Range of motion has definately declined. I often get very tight through the hips and lower back. The groin and hamstrings also often get a bit tight. I work on these area a lot but I'm sure this is one reason I am now much slower than even in my 40s.
Ended up having a good week. Took 3 planned days off, calf pretty much back to good. Must have been just a bad cramp. Finished the weekend with pretty good 10 milers on Sat & Sun.
Had a real nice Father's Day. Wife & daughter took me wine & beer tasting in SW MI, got a beer sampler gift basket from my son in SC. Is there a theme here?
Range of motion? I don't know...I've never stretched consistently other than leaning against a wall every now and then. Probably should do WAY more but, why start now?
Paul Zimmerman? Never met him but have seen his name around for years. Didn't realize he was 50...
All the Best,
Dave
Racerdb wrote:
Had a real nice Father's Day. Wife & daughter took me wine & beer tasting in SW MI, got a beer sampler gift basket from my son in SC. Is there a theme here?
Range of motion? I don't know...I've never stretched consistently other than leaning against a wall every now and then. Probably should do WAY more but, why start now?
Paul Zimmerman? Never met him but have seen his name around for years. Didn't realize he was 50...
All the Best,
Dave
Speaking of beer and Paul Zimmerman, a couple friends and I had a beer with him at the airport after CIM about a dozen years ago. I was 40 or 41, and he was in his late 30s. I think he ran about a 2:20 that day and got his OT qualifier. Nice guy, we didn't talk a whole lot about training that I recall, just some general chit chat and race recaps. Not surpised that he's still running 32s.
happy post-father's day, fellas!
i'm now 3.5 weeks post-stress fracture (i'll attempt running at 9 weeks), and this week had fewer miles on the bike due to chilly temps and a spate of flats intervening. i just don't enjoy riding when i'm cold (and remember last week's topic about enjoying what you're doing? bingo!), and it took several tube repairs/changes to finally find that pernicious sliver of glass, but now all is well. anyway, i racked up 184 miles on two wheels in three rides (okay, four rides, but one was just 9 miles, due to impending dark and that recurrent puncture, so it doesn't really count). roughly half of my week's miles took place during one day when i looped cayuga lake and then rode lead bike at a local race. sunday (the start of this week), i rode to the site of a trail race where i worked the finish line, which concluded with the most brutal hill i've ever ridden up -- the worst of it was only two miles long, but it included sections with 20% grade! it nearly did me in, but i made it! going home, i popped the bike in the back of my husband's car to go down that dangerous hill, but then rode the rest of the way back home (67 miles total, including a late-in-the-day hill that was only a mile at 9% grade -- piece of cake ;-) if the weather cooperates reasonably well, i hope to loop seneca lake this week, which will be just short of 100 miles if i start/end at home.
ah, range of motion: in an earlier life i was a dancer. now i'm a runner. need i say more?
L2B, i also have a heck of a time inflicting therapeutic self-hurt, but i do try to dig at angry bits of tendon and muscle as much as i can. i just wish i could do it more effectively.
mopak, your running adventures sound so delightful that they almost make up for the lack of sleep and all that driving.
sacto, i also have no direct advice, but do send you healing wishes. i agree with AK-53 that pushing no harder than what your body indicates is key, since it doesn't need any additional stressors now. if that means a short jog or just a walk, so be it.
AK-53, congrats on that age-graded win!
Thanks for all the thoughts. I'll definitely miss running the worlds (been looking forward to it for 4 years). The Dr. has said just run how I feel and to maybe take an extra rest day. She's a runner as well so her advice has been helpful. Even though I've been coaching for over 25 years this is still unchartered waters for me.
On another topic, has anyone used Athlinks? Someone emailed me a link and I see they have a bunch of races (a race aggragator), but are missing many races, even recent ones with results online. Was thinking about requesting to add races with my results, but was wondering what the collective LR experience is.
