50+ Masters Training and Racing Open Forum

Mike Lundgren wrote:

35 mile week, then a 11 miler yesterday on a crushed gravel trail, averaged under 10 minute pace (good for me). Tuesday's track session was great, 3 x 400, 2 x 800, 3 x 400 and 2 x 200. The second set of 400's were 6 seconds per interval faster than the first, the 800's faster than last week. My wife actually suggested the 200's at the end, and they were in 49 (I think 46 for her).

Race a 10 miler? Depends, your mileage is good, but do they have a 5 mile or 5 km with, that way you have quicker recovery and can stay focused on the 1/2. Just my thoughts, but if there's other things involved, like a Grand Prix circuit points, prize money, running with friends/family, there's other points to be made. Someone said, "choose your battles...". Just my two cents.

Thanks for the feedback, no the 10 miler will be cold and hilly. Been feeling run down after 4 -60 mile week's. Maybe I should just stay focused on the half.

I got in 39 miles this week plus two swimming workouts. I found out my vitamin D level is too low so I've been upping my supplements and trying to run mid-day to get more sun exposure. I'm beginning to feel more like my old self and not just dragging myself through each day.

I bought a used road bike and am going to start riding once the mechanic has it tuned up. Now my cross training will have some meaning since I've picked out some triathalons to compete in this summer. Thanks Michael Rohl for the encouragement!

Sun: 10 Easy

Mon: 5.5 Easy + 2000 swim

Tue: 5.7 4x150 accelerations

Weds: 6.3 Easy

Thu: 6.2 Fartlek 8x1H/1E

Fri: off

Sat: 5.3 Easy + 2400 swim

amkelley - glad to hear you're improving. Good luck in you HM!

pretzel man - if you're already feeling down from training, I wouldn't push the 10 miler. I just switched from a HM to a 5k for the same reason.

Congratulations to everyone who competed in Bend. Those were tough conditions!

pretzel man wrote:

If you wanted to race a good half marathon at the end of the month, would you race a 10 miler 2 weeks before? The half means more to me then the 10 miler. Just looking to see what other 50+ runners think. Thanks I am 53 and have been hitting 60 mile week's.

I don't think that should be a problem given your mileage. I've raced half-marathons a week apart recently and have run better in the second one.

Rtype wrote:

Thanks for posting up the XC results. Pleased to see a fellow alumnus and local, David Angell, 4th OA. Dude just keeps getting faster. He is peerless around here so there is literally no one that can run with him. That’s pretty hard to do. Looking at the times, that must have been a tough course/and/or tough conditions.

Have a great week and GO ATLANTA!

sorry about being late to the party--part of the problem is i was a little too early to the party with saturday's post-race shenanigans, and i'm still recovering from that+travel+1st day of the new semester of teaching. shared a shot of rye with david angell mentioned above--he's indeed a new stud on the masters block.

the course in bend was sloppy, muddy, snowy, and blustery (at the start the temps seemed to drop about 10 degrees as the rains came in, but then warmed up over the last 6k). people were slipping and a-sliding all over the place--eventual 5th place finisher greg mitchell went down pretty hard, as did pete magill a couple of times. i stayed on my feet pretty easily, but i wasn't pressing my luck pace-wise either like others. i was extremely happy to race again, even if it was about 4 minutes slower than what i did last year on the same course (albeit with better conditions). our 40s team took second to the bowerman tc which saw nice efforts by howell and farley up front, even with mitchell falling; our 50s won, though, with a great effort from teammate rob arsenault who took home an individual age group award in being the top 50+ runner. my wife runs for the janes elite club, who backed up their 50s national title from clubs with another title here. i, for my part, achieved my goal of not getting beat by any 60 year olds...

stay healthy my friends,

cush

pretzel man wrote:

If you wanted to race a good half marathon at the end of the month, would you race a 10 miler 2 weeks before? The half means more to me then the 10 miler. Just looking to see what other 50+ runners think. Thanks I am 53 and have been hitting 60 mile week's.

I wouldn't do it. But every one recovers differently, and I am on the slower side.

My week.

M: off.

T: 3 miles / 6 miles.

W: 12 miles. (5th-11th miles @ 8:00-7:53-7:47-7:41-7:35-7:30-7:30)

R: 3 miles / 6 miles.

F: 9 miles.

SA: 7 miles.

