50+ Masters Training and Racing Open Forum

It was another positive week on Revovery Road. Despite its relative brevity, Sunday’s jog was considered a success as it was the second run of my first back-to-back days in many months. I’m still wearing the calf sleeve over a Ben Gay enhanced calf, but that may changed soon. On only one day was there seemingly a slight hint of some calf twinges, but it may very well have been my imagination.

Sun: 42' jog, body wt ex

Mon: golf (walk9/ride9) 93

Tues: 53' jog, body wt ex

Wed: golf (walk9/ride9) 90

Thu: 52' jog, body wt ex

Fri: golf (walk9/ride9) 92

Sat: off

Best to all! Good luck with your turkey trots (if applicable).

Lots of good running and reports this week. Congrats on the belated record ratification so cal, and nice age group win not half fast.

8.5 hours of training, but nothing great to report from the highlands. Did 3X 8 min threshold with pick ups before and after on Tuesday. Some speed on Thursday with 4X 75 sec on the turf, at about as fast as I could go before you'd call it a 'sprint' (I am physically incapable of sprinting). Ran an okay 5K the other day lowish 18s, but that'd be warm up pace for the likes of some. You do what you can and plug along.

Mike Lundgren, just to say how much I enjoyed the LetsRun write up on your 3rd place in the NYC marathon prediction contest...and neat that you too were at those Paris Worlds...incredible meet. Got to spend a couple of days chatting with Ron Clarke at that one...priceless.

At any rate...very cool...well done sir.

best

MF

Mon. 1 hr 10 min hilly hike with weighted vest (15 kg).

Tue. 8 km run 44 min. (35 deg C.) 20 min kayak on fast river. 34 min. mountain bike ride.

Wed. 1 hr 48 min hike (12 km) brisk with short slow jogs.

31 min. mountain bike ride. 27 min. kayak.

Thu. A very damp 8.4 km forest run 48 min.

Fri. A fast hour on the mountain bike.

Sat. Hilly 16 km run 1 hr 30 min.

37 min kayak.

Sun. Hilly 15.5 km trail run in 1 hr 35 min.

Pretty much just ticking over during the week. The legs still a bit fatigued from 4 Peaks.

I picked up the work rate a bit on the weekend.

KP wrote:

Thanks for the Club Nats 10k Map LucKY2b. I'll be looking forward to 1-red lap to go 20 days from now. I shall hope I'm fit enough, and smart enough, to race like Cinncy 2007 when we had 35F wet snow and KP-patience for 4.5 miles. 16th in M45 was the best I've done at Club Nats. Now we go again in M55 with the same tough generation only 10 years wiser.

Had to look up the results of 2007. Looks like you were about 34 sec ahead of me. I think that was my first race with a Masters Club Team. It was a rude awakening to how tough 10K of muddy xc running is...and how many good Masters runners there are. I came into the race thinking I was a tough guy and all...I ran several 10K's that year in the mid 34's. Well, that course chewed me up and spit me out about 4 minutes slower than I was running on the roads. Sucked bad and humbled me good!

So with that being said, I'm banking on the older, wiser, patient route in Lexington. I hope someone shoots me if I'm under 6:00 for the first mile.

My week went alright. 51+ miles. I'm seeing a slight turn for the better but I'm not going to do anything much other than just maintain the rest of the way out. Knowing how fragile I am these days I'm not doing anything stupid this year. My only goal is to get to the starting line in three weeks mostly healthy!

M: 6 Miles in 46:26 [7:44 per mile]

T: am: 6.45 Miles in 53:52 [8:21 per mile] pm:3 Miles in 21:12 [7:04 per mile] with 5x60 sec

W: 7.56 Miles in 59:16 [7:50 per mile]

T: 7.98 Miles in 1:03:34 [7:57 per mile]

F: 4.29 Miles in 34:14 [7:58 per mile]

S: 10 Miles in 1:10:01 [7:00 per mile] Alternated 7:30/6:31 miles on the treadmill

S: 4 Miles Easy

This week maybe just a few strides and a 10K race on Turkey Day. Looks like my all time personal worse road 10K of 38:14 could go down. Guess thats my goal. 38:13!

