50+ Masters Training and Racing Open Forum

71 y/o..over 100,000 miles since 1977. Broke down finally, maybe 3 years ago. Still keeping a log and count walking for the second year.

Probably a third is walking. Had lower lumbar ablation a little over 3 weeks ago and thought it had totally failed until the day before thanksgiving when I think I’m feeling the procedure kick in. Maybe 50-55% pain reduction.

That being said. Went over 1700 miles for the year yesterday

This year I skipped my hometown turkey trot, which is on the Saturday before Thanksgiving. The start time was moved to 10:30 and that's a terrible time for me to run. I decided instead on a Thanksgiving morning race and had several to choose from. The one I ran last year is flat and could be fast, but it was so crowded that I spent the whole race stopping, starting, and weaving through clots of walkers and very slow joggers. I ran a poor time and left feeling frustrated.

So this year I chose a different TT on a rolling course. This one turned out to be even bigger (over 2000 finishers) and just as crowded, but I managed to keep my cool and expend no more physical and mental energy than necessary fighting the crowds. I started way too far back in the pack, as the field was a lot slower than I expected, but it did feel good to be flying past gobs of people for the whole race. My 28:36 got me first out of 25 in my age group and put me well into the top quarter of all finishers. I felt it was a reasonably good time considering the conditions. The race had some nice perks. The weather was fine, near 50 degrees, cloudy and calm, and the age group awards were Thanksgiving-themed blankets--how original is that? And all finishers got a small pie. Pecan pie is my very favorite food I shouldn't eat, so I went home happy!

I've logged over 50 miles in each of the past four weeks and everything feels good. My last race of the year will be in two weeks, a 5K that is really flat and could be fast if I can figure out where to line up so that I'm neither trampled by fast people nor stuck behind big groups of slowpokes.

Happy belated Thanksgiving to all.

I hope everyone had a great Thanksgiving weekend. After a week of no running after the Masters 5k XC, the last three weeks I've gone 22mi, 31mi, 41mi, all easy running. My legs are feeling deader than dead the last couple of days but I know my fitness is improving, I was planning to move up to 50mi this coming week but the way I feel I'm going to stay in the low 40s for another week before I try to move up to 50. My current running goal is to average 50mi weeks through the end of Feb, and then get back to racing some road and track races in mid-March or April. My Thanksgiving weekend goal was to get to today without gaining more than 3lbs. over my weight on Wednesday. I've just managed that even with making about half an apple pie and lots of other goodies disappear.

Good running to all!

Pretty good training recently for a marathon early next year. I almost always lift weights twice a week, and do elliptical, rowing, and a few other things at the gym at least once a week. also bike some in summer, but not good biking here in winter, so might hit the gym more. For the last three weeks 51.5, 46.3, and 51.5 miles. The middle week I had lower mileage because during my long run I stopped at the gym, went on different machines for over an hour, and then ran again. I don't plan on doing that too often, but I got in more training time than if I just ran and felt pretty good yet at the end. Planning an easy week now, then back to more again.

How did you do?

Youe mileage patttern looks healthy. That gym machines day wasn’t a bad move. Winter cross-training can still support marathon goals. If I were you, I'd take an easy week every 3-4 weeks, have a long run of around a half marathon in distance, and HAVE A PROGRESSION RUN.

-Cheers,

Aaron

Yesterday was my last race of the year, a big holiday-themed 5K with a high ratio of walkers/joggers to real runners. It was 38 degrees with heavy overcast and light fog/drizzle-mist, and I jogged around to stay warm up until 5 minutes before the scheduled start, but that forced me to line up much too far back. So once again I found myself trapped behind walls of walkers, stopping and starting and zig-zagging from one side of the road to the other trying to find room to run. Things cleared out after about half a mile but I had lost quite a bit of time. I ended up running 28:14 and I think I could have been under 28 with room to run. It was 22 seconds faster than my Thanksgiving morning 5K, which also had traffic problems, and overall I was quite happy with my race. (I still hate 5Ks, though.)

