50+ Masters Training and Racing Open Forum

Geez Allen1959 you have had a tough run in recent years. All the best with the rehab.

Amkelly well done on that 10 km. We have to adjust to new expectations.

Cheers

amkelley, nice to see the continuing progress. Congratulations. I had a good day at my 8k XC race this morning. I was 9 secs/mile slower than last year, so 7:34/mi. The course was slower because they made us run off the road in uneven soft dirt for some sections where they had the course on paved road last year. Also, I was well ahead of my other 70+ competitors, and my legs were dead from several weeks of hard training and racing. So, lots of excuses for going slower. 53 miles for the week. I'm going to take the next two weeks pretty easy in training to get some freshness back in my legs, and then the last series XC race before our local championship on 11/10.

Good running to all!

I started tapering for a marathon next weekend, but still did a fairly hard long run early in the week. I hope to do a decent race, but still do a faster one later this year.

I was looking at results for the Chicago Marathon. As I have not been running as a 70-74 year old that long I kind of forget how much of a drop off there is from the 65-69 runners. A couple of real fast guys are doing great, but 79 men went under 4 hours for 65-69, but only 16 for 70-74. And 52 down to only 8 under 3:50 in a big fast race like Chicago. Similar results but lower numbers for the women.

Greetings!

Ran a 10K trail this early afternoon (Garmin showed 9.81K at finish). A very hilly course, total climb about 800 ft with steep ups and downs. There were also segments to run through a thick forest and mud.

Was 20th of 272 OA and 5th in the 45+ age category (with my 66). Time does not say anything in trails. It was 48:18, but by the effort it felt under 40/10K/flat_road.

Will probably close competing in this season. Need at least 2 weeks to get ready for another race, but temperatures here are often below the freezing point in early November.

My main result/achievement in this season was “no injury”. Ran 6 hard trails and 4 road races from early April through today and cannot recall any issue or point to complain. It was for the first time in 6 years (after I turned 60).

Happy and injury-free running to all!

I took a recovery week this week getting in 53 miles, but all of it easy run/walk stuff. It's time for me to get my legs feeling fresh and bouncy again for the end of our local XC series and Club XC in December. I have a very hilly 4mi XC race next Saturday, our series championship 8k, which is a flat grassy park course, two weeks later, and, then, 4 more weeks until Club XC Nationals in Seattle. I'll run all easy stuff this coming week, and then assess where I'm at in training and what I should do for the final 6 weeks until Club XC.

Good running to all!

70 y/o Training year 48. Stopped racing.

41.1 miles. 2 weight lifting sessions.

I don’t think I’ll ever race again. When the knee pain starts, it absolutely stops me in my tracks.

I stop just for a second or two, start back up in a trot then most of the time the pain goes away and I can finish. My run just now for example. Knees felt ok at start, at 2.2 miles a sharp pain and I stopped… started again then knee pain returned to that normal dull level 3 pain.

1400 hobbling miles for the year.

Orient, congrats on the solid 10K. Here in my part of the country it is just now getting cool enough that one can count on decent weather for morning races!

Fredsdsy, I don't recall seeing you on this thread before--welcome if you're new! That's a solid week of running for someone who doesn't race anymore. Do you know the reason for your knee pain?

For the first time in about four years I ran five consecutive days (M-F), logging 34 miles. All of it pretty slow, but that's fine coming off a hard 10K race. Saturday I did a tough mountain hike, 10 miles of rough trails with a lot of climbing. Today I just swam and cycled a little. Hope to be back in the running shoes tomorrow.

I'm considering racing a 5K this coming weekend. Based on my 10K last weekend, I should be able to run 5K much faster than at any time in the past four years, and it would be nice to do it before something else goes wrong!

Amkelley: I am always impressed with the volume of work you put in!
Orient: Congrats on the race.
Fredsdsy: Welcome. I’m sure with your experience you’ve tried everything under the sun to fix your knee. Amazing miles though, congrats on that!

Good week for me. Bumped the minutes up to 23 M, W, F, and Su. I’m sticking with steep rocky trails, and there are no easy runs. Nothing hurts and that is a biggie for me. Next week I’ll bump to 24 with my ‘Milo of Croton’ glacially slow workload increase method. I remain ever grateful to feel good and run pain free. It’s something we forget so easily when things are going well.

