50+ Masters Training and Racing Open Forum

Congratulations, CM! Really impressive performance.

Good week of training on my end, highlights being:

1:20 with 6 X 3:00 moderately hard uphills Tues.

1:35 with 5 X 5:00 (3:00 jog) at 5k effort (average 3:10/half mile for the parts i could time on bike path)

2:45 with 2 X 20:00 (4:00 jog) at marathon effort (average 7:24/mile on bike-path-measurable segments)

As a bonus, I got first name correct on 14 of 16 students at second class meeting! Clearly the aim is to get to 100% before long, but for me this is outstanding. I'm reading a book by/about someone with face blindness, and I think I have a mild case. In large classes it's hopeless, but I ought to be able to make 16.

have a great week,

Dave

Ha! I was well into middle age when I first heard about face blindness, and my immediate reaction was "this explains a lot of things". I could never imagine how people are supposed to be able to pick the perpetrator of a crime out of a lineup after seeing the individual only once (actually it turns out they can't, but that's another story). I'd say 14 out of 16 after one meeting is spectacular. Last semester it took about 8 weeks before I could identify all 8 students reliably, and this semester, with 35, it will be impossible. I have no problem remembering their names or other things about them, I just can't remember which human being goes with which name! And the only way I ever survive going to scientific conferences is by having good distance vision and being able to read name tags far away.

Good luck getting the other two faces nailed down. And congrats on a nice week of training!

This week: 40 miles in six days. One “ speed session ( ha ha) …I’m gonna take Sunday off!

I just ran 1.7 miles for a second workout to get over 40 so I can take off tomorrow. Ran 7 miles at 4am and 1.7 at 8am…,56 days over 110 degrees.. well over 100 days over 100 degrees and I’ve done ok for a severely broken down runner in his 48th year ( and maybe last) of training.

The rest of the day? In my old man rocking chair. And the time will fly!!!

1pm: Johnny Johnson’s fishing show

8pm: Movie on tv: “Clown Killers from Outer Space”

In between? Two “ Columbo “ episodes. I bought the whole series. You know what I like the best about Columbo? The women actresses of the 80’s and 90’s . The Columbo actresses with those summer dresses and that hair… boy old guys they were everywhere back then!!!! Oh well. I had my chance.

I made a contribution to the HS XC team I used to coach. Months ago. They asked for them on Facebook…..

1000 bucks.

Didn’t even get a thank you card. I know, I know we aren’t supposed to care about that….
Next race: September 28th. My birthday and what would have been my 28th anniversary. She died of glioblastoma nearly 11years ago.

Flying back home for it. I’ll go by and visit Green Hill cemetery afterwards…she can’t have my t-shirt though.

Going over 10,000 miles since 2018 here soon!

amkelley, dhaaga: heck, I used to see, at most, 3 people a day in my job and no way I could put name’s to face. But, I could remember every detail of their...computer. 2 years post retirement now and I still get calls to consult. People have learned I have zero memory of people’s names, so they just say, “you know, that guy with the Dell Latitude with the hard drive problem..”.

I’ve managed to string together a couple of weeks of actual training, which is rare for me. 21 minutes of running on M, W, F, and Sa with about 60 minutes of walking on off days.
I’m running very steep, technical, rocky trails which get my HR into the 140’s. These trails seem to be the antidote for my many road-induced overuse injuries. The plan is to incrementally increase my running time. The goal is to finally be rid of the half-dozen nagging injuries that have plagued me for the last 5 years or so.

Is this realistic for a 65 yo?? It sure would be nice.

I’d like to be able to move one of the days to a road day so I can prep to do an actual road race. In my area trail racing is big. But I’ve (painfully) found out there is a big difference between using trails to get strong legs and train, and trying to go as fast as possible in a trail in a race. On a technical trail, going fast is just plain dangerous, especially for the 65+ crowd.

Healthy and injury-free running to all! Have a good one!

You're underselling yourself in the HM. If you can do 6 miles at 6:40/mile, you're probably already in shape to run sub-1:30 right now. With some more months of training, you'll need to revise your goal time. Ramp up cautiously, of course, but a 5K race might tell you a lot about your HM goal time.

you're a memory specialist! nice going. I got everybody in class friday.....but several of the people on whom I'm shaky were late and missed the name check, so there's an asterisk by it

good week of training for me, highlights being 1:20 with 5 X 6:00 (4:00 jog) at 5k effort thurs. [about 6:20/mile on parts i could time] and 3:00 sat. with a late parkrun at marathon effort (23:32). I'd rather not do long run so soon after speed work, but saturday afternoon/evening was my niece's wedding, and I was pretty sure I wouldn't feel up to a long run today.

One daughter to take to the airport, then collapse in easy chair to watch the undefeated Commanders!

have a great week,

Dave

I rolled through another good week of training getting in 54 miles. Yesterday, I did a 10 mile sub-threshold run that averaged just under 9:00/mile, which was 10 seconds/mile faster than I ran that route 3 weeks ago. I did that in the morning and then went to my granddaughter's 5th birthday party, which I think tired me out more than the run. Next race in our local XC series is next Saturday on a fairly fast 5k course.

