50+ Masters Training and Racing Open Forum

Thanks for noticing me.

Got a good track session in on Sunday, thanks to nice weather and my wife returning from AZ. 2 x 300, 2 x 6, 2 x 300, 4 x 200, and reached my max heart rate, which I don't often do (usually reached about 95%). Nice to work hard, preparing for a 4 mile race Sunday, a 5 km the following Saturday. Hoping for a top 5 age group finish in the 4 mile, top 10 in the 5 km, given the level of competition in each. Forecast is rain this Sunday.

Did get a 12.5 miler the Sunday before last, looks like that will be my longest prior to the 1/2 I have planned for mid-May. Would have liked 13+, but will have to deal with it as is.

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Week 308

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Good Morning, 50+er's! Bit of a late start. Mostly logged miles and threw in some faster efforts in the mix, along with a few "commute" runs. Managed 34+ miles on 7 days and eight-ish runs, so I'd say it was a decent week; log reads as such:

Sun: 5.0 Easy-ish (7:39/mi)

Mon: 3.0 (7:51/mi) w/10-lb pack

Tue: 3.0 1.4am (7:14/mi),1.6pm (7:41/mi) both w/light pack

Wed: 5.1 easy-to-hard (7:40/mi avg) w/1@6:30 in the middle

Thu: 6.0 Easy (8:26/mi) mostly chip-trail

Fri: 4.0 easy-to-hard (7:24/mi) w/3rd mile@6:39

Sat: 8.0 (7:41 avg) progression 8:30->6:30 for first 7.

Didn't make it to the track this week, so tried to make up for it with surges and progressions. I may be overdoing it a bit, as my right psoas (and probably piriformis) gets really tight from sitting. Seems to loosen up when I run, though; been doing some targeted stretches, but probably should be more systematic. I'm on a mini-streak of 11 days now. Will presumably make it a 12th day with Club run this afternoon. We'll see how long this streak goes. In the past, running every day has helped to rev up my metabolism. Still hovering at 170 (sigh!), so hope it does this round, too.

Nice to see a few solid races among last week's posts, and some really solid training, as well...very inspiring. I don't think I'll race until I can get my weight to under 165; especially now as the temps are climbing, I'm finding that I overheat too easily.

OK, that's it for now. On to preparing my final exams for the coming week. Hope that you are all racing/training/rehabbing well!

All the Best!

i second the "temps are climbing" and the final exams -- good luck with this busy season.

all slow stuff for me this week recovering from a race last weekend. Even so, left calf feeling iffy past day or two so I'll need to keep an eye on that.

total of 9 hours running, 3 hours x-training

M 40:00 run, 60:00 spin class

Tu 60 run

W 2:15 run [double]

th 30 run, 60 bike, 1 blood donation

F 1:30 double

Sa 2:00 hilly slog

Su 1:05 run, 1:00 bike

Saturday the high temp was 91 -- probably mid-70s and humid when I was out, but it felt like running in molasses. By the miracle of acclimatization, I'm sure by August those conditions will feel like a comfortable break in the heat wave.

have a great week,

Dave

It's never good when your training discussion includes a long recitation of your injury situation, but it's also reality for trying to be a competitive masters runner. So my good news/bad news week was 35 miles of walk/run, but with yesterday and today off to heal a minor injury and fully get over my cold. I started the week well on the continuing effort to rebuild my base. I currently am trying to do 1hr 40 min of run/walk each day which gets me about 7-1/2 to 8-1/2 miles. I walk for a mile and if my heart rate is over 100 I keep walking until it drops to 100 at which point I start running and run until it hits 130, and then return to walking until it hits 100 again, and repeat that until I hit 1hr40min. That produced

M- 7.9mi 12:24/mi ave

T- 7.1mi 14:09/mi ave

W-8.4mi 11:44/mi ave

Th-7.7mi 13:08/mi ave

F- 4.0mi 15:20/mi ave

Thursday my left ankle had some soreness high up like a high ankle sprain, but I think it was due to swelling from a minor bump that caused a huge bruise on the top of my foot last weekend. I had to cut Friday's walk short because of the pain just walking and it still was pretty sore yesterday. Today is noticeably better, but I will try to be patient if it needs another day or two before I start back on my base building.

