50+ Masters Training and Racing Open Forum

I am 61 years young and have been running more or less continuously since high school. I ran some very modest times in the 220/440 in college for two years for a small NAIA school. I had about a 4 year break from running after college while in the Navy during Vietnam. I then started back up at a modest level and started running local 10Ks and 5Ks. With a young family and a busy career I probably averaged less than 35mpw. As my two children got older I started running with them and they turned into pretty decent high school and college distance runners. My mileage slowly moved up as the kids got older and the demands of my job lessened a bit. When I started back to racing my 5K times were close to 18:00. As I got older and increased my training, my times stayed fairly constant. Last year on close to 60mpw I ran 18:48. My weight probably has never been more than 10lbs over my college racing weight, which I now am back down to, and I have been blessed with no serious running injuries other than one stress fracture 5 years ago. I continue to love the training and the excitement of racing and look forward to my first track race of the year next week. P.S. To Mopak-I regularly run with a local Aussie ex-pat who is a little younger than you, but trained with a lot of the same folks that you mentioned. His name is Heppell.

thanks for the commiseration, lucKY2b. this is my fifth stress fracture since i began running (each in a different bone), so i guess i know what the recovery drill is like. it'll be interesting to see if i collapse into a brittle heap once i hit menopause, which of course is coming mighty soon.

I am a 50 year old female but in my mind I'm forever 17. I had an outstanding high school career as a sprint hurdler but injuries killed it in college. I left running behind and did swimming, aerobic dancing, and jogging 5k races to keep the inevitable middle aged post-children pounds at bay, but they still crept up on me. I remember looking at myself in a full length mirror as I tried on my swimsuit (age 44) and I didn't like what I saw. I found out about masters track (5ks really weren't my thing!) and spent the next 6 months getting back into shape and losing 10 lbs, and it was honestly one of the most painful yet rewarding things I've ever done for myself. I love sprinting and hurdling as much as I did when I was younger, and I'm looking forward to the WMA Masters meet in Sacramento this July.

M54

I am more of a lifelong fitness runner than competitive runner. My youth sporting was focused on ball sports.

I started lunch time runs in my 20s with folks at work. Some 10Ks and distance relays with the guys from work evolved.

Motivation was less a factor than distress as I set my PRs in my late 20s. Going through a divorce, I found myself awake at daybreak so I’d go out and run to clear my mind. It was easy to add lunch time runs and a long run on Sunday to get fit without really knowing anything. 34:30 10K and 2:54 42K.

I ran Boston for my 30th and vowed to get fit enough every decade to qualify for Boston again.

A much more successful marriage and kids left less time for running in my 30s although I maintained fitness running at lunch time and trail runs on weekends as a continued lifestyle.

Two medial meniscus surgeries incurred from stupid training for Boston as an out of shape upcoming 40 year old.

Older and wiser as a 48 yr old I hired a personal trainer / elite middle distance guy to help me with strength training to prevent injuries. I ramped slowly over 1.5 yrs, battled Achilles issues (one leg only), and yet qualified for Boston at 50.

As an empty nester I had time and motivation to not let the fitness erode. I started devouring the works of Daniels, Noakes, Pfitzinger, … I ran through the Achilles pain (not so wise after all), got to 3:13 marathon shape running a program more suitable for a 30 year old me and then had a protracted meltdown from Achilles pain which ultimately led to months running abstinence.

As only readers of this forum could in any way understand I somehow did not want to change to biking or go back to beer drinking (as a sole sport that is) and 2.5 yrs later overcame the Achilles issues. (Details belong on another thread.) Now joyfully healthy again, I’ve vowed not running in pain again, had a great Chicago Marathon 10/10/10 and am targeting getting at least close to that 3:13 fitness at NYC Marathon November 2011.

I enjoy figuring out how to make training work for me to keep it fun. I look forward to the trials, successes and advice of like minded folk at similar era of life.

I’m closing in on 51 this summer and just resumed “training” this past winter, after a few years of running and cycling simply for the enjoyment of getting outdoors. I’ve been lurking for a few months. I confess that reading many of the times posted here can be pretty intimidating. There are very few people our age in my entire region (western NC) running anywhere near what seems to be totally common (even revoltingly slow to some) in this community. But I do recognize the value in setting my sights higher and it certainly serves to open one’s eyes to the possibilities.