SU: 16.7 miles.

amkelley wrote:

pretzel man wrote:

If you wanted to race a good half marathon at the end of the month, would you race a 10 miler 2 weeks before? The half means more to me then the 10 miler. Just looking to see what other 50+ runners think. Thanks I am 53 and have been hitting 60 mile week's.

I don't think that should be a problem given your mileage. I've raced half-marathons a week apart recently and have run better in the second one.

Thanks for all the responses, I have a lot of milage on me, the long term is to make it to Boston uninjured this year. Maybe I should just stick with the half at the end of the month. Hard to go to the 10 miler and not push.

Thanks again.

50 mile week inc 2 workouts

16 x 25 sec hill then mile all out chasing some young dude 4:44

mile 4:55 / 5min rest/ 4M hard tempo at 5:20pace / 5 min rest

Mile in 4:55

Calf muscles pretty destroyed now. Jog easy for 3 days try some hills again if i recover

One more that would skip the 10. Racing it there would be no way I could recover in two weeks (everybody is different though). And I have given up on races as training runs. *Once* I did a half as a training run in a marathon buildup - a waste of money and time, since I can get the same benefit running around the neighborhood. Since then I will only hold back in a race when injured (which is frequent though).

60 the other week and 50+ 16km XC skiing last week.

Got in a decent tempo last Wednesday with 6.5 miles at 6:30 pace (7,400' elevation). The week before did a 4.5 mile surge-effort (2X 6X300/200) with a mile at threshold.

Mon. 90 min kayak session on the lake. Knee had been a bit stiff since last Thursday (Mt Buller run) so I gave the legs a rest.

Tue. Morning 1 hour ride in the forest.

Evening 8 km run inc 6 x 1 min hill reps focusing on smooth technique. Also a 1 km uphill tempo in 5 mins and a 1 km downhill tempo in 4.15.

A 300 km car trip in between.

Wed. A hilly ride on the mountain bike 26 kms in 1 h 40 m.

Thu. A weary 4 x up Roo Hill. I pushed on after the 4th through the scrub onto the hiking trail to the top of the ridge. 5.7 km 370 metres elevation gain in 54 mins.

I then walked the steep downhill before trotting off for another 5.7 km initially on rough trails then a bit of road and finally the smooth dirt of the railtrail. 31 mins.

No zip at all.

Fri. A leg freshener 37 mins kayak on the Campaspe River.

Sat. A brisk 21 km spin on the mountain bike in just over the hour.

A late stop on the way home from visiting mum. 1 km jog then 1 km on harness racing track in 4.30 just ticking the legs over. 1 km jog. Still 39 deg C at the time.

Sun. In the rain but a sticky 32 C. 10.6 km of rugged hiking with some untracked sections. Hauling about 18 kg on my back.

Dropped the pack at the top of Mt Ida after 2 h 17 m 450 m elevation gain and went for a run.

5 kms. 4.20. 4.10. 2.05/2.47. 6.43. 6.36. Tough on the return climb.

Finished with a straightforward 9 km return hike in 1 h 40 m. Well the first km is rock scramble but the last 8 is straightforward.

Not much actual running but still a solid week of general conditioning.

Yep give the ten miler a miss. If you are questioning whether to run it or not it is an unnecessary distraction.

lucKY2b wrote:

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Week 296

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Greetings, 50+ers! Wow, one month of 2017 already gone, and still so far away from where I'd should be for this time of year. I've got a lot of work to do. Got something in all 7 days, but it'd be a stretch to call it training. Reached 35+ miles on many runs. Log reads as such:

At our vintage getting out the door and being active is a win regardless.

My thoughts are that I run ( or ride or paddle or hike) rather than train. Training effect is a secondary benefit.

This probably explains why my " training" weeks are a chaotic mess with no real structure. I am sure they give ABenn. nightmares trying to find the logic in them.

If you are over 50 you are surely one of the best in the world. Like Pete Magill level.

notquiteoverthehill wrote:

50 mile week inc 2 workouts

16 x 25 sec hill then mile all out chasing some young dude 4:44

mile 4:55 / 5min rest/ 4M hard tempo at 5:20pace / 5 min rest

Mile in 4:55

Calf muscles pretty destroyed now. Jog easy for 3 days try some hills again if i recover

I enter catatonia when reading your weeks, probably a reflex defense mechanism. Go ahead and claim the training is secondary. Hah! Why have you taken up hiking with a weighted pack?

