50+ Masters Training and Racing Open Forum

wow, fantastic comeback! Really inspiring. Good luck with the half marathon prep.

I resumed running (all easy) this week, having done exclusively cross-training first week after marathon. I've volunteered at races each of past two weekends and saw some people who had run same marathon racing well again. I can't quite imagine being able to bounce back that quickly.

have a great week,

Dave

Inspirational story, Shuffle Master (no longer shuffling, I might add).

AM / Dave / Scobie - thx for your kind words. I am remembering why I love running so much to begin with, though it's such a fine line between success and falling off of a cliff with injury. Have a big week of tempo work upcoming, and I always keep my fingers crossed that I stay in one piece before each run. Imagining you guy feel the same way a lot of days.....

70 y/o…48th training year. Legs gone.

week:40.7 miles ( hobbling) w/ tempo run 11:29-11:31. 8 mile long run.

Some days the pain is real bad, some days it’s ok. I can remember a day decades ago when steady runs were all under 6….
I’ve decided to try at least showing up for the local Turkey Trot 10k. The park where it’s being held is less than a mile away.

If nothing else I’ll be one of those old geezers we were hoping never to end up being 35-40 years ago.

So, I signed up. Start out real slow then taper, isn’t that what commie Walt Stack said?

Hope nobody recognizes me ha

amkelley, congratulations on the continuing improvement! Persistence is an underrated talent. I ran my last race as a 74yr old this morning, our local XC series championship. I finished 2nd in the 70+ 6k and 2nd in 70+ for the series. My 70+ team mates and I went 1,2,3,4 in the race and the series. I was very pleased with my effort running 7:21/mi pace, but hope to get that under 7:15/mi for Club XC next month. 36 miles for the week with a full rest day yesterday.

Good running to all!

It's been 4 weeks since I've posted, so time to catch up a little. 150.8 miles in 4 weeks, with marathons 40 and 41 in there 2 weeks apart. Also some fast running the weekend in between for a relay with some friends. I ran the marathons at a pretty good pace, but not all out. Easier to recover that way.

The last 40 were under 4 hours.

The last 39 were Boston qualifiers.

Boston qualifiers in 31 states. I keep telling people I don't expect to do every state, but I plan to keep doing more new states.

Just wondering if you ran HS track & XC in Indiana? Since you mentioned Carmel twice. If you were a 9:10 guy back in the day from Indiana, I think I would surely know your name!

Dave

No - from IL and now settled in TN. Have to migrate back north for a flat course in cool weather, and Carmel is a nice venue. It's pretty hot (by early May) and hilly in the Nashville area starting in . Also running Corning Half in NY in the fall.

AM - wanted to ask you related to the arthritis, what did you do to get back on the road again? Meds, supplements, strength work, etc? Have my own issues with osteo-arthritis (hence the artificial knees) but curious as to what worked for you - I'm continuing to work on dropping weight and hope to settle near 155lbs, or about 10lbs less than I am at the moment. That's a lot of mileage (great week for you!) so you must be doing something right.

And a general question for those of you who use tools like Runbundle - does the correlation the Weight vs Pace tool calculates seem reasonably accurate for any of you that track your weight? The tool estimates a 1% pace improvement for every 2lbs dropped, assuming the weight is lost primarily from non-useful (e.g., visceral) fat and not muscle. If not, I guess I'll be the guinea pig.

ShuffleMaster, I wish I could tell you. I developed what was diagnosed as rheumatoid arthritis very suddenly in March 2020 (the coincidence with COVID is, as far as I know, just a coincidence) and quickly became unable to run at all because of the pain and stiffness in my hips. After finally getting diagnosed I went the traditional route with RA drugs, which did not help at all (except for prednisone, which worked great but can't be taken in the long term because of the side effects that even the doctors worry about) and just gave me horrific insomnia. I decided to just try managing it with over-the-counter NSAIDs, mostly naproxen sodium. For over three years I couldn't run at all, but my hips gradually felt better and I was able to gradually reduce the amount of naproxen I was taking. Through it all I walked, rode my bike, and did gym work, and I also took up swimming, which made my body feel better. Long story short, about 15 months ago I discovered I could jog a little, and since then I've just been working on trying to regain my running fitness. I still take naproxen as needed, which is usually about once a week, and also before any race. I did try to improve my diet a little, mostly by cutting back on added sugars, but I don't know how much, if at all, this helped. I still have no confidence that the RA won't come roaring back at some time, but for now I seem to have it under control. I still get sore hips after any hard run and sometimes for no apparent reason but it's no longer a show-stopper.

Another solid training week. 41 miles in 5 days of running, including a "long run" of 11 miles today. It's the longest run I've done in 4+ years. I felt great for the first 5-6 miles but was definitely dragging by the end. Obviously these longer runs are what I need to be doing!

