50+ Masters Training and Racing Open Forum

Greetings!

My two weeks were quite similar. 6.5+ hours of training (both running and cross-), intervals and tempos, but long runs were not really long: 1:08 and 1:11, respectively.

Have just started tapering for the upcoming 17+ km trail next Sunday. After 3 road races
in a row I felt I started getting bored with this kind of competition. To avoid losing motivation, I understood that switching to trails might bring some “fresh blood”. Instead of controlling pace with a few second accuracy during road races, here it is a pure competition under much more variable conditions.

Assume it will be a challenge for me (as a low miler) because timewise it will be close to HM in a hot and humid weather. But hopefully not boring.

Happy and injury-free running to all!

69yrs old, 47 years/100,000 miles. Totally torn up. one week till the last race I will ever attend, if I can get myself to show up. It will be embarrassing running with the legs I have back in my hometown. So far, of the participants listed, I only recognize, vaguely , one name. I hope it stays that way.

I’ll never quit keeping a log and I will never stop “ training”… I am lucky that I always valued being a runner far more than being a racer.

Started dedicated training in 1977 but did not race until 1982. Ran 14 races a year or around that from 1982-2018 or 19? The only reason I started racing was that it was the only talent I had to be considered for being retained in the military ( 8 years on Army Division team. Number 1 runner, 7 of the 8.) and being kept around later at my civilian job because the facility put on two races, ( half marathon, Christmas 5k), I was the only one to volunteer to be the RD and with all modesty, I must say, I put on a clinic.

Mon: 4 mile run/ 2 mile walk. Having serious problem with hiatal hernia/GERD that I have had since 2008. Doc appt: June 3rd

Tue: 2 mile run/3.1 mile walk…

Wed: 3 mile run. Tried to uptempo two of them. 10:13-9:31. 4am. /2 mile walk.

Thu: 2 mile run/3.3 mile walk. Didn’t sleep night before because of pain under my breastbone.
Fri: 2 mile walk didn’t feel good.

Sat: 5 mile run/2 mile walk

Sun: 2 mile run/6 sets of curls, pull downs and chest. I have always thought the pain or hernia beneath my breastbone was from being a competitive power lifter in the early 70’s before I started running. I was 165 pounds benching 350 and many, many nights there was no 2 second pause on the chest particularly in workouts like 20 reps of 225, bouncing it off my chest, set after set from 74 to 1977. I’m telling the doc tomorrow, all I want is a non-invasive scan of that area to see what’s going on.

Its been a wonderful running life.

just curious -- how many states do you have in the log already? Any that look particularly difficult to arrange still in front of you?

good week for me highlighted by 6 X 90 seconds fairly hard hill repeats Weds and 16 X 400 (100 jog) at [supposedly] 5k pace Sat., but ran them faster than intended (average of 1:31.5, intending 1:36)

So i know I can break 20:00 for 5k in a couple weeks if they (a) move it from hilly road course to track; (b) switch from likely hot/humid evening to cooler a.m. start; and (c) give me an untimed 100m jog break every 400. Doesn't seem too much to ask

have a great week,

Dave

Orient, good luck on the trail run. Indeed, it should be a rather different type of racing, worrying only about place and not really about time. And so much more interesting than running on roads or, particularly, on a track! I was always tantalized by trail running but I am one of the clumsiest people I've ever seen, and after taking a number of nasty falls on trail runs I decided to stick to hiking/backpacking on trails.

dhaaga, you should talk to the race director about your demands. The customer is always right, right?

I made it through a week with no setbacks for once. I ran four days for 28 miles total; it was slow but everything felt pretty good. Plus four miles of walking with a loaded backpack, 5350 m of swimming, and 86 miles on the bike. I'm still looking at a 10K race 14 days from now, but I'm not going to enter until I get closer to race day without anything going wrong.

After a rather cool spring, it's about to become summer here next week. The first 100+ degree days are forecast for Weds through Fri. It was nice while it lasted.

Run well!

Thank you for your service. There is no shame in doing your best, nor is there shame in hanging it up. Staying active like you are is a gift to yourself. I'm amazed at what you are putting in and hope I can do what you do at your age.

My running has been very up and down the past month or so due to a lot of non-running things going on in my life. Only 28 miles for the week, but with some quality efforts. My son, who has been living in New Zealand for the past several years, was passing through on a business trip this week. Tuesday we got in a near race effort for me 10k on a very hilly loop. At 44 he is a 16:30ish 5k guy, and at 74 I am a 20:30ish 5k guy, so his easy run effort is about my all out effort level, but it's always great to get some time together. I was pretty well fried for the next two days but got in a good VO2 max workout on Friday. This morning I had a solid 10k trail run with my 42yr old son who lives about a dozen miles from us. Next race on my schedule should be the local July 4th 10k.