I am not endorsing or condemning the site, just looking for additional info.
Thanks.
One Bump
LI Runner wrote:
On another topic, has anyone used Athlinks?
Yep...I'm a member. I like it. Don't log in much but it's kind of cool to check out what others have done in races. Most races get added automatically but they have added some results that I have requested.
Dave
SactoMaster wrote:
Anyone ever got in shape after radiation treatment? I'm undergoing treatment right now and will miss the Worlds, even though I live in Sacramento. Wondering if anyones been through this and how long it took to get back in shape.
Sorry to hear you have to go through with this. Though I don't have personal experience to share, at least you know it's been done before.
Out of curiousity, doesn't the doctor know what to advise?
The Dr. is a runner (not serious) and has told me the basics: listen to your body and don't overdo it. I just wanted to see if anyone had come back from radiation treatment and how long it took and were they ever their old selves? It's also hard being over 50 to gauge exactly how fast to come back. At any rate, when the next runner over 50 goes through this I can then help them.
SactoMaster wrote:
The Dr. is a runner (not serious) and has told me the basics: listen to your body and don't overdo it. I just wanted to see if anyone had come back from radiation treatment and how long it took and were they ever their old selves? It's also hard being over 50 to gauge exactly how fast to come back. At any rate, when the next runner over 50 goes through this I can then help them.
Of course Lance Armstrong wasn't over 50 and also not as a runner, but he did return to a pretty high level of fitness after his ordeal.
LI Runner wrote:
On another topic, has anyone used Athlinks? Someone emailed me a link and I see they have a bunch of races (a race aggragator), but are missing many races, even recent ones with results online. Was thinking about requesting to add races with my results, but was wondering what the collective LR experience is.
Like Dave, I look at it from time to time, and I do have a profile on there, but I don't try to make sure it has all the races on there. I think I asked them to add one race once, and they did. About all I know.
Spikez, thanks for the input on RoM. Made me go back and review some of the Magill posts on Running Times. There's is just such a wealth of info at Running Times. Sometimes it's hard to digest.
Mopak, As usual, just reading about your week makes me tired. Man you get around!
Racerdb, glad to hear that your calf issue was probably just a cramp. I'll look forward to hearing how your summer 5k's go.
NLS, sounds like you're finding plenty of adventures on the bike...try not to have too much fun. ;-)
Good to hear so many of you getting your miles in as the summer (at least for the northern hemisphere) gets started. I've actually started to put a little tread to the road this week, so things are looking up. Knee's fine, so long as I keep it flat.
Again, Sacto, I hope that you can find some good information. Most the people that I've known that have beaten cancer have been able to return to a normal exercise routine, but none of them I would consider serious trainers...they mostly just exercsied for fitness.
Best Wishes.
74 miles, mostly EZ except one good track workout,
and a hard 12 miler followed by barefoot sprints on grass.
Besides the fun of running like a kid again,
barefootin' really seems to help coordination at all speeds.
I thought I was no longer able to sprint (as it were), but had only forgotten.
So range of motion: it seems to be unchanged, even though, like Racerdb
I hardly ever stretch. And can't, even if I try, I am so inflexible.
Like Dave (and Carol) say, it's too late baby, now it's too late...
**********************************
Week 5
**********************************
Greetings all. Well, as I indicated in my previous message, I did step back on the asphalt this week, and ran 5 days, albeit short and mostly easy. Totalled 20 miles, 4 miles each on SMWFS. I did test myself a little on Wednesday (6:55 pace for all four miles) and Saturday (6:00 pace for 2.3 of the 4 miles), just to see what the knee felt like when I picked up the pace, and it was surprisingly OK. Again, the caveat being that I've been keeping it flat and level (no hills or uneven surfaces.) So now I must decide how much to up it in the coming week, and whether I risk actually running the 4th of July 10k race; a race I've run each of the past 5 years. I know I'm not ready for it, so it wouldn't be rewarding as far as time is concerned. I'm not much for entering races "just to run it"; If I'm in it, I want to run my hardest. Probably the prudent thing is to just put the racing aside until I feel I'm physically able (just rationalizing with myself here.)...but I'm feeling an irrational urge. Any thoughts?
