50+ Masters Training and Racing Open Forum

Chronic left hs issue most aggravated by running clockwise on the track.

Fixed 2 moves on a nice massage table good investment.

Eccentric part of Nordic curl very gently with arms in push up position. Quit doing these a year ago.

Tantrum butt kick laying on my belly , 10x10 rest is wait for hamstrings to relax. IMO these work because I do em FAST which simulates the biomechanics of running without the load. This is also why I dribble a basketball for 10 minutes 3 times a week fast low load works for old farts.

The slow build continues. I ran 40 miles on 6 days last week, kept it around 8:00 pace. I added a round of hill sprints Wed, and a 90 minute ride Sunday instead of a run.

I feel like aerobic fitness is coming back pretty well, but I'm dealing with some pelvic/adductor discomfort that's limiting me right now. Hoping as I get some miles under my legs, it will strengthen and resolve.

With any luck, I'll be on track to reach racing fitness for a fall marathon.

Happy and pain-free running, all.

Same with mine - indeed, it usually didn't bother me even when running as long as I was moving at a moderate to slow pace.

Charlie...little do you know...you are my "go to" person for creative training ideas for the aging. What does dribbling a basketball do for running...or in general?

Thanks.

Running , well dribbling might benefit my running . Probably not much;)

In general I want to do more variation. Like many runners I have done much more leg stuff than upper body stuff. So I am trying to safely balance this.

A few months ago tried to shoot a few baskets. Went to the good old free throw. Launched an air ball , felt like a shot put. Finally had to use half court effort from the free throw line! So I started to dribble to see if it would safely help my shooting power. It has! Plus it is fun!

Thanks guys for the input on the hamstring strengthening drills. Looking up videos on Nordic Curls & Super Clams led me down a 1-1/2 hour rabbit hole of hamstring rehab videos and zone 2 training!

Dave

I see. I actually shoot baskets every now and then...but most to force myself to move in other ways...to age better...not so much to run faster. Jumping rope good too.

Greetings, fellow 50+ers! Happy Obon to those celebrating!

The progress train continues to chug along here. Ten days post radiation therapy, I am here to let you know I was able to record almost 11 miles of actual running in the past week. It’s good to be back in double figures! Though the RT side effects are still present, they are manageable and expected to disappear within the next month or so. And the right leg issues are improving too! I was even able to work in a touch of “speed” this week. I am reinvigorated and optimistic. Thanks for all of the support. Life is good!

Sun: 40’ CR; body wt ex + med ball routine

Mon: off

Tue: 40’ CR; body wt ex + med ball routine

Wed: off

Thu: 44’ CR w/ utility pole fartlek (8 x 1 on / 3 off); body wt ex

Fri-Sat: off

All the best!

great to hear your recovery is going well.

on a less eventful note, I did manage my summer goal of getting 5k back under 20:00 (had run 20:04 in mid-June), by the skin of my teeth. 19:57 yesterday at College Park, MD parkrun for 6th OA and 1st in the age-graded standings the parkrun results make easy to find.

9:55 to the turnaround, 10:02 coming back. Generally flat, fast course, but I think if anything slightly more uphill on the return trip. Very warm/humid, but no wind to speak of.

On to a marathon training starting tomorrow -- 10 X 9-day cycles, aiming for either Richmond or Harrisburg, PA, which are both second weekend in November. Goal is to beat my personal worst [leaving out one I did as a training run for a 50-miler] of 3:12:05 when I was 16 years old. I've come full circle I guess.

have a great week,

Dave

All fairly easy stuff for me this week, but I kept the mileage up at 53 total -

M- 10mi walk with AM 6mi with strides every 1/2mi, PM 4mi walk

T- 6mi walk with strides every 1/2mi

W- 9mi trails 8:57/mi

Th- 6mi walk with strides every 1/2mi

F- 6mi walk with strides every 1/2mi

S- 7mi trails 9:48/mi

Su- 9mi 8:18/mi

Good running to all!

PTF tempted to try jumping rope ;) not too tempted but tempted maybe jumping on a trampoline!

OF glad you are doing better

Dave nice sub 20 . Will enjoy following your sub 3:12 in Nov buildup race.

Goal: Sub 6 minute time trial mile in early Sept 2023 after 67 birthday.
Block consists of 2 runs: Alternate strength and endurance using Galpin's ideas. Take 3 days of no running after every run . The no running days are easy cross training with occasional endurance efforts on the bike when I feel good.
Aug 8 - Aug 15 PF being cautious but seems to be ok

Tuesday 8th treadmill power off zone2/3 30 minutes

Saturday 12th treadmill 15x2minutes R1minute zone2/3 last one at grade adjusted 5:59pace 7% 7.7mph felt comfortable. First steps Sunday morning zero pf pain.
Just playing by ear turn 67 in a few weeks , even money I am in sub 6 shape .

Onward!

Today 93° 25% humidity

1200 warmup.

500/200 :90 rest 1:25.07-34.5.

Will try 600/200 same pace in 4 weeks. 5:00rest, 4x200 with 1:00 rest 31.88,33.21,33.48, 33.49

3x110 17.05, 16.01, 15.60. Race in 11 days

M 20E

T 20E

W 35

R 33

F 33

S 30

S 26/ 6x~200

Greetings!

I am a bit late with my weekly report.