Good running to all!

Just as I was starting to recover some fitness, a major setback. The slightly strained quad that had limited me to 2-3 days per week for the past month blew up completely on Wednesday. I limped home walking but the damage was done, and I have now progressed from "sore" to "injured". I'm stuck on the bike and in the pool for the foreseeable future. I had a series of five races planned for mid-September through early November, and those plans are out the window. I still have some hopes for being able to run a 5K or 10K sometime this fall.

I could say that getting old sucks, but I've been injury-prone all my life. It just takes a lot longer to recover the lost fitness as you get older.

At least there's football now.

Greetings!

Rtype, very interesting about your trail running. I am a "part-time" trail runner, too (M66+). Do roads in spring and mid-autumn, while enjoying forest, bogs and hills in summer.

Just ran a 11+K hilly trail this afternoon. Some 1Kft total elevation gain in 82-84F. Was 17th of 215 overall and 3rd in the 45+ age group (in trails they do not bother here to make 5-year splits and oversimplify it: 45- = young, 45+ = old).

Feeling good after the trail, the legs are not dead, nothing hurts. Not sure would have the same feeling after a 55 min race on asphalt.

Happy running to all!

Thanks for your comment. Normally, I would agree, but I am coming back from an injury and have not raced for a very long time. I was originally planning to run Staten Island to qualify for NYC next year, but now I found out that I won't be able to run it because of my work (bummer!).
I am now considering running the Philly Marathon at the end of November and maybe target a 3:0X, so I'try to crank up the mileage a bit.

This week:
Monday: 110M bike ride
Tuesday: 3M Easy, 2x400 rec 60s + 4x1600 rec 45s +2x200 @6:30 pace + 2M easy
Wednesday: 10M easy
Thursday: rest
Friday: 2M Easy + 4M @6:45 +3M easy
Saturday: 13M Easy
Sunday: 10M bike ride + 3M easy + Strength/Flexibility

Things are going smooth and mixing a bit of bike rather than another easy run seems to keep my legs fresher.

Been many, many years since posting to this thread. Great to see so many familiar names from about 10 years ago. I'm happy to report that I still run. Last October, I had my colon removed. It's been a difficult battle climbing my way back to running fitness and wasn't convinced I would really run again. And that's why I felt compelled to report. So here it is:

This week I ran 52 miles. For the past 13 weeks, I've averaged about 40 miles per week. Been getting in a solid tempo-like session every week. Got my 5K down to 19:45 and feel like I'm ready to break 19. Not having a colon has been difficult in terms of sleeping soundly as I wake up about 4 times per night to head to the bathroom. But I'm also dealing with dehydration issues. I'm slowly adapting to my new reality. It aint fun but I put up with it. BUT I'M RUNNING AGAIN and feeling great about it!

Last Monday - a good ON/OFF session of 20 sec. fast/40 sec. float x 20 - finished with 3.1 miles.

Tuesday - recovery of 6 miles

Wed. - 8 miler

Thurs. - LONG HILLS of about 1:30 with a loop recovery jog x 6 ... ave. about 6:30 pace up the hill.

Fri. - Recovery 5 miler

Sat. - 10 miler @ 7:20 pace

Sun - EZ 5 miler.

Good to be back

Andy

One of my running buddies a 75+ top masters is exclusively trails even today, he fell last year. He cracked his nose hard enough it separated from his skull. Emergency surgery and some metal has him completely recovered and still out there. I am five years younger and admittedly more cautious, since I value my health over hobby.

Just a token check in here! Totally enjoying my retirement from competition. The day after my last race it felt like a huge burden was lifted. After turning 64 in May, I finished up my last three races in June with probably the best possible outcomes in all three. My HM felt really hard but was able to persevere and run a new Bayshore 60-64 record of 1:25:38. The following week I went 18:05. The HM kicked my @ss real good so that seemed almost miraculous! I think it was two days before the race that I could finally break 9:00 pace for a run and struggled to run 6:15 pace for some strides. June 8th I wrapped things up with a 92.41%, 18:01. It was a little bit disappointing as I thought I could be in the 17:40s but, I'll take it. This race felt really hard and I'm not sure how I did it. I was dead and ready to step off the course at 1 mile. A 5:45 followed by two 5:46s hurt bad... That's one feeling I won't miss!

So, things are going well as I'm still 100% fit and healthy. And the weird thing is I'm running faster now in my regular daily runs than I have in years. I'm only running about 20 to 25 miles per week on 3-4 runs. Over the past 2 years most of my regular runs were between 8:00 & 8:15. Most of my runs these days are in the 7:20-7:40 range. The other day I wanted to see if I could still run 10 miles. Ended up running my fastest 10 miler in several years going 75:55. Crazy! I'm sure I'm just riding the wave of my lifelong fitness and it probably won't last but I'll enjoy it while I can!

I've been able to hit my goal each week of a hundred+ miles spread across 3-4 runs (20-25 miles) 3-4 rides (60-70 miles) and about 6 walks (20 miles) My rides are getting better though I'm not too concerned about it. I can hit 16+ mph on a good day.