Have a good week,

Dave

Dave... I hope I'm behind you for 6 miles at Club Nats. If i am so fit and wise to do so that is.

KP

KP wrote:

Dave... I hope I'm behind you for 6 miles at Club Nats. If i am so fit and wise to do so that is.

KP

I would be honored to get outkicked by you. I think we would both have pretty good days if it comes down to that! :>)

Dave

Got to see Cush run that fantastic race in person!

Really fun XC races this weekend. I love XC when others are doing it, but am very happy to not run it myself, anymore. The team thing was a great deal of fun. The distance and terrain were difficult.

2 weeks ago , ran 26.5 miles for the week with;

Tues - 10 x 400 averaging 1:39, and 45 sec rec.

Sat - 3x hill in 1:58.7, 2:00.9, and 2:02.1

This week was 24.5 with:

Tues 2 x 1 mile in 6:15 and 6:14 plus 2 x 400 in 87 and 84

Sat 3 x hill in 1:57.8, 1:55.7 and 1:54.6

Have a race next weekend, so decided to pick up this week's workouts a little for a mild cram.

Good running to all!

M: swimming 1000m.

T: 7 miles.

W: 11 miles. (5th-10th miles @ 7:53-7:47-7:41-7:35-7:30-7:30)

R; 7 miles.

F: 7 miles.

SA: 7 miles.

SU: 16.7 miles. (The last 10 miles @ 8:05-8:06-8:03-8:05-8:00-8:00-7:54-7:56-7:56-7:49)

So I cut back from 70miles to 55+ as I prepare for a marathon in 2 weeks. Wednesday's progression on a treadmill felt fine, but Sunday's run on the road was a bit disappointing. Maybe it was the weather, but maybe I was not fully recovered from the 20 miler from the previous Sunday. Maybe I need to space hard workouts a bit more as I get older. I cannot change it now for this training cycle, but something to think about for future.

USATF 2007 race day was like running in a Slurppy or ice cream freeze. Mud, cold frozen slush. As soon as I crossed the finish I sat down. Done. Beat.

Igy

Pretty Pleased 'cause I'm sore! from 8x800 (400 rest) in spikes for final workout Pre-XC Nats in KY all in neg splits from 3:10 to 2:45. Had to... 'cause it was during Shalane Flanagan and Allison Craig's photo shoot on the same track. I do work at a cool place. Oh yeah... as i walked to parking lot I had to excuse myself as i cut through the entire UNC basketball team in town for a campus tour and PK 80.

All the best to Turkey Trotters tomorrow and War Damn Eagle fanatics like my late (alumni) Dad and his raised family.

KP

Cool story KP and thanks for the shout-out MikeF. My wife and I have had some great travel experiences, such would have liked to go to Worlds this year and seen our past co-worker Courtney Frerichs win that 3000m steeple Silver Medal, but did have the privilege of working alongside her in her college days and see the continuous progression of her talents. From a 15 mile/week high school senior that finished somewhere in the 40's or so at state cross country champs, to NCAA Champ/Olympian/Silver Medalist/Bowerman Track Club member, wow what a progression for a girl from Nixa Missouri.

So my wife and I ran our local TT, which our GGRS stores sponsor. Pretty hilly course, certified, but last race of the year to score points in our annual KCTC Race Series. By my calc, I needed at least a 5th place finish and the 2 points with it, to win my age group for the year. What did I get? Fifth place finish and 2 points! One of the two guys that had been 10 points behind me going into it did show up, did win, did pick up 10 points. So he finished 2 behind me, if I have reviewed the races' results correctly. He went 4 for 4 on winning races that he raced, just that I ran in more races than he. If you can't be fast, be slow and regular? My stunning time was 25:41, and 13 seconds slower than 2 weeks ago, but again on a hilly course. That pumpkin pie to all us finishers never tasted so sweet! Ha! Just hope my calculations and reviews are correct and I don't get knocked down a peg or two. My wife was given 2nd in age group, but we have doubts about the 1st placer being correct, so will wait and see.

Best wishes to all XC Club Nat's runners, sounds like great fun, wish we were there!

*Week 337*

Greetings, 50+ers! No preamble today, since there's a bunch of stuff at the end. It was not a good week, as I continue to sputter (putter?) along. Managed a meager 15+ miles and it wasn't pretty.