Alan Bennet wrote:

I enter catatonia when reading your weeks, probably a reflex defense mechanism. Go ahead and claim the training is secondary. Hah! Why have you taken up hiking with a weighted pack?

Initially I was often hiking with a bit of a pack to and from work so decided adding extra resistance would give me those "secondary" training benefits. Now I usually throw it on my back even when hiking from home. It seems to be a good way to work the core instead of doing lots of boring exercises. An hour hike around this part of the world is pretty interesting. Plenty of interesting flora and fauna to see along the way. Not so interesting on the way to work but the trip home at 10.30 pm after a tough evening shift acts as a great "debrief".

On Sunday I was testing out the pack I will use in Nepal.

Of course somewhere deep inside my scatty mind is a nagging need to improve my running performance.

2017 Training

Jan 1-7 Weekly totals: Ran 5 hr 13 min in 9 runs; 3.5 hours cycling in 2 rides

Jan 8-14 Weekly totals: Ran 5 hr 11 min in 8 runs; 4 hours cycling in 3 rides

Jan 15-21 Weekly totals: Ran 5 hr 13 min in 9 runs; 3.5 hours cycling in 2 rides

Jan 22-28 Weekly totals: Ran 5 hr 12 min in 8 runs; 1 hour cycling in 1 ride

Jan 29 - Pretty darn sore and achy from yesterday’s 15K

Jan 30 - Ran 18 minutes in am with wife; Bike 17 miles in 1:00

Jan 31 - Ran 30 minutes in am; Ran 32 minutes in late afternoon

Feb 1 - Ran 42 minutes in am; Ran 25 minutes in pm

Feb 2 - Ran 54 minutes with 3x 0.57 mile in 3:21, 3:20, 3:28; My quads are still hurting from the 15K race, 5 days ago!

Feb 3 - Ran 18 minutes in am with wife; Bike 17 miles in 1:00

Feb 4 - Ran 1:32; That’s my longest run in years!

Weekly totals: Ran 5 hr 11 min in 8 runs; 3 hours cycling in 3 rides

A good week. I'm consistent! It took a while to recover from the 15K! I'm entered in a 5K race on Feb 18 and will likely race a half marathon on Feb 26.

Last week total of 35 miles. Long run was 8 miles and I did 8X440 on the tmill @ 10mph pace, 220 jog recovery. Currently for a 5K next month then a half marathon in April and a 10K at the end of May. Long term plan is to run the Houston Marathon in 2018.

2017 Training

Jan 1-7 Weekly totals: Ran 5 hr 13 min in 9 runs; 3.5 hours cycling in 2 rides (Raced Frank Shorter 1 Mile Road Race in 5:55)

Jan 8-14 Weekly totals: Ran 5 hr 11 min in 8 runs; 4 hours cycling in 3 rides

Jan 15-21 Weekly totals: Ran 5 hr 44 min in 9 runs; 5.5 hours cycling in 3 rides

Jan 22-28 Weekly totals: Ran 5 hr 12 min in 8 runs; 1 hour cycling in 1 ride (Raced Newnan’s Lake 15K in 1:05:04, 6:59/mile pace)

Jan 29-Feb 4 Weekly totals: Ran 5 hr 11 min in 8 runs; 3 hours cycling in 3 rides

Feb 5 - Rest, recovering from yesterday’s long 1 hour 31 minute run

Feb 6 - Ran 41 minutes in am; Bike 17 miles in 1:01

Feb 7 - Ran 48 minutes with 3x 0.57 mile in 3:23, 3:24, 3:24

Feb 8 - Ran 41 minutes in am; Ran 40 minutes

Feb 9 - Ran 19 minutes in am with wife; Ran 50 minutes with 2x 0.57 mile in 3:19, 3:25

Feb 10 - Ran 47 minutes

Feb 11 - Ran 1 hour and 22 minutes

Weekly totals: Ran 6 hr 8 min in 8 runs; 1 hour cycling in 1 ride

I'll race a 5K next Saturday. I ran 20:19 a few months ago. This course is not pancake flat but I hope to break 20:00. We'll see.

The snow continues to fly and mount up. I really enjoy winter running and often wonder about the treadmill warriors who are missing all of this while they watch their HGTV. This is nature at its best. When the going gets tough, the tough get going. It doesn't mean I'm not looking forward to the equinox, but there's no need to rush it when these conditions are so enjoyable.

Best to all.