50+ Masters Training and Racing Open Forum

amkelley, I am currently in your shoes. Had problems with the right Achilles four years ago which was efficiently cleared up with a few weeks of Graston therapy. Now it's the left one and this has been tougher to cure.

Most of the ideas presented here have been good ones (the obvious exception being the guy who said his foot bones had compacted -- LOL). I'm again getting Graston therapy, but the Achilles has responded slowly. Slow running of late has been therapeutic whereas early on it was problematic. I'm only doing a couple of miles, but there has been progress.

I will say there is a lot of positive talk regarding eccentric heel drops, but they have been a sore spot of late for me. Perhaps I was overdoing it, but I had some calf soreness which I attributed to them. I do think they have value, but I'm avoiding them for now.

Best of luck.

I'll second this. I am following MAF training this winter for the most part and have slowed from 7:45-8:00 to 10-10:30 (for flat miles) and have immediately been able to more than double my miles while minor aches and pains melt away. I feel invigorated rather than tired afterwards. Basically you want to use only pure aerobic, fat-burning physiology in order not to trigger an inflammatory response. I remember when Richard Burns was posting his training here about the time he set the M55 1500 AR. He was jogging 9-10 min miles when not doing his (rather moderate). Inflammation is the killer for masters runners, anything you do to suppress it (Nolan Shaheed did intermittent fasting) and encourage recovery will at least stave off decline.

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Week 281

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Greetings, 50+ers! Whew, all this talk about diet and Achilles. Not great on the former (though not awful, either), not what's holding me back on the latter. My issues are still in the hips (tightness especially in the right piriformis area) and arthritic toes. Also the right IT has been really bugging me the last couple weeks (from when I'd put away the foam roller during home repair.) I'm still maintenance running more so than training, but I did actually run a race this weekend. The short 21-mile week looks as such:

Sun: Off

Mon: 4.2 mostly easy (7:46 avg. pace)

Tues: 4.4 w/2x(400,800) 91s,3:06,90s,3:06

Wed: 4.3 easy (8:04 pace)

Thur: 4.3 commute runs (1.2&3.1), both with backpack (7:50 pace)

Fri: Off

Sat: 4 w/5K in 19:55 (6:09,6:26,6:33,0:47)

Tuesday's track workout was another bust. Did 2x(400, 200 jog, 800, 400 jog), but should have done 4 of those. Believe it or not, it was 86 degrees on Tuesday.....in mid October! At any rate, I was burning up after 2 sets and shut it down.

Cooled down by Friday, so the race Saturday out at the Kentucky Horse Park was 42 degrees at the start; ideal for racing! Race was done in a strange way. He had all the slower runners take off first, and then 13 minutes later, the "fast" runners (those who thought they could run 20-minutes or faster) would take off. The race director's idea was to try to let those in the back of the pack experience the lead runners, since they never get to see the lead runners. I don't know whether that really is what transpired....just felt like we were zipping past a bunch of walker/joggers. But any rate, on to the race. Start was a little down hill, so everyone (fast group) took off blazing down the start. But as soon as it got flat, I quickly dialed it back and settled in. The whole race I kept doubting myself and wondered when the bottom would drop out. In my mind, I knew that I hadn't done the tempo work to be able to run sustained efforts, and I've struggled getting over 2-miles of quality work in all summer, so I wasn't confidant I could hold up. Point is that I settled into a pace that I felt certain I could finish without blowing up. I actually held position from the 1000m mark through the midway point by the Show-jumping Stadium and even kept it going as we passed through one of the horse barns (that was kinda cool) with about 1000m to go. But when we got in the final J-hook back where the race started, I was flagging. A 56-yo guy that I'd beaten by 10s in the spring caught me w/around 800m to go and I had no answer. He finished 14s ahead of me for the grandmaster win; I was second GM. Kevin Castille came back to Lexington to claim first prize in 15:05, while British pro runner Tina Muir won the women's race in 17:07. For as small of a local race as this was (300 finishers) it was pretty fast, with the tenth guy finishing in 17:07 and the fourth woman was in 18:43.

OK, that's my report for the week. Need to get some more tempos in and get these niggles ironed out. Hope you've had a good week! Any more fall races to report?