I finally stayed healthy for long enough to gradually build my mileage this past winter and have been pretty surprised that I’ve been able to average about 65 mpw for most of this year, so far. Still lacking a lot in the speed department but I’ve placed well in several road and trail races this spring. Just wrapped up a string of shorter races and will now be building toward some longer trail races later this summer – particularly the Riverbound Trail Race Series at the US Natl Whitewater Center near Charlotte, which consists of an 8k in March (where I got 3rd in AG), 10k in May (2nd in AG), 15k in July, and half marathon in July).

I think I qualify to join this thread finally as today's my 50th birthday. I took up the sport at about 35, running since. Set my real PR's last year with 18:22 5K, 37:47 10K, 1:22something 1/2 and 2:54:08 marathon. I do some local All Comers meets and have run 67 for 400, 2:29 for 800, 4:55 for 1500 and 5:26 for the mile. Hope to improve those track times this summer, the meets start in a few weeks.

This past week I got in 57 miles including a 4X.66mile interval session and a 14 mile hilly longish run. On Monday ran a certified 10K in 38:18. Happy but need to get in better shape. I plan on increasing mileage this summer from 50's now to, maybe, 70's by end of August and run the all comers meets for speed work. Fall will find me running some XC races in prep for my bread n butter racing season - two goal half marathons and a goal marathon.

Good luck to everyone in their pursuits.

M56

Been running for years, but I've never been a high mileage guy. Ran primarily the 880 in high school and college but then quit for 20+ years. I picked it back up in the early 90s after I had to stop my car to let a local St. Patrick's Day 5K race go by. As I sat there watching all those people in that race I thought, "Why can't I do that?". Also, I figured it would be a good way to quit smoking. It was, and I have been running since.

I haven't run competitively for about 6 years now.

When I did, I always seemed to be on the finge, not quite good enough. In Eugene in 2000 at the National Masters Meet, I was the fastest M45 not to make the final in the 800.

In Pittsburgh in 2005 at the National Senior Games, I was the fastest guy in the M50 400 not to make the final. In fact, my claim to fame is that I am the only person in the history of the National Senior Games to run the 400 meters under a minute and not make the final.

So I just run for the heck of it these days, somewhere around 25 miles a week.

Some of you folks are awfully impressive.

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Week 2

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What a nice set of responses during the first week of the new format. Quite a diverse range of histories, with a lot of ups and downs along the road. Clearly there is much experience within this group that we can all draw from.

As per usual, I'll cue you in on my week (hoping that you will do the same) and offer up some topic for discussion. Don't feel the need to be confined to my topic, as this is truly meant to be a forum by and for everyone (and if someone wants to get the ball rolling before I get to it, great!)

My week started out in Arizona, where I ran fairly easy 5-8 mile runs Sunday, Monday, and Tuesday. From Sunday evening until Tuesday we stayed in a "cabin" outside of Flagstaff, so M,T runs were run on a slant at 6700 feet (I guess that will constitute my altitude training for the year :-)...). Tuesday night, we took the red-eye home, so I was pretty tired Wednesday, as well, so more easy miles. Thursday, I did 8 miles of Fartlek, where I worked every uphill (ranging from 15s to 90s) hard, while trying not to take it too easy in between, averaging just under 7-minute pace. Friday was another easy run, and I rounded out the week with 12-mile modestly-progressive run stepping down from 7:40-6:40 pace. Ended the week with 50-miles on 7 days that I would say was not high on quality work, but maybe it was good to back off after a couple of faster weeks. Hopefully, I'll start putting more structure into my workouts starting this week.

Topic: Biggest master's mistake you've made, and what you learned from it. For me, it was doing speed work without researching how to do it properly. I knew that I wanted to work on better turnover, range of motion, and power. I naively started adding in some speed work to the end of some of my long runs and incorporating some into interval track workouts. I'd really never been trained properly for doing speed work (not even in high school), so now in hindsight, I can see that I did too many reps, too hard, without enough rest in between (I basically did them like shortened versions of aerobic work). Bottom line is that out of ignorance, I overdid it to the point of aggravating my hip and it has taken a long time to recover from this mistake. I've learned that speed stuff should be done sparingly and with plenty of recovery. Also, explosive power can be achieved at lower risk by doing form drills and hill sprints...for distance runners, those probably are all that are truly needed. I'm sure Spikez will have a different take, but then again, she has been properly trained to for speed.