Stay healthy!

It was a decent week for me, 28+miles in 5 runs. Backed off the intensity due to allergies but got in 3 runs of 7 or more miles. The temperatures are still mild in MN Low 40’s today, normal is 60. I’ll try and pick up the intensity one or two days this week.

Monday: 7 miles in 68 min w 25 min tempo (8:40)

Tuesday: 3 miles in 30 min

Wednesday: 7 miles in 67.5 min

Thursday: 3.3 miles in 30 min, mile 2 in 7:30

Friday: off

Saturday: 8.6 miles of trails in 81 mins

Sunday: off

I, too, suffered slightly from the "temps are rising" phenomenon, but only at the end of the week. A mixed week for me, started out very well but ended with a bit of a fiasco.

Monday: 11 miles at 9:00 pace. Got lost in a subdivision after taking a new bike path and ran a mile farther than planned. No harm, no foul

Tues: 10.4 miles at 8:50 pace, comfortable effort.

Weds: 10.5 miles at 8:28 pace, working pretty hard.

Thurs: 10.6 miles at 8:58 pace, easy.

Fri: 10.2 miles at 8:44 pace, didn't feel that fast.

Saturday: This was the Relay for Life, a cancer society fundraiser that I've been doing as part of my local running club team for 13 years. Always before it's been a 24-hour event and I normally run for 2 hours starting at 4 or 5 am, when no one else wants to run. This year they changed it to a 14-hour event starting at 9 am. I signed up to run from 9 to 10, but wanted to get in more miles and wanted to do them earlier because it was supposed to be the first warm day of the year. The first part went fine; I ran from my home to the nearby track via a circuitous route, covering 8.5 miles and arriving at 8:50. But then I had to wait and wait while they had all sorts of speeches and ceremonial events, and I couldn’t get out on the track until 9:30, by which time I had completely cooled off and shut down. I just couldn’t get my engine going again. And the track was full of globs of people barely walking and standing, so I had to bob and weave all over the track from inner to outer lanes seeking space to run. It didn’t work at all. I finally got in one fast lap and bailed out just after 10 am, having covered only 4 miles. Jogged home, melting on the black asphalt under a brilliant sun (only upper 60s, but it sure felt warm when you’re used to 40s and 50s in the dark), and got home feeling trashed. Only went a little over 14 miles and had planned 17-18, but that’s the way it goes. To add injury to insult, my bad Achilles tendon did not appreciate all the sudden starts and stops and sharp turns I had to make on the track, and it was quite sore by evening.

Sunday: Heel too sore to run. Did 32 miles on the road bike at 15.5 mph average. I really suck on the bike now. But it’s for the happy reason that I’ve kept my injuries in check for the past 6 months or so, and therefore have done very little cross-training.

Hoping for another good two weeks of training before my next half-marathon two weeks from yesterday.

Happy trails!

Taper week of 50.

Rested Monday then 6, 10 with 3X 6 min reps, 9, 6, 6, 13.

Coming down with a cough and raspy voice this weekend. Hope it clears up soon. Opposite of some the other posts, we got some snow this week. An inch or two early in the week, then the biggest dumping of 2016-17. On Friday-Saturday about 15-18 inches fell where I live and about 6-12 in the city. Today's 13 was dicey in spots, had to run through foot deep drifts and navigate ice patches along "Mt Carbon" a Jurassic era bump of a hill at 5,800 feet (they've found dinosaur fossils on that hill). Otherwise pretty good. Felt reasonably strong on the run, averaging just over 7:40 and if you factor in a 250' climb and the ice stretch (miles 4-5), it was more like at 7:30 pace for the remaining 11 miles.

Greetings, 50-and-over friends:

Today was my target Half Marathon Race. 42 degrees F, 15 mph wind, light rain. Hills! And at least 30 ninety-degree turns. But the biggest challenge was intestinal ... lost 52 seconds at seven-and-a-half miles for a "nature break." Aaargh.

