50+ Masters Training and Racing Open Forum

I only ran cross country for fun as a kid 1x a year and never took note of my time. At 36/37 during my weight loss attempt and a season of couch to 5K, I made it to 21+ min

Given that it’s 18 years later… etc, and it’s a tricky age cause your mind still thinks you are 40.

I’m going in with an attitude that it’s a doable goal with enough miles and a strength regime. I know I have the speed still…. Just not for 5K and I’ve yet to determine my durability.

There’s no need to do anything fancy. Just add a little occasional fartlek to touch on speed. You can vary the distance and pace for some desirable variety. Good luck!

Thanks, that seems reasonable.

I second Igy's recommendation. Back in my working days when I had limited training time, I basically followed Igy's suggested plan on most Tue/Thur plus 5-6 mi easy on Saturday and 10-12mi progressive on most Sundays. That kept my 5k race times in the low 18s from my mid 40s to age 60.

njtom: if you talk numbers (29 or 30 min), this means you are not jogging just to maintain some level of health. Then, you may keep in mind a trivial but working proportion of fast miles vs. overall mileage - 20% of the total. In your case of 20 mpw it results in 4 miles of hard work. Splitting them into two workouts a week may work but what would I suggest is to alternate: having a 4 mile tempo one week and have intervals and a light fartlek on the other one. 4 miles in intervals might be too hard for you, so you may have 2-2.5 leaving the rest 1.5-2 to the fartlek.

Good luck!

One thing to think about, particularly at an advanced age are that all the rules we once read about are out the window.

Remember that hard fast rule that doubles should only be considered once you’ve gone beyond 12 miles in a day? That one went by the way side years ago. I don’t hesitate to get the stuff on for 4 miles at 4am and actually get the stuff back on for 2 or 3 at 9am.

Ive struggled with my thought processes on numbers as it pertains to mileage and time.

I agree. I think doubles are great for an older person. Of course followed by a couple of days easier. I doubled yesterday as a matter of fact, afternoon in close to 100 degree heat. Today a spin bike in air conditioning with swimming Friday. :-)

Pick a weekly run. Just after finishing the run, find a safe place to run strides with a recovery. Strides should be roughly 20 seconds. Start at 4 and don’t go past 8 strides.

Question for the peanut gallery. Newish to the thread. I’m a competitive 55 yr old runner. I have been for 35 years. I recently ran an 18:30 5k.

I was diagnosed with low T earlier this year. before I started it my legs were tired most days , no matter the mileage (from 30-50 mpw), I do one fast workout (tempo run or track intervals alternating weeks) and my long run (10+ Miles)

since taking T, my leg fatigue is gone with the same training. Not feeling faster and race times are similar to before. The recent 18:30 was 18:10 2 years ago.

BUT… I can’t help feel like I’m cheating. I am using a drug that makes training easier. Like if I got a PR it would have an asterisk. Anyone else taking Testosterone? Do you feel like you have a unfair advantage?

as a future-less-than-two-months-away-from-55-year-old, i'll personally answer the two questions posed here: no. i can't say, since the answer to the first question is "no."

to answer the implied questions: yes, you are cheating. yes, you are gaining an unfair advantage. and yes, you are taking it specifically for an unfair advantage. the bottom line as a 50+ runner: you're supposed to be tired. training is supposed to be hard. it's part of the game, the cost of doing business as a masters runner. if you weren't running, you probably wouldn't have leg fatigue.

i'm not saying you're going to go to hell for this, and it's unlikely you'll deny anyone a national title at your speed, but you may want to look at the side effects for taking T, and you may want to listen to your conscience on this--the fact that you're asking these questions means that little cricket in your ear is actually loudly telling you you're cheating...

that's my story and i'm sticking to it,

cush

Thanks for your input. should’ve mentioned that I’m a long time runner and of course I understand the fatigue training brings.

I will say that initially I thought I was overtrained and took a month off with no improvement, so I will push back on the idea that no running = no fatigue.

Should’ve also mentioned that I’ve take exactly 3 doses over the past 4 weeks. I don’t intend to make this a lifestyle. I’m also a cheat because I use caffeine

You answered your own question. There is no ethical dilemma here.

I would consider the negative health impacts of the drug.

The fist time I heard of distance runner drug use was the Clemson athletics steroid use in the 1980s. We all heard of the East German cases and China’s Ma Army. It was the ability to handle more training without breaking down that made the difference. Interestingly the Clemson bust came as the result of the death of Sten Jaspers a world class Belgian steeplechaser. After finishing second at the Wisconsin Cross Country Meet he was found dead in his dorm room.

Interesting discussion. I will add that for older runners have a bias that is "anything different than you running on a dirt road in chuck taylor's is cheating"

IMO, if you legitimately have low T. Like below 200..I wouldn't think bumping you up to normal range is a big deal. If you have lower end T and you now have levels of someone in their 20s. I would question that. A lot of guys use it to feel young and not because they actually need it.

hah--yeah, i hope i didn't sound too high and mighty about this. i drink coffee as well, and ran a 5k on an all-weather track last night with carbon fiber cheater shoes, so there's that. i also occasionally take a gummy-multi-vitamin. worth noting though: all are legal at this point, and for my own part, in serious races 1500-5k i do NOT wear the carbon fiber plate shoes, but not to maintain moral high ground--just personal preference.

igy, coincidentally i became teammates and good friends with jaspers' younger brother paul at ucla in the late 80s. at the time, i did not know the circumstances surrounding sten's death; i did, however, have teammates at ucla who were fairly open about their steroid use...

fair enough. but i'll push back as well--if i weren't 54+10 months old, i wouldn't feel as tired either, running or no running. and if you're taking T because of poor health or serious health issues, that's one thing, but simply put: our T is supposed to decline with age...

Jaspers coach was a successful assistant for Bob Timmons at Kansas. I knew him well when I was coach at Barton County Community College. He recruited a number of my athletes. Torpedoed his career. Far worse would be the guilt.

I had a shot putter teammate that has a syringe and suspect injectable fluids in his dorm fridge. Perry told me of a similar aged former masters champion that was on low-T treatments. This was more than five years ago, before testing became more standard. I haven’t seen him racing in recent years. I had a suspicious walk-on discus thrower quit the team upon announcement of NCAA drug test.