The age-group awards were based on gun time, not chip time. Based on chip time I won my age group by 60 seconds, but I got second place based on gun time. Another woman I know won her age group based on chip time but was only given third. In my experience, overall awards (and any prize money) are always based on gun time but age-group placements are usually based on chip time. No big deal.

Central California has been locked in an extreme Tule fog situation now for nearly three weeks. I literally have not seen the sun in 20 days. The mornings are cold and foggy and the afternoons are cold and cloudy. As a runner I'm not complaining. 40-ish degrees with little wind and no rain is fine for December running. Swimming in a heated pool is fine too, until I have to get out--BRRRR! I've now logged six consecutive weeks of at least 50 miles of running and everything is feeling good. Fingers crossed.

Happy running to all!

AMK, congratulations on the solid race result! I wish that I could say that I have multiple weeks of 50 miles, but I'm not there yet. This week was up to 46 miles, which is my highest mileage week this year, but I hope to get to 50+ next week or the following week. I still have some minor soreness in my hamstring, so the running is all moderate to easy effort while I increase mileage. Assuming I get in about another hundred miles by the end of the year I will finish the year around 1650 miles, compared to the two prior years of 2150 and 2050.

Yesterday I went and watched the Brooks XC Championships. I had forgotten how fast elite high schoolers run. The girls and the boys races both were exciting and close right up to the end.

Happy holiday running to all!

After an easy week I had a pretty good week again, even with some winter weather. 51.8 miles, with a little more other working out than usual, including some snow removal. But with the cold and snow not much speed work. Maybe more speed this week. I have a local 5k to run, but not a goal race, just a good time to see my running friends. More focused on marathons. Signed up for 3 next year already. Have a good week.

I wasn't paying real close attention to my mileage for the week, just knowing it was pretty good. When I added it up I saw 51.9, so a tenth more than last week. Weather forecast looks OK, so maybe I can bump it up to an even 52 this week. A little less cross training, but more speed last week. Merry Christmas!

With only a 5K to recover from and no races on the horizon to prepare for, and good weather for December, I cranked up the volume this week. I logged 60 miles of running, the most since March 2020, and also 9000 yards of swimming, probably a lifetime maximum. Mechanically everything feels fine but my 14-mile long run this week felt harder than it should have at that pace, so I think I'm a little fatigued. A major atmospheric river event is supposed to dump tons of rain on us starting Tuesday or Wednesday, but the forecast keeps changing and it may end up mostly missing us to the north. I won't mind taking a couple of really light days if it ends up pouring rain.

Happy holidays to all!

I finished 2025 with a 10.4-mile early morning run in 45 degree fog and drizzle-mist, which was really quite pleasant. Now for a quick year-end review.

This was by far my best running year since 2019. Odometer totals for the year were 2102 miles running, 1170 miles cycling (not counting indoor trainer), and 197 miles swimming. I didn't keep track between about 1995 and 2023, but I'm pretty sure that in my 50s I was normally getting more like 3000 running miles per year, with little or no swimming. Oh well.

I ran 14 races in 2025: three 5K, one 5 mile, four 10K, six half-marathon. That's a lot of races for me, but at age 67 I now have a sense that I'd better do it while I can! My best races were a 28:14 5K (71.8% age grade), a 58:16 10K (73.7%), and a 2:03:34 half-marathon (74.2%). All three 5Ks were huge events where I was hindered by slower runners, but the 10K and HM were run under good conditions and apparently represent the best I can do nowadays.

Happy New Year to all, and onward to next year!

Lifetime runner since mid 1970s. Still getting the mileage in, but it is some years since my legs actually felt fresh. Fresh legs used to be a great feeling, but nothing I do now seems to make them feel fresh. Still racing decent times, but every day is a slog on my legs, although aerobically everything feels good.

Is this to be expected?

I don't know how common this is. It isn't the way it worked for me. When I was young, and even up through my 50s, I always felt limited mostly by leg strength, not aerobic capacity. Then at age 61 I was floored by an inflammatory autoimmune condition followed by a bout with runner's dystonia. I couldn't run at all for three years. When I was able to resume running, I felt I had no aerobic capacity at all--I'd jog a block and have to stop and gasp for air. This was even though I hadn't gained weight and had been swimming and cycling regularly. I eventually regained the ability to run longish distances, but I never got anywhere close to my previous paces and I still always feel limited by my aerobic capacity, not my legs.

