50+ Masters Training and Racing Open Forum

Igy,

I worked for the USFS out of Stanley on the Sawtooth NRA for 10 years so I know about fire season! We've got lots of fuel built up in our forests and have had virtually no rain all summer so conditions are perfect for a good burn. Fortunately, the winds have been light and the fires have been slow moving but we need a steady rain or a big snow and neither of them are in the forecast.

SCgal

Looks like lots of fun - Congrats KP and the NC for Southern Oregon. As a Parkside grad the NAIA nationals hold a special place in my heart.

I am in my rest/transition week so with a bad calf I just biked 105 miles. I got out for a 45 mile ride on one of the last 65 degree days. If you find me on facebook or strava you can see the pictures. I am assessing my up coming goals for the year this week. I know so much more about what I can and want to do then this time last year. It is a week to be thankful and I am for the last year.

SCgal,

Perhaps you heard of the Pioneer Fire, toppped 100,000 acres and controlled just this month. The fire was located between Idaho City and Lowman. Air quality was especially poor when the wind was blowing our direction.

Igy

Mon. 1 hr hike with heavy backpack.

1/2 hour kayak then 1 hour mountain bike.

Tue. 1 hr hard mountain bike 1/2 hour kayak.

Wed. 1 hour hilly hike.

2 km hike up Mt Ida "the hard way" . From the top I ran down the fire road a couple of km then back up then all the way back down the fire roads to my car. 10 km in 46 mins.

Thu. 1/2 hour mountain bike and 1/2 hour kayak.

2 x 4 km walks (to and from work ) with 25 kg backpack.

Fri. Fast 1 jour mountain bike with 3 km time trial and also a steep climb.

Also walked 4 km and 3.6 kms but without the pack.

Sat. 11 km run with 340 metres gain 1 hr 1 min. Quite solid effort.

Sun. Some of my buddies had gone out hiking in prep for our Everest Base Camp trek. I arrive a few hours later and ran about 12 km chasing them. 1 and 1/2 hours with about 600 metres of elevation gain.

Quite a good week. I also managed some sort of resistance work and core work most days.

Dare I say no current injury woes.

Thx Igy... Geoff was a great friend and mentor for me at my 25 years at Nike.

KP,

By chance did you ever know Mike Long. Mike worked in that first Nike store in Eugene with Geoff. Mike was on the UO cross country team with Pre that won the NCAA I believe in 1973. Mike and I trained together under Igloi in the late 60s and 1970. Lost track of Mike thru the years and his name is fairly common.

Igy

Just beginning to step out of the extreme jet lag haze of return trip from Hong Kong just 72 hours ago...not quite 30 miles this week and mostly on hotel treadmills in Hanoi and HK...had a beautiful run back home here in the vineyards this morning that was highlighted by the sighting of a pair of bald eagles...they never cease to amaze.

Hoping to get on the track this week for some overdue punishment in prep for 2017 season (including indoor nationals in Albuquerque...fingers crossed)

KP am also psyched about the SOU win at NAIAs...my nephew still has one final season of track eligibility there...your son still has one too?

Happy Thanksgiving to all you 50+ers...look forward to hearing your turkey trot results next weekend.

very best

MF

Third week of running five days per week, up from three. Six weeks since the marathon.

I included one VO2max workout, and one Lactic Threshold workout. Easy runs were at 8:30 pace.

This coming Saturday will be my first 5K effort in a long while. I would love to see sub-20, but 20:30 is more realistic. Since I haven't really competed in 13 years, I'm still trying to wrap my brain around these new numbers!

Mon: Bike 23 miles @ 19.3 mph

Tues: VO2max -- 2 mi warmup, 3 x 1 mi @ 6:22 w/3:30 recoveries, 1 mi cool down

Wed: 4 mi easy

Thur: 7 mi easy

Fri: LT -- 1.5 mi warmup, 3 miles @ 7:10/mi, 1.5 mi cool down.

Sat: off

Sun: 12 miles @ 8:09/mi

Happy Thanksgiving everyone!

Had a nice week...no running but feeling positive. Walked at a good clip everyday, 2-4 miles. And then a stretching/wobble board/crunches/icing routine. Yesterday I did 4 miles alternatingly walking and running each 1/2 mile. Felt no knee pain so that was encouraging.

Heading out in a bit for the long drive to SC. No grandson yet but Daughter-in-law is having labor induced this afternoon. Baby Ben should be here soon! Looking forward to a week in Greenville. Thinking about volunteering at the 8k Turkey trot SCgal mentioned. It's just down the street from our hotel.

