I am doing 5x100m with jog back after each very easy run three times a week. Recently, I ramped up to 6x100m and the total duration of this very easy runs including strides is 80 to 85 min.
BR
I am doing 6 x 20 secs after each easy run. makes things more interesting.
Greetings, friends! I haven't checked in for quite a while, so am posting a brief update.
I turned 65 in August, and had plans for a return to racing after years of struggling with chronic knee pain (constant inflammation of quadriceps tendons due to patellar bone spurs).
I had run a marathon at age 62 by limiting my training to three days per week, but was disappointed with a 5th place age group result (3:43) -- having raced 3:07 only a few years before (age 58).
But, alas, even limited training left me nearly crippled for the rest of the week. Aargh! Other factors: I had passed out at the finish of that 3:43 marathon, resulting in facial fractures and a severe concussion (5-day hospital stay); then cancer surgery a few months later.
So ... I decided to finally give up my runners' dream (had competed since age 14), and embraced my love of cycling. I recently joined a great bicycling club in Rochester NY, and enjoyed a few 50-mile club rides. Then, unfortunately, i was hit by a car 10 days ago! Multiple fractures of my left femur, six days in hospital, and still facing weeks at a rehab facility.
Had a tapering week before a 10K race that ran this morning. Was hesitating to run because caught a slight cold and was trying to get rid of it for 3-4 days, but did not recover totally. No fever, but obvious morning cough. The course was hilly (some 300 ft elevation gain) and it was cold for me (48F). Nevertheless, there was almost no wind and no rain, thus decided to go and it went well. 40:40 at the finish. Was 93rd OA of 1855 and 86th of 1017 male. Second in my AG (65-69).
Trying to project this hilly course on the flat one, assume it would be 39:35-39:40. This estimate is based on the math that is well-known in orienteering and that shows how many virtual extra meters you have run.
Going uphill: k = 4 x alpha + 0.25 x alpha**2, where k is lengthening coefficient (in %) and alpha is a slope gradient (also in %). Going downhill: k = - 2 x alpha + 0.25 x alpha**2
So, imagine you have a 2% climb for 2K. k=9, thus it gives 90 extra meters per 1K and 180 per 2. Divide it by your speed in m/s and you get delta_T. In my case there were 260-270 "virtual" meters.
Happy running to all!
This post was edited 5 minutes after it was posted.
6 walking miles. Going back out west. Just checked out of hotel.
” Worst vacation ever” spent nearly the entire time in my hotel room with Covid
102 temp for a couple of days.
Still walked a mile or two a day. Absolutely exhausted now. My sister taking me back to airport. I’ll be there way too early.
One funny thing. My 50th high school reunion, unbeknownst to me was held yesterday, most attendees staying at my hotel.
I managed to avoid all the old geezer classmates until this morning when I checked out. 2 women, one I recognized as a cheerleader, were also at the desk. They gave me a long look and finally asked… “are you here for the reunion “
I said “ no, I live out west”! Lame, but I couldn’t think of anything else. Surprisingly that seemed to satisfy them.
I pulled my NAU floppy hat down and kept moving, the lady at the desk saying to me on the way out “ glad you feel better sir”
Now, the long wait in the airport and hope my car starts.
This post was edited 1 minute after it was posted.
Allen1959: Holy Cow! Best wishes to you and speedy healing! I guess a positive is the determination and drive you developed from running will serve you well during the recovery process.
My progress back has been steady, but not totally even. I was feeling so good running trails I thought I’d try an experiment with roads. If the purpose of an experiment is to clarify a hypothesis, then this one did the trick. Both hips and my ankle almost immediately complained about the road. Back to trails and I had immediate relief.
I’m at 21 minutes every other day and as far as I can tell I am def increasing my fitness. My legs are getting stronger. I’ll bump up the minutes next week.
Allen1959: oh, God, it is 3 years already after your marathon, but I clearly remember your emotional story (as if read it a week ago). Best of luck to you in your recovery and cycling activities!