My home-town turkey trot (5 miles) is Saturday and I certainly hope to run it, but won't enter until the last minute in case something goes wrong. Then there are three different 5K turkey trots on Thanksgiving morning, all a little farther away, but I'll probably do one of them assuming I still feel good. Woo-hoo!

My home team (49ers) and my adopted team (Bills) are both playing on TV at the same time this afternoon. I'm happy to have completed a good workout, so I feel justified in growing roots into the sofa for three hours.

70 y/o Training year 48. Can’t race

41 Hobbling miles. A lot of pain.

Was hobbling by a city park and saw they were running one of those USATF youth cross country regional meets. What a grand spectacle and did much to re-energize this “ athlete dying “old” ha

I heard the USATF official over the intercom say something about Indiana…. Well, there were no Indiana teams there. I saw kids there from Colorado, El Paso and many teams from my state.

I walked up to the official and said “ hey, I heard Indiana, are there Indiana teams here?? I coached HS there for seven years!!!!No, he said the Youth USATF championship is ( I think he said) December 14th

I said “ At Laverne /Gibson in Terre Haute??? He said “ no at “Blueriver”….. I hadn’t at the time remembered where that was…as I was in great pain making my way home at 13 minute pace, I think I recall Blue River course may be at Shelbyville Indiana!!! “ I remembered “ Bears of Blue River 10k!!! I ran 35:45 there in 88!!!

Yeah, maybe that’s it!!! Shelbyville……if anyone knows for sure clarify….I got home and hurt so bad, I thought I was going to have to seek medical help.

Woke up this morning and felt better!!! Those lucky kids. Those lucky, lucky kids. Running a regional race on the coned off soccer fields of a major city then the lush beautiful green fields of central Indiana…. their whole running lives still in front of them.

Greetings!

This week (as well as the previous one) was good for me: 7+ hrs of cross-training per week. Mostly elliptical, with some arc and treadmill, too.

Was hoping to start the XC ski season earlier this year after the first real snowfall, but these hopes "vanished in the haze" as the warm air came in from the Atlantic.

Happy and injury-free training and racing to all!

amkelley, it's good to hear about your continuing improvement. I seem to be a little overcooked this week. The week started out OK and I did my planned 12x 100hard/100easy workout on Tuesday. I had a little soreness in my left knee after last Sunday's XC race. The minor soreness has persisted since Wednesday, and my Garmin data on resting heart rate, HRV and sleep all indicated I could use some more recovery. I had a 5x1k workout planned for yesterday and long run for today. I did the first 1k and the time was fine, but my knee was still sore and my quad felt very tight, so I shut it down, and opted for more time for breakfast and playing with my grand-kids. Today I'm taking a full rest day, and I'll see how everything feels tomorrow. With 4 weeks until Club XC I still have plenty of time for some easy recovery days before the race. 35 miles for the week in 6 days.

Good running to all!

Here's a quick check-in. Ran 19:30 for a masters xc 5K the other week (2nd in age group) and 3:03 marathon (1st in age group). Went xc skiing once last week, but they only had a couple of ks open. More snow is on the way and most places should be fully open by next week. Otherwise, recovery and then build-up for 2025.

Hope everyone has a good close out to 2024, and may they winds be at your back and the miles fly by.

Nicely done on the marathon Coyote. That's moving!

Last week -

Sun - 4.5mi @ 10:10 pace (recovery run)

Mon - 3.5mi @ 9:10 pace

Tues - 15.5mi @ 8:51 pace

Wed - 4.0mi @ 8:47 pace

Thur - 5.5mi @ 9:04 pace

Fri - Sat: OFF - IT band acting up a bit so discretion was the better part of valor

33.0 miles on the week - targeted 50 miles with a race pace session on Saturday but the outside of the knee was not having any of it.

Hi runners,

good running here.

Tuned down my weekly structure in order to reduce weekly load (more sustainable). Last 14 days:

Mo 65 min very easy including 4x100m

Tu 8.5 miles including 8x400m with 2:40 jog break

We same as Mo

Th 8.5 miles incl. 4x1500m Sub threshold with 45 sec jog break

Fr same as Mo

Sa 7.5 miles moderate

Su 9 miles (15 km) easy

Mo 65 min very easy incl. 4x100m

Tu same as Mo

We 8.5 miles incl. 8x400m with 2:40 jog (400m)

Th same as Mo

Fr 8.5 miles incl. 4x1500m sub T with 45 sec jog break

Sa same as Mo

Su 8.5 miles moderate with 10x10min fast/slow

Next week will come a lot of rain right above freezing point (brrrr). The week after next week, some business trips on the horizont.

At 53.5 years old, I am no more "Newbie" to this thread.

Keep fun, stay healthy.

BR

Sunday 10x1 min on/off. 10x10min would be a bit long for me ...

CM, congratulations on your results. One more proof of your upper world class status!

What were the courses for XC and marathon and the weather?

Newbi, your training looks quite impressive. No doubt it will bear fruit the next season, good luck!