50+ Masters Training and Racing Open Forum

SCgal wrote:

...It will be interesting to see if your plan works. I don't run Ms but get in lots more miles just training for 5-10ks than you have. Good luck in reaching your goal.

Thanks, SCgal. We'll see. My confidence would be much higher I had been logging more total miles. When I was racing 5Ks in my early 40s, I was running 40 miles a week. I was able to run a decent marathon (2:56) at the time, just by incorporating longer long runs for a couple months. With no real base now, I am a little nervous.

Congrats on the 2-mile race. Enjoy the XC race on Saturday!

My progress back from runner's knee continued with another week of modest improvement. 43 miles this week

M- 7 with 10 x :30 hard/:30 easy in the middle

T- 5 walk

W- 8 with 2mi w.u. 3 x hard mile/easy mile (hard miles 7:06 ave)

Th- 5 walk

F - 5 walk

S- 8 with 2 w.u. 5mi of "in and out" 1/2 miles, "ins" ~3:15s, "outs" ~3:45s - ave pace 7:05, 1 w.d.

Su- 5 walk

Got my 10 miles in today on the trail at about 9 min pace so I should be okay for next Sunday's Quad Cities Half. For week pretty basic

M-bike

T-4 miles

W-5 miles

th-5 miles

F-5 miles

Sat-bike

Have a good week all.

Week 276: 9 hours 47 minutes in 7 runs

Mon - 1 hr easy

Tue - 1 hr 30 min with 3x hill (16 min @10% grade)

Wed - 1 hr 1 min easy

Thu - 1 hr 30 min hilly

Fri - 1 hr 1 min slow, last run in Maine

Sat - 2 hr 30 min long run, in Mass.

Sun - 1 hr easy, in Ohio

Thursday was supposed to be 1 hr 15. No wonder I was so feeble on Friday! I misread my own schedule and only realized it today. I'll try to get it right next week. It feels good to be back running on relatively flat ground.

As expected not much to show for the week.

Mon. 6.2 km around beautiful Lacock. Finished with some strides and 2 x 1 min efforts on grass. Plenty of walking during the day.

Tue. 3.5 km easy run around Shrivenham at sunrise.

We returned Venus, our rental "Spaceship" van, our home forthe previous 6 weeks. We managed to rack up nearly 10 kms of walking around London in the afternoon.

Wed. An 8 km walk along the canals with my wife.

Thu. Up at 5 and off to Heathrow. In the air for 14 hours arriving in Singapore at 6 am Friday their time

Fri.Slept 2 hours at the hotel then out for a 5 km walk.

Sat. Only managed to get to sleep at 4.30 am and up at 6 am and off to Changi for the flight home. 8 hours in the air. Arrived at Melbourne's airport at 7.30 pm. Bro in law picked us up and we spent the night at his place.

Sun. Had a much needed 7 hours sleep.

Off to breakfast with my 2 daughters and my 2 granddaughters finally home in Heathcote at 2 pm. Couldn't muster the energy to go out for a run.

7 weeks away but the fitness is still ok. I weighed myself before running Snowden and surprisingly was 1.5 kg lighter than I had been prior to our trip.

Congrats on the mIleage, MikeF. You inspired me to give my lifetime miles a look... after today I'm sitting at 73715.3 over my 43 years of running. I was never a high mileage runner in my early days so its crazy to think that over half of those miles were run the last 14 years when I became serious again, at age 43, averaging about 2700 miles/year since 2003.

Well I've got to say, things are still going very well. From my log Saturday "Happy where I'm at these days. Probably about as fit as I'm going to be this year." Things seem to be coming together at the right time.

My week saw 63 miles and two solid workouts. Hit everything as prescribed.

M: 9.76 Miles in 1:13:40 [7:32 per mile] inc 10x30 sec avg 5:18 pace

T: am: 4.03 Miles in 31:54 [7:54 per mile]; pm: 4 Miles in 31:48 [7:57 per mile]

W: 9.83 Miles in 1:09:32 [7:04 per mile] including 3 miles in 19:33 then 5x600 VO2 max 159.5,159.4,159.9,159.1,158.4

T: 6.1 Miles in 48:18 [7:55 per mile]

F: 8.33 Miles in 1:03:04 [7:34 per mile]

S: 15 Miles in 1:47:01 [7:08 per mile] 5 miles easy then 8 miles in 53:04 (642,641,640,640,639,638,634,625.6) then 8x20 sec avg 5:18 pace

S: 6.07 Miles in 47:52 [7:53 per mile]

This week I have 59 miles and my last workout before Syracuse...3.5 tempo followed by 5x600 on Wed....strides on Mon/Fri.