I've continued to do the rehab exercises and they are helping, and in doing those exercises, I've come to the undeniable conclusion that regardless of everything else, I'm just plain weak in the hips. Probably the result of too many years sitting in front of a computer terminal and not enough whole-body activity. I have been working my core, but if I'm honest about it, it's not been enough to offset all the years of neglect. I'll save that for another thread.
That's where I'm at this first weekend of the summer: just trying to get back to normal. So what are your summer (or winter, for you down under) plans? I know several of you are gearing up for worlds in Sacramento....that's exciting. On a related note, Pete Magill is now 50 (I shoulda mentioned this last week, and Pete, if you're reading this, Happy belated B-day to you), which means some age-group records are sure to fall shortly.
OK. That's all I got. Hope everyone's in a good place.
L2B that sounds pretty aggressive for coming back from injury.
In your situation I would just ask, "can it handle 2 miles shuffling and be ok the next day?" Yes? then 4 miles, etc. For me it doesn't matter much if my knee or any other problem spot can handle a particular workout. It might, and then be inflamed the next day. The important question is if it can handle the day-after-day, which is a long gentle dialogue, not a test. Sometimes the irritation is transitory, and lessens over time with consistent running (scar tissue breakdown?) or at least becomes more predictable.
I have to admit core work is probably a good idea. Usually I just run, but my wife has shamed me into doing pushups (by doing more than I can) and that is core work which, along with the barefoot strides seems to make the jalopy rattle a bit less.
Sactomaster, the most inspirational story I know is Mark Conover,
who was my classmate at Humboldt State. He won the 1988 Olympic trials marathon, and then won a fight against Hodgkins. He is now a successful coach at Cal Poly SLO.
My week was 60 miles with one good track workout:
5:11, 3:49, 3:15, 2:31, 1:52, 69, 31.
Raced a 5k today 16:37 hot and humid, not bad.
Last race before Sacramento.
lucKY2b wrote:
Probably the prudent thing is to just put the racing aside until I feel I'm physically able (just rationalizing with myself here.)...
You said it best, L2b... Listen to your own advice! There is always another race another day...
Looking forward to seeing your results in Sacramento msr...
Had a good week here...75 miles, three nice steady 10-11 mile runs just under 7:00, got after Saturdays Prog 13, working down from 6:56 to 6:03.
Pretty much the same for next week except we'll add a 3 mile tempo on Tuesday.
Kind of funny story about Saturdays run...I wanted to run alone this weekend rather than get up earlier to run with my training partner. He did the last 13 of his 15 miler alone in 1:23:49; I did mine in 1:23:51. Nearly identical times and a very similar progression. And we never discussed our workouts ahead of time. Weird...
All the Best,
Dave
msr wrote:
L2B that sounds pretty aggressive for coming back from injury.
In your situation I would just ask, "can it handle 2 miles shuffling and be ok the next day?" Yes? then 4 miles, etc. For me it doesn't matter much if my knee or any other problem spot can handle a particular workout. It might, and then be inflamed the next day. The important question is if it can handle the day-after-day, which is a long gentle dialogue, not a test. Sometimes the irritation is transitory, and lessens over time with consistent running (scar tissue breakdown?) or at least becomes more predictable.
Thanks msr and racerdb, yeah I pretty much eschewed any ideas of racing anytime soon. Maybe in a month. I hear you loud and clear about not being too aggressive, and believe me, these runs have not been bad. Going up stairs immediately following the runs has been more painful as the knee tightens and stiffens, but then it feels back to what it's been within a couple of hours. The next day, I've not sensed any residual effects from the previous day's run. In fact, I can easily convince myself it's feeling better, but then I unwittingly go up some stairs too fast, and it reminds me I'm not whole. Reflecting on these ruminations, I do agree that it's best to remain cautious, so I don't think that I will up my mileage from last week.
msr, I second racerdb's wishes on a successful adventure out to Sacramento. Same goes to Spikez. Not sure who else of our regulars is in. I'll look forward to some great reports next week!