OK. Hope everyone is having a great week and I look forward to hearing what you all are up to.

Hi, my biggest masters mistake was not listening to my body when it was sending out pain signals. Small ones at first which were easily masked by Motrin, but of course they only became worse until I was shut down for about 3 months of physical therapy. This was for my piriformis in late 2007.

I agree that hills and drills are what's needed for distance runners for leg strength and stride length. I do a lot more! Sprinting is very taxing on the body and one can easily insure themselves attemtping to sprint before being ready for it. I see this every year when new people want to join our team in March or April in order to get in sprint shape for May or June. Ain't gonna happen. We will start our season prep for the outdoor season 7 months prior, with longer speed intervals at about 60% effort and a ton of time in the weight room. By the time the weather warms up, we are ready to sprint. When you are our age, it's far better to be cautious and ramp up slowly to stay injury free!

As always, I'm late to the game (if I even get in at all)...

Quick history: Never ran competitively, but did a bunch of road running during mid-twenties. Took over twenty years off, then returned as I reflected on my family's history of health issues.

Accidentally stumbled into marathoning (helping a friend train), got a Boston under my belt, then suffered a serious hamstring injury (have had a history of issues dating back to soccer/accident damage).

Three years later, looks like I am finally ready to put in more/higher quality miles.

Have a huge preference for trails (dry ones) and hills.

Stage name comes from the fact that I kinda was one for about a year (in a small community) and a pretend one for many years in college radio in my current hometown.

LucKY... we could have taken a run. I'm in Flagstaff now (7 months temporary stay)

Me? Running consistently since '70. Probably 80-90K miles. Probably best at the marathon (unfortunately) but have been enjoying 5k's recently.

My question is why I have slowed down sooo much since 40?! (I know...that's everyone's question)

At 40 I could still run 2:31, 4:35 mile, 49:29 15k... now the masters I could handle back then are trouncing me.

Everyone ages/slows at different rates I guess.

I'm happy to be healthy now and able to train about as much as I care to. Added quite a bit of biking to my routine this year. We'll see how that, and this stint at altitude, pan out this summer.

Had a pretty good week here. Like everyone else, it's starting to get hot and I'm not liking this at all! At least the longer races are done for me until it cools off in the fall.

67 miles. A 4x1200 at 10K'ish pace workout on Tuesday. Ran a HM on Saturday in 1:17:14. Thought I could be 2-3 minutes better than that but the heat & humidity kicked my butt good. The marathon run at the same time was Black Flagged. Not a good day for fast times...

Mistakes?: Seems like I always go out too fast in races and I'll probably never learn from that mistake. I always think 'maybe this is the day'...

5K next weekend...

All the best,

Dave

week 2 of metatarsal stress fracture: just over 200 miles on the road bike with a long ride of 50 miles and finally over the pelvic soreness that always happens the first week of riding. on one ride i counted 23 wineries, two breweries, and one distillery along a single 10-mile stretch of road with spectacular lake views. lots of heat early in the week and lots of wind toward the end, but it's just nice to have a way to feel like an athlete when i'm otherwise gimping around.

since i started running at age 38, pretty much all of my training mistakes happened as a masters, so i have so many to choose from! i'd say my single worst lapse of judgment came during an earlier rendition of the race i had hoped to run last weekend on a 10-mile loop of trail. the race offers 1, 2, or 3 loops as distance options, but i was training for a 100K at the time and was planning on doing four loops, so i went out really, really easy. half a mile from the end of loop two i jammed my ankle on a root, which hurt. when i got to the start/finish i still figured it would shake out, so i headed out for loop three. a few miles in, my ankle was locked into a flexed-foot position, and i didn't know the forest well enough to short-cut it back to home base, so i hobble/jogged just over 10 miles on a stress-fractured fibula. bad choice! not only did i not make 40 miles that day or make it to that 100K event, i didn't even get in a good workout over those 30 miles since i was going so damn slowly. so, what did i learn? stop when it really hurts. unfortunately, knowledge doesn't always equal power: the current stress fracture happened several miles from my car, so i had to hoof it most of the way back until someone finally came motoring along the otherwise deserted road and gave me a lift.

