Masters Weekend Races and Runs

Hello everyone,

I haven't posted in the while, maybe due to finishing the year with 3 weeks dealing with an URI that turned into bronchitis. This is my second week back running, and while my lungs are far from 100%, my legs are apparently willing to pick up the slack based on some good 400m and 800m interval sessions. I'm good to race, at least up to maybe a mile.

Running Hartshorne this Sat and am hoping to run around 4:50 in the Section I heat. I heard number of elites are down, maybe because it's so tough to travel to Ithaca this time of year. Good news is that my kids' spring break this year coincides with Carlsbad, and I managed to connect those two dots. It should be fun. Looking for a long bungee cord to link to SoCal or Cush at the start.

Scott

Carlsbad...I'd love to run Carlsbad again.

MikeF: you are welcome to come up to Eugene and hobble with me any time...

I, too, will likely be pretty scarce around here as my frustration level is far too high and my performance level is far too low to even feel like hanging in the wings.

Anybody heading Eugene way is welcome to get in touch for a cider (or preferred beverage) and a recovery jog.

Run well everybody

Monday: off

Tuesday: 1.5 warm up, 4 X 1/2 mile with 1/4 jog recovery. 2:39, 2:38, 2:37, 2:35. 1.5 mile warm down. 6.5 total

Wednesday: 7 miles easy 52:37

Thursday: 6 miles easy 41:26

Friday: 1.5 warm up, 4 mile tempo @ 1/2 marathon goal pace. intended 6:05s, actual 6:00,6:03,6:03,5:53. 1.5 mile warm down. 7 total

Saturday: 6 very easy 50:38

Sunday: 16 miles. first 7 ave. 7:18 pace, last 5 ave.6:46 pace. 1:54:20 total

48.5 miles in 6 days. Good for me.

Hoping to get up to 60+ next week.

Running the 3M Austin Half in 2 weeks.

Scott, I believe you shared some beers with me and my fellow Compexers in Sacramento. Very fun time. Look for us at Carlsbad, though several of us will be running for our local clubs (we camp under the CalCoast banner). With an 0700 start, a warm down and breakfast, we are usually in the beer booth by 0830. No better excuse than Carlsbad to start drinking before noon. Hope to see you there, Rob.

To the Masters Posters: Since most of us Californians are upside down on our homes, it was nice this week to be able to showcase one of the positive things about living in Cali. 15 miles Saturday with my shirt off most of the way. 80 degrees in mid January. Nice.

Did my first race as a master in San Diego last week - 15k in like 52:26. 5:37 pace. Can't seem to shake this upper hamstring/ischium problem and very frustrated trying to run hard in my rigid orthotics - they help the pain and iron out my footstrike, but they weigh a ton and my foot is held so rigid I can't pushoff well. I am going to try to wean off of them for hard stuff from now on. Felt fine cardiovascularly, but terribly jacked up from the waist down - visibly limping, epecially on the harshly crowned course. If I don't get this ironed out, I am switching to cycling. I never used to get injured.

Hang in there. There is an answer somewhere just have to find the right person.

I thought I would post this here so I could get info from other masters.

Background:

Having recently turned 40 I have turned back to running as opposed to dabbling in triathlon the last 2 years. In those 2 years I only averaged 50mi/month running and I had not done any exercise in the 6yrs prior to trying tri. Long story short, I have no base.

I want to run some races to keep things interesting, as opposed to just building a base for months.

I just did 9 weeks averaging around 50 mpw with a long run of 14mi every week, but no faster stuff, everything was slow aerobic type running.

I ran a 5k in 17:15. My goal is a half marathon in 5 weeks time. If I plug my 5km time into Mcmillan or use vdot tables they say I should be able to run a HM in just under 80min.

My question. How much faster should/could I expect to go in a HM in 5 weeks if I add two 3k/5k pace interval workouts to my routine in the next 5 weeks or will that not be enough time to see any benefit at the 13.1mi distance?

Maybe do two workouts a week of like 800m to 1600m at 3k/5k pace?

Maybe do one 3/5k paced workout and one steady state/tempo workouts (5mi @ 15km pace or 3x2mi @15km pace with 1min recov?

Maybe just plug away running slow and see what happens?

Any thoughts or opinions as to what type of gains I might be able to make in 5 wks and also to what the best approach would be.

Thanks in advance for any opinions, comments or ideas.

Welcome to the thread, I would ask this question again this weekend as it seems most of the posters here post on Sunday/Monday then are done with it for the most part. You will get plenty of feedback from some very good runners.

Thanks OMBTS

I posted here because I knew there were some really good runners in the post, who would be able to, hopefully, give great info.

I will try posting the question Sunday/Monday.

Hope the OBX has warmed up a little. Raleigh is chilly and has no Duck donuts ;(

If you post your e-mail up, more master runners will help out.

I've got a thread going chronicling my efforts to get a lifetime PR within the next 24 months. I was invited to post a weekly summary, so here goes with my last 7 days.

1/14 - Easy 40 minutes

1/15 - 20 easy in the am, 45 easy in the pm

1/16 - 90 min covering a little over 12 m

1/17 - 30 easy am, 60 easy pm

1/18 - 30 easy am, 60 easy pm

1/19 - 30 easy am, 60 easy pm

1/20 - 25+ easy am, 60 easy pm.... Plus simulated hill sprints (5 of them) on the treadmill.

I also have alternated days with supplementary work....

Day 1 is push ups and core work

Day 2 is squats/lunges, lite weights and core work

I'm doing 99% of my runs on the treadmill at 8:30 pace, purposefully controlling the pace until I hit my weight loss goal. I've had injury problems in the past, so I'm hoping to avoid that by running slow.

Thanks for starting the thread.

Fair enough on the email.

I very rarely post on Letsrun now (6-8 x / year), yet I wanted to say Mike Fanelli is a living encyclopedia of history, wealth of knowledge and true inspiration for masters runners as well as all runners. Best of luck, sir, you are a class act.

I'm sure I speak for all when I write keep posting here when you can. I hope you can find some resolution and get your aches and pains sufficiently managed so you can enjoy some more good running years. It might be a matter of doing something else active for a year (i.e. two hours / day on the bike), and coming back to running with a freshly healed body.