50+ Masters Training and Racing Open Forum

amkelley -- Congrats on the HM results. I remain super-impressed at your return to high mileage and competitive racing after your injury layoff. All those bicycling miles really paid off.

My wife lived for many years in Berkeley and San Francisco, and rues the day she moved back to the Northeast. Single digits and minus-20-degree wind chill here all last week, and all this coming week, too.

Those are some great masters times Reno. And a lot of dedication to the Elliptigo over the past few years.

Not very often we wrap up the year, month, and week all on the same day.

Just under 3K miles (2970) this year. For annual highlight summary I think the Tulsa 15K was my best race, even though I had some faster relative times elsewhere. Placed high under tough conditions in OK.

This was a taper/recovery month (184 miles) including Club XC and following weeks. Just some moderate miles (50) this week. But I also added some 60 km of XC skiing at 8700-10600 ft, including consecutive days of 2 hr or close with 2000 ft vertical. Did a hard tempo/pace run workout yesterday and really felt the load. Easy distance on the schedule for next week.

Happy New Year all!

I've enjoyed seeing everyone's race records over the years. I am humbled. My recent record is short...

2012 age 54- 17:48 5k, 2:48 marathon.

2017 age 60- 19:04 5k, 1:26.04 HM.

Otherwise, I was off doing other stuff and neglecting the running. Now I feel guilty :-)

But I have gotten 3098 miles this year and hope for that mythic sub-3 in two weeks. Fingers crossed and taper begun!

Thanks for listening. Happy New Year, all.

Ghost of Igloi wrote:

old guy II,

Happy retirement. Gradually reducing my hours. I may schedule Carlsbad if I can run in the 21s.

Igy

It would be great to say hello at Carlsbad. You beat me by a few seconds the year we raced Henry Rono. Maybe I could finally get my revenge :>) Do you know Jim Mosher? He ran for UCLA and then for SMTC for a couple of years. He isn't running anymore, but still rides with DRCC (Dead Runners Cycling Club) a group of the former Jamul Toads and other former serious local runners, like Kevin McCarey, who got too broken down (or overweight) to keep running.

59y/o+ 5days

Mon. 12/25 10 miles in 1: 29 on Rd.

Tues. Off

Wed. 5 miles in 57:52 on treadmill

PM @1pm 5 miles with 12 x 30 second @540-520 on treadmill in 49:12.

Thus. 5 miles in 57:47 on treadmill

Fri. 5 miles in 57:37 on treadmill

Sat. 10 miles in 1:24 on Rd.

Sun. 5 miles in 55:45 with 5 x pickups for 20 second @ 600-510.

Scheduled 5k new year day. Have not race 5k in quite sometime. Last race 10k in November 36:44. Will be cold tomorrow about 25 degrees.

Mon. A warm Christmas morning. 35 min. mountain bike up to a winery then 1km walk, 3 km run, 1km walk then rode back 11mins.

Tue. 35 min mountain bike into the forest, then 8 hilly kms in 53 min starting as a walk then 5 km running. 20 min ride back.

Wed. A hot hike on steep terrain with 5 km running inc 4 x 250 m steep hills.

Thu. 1 hour tough kayak session on the Campaspe River.

Fri. A brutal run up the very steep Mt Buangor with my faster mate Greg. Some 40% grades, overgrown tracks, huge fallen logs. Good fun, 600 metres elevation gain in 11 km round trip. 1 h 46 m.

Sat. A steep run up and down Ben Nevis with Greg. 10 km roundtrip 470 metre elevation gain on a more civilised trail 1 h 18 m.

Sun. Legs were a bit battered and bruised. 1 h 6 m mountain bike ride finishing in the forest. 7.5 km hilly hike then a quick 20 min ride home.

Nice and warm here over Christmas /New Year.

My record keeping is not that great but I did find some performances from the past.

1984. 5 k 16.02.

1991. 5 k 17.09

2000. 10 k 36.18.

2009. 5 k 19.20.

2012. 5 k 19.50.

2016. 5 k 21.11

2017. 5 k 21.52

Mt Buffalo, the 4th day of the 4 Peaks race. 10 km climb with about 1100 metres elevation gain on technical trails.

1986. 1 h 7 m.

1990. 1 h 11 m.

1992. 1 h 09 m.