Have a good week!

Dave

M: swimming 1000m.

T: 7 miles.

W: 7 miles.

R: 5 miles.

F: 3 miles.

SA: off.

SU: Half marathon 1:40:58 (2nd AG)

I don't know what to make of this half marathon. My time was about 2 min slower than last year. But I beat everyone I was supposed to beat (by larger margins than I did last year) and a few I was not supposed to beat. This race was doubling as the RRCA state championships, and the winner of my AG is an out of town guy I had never raced against. So I have no idea whether this is someone I am supposed to beat. My OA (13th) was higher than last year.

Then I checked the Weatherunderground site to see what the weather was like last year. The temperature was similar, but the humidity was much lower last year. So that may explain the slower time.

One thing that made it hard this time was that I was running most of the race "alone" after 3km. I think I passed six people for the rest of the course, so it's not like I did not have any "target" in front of me. But every time I passed a runner, no one could stay with me. I was still chasing the runner in front of me (the winner of 45-49) in the last 3km, who ended up finishing 25 sec in front of me.

Anyway, it does not look likely that I can run 3:20 in 11 weeks. I mean, that's faster than today's pace!

RF Reader wrote:

Anyway, it does not look likely that I can run 3:20 in 11 weeks. I mean, that's faster than today's pace!

Well, maybe on a cooler, less humid day ... with a group running 3:20 pace... There's still 11 weeks of prep ahead, and you have today's effort in the bank now, too. In any case, congratulations on the AG and overall finish places. Impressive!

Almost a total write off for me this past week.

Monday 5 miles easy with some tightness/soreness in my right calf about midway through the run. It felt like it would ease up and I kept going.

Tuesday after about 1/4 mile I had to stop to stretch the calf. I started going again and got about 100 yards before the entire calf cramped into a tight ball hard as steel. Walked back to work.

Sunday morning I jogged 1.5 miles and could feel the calf muscle almost the entire time. Stopped before it seized again and walked home.

Feels like it's the soleus in the right calf. Yesterday's jog felt like maybe it's starting to get better but also that I could wreck it completely if I pushed. Supposed to be running the Columbus Half on 10/16 and I really have no close what to do now. Take the rest of the week off and try again next Monday? Rest until this Thursday and try a short jog then if during the day there's no tightness or discomfort?

I'm resting, icing, compressing (a little) and elevating periodically. Taking ibuprofen. And feeling very down about the entire thing--had been building nicely and it came after a down week, albeit one with my third long run in as many weekends.

Safe and happy running to all!

AndyB

RF Reader wrote:

I don't know what to make of this half marathon. ...

Anyway, it does not look likely that I can run 3:20 in 11 weeks. I mean, that's faster than today's pace!

Agreed not likely, but if the stars align it might happen. Your "mini taper" was not good enough for you to run well in the half.

Taper better for the full and you will be close.

Hey thanks. Some pretty sound advice. Things that we all know but need to be reminded of every once in awhile.

Allen1959 wrote:

RF Reader wrote:

Anyway, it does not look likely that I can run 3:20 in 11 weeks. I mean, that's faster than today's pace!

Well, maybe on a cooler, less humid day ... with a group running 3:20 pace... There's still 11 weeks of prep ahead, and you have today's effort in the bank now, too. In any case, congratulations on the AG and overall finish places. Impressive!

Well, this was a club race with mostly local people. So winning AG awards is easier. The downside of a small field is that it can really spread out, and I often find myself in isolation like I did this year.

And I was wrong about the winner of my AG. (I looked up his name in Athlink.) We did race in a marathon back in April, and he beat me... by 11 minutes. Two years ago, he beat me by 20 minutes in another marathon and won the Grand Masters title. So losing to him by 2 min wasn't too bad, I suppose.

@ Alan: Thanks for the link. I know how I am supposed to taper. I have also run better half marathons with even less tapering. I guess I need more tapering as I get older.

One thing that makes a 3:20 attempt harder is that there is no pace group. Those pace groups are based on BQ, and there is currently no age group that qualifies with 3:20. That also means fewer people are trying to run 3:20, compared to both 3:15 and 3:25.

Negative split. Hang with the 3:25 group for the first half, then take off.

