50+ Masters Training and Racing Open Forum

Just jogging this week...which SO beats the alternative.

The 'highlight' was Wednesday when, on the day of our 20th wedding anniversary, my bride and I did a jaunt to the top of Mt St Helena and back...the round trip took a tad over 3 hours. The good news about this run is that there is just one hill ;}

Otherwise, a total of 35 miles for the week...somewhere along the way I passed 800 total miles YTD for 2017...and did so TWO full months earlier this year than in 2016...at 61 years of age, small miracles matter.

Many thanks to all of you regular posters for keeping me honest and inspired week in and week out...very very much appreciated.

your pal,

MF

worked out in sub2 shoes - amazing!!

60 miles per week

2 speed sessions

6 x 600 30sec rest @ 1:50

4 x 300 30sec rest @ 53

16 x 200 @ 33 30sec rest

jog mile

800 @ 2:15

Cheers

A catch-up week for me...laundry, gardening, lawn mowing, doctors appointments etc....before we head to the U.P. I ran 41 miles and started triathlon training this week plus an 8k race so I haven't had much down time.

Mon: 7.1 E + 1400 open water swim, + :30 biking

Tue: 7.5 Track (1mi@7:35/800 jog, 2x200H/200jog, 800@3:40/400 jog, 2x200H/200jog) + :45 biking + yoga

Wed: 6.1 E + 1600 swim

Thu: 1:15 biking

Fri: 4 E

Sat: 9 Race 8k in 38:32 (83% age grade) - 3rd Grand Master

Sun: 7.4 E + 1500 swim

My race was an experiment. I've been going out in paces I could make in previous years and then blowing up so I decided to run by feel and make sure I took it easy at the start. My goal was a 7:45 pace on a course that is flat for the first 2 miles, downhill for mile 3 and hilly for miles 4 and 5.

I didn't have to worry about going out slowly since the little kids darting in front of me for the first mile made it challenging to run an even pace. Once they dropped back. I got into a nice rhythm and the next mile flew by. The third mile is a net downhill and I was moving up on lots of runners. The race goes through a wooded neighborhood and the residents put out sprinklers for us to run through and cheer for us.

The climb begins at mile 4 and continues with rolling hills though mile 5. Although I practice hills, I would pass runners on the downhill and they would catch back up to me on the uphill. At mile 4, a fellow grandmaster (10 years younger than I am) passed me. I stayed on her heels thinking I could catch her on the sprint to the finish. I kept pulling closer but she ended beating me by 10 seconds. Bummer! My time was about the same as what I've run earlier this year on easier courses so I'm OK with my run. I ran my goal pace and didn't blow up so achieved what I wanted.

Hope you all have a great week!

Results correction - I just got an email that I was the 4th Master, not 3rd Grandmaster, in yesterday's race. Whew, glad they got that right - LOL!

Nice job on the 8k race, SCgal!

I, too, have been enjoying watching the NCAA championships this week, and also picking up some French Open tennis.

Sadly, my bad Achilles is just not cooperating this week. I got in two runs for 21 miles total and both of them felt great, but the heel was a little sore after the first run and then got very unhappy after the second one. So it was back to the bike for most of my training this week.

Mon: 32 miles on bike

Tues: 10.8 mile run at 8:31/mile pace, felt great.

Weds: Sore heel, so 32 miles on bike

Thurs: 10.7 mile run at 8:25 pace, felt even better.

Fri: Very sore heel and RAIN at dawn! Very unusual here in June. Dusted the cobwebs off the trainer bike and pounded out 90 minutes in the garage watching cars go by in the rain. Yuck.

Sat: Heel still sore, so 40 miles on bike with the second half into a stiff headwind. Working hard.

Sun: Heel feels better but taking no chances. 41 miles on bike with a conspiracy wind--stiff headwind going out and much less tailwind coming home. Unfair!!

I feel pretty duped from the weekend's bike rides, and really hope to get back to running a little next week.

A low mileage week for me, but I did run my first "workout" since April 22. The Pfitzinger plan calls for a 4-mile tempo run, but I subbed 2 x 2 miles. I figured 6:40/mile is currently Threshold pace; I ran by feel, and pretty much ran exactly that.

