50+ Masters Training and Racing Open Forum

Greetings World Champs Track Fans and Masters Of Real Living.

Completed final KP workouts aimed at Toronto Track Meet next weekend.

Mon

2x 150s at 1500 race pace feel

1x 1000 at 3:02

1x 400 at 66

2x 200 at 32-31

Thur

1x 200 at 32

1x 600 at 1:38

1x 300 at 48

1x 200 at 31

Confident splits. Now time to taper, rest, and care for a tweeked left hammy. This from the always risky final speed sessions which are tougher than the race but necessary to know where you stand before a tactical, or grinder, championship track race.

See a few of y'all in Canada.

KP

I had a pretty good week of activity. Actually both jogged and golfed on one day - hadn't done that in a long time. By Saturday, my legs were kind of pooped, so I shut down that jog a bit early. There has also been a little bit of hip soreness late in my jogs, so I've suspended the med ball twisting drills for a bit. It seems to have helped.

I'll try to add a little mileage this week on your behalf, lucKY2b.

Sun: off

Mon: golf (walk9/ride9) 95

Tue: 53' jog, body weight ex

Wed: golf (walk9/ride9) 99

Thu: 53' jog, body weight ex; golf (walk9) 46

Fri: off

Sat: 47' jog, 1.25mi walk, body wt ex

Have a good week, all.

This was a tough week for me. On Friday, I did my run early and was almost finished with a bike ride, right in my neighborhood, when I stopped behind a truck. I'm not quite sure what happened next but my bike tipped over. I had just clipped into my left pedal and as the bike fell it twisted my ankle and I heard a crack. I knew right away that something was seriously wrong. My ankle looked like a balloon. I called out for help and fortunately, two of my neighbors stopped and helped me to get home.

I got in to see the ortho right away and he confirmed I have a broken fibula. I'll see the ankle specialist tomorrow to see if I need surgery but no weight-bearing for me for at least 8 weeks. This afternoon I'm heading to the Y to try and figure out what I can do to try and maintain some fitness (hand cranking? one legged rowing?). I'm open to any suggestions you all have.

Needless to say, I wont be at Flint (sorry socalcush) and probably won't be racing until next year. I won't be riding with clipless pedals in the future either - I'm not willing to pay this price again for a little more speed. Good thing the World's are on TV because now I've got plenty of time to watch!

KP - I thought you would want to know that our friend M. Spencer had a heart attack yesterday after a race. I was told he was conscious when he was taken to the hospital. I haven't heard any updates today. I'm sure he could use some support.

Greetings from London, all of you fellow half centurions...been an amazing track meet so far...men's 10,000 probably the best that I've EVER witnessed in person...and I have seen a bunch.

This crusty oldster managed to eke out 38 miles for the week including day # 250 of my total knucklehead streak (1243 miles).. did 'training' runs in Luxembourg Gardens in Paris as well as Battersea Park and Hyde Park here in London town...does not suck.

Looking forward to so so many of this week's upcoming races ...steeple, 800s, 1500s but none more than the 400...is the first ever sub 43 possible? I think it is.

Have a fine summer week of training and racing...thanks as always for your ongoing inspirations...remember always that a geezer in motion stays in motion ;)

your pal,

MF

Good morning. Wild fires have reduced air quality to the red zone with London fog like appearance.

@ SCgal Sorry to hear of your injury, especially after a great USATF Meet. Unfortunately I have heard of similar falls.

@MikeF I don't fret over the thought of a catastrophic heart attack, but know it is a risk.

@everyone Thanks for the great pre-race advice. The athlete could do a better job on the execution side.

I had a good not great Idaho Senior Games. I would grade my four races B-, A-, B, and B+. I ran two tune up workouts Monday and Wednesday, took Thursday off so legs felt good. My two longer races I relaxed a little too much. There were no lap splits, and I was in the "nowhere's land" between faster and slower runners, alone. I probably could have duplicated the efforts workout style. It demonstrates fitness, but not what you want. The two shorter races were my best efforts, especially the 400m. I ran two 100m strides before the 400m in 19-20 seconds relaxed, so knew my speed was about the best it has been recently. Three golds and a silver in the 200m.

1500m 6:25

400m 1:22

800m 3:16

200m 38.46

Best,

Igy

So sorry this happened but do like your attitude. I use platform pedals like the ones used for bmx and downhill. They offer a very stable platform as well as good grip.

https://www.performancebike.com/webapp/wcs/stores/servlet/ProductDisplay?storeId=10052&langId=-1&catalogId=10551&productId=1167231&utm_source=Google_Product_Search&utm_medium=pla&utm_campaign=datafeed&cm_mmc=Google_Product_Search-_-PLA-_-Datafeed-_-Fort%20Transfer%20Platform%20Pedals%20Blue%20Null&CAWELAID=400006950000099669&CAGPSPN=pla&CAAGID=25577016963&CATCI=pla-157859474163&catargetid=400006950000108430&cadevice=c&gclid=Cj0KCQjw_JrMBRDPARIsACis1HxOkkxjVhrgbmKHl9TE5CPs--lqKi7p2yR_rLmHi421C2cPhWaglIUaAj05EALw_wcB

Hey Igy nicely done but I think you are gonna get faster;)

Not much ho hum week 36 minutes on 2 runs with lots of hilly hikes

2 miles on the mill at 10mph felt like around 10k effort but definitely ezr than 5k pace.

24 minutes on powell butte doing the hills probably 6 minutes at vo2max and 18 minutes at hard lt

plan is to continue to rest up for awhile without losing fitness also adding more time to my base hiking doing lots of really steep downhills feels good.

