50+ Masters Training and Racing Open Forum

Down voting from the same people that make this thread unappealing to post.

Just an fyi that I am 73 years and 8 months old and my vdot is estimated to be 31.1. I have never run a 1500m and only done 800’s as workouts. Any suggestions on how to run the 1500? Temp expectations are 60 and little wind. Don’t know if there will be many other men in the field or near me.

Goal of 8:16 using vDot so 33 per 100 so first 300 which puts you at the finish line 33,66,99

Going out too hard or too slow will cost you but better too slow than too fast.

No faster than 200 in 1:04/6 and 300 in 1:39/1:40

WAG you will have trouble using vDot because you do not have a Mid D background

Maybe warmup today or tomorrow and see what a 100 in 33 and a 200 in 1:06 feels like but not further as to not get into a workout too close to the 1500 race.

Investigate / know as much as possible about other runners goals. If you can find someone to work with it will help a lot.

Know your splits for 300,700,1100 so you can adjust your effort.

Take some extra time warming up cause 1500 meter effort needs lots of warmup.

Good Luck Mike!

Thanks Charlie, great help! I was thinking of 2:12’s at the fastest! Last year, looked like only 8 men over age 50 ran it and a 7:47 was closest to my goal. Not going to try that! Forecast is in 50’s and mild wind. Tried some pickups today but felt flat so just plan for good sleep and fresh legs Saturday :)

Greetings!

Still waiting for a fresh snow to come and resume xc skiing. Noted yesterday that sidewalks around my place were not icy anymore and decided to run outside, for the first time after the New Year break. Unfortunately, they seemed so from the car, while in reality were a little bit slippery yet as the temperature fell slightly below the freezing point over night.

2K warm-up, then 2x500 m (2:02 and 1:56) with 2 min jog in between, then 2K 8:13 (4:08+4:05). After 5 min of slow run did 2x500 once again (2:00 and 1:56) and then 1.5K in
6:32 and cool-down. Not great but seems adequate to the middle of the base period and weather (winter clothes).

All the rest for this week was cross-training. Mostly elliptical, and some 15 miles on the
treadmill. Totally, 7.5 hours of training.

Happy running/training to all!

Hi,

fun week for M53 hobby jogger:

Mo 12 km very easy incl. 3x100m, 3x30m flying

Tu 12 km incl. 10x1min/1min

We 12 km very easy incl. 3x100m, 3x30m flying

Th 12 km steady

Fr 11 km very easy incl. 4x100m

Sa 13 km incl. 14x200m/300m jog

Su 12 km very easy

No straining. Very satisfying. Very grateful.

Have a good week!

Orient and Newbi, OK on the good training weeks. Orient, 15 miles on the treadmill--YUCKKK! I was always too clumsy to run on a treadmill and didn't even when I lived in a snowy climate and should have. I'm very happy to now live someplace where the worst weather I get is the occasional cold rain.

First thing this morning I watched the last few minutes of the Houston Half livestream with Connor Mantz's (and Weini Keliti's) ARs. Wonderful! Then got in the car and drove an hour to a trail race. I don't do trail races but this one seemed doable--there was a video of the course that showed just flat, smooth dirt roads. Well, about 2/3 of the course actually was like that, but the other 1/3 was narrow, rocky, rutty trails with a bunch of very short but very steep hills (gain or lose 6-8 feet in a few strides). It was tough and nerve-wracking for this clumsy oaf, but I made it through without falling or even stumbling. My time of 1:01:45 seemed pretty bad but I don't think I can compare trail times to road times. I did win my F60-69 age group and beat all but one of the F50-59. A reasonably satisfying race and a good hard workout.

With my "taper" for the race I logged 44 miles for the week. Still thinking about a half-marathon in 4 weeks, but I really need to get in a truly long run (13 or so) next weekend if that's going to happen.

dhaaga, congrats to your Commanders! I'm cheering for the Bills later today.

Well, Saturday was fun!? I ran my 1500m in 8:21.8, with my first 400 in 2:19.4 and last 300 in 1:33.5. Just couldn’t get the legs going at the start but finished well, 3rd of 3 in 70-74 so a bronze. Lots of time in between and then a 4:29.9 for the 800m, 2:19.4 and then 2:10.5! for 2nd of 2. My 67.5 year old wife did great with a 7:33.5 and a 3:54 for gold and silver. Mild breeze and 55 to 60 degrees, just not enough competition for us to really race with/ against.

My most recent marathon was not one of my best, but I got it done. My training was going well until December, when a foot pain started up. A week ago I didn't know if I should do it, but a couple days before the marathon it was totally pain free, so I decided to go for it. I had done almost no running but I had cross trained, and I was a little curious how it would go. I could not train my calf muscles much, so late in the race they let me know that if I kept running they would cramp, so for the first time in many years I was walking some at the end of a marathon. I know better, but it was cool so I skipped too many water stations, and also maybe didn't take enough gels, and I was dehydrated and under fueled at the end. A reminder to respect the distance and not make rookie mistakes. But the good news is I kept it under 4 hours, giving me another Boston qualifier by over 20 minutes at my age, and in another new state.

Greetings!

Due to unusually warm weather and no ice on roads, ran outdoors for the second time this year. First have explored my usual trail in the forest, but the paths are totally icy and nearly impossible to run safely. Thus, had to return back after about 2 miles, but it was a good warm-up.

Then did a moderate interval session: 1K 4:16, 1 min jog, 2K 8:20, 3 min jog, 1K 4:18, 1 min jog, 1.5K 6:10, 1 min jog, 500 m 1:59, 2K cool-down.

All other days of the week was doing cross-training at the gym (mostly elliptical and some treadmill), 7 hours in total.