Have a good one folks!

Having some trouble retrieving my PW.

Good work out there. Sounds like a tough 10K, Orient, but fun.

Been rolling along at 60-70 mpw for the past five or six weeks. Ran a 1:24 half the other week. The course not as hilly as the one overseas this summer, but hillier than I wanted to see! Ran almost the same time, but I was peaking for for the earlier race and ran through this one, with just a couple days of cutback. It's all fine.

After a spell of relatively longer sessions to build some endurance base for 4 Peaks I returned to my normal style this week.

Mon. 15 km mountain bike ride 43 mins. 5 km hike into run into hike on local golf course with 3 moderately hilly kms in 5.30/5.50/5.20.

Tue. 3 km hike. 16 km mountain bike ride 48 mins. 7 km hike into run into hike with 3 rolling kms in 5.48/5.36/5.06.

Wed 8 km hike. Easy 11.5 km xc mountain bike ride 42 mins. 6 km hike into gentle jog into hike.

Thu. Playing on Mt Tarrengower. All up 10 km. Hiked up one track and down another 3.5 km 220 m elevation gain. Then I ran 2 x up Adairs Track a 1 plus km 16% technical track with a brisk descent. 3.8 kms total running 350 m elevation gain. Finished with a run up the 200 steps up the lookout. Then hiked back. Back home I went out for a lazy 12.5 km mountain bike ride 44 mins.

Fri. 90 mins kayaking on the river stormy weather gusty winds.

Sat. 5 km hike then 24 kms xc and trail mountain bike ride in 90 mins.

Sun. 6 km rugged hike in the morning. In the afternoon 9 kms of steep trails started with a technical downhill hike then 6.3 km of rugged running inc 4 x 800 m steep hills (some 25+% gradients) 350 m elevation gain cool down was some steep technical hiking down and up.

I continue to put in regular easy resistance training and a few short sessions on the rower. I generally rack up 20 to 30000 steps per day. Even on Friday when I didn't record any hiking or running my daily step count was over 20000 with a lot of it on a wheel barrow. I feel pretty fit. Lots of niggles but nothing serious.

congrats on the half-marathon! great time.

I ran Marine Corps Marathon this morning (fantastic weather, low 40's warming to mid 50's, not much wind except around Hains Point which is always windy) in 3:13:14 (chip time) -- unofficially I think I may have won age group, at least didn't see other M60-64 in quick scan of the 600 or so names ahead of me in results--they don't seem to have age groups yet.

The asterisk on there is that an M65-69 beat me handily. Hats off to Paul McGovern of Massachusetts (3:04)!

Pacing was pretty good -- 1:35:51 first half/1:37:23 second half -- 30 to 40k a few secs. faster than first 10k, though that's an artifact of how crowded the first few miles are.

Poor time relative to my half-marathon (1:26:08 last month), and a PW (1 minute slower than I ran this race as my first marathon 47 years ago) for one I ran competitively rather than as training run for an ultra, but I'm nonetheless pleased. My various injuries hurt in second half but didn't stop me this time, and after not finishing a marathon past 3 years I was excited to finish in reasonably good form.

have a great week,

Dave

70 y/o…Training year 48…can’t race anymore

35 miles.

Day off today. Hate days off but feel it’s necessary. So, I walk a couple miles and walk around the store a little.

Doctors appointment tomorrow so I’ll sneak in two miles before the appointment, then come back and do my favorite workout.

Run 1.2 miles to the gym..set of curls, chest and bench press, go out the door, run around softball field and back into gym ( 850 meters total) X 5

Then 1.2 back home.

Over 1400 miles so far but am sure I won’t hit 2000. I’m so crippled up it takes me a long time to get distance in . Yesterday, what with stopping to rub my knees and get going again, it took me 99 minutes to “ run” 7.5 miles ha

dhaaga, congrats on a fine performance at MCM! That would be cool to win the age group at such a big race. Yeah, there are a few outliers like the 3:04 guy.