Still, I managed a 1st place M55-59. Only 52 in the age group this year (80 last year). My finishing time was 1:28:41. At the start of the year, I set my time goal at sub-1:30, so I am satisfied with today's result. Particularly considering the challenging course. And the pit stop.

The week was marred by worsening knee pain. For many months, both knees have been painful first thing in the morning, and for the first few miles of each run, but this week the pain in the left knee has persisted non-stop. Even keeping me awake at night. I will take this coming week off entirely, and start working on some remedial exercises ... get healthy, then look at re-evaluating my fall marathon goal.

APRIL 23-30, 2017:

Easy: 7.0 miles @ 8:06

LR: 7.8 miles @ 7:27/mi

Easy: 4.0 miles @ 9:35/mi

Off(knee pain)

Easy: 3.0 miles @ 8:46/mi w/2 x 1min @ 10K pace

Off(knee pain)

Target Race: 2.3-mi warmup; Half Marathon -- 1:28:41 (6:46/mi)

WEEK TOTAL: 37.2 MILES

Goal Pace

5K: 6:06/mi

Half Marathon: 6:50/mi

Marathon: 7:26/mi

Most Recent Pace

5K: 6:06/mi (Apr 2017)

10 Mile: 6:45/mi (Feb 2017)

Half Marathon: 6:46/mi (Apr 2017)

Marathon: 7:51/mi (Oct 2016)

Have a great week!

-Allen

Good morning, almost noon, from Eagle, Idaho. Wife and I traveled mid-week to Southern California for vacation and business. Good to be back home to our routine. I can tell I am getting older, just don't like being away from home and my routine. I met my wife at a Fosters Freeze in Santa Monica 45 years ago. She worked there for a World War II Vet who kept the place meticulous and similarly expected the same from the employees. We stopped by on our trip for a snack. Disappointing in so many ways.

My week:

Monday: 2 miles easy; 4 x (300m @ interval pace/ 100m easy; 500m @ interval pace / 300m easy); mile easy

Tuesday: 60:00 spin; core routine; 3 sets 10 reps free weights

Wednesday: 3 miles walking

Thursday: 4 miles easy

Friday: AM- 30 minutes spin; PM- 3 miles walking

Saturday: Off

Sunday: 3.25 miles easy

Allen1959, congratulations on your 1/2 marathon! Excellent time.

My congratulations also to Allen1959!

Congrats, Allen. You are an inspiration.

Especially good Allen1959 with course challenges, weather and a potty break.

Congrats Allen, nice!

A vacation week in the Caribbean, lots of running and swimming and hiking. Calorie consumption was high too.

5 runs for 35 miles and 6 swims totaling about 5 1/2 miles.

My run total includes the USATF 10k today -- I aged up this week to 55+. Just missed breaking 37 min = very happy. A more sensible week might have saved me enough time to break it but that's a lousy return on the investment!

Some incredible performances today -- saw quite a few 90s on the age graded scale.

Allen 1859 great job

Just 15 miles for me and 30 on the bike. Penn Relays week takes its toll on a coach. On the road and taking care of others leave little energy or time but it is worth it. 26 second pr for our 5k gal and 1 minute for our racewalker. I keep trying to get more in but next up is conference.

Mon.am. 1 hour brisk walk with 2.5 km of uphill jogging (100 metre elevation gain). Light pack and heavy work clothes and my hiking shoes.

pm. 27 min kayak then a 3 km trot in 19 mins. I was going to run a 5 km loop but legs felt very heavy so just jogged around on vague single track and some off trail.

An easy spin on the mtn bike around that 5 km loop.

Tue. 38 min hilly mtn bike ride then 21 min kayak and a hilly 5 km trail run in 27 mins.

Wed. Rugged trail running 1 hr 52 mins for 14.6 kms with 490 metres of elevation gain.

Thu. 44 mins kayak on the lake and up the Mt Ida Creek. Glorious sunset.