Mon – off
Tue – 1:03, 50/50 mix of elliptical and treadmill (13-15%). Moderate through near LT on the
treadmill.
Wed – similar to Tue, but 2/3 on a treadmill (12-14%). Moderate through hard (slightly above LT) in the end.
Thu – 7 miles running, incl. 2x2.5K on a trail at the LT effort/HR.
Fri. – 3 miles easy
Sat – 7 miles incl. a 5K race
Sun - :50 mix of elliptical and treadmill, easy

Unexpectedly, ran a 5K race on Sat. without due tapering (just an easy day on Fri. after 3 uneasy days in a row). My son called a day before and asked me to attend sport festivities in another city, where the local mayor is a friend of our mayor and the latter wanted to delegate somebody with appropriate professional (manned spaceflight business) and sport background to greet that community. I hesitated but finally agreed.

The event was lavishly sponsored by the boxing federation and mostly included some mini-tournaments in boxing and similar kinds of sport (wrestling, push-up/pull-overs, etc.).
Surprisingly, a 5K race through the city was also included with some non-negligible prize money. E.g. the overall winner got some USD 7K in equivalent and even the AG 60+ winner got 3K. Accordingly, some of the national elite arrived at such a provincial county level event and the fight for the win was at the 13:40 level for the boys and 15:10 for the girls.
I planned to have just a CV-pace run for obvious reasons: first, no chance to make a good result being overloaded and, second, needed to avoid a long recovery period as it would spoil the training plan to peak in September. And third, there were no chances for me to be in the first three in the 60+ AG as there were a handful of younger and faster guys (65 and 60 is obviously quite a difference). Seems like I proceeded close to the plan though the pace was faster than CV. The first 2.5+ km were a little bit hilly (but I like hills), so I did not press hard and felt quite OK after that. The 4th km was a long shallow downhill and did not bring any additional stress either. I even reduced the effort to reduce the risk of injury accordingly. The final km was a long straight line on a flat area, an ideal segment for “engaging afterburners” before the finish, but I did not do that trying to keep the same pace and fuel in the tanks.

Finally made 18:40.6. The 6th place in the 60+ AG and 56/545 all over among male runners.

Split times show that the pace was even from start to finish - 3:44/km. So, the speed has been tested and now the goal is to enhance endurance to be able to maintain 3:50/km during the 10K race (at national masters, 65-69 AG) in September.

Happy and injury-free running to all!

Great racing Dave and Orient, sub-20, sub 19 is solid stuff!

It’s been a while since I checked in. At that time, I was hoping running trails could help with my injury. The answer is a definitive, NO. I’ve been dealing with an injury I’ve never had before, posterior tibial tendon dysfunction. It’s the little tendon that wraps around the inside of my left ankle. It’s proven to be a beast to get rid of. It let me run most of the year but very gradually got worse. I found that even walking and the elliptical put too much force on it and kept it irritated.

Its forced me to rethink my whole training method, and I’ve tried a lot of them. Since Mon the 7th I’ve had to completely offload it and I have had to take, for me, what I consider extreme measures: buying a spin bike. I’m a complete ignoramus about biking, so this is all new to me. After 11 days of spinning the tib tendon has quieted down enough to increase the biking a bit. I’m adding a minute a day with an AVE HR of 116. Currently at 29 minutes. Once it’s completely quieted down, I’ll start up some of the exercises you are supposed to do for it. Then, and only then start some easy running. Maybe a month or two, longer? Not sure.

Going forward I think I’m going to alternate the bike with running, perhaps, indefinitely. There is long thread on PTT and the horrors people have experienced with it. That prompted me to finally take it more seriously since the outcomes can be nasty if you don’t treat it correctly.

Thank Lydiard the bike lets me burn some calories! Jeez!

Anyway, good to see the thread roll on and hope everyone is enjoying World Champs.
Have a good one!

congrats on a great race! hard for me to imagine a race with 3k prize money for 60+ winner. I guess it's predictable that a strong field gathered. Ideal to me is a nice prize no one knows about. I won a 5k about 15 years ago in 17-low that awarded 2 round-trip plane tickets anywhere in USA -- my wife and daughter used them on a visit to college our daughter ended up attending on the opposite coast. The next year in same event i was beaten by about 3 minutes, as the big kids had found out about the prize.

good week for me incl 2:00 with 15:00 at marathon pace weds. and 1:10 with 6 X 3:00 (2:00 jog) at 5k effort Sat.

have a great week,

Dave

I started my XC season yesterday with what felt like an OK race. When I got home and looked at my time and splits, it was probably a bit better than OK. I ran a time identical to my last year's time with more even splints. 21:47 for 5k with 7:08 (net uphill), 7:03, 7:02 splits. I wanted to hit sub-7 splits but wasn't quite there. I just didn't feel fresh and race sharp for this one. Next race in two weeks on a much tougher 4 mile course. Today I'm taking a rest day with tropical storm Hillary over us all day. So far, it's been solid rain but pretty mild, no worse than a normal winter storm.

Good running and fast healing to all!

For several years one of my local half-marathons offered $500 to the 50+ winners. I won it a few times even though there were certainly several 50+ women within a couple hours' drive who could have run away from me laughing. Eventually the race organizers apparently decided that offering prize money wasn't resulting in strong 50+ fields so they got rid of it.

$3K for the 60+ winner of a 5K really is quite exceptional. Nice race, Orient!