Have a good week,

Dave

Didnt know Mike Long... been here 25 yrs but not that Long :)

Two more track seasons for Aidan Paulk Mike F. Gary looked like a typical 800m runner this XC season... "I hate this soft wet tall grass ground shit beneath my (track) feet for 8k!" I can relate 100%

Allen1959 wrote:

Tues: VO2max -- 2 mi warmup, 3 x 1 mi @ 6:22 w/3:30 recoveries, 1 mi cool down

I could never run mile repeats this fast, even when I was in a sub-20 shape. The best I did was 6:36-6:33-6:23 a week before 19:47.

My week.

M: off.

T: 7 miles.

W: 11 miles. (5th-10th miles @ 7:30)

R: 7 miles.

F: 7 miles.

SA: 7 miles.

SU: 16.7 miles.

RF Reader wrote:

I could never run mile repeats this fast, even when I was in a sub-20 shape. The best I did was 6:36-6:33-6:23 a week before 19:47.

Interesting. I suspect I may have run them too fast. I walk-jogged those rather lengthy recoveries, and still experienced dry heaves after the third repeat. I had planned a fourth, but lost mental strength a minute into it ... so jogged it in as the cool down.

During the summer I went to the track thinking I could do 3 x 1 mi @ 6:00 ... that's how out of touch my brain had become after all these years away from racing! I'm really only now starting to get a sense of the appropriate paces.

I'm anxious and a little nervous to see how Saturday's 5K goes. I will try to hit the first mile in 6:30, and negative split. I jogged the course last week ... mostly flat, but a nasty little climb to the finish line. I can feel the pain already.

Thanks for the feedback. Impressive mileage for your week ... to me, anyway!

RF Reader wrote:

I could never run mile repeats this fast, even when I was in a sub-20 shape. The best I did was 6:36-6:33-6:23 a week before 19:47.

A couple more thoughts regarding mile repeats. My understanding has been that VO2max pace is approximately 3000M race pace. On my calculator, a 20:30 5K predicts a 3K at 6:21 per mile. So my 6:22 repeats seem appropriate for a 20:30 goal.

By comparison, my most recent mile-repeat workout prior to this (way back on Sept 24, 2003) was 5:35, 5:20, 5:21 with 5 min walk/jog recoveries. The following week's 5K was 17:21, "equivalent" to a 3K race pace of 5:22/mi.

With these thoughts in mind, 20:30 seems more realistic than sub-20 as a target this weekend. So ... maybe start out at 6:40, and negative split for the 6:35 avg pace. ???

RF: your 19:47 was 6:22/mi ... that's actually a bit faster than your mile repeats. I am curious about the philosophy. "Goal pace with minimal recoveries?"

Toss the calculator and go for the sub 20.

Good Luck;)

VO2max intervals are supposed to be 3-5 min in duration. In my case, that's 800-1200m. 1600m (or mile) is too long to sustain that pace in workouts. (It's more like Tinman's "critical velocity" not that I knew the concept when I was doing it.) In my case, the best "predictor" workout for a 5k race is 1000 x 5 ( with 3 min recovery). A week before that mile repeat, I did that in 3:55-56 (with the last rep in 3:52), and I thought I was ready for a sub-20. I went out in about 6:20 for the first mile, and tried to hang on, and it worked.

It's up to you. But I will go out for a sub-20 pace, if I were you.

Ive been training and racing for road races since 1977.

Very few times have I ever won my age group, particularly in large races (2000)

I was shocked today to see that I had won my age group in our local Turkey Run 10K.

I won a nice shiny gold medal and a pie.

I drove by my parents place on the way home from the race to celebrate and gave the pie to my 97 year old mom.

So, I get home and go to the results of the race and I had actually finished second in my age group.

You talk about putting damper on a great day.

I had texted people back home that I raced with back in the 70's and 80's and 90's and e-mailed just making a big deal out of it (tongue in cheek of course) but man, that made me feel like a fool to see that I had not actually won.

Im gonna drive back to my parents house and take that pie back.....

Send the medal back....

And I really ran well today...

What a drag.

RF Reader wrote:

VO2max intervals are supposed to be 3-5 min in duration.

Ahhh, yet another adjustment in old age. My 1999 Pfitzinger book says 3-6 minutes, but even that puts mile repeats outside the range these days. Yeah, 1000m repeats would be perfect.

Thanks, RF, for the clarification! Despite having trained and raced (on and off) over the past 45 years, I'm feeling like a neophyte (after a 13-year break from competition). Which is actually making it kinda fun and interesting again ...

Aw, don't take the pie away from your mom! Mistakes happen, and returning a semi-perishable item is questionable anyway. Return the medal if it makes you feel better. And continue to celebrate the fact that you ran really well today, even if someone else ran better.