I think it was 49 for the week plus a hilly 16 mile bike ride. Feeling a little better.

Coaching a summer group of about 10 skier/runners, including a some talented kids (well, if you're from California they're probably below average) a couple of them have run 4:30 for 1600 as sophs this year. So we're of to a good start. Hill runs (long efforts with 1000 or 2000' climb) and long runs are the focus now. Did a really nice 12 miler with my son and two other kids today.

I should add at this point coaching supercedes anything I accomplish as a masters athlete (which isn't much for the latter!).

Biggest mistakes--not unlike NLS, running while injured and not realizing the gravity of the mistake.

I was still running 4:40 mile/34s for 10K at 42, but at 43 after taking a 6 mo break and trying to get back going again I had some sore knees for a few months. One day I decided to do 200s on the track and they were really aching but I went ahead with it and fought through the pain only to end up with dual patellar tendonitis, which didn't clear up for two years. I was 46 by the time I was able to train again.

Then in 2009, with the terrible experience of going into NYC marathon with a sore knee, thinking it was tendonitis that I could run through. Later that it was a stress fracture or hot spot that turned into a fracture. Made 18 miles with 7-8 in a lot of pain, and had to be wheeled/carried off the course. Only now am I feeling better; but will always have a glass knee from that.

I took a bit of an easy week this week. Just 39 miles. I am running my first track meet of the year next week and I just felt like I wanted to feel a little fresher going into it, so I cut down on the mileage this week.

My biggest mistake as a master also was not listening to my body after doing a half marathon when I was 55. The following week I had some heel soreness and assumed I probably had a stone bruise that would go away soon. I kept running even though it seemed to be hurting more with less running each day. After 3 weeks I had an XC race, I got about a mile into it and had to stop and walk back. I was out for 4 months with a stress fracture. I like to think that I now am doing a better job of easing up on the intensity and/or mileage when the little aches and pains indicate that something is not right.

people ask me why I dont get hurt. I BABY myself in practice and mostly just do 2 mile jogs and very little sprinting even tho 200m is my best event.I am 70 and run a meet every 2 weeks during the summer. Enjoy the meets and cant run meets if I am injured.

Been working night shift, I was thrown in to fill the gaps in the roster so my shifts (9pm-7.30am) are all over the place. Very hard to be organised and to get quality sleep. Last 2 weeks I've had totals of 25hrs and 30hrs sleep.

I did actually get in some decent (for me )kms last week. Did 3x20k mon-wed. The tuesday 20k took 2.16 as I had a chance to go exploring one of the few areas I hadn't previously ran. It involved several steep climbs with one section just following faint wallaby tracks up through some cliffs and then pretty much all 4s to the top. Opted to decend through some open sheep country instead of going back the same way. Dropped 300 metres in 1km (a few bum slides involved).

Raced a relay leg of about 2 miles in 12mins on sat. (Also mtn biked and kyakked). Raced a tough hilly 8k trail on a windy morning on sunday. 33mins which had me among the faster O-50s.Today I jogged around the nice scenic but very rugged ranges in the Nat.Park at the back of my cottage for about 2hrs.

Worst mistke as a master.

When I was 43. At 41 and 42 I'd run a couple of blinders in Australia's biggest trail marathon. 4th and 3d in the O/40s and top 20 overall. Id done this off 200km of mtn biking per week and just 50-70kms of running.

43 and I'm banging out 100km running weeks, smashing training course "records", still riding 200kms per week. 10 days before the race, dull ache in the foot. 3km into the race the foot goes crack!! I manage to get through to 28kms but then can barely walk and hobble through at the back of the field. 9 months to get it right.

Also this is the answer to why I've slowed so much at 50 compared to 40.

Old Guy11. The name Heppell is quite familiar to me but Ican't put a face to it. Ask him what club he ran with. I was with Old Paradians AAC back then, with Bendigo these days.

mopak, sounds like the adventures and races of your past couple of weeks are the kinds i wish i could be enjoying (except for the no-sleeping part). keep it up!

sounds like the lesson of the week is to stop running when something in a lower extremity breaks. this shouldn't be too hard to remember, eh?