Good running to all!

Nice workouts by you. I like to see some of my fellow 60+ runners do workouts and races way faster than most young runners. I don't have your speed, but I can still get a BQ with a decent cushion. In the fall of 2017 I had Boston qualified in 3 states. I've enjoyed trying to see how many states I can qualify in, up to 29 now. But the races I like now are states I have already done, or there is another one in that state I would rather do. For example some California marathons look better than San Francisco. Part of it is the cost, if I can fly in and not need to rent a car it helps. I was lucky to get Alaska on a family trip a few years ago. At 70 I don't expect to do all 50, but I plan to do some this fall.

I did win my age at the local 10K this week but the time would fail to impress.

Greetings, fellow 50+ers! Happy meteorological summer! Also, happy Pride month! 🏳️‍🌈

My recent absence is attributed to an Achilles and calf issue that I believe was brought on by doing too much too soon after my cruise then Covid running break. Not surprisingly to anyone who has dealt with Achilles issues, it has taken many weeks to be able to run pain free again. Now that I am at that point, I have to deal with the loss of conditioning that has me sucking wind after a 12-minute mile. Yikes! Anyway, I am on the comeback trail, but taking things very slowly (literally and figuratively) so as not to make the same mistake again. At the moment, each short and slow run is followed by two rest days. Hopefully as my fitness improves, I’ll get back to my preferred every-other-day routine. 🤞

Sun-Mon: off

Tue: 30’ CR

Wed-Thu: off

Fri: 35’ CR; body wt ex

Sat: off

All the best!

Male, age 62

History: last year completed 50 years of running a sub-6:00 mile: first time at age 11 to age 61; age grading at anything plus 80% for 800 or mile is great for me; starting from scratch this year, after doing nothing for 3 months and losing fitness after my mom died in January.

Goals: if I can hit something starting with a 5 for the mile, that would be great.
More focused on the 800 this year: 80% age grade of 2:40 would be great, a 2:32 (equivalent to 1:59 age-graded) would be really fun, but that's probably a stretch.

Currently ... last week, I ran a 2:49.5 800 and a 1:14.7 400, so I'm starting to shape up a bit. I hope that there's a 1:08 to 1:10 400 still in my legs; top end "speed" feels harder.

Training: I run 4-5 times per week with one day of speed work. For me, consistency and not getting injured count for a lot. It's still fun, and I feel blessed to still be out there running, albeit at modest levels.

I feel compelled to give a shout-out to some amazing 50+ performances at the "Mile of Truth" / USATF Masters Mile Champs race last month in NoCal. Mike Madsen (51) 4th overall in 4:44, Jaime Heilpern (54) 9th overall in 4:48 and Todd Rose (51) 11th overall in 04:49. John Gardiner and Julian Marsh also went sub-5. Super, super impressive runs by the 50+ crew at that race.

Been away for a few weeks from this thread but: 3 decent training weeks in and a trail half marathon.

Last year, coming back from back surgery, and I stumbled upon a race breaking down in my local park area. Looked it up when I got home and, as part of my motivation to come back, siad, "I'm going to run this half marathon next year!" Well, next year came and I was signed up. Still carrying a few extra lbs around the middle (stubborn pounds at 58 years of age), but with legs and cardio on the upswing over the last year.

Two loops of trail course, and I finished 6th overall, average 8:08/mile. Feeling pretty good about it. As other dropped off slowly but surely, I held pace and raced smartly. Admittedly, a low key race, but it was quite odd, at my age, to pull into 7th at 10 miles and have no one in front of me that I could see. Just... kinda wild.

Still fighting tightness in my lower back, left hip and left leg from a number of years of limping through life pre-back surgery, but on the days things are working, had a number of good runs in Hyde Park/London while on vacation as well.

Have taken to doing a fair amount of hours of Zone 2 cardio on the treadmill to keep the pounding down, as well as really specific control of my pace. Trying a new plan to do a load of Zone 2 to improve my fat burning. Tempo is on the roads/concrete and speed/strengthwork on the one local track that I can get on (even with having to dodge the idiot soccer players)

Last 8 days:

Sun: 12x400 @ 1:45 (VO2 max track workout), warmup/cooldown - 8.5m total
Mon: 4m easy
Wed: 4.75 easy
Thurs: 10.3 treadmill zone 2
Sat: 5.6m easy
Sun: 12m, base, 8:55/mile

Pointing towards Portland marathon in the fall if the body holds together.

Greetings, fellow 50+ers and Happy National Cancer Thriver Day! My treatment regimen began almost exactly 1 year ago and today I am thriving. Hopefully I will continue to say that for many years to come.