That's a great comeback year amkelley! Congrats on all of your running and hope that you keep the momentum going into 2026 and beyond.

Just a quick wrap up here, for my quarterly or so update. I closed out the year with 4000 km of running another 650 km of xc skiing. We moved halfway across the country last summer and still adapting to the new digs. Closed out the 2025 racing season with a 3:06 marathon, which wasn't quite the time I wanted but held on for a strong finish and solid age group placing.

Happy new year everyone! Great to see this thread carrying on and thanks to those here who are keeping it rolling.

Hey all, I haven't posted in a while. so a 2025 recap:

Wrapped up the year today with just over an eight mile run today in snowy 20 degree and breezy conditions. Calendar year total was 2315 miles with just a couple of lower mileage weeks during the couple weeks around the crunch time during moving (sold one big place and moved into a tiny place in a very short period). Jettisoned -donated- a ton of running related stuff, some dating back decades. Kept just a couple of things: a couple medals national championships - mostly team - and an award I received for my one and only marathon win and a few items from college).

No missed days again for the year - however there were several three mile jogs on the days preceding or following races or TTs.

The semi-rural roads at the new place are mostly unplowed and without any shoulders. So although the drivers are very courteous, I prudently (and sanely?) am stepping off in grass and brushy sides a lot. As a result, I am choosing my routes pretty carefully. And easy miles are pretty easy.

I just looked back and figured I ran 10 races and two Parkruns in 2025. None went exceptionally well, or at least met my goals, but at least three AG 78 or 79%. Weather conditions and the courses were not ideal for exceptionally fast times.

Most of 2026 will be probably a year long build year as I get ready to turn 70 and enter a new age division. I will likely enter a few low key races and maybe a couple national championships, but only if the team really needs a third or fourth person. I am not going to be a lot of help to the club team in the last year of the division and there are some pretty speedy guys. So my emphasis will be as it has been in the years before I turned 40, 50, and 60; to get strong healthy and hopefully as fit as I can be. And then gun it for a couple years.

I am just extremely grateful to be able to run daily.

I sincerely hope all here have a healthy, safe and enjoyable 2026.

As we "get up there" we never know when the final curtain will fall.

Those of you that have already posted this years final report had a pretty good year. My year was fairly good. I had a hip issue that only let me get 64 miles in for June and July together, 1738 miles for the year. But I was still able to do other training, so I topped last year in everything else I keep track of. 262 kilometers rowing, 95700 steps on the stair climber, 191 miles on the elliptical and other things. 4 marathons, 1 half and a 5k for my races. I was fortunate enough to get top 3 in age group in all of them, including one 60+ race. But not a lot of other runners over 70 in most of them. I also kept all the marathons under 4 hours.

Some of the marathons I hope to do fill up early, so I already signed up for 4 of them for 2026.

Stay healthy everyone, and keep up the good work.

My current running life equates to staying too long at the party. Not that I’m complaining - much. At 67, I am running. Does it matter how fast or how easy. Yes, it does.
Running long is now 10-13 miles on a Saturday cuz I live in the belt buckle of the Bible Belt. Four years ago, I BQ’d. No more. But I love me a 2+ hour run.
Easy runs are slow enough that the older people tell me sweetly how good I look, as they walk past me. Fast runners merely say “passing on your left, sir.”
Intervals are my jam, only now a good workout session is at the last single-digit per mile available. But, as I’ve done since the ‘70’s, I run the sessions to feel fast.
This New Year’s Day, I’ll run solo on a bike path devoid of those who tied one on, running 1.5-mile repeats as part of the base build. Also, cuz it’s fun to run in the cold quiet of the early morning.
Despite the challenged balance, the slow process of PTing my glutes, ankles, and adductors back to normalcy, I’ll run. There’s no time to wallow in what I miss. Lace ‘em up, get out door, go. Simplicity runs a long way. There’s another race just a couple of Saturdays away.
Happy New Year 2026.