Fri. 6.4 km trail run 42 mins. 170 metres elevation gain.

Sat. 6 km rugged trail run, 2 x Roo Hill. 40 mins 160 metres elevation gain. Last km in a lively 4.27. 47 min mtn bike ride and 33 min kayak session.

Sun. 2 km warmup then club 5 km forest race. Goal was to dip under a 4.30 average km pace. Km splits 4.20. 4.16. 4.36. 4.25. 4.15. Time 21.52. 3d over 50. The first 2 were once 14.40 and 14.50 guys to my 16 mins. I just missed catching the first woman. A pleasing run but 5 years ago I was running this course in low 19s.

Well done Allen on your half. You prepared for it thoroughly and got the result.

lucKY2b my weight was as low as 158 in Nepal. I was back to 164 when I arrived home and it had been around 166 leading up to Easter. I haven't been brave enough to hop on the scales since but suspect it has crept up a bit after too many nice meals and too many ciders and chocolates. I was at 172 before Nepal.

Some sad news from Nepal with reports of the death of the climbing legend Ueli Staeck.

Ueli was a gifted runner as well as a great alpinist. He holds many speed records for well known climbs. He had been preparing to attempt to summit Everest and Lhotse on a single climb.

I mentioned last week the wonderful effort of my old pal Lavinia running 3.53 for our trail marathon course at age 73.

Lavinia had only just returned from World Indoors haing won the 800, 1500, 3000 world i record). She said she had no long runs leading into the marathon only occassionally getting 2 x 10 kms in a day instead.

Among her many age group records are a 6.04 for 1500, a 1.41 for the half and a 3.38 for the marathon since turning 70.

@L2B You can do it. Remember how light you felt at 157? I lost 4 pounds this last month after staling out for a couple of months. Base metabolism really slows down at our age. So I just started counting calories: I eat 1200 plus whatever I burn working out then I stop eating.

@Allen1959 you are a tough guy , I woulda quit you stuck it out and met your goal. Hope the knees get better and you get your final goal for this year.

@Not 1/2 Fast nice 10k welcome to a new age group

Taper/easy week 2 hours hiking plus some short fast stuff for Sunday April 30th mile

Tuesday April 25th start of easy week/taper 3 x 40 seconds on treadmill with full recovery 10mph,11mph,12mph

Thursday April 27th 3 x 60 second hill progression by effort fast comfortable downhill last one was 51 felt easy then over to track wearing warmups and jacket a bit windy 83.07 400

Finally got a stop watch 100 splits: 19 20 21 21 last 200 felt like mile pace will do again tomorrow.Weight 149.6

Friday April 28th 3 x 60 second hill progression by time on uphill fast comfortable downhill. Hit splits exactly as wanted: 60 55 50 then over to track wearing warmups 83.91 400 100 splits: 20 22 20 21 last 200 felt faster than mile pace.Weight 149.0 was a bit tired still dialing in my sense of pace

Just a couple of hours of easy walking on Saturday.

Sunday RaceDay Hayward Classic age graded mile 5:51.43 no splits but the last 200 was probably 39. Fun race classic swirling wind on the back stretch into the curve so I drafted behind a couple of runners doing really even splits. Honestly I wanted to take off but was chicken. With 500 to go I should have taken off. With a lap to go we were at 4:28 so sub six looked good but I wanted more. I wanted to beat these nice guys who had been blocking the wind for me. Half way down the backstretch blue singlet started to fade . I cranked it up. Felt good oh so good to fly by these guys into the curve but this did not last too long, by the home straight gray singlet dude passed me pretty strong so being a cagey guy I backed off just enough to ease his mind. With 30 meters to go I made my final assault but gray singlet dude was playing me or so he thought cause I knew I had another gear but my hamstrings were tighter than my grandmother who used to make slips out of empty flour sacks and dumpster dived for birthday gifts. Now that is pretty tight. I literally could not swing my legs. Lots of FUN. Monkey off my back. Ice is broken. Legs feel good.

Onward!