This little schedule seems to be keeping me pretty fit and feeling good everyday. Maybe I should have trained this way a long time ago!

Good to hear from Andy again. I remember talking to you in Lexington after club XC. Best to you dealing with your struggles.

Well that's it from here. Have a good run...

Dave

Racerdb: Wow, really amazing times on reduced training. Agree, you’re probably benefiting at least some from all those years of hard consistent training. But, the walking and riding cross training have to be helping too. Something to think about for all of us.

I’ve gotten back into an old pattern I had of running 4 days a week. These are M, W, F, and Sa. Each day is 20 minutes of steep rocky trail running. There are no easy days. Trails are definitely increasing my overall leg strength. I plan on consistently bumping the minutes up. I’d still like to move one of the days to the road but for the first time in a long time I feel really good running and it is definitely due to trails. I don’t want to change the surface right now.

I’m very grateful that for the first time since May of ‘22 my hips don’t hurt. I was beginning to think I was going to need some sort of medical intervention to fix the hips. When something hurts for so long you start wondering if something else is going on. It sure doesn’t help to have running peers who have had hip replacements, hernia’s, and even prostate cancer that expanded into the hips.

I’m walking an hour on non running days and doing weights every day.

In many ways I feel like a new runner just getting back into it. I sure hope to have some race reports to post, maybe early next year.

Have a good one folks!

My week started a little rough but finished well. I got my Covid and Flu shots Friday of last week and the first few days this week felt like I had a mild case of the Flu. Thursday I felt better and Friday I felt like I was back to normal. Yesterday we had another 5k XC race in our local series. It's a reasonably fast course with about a 1/2 mile on flat park grass, 2 miles on a pretty well groomed dirt and gravel trail loop with about 90 feet of elevation change, and back on the grass to the finish. I ran 21:33, which was 20 seconds faster than I ran last year to get 1st in the 70-74s, by 1 second over my team mate, who was never more than about 5 meters behind me the whole race. I'm headed over to my son's house to run 6 easy miles with him now, which will get me to 53 miles for the week.

Goof running to all.

69 y/o… nearly done. Cancer, colectomy, 3 knee surgeries,8-10 cortisone shots. 48th year of consistent training.

40 miles this week. Went over 1200 miles for the year this past week.

Traveling back home to big race on the 25th. Race is on 28th.

Id like to start racing again or at least going to races just to socialize. It’s been my only form of socializing for nearly a half century. Got no family of my own.

Biggest injury in my career has popped up again. GERD/hiatal hernia…. Believe it or not. I used to have a bag packed for the ER for when a flare up occurred ( first major flare up in 2008) … I finally just started trying to manage it but there are flare ups. Didn’t sleep for two days. Going back to work with a nutritionist.

Big running goal to be achieved next week… well it ain’t that big.

very sorry to hear of this setback. Sounds really frustrating.

I've been fortunate on the injury front lately, with twinges and tightness but nothing really limiting. Had a good week this week with 25-minute tempo weds. and then a half-marathon this morning in 1:26:08 (199th overall, 1st AG).

Hadn't run this race before, though very familiar with the course, much of which overlaps that of cherry blossom 10-miler. Fast course, only brief windy parts, cloudy, 60's, so overall very good conditions. Recent short race times, workouts, and comparisons with my log from when i last ran half-marathon (2022) made me think 1:28:30 or so realistic.

I started with the 1:30 group, which was going a few seconds/mile fast (33:41 at 5 miles), then pulled ahead on my own (as on your own as you can be in 6000-person race, but at any rate no longer with the official pace group leaders) for 32:14 next 5 miles, and held together ok for 20:13 final 5k. Very happy with it.

have a great week,

Dave

69 y/o.. 48th year of training.

38.5 miles /5 days

Went over 10,000 miles since 2018 on September 20th.
Flying back home for another farewell race on Wednesday…..Last time I ran this race it was 17:41… I don’t think I can break 28 nowadays.

One old running buddy is going to be there who has two knee replacements. He says he’s going to run it! I can’t start out fast anymore.. for around 40-45 years I never negative split a race… never. I actually had good runners make rude comments about me being up with them, the first 200 meters… ha

Nowadays, I have to start out extra slow and try to progressively get faster… it hurts too much to go out hard.

Bought a new phone. After I bought it the salesman says, “ahh, the 16 isn’t any different than the 15, next year, the 17 will be the one to buy”….. geez

Greetings!

DHaaga, my congratulation on your awesome HM! Seems it is very close to the world class
category.

M66 here. Just closing my first week of a 2-week vacation in the mountains. 58 miles and 1500+ m (5 kft) of the total elevation gain in 7 days. Tried tp keep the LT HR on all the uphill segments. Steepness varied between 5 and 12%. It results in some 25% of the total time @LT (by effort, of course). Was saving my knees and hip joints going downhill.
Glutes are sore anyway, probably it was too much of increase vs. my summer average of 40 mpw.

Happy and injury-free running to all!