Here's a video you might enjoy watching. I can't imagine being able to run this race but I understand what is in his heart. http://running.competitor.com/2016/09/video/video-72-year-old-unforgettable-finish-western-states-100_155368

Hoser, eh wrote:

Monday 5 miles easy with some tightness/soreness in my right calf about midway through the run. It felt like it would ease up and I kept going.

Tuesday after about 1/4 mile I had to stop to stretch the calf. I started going again and got about 100 yards before the entire calf cramped into a tight ball hard as steel. Walked back to work.

Sunday morning I jogged 1.5 miles and could feel the calf muscle almost the entire time. Stopped before it seized again and walked ...

Travel always does it to my calves, more on the left but often enough on the right. People have a lot of theories like dehydration or electrolytes. I don't think that's it, but I haven't figured out what is it. I just run super easy until the calf feels normal again, at least a few days.

Sorry about your father.

Just paid my money for The Ghost Of Seattle Marathon on Nov 26. Guess now I have to do it. Hoping for a BQ of 3:30.

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Week 277

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Greetings, 50+ers! A lot of good stuff last week by you all. Unfortunately, this week of mine was shot to hell. Started Sunday OK, with a nice, easy 5-miler (7:55 pace), but I knew that Monday through Wednesday were going to be rough because of some work stuff. So I was planning on at least running to and from work with a heavy backpack to get something. That worked Monday (another 2.5 miles). But all plans were scuttled when my wife was able to snag a floor-sander on short order and they could start sanding Wednesday, meaning I had to move all the furniture out of the living room, dining room and one of the bedrooms, by Tuesday. Got a guy to help me, but still.... Adding insult to injury, I cracked a tooth Tuesday evening. I tried to go to the UK College of Dentistry Clinic (the have a walk-in clinic staffed with some supervised soon-to-graduate dental students), but wouldn't you know, they would be closed just for that one day. I was finally able to get in Friday morning (too much teaching Thursday), and they ultimately would have to pull the cracked molar. Apparently, they've never seen such dense bone because the students had to call in the resident, then the resident had to call in the attending oral surgeon just to pull it....took them 1-1/2 hours to get it out! With all this going on, and temperatures still reaching 90 degrees each day (aren't we into Fall now?), I've just not been in the mood to run. The only saving grace is that I did walk about 6 miles on Wednesday and 4.5 miles on Thursday along with another 3 Saturday.

That's my saga for the week. Next week will surely be better, although we're also supposed to be having carpeting installed in two other rooms this coming Friday, and my wife is talking to a guy about redoing her bathroom.....I'm losing my enthusiasm for home remodeling! I'm guessing that the kitchen will be next, knock on wood that won't be for a while. Hope y'all are in a good place. Whatcha got?

All the Best!

Mon. 3 x roo hill. About 3.3 km total and 230 m etres elevation in 32 mins.

A rusty 30 min session in the kayak. First for 7 weeks. Good news is the lake is full. 7 weeks previously when we left Australia it was at 20 %. Plenty of rain while we were away.

Tue. 3 x roo hill again.

A rusty 40 min spin on the mt bike into work. Yep it has been 7 weeks since my last ride too. A brisk 15 min ride back to the car in the dark after work.

Wed. 12 km and 750 metres of elevation gain in 2 hours slogging around my trails.

Thu. 40 min kayak session.

Fri. 1 hour mtb ride on forest trails.

Sat. Started the long slog of getting my acre of overgrown lawn mowed.

Evening run on railtrail. 8.6 kms. of 1 min on 1 min off x 17.

Sun. Long run. 20 kms and 1050 metres of elevation gain with 3 good tough climbs in 2 h 25 m.

Quite pleased with the first week back home.

Mon. 3 x roo hill. About 3.3 km total and 230 m etres elevation in 32 mins.

A rusty 30 min session in the kayak. First for 7 weeks. Good news is the lake is full. 7 weeks previously when we left Australia it was at 20 %. Plenty of rain while we were away.

Tue. 3 x roo hill again.

A rusty 40 min spin on the mt bike into work. Yep it has been 7 weeks since my last ride too. A brisk 15 min ride back to the car in the dark after work.

Wed. 12 km and 750 metres of elevation gain in 2 hours slogging around my trails.

Thu. 40 min kayak session.

Fri. 1 hour mtb ride on forest trails.

Sat. Started the long slog of getting my acre of overgrown lawn mowed.

Evening run on railtrail. 8.6 kms. of 1 min on 1 min off x 17.

Sun. Long run. 20 kms and 1050 metres of elevation gain with 3 good tough climbs in 2 h 25 m.

Quite pleased with the first week back home.