Many of us fockers have found out it is a lot tougher than it appears.
Igy
Many of us fockers have found out it is a lot tougher than it appears.
Igy
Scorpion_runner wrote:
I'm 44, and my goal is to be sub 18 until I'm about 55 to 60, and then try to maintain 18 to 20 min times until I'm about 65-70. I want at least 20 years of quality fast running and then taper off.
Scorpion, you have a much healthier attitude than I had in my 40s. At 44, I was so disgusted with not breaking 17:00 for 5K, I stopped racing entirely. At 57-58, it's been fun to return to competition, with revised expectations. Stay positive, and enjoy the next 20 years (and beyond)!
Interesting ... two somewhat contrasting takes on scorpion's comment ... Although, I suppose we both touch on the need to be fluid in our expectations ...
Allen1959 and Scorpion,
Oh just my sarcastic side, which tends to get me into trouble. Actually Allen's encouragement is the correct view. I actually have I similar expectations for the next year, just finding it a challenge. Which it should be.
Igy
Ghost of Igloi wrote:
Many of us fockers have found out it is a lot tougher than it appears.
Igy
No worries. I take it with a grain of salt.
Endurance athletes can be rather sardonic at times, so there is nothing wrong with a little bite. We're all guilty of it.
I've been running since I was 19, but didn't start racing or getting serious about running until I was 40. I was doing a lot of swimming and cycling in between.
I run 1500m to half marathon, so I basically half marathon train to cover all distances, doing 3 quality days per week, and a serious, serious long run every 2 weeks. I avg about 45-50 miles per week.
With the type of training and racing that I do, I feel in control, and I have never been seriously injured. However, I do get that marathon itch like most distance runners. But I just feel that will lead me down a road that will not benefit me in the end health wise. So Im still on the fence about doing one. I probably never will.
My perception when it comes to running is that runners who train smart and run smart are able to sustain quality running for many years, well off into their late 60s. I want to be one of those individuals, so seeing older master runners still putting in quality work, and doing it with great intelligence, and still being highly competitive, is good to see.
Scorpion_runner wrote:
My perception when it comes to running is that runners who train smart and run smart are able to sustain quality running for many years ...
I think you're doing it right. Looking back at my age 43-44 training logs, I now wish I had utilized periodization, target races, less racing. There were few weeks without a race. In a single week I raced a 5K, a 10K and a 20K. Within a two-month period, I raced distances from 1 mile to marathon. It was fun for a couple years, but I think "smarter" would have yielded "better" results ... and maybe avoided burnout at age 44.
Scorpion,
I learned by my errors what you are doing. This week I will have spent considerable time in the pool and on a spin bike. I have faced some challenges in my 60s that have forced an approach change, whereas in my 50s I could run every day. In regards to the marathon. I find it a lot of commitment for a masters athlete. And if you have a bad race, well some serious time had been dedicated to the effort. That said, I did it in my mid-50s and glad I did.
Igy
Scorpion,
That's an impressive goal and I hope you can pull it off. I never broke 18 for 5K even at my best at age 33!
I'm having a tough start to the week, but nothing I shouldn't be able to turn around quickly. Monday I had to get up at 2:45 am to travel 3.5 hours to the airport for a flight to the east coast. I didn't eat or drink all day since I often have trouble with getting airsick on planes (fortunately not this time). Then I had to go immediately to a fancy banquet (read: small portions of fatty food). I finally fell into bed severely dehydrated and carb-depleted. Got up Tuesday morning and tried to run, and to say it didn't work was a major understatement. I was very thirsty despite knocking back two glasses of water before starting, and badly bonked. The terrain was rolling, and I live in an area that is pancake flat. And it was muggy--only about 70 degrees but nearly 100% humidity. I could barely keep my feet moving going uphill, and after about 45 minutes I just gave up and jogged back to my hotel. Ten years ago, or even five, I would have just toughed it out and finished the run, however bad it was. I'm becoming a wimp in my old age.