Rtype: agree with you about trails. Love trail competitions much more than road races (probably because of my orienteering background in the young days/years). But still trying to compete on roads to maintain speed. Otherwise, there is a risk to lose it. Current goal is to remain under 40/10K on reasonably flat courses and I make such "tests" every spring and autumn. E.g. in this season, ran 5 trails (from mid May through mid September) and 4 roads (Apr-May and Oct/today.). Perhaps will run one more trail in two weeks and then close the season.
This post was edited 2 minutes after it was posted.
Orient: Thanks so much for the well-wishes. I turned 63 not long after my last marathon, and 65 only eight weeks ago. So, don't panic, it's been well short of three years! Congrats on your continued successes. So good to see. : )
Orient, that's a very nice 10K on a tough course, particularly if you weren't 100%. Congrats!
Rtype, you seem to have a pretty definitive result from your "experiment". Good thing you can still run trails, and perhaps you'll just have to be satisfied with that.
Allen1959, I'm so sorry to hear about your accident! The significant possibility of having a serious accident is the main thing that puts me off from cycling, although in my life I've had a number of bike crashes and have yet to fracture anything, while I've had three falls while running that resulted in fractures (arm/hand/finger). My husband had a pretty bad bike crash two months ago and we were very worried that he had damaged one of his artificial shoulders, but they turned out to be fine. I wish you a speedy recovery.
I had a somewhat promising week, with my quadricep strain continuing to feel better. I managed three runs for 17 miles total, plus 70 miles of cycling, 70 minutes on the bike trainer, and 6000 m of swimming. I'm hoping to be able to run a 10K race next Saturday, but am not expecting much, having lost a great deal of fitness in the past six weeks.
wow, scary situation with the crash. I hope your rehab goes well.
ok week for me, mostly slow except for 4 X 4:00 (2:00 jog) hard on Thursday. Today was last real long run (3:00 with a few miles closing in on marathon pace in second half, feeling a little sluggish) before marine corps marathon in 3 weeks. Hoping to get to start line with calves and hamstrings in working order -- a few twinges lately, so we'll see.
I had my best running week in a couple of months, logging 28 miles in four days of running and finishing with a 10K race in 57:25. I had never run a 10K over 52 minutes before 2020, but in my only 10K since then I ran just under 63 minutes in June, so today was a huge improvement. The only caveat is that they had to re-route the 10K course at the last minutes because of construction, leading to suspicion that it wasn't a full 10K. However, my best effort to Google map it yielded 6.2 miles, so it probably wasn't short by much. We basically did two laps of the 5K course, which was on quiet, partly shady residential streets with rolling hills but nothing very steep or very long. I felt I went out too fast and died in the second half, and I did get passed by a couple of people in the last two miles, but I hung in there as best I could.
It seems all the time I took off with my strained quad (which I didn't feel a peep out of today) didn't hurt my fitness all that much. I still want to try to work up to a half-marathon if I can avoid getting interrupted by injuries. For now, I have a couple of 5K to 5 mile races on the horizon for the rest of the year.
I'm planning to spend tomorrow hiking in the Sierras unless I come up with some injury from today's race. Probably the last hike of the year, as snow is likely to arrive soon in the high country.
I continue on the (literal) comeback trail. Bumped the minutes up to 22 Tu, Th, Sa. One thing I’m continuing that I did not previously is walking an hour on alternate days and 30 min on run days. I do a dumbbell workout every day for basic upper body maintenance.
Plan is to bump up to 23 min next week. Yeah, I know, this is extremely modest training. But, every trail run is hard and my legs are definitely getting stronger. The last time I felt this good was May of ‘22.
I have relatives and friends who are on an even longer road to recovery in NC. Y’all, man that was and remains so awful! Help out if you can, they need it.
fantastic! great to see your hard work and persistence pay off.
Not nearly as significant as your comeback, but I am quite proud of my own 10K yesterday, a cross-country race in which I recorded 1 stumble, 0 falls, and 0 times getting lost. Given my track record of clumsiness and dis-orienteering skills, quite an upset.
Help us build the best running shoe review site for a chance to win a LetsRun t-shirt.Help us build the best running shoe review site for a chance to win one of 10 LetsRun t-shirts.