50+ Masters Training and Racing Open Forum

I read the David Cannon last six weeks blog. Sad for David and close family/friends that have to move on. Fortunate to be healthy and have that connection with family and friends.

Top of left foot giving me fits. At age 66 I imagine it will take a couple months to sort out.

Monday: 2 miles walk/easy run

Tuesday: 3.25 miles walk

Wednesday: Mile easy; 4 x 800m tempo @ 4:02, 3:54, 3:54, 3:43 / 2:00 rest; mile easy

Thursday: 3.25 miles wAlk

Friday: 2 miles walk/easy

Saturday: 5 miles easy

Sunday: Off

Igy

muddygirl - sounds like quite an ordeal, hopefully, you'll soon be faster than ever!

I'm also shocked and saddened to learn about Dave Cannon passing. Having been able to hang out with him after some of our races, I'd known him as a smart and good guy.

I was about a year and a half older, so we spent a good amount of time in the same AG. We had some close and some not so close races. He was a fearless racer, and pulled off one of most impressive wins I've seen in my AG at the 2007 Saratoga Spgs 5k XC nationals, leaving a good field of guys in the dust, breaking 16 ( 15:58 ) on a tough course. I'd gone into it, hoping to break 16:30. I ended up in mid 16:40's.

Makes the issues we struggle with to still run, a little easier to deal with at times.

Best to all,

Rich.

Good to hear that you are on the glide path to recovery MG, and assume you will go out for another round of Club XC?

Also sorry to hear about the passing of Dave Cannon, never met but we exchanged some emails several years back because of his association with masters running at USATF, and I had some questions. That form of cancer has taken several of my runner friends at about the same age, and they were also excellent masters runners. Condolences to his family, friends, and associates.

My own comeback from the repair surgery in August is progressing. Going from 0 mpw in August and Sept, have done 3.5, 10, 15, and 23 in successive weeks (all on the treadmill per doctor's orders), now at 5 days a week and gradually bringing down the pace. Club XC is out because running a hard 10K with 400-500 gray haired crazy mofos sounds a bit risky if I fall. But for now just glad to be back running and looking forward to next year.

Moved to new habitat in Denver-Boulder area this month, and will come up with a screen name reflecting that, once I'm more or less done with the recovery (hopefully within the next couple weeks) and get the doctor's approval to run outside again.

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Week 282

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Happy Halloween, 50+ers! We've reached the end of October and it's still hitting 80 degrees! Wacky fall weather, for sure. Glad to reach 33+ miles on 6 days of running, though it was with some strange running patterns, including many short runs and some with backpack. Log reads as such:

Sun: 5.0 easy (7:49 pace)

Mon: off

Tues: 5.4 Intervals 4x(1000, 1 lap jog rec.) 3:57,3:57,3:51, 3:51

Wed: 5.6 on three separate legs (3.0,1.3,1.3) easy (7:50-8:20 pace)

Thur: 8.0 on three separate legs (1.2,3.0,3.8) all with backpack, (7:40-8:15 pace)

Fri: 4.1 w/middle two fairly hard (6:54,6:23)

Sat: 5.2 easy-to-moderate (7:33 pace for the last 4.2)

Tuesday's track workout was better than recent outings. Wed. and Thur. I was getting in miles wherever I could, so I'd run to get the car from the repair shop, run back to work, run home from work, run between campuses....it was a mess. Threw in a couple hard miles on Friday to feel like I'd done something productive. Still having the right hip area tighten up quite a bit when I get up to 5 miles, which explains all the 5-mile days.

Gut-wrenching to read about David Cannon; both my wife and I lost our dads to pancreatic cancer. Once it's found it's usually already stage 4. Prayers to his family and friends. So sad.....

On a happy note, yesterday, my old high school won the WI State XC Championship, so that's 2-out-of-the-last-3! Props to Tom Kaufmann on the work he does there.

That's it for me this week. Hope you're in a good place!

All the Best!

I too honor Dave Cannon's life on earth. I knew him mostly as a competitor on the track stalking me with his feroucious kick. Bumped into him a few times off the track, and like most of you, knew Dave as a great guy; a wonderful person. I thank my lucky stars to have know this man.

