50+ Masters Training and Racing Open Forum

Late to the Sub 5 party but wanna play.

First was 4:51 in 10th grade season opener 1976 (was 5:01! season ender 1975)

Last was 4:55 M53 Pepsi Invite Hayward Field 2013.

I kept the metric-mile under if converted - 4:35 1500 M55 2015.

A debatably 41 years since first time.

If I dig up my logs I can see how many years total under 5:00 but already know I missed a few opportunities living in Korea, The Netherlands, or running 20 Marathons for some crazy reason.

Fun game.

KP

amkelley wrote:

The final week before my half-marathon on Sunday isn't looking as bad as I had feared. I ran 10.5 miles on Tuesday and 10.7 miles today, both at about 9 min/mile pace, feeling quite comfortable and with my heel feeling quite good.

Hooray! You have done a great job of maintaining fitness. Enjoy the race.

*Week 334*

Greetings, 50+ers! Thinking about amkelley racing this morning after a challenging fall of training, hope all goes well. Also, thinking of my friends running NYCM and Marshall Marathon today; had a bunch of buddies run the Monumental Marathon (and Half) in Indy yesterday: PR's and BQ's abounded. And wow, there were some solid race reports from last week on this thread, 15K championships, OGII, KP, MikeL...others? Kudos to all! Love the 5-minute mile discussion. My first sub-5 was as a HS sophomore (March, 1975) at age 15. Sadly, I don't have a legitimate old-man mile PR; closest is a 1500m in 4:40.0 at age 50, which converts to 5-flat...and some tenths, so never quite got back there.

OK, on to the week, where I did make some progress. Managed 25 miles on 5 days; no real workouts, just a lot of easy-to-moderate efforts. Log looks as such:

Sun: 5.0 moderate (7:38 pace after first mile)

Mon: Off

Tue: 4.1 w/3rd mile sub-7

Wed: Off

Thu: 6.0 easy-to-moderate (8:03/mi out, 7:31/mi back)

Fri: 5.2 easy (8:11/mi)

Sat: 4.7 easy-to-moderate (7:42/m) took a breather at 3, after a push in the middle.

My only comment is that I've been completely gassed anytime I try to exert effort; I've had to stop a few times just to catch my breath after a strenuous hill, or trying to run sub-7 pace. I'm sure some of that is weight, but I feel I've lost some mental toughness, too. I think being so far off where I'm used to being has wreaked havoc on my fortitude. We'll start hills this Tuesday over at Masterson Station where the Club XC will be held. Hope I can make some progress this month, or it's going to be a long, slow, painful day come December 9th. Oh, and yes, the knee is holding up...not 100%, but manageable.

That's it from me for this week. I hope your November is off to a good start. Whatd'ya got?

All the Best!

Greetings, friends. Five weeks since my last run, and I am finally seeing a little improvement -- walked down the stairs almost normally a couple times this week. I need to do better with my prescribed exercises. I should be making time twice a day, but it's been more like once every other day.

I'm looking forward to reading some race reports!

My non-running news this week: My son's wife gave birth to our first grandchild Friday night. 8 pounds, 10 ounces. A handsome little guy!

"Look at Mills! Look at Mills!" an ebullient Dick Bank yelled at the very top of his lungs from the NBC announcing booth perched high above the Tokyo Olympic Stadium. Mills' surprise gold medal at those 1964 Games remains, to this day, one of THE most iconic moments in USA track and field history.

As a nearly 50 year collector of track & field ephemera (the 'archives' includes every single issue of T&F News since Volume 1, Number 1 circa 1948 along with 2500 meet programs covering 120 years of the sport) one of the very few pieces that has eluded me for decades was the 'athletics day 1' program from '64....the day of Billy's epic triumph. Over the years I had successfully collected days 2 through 8, but try as I may, the one that the archives sought the most was MIA.

Alas, courtesy of a collector on the European continet, the 1964 Billy Mills 'missing link' from that Tokyo Olympiad, arrived safely to this track nerd's collection early this week. And THAT was surely the highlight of these past 7 days here in track geek heaven.

Oh, and I managed to claw my way to a 40 mile weekly tally...6 on vineyard dirt, 5 on pot-holed agrarian country roads and 29 on the local high school track while looking at splits at every single furlong...that'd total 232 split times for the week ;}

I genuinely hope that your week was more exciting than mine.

Your pal,

MF

PS did you know that NBC actually fired Dick Bank during those Tokyo Olympics for his 'unprofessional' demeanor and lack of 'impartiality' during the closing stages of that storied 10,000 meter race call?