All the Best!

sounds like a fun race. novel [to me] approach from the RD about how to enable slower runners to see the leaders -- agree that it's always fun to do so, but much more commonly achieved by including a couple turnarounds on the course..

very bad week for me as it pertains to marathon training -- 11 miles Monday with 6 X 90 seconds (60 recovery) hill repeats, followed by having to acknowledge that my right shin was getting a lot more painful and now hurt a bit just walking around.

rest of week just cross-training 1:12 to 1:44 per day stationary bike/elliptical/stairmaster mix. Plan to try brief test jog today. not so good 3 weeks out from race. Sigh.

better week in relation to getting inspired rather than getting frustrated and giving up. I bought Pete Magill's book The Born Again Runner and devoured it in a day or two. combines detailed advice for new [or returning after layoff] runners with stories of those [incl. Pete] who have used running as a key part of recovering from setbacks in personal life or health or both. Very highly recommended -- I gave it 5 stars on goodreads.com

have a great week,

Dave

Dave, thanks for the book recommendation! I've been struggling a bit with career stuff--layoffs back in May have left me partially employed--so Pete M's book might be a good one for me. Over the summer, putting my energy into a marathon this fall was a positive utlet and something to keep me feeling okay about myself. Moving forward, I'd like to keep a good life/work balance that includes running.

Three weeks out from my marathon, first week of consistent running. Probably too many hard runs but I kept them short.

Monday: 5.4 miles at 7:45 pace on trails.

Tuesday: 6.5 miles at 8:00 pace

Weds: Off

Thursday: 5.5 miles at 7:35 pace with some striders

Friday: Off

Sat: 4.5 miles at 7:25 pace with 1 mile at 6:30. Hurt so good!

Sunday: Planning on 6.5 miles easy.

Hope you all are getting the kind of glorious autumn weather we're seeing on Colorado's Front Range!

@lucKY2b Good racing. My hips seem to my downfall, perhaps my diet too. Oh well.

My week. Still experience issues with the top part of the left foot at the ankle joint. Also finishing up yard projects prior to winter.

Monday: Off, tired from weekend projects

Tuesday: 3 miles easy

Wednesday: Planned to run tempo 5k, foot bothering me jogged 2 miles

Thursday: 3.25 walk

Friday: 1 miles easy

Saturday: 6 mile trail run in foothills

Sunday: Off

Igy

61 years old

Running since 1977

cancer

colectomy

6 epidurals

2 knee surgeries

Mon: 6.2 miles

Tues: 6.2 Miles -strides

Wed: 5.1 -2.6 mi tempo in 19:46..last upgrade mile 7:41

Thur: 4 Miles

Friday: a.m. 7.1 miles

p.m. 3.1 miles

Sat: 1 Mile-100 pushups

Sun: 10.3 Miles 1:32.24

Felt good except having some problems..I think either with recurrent colon problems or with adhesions from the original surgery.

Hockey team doing bad which is adding stress, so, it could be that too.

Signed up for another 10k for February..One in Paradise Valley that rodgers and Shorter once ran.

Heck, I remember a little race neat Ft. Wayne Indiana ...Buck Creek 5 miler once where BOTH Shorter and Rodgers made an appearance.

I can remember Shorter taking off his bib and laying it on a lamppost and booked and my buddy grabbed it.

Rodgers stayed around the whole time and sat on the edge of this stage.

I was shy and was hesitant to walk up and shake his hand.

Three of us were the only ones left in the room and Rodgers sensing that I may work up the courage to approach him, patiently waiting for me to work up the courage which I eventually did.

Nice guy.

Oh well, just an old story from a dying career..ha

A little bit of a mixed bag this week.

Got in a strong 8 miler averaging 8:15. Couple of brief stops.

Highlight of the week was 3x1 mile ~7:45 then 5x800 at 7:05 pace.

Rested about 3 minutes; didn't really keep track. Felt awesome.

Next day not so awesome. Couple of drag-a$$ 4 milers on each side of my better runs.

Didn't run Saturday because I spent 7 hours putting in can lights in the third bedroom. Been awhile since I did that and managed to cut off power to the front half of the house; I knew it wasn't a half-day job.