I ran a solid 31 miles for the week including a 5K race yesterday in 28:09. It's about what I would have predicted based on my 10K two weeks ago, and while that time would have been unimaginably slow five years ago, it's over two and a half minutes better than my last 5K at the end of May so I'm very happy with it. This was a rather big (nearly 900 finishers) Halloween-themed event, and I placed 3/51 in my 10-year age group and 49/579 among all women. The course had some rolling hills, most of them in the last mile which was slightly net uphill--oof! I think I lost a little time and wasted some energy weaving though large clots of slow joggers and walkers in the first half-mile, but otherwise it felt the way a 5K is supposed to feel, hard all the way. Today my legs feel tired, but nothing hurts.

I have one race planned for November, my local 5-mile turkey trot, which is 3 miles from home, low-key and low-hassle. I'd like to run a race in December but the only good candidate is the same Saturday morning when I have to administer my final exam! So I guess I'll devote December and January to trying to build my mileage up, shooting for a half-marathon. I have two possibilities in mind, one in mid-February and one in late March.

Go Dodgers!

dhaaga, congratulations on your marathon. I got in an easy mileage week of 50 miles and then raced a very hilly 4mi XC race on Saturday. I was a little slower than I hoped, but happy with my effort. I was 3rd in the 70-74s with my 72 and 73 yr old team mates in front of 74 yr old me. My 72yr old team mate ran 7:31/mi, my 73yr old team mate ran 7:41/mi, and I ran 7:50/mi. I sat on my 72 yr old team mate who got out fast the first mile, but paid for it in the second mile when we hit the second big hill. We should have a strong 70+ team at Club XC in Seattle. Starting tomorrow I am switching from my almost totally aerobic base training to 6 weeks of interval/VO2 max training for final Club XC preparation.

Good running to all!

I logged 44 miles in six days of running this week, my highest mileage in four years. I'm pleased to be continuing to make progress, although I still have a very long way to go. My "long run" this week was 9.4 miles as I continue to think about attempting a half-marathon in the near future. Onward!

70 y/o..over 100k miles since 1977, went over 20k miles at the retirement place I moved to in 2012 on September 20th.

1400 hobbling miles this year. I would like to start going to races again. If for no other reason …to socialize with other runners

It’s the only hobby I’ve ever enjoyed but ego, pride is keeping me from going to the races. Who wants to spend 40 bucks to hobble.

Im gonna work on that.

amkelley, congratulations on your impressive 44 miles a week! Your courage and commitment are awesome, good luck with your plans to return to HM.

My week was average for this time of the year. My racing season is over, and running will end soon too. This night we have got some 2 inches of snow and temps will stay below the freezing point for the next 3-4 days. So, I am switching to the gym. 5 hrs and 38 min for the week.

Happy and injury-free running and training to all!

New to board. Fun reading about fellow travelers on the 60+ age side. Back in the day was a decent runner (9:10 HS 2 mile). Was a skinny 6', 135 lbs. Long story short, stopped running, got into my career. had double knee replacement from osteo-arthritis, and ate & drank to the point that I hit 240 lbs 4 years ago. Couldn't walk up a couple flights of stairs without feeling like I was about to have a grabber. Was able to retire at 58 and promised my wife I'd deal with the health issues (high cholesterol, high blood sugar, awful arthritis, etc.). First year walked 40 - 50 mpw during COVID and thought it would be nice to be able to run a mile under 9 minutes.

Was able to start running in 2021 and did a 1:46 half marathon in 2022 while still a bit on the heavy side. Had to feel my way through the injury front (lots of calf & hamstring strains and some back pain due to scoliosis) but now have a basic strength and flexibility program coupled ith an inversion table that seems to be working. Hit 1:42 at Carmel Half earlier in this year and saw Rick Torres run an unbelievable 1:22!

Made me want to get better. Aiming for a sub 1:40 on New Year Day on a hilly course and ultimately looking for 1:35 - 1:37 at Carmel. Love reading the board here....very motivational to see what the old guys can do. Will post training from time to time and always open to advice.. 48 miles this week and did my first mile repeats in 45 years....ugh, they still hurt as much as I remember.

- ShuffleMaster