I felt an order of magnitude better this morning after a day of eating and drinking enough. However, I had to catch a fairly early flight and I wasn't prepared to get up early enough to do much of a run. I put in a solid five miles in the time I had.
Hoping to get back to normal quickly upon returning home later today.
We runners are stubborn buggers aren't we Amkelly? Common sense says you should have just had some days off.
Much the same thing for me on Tuesday.
I finished a high adrenaline shift late Monday night. Home just before midnight. In bed 1.30 am tossed and turned dozed off after 3 and awake again at 4.30. Up at 5 and off to work 5.30 no brekkie (feeling sick).
Busy and quite physical shift and we don't have access to drinking water inside the unit so I probably didn't drink enough. Gulped down most of a litre on the way home. Stopped and went out for 12 kms and was feeling flat as a tack. Also stopped at the lake and did a half hour kayak.
All done on maybe 1.5 litres of fluid a cheese and tomato sandwich and 1.5 hours sleep.
Home at 7 pm and certainly not the life of the party.
No work yesterday and much better organised. I managed to get in some good hill reps, 5 x 600 very steep metres and also a sharp hour on the mountain bike. Nicely hydrated and well fed off a good night's sleep.
mo'pak,
You've definitely got me beat in the "life getting in the way of working out" category.
I never did let running interfere with my career, or with my family. Good thing I was single until age 40 and my parents and siblings were in good health and didn't need help from me until fairly recently. Career definitely did interfere with running in my best days. I tried to OT qualify at Grandma's one year less than a week after spending 10 days in Japan, and that didn't work. But normally I used to be able to do it all, usually cutting out sleep when something had to give. (Sounds like that's what you're doing now.) Now I'll sleep an extra hour rather than run when time gets tight.
I usually have it pretty good as I am only contracted to work part time these days. My wife gets the bigger $ now so I live the life of Reilly lol.
Tuesday wasn't my rostered shift but if I didn't go in my colleagues would have worked short and this would have put them in harms way. We were still short staffed but had quality over quantity.
I was happy to push through but would think hard about doing that sort of thing too often.
There was a time when my wife was at Uni I often worked 15 plus hour days driving ambulances. There were often post midnight runs and rides done back then.
One time I rode the bike in from 20 kms away early morning. The last job took us interstate dropping off our patient after midnight. We then had a 4 hour return trip.It took me 2 hours to ride back.
You guys are tougher than I. No excuse. My wife is that tough, but sorry to say not I.
Igy
Allen1959 wrote:
... need to be fluid in our expectations ...
Keeping "fluid expectations" is the only way I can bear to keep running.
When I think about it too much, it kills me how slowly I am running now. I say to myself, "If only I could train harder, I could get back to sub-20 for 5K and sub-6:00 for the mile. Even though I am 59. I know I could still do it."
But I just can't train harder. Everything hurts these days, and parts would start to fall off if I tried to push my training pace or training mileage. I would crash and burn, I would really get hurt (instead of just hurting), and then I wouldn't be able to run at all.
Just last night, sitting on the bed with my back aching and my hip sore, I said to my wife, "OK, I am lowering my expectations."
"Good," she said.
"Now I am just going to try to run my weekly mileage at any pace, no matter how slow; and my racing goal will be just to participate."
She said, "Why do you have to race at all?"
"I like the competition," I said.
"But why do you have to compare yourself to other people? Why don't you just run on your own?"
See, this woman does not have a competitive bone in her body. She will never, ever understand why we do what we do.
Brittle Master 1958 wrote:
Just last night, sitting on the bed with my back aching and my hip sore, I said to my wife, "OK, I am lowering my expectations." ...
Brittle, I have been trying to run through pain since April. Left knee, right achilles. Every step hurts. The pain wakes me during the night. All night. Stairs are a nightmare -- I need to stand sideways and use my right leg to lower myself to each individual tread.