Happy running and training to all!

Kind of Old, good job on getting under 4 hours and nailing a Boston qualifier, even though things didn't go quite as planned.

I had a good training week with 54 miles of running. Yesterday morning I was delighted to wake up to a temperature in the low 40s, the first morning it's been above 40 in the past three weeks, and I took advantage of it to run 11.8 miles, my longest run in nearly 5 years. I now have a fair amount of confidence that I can make it through a half-marathon, which I hope to do in three weeks. I'll be shooting for 2:10. I was running 1:50 five years ago but two or three years ago I couldn't run even a 5K at any pace, so I'll take just getting through a HM, however slowly.

I followed yesterday's long run with an easy 10K with a few hills this morning, and am getting ready to settle in for some football. Go Bills!

good luck in the half-marathon! Sounds like your training is coming along great. Good luck also to the Bills and Commanders -- I guess I've been vocal about football loyalties in class lately, as multiple students have sent me "fly Eagles fly" emails this week. Must tell admissions office to recruit more from the DMV

Finally warming up here after about 3 weeks of icy trails and some bitterly cold [by our standards] mornings. 35 this am felt balmy and pleasant for my long-ish run (2:00 with 5 X 3:00 fairly hard hills).

Congrats, Mike Lundgren, to you and your wife on the track meet. Looks like you paced both races well.

have a great week,

Dave

My 2025 training plan finally is back on track after a couple of weeks of injury and illness. I'm trying to be patient building back into it and not do too much to soon, so this week was a modest 16 miles plus three 30 minute stationary bike sessions as follows:

M- 2mi walk

T- 2.5mi walk/run

W- 30min bike

Th- 3mi walk/run

F- 30min bike, 2.5mi walk

S- 3mi walk/run

Su- 30min bike, 3mi walk/run

I plan to continue to alternate bike+run days with run only days for the next couple of months to see how that compares to doing the same time volume of just running last year.

Good running to all!

oldguy Ii,

I was amazed at your ability to string weight bearing exercise at our age.

The pattern of spin biking I use, is alternating 3:00 at high repetition, and 2:00 standing.

Clearly, you have demonstrated what works for you.

Igy

Another solid training week for me. 54 miles for the week including a long run yesterday of 11.9 miles. Anything over 10 miles still feels tough but I should be able to manage a half-marathon with a couple of easy days in the lead-up and with the adrenaline of a race. Still pointing toward a HM 13 days from today although I won't send in my entry until the last minute.

Facebook periodically reminds me of "memories" from this date in prior years. The one that came up yesterday reminded me rather painfully of what the past five years have been. On Feb. 1 of 2020 I ran 21.3 miles in 3:13. I was training for a marathon in March which would be cancelled by COVID and which I wouldn't have been able to run anyway because RA had wiped me out by then. Five years later, I can't imagine being able to run anything like 21 miles and the pace of that long training run is about my 5K race pace now. On the other hand, two years ago I couldn't run at all. I'm sure I'll never get back to where I was, but things are definitely moving in the right direction.

I nearly doubled last week's mileage, which doesn't sound like a patient approach to increasing workout volume, but it all was at a very easy effort level, and still leaves me at about 2/3rds of my weekly volume before I got sick. Both my knees are mildly sore on the lower outside area, which makes me strongly suspect my ITBs are being slightly stressed by the stationary bike work I started several weeks ago. I don't plan to increase the bike work beyond the three 30 minute weekly sessions I am doing. Running mileage was 31 miles (total work was 75 mins/day) -

M- 5.5mi easy

T- 30min bike, 3.5mi easy

W- 5.0 mi easy

Th- 30min bike, 3.0mi easy

F- 3.0mi easy (tired and sore)

S- 30min bike, 6.0mi easy on trails

Su- 5mi easy

Good running to all!

5 years that feel a lot longer. Good luck with the half-marathon!

good week on my end, highlights being:

2:00 with 5 X 3:00 fairly hard uphills Sunday

1:30 with 5 X 3:00 (2:00 jog) at 5k effort Wednesday

1:25 with a parkrun tempo (21:02) Saturday

Happy Groundhog Day,

Dave

Hi all,

Last week, I lost two days to a stomach bug. This week was smooth:

Mo 11km very easy incl. 3x100m, 3x30m flying

Tu 12 km easy incl. 10x1min/1min

We 12 km very easy incl. 6x100m accels

Th 12 km steady incl. 3x1500m ST /100m jog

Fr 15 km easy incl. 4x100m strides

Sa 12 km easy incl. 10x200m with 300m jog (startet with 36s down to 32s)

Su 15 km easy

Good health and running to you all!

BR

Greetings!

Newbi, impressive mileage!

dhaaga, 3 long runs a week, oh my God!

amkelley, congrats on your solid training week!

My week was less than average in terms of training hours (only 6), but had two days of running outside, which is unusual for me in winter. One was 5 miles easy/moderate on asphalt and the second was a hard 5K trail yesterday (with 40 min easy warm-up and 10 min cool-down). After an extraordinary warm 3 weeks, all the paths in the forest became icy and nearly impossible to run (even snail-pace walking was uneasy). Thus, the organizers staged the course “straight through the jungle” – forest and bogs. So, most of the time it was wet snow about the socks level (very little as compared to some 20-25 inches on average at that time of the year), but underneath it was cold water and mud. Very uneven and hilly terrain. So, all the things trail runners and orienteers enjoy. Reminded me good old young years in orienteering :-)
Did not consider it as a competition, but rather as a weekly tempo with no tapering.
But it went well. Was 8th overall (26:10) and lost less than 2 min to the winner (24:21) who is more than 2 min faster than me at 5K road (and 30+ years younger).

Nice week and happy running to all!