50+ Masters Training and Racing Open Forum

Skuj wrote:

Hey Vic, is it just me or are you doing more running than before? 3hrs for you last week, well done. (6 days x 30min = 3hrs, and that would be a decent week for me too.)

Well, just taking advantage of the bright sunny days, even though it's piercing cold in the wee early hrs when I have no choice (but that's my choice) to ensure the news is delivered.

I was inspired by this thread and by Desert Rat's post to me, and to see Dick Beardsley's out there again, unbelievable.

Keep swingin'

Thanks lucKY2b. Appreciate the input. In retrospect I should have just not gone back, I was pretty ill catching this bug from my nephews bounce house bug infested party. Ha ha. There was just no way I could get my strength back in time. But... I wanted to see the action so I went. Given the choice, I'd not run big city event like that again and would have opted for CIM instead. A lot of bumping around and noise. Saw two guys go down hard and said hey, just get across the finish line in one piece and live to marathon another day. I was full of confidence as my training looks so solid. 23 MP run 5 weeks out, 17 MP run 3 weeks out, all the t's crossed and i's dotted. Bottom line, you get your immune system very compromised in marathon training, I road the rail too long. I was ready a month beforehand, my usual MO for big races.

Don't know how d-3 runner got there, I am Desert Rat, so sorry man....

Sorry again, it's Desert Rat, how D-3 came up I haven't a clue....

OK. Done.

50s embargo wrote:

Would someone explain what's going on?

This was once an island of sanity in the festering maw that is letsrun. Now the 50 thread is among the worst.

In the words of Mick Jagger at the ill-fated Altamont concert made famous in "Gimme Shelter," who's fighting and what for?

I don't know, I just run here..I wouldn't say this thread is among the worst but having just see you post this I will now post every day what I run, or not run just to keep the purpose here legit.

Victoria, B.C., Canada, Runner wrote:

I don't know, I just run here..I wouldn't say this thread is among the worst but having just see you post this I will now post every day what I run, or not run just to keep the purpose here legit.

This is beautiful, and, Vic, I'm going to start doing exactly the same thing vice a weekly report, for exactly the same reasons as you stated.

My run today = 20min jog + 5 strides + 37sec hard + 12min jog. The 37sec felt surprisingly fast. I am enjoying "sprint Mondays" for now. :)

Great reports guys! I had another 90+ mile week and the titanium knees are feeling good! Getting stronger all the time and that is very encouraging! My good buddy Rob Reid from Victoria, BC spent a few days with my wife Jilly and I and had wonderful time. We also got in a few training runs together! I still get up at 4am every morning (must be from my dairy farming days) which was a little early for Rob but we compromised and started our runs around 5:30. Rob is getting back in good shape and was kind to me on our faster runs! Heading off to Huntsville, Alabama Thursday to speak at the Rocket City Marathon, if some of you 50+ folks are there I'd love to meet you! Take care all and have a great week of training! :-)

Yesterday went out for an easy 90min trot through the McIvor Ranges,steep and rough. Afternoon spin with my wife then off for 25kms rugged climbing on the mtn bike.Finished the day with 6kms of kyakking on the lake.

Today just a solid 26kms of forest riding.

rlb wrote:Even though I've seen my initials on here, I actually haven't posted for quite some time. That's pretty bad if you exist just to troll a 50+ site.

L2B- Your thought about running with another club...if it is the club I'm thinking of, you'd have a bunch of good/ nice guys to race with. Just continue to get well.

Thanks for bringing us up to date rlb, hope your recovery goes well. Being injured certainly sucks. We don't really have a USATF club (we're an RRCA club) and we threw one together just for club XC when it was here in Lex. a few years back, so I wouldn't *really* be switching clubs, just joining one, but thanks for the props to them.

I guess that I had unwittingly sent information that I know to our "guest." So be it. Like others, I'll no longer hide behind the thin veil of anonymity. I like this thread too much to allow this piss-ant to ruin what should be a joyous thing.

To put it in perspective, here are situations I've personally dealt with in the past two months:

*I've had a student's wife lose her baby in the 8th month of pregnancy on Thanksgiving Day.

*I've had a student who'd missed a few lectures come to my office sobbing with cut marks up and down her legs....she'd been raped. She's withdrawing from school.

*I've had a friend of a student email on behalf of the parents of one of my students wanting to make sure that we weren't wondering why her daughter wasn't in class anymore. She'd been killed by a drunk driver.

*I've had the parent of a close friend die suddenly, and unexpectedly.

*The wife of my mom and dad's best friend succumbed to inoperable brain cancer.

*and finally, I've had our aunt finally give up her valient fight against complications associated with colon cancer.