1994. 1 h 12 m.

1996. 1 h 13 m.

2006. 1 h 26 m.

2007. 1 h 24 m.

2012. 1 h 37 m.

2013. 1 h 30 m.

2015. 1 h 41 m.

2016. 1 h 37 m.

2017. 1 h 40 m.

2017 wasn't a great year racing wise but I did knock out some enjoyable runs in the mountains. Trekking to Everest Base Camp was an amazing experience and obviously the highlight of the year.

2018. Pretty simple training plan. Try to run more, about 5 to 6 hours per week ideally. If the body will allow knock out something with a bit of intensity most weeks. Maintain the cross training.

When I am not running well I seem to get slack with the dietary habits.

No need for any fancy diet ideas at this stage, I will just try to cut out those all too frequent bad snacks etc.

Keep up the good work all you old geezers, it really is motivating reading your posts.

mo'pak wrote:

When I am not running well I seem to get slack with the dietary habits.

No need for any fancy diet ideas at this stage, I will just try to cut out those all too frequent bad snacks etc.

After the October 1 marathon, I stopped running, and my eating habits suddenly went crazy. Bags of cookies, cartons of ice cream, boxes of cereal. Candy, cake, pie.

I stepped on the scales this morning for the first time in three months. 176 pounds. Yikes. Marathon weight was about 158 (5'11").

My six-pack abs from three months ago have disappeared under a rather rotund belly. But I have maxed out at 185 a couple times over the years, so 176 isn't so bad. I am signing up at the local YMCA tomorrow!

Woke up to a minus 6 to minus 9 (depending on the source) temp this morning at 8 AM. Hope the car starts to get to work at noon! Will try to get in 3 or 4 miles outside around 10 AM.

total of 1287 miles for 2017, plus 37 hours on the AirDyne, plus upper body weight work twice weekly. For MikeF, my total lifetime miles are at 77,000 and counting. Getting to 100,000 looks daunting to this 66 year old, though. "Just to Run" is still the primary motto.

Happy Hangover-free New Year everyone!

Crusty Old Runner wrote:

KudzuRunner wrote:

1) Does glucoasmine, with or w/o chondroitin, work?

Yes, it works for me and some studies on glucosamine alone (sulfate form) support it's effectiveness for both pain relief & cartilage protection. I've been taking 1500 - 2000 mg for about 5 yrs now (I'm late 50s) for a wide variety of joint injuries sustained over the years. Studies show it has chondroprotective action in athletes by preventing collagen degradation and accelerating cartilage metabolism.

My knees are good so far (had bilateral xrays last month showing no joint degenerative disease) but I have a bad wheel (ruptured PTT & mild OA), so I'll see if increasing the glucosamine will help. Here's all the studies on all aspects of glucosamine (great site for other supplements also):

https://examine.com/supplements/glucosamine/

This is very interesting. I’ve been taking a glucosamine/chondroitin supplement for years, but apparently the wrong one (HCl). I guess a change is in store.

I don't have much history to post, except for the history of my vital signs over the past 7 months. My BP has dropped from borderline high to the low end of normal, my cholesterol levels have decreased over 25 points, and I've lost 8 pounds from around my middle. My resting pulse is in the low 50s and my HDL level is up 10 points.

Thanks, training.

It has been a few years since reading and posting to this site. You guys still have it going- that's great. Quick recap over this past year- surgery in March- resume running in mid April- back in shape in July- ran the club xc nationals recently with decent success- Last few days of training:

12/23 6 mile tempo 1st 5 @at 5:56 min. pace, last mile at 5:53 solid effort. Under control.

12/24 SU 6 easy/4 easy-med

12/25 10 miler easy 6:53/56 pace felt easy

12/26 8 miles 6:15 pace under control

12/27 7 mile progression 7:00 to 6:00 min. pace

12/28 15 miler easy fb 6x strides

12/29 DNR

12/30 8 miles at 6:15 pace

12/31 SU 5 & 5 easy

1/1 alternation 12/4 (5:46)/ 6:30 x 6 sets

At 63 just glad to be running and relatively healthy.

Happy New Years!

Many Interesting topics! Too busy to post for a few weeks but have keep up. 940 miles for the year, not that impressive, but about all I could muster. With glucosamine, I start having more foot aches, which eventually reminds me that I've slacked off of taking it. Things are easy to forget when you're not hurting.