When you're 53 every week seems like a recovery week, or on the other side last week always seems like a hard week.
It took 5 or 6 days to feel better after the 10K last week, but I still got in a mile's worth of mile pace (400, 800, 400) on Thursday and on Saturday did a 7 mile trail run (plus warm up and cool down) with my son and two high school kids I'm coaching. We cruised at a medium effort for 5.5 miles and then I let the faster one's go, but not faster than 6:00 mile effort to the finish. Sort of borrowed from malmo's concept of "tempo" runs, which are slower than Daniels' tempo runs.
Was bummed to hear about Ric Sayre, a distant cousin. He was a good guy and a great marathon runner in his day. I met him at CIM years ago and we sort of kept in touch, but not often enough. We can't take things for granted anymore, can we?
Closed out the week with cycling today because my knee was hurting, so 40 miles running and 1 hr cycling.
Missed a couple of days last week as my body finally rebelled against the recent lack of sleep. Scratchy throat from the sunday race gradually worsened on the sunday night shift. By tuesday had a good old fashioned URTI.
Actually slept a massive 12hrs on thursday and was well enough to run a favourite 24km loop, very slowly.
Biked steep trails and kyakked friday.
Kyakked sat.am. then rode an hour through forest to one of our trail races, did 3k warmup run and rolled around the 6.5+km race tracking the lead over 40 women in around 27m. Winner only ran 20.++ and he's a 14.20 guy!
I was 5th in o/50s,the winner Trevor ran mid 24s. He has dropped 7kgs since the summer, I was keeping up with him back then. My legs were pretty weary from thurs run and from the bike so I was happy enough. I was about 30-40secs behind my usual rivals.
Yesterday I did a 50+ mins on a steep bit of trail. Threw in some hill drills (bounding/hopping/skipping/high knees) during the first 1/2.
Also rode the bike into work from about 12kms out. Back again on the bike at 10pm.
Today I stopped 1/2 way home from work about 4pm and ran over some rugged trails above the local goldmine. Pretty rough rocky and steep for the first 50mins. Getting cold and dark on the east side of the range so the last 1/2 mostly on smoother trails. 98mins all up.
a good week for me on the bike: just shy of 300 miles (293) in five rides. how'd i do that? with back-to-back days of 70 them 98 miles, averaging about 17 mph and strategically not placing myself beneath any of the numerous scattered thunderstorms. for the long ride i enjoyed a lovely tailwind for the first half, so you can guess what i encountered on the second half. not surprisingly, i positive splitted by a bunch, but felt good other than a couple of sore big toes the last 12 miles or so, which revived quite nicely after i got out of the cycling shoes and into the shower. this coming week will also include only five days in the saddle and likely fewer miles: yesterday was a rest day, and all day saturday will be spent volunteering at the local ultra -- what was going to be my season's goal race. *sigh*
more good news is that, now that it's been 4.5 weeks since incurring the metatarsal stress fracture, i am finally feeling significant improvement in my foot. this makes me hopeful that i'll be able to try running in one more month.
... which leads me to answering the weekly topic: summer goal is to retain cardiovascular fitness on the bike and, in late july, carefully resume running, combining this gradual restart with the opportunity to focus on form by going strictly minimalist. the fall's goal is to get ready for xc, especially since the USATF 5K master's race will be held just two hours from home and my club has a fast woman aging up to 50 this summer, which will give us three strong contenders (if we're all healthy!) plus several displacers. i'll also register for a november 50 miler and see if i'm ready for it when it rolls around.