50+ Masters Training and Racing Open Forum

Best of 2018: 1 mile - 5:15, 5K - 17:27, 8K - 28:10, 10K - 37:00 (6000' altitude), half marathon -1:19:06, marathon - well I finished Boston and that was all I could do that day.

2019 plans/goals - Do USATF masters circuit again (5 of the races), take team title this time! Chicago in the fall, go for age group podium.

To your good health 50+ masters, and may 2019 be a great year for you all.

Charlie: “Igy the history of Master Track book was interesting read thanks”

Glad you enjoyed it. We really had some very good masters in our club when I was a young man. Peter Mundle, Tom Sturak, Mauro Hernandez and James Oleson come to mind. I can really appreciate their talent so much more today.

It was another "big" week for me with actual jogging miles once again exceeding 20. That included a nice fartlek session and a "long" jog. Also got in a nice long walk on Christmas Eve as I wrapped up my gift shopping. No physical ailments (knock on wood) to complain about at this time. Too cold for golf, but I haven't packed away the clubs quite yet.

Sun: 53' jog, body wt ex

Mon: 50' walk

Tues: 51' jog, body wt ex

Wed: off

Thu: 52' jog w/ 1 mi utility pole fartlek (2 on / 2 off), body wt ex

Fri: off

Sat: 61' jog, body wt ex

Best to most. HNY.

BTM HNY

There are many different teams represented on this thread. If you're interested in joining a team. I'm sure you can get plenty of advice. Most people are members of their local team but many teams don't have geographic restrictions. I didn't have women in my age group who were interested in competing at a national level so I joined a team in a neighboring state. For me, being on a team makes competing much more fun.

Actually there IS a geographical restriction to participate in USATF national championships. You can join any team you want (any where in the country), but the current rule for national competitions is, you may only have ONE person from outside the association on any competing team. Sometimes the associations cover a single state, (like OR) others have a group of states and still others, like Washington and California, have multiple associations within the state.

For example, you can have ONE person on the men's 60+ team who is from outside the association area of the the club. But that wouldn't prohibit the same club from having ONE woman on the W40s team who was outside the association, too.

In addition, all the members except for the one out of association person, all have to be from the club's association. Thus, a PA club cannot do NY, NY, PA , on a 3 person team, and a SoCal association team cannot do: CO, SoCal, Pacific, even though both SoCal and Pacific are in the same state.

You can check with your USATF association person to see what your options are. But I totally agree, it's way more fun on a team.

MG

Mon. 17 th Dec. 63 min mtn bike ride. 63 min. kayak

Tue. 3 hr mtn bike ride.

Wed. 15 km trail run in 90 min.

Thu. 69 min. kayak.

Fri. 95 min mtn bike ride.

Sat. 3 km trail run 18 mins.

Sun. 9 km steep trail run 560 metres 86 mins.

Mon. 24th Dec. am. 54 min mtn bike.

pm. 60 min kayak.

Tue. 35 km road ride 530 metres elevation gain 80 mins.

Wed. 14 km steep trail run 610 metres elevation gain. 1 hr 45 mins.

Thu. am. 30 min ride.

pm. 68 min kayak in 40 deg C heat.

Fri. 21 km ride in 50 mins.

Sat. am. 6 km trail run in 37 mins.

pm. A good steep hike with the family.

Sun. Off.

Happy New year everyone.

Happy Healthy Year Ya'll.

Had to chuckle about trying backward running only to injure something else.

2018 was a lucky year for me highlighted by my first National XC Medal, another couple of National Track Medals, and a faster 800 time (2:16.21) at age 58 than age 57 and 56. 3x Lucky.

2019 Goals = drink more water eat less junk.

KP

Best to most.

Every time I see this I sort of chuckle and think, oh well another week that I didn't make the cut!

Coyote Montane wrote:

Best to most.

Every time I see this I sort of chuckle and think, oh well another week that I didn't make the cut!

Yes, but I am the evil person that started the corruption of the pure.

BTM HNY

I ran 1171 miles this year running 298 out of 365 (3.2/day) and doing some kind of workout 324 of those days. I had a running streak going from November of last year until July 31st when the streak ended with 5 pulmonary emboli. I ended the year on a 41 day running streak and now I am looking to continue. I have some unfinished business in 2019 that I plan to get to. Let’s see how this year rolls.

I guess it's traditional for this group to name goals for the upcoming year at this time. My body has not been cooperative about meeting any running goals over the past few years. But here it goes.