In nine days, I run the marathon. I had time goals, but the injuries and low mileage have forced me to abandon those, one by one, even as I kept adjusting them ever slower.
Still, I hope for a big dose of race-day magic. Still, I look for a top-two age group finish. OK, I will accept top three. And likely go home disappointed with a fourth or fifth or worse.
My wife understands. We met in a running club 20 years ago. She is competitive in everything she does. But she pleads that I back away after the marathon. Give it a rest. Gain some weight. Finish that oil painting that's been sitting on my easel. Finish making windows for the house. Finish making shutters for the house. Build the carriage wing/garage/kitchen expansion I've been drawing up for the past 20 years. Make all the furniture I've been promising.
Well, maybe.
Or maybe just try to heal after the marathon ... get some physical therapy ... see what I can do in the 5K as a 58-59 year old. Then, a new age group after that!
I'm in my late 50s and trying ever so slowly to get back into decent sprinting shape after a long layoff and some problems that were fixed by surgery. But even problems fixed by surgery require rehabbing back to full strength. I'm happy that I'm about halfway to my weight loss goal. I have about 6 more lbs to lose. It makes a big difference when running. I feel so much better when I'm not dragging around extra ballast. It's also not fun to look down and see some belly jiggle - nice visual, I know!
My getting back into running and fitness has made me feel better about other parts of my life as well. It's an uphill climb but a fun and enlightening journey.
I bought my track shoes today. Saturday I will take them to the track and cautiously try them out with a couple of 50m strides at the end of my regular workout.
Brittle Master 1958 wrote:
She said, "Why do you have to race at all?"
"I like the competition," I said.
So do I, but somehow I've managed to avoid getting too bummed out about how much slower I am than I used to be. Last spring, before my Achilles flared up again and I was running regularly, I was nearly 2 minutes per mile slower than my lifetime PRs at everything from the 5K to the half-marathon. But I still enjoy competing against anyone who is running near my pace. It's just a different group of people now. I wish I were faster, but I'm still usually finishing in the top 10-20% of my hobby-jogger races and that's OK with me.
I guess I'm lucky in that I am 59 years old and I don't hurt continuously in multiple places. Most of the time my right heel hurts a little, and that's all. Other things hurt from time to time, but rarely much and rarely for very long. I've been particularly fortunate to avoid any of the back issues that make not only running but all of life hell for so many people.
Allen1959 wrote:
... maybe just try to heal after the marathon ... get some physical therapy ... see what I can do in the 5K as a 58-59 year old. Then, a new age group after that!
Allen1959, if you are smart, you will scrap this marathon, which sounds like a pretty terrible idea given your various ailments, start healing and getting the physical therapy NOW, and in due course try to leverage your excellent fitness level into 5K races. All IMHO of course!
Years ago I tried to run a half-marathon when I was suffering from knee issues, and all I did was end up limping to the finish line with a pathetic time, and then I could hardly run at all for the next six months.
If you run the marathon, you may end up like I did after my half: majorly injured. Or you could skip this marathon, possibly save yourself months of major rehab, and start re-focusing right now on 5Ks which would probably be a great distance for you and minimize your injury risks.
It's not about manhood. It's about being smart!
phoenix rising and amkelley, you both have great attitudes!
September 21, 2017
Thursday
168 pounds
- Hip stretches (3 stretches)
- Basic stretching routine (11 stretches)
- Warmup: (treadmill, 2% incline) 0.25 mile at 6.1 mph, 0.25 mile walking at 3.0 mph, 0.25 mile at 6.6 mph, 0.25 mile walking at 3.0 mph.
- 5 miles on the treadmill, 2% incline, in 43:21 (8:40 mile pace).
old guy II,
Jeff Irwin knows of your wife "she's fast." He does not throw out that compliment.
Igy
Are you sure that was meant as a compliment? Might be fighting words. 😡