Hi everyone. Been too long since I checked in. Trust y'all are fitter and thinner than me. Been pouring all my energy into high school xc coaching at Grant, Portland OR. A terrific 'second job'.

Time for to get motivated for something running and racing for me. Won't be Tallahassee. Might be Bend. Hope to see y'all out there somewhere.

KP

Nice job, Reboot Runner--both you and your wife.

45 miles on four days of running for the week ending today. I'm having to take at least 3 days per week completely off from running because of my chronic Achilles issue, but I try to either ride the bike outdoors or spin a bike trainer in the garage on the off days. This weekend the forecast was for dry weather Saturday and rain on Sunday, so yesterday I did 44 miles on the bike, which did take a bit out of my legs. Today I ran 15 miles (intermittent rain but warm, over 60 degrees) and my legs felt dead--I couldn't seem to get my respiration rate up because my legs just wouldn't go. But I plodded through the 15 miles in 2:12 without any disasters. We'll see how sore that makes my Achilles tomorrow.

I have another half-marathon next Sunday. I'll take as much time off this week as I need to get my heel to settle down, and will NOT do a long bike ride the day before the race!

So sorry to hear of David Cannon's passing. What a loss. Ian Dube, a coach, mentor, and USATF volunteer in GA also died from pancreatic cancer this week - so sad.

My training has been going well. I got in 45 miles last week and 44 for this week and my therapy exercises seem to be helping with improved speed (4x1600/800 in 7:35,33,32,30). The proof is yet to come as I've got several races coming up. Talahassee next week and Richmond on the 12th.

My husband's "new" XC team qualified for the state meet yesterday and my son ran his conference championship. He ran 25:32 for 5 mi. even though he had terrible patellar tendonitis that had him barely able to walk. I'm just finishing rehab and he's back into it.

Reboot - Congrats on the big PR!

Muddy - Welcome back. All those exercises will pay off!

Hope you all have a great week!

good to see old pals KP, Ghost and Muddy here this week...deeply sorry for the pre-mature loss of Mr Cannon...tragic.

managed 48 miles for the week, my highest volume since turning 60... heck, the most I've gotten since July 2015... my mini-streak is now at 64 days and 365 miles...unfortunately most are pretty slow with but a hard 2 miles at anaerobic threshold effort every second or third day...hope to get back on track (literally) in December

remember to 'train don't strain' and will look forward to catching up next weekend

very best

MF

It's always sad to hear about a fellow competitor's death. I only knew of Dave Cannon as a name in age group top times, but my prayers go out to his family.

After 3 weeks of very erratic training in the week before and two weeks after my son's wedding, I had a surprisingly good 6K XC race yesterday. It barely qualified as "XC" because it was 2-1/2 loops around an urban park and was about 1/3 sidewalk and pavement and 2/3rds very flat dirt path. It was the first time this season that I kept all of my mile splits under 7:00/mi in a race. I probably was a little too quick at the start since my splits were 6:32, 6:42, 6:55, and 6:45 pace for the last ~1.2K.

I checked my result against last year's race and I was 15 sec/mi. slower than last year. I then decided to check my results in all of the 5 XC races I've run this year since August against the same races I ran last year. Starting with my first race I have gone slower than last year by 34 sec/mi , 26 sec/mi, 24 sec/mi, 20 sec/mi, and now 15 sec/mi, so I am slowly moving back to my prior fitness level. Also, this was the first race since my knee injury 6 months ago for which I had no pain, only a little weakness in the knee after warming down.

It looks like a lot of us currently either are running well now or progressing toward better fitness. That's much more fun than reading about us old folks breaking down and battling to get healthy again.

Good running to all.

Still feeling a bit low-energy after a marathon at the beginning of the month. Just 25 miles on three runs this week, though all of the miles were fairly quick (7:35-ish), at least by my standards. I ran 10 today at that pace and it felt pretty controlled, so maybe the quality over quantity thing is the way to go for a few more weeks. I did a bunch of indoor climbing this week, too... someday I'll have to get back out on actual stone again.