1. Low ambition goal: Enjoy running and appreciate being able to do so, however slow I may get.

2. Medium high ambition goal: Finish a marathon under 4:00 (my Boston qualifying time is 4:20). With a recent 1:50 HM this perhaps doesn't seem too ambitious, but I have not finished a marathon since 2004 and have had a long string of DNF's and DNS's since then. My two goal races are both semi-local, one at the end of March and the other in early November. Both are close enough to home that I can easily sleep in my own bed the night before and not have to get up ungodly early on race morning. Both have accompanying half-marathons that I have run many times, so I know the events well. Both are nearly flat courses that usually have good weather. I really hope to take a decent shot at the marathon in one or the other of them.

3. Really high ambition goal: Go under 24:00 for 5K. A few weeks ago I ran 24:26 on a no-excuses day. Improving on that by 8-9 sec/mile seems tough but not impossible. I hope to go for this at a fast 5K in May which I have run many times. Otherwise there are lots of other 5K races in my area.

amkelley,

I am running a 5k in the morning and the goal is not to walk. Humbling for sure, falls into category “1” and not by choice. I think I may have some success starting a little slower and working from there.

Igy

The Idaho Potato Drop New Year’s Celebration. What class, the Potato hoisted and drpped by a crane. A few years ago it was hilariously funny when there was a herky-jerky performance at the drop. It is all good if you have enough alcohol.

https://imgur.com/a/TYEubyX

Guess my only goal for 2019 is to get my miles back to where they have been and should be. If I can have a 2600'ish mile year, the times will take care of themselves and I'll be competitive again.

Had another solid week. About 44 miles with a day off for travel to SC. On Wednesday before we left I decided to get after a 5k...just to see. I kind of was thinking I could run around 18:00 but was a bit off that. So with no taper and in flats and by myself I went 6:07,5:58,5:48,:34 for a 3.1 in 18:27. I felt real strong the last mile but went out too cautious to challenge 18:00.

Then I spent the last 3 days doing relaxed hilly 7-8 milers around Greenville SC.

More optimistic going into 2019. I'll be at the top of my AG turning 59 in May. No time predictions but I'm starting to think I'll be ok...

Thats it from here. Hope we all have a good year! And I hope I can stay awake until midnight...in 47 minutes.

Dave

Still a sore spot on the ligament near my lower back, but was able to run 4 miles in 42 minutes today with my wonderful wife, including 4 x 1/8 mile uphills. Averaged just under 9 minute pace, but was 20 degrees out, so a bit chilly. Happy New Year to all and to all the best of running healthfully! ML

Mike Lundgren wrote:

Still a sore spot on the ligament near my lower back, but was able to run 4 miles in 42 minutes today with my wonderful wife, including 4 x 1/8 mile uphills. Averaged just under 9 minute pace, but was 20 degrees out, so a bit chilly. Happy New Year to all and to all the best of running healthfully! ML

Now I feel really guilty reading this. ?

I live in the "new" Big-D (Denver), and we got hit with an artic blast the past couple of days pushing highs in the teens and lows in the single digit midgets. So, today is a scheduled run day (only running Tu/Th/Sa because of chronic injuries & OA) and the temp is 16 degrees at 2:00 pm where I live. I say "screw it" and head for the gym, which is open all day on New Years, and hit a hard 60 min spin session & some weights in a nice, comfy 65 degrees. ?.

I normally hate missing runs because of weather since I end up missing several during the year due to injury. But the last couple of years (58 now) I've seemed to have developed this sensitivity and intolence to extreme cold temps. Now before anyone calls me a "whimp," I used to run in extremely cold temps in the past. My record is -2 (-8 windchill) 6 yrs ago where I hit 6 miles and had a blast! And I've run a few winter races where the temp was near 0 and hardly anyone else showed up. I have all the winter running gear but even wearing that I can't seem to get the body temp up even well into the run.

Anyone else having trouble with extreme cold? I wonder if this could be circulation issues or something going on with the hypothalamus that regulates body temp? I can't say that I didn't get a great workout today on the spin bike (good sweat in the 65 deg room), but spinning 60 mins is nothing compared to a 60 min run outdoors for an avid runner.

This is the kind of information I’m interested in.

Running in the cold might be a solution . Might also make you healthier.

Loss of BAT brown adipose tissue

https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/25390014

Stress adaptation just gets harder as we age.

Heat Shock Proteins ...

Heat shock proteins (HSP) are a family of proteins that are produced by cells in response to exposure to stressful conditions.

Since getting burned last summer by the heat I have been wearing 3 or 4 layers of clothes when running . Even in 50 degree weather running easy I sweat pretty good. Today it was 32 I stripped down ran a 5k tempo and sweated! Crazy stuff but interesting. As runners we should understand that adaptation comes from stressing the body but not breaking the body. Turns out this is true with many biological systems.