With training, I've tried to go 6 days a week up into my late 50s, but now about to turn 63, I'm thinking that 5 days will have to do... if I can manage it. Don't think I've had any weeks of 6 days per week since turning 60, but different injuries limited me to one track race in 2015, two in 2016 and none this year. Also am feeling a lot slower, but am hoping the easier training is one of the reasons, and not just getting older, have been going easier on the effort days for the past couple months.

27 miles for last week;

Sun - 5.5 m 9:30pace

M - 0

T - 6 m with 16 min Tempo @ 6:37 pace

W -4 m 9:00 p

Th - 6.5 @ 9:05 p

F - 0

S - 5 m @ 9:10 p

As far as masters times over the years, I'll list 3k times, since I just finished one recently., on the road.

Age 41 - 9:17 ended up with a good lead early, and ran as hard as I could trying to get a faster time.

43 - 8:44.0

45 - 8:46.2

46- 50 got plantar during my age 45 track season and struggled with it until just before turning 50. Pete Magill found

a simple exercise solution to it, and it disappeared until 2 years ago. I don't have my results, but I think I ran a

a couple mid 9:30 type races during that time.

52 - 9:36

53 - 9:11.2 with a 30.0 last 200

55- 9:21. 8

58 - 9:38

59 - 9:44

61 - 10:25 road race

62 - 10:18 road race

Happy New year!

Ghost of Igloi wrote:

You are racing pretty fast for your age when you do race.

Hi Igy,

This thread is attracting some Big Dogs the two guys who just posted 63 and RB73 have been at or near the top age groupers for a long time. Cheney is gonna be tough for the 60-64 age group anyhow it will be a doo zee.

I just read the results of some recent races and found my mate John J clocked a 4.03 in a 1 km race on a grass track. John is 80. I am not sure what the age grading on that is but I am super impressed.

Hey Charlie,

Yes some amazing athletes post here. I could say across the board really. Anyone that is out there doing it as diligently as those that post here are an unusual lot. Mo Pac just posted about an 80 year old that would be on my @$$ in a race. I am focusing on my goal and trying to stay in my lane.

You seem to be progressing.

I have penciled in Hayward on my schedule.

Igy

Age graded at 86.37 for 1k age 80 in 4:03.

Ghost of Igloi wrote:

You seem to be progressing.

I have penciled in Hayward on my schedule.

Igy

West side of the country will be hot so Hayward Classic should get a boost as a tune up / rust buster .

I feel pretty good. Actually "raced" a really laid back 5k on New Year's Day . There was a this 91 year old dude who has done this race every year since the start in 1984. He ran pretty good .

Charlie,

Same here ran 2:36 faster than last year same course. To be fair the conditions were worse last year, though not good Monday.

Igy

old guy II wrote:

Ghost of Igloi wrote:

old guy II,

Happy retirement. Gradually reducing my hours. I may schedule Carlsbad if I can run in the 21s.

Igy

It would be great to say hello at Carlsbad. You beat me by a few seconds the year we raced Henry Rono. Maybe I could finally get my revenge :>) Do you know Jim Mosher? He ran for UCLA and then for SMTC for a couple of years. He isn't running anymore, but still rides with DRCC (Dead Runners Cycling Club) a group of the former Jamul Toads and other former serious local runners, like Kevin McCarey, who got too broken down (or overweight) to keep running.

old guy II,

I hope you saw my reply from earlier in the week. Two of my posts mysteriously disappeared, one of them my answer to you. Yes I do recall Jim Mosher, several former rivals and a close friend ran with him at UCLA. My memory is a little foggy on the SMTC years, but I did run with his UCLA teammates Gary Nitti and Dick Tikker.

In regards to Carlsbad, I received Henry’s second place plaque, as I recall his result was not immediately recorded, but later was. One of the other competitors swore Henry never finished, but I was within eye shot the entire race.

At this point you are in a class above my level. I would love to get back into the 21s this year and hopefully work from there. My focus on indoor currently and at its conclusion take an accounting of the season. I would enjoy meeting you and hopefully some other of the posters at future meets. When I was competing regularly it was fun to visit with the other athletes.

Take care.

Igy