Looking forward to seeing you in KY LuKY2b. Especially once the 10k pain-dance over fell and dale is done. That's how I feel about this long distance sport!

Happy Dad this weekend. Son made it to NAIA Nationals as he was #5 man on the toughest team to make - Southern Oregon University - at CCC Champs yesterday in Eastern OR. They defend their title at Ft Vancouver WA - Tailgate!!!!

Happy Coach this weekend. Grant HS Girls 10th; Boys 13th; Top Girl Border Clash Invite at Oregon State Meet yesterday.

Happy Masters fool with a 60mile week including 40min tempo at 6:45pace and LSD run.

Go well to all y'all.

KP

Best wishes on the continued improvement LucKy2b. I need a break two from time to time, and it is also most likely can be attributed to body composition.

Allen1959, a PT and a sports orthopedist assisted my recovery from almost a decade of frustration. Tons of PT, more time on that then running.

Also thinking of amkelley, she has inspired me to try a half this coming spring.

Good week of running volume 35+ with walking 40+. That is probably a 6-7 year high of weight bearing volume. Several doubles, seem to be tolerating pavement runnning, which never used to be an issue.

Monday: AM- 2 miles easy; 6 x 200m good speed / 100m easy; 400m easy; 3 x 400m good swing / 200m easy; mile easy; PM- 2 mile walk

Tuesday: 3 mile walk

Wednesday: AM- 2 miles easy; mile tempo @ 7:57 / 2:00 rest; 2 miles tempo @ 16:05 / 2:00 rest; mile tempo @ 7:43; mile easy; PM- 3 miles easy @ 9:34 / mile

Thursday: 3 miles easy / walk

Friday: 5 miles easy @ 9:33 / mile

Saturday: AM- 11 miles @ 9:17 / mile ( last mile 8:43) ; PM- 3 miles easy / walk

Sunday: TBD, easy day, 3-7 miles after marathon

Igy

congratulations Granddad! very exciting news. also exciting to see NYC marathon this morning -- terrific win for Shalane Flanagan -- who let out an "f....yeah" near the line if my lip-reading skilz are intact. easy week for me incl.: M 1:30 double Tu 45:00 W 1:20 x-training Th 40:00 run, 45:00 x-training F 50 run, 40 x-training Sa 60 run, 45 x-training Su 1:15 run, 45 x-training volunteered at races Saturday and Sunday - always fun and much less nerve-wracking than racing. have a great week, Dave

Allen1959 wrote:

My non-running news this week: My son's wife gave birth to our first grandchild Friday night. 8 pounds, 10 ounces. A handsome little guy!

Week 3 52 minutes 36/16 LT/VO2

Nov 1 26 minutes 16/10(5,2,2,1) up 3 mile steep hill

Nov 5 26 minutes 20/6 (2,2,2) sand dunes on the ridge barefoot felt GREAT

Been a year since I rekindled the relationship with my old flame running. She is a demanding tempermental selfish b&*ch and I love her.

A mostly positive fortnight since my last post, but not without a little drama. The first Wednesday I had an appointment with my chiro for some Graston on the right calf. She worked on both sets on hams, calves, and Achilles, and made an observation that my right (troublesome) calf was noticeably smaller and weaker than the left. She recommended some strengthening and proprioception exercises which I began that day. The next day's jog started as the most fluid and comfortable I had had in some time, but calf issues resurfaced after about 37'. Slowing down didn’t help as it usually does, so I walked the half mile back home. I believe this calf issue was due to overdoing the previous day's exercises and not to the earlier issues.

Since then I have restructured the calf strengthening exercises with good results. After a three day break from jogging, I have resumed the gradual increase in volume with no major issues. In fact, the last two jogs had absolutely none of the occasional calf tightness or cramping that I had experienced in recent months. Fingers crossed.

Sun1: 35' jog

Mon1: golf (walk9/ride9), 85

Tues1: 41' jog

Wed1: chiro, calf strengthening ex

Thu1: 37' jog, 0.5mi walk

Fri1: golf (walk9), 48

Sat1: off

Sun2: off

Mon2: 32' jog

Tues2: golf (walk9/ride9), 96

Wed2: 35' jog; golf (walk9/ride9), 94

Thu2: off

Fri:w 40' jog; 10mi bike

Sat2: 2mi walk

Sun3: 46' jog

Best to all!

Bit of advise please.

I'm a 50 yo runner and plan to run my 1st indoor race ever next week.

It's a mile, I'm running it as a baseline to get a marker with intentions to hopefully run sub 5 and sub 10 for 3000 early next year.