I did step up my personal “Build Back Better” routine this week and am now back to running on alternate days. The workout volume and intensity remain on the low side, but they are starting to come around a bit. So put me down for 13+ miles for the week. It’s been a while since I’ve been in double figures. 😁

Mon: 35’ CR; body wt ex

Tue: off

Wed: 38’ CR; body wt ex

Thu: off

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

Sat: off

Sun: 43’ CR; body wt ex

All the best!

I had another reasonably successful week of training with four runs, three on the flats and one with hills, for a total of 28 miles. I'm still pointing toward a 10K seven days from today, but will make a final decision on entering a few days before, once the weather forecast is more definite. If it's going to be 80+ degrees in blazing sun at race time, as it often is in June, I'll probably pass.

This week I also did 30 miles on the bike, 6400 m of swimming, and 14 miles of walking, half of that hiking at 7500 feet. Next week will necessarily be a very easy week as I'm planning a short overnight backpacking trip on Mon-Tues, and then on Thurs-Fri I have all-day Zoom meetings starting at 7 am, making it tough to do much of anything else. I'll necessarily be well rested coming into my Sunday 10K, if I decide to do it.

I enjoyed watching the NCAAs this week and am really looking forward to the Olympic trials.

Olde Farte, glad to see you are thriving, and long may you run!

amk - really nice to see you had a 28 mile week, best wishes for continuing into 2024 like this.

Over here, I've been building volume slowly towards an August marathon.

The week: 52.4 miles total
14 miles, 9:36 pace (loop course with close to 1000 ft. elevation gain)
Rest
9 miles easy on flat creek trail 9:25 pace
7.77 miles easy creek trail, 9:41 pace
6.34 mi. easy slow 9:48 pace
3.2 mi., easy creek trail, 9:31 pace
12.12 mi, creek trail negative split, 9:33 pace

My local club has a summer track meet series, I plan on racing over 2 miles in a couple weeks, then a 5000 in early July. This is my idea of speed work for my August marathon.

Happy & healthy running to all.

47 years/100k miles,legs destroyed, cancer… that guy

Mon: 4 miles running/1 mile walk 4am.

Tue: 4am, 5 mile run/1 mile walk

Wed : 3:45am 1 mile run, 3 mile walk. 6 sets of curls, pull downs and bench press. Very painful

Thu: Rest wrecked legs

Fri: 5 mile run/2 mile walk. Severe GERD. Doc won’t scan. Says I need to be more food disciplined. At its worst I had surgery done to remove some damaged colon. I got addicted to this fresh squeezed orange juice I buy at a local store. Maybe bacteria fired up the problem I had actually managed fairly well prior.

Sat: 4 mile run/2 mile walk. Feet hurt. Putting heat pad across my chest may help hiatal hernia, it seemed to help anyway as I sat and watched “ Valbymania”

Sun: 3:45am….5 mile run to include broken down uptempo mile of 9:44 and 2x360 meter broken down race effort ( distance from tennis court to maintenance area where I stop is 360 meters.)2 mile walk.

Possibly last race of my life this coming Saturday. I’m flying back to my old hometown for. Only 65 pre-entrants so far and I do recognize two names. One my original doctor who first diagnosed my GERD/hiatal hernia problem back in 2008 and a lady who’ll really smoke me then give me a hard time as I come hobbling in…. I’m thinking of what response I’ll give her and the winning response so far is “ Hey, my PR’s we’re 7 years old when you first started! Give me a break” ha

Its been a great running life.

good luck in your race! Having a plan in place for responding to hecklers is sound preparation. You're one of the few people who make me feel as though I sleep in -- I'm usually awake between 4 and 5 am but seldom out the door anywhere near that early.

good week for me, highlights being two X 10:00 (2:00 jog) at half-marathon effort on tuesday and 15 X 30 sec (60 sec jog) at mile effort Friday, plus some impressively long stints in the hammock on our balcony in very pleasant weather.

Have a great week,

Dave

Will she really?

I was winning my age group regularly at local races until the start of 2020, when at the start of the pandemic I suddenly developed rheumatoid arthritis, which shut down my running completely for over three years. The RA gradually went into something like remission and last fall I started being able to jog again. I had kept my weight down and had tried to maintain some fitness through cycling, swimming, and walking, but I discovered that trying to start back up after 3+ years of no running was no joke at age 65. I was working hard to run 11 min/mile but I really missed going to races, so eventually I started entering a few, starting with short races that were really small and/or some distance from home, where I didn't encounter anyone I knew.

I finally screwed up my courage and entered my big local Memorial Day 5K two weeks ago, where I saw a lot of my old friends and competitors. A whole bunch of people I used to always beat finished ahead of me. Not a single person gave me a hard time, and I enjoyed reconnecting with a bunch of folks. And I left with lots of motivation to work to continue my slow improvement with the goal of again beating at least some of those people.

I hope your race is a better experience for you than you think it will be.