Life can be brutal, and so I maintain my handle lucKY2b, and I mean it most sincerely. So if this pathetic excuse for a human being has nothing better to do than to try to ruin something this good and decent, I really can't control it. It just saddens me that someone could be so shallow.

I guess that in my rush to post my previous message before I went off to administer an exam, I somehow omitted my main point, which is that in the big scheme of things, given all the joys and sorrows that we witness in our daily lives, the events and relationships we experience first-hand, those personal connections that make us truly human, this thread just isn't *that* important, but still.......

OK. Hope everyone is having a great week. I've actually run 4 miles each of the last two days, and the foot is feeling pretty good (I even picked up the pace for a sustained sub 5:30 effort a few times.) So I think the problem is probably muscular, but I'll keep the mileage low until it stops giving me discomfort after my runs.

Keep it real!

Good to see you back posting DR, bummer that you got sick just before NYCM. Same happened to me before Boston for my 50th. I missed the better part of 2 months of training right before the race, but because it was Boston and because it was my 50th birthday run, and because I had hotel, plane fights,... I showed up anyway and set my slowest lifetime marathon PR. Fortunately, no injury. (For me, it was worth it.)Things to think about before another race 10 weeks out. Pick a race with easy and inexpensive logistics so that if you decide to bail, it's not a big deal financially and logistically. Put you mind and emotions in that state - it's OK to cancel. See how your training goes - by feel I mean. If you still are recovering for your hard workouts and get through them with reasonable energy, if you're not getting any orthopedic problems - Go For It!I relay my Boston story above because I think your biggest concern is letting stubborness get in the way of objectiivity about your health. As you note, you will need to come down from marathon training - when? Do listen to your body, it is telling you if you have 10 weeks more training and 1 more race. However, a 50+ marathoner HAS TO HAVE a bit of stubborn stick-to-it-ness in his/her pysche. Just allow the internal physical triggers get their proper say in your decision making process. I can very much understand that you don't want all your training to go "down the drain" with your feelings about a poor race performance. It would be worse to add an injury to those feelings.Best of Luck!!!

Desert Rat wrote:

Okay sorry I haven't posted is some time, traveling and way too many holiday family events. NY was not what I was looking for. I am wondering if it's insane to try and regroup for another effort 10 weeks post the ING, any thoughts. I do need a break pretty soon from all the volume and definitely looking forward to some short speedy stuff as I've lost some leg speed with the marathon training. BTW unbelievable to see Dick cranking out 93 mile weeks, still a stud all the way man...

Dick,It's fantastic to read your continued great reports. You CONTINUE to be an inspiration. I like others, am a big fan. I've heard you speak a couple times, after the first it inspired me to read Duel in the Sun. Knowing your life story and amazing comebacks from adversity with such a continued positive attitude is something I latch on to to keep me going...One of my most tresured artifacts is a race bib from the 2007 B of A marathon in Tampa - that was my 50 year old Boston qualifier after a long marathon layoff and signed by you and Bill Rodgers!My wife had a total knee replacement 2.5 years ago, we are in awe of what you are doing.Best of Luck for Boston 2012 !!! Pls keep posting.

Dick Beardsley wrote:

Great reports guys! I had another 90+ mile week and the titanium knees are feeling good! Take care all and have a great week of training! :-)

Skuj wrote:

Victoria, B.C., Canada, Runner wrote:

I don't know, I just run here..I wouldn't say this thread is among the worst but having just see you post this I will now post every day what I run, or not run just to keep the purpose here legit.

This is beautiful, and, Vic, I'm going to start doing exactly the same thing vice a weekly report, for exactly the same reasons as you stated.

My run today = 20min jog + 5 strides + 37sec hard + 12min jog. The 37sec felt surprisingly fast. I am enjoying "sprint Mondays" for now. :)

Very sage advice. I will listen to my body very closely the next few weeks. I am back at normal training levels sans any formal speedwork. Got two tempos in the midst of some LR's so that went pretty well. I think I'll take one whole week now of easy LSD running to see if I can get some pop back in the legs. Probably 6 x 100 two days a week to help that along. Thanks all for your input. Train well this week everyone.

Today: 20 1/2 min., short little burn, off to appt.

50 Year old ultramarathoner Don Demetriades has run sub 2:50 all his life.

Here's a video interview with Don Demetriades on his training and racing as a masters 50+

http://kkeller.posterous.com/dons-dream-season

Very sage advice. Comments worth reading a few times to let the message sink in. Thanks over50.

abashed wrote:50 Year old ultramarathoner Don Demetriades has run sub 2:50 all his life.

Here's a video interview with Don Demetriades on his training and racing as a masters 50+

http://kkeller.posterous.com/dons-dream-season

Thanks for the link, interesting stuff. Props to Don D. (maybe you? or your good friend?) for a nice body of work. There's no question he's doing something right.