Good health and good running to all of you.

My condolences to Dave's family. With each age division I go up I find I'm lacin 'em up with fewer same-age competitors for a variety of reasons. Sobering.

My faux-running week:

Mon: 3 miles elliptical @7:17 pace

Tue: 3 miles elliptical @7:54 pace (increased resistance)

Wed: 3.5 miles elliptical @7:18 pace (reduced resistance)

Thu: 3.5 miles elliptical @ 7:08 pace

Fri: 3.5 miles elliptical @ 7:12 pace

Sat: 1 mile running medium hard trail

Sun: 4 miles elliptical @ 7:15 pace

I have not posted in a few weeks as my right heel, again, flared up. I had actually purchased the dorsal splint racerdb had recommended. 2+ weeks and no change, if anything, it got worse.

So, I'm taking my own advice and first of all, not give up, and second, try something different. The plan is the simplest possible: alternate days of elliptical and running. Some may recall I used the elliptical before (2013) to recover when my other heel hurt. It worked. Interestingly, when my knee was hurting the elliptical very clearly made it worse. Seems, at least for me, the elliptical is a good idea for problems below the knee.

Happy Halloween!

MikeF,

Patti Gray Bellan says hello. She is racing a half marathon as I write.

Best,

Igy

my condolences to friends and family of David Cannon. sounds like a remarkable guy.

ok week for me incl. short work trip to New York enabling me to run in Central Park in some great Fall weather. Amazing to see how many runners are on the paths there.

Monday 4 easy + 64:00 mixed cross-training (bike, elliptical, aqua jog)

Tues. 5 + 40:00 stationary bike

Weds. 6

Thurs. 8 with 10 X 20 seconds hill sprints

Fri. 6

Sat. 5

Sun. 18 with some surges to marathon pace, most of it on treadmill while watching 'Skins tie Bengals in London -- reminded me of when I lived in Los Angeles in the 80s and loved getting to watch NFL games in the morning.

have a great week and Happy Halloween,

Dave

So I saw some names I recognized from the old list serve day. I looked through and saw mostly running, which I do a good bit of but I also racewalk swim, bike and triathlon is it cool for me to post about my training?

Mike

i wouldn't presume to speak for everybody, but i say sure. would love to hear how it's going for you and how you mix it up

cheers,

Dave

Mike Rohl? Really?? Brings back fond memories of the good old days...practically Paleozoic in nature :]

Hi Mike!

MF

Mike, indeed a living fossil, maybe. Good to know you are well.

So it seems folks tend to post at the end of the week so here is mine:

Monday - Bike 15 lifted Biked 15

Tuesday AM Swam 3000 yds 1:01 PM 2^ 5 mile tempo 37:30 1.4 CD

Wednesday Swam 4000 yds 1:23 PM Night shop ride gravel road 21 miles

Thursday Super 7 circuit - run i mile on treadmill do 3 strength exercises repeat

Friday 2^ 4*800 3:00/ 3:00 R 1CD PM 2100yd (1.2 mile) time trial swim 35:53

Saturday 65 mile bike @19.2 MPH plenty wind

Saturday 15 mile run 8:35 pace - long bike ride and long run make for slow long runs PM strength training.

https://www.strava.com/athletes/10149348/training/log?sport=Triathlon

Hey Old Guy II, that sounds like very encouraging progress. Good on ya'.

Three weeks since the marathon, and with no near-term goals, I'm really struggling to stay motivated. I need to put a 5K on my calendar, and work on developing some speed ... if that's possible. I'm disgusted that one-mile race pace is now barely faster than my former marathon pace.

At 57, how much improvement might I expect from more disciplined training? Are age-graded formulas reliable predictors of potential? Most of the training I see posted here is super impressive, and probably more than I could handle, but I'd like to start incorporating workouts that specifically target VO2-max, LT, basic speed. I am open to suggestions.

Monday: off

Tuesday: off

Wednesday: off

Thursday: off

Friday: 7 miles @ 7:24/mi

Saturday: off

Sunday: off

Happy trails