JUNE 5-11, 2017:

Easy: Bike 18.5 miles @ 18.1 mph

Off

LR: 13.5 miles @ 7:35/mi

Easy: Bike 24.9 miles 18.9 mph

LT: 2.5-mi warmup; 2 x 2 miles w/2min rest: @6:40/mi, @6:37/mi; 2.5-mi cooldown

Easy: 4.5 miles @ 9:27/mi

Easy: 7.1 miles @ 8:20/mi

WEEK TOTAL: 34.1 MILES

2017 Race Goals

5K: 6:13/mi (19:20) -- Achieved April 2nd @ 6:06/mi (18:57)

Half Marathon: 6:50/mi (1:29:30) -- Achieved April 30th @ 6:46/mi (1:28:41)

Marathon: 7:26/mi (3:15:00) -- Target race October 1st

Happy running, everyone!

-Allen

Hi all

3 swims totaling 4 miles

4 runs totaling 24 miles inlcluding 7 mile race today.

I was second in 55-59 although race only gives awards to 10 year increments so was 3rd in 50-59. Conditions were tough as temps in Northeast jumped almost 30 degrees to upper 80s for the 1 pm start today.

46:49 for the official 7:06 miles, a more than 3 minutes give up to last year. 2nd in 55-59 category to guy I referenced last week who went sub 41 (after he ran a 4:35 down mile the day before while I rested).

Running the Mt. Washington road race next saturaday for the first time since 2000.

Have a good week all.

Week 314: 7 hours 41 minutes in 7 runs

Mon - 46 mins slow on pavement

Tue - 1 hr 8 mins moderate

Wed - 46 mins slow on pavement

Thu - 1 hr 23 mins faster than MP

Fri - 46 mins slow on grass

Sat - 1 hr 42 mins out slow back moderate

Sun - 1 hr 10 mins easy

Fallback week here. I have 12 weeks left in 2017 to do something in the 5K. After that I am going to dedicate myself to TKD for a year. I figure 4 more weeks of base, 4 weeks of workouts, 4 weeks of racing. Que sera sera.

M: 6 miles.

T: off.

W-SA: 7 miles.

SU: 11.1 miles.

I took Tuesday off instead of Monday for a reason unrelated to running. Ran only 6 miles since I considered it as part of the previous week. It was hot and windy on Sunday morning, but not humid. So I managed to run 11.1 miles.

The week didn't feel so good. Had a nice set of 200's on Monday then drug my butt thru the rest of the week. Felt better Friday and felt fine on Saturday. My warmup, strides and first 1.7 of the race went well. Started to unravel and didn't run very well the next mile. Not sure why. Thought I had all my bases covered; 6 solid months of training, consistent tempos, long runs, speed work at 5:10-5:20 pace. Seems like 5:23-24 pace would have felt comfortable. Anyhow, fell just outside of my best case-worst case scenario of 16:45 - 17:15. I never would have thought I would finish up with a 5:45... Back to the drawing board!

M: 5 miles w/8x200 37.8,37.4,36.6,36.2,36.0,35.8,35.8,35.5

T: 7.17 Miles in 55:26 [7:43 per mile]

W: 6.02 Miles in 45:08 [7:29 per mile]

T: 5.07 Miles in 37:54 [7:28 per mile] w/5x20 sec stride @ 5:18 pace

F: 3.1 Miles in 23:55 [7:42 per mile]

S: 2 mi wup/3 mi cdn. 5K race 5:24.8, 5:38.4, 5:45.0, 31.6 Chip 17:17

S: 7.1 Miles in 56:33 [7:57 per mile]

My race thoughts from my log:

More questions than answers...Did my lingering cold affect me? Was it too warm? Humidity? Up & down on my knees tile work all week? Is this all I've got? Don't really know what happened but nothing really seemed that bad. I felt rested, confident, felt good on the warm up, first mile and a half of the race felt good but when it was time to go, I couldn't go. A deeper analysis shows steady pace from 0-1.85, then a big fall off from 1.85-2.75. Finished pretty good. AG 90.45% - 14:16 23rd overall, 1st 55-59, First 50+. Won my AG by 3:30...2nd in the AG was Brian Diemer!

I pulled splits from my Garmin every .05 miles just to see exactly where things went south. Below is a chart with my pace taken every .05 miles.