Ken

another 40 mile week...need a nap ;)

train don't strain,

MF

Second week of post-marathon recovery ... complicated by re-injuring my back.

Monday: off

Tuesday: 4.6 miles @ 8:04/mi

Wednesday: off

Thursday: 4.6 miles @ 7:24/mi

Friday: off

Saturday: 5.0 miles @ 7:51/mi

Sunday: bike 32 miles @ 18.6 mph

RE: nutrition. We grow our own fruits, veggies and herbs organically, and our free-range chickens provide us plenty of eggs. We buy local grass-fed beef, and make our own yogurt with organic milk. My wife enjoys cooking, and makes fantastic meals from all fresh ingredients.

So, WHY did I grab three meals from McDonald's last week ... and also ate a box of donuts. And a carton of chocolate ice-cream. I am weak ... so weak!

Mon. 40 min kayak session on the river.

Tue. 1 hr 45 min mtn bike ride inc 3 x up the rugged Range Track fastest in 9.39 just off my K.O.M. time of 9.36 (rocky 1.7 km with 90 metre elevation). The last rep done in a very chilly hailstorm. I do wish somebody would tell those in charge of our weather that it is Spring.

Wed. 7 km run with 360metres of elevation gain on rugged trails, 1 hour. Pretty easy run despite the steepness.

Thu. 7 km run. 4 x hard effort up Roo Hill 5.39, 5.47, 5.34 and last one in 5.31. Previous fastest for this 550 metre /77 metre elevation scrambly climb was 5.41. Easy trot back down after each. I had planned 5 but was shot after the 4th. so just trotted up the 5th in 6.50 then ran the descent at a good pace.

All up 400 metres of elevation gainand 1 hr 2 min.

Fri. 40 min kayak session on the lake.

Sat. 5 km solo run on my favourite club racing loop in Mandurang, 23.30. 86 metres of elevation gain.

The trail loop is 4.7 km so on race days we run 150 metres across the sports oval at the start and finish. There was a cricket match in play so the extra 300 metres was run uphill. My best race time since 2012 is 22.15 so I was pleased with 23.30 running solo and using the first km as a warmup and with the extra bit of hill climbing.

Sun. 15 km 1 hr 31 min run, 400 metres of elevation gain. Running with my much more talented buddy Greg who will most likely collect the over 50 crown at 4 Peaks yet again. He is also a multiple overall winner. He is in great shape at the moment although only running 3 days per week. His normal sunday run is a steep 21 km on my old favourite trails down in Melbourne. My other buddy Gary (about my abiliy) starts with him but only does 18 kms. Greg usually catches him!

It was a solid hit oout and Greg put a minute into me up Pianta's Hill (1.5 km and 150 metres of elevation gain) but otherwise we stuck close, although Greg was doing most of the talking. At 13 km I had a tumble and landed on top of my hand awkwardly also gashed my knee. I ended up hitching a ride into Bendigo and spent an hour in ED getting xrayed and having the knee steri stripped and glued. Helps to be on staff as I got the fast track treatment through E.D.

I managed a pleasant 3 km post E.D walk up to my wife's hospital so she could give me a lift home.

Today the knee feels fine so it won't be an issue at 4 Peaks next week. The hand isn't working at all. Badly bruised and swollen but clear of any obvioos breaks. No kayak or mountain bike the next few days. Hoping the doc will give me a few days off work as my job requires lots of manual handling.

Apart from the fall a good week.

I have been feverishly attacking our acre of gardens and lawn. 7 weeks of record rain while we were in the UK and then continual spring rains since have it very wild. I have been getting plenty of alternative x training, weeding, pushing barrows, digging, brush cutting, mowing, sawing etc.

This week will be just a cruisy week of walking the hills and a short run or two. I made try the outdoor elliptical as xt. I reckon I can wrap my right hand around and not cause too much discomfort.

