50+ Masters Training and Racing Open Forum

Week 288: 4 hours 55 minutes in 6 runs.

Mon - off

Tue - 47 min a little too fast

Wed - 31 min way too fast

Thu - 46 min slow

Fri - 33 min easy

Sat - 1 hr 33 easy

Sun - 45 min slow

My left hamstring started bothering me on Tuesday's run, then again on Wednesday. Backed off the paces and by today it is fine again. Slow is average 9:45-ish per mile, easy is 8:45, too fast is ??. Took a low-speed spill biking today in the snow, fortunately the laptop was unscathed. I hope the weather doesn't force me off the bike. I'm looking to run 7 days this week and add the yoga back in. TKD will have to wait until January.

@lucKY2b - Thanks for the nod. It feels good to be out there again.

@Rtype - Right about the time I decide the cross-training is working is when I give it up and switch to all running.

Hand surgery on Monday, then a nasty head/chest cold for the rest of the week. I ran through it for a few days, but finally surrendered and rested today. Only one workout ... touched on LT pace at the end of a progression run on Thursday.

Mon: Off (surgery)

Tues: Off (surgery recovery)

Wed: 4.6 miles @ 8:00/mi

Thurs: 10.0-mile progression; Avg pace per 2.5-mi: 8:01, 7:43, 7:24, 7:06

Fri: 7.0 miles @ 8:44/mi

Sat: 7.0 easy with 6 x 100y strides

Sun: Off

No races currently scheduled, but may target a few 5Ks in 2017, with a goal of 19:20. Maybe a fall marathon. 3:15:00?

Happy trails, all!

Hey Charlie...long time pal...thanks for the geezer mile challenge...you're on...an attaboy AND a virtual pint

Realistically am looking at April 1 track meet at my SF State alma mater for the mile marker...we usually get a pretty decent master's mile field...(ran my slowest ever this year at 6:02...but am nowhere near that condition today sadly) ...it's a mixed M&W 40+ race in the midst of a big collegiate meet...and everybody is welcome...no entry fee even...will provide more details once meet director and I nail them down

If not there than may take another stab at it on 4/30 up in your neck of the woods at Hayward Masters Meet in Eugene ( where Ghost of Igloi and I competed going on 11 years ago)...this aging stuff ain't for sissies ;)

Very best

MF

Mike F,Hayward youngster at age 55.....It would be fun to go again....I better get serious or I will pass....Igy

@MF and Igy . Hey it is already working walked 2 miles after reading MFs post!

Allen1959 wrote:

Hand surgery on Monday, then a nasty head/chest cold for the rest of the week. I ran through it for a few days, but finally surrendered and rested today. Only one workout ... touched on LT pace at the end of a progression run on Thursday.

Mon: Off (surgery)

Tues: Off (surgery recovery)

Wed: 4.6 miles @ 8:00/mi

Thurs: 10.0-mile progression; Avg pace per 2.5-mi: 8:01, 7:43, 7:24, 7:06

Fri: 7.0 miles @ 8:44/mi

Sat: 7.0 easy with 6 x 100y strides

Sun: Off

No races currently scheduled, but may target a few 5Ks in 2017, with a goal of 19:20. Maybe a fall marathon. 3:15:00?

Happy trails, all!

Wasn't going to post, but, Allen, me too. Bad head/chest cold. Ran on treadmill for 1 hour monday and 40 minutes Wednesday and that's it. Hope you feel better soon.

Ran my third race, and first short race, since the re-flare-up of my Achilles tendon injury last May. In a big local event that draws very few serious runners, I clocked 23:28 for 5K, which placed me first in my age group (F55-59) and eleventh overall female in a field of nearly 1000 (as I said, most are not serious runners, or even runners at all). It's slow compared to what I was able to run a year ago, but about right considering my currently pathetic aerobic capacity brought about by being unable to do any hard training on my heel. My half-marathon last month was 1:46:25 and the various race time calculators I've looked at say that this should equate to a 5K in anywhere from 22:59 to 23:55, so my 23:28 seems about right.

Even though I've gotten slow, I still really enjoy racing and competing and I sure hope I can keep doing it for some time to come.

Reboot runner wrote:

Bad head/chest cold. Ran on treadmill for 1 hour monday and 40 minutes Wednesday and that's it. Hope you feel better soon.

Thanks, Reboot. Hope you are on the rebound, as well. I am a marginally improved today ... may attempt a 12-miler this morning. Six inches of wet slushy snow ... yuck.

Charlie wrote:

@MF and Igy . Hey it is already working walked 2 miles after reading MFs post!

Charlie,

Nothing like a friendly challenge....

Igy

amkelley wrote:

Even though I've gotten slow, I still really enjoy racing and competing and I sure hope I can keep doing it for some time to come.

I can certainly relate to this, although I have never been fast.

My week.

M: off.

T: swimming 1000m.

W: 4 miles.

R: off.

F: 5 miles.

SA: off.

SU: 6.2 miles.