@SCgal, I feel so bad for you. I sure hope you have a speedy recovery, but a broken bone can heal only so fast. Your experience further reinforces my feeling that while cycling is good cross-training, it's ungodly dangerous. I've been mainly on the bike since late May because of the flareup of my Achilles tendon, and while I really enjoy cycling, it also scares me silly. I feel so vulnerable to motor vehicles on a bike with the speed at which everything goes by and the lack of rapid lateral mobility. And then there are the freak accidents that can occur, like yours.

I am getting kind of desperate to get back to running, not only because of the dangers on the bike but also because my semester is about to start and my ability to ride my bike first thing in the morning is about to disappear. So this week I tried two 10-mile runs. The first one, on Tuesday, went great, very comfortable at 8:48 pace. The second one on Friday was kind of a fiasco. It was the warmest, muggiest morning I think I've seen since moving back to California 14 years ago--79 degrees and humid at 5 am. I got hot almost immediately and then my left quadriceps started cramping. I suppose I should have just bagged it at that point but instead I tried to adjust my speed and stride and kept plugging away. I finished the whole 10 miles averaging about 9:10 pace but it felt awful and ended up very sore in the upper quad, not to mention with an aching Achilles. Obviously I've lost a lot of my running shape during all these weeks of almost no running.

Besides the 20 miles of running, I did get in 177 miles on the bike this week. Thank goodness the humidity is now fading--today it was 67 at dawn, a vast improvement.

My dogs rousted me out of bed just before 5 this morning and I turned on the TV 1:56 into the men's WC marathon. I left for my bike ride just before the women's marathon started and got back 2:20 into the race, in time to watch Amy Cragg charge for the bronze medal. What a run!

Sorry to read about the mishaps -- recover quickly SCgal and Dave.

Best volume week in a while.

5 runs totaling 35 miles

5 swims totaling 8.25 miles. That may be the most ever for me in a week.

Added in a 30 min kayak and an evening of doubles tennis.

Half marathon in two weeks -- training slow so expectations are low. One week of healthy consuming is in the books -- two to go until the Ballast Poont beer garden!

Charlie - Thanks for the pedal recommendation. I hope I get to try them before too long.

amkelley - What about running fewer than 10 miles per workout until your Achilles heals and your get your running legs back?

dhaaga - sorry to hear I'm not the only person with an injury this week. Hope you heal quickly.

Good luck to those of you racing in the next few weeks!

Charlie wrote:

Hey Igy nicely done but I think you are gonna get faster;)

Charlie,

Thanks. The 400m was the only race I can say was hard. The others I was recovered in a few minutes. Good in one way and bad in another. I need to push the training paces like you have been doing.

Igy

Ghost of Igloi wrote:

Charlie wrote:

Hey Igy nicely done but I think you are gonna get faster;)

Charlie,

Thanks. The 400m was the only race I can say was hard. The others I was recovered in a few minutes. Good in one way and bad in another. I need to push the training paces like you have been doing.

Igy

So what is next?

Sorry to hear about the injuries dhaaga and SCgal. It was a year ago today that I wracked my shoulder for the year.

Racked up another good week. 72 miles with some quality mixed in. Half marathon in a week, and I'm taking it fairly easy after Wednesday.

M - easy 7

T - 5 AM, 6.2 PM with 8X 400 at 84-85 average, 300 m jog. I rarely work at this effort (3K) and it was hot (86) for me. But got it done.

W - 8.2

Th - 10.7

F - 11 with 6.8@ 6:22 average (but it was a progression from 6:53 to 6:00)

S - 13.3 in Boulder

Su - 5.2 AM at 8K feet; 5.5 PM at mile high with some pick ups

Charlie,

Idaho Senior Games 5k on the 19th. After that a two week break which includes backpacking. Then I plan a build-up for Spokane. A couple of fall road races, BSU indoor meets this winter. Mostly an extension of what I have been doing. I would like to get my Igy miles to 70, and drop the weight to the low 150s (165 now).

How about you?

Igy

Ghost of Igloi wrote:

Charlie,

Idaho Senior Games 5k on the 19th. After that a two week break which includes backpacking. Then I plan a build-up for Spokane. A couple of fall road races, BSU indoor meets this winter. Mostly an extension of what I have been doing. I would like to get my Igy miles to 70, and drop the weight to the low 150s (165 now).

How about you?

Igy

Good luck with the 5k hope you get a cool morning. Losing 12 lbs will be tough but worth it.

Sub 5 mile and Spokane to get there I know what I have to do should be fun.

Sorry to hear about the fibula break SCgal and the others with injuries. Hope you have a compassionate spouse to help you through it. I get pretty moody when I can't run.

Had my "goal" race today, a 15k along the Mississippi River. I officially feel like a hobby jogger after getting 17th of 18th in my age group with a time of 1:16:23. Most of the top MN runners were there. I was off my goal time but felt like I ran a good race considering the hills.

Mon. off

Tue 4.1 miles w 3 mile tempo in 23:11

Wed. 3.3 miles in 31 mins

Thu. 5.1 miles on trails in 55 min

Fri. off

Sat. 3.3 miles in 33 mins

Sun. 15k race in 76:23

Time for an easy week and watching a lot of track. Keep the reports coming MF. Looks like a great crowd.

SCgal, does your gym have a rope pull machine? A loop of thick rope that you pull hand-over-hand against resistance. This is totally an upper body exercise, no use of the legs at all, and continuous, so a good aerobic workout. I have very little arm strength and this machine usually reduces me to a gasping, overcooked macaroni-armed waste within about 3 minutes, although I have made it as long as 10 minutes with careful pacing. I've always thought that if I should have a serious leg injury that might be my only recourse. My gym also has "bikes" that you pedal with your arms--I have never tried those.

One-legged rowing or even one-legged cycling are possibilities, but I always worry that doing what is meant to be a symmetric activity in a highly asymmetric way will just cause other injuries.