Not sure what happened between 2.10 and 2.15. I don't remember surging like that!

MIle 1 2 3 .1

0.05 449 526 559 530

0.10 454 525 601 525

0.15 459 526 445

0.25 518 526 514

0.30 528 529 534

0.35 530 527 516

0.40 525 524 531

0.45 525 522 547

0.50 529 525 545

0.55 526 525 553

0.60 524 525 544

0.65 524 528 548

0.70 522 530 544

0.75 522 533 536

0.80 522 533 534

0.85 524 538 532

0.90 527 548 532

0.95 529 552 536

1.00 527 559 532

No plans for any racing until August. Going to try to get the miles back up with just easy easy running until July, then its 12 weeks until Syracuse 5K Champs.

Have a good week,

Dave

Dave, going to guess your white cell count would still be elevated. Add in weather and work and well maybe you were just off your game.

Dave, going to guess your white cell count would still be elevated. Add in weather and work and well maybe you were just off your game.

great race, Dave. I know it's all relative, and your own expectations and hopes were for somewhat faster, but still, damn, 17:17 at 55+ is outstanding.

unless I missed it, you didn't specify the temp, humidity, wind, hilliness of course, and these are all of course relevant, but fwiw I'd just throw in one other consideration, which is that you mention dragging through most of the week, but you're still timing each run and running even the easy days pretty fast.

granted, I'm a lot slower than you, so perhaps I'm misunderestimating how much you're able to recover while running 7:30-7:40/mile pace, but maybe at least consider leaving the watch at home on some easy days and going at a gentle pace.

again, this is in context of thinking about what looks to me like a hell of a performance. Nice going and good luck with your buildup to Syracuse!

Dave

@racerdb

IMO residual effects of the cold hit you hardest in the latter part of the race.

In any event I really do enjoy following your training and racing.

Thank you guys for the critiquing. I forgot to mention it but that's what I was looking for!

Mo'pak: That's what I was thinking too. I was still a bit snotty & congested throughout the week so maybe the cold was an underlying issue. Along with 100's of trips up and down stairs throughout the week while working on a second story bathroom remodel. But we do need to show up on race day!

dhaaga: Temp was about 72, dew point about 60, no wind, flat and fast course. True I do time most my runs. Most days I don't monitor my pace much just check the watch at the end for record purposes. Agreed, I should get back to more 'no watch, no time' runs. I reference Tinmans pace charts. Easy/moderate is 7:20-7:35, Easy 8:07-7:50, Very Easy 8:45-8:10. So I'm not too far off. I do start a lot of runs at over 8:00 pace though.

Charlie: Thanks. Agreed. Glad you appreciate my weekly workout reports. I was wondering if anyone reads them! Maybe someone can pick something up that can benefit their training.

Dave

Just as a funny comparison to racerdb, here's my interval work this week. Granted I have not been to the track of late (except to run the 1 mile last Tuesday) and it's now finally gotten hot and humid in KC.

Went to track at noon, at least 84 degrees and humid (and warming), and did 5 x 400. First one in 2:05! Finished in 1:50, averaged 1:57.65. Started a 6th, but was at 56 at 200, so knew I was started to get slower than the time before.

So this 66 year old has to bust it, to get under 8:00/mile, yikes! It's funny to me, since it's still a good effort for me, and I must have had nearly a gallon of water the rest of the day to rehydrate.

Time to start longer runs ("fat-burners") and build very gradually towards my mid-October 1/2 marathon. Stay healthy everyone!

Oh, and ladies, my wife and I don't "compete" against each other, so much as we are teammates, partners, best buds. I think she is slowly getting better, but this summer heat really hurts her, being a fair-skinned blond.

Mike,

I can relate that 8:00/mile is actually hard at age 66.

Igy

Ghost of Igloi wrote:

Mike,

I can relate that 8:00/mile is actually hard at age 66.

Igy

Man you guys are scaring me . Of course running a half marathon also scares me. Closing in on 61 and still having fun. Truth be told when I was a young master I felt sorry for the old farts now I am one;!)

Charlie,

I didn't think I would be saying it at this age, but it is true that running 8:00 per mile is not that easy. I think one of the keys is holding on to your speed, whatever level that is.

Igy