Solid week for me

Mon 4 miles easy

Tues 10 miles easy

Wed 5 miles easy

Thursday 3 x 2 mile @ 7:30

Friday off

Saturday 10 miles MP 8:00

Sunday 20 miles

Total 55 miles

I think I may have over cooked it a bit at the end of the week. The 20 was a little rough. Not sure If I'm good enough for the 3x2, 10 pace, and 20 miler all in the same week.

lucKY2b wrote:

He had all the slower runners take off first, and then 13 minutes later, the "fast" runners (those who thought they could run 20-minutes or faster) would take off. The race director's idea was to try to let those in the back of the pack experience the lead runners, since they never get to see the lead runners. I don't know whether that really is what transpired....just felt like we were zipping past a bunch of walker/joggers.

Maybe I am particularly bad at dodging people, but situations like this always scare me. Most walkers are reasonable, but there are always a few who refuse to pay attention to traffic, and cause major safety concerns. I used to run on the indoor track of my gym, but after being body slammed so many times, and knocked down on the floor a few times by walkers, I decided to move to a treadmill.

My week.

M: off.

T: 7 miles.

W: 11 miles. (8th-10th miles @ 7:30)

R: 7 miles.

F: 7 miles.

SA: 7 miles.

SU: 16.7 miles.

Last Monday was the first "off" day in 8 weeks. (I was either running or swimming for 55 straight days.) I followed that with a cut-back week. It is till warm out here, but not to the unbearable degree.

From the guy with "compacted" feet:

http://patient.info/health/ageing-feet

Igy

Had another pretty good week with 72.5 miles. The log says I avg'd 7:28 pace for the week. One workout on Thursday, a 15 miler with an 8 mile tempo in 51:31

(6:35,6:31,6:29,6:29,6:26,6:26,6:27,6:08) and then 8x20 sec strides. Mondays 10 also had 10x30 sec strides. Other than that just steady running. I did it the hard way though as I only had 2 easy miles on Wed; just didn't feel like running.

With Indianapolis Monumental HM 2 weeks out, I'm going to start backing down a bit after three strong weeks in the 70's. And I'm just starting to feel a stinking cold coming on so I'm hoping to shake thing this pretty quickly.

Saddend to hear of the passing of David Cannon (Club Northwest) tonite. I didn't know him well but I did have two of my most memorable races, ever, against him; 2010 and again in 2011 at the 5k Champs in Syracuse. What a competitor! He (and John Tuttle) blitzed me the last 800 of the race. We went 16:05 & 16:07 in a race I'll never forget. The next year he killed me again the last 400. He went 16:14 for what I believe is still the single age record for 55 year olds. In addition to the roads, he was a stud 800/miler on the track. RIP David...

Dave

Dave, where did you hear about Dave Cannon's passing, and under what circumstances? I am a year older than him, and lined up next to him in his first masters race almost 15 years ago, a collegiate indoor mile. My first thought was "Who is this guy running a mile in trainers". Needless to say, I got a good view of his back that day. A real tough competitor.

Ye Olde 800 wrote:

Dave, where did you hear about Dave Cannon's passing, and under what circumstances?

He journaled his last 6 weeks at caringbridge.org. Pancreatic cancer diagnosed Sept 6. The journal is a heartbreaking story...

Dave

lnbc, we lived in Indiana many years ago, (from '81 through '84), so seeing mention of the Buck Creek 5 miler is a shot to the memory banks. Not certain if we even ran it, but had a good reputation.

Mo'pak, sorry to read about your fall, seems ironic in a way: "How did you hurt your hand?" "I hurt it on my run"

Spent last Sunday scooping up leaves and black walnuts, now I am covered in Oak Mite bites. Still itching.

Ran the same 5k as last year where I PR'd 22:08. Weather was 57' with no wind. Pretty much perfect.

Course is relatively flat with 4 rolling hills; 2 right at the midpoint.

My goal for the year was to break 21:00, but after my 22:30 on a tough course two weeks ago I'm pretty sure I can't break 21:00, so my target is 21:45.

Ran 6:54, 7:00, 7:03, + for 21:28. PR by 40 seconds.

Was at threshold at 1.4 miles and struggled to manage myself for the remainder. I really need to go out more under control.

Overall pleased with the result.

My wife went out in 6:59 secretly determined to beat me, but needed to ratchet it back. She still finished in 22:23 for her own PR, so despite the new trend where I am beating her, she was happy with the PR.