I am not sure when was the last time I took 3 days off in a week. But since I have been busy with my work, I thought it would be better to take those days off rather than going through the motion on stationary bikes and elliptical. Sunday's run was slow over all (54:24), but it started with 5:59/km and ended with 4:58/km. So I am recovering better than I did after the previous two marathons. This is consistent with my past experience. When I race poorly, I recover more quickly. I guess that's an indication that I did not push myself to the limit.

Master Friends.

Super late to the weekend post. Still recovering from a nasty ice storm here in PDX OR. Was impossible to run Friday even with my customized Skinny Raven Alaska studded shoes. Lost a lot of branches the size of trees in my backyard from our 110 year-old Cedar Atlas. Almost destroyed the Bowerman PUB. Did get back on the training streak with 8 good hill repeats Sat and a 10.5 miler Sun.

Mike F... time for me to toe that April Fools Day Mile at your alma mater. My son and your nephew will race there for National XC Champs Southern OR. Can we get a few good NoCal IPAs soon after we humiliate our young audience student-athletes with our geriatric 1609m foot-race?

If so I'm all in this year.

KP

Also running a bit late.

Mon. 1 hr kayak and 1 hr 10 min mtn bike.

Tue. Walk to and from work about 35 min each way with 25 kg backpack.

A solid 11 km run in 1 hr 8 min. 250 metres of elevation gain.

Wed. 10.7 km run in 1 hr 2 min. 175 m. of elevation gain.

Thu. 9 km run with 450 metres of elevation gain. 1 hr 17 min.

Walk to and from work 35 min each way with the 25 plus kg backpack.

Fri. 1 hr 8 min mtn bike and 32 min kayak.

Sat. 11.4 km run 1 hr 1 min. 150 m. elevation gain.

Sun. 5.4 km hill climb run 36 min with 400 metres total elev. gain. 2 hard efforts enroute (strava segments). 0.6 km with 69 metres. 4.38, previous best 5.18. CR is 3.32.

Then 3.1 km with 272 metres. 22.38. Previous best 24.31 CR 17.49.

Continuing to accumulate fitness. Sunday's run was pleasing. Just good hard tempo climbing on a hot afternoon.

I have shed about 1.5 kg in the last 2 weeks.

I'm also chiming in late. Good progress in the 5th week since the hamstring tear. Logged in 41.4 miles running, dropping the pace steadily to around 7:40 minute miles and getting in some rolling 200s at a low 6 minute pace. Also 14 miles on the stationary bike, some strength training a few minutes of jump plyometrics.

Feels good to be running again, but will not do anything too crazy in the coming weeks. I do need to drop the few pounds I gained in my weeks of low aerobic activity.

Scott

Club XC Race Report:

My final exams are graded and the grades are turned in, so I can finally report in about Club XC. When the masters women's race started at 8:00, the sky was clear with no wind, the temp was in the low 30s, and there was frost on the grass. Not quite what one would expect when racing on the Gulf Coast. I was glad I wore spikes for firmer footing.

I had raced the 5k course last month in 24:10 and hoped to break 29:00 for the longer 6k we were racing. We had four women on our team and I thought I would probably finish as #4. I had been racing the course over and over in my mind for the past month and felt really confident. When the gun went off, we took off down the hill and I was shocked to be right behind our #1 runner. I usually hold back on the first mile but I felt great so I decided to try to stick with her. I went through the first mile in 7:27. Mile 2 slopes upward and has the only real hill on the course but I still split 7:36 and was on her heels. We passed two runners in our AG from a NY team and raced on together to mile 3 where I split 7:40. My 5k split was 23:51 so I was racing much better than in November. We ran up the last hill together but our #1 pulled away from me in the last downhill. I still finished in 28:37, in 5th place in my AG, and #2 on the team and I'm so happy with my race because I ran without any fear and gave it 100%. All of the women who beat me are fantastic runners so I'm thrilled to finish anywhere close to them. My W60+ team placed 2nd and our B team placed 3rd so it was a successful day.

Now I'm taking 2 weeks of down time doing only recovery runs and I don't plan on racing again until mid January. I'm still putting my race schedule together but I'll probably do some indoor track and longer races as long as the weather is cool and I'm healthy. Thanks to all of you for your encouragement and support!

Well done SCgal.

Nice races amkelley and SCgal.

No race for me, another week of about 30 miles, picked things up for a couple days, which leads to a couple days of slow running/recovery. Cannot seem to make this body recover any faster than that!

Have had a couple days with windchill around 10-12 degrees, which decreases the motivation to train hard or long, or race. Tempted to look into any Masters indoor races, though they seem to be rare around the KC area. Long term/2017 view, is to try to get closer to sub 7 mile shape by June's Corporate Challenge mile. Will see, age related slow-downs can have a say in that, with my last 800's running around 3:50 each (but not in the "must do" speedwork time of the year).

Nice run, SCgal!

Mike Lundgren reminds me of how happy I am to be living in California after twelve years in upstate New York and four years in Kansas. Here the worst weather we get is 40-ish and pouring rain, or maybe 30-ish with dense freezing fog. No snow, and never severe wind chill--when it's down in the 20s, it's clear and calm. Nope, the weather gives me few excuses any more.

SCgal,

Enjoyed your race post. It read as if i too were there. Nice writing. Nice racing. Enjoy the downtime.

KP