elevated levels. I might try not running the day before my next physical.

Been a hot humid summer for training but now it's cooled off. I signed up for the Quad Cities Half in 5 weeks and am undertrained at this point so need to get some good weeks in hopefully stay healthy. Doing 5 miles per day at 9 minute pace with a long run thrown in. Have a good week.

Had a nice 52 mile week...took my first day off since early May. Happy with my 1:21:05 HM over a tough, hilly course for 2nd overall. But boy my legs are wrecked this morning!

I think I'm going to just run easy for a few days to get my body back. The hills took their toll yesterday.

Next up is a 5 mile race on Sept 10.

Really enjoyed the Olympic races last week. Jager, Centro, Rupp, Paul Chelimo's 16 second PR and Lagat. Those guys came ready to run! Very exciting and inspiring races to watch.

Have a good week,

Dave

Hey All:

Good week for me, settling in after vacation, with some cooler weather finally toward the end of the week.

M 5 miles easy @ 8:16/mile

T 3 miles tempo @ 7:25/mile

W 5 miles medium (4 @ 8:06; 5 mins walk; mile @ 8:00)

R rest

F 4 miles easy (3 miles; walk 6 mins; 1 mile)

Sat rest

Sun 10k @7:59/mile. Last two miles 7:40, 7:35

23 miles on the week, about equal to my highest mileage lately. Will try to get close to that again this week although if I play hockey instead of run Friday the miles will be down.

Have a great, safe and healthy week of running.

Andy

I'm 46 now. I'm going to start reading the posts on this forum now so I can be up to speed by the time I turn 50.

BoB

Good morning,

Longtime lurker on this thread, but now that I am in my 50’s (just turned 51) I feel I am now qualified to post. I am also hoping that commenting here will keep me motivated to do the little things to keep me healthy; collectively the advice has been beneficial.

Due to summer travel, 3 trips including 9 days in Eugene for the trials has impacted my mileage, probably averaging 35 including a horrendously humid 10 days visiting my Dad in Maryland.

We had our first local XC race Saturday and with tired legs I was happy with my 20:45. Ran under control including negative splits. Hoping to hit mid 19’s by the end of the season and score for my team.

M Travel day

T 3m @ 9/mile

W 10m @7:40/mile

Th 5.5m easy 8:15/mile

F 4m @8:05/mile

S 7m total 5k: 6:51, 6:40, 6:46

S 10m @ 7:40/mile

39 total

Nagging low back pain has been an issue for years now and I realized I should spend more time in the gym during core and hip strengthening work. Going to try to get up to 45-50m/week next month with a long run of 12. . I tend to break down if I do real speed work, so I avoid the track. I find that I get the most bang for my buck with tempo runs (they are just a bitch to do alone!)

Thanks for letting me participate!

Needless to say the success of US distance runners in Rio has been inspirational also.

Have a great week of training

This week I decided to defy the Zika threat and visit my son in Miami Beach. The heat and humidity made running in SC feel easy. I enjoyed running along the boardwalk and got in some good R&R before school begins tomorrow. The leg pain from my SFX is fading and I was able to run for two consecutive days for the first time since May. YEAH!!!

Mon: 4.6 + strides

Tue: 63 min. biking

Weds: 4.3 + strides

Thu: 63 min biking

Fri: 5.25 easy

Sat: 5.25 easy

Sun: off

I'm heading to Michigan on Friday to run the CRIM mile with three of my teammates. It's a Grand Prix event so three of us score for the club. I'm using the race to see how my leg holds up and I don't have any illusions of actually running a fast time yet. I'm just excited to be feeling good again!

Hey SD runner, here is something that has been keeping my low back pain-free:

Before getting out of bed, I lie on my back and curl my knees up in the fetal position, then just rock gently back and forth, side to side, back and forth, etc. Only a couple degrees from vertical, less than a minute. It's obviously not going to cure any disk issues, but it works for me. Nothing to lose, right?

M: swimming 1000m.

T: 7 miles.

W: 7 miles.

R: 9 miles. (4th miles @ 7:47, 5th-8th miles @ 7:30)

F: 7 miles.

SA: 7 miles.

SU: 12.2 miles.

So I took a cut-back week to spend more time on watching the Olympics... actually not. Counting back from my next race (half on Sept. 18), this was the most logical week to take a cut-back. I enjoyed the Sunday's run after seeing Galen winning his second Olympic medal. 80F with low humidity felt really nice after the nasty weather for most of the summer.

Bit of catch-up, loved the Olympics despite wondering who is clean, and loved the many different events. Thank goodness that NBC streamed the coverage, too, so we could watch more of the races most important to us here. Our local gal, Courtney Frerichs, came within two seconds of her PR in the 3000SC final, for 11th, and that was after a pretty long season that included winning the NCAA steeple in college record time. Looks like the Bowerman Track Club has a GREAT group of women that will train together, including another female steepler, Colleen Quigley, and the great male steepler, Evan Jager.

I must comment that I was very disappointed to see Desi D warming up for the marathon in FULL SWEATS, then NOT stopping to pick up her bottle that she dropped at the first aid station at 5 km. I think both were big mistakes, and remember Deena Kastor in a cold vest before winning Bronze at Athens, she stated her "warm up" would be the race itself when in hot, humid weather.

My own running went downhill a couple weeks ago, somehow my right lower back/hip area became very sore, not sure why. Am now slowly building back, and getting back to core work in the gym two days a week. Only back to 16 miles last week, but did do 4x400 and 3x300 yesterday in warm/humid conditions. First race, a 5 km, is Saturday, since the 4th of July. Still got a ways to go to think I can run a 1/2 marathon or two in mid-October, and early November. My wife and my motto still remains "just to run".