Any tips for tackling an indoor mile, I'm assuming don't get stuck to far off the inside, pass on the straights if that's an option, anything else?

This was the week I attempted to run my first race in 6 months on my injured Achilles. Race day magic still works!

Conditions were fine—mostly cloudy with peeks of sun, temps in the low 50s, somewhat breezy. My first goal was to beat my personal worst, 1:57 in my first HM as an overweight and clueless 23-year-old. I was pretty confident of that one. My second goal was to get under 1:50, which I thought might be a stretch. I achieved both, with some time to spare—1:47:57 for 10th woman overall (out of 461 female finishers) and 1st in my age group. It’s the slowest HM I’ve run on roads since age 30, but not much slower than several of my races a couple of years ago.

I took off running with the 1:50 pacer but decided after about half a mile that it felt too slow and decided to ease on ahead, trusting that my body would find the right pace. I was doing just fine until about the 11-mile mark, when my calves started to cramp. I had to slow down considerably over the final two miles to avoid going into terminal cramps and having to stop completely. I stopped two steps past the finish line, hobbled the half-mile back to my car, and spent about 10 minutes trying to remove my racing shoes and put on my heel-chopped-out walking and driving shoes, being continually interrupted by massive calf cramps. Once I got the shoes changed and resumed walking, though, I was OK. I barely noticed my bad heel during the race but now it’s getting pretty sore and I'm not looking forward to tomorrow morning.

So, I declare victory. I feel I ran as well as I could given the kind of shape I’d been able to train myself into. Aerobically I felt great, but my leg muscles gave up before the end. If I could just put in more running training to get my legs back in shape, I think I’d be good.

I recorded the NYC marathon while I was at the race this morning. I know Shalane won, and now I’m looking forward to watching the highlights!

your personal victory made me smile just as much if not more than Shalane's did, amkelley

...extraordinarily well done...bravo!

MF

Tough running, good job amkelley...

Igy

Good race amkelley, Way to tough it out. Hope the recovery is quick.

I got back to my normal mileage, 25.4 miles but I'm still running pretty slow. Trying to get 2 decent runs in a week.

Mon: 3.4 miles run/walk in37 min

Tue: 7 miles in 69 mins

Wed: 2.6 miles run/walk in 28 min

Thu: 3 miles in 27 min

Fri:off

Sat: 7.3 miles on trails with friends in 73 min

Great to see Shalane win NYC. Hope everyone has a good week.

I really enjoy hearing everyone's news - races, good training, new grandchildren --nice to hear! Congratulations to all!.

My son was discharged from the hospital and is doing much better but has been warned to take it easy and build up strength. In other words, no burning the candle at both ends as he tends to do, but don't all 23 year olds? I check in with him daily and he is following doctor's orders. What a relief!

So back to training. I joined a new gym and have a couple of workout buddies. We meet 3 times a week and hammer ourselves on the treadmill, weights, and running track. I'm enjoying (in a weird way) the feeling of aching sore muscles. It's like a badge of honor to wince in pain as I sit down on the toilet. Runners are strange....

Workouts last week: Monday - rowing machine and weights, Tuesday - 5 miles with 6x100 strides at the end, Wednesday - weights and 3 quick miles on treadmill, Thursday - Yoga and swimming laps, Friday - rest, Saturday - a ladder on the track consisting of 400, 300, 200. 150, 100, 50, then 4x30m hills. Today, church, brunch, and chores.

Lovely fall weather continues, and Shalane F. 's victory makes this old runner smile in delight.

Have a good week ahead!

Phoenix,

Our son had a bad mountain bike accident at a similar age. Had to be life flighted out of the foothills north of Boise. Concussion and three days in ICU, six in the hospital. Not a call a parent ever expects and yet always fears. Glad to hear of his recovery. Son rarely bikes any more.

Igy

SpikePlate wrote:

Bit of advise please.

I'm a 50 yo runner and plan to run my 1st indoor race ever next week.

It's a mile, I'm running it as a baseline to get a marker with intentions to hopefully run sub 5 and sub 10 for 3000 early next year.

Any tips for tackling an indoor mile, I'm assuming don't get stuck to far off the inside, pass on the straights if that's an option, anything else?

In the likelihood that the race is mostly youngsters (under 30), plan to start in the back and let them go as sprint out the first 3-400. I also recommend that if you have to pass in the first half mile (probably not often), it can be easier and more efficient on the curves (especially on a banked track) as everybody tends to speed up on the straights anyway, and they will tend to fight a la muerte if you pass on the straights early. Towards the end of the race, not so much, just go when you need to.