Sun: Off

Mon: 2.6 (~8:20/mi) 2x1.3 Running to/from work w/light pack

Tue: 5.2 (9:03/mi) Easy XC running

Wed: 3.2 (7:44/mi) Tweaked my knee again (dammit), opted out of the T-day race. :-(

Thu: Off, worked the race, on my feet from 6am-1pm, knee got very stiff

Fri: Off, spent the day trying to coax my knee into behaving, semi-successful

Sat: 4.1 (7:15/mi moving pace) 2x1+2x.6

This is not good. My left knee is not healthy. Maybe running XC was not a good plan on Tuesday, the tall grass and mole tracks meant there was a lot of unnatural lateral movement. I'll have to address this at some point. It does feel better when I run with some pace, so Saturday, I ran faster than I can maintain until I got gassed, then would stop for 30s or so, then run some more, hence 2x1,2x.6 (averaged 7:00 pace for those sections.) By then it loosened up enough that I could at least run the last mile home easy, but it immediately stiffened up when I got home. In two weeks you'll be seeing me on the course bringing up the rear, probably limping into the finish, but I'll be out there.

Speaking of the course, here's a brief preview (you know where to find the maps.) Lot's of rolling hills, but no monster climbs. The whole course lies between elevations 858 ft and 912 ft. We'll need to climb roughly that elevation difference (or a few feet fewer) 5 times during the course of the race, once steeply (>7% grade), 4 times more gradually (3-5% grade). We do the longer white loop first, followed by two red loops. The race starts and finishes at the pinnacle of the course, so it's gonna be a fast start as we head down the hill to the lower soccer fields. Around the soccer fields is flat and should be fast, assuming it stays dry, because if it's wet, it will be slick on the south side of the fields. After leaving the soccer fields, we'll hit a section that has a decent left-leaning slant to it for the next while for all three loops. Near the end of this section, on the first loop, it takes a jog back up a fairly steep hill to the start (this is the one steep climb) only to turn back to the left to zoom back down the hill to the lowest point before heading over to the back loop (more on the back loop later.) For the other two loops, it doesn't jog up the hill but will veer left then right down an outward sloped sharp right turn that is dirt and may be slick. If there is a spot on the course where there are wipe-outs, this is probably it. Once negotiated, though, it'll be flat and fast all the way until it meets up with the white loop with a sharp right turn for the long undulating climb (there will be three of them) back up to the course start/finish. On the back loop, there is a fairly long steady climb up along the park's edge that reaches the same elevation as the start and it could be slick in spots if wet, but the footing is generally good. Once you reach the peak nearest the prison hospital, there is a nice long downhill section where you can make up some time before meeting up with the red loop for the climb back to the start/finish. So if the course is dry, this will be a fast course (but not for me, lol;) if it's wet, though, there could be a lot of slipping and sliding in spots. Finally, there are a few section that are riddled with mole tracks, not sure how that'll affect speed, but it is something to be mindful of. OK, that's my course preview. Hope it's helpful.

What's happening in your world this week? Props to MikeL on winning his series AG with his TT race. Any more turkey trots to report?

All the Best!

Sorry to hear about your knee woes, lucKY2b. I used to love running trails, but now I stay on smooth paved surfaces. Recovery at this age is tough enough.

Another good week. Finally tossed aside the calf sleeve and the Ben Gay. Volume and intensity is naturally increasing. Survived another b2b days. Fingers crossed.

Sun: 52' jog, body wt ex

Mon: golf (walk9/ride9), 91

Tues: 53' jog, body wt ex

Wed: 51' jog, body wt ex

Thu: off (volunteered at local TT)

Fri: 58' jog, body wt ex

Sat: 2mi walk

Best to all!

lucKY2b get that knee better and thanks for your work. MileL also congrats on winning your series. Look forward to hearing from others as well.

We had an interesting running week weather wise pouring rain Friday, freezing temps Saturday, but fortunately a great Thursday. The largest and most competitive race in Boise is the Turkey Day 5k. There were 4,000 participants with the winner taking it in 14:52 with race temperatures in the low 50s. I really wanted to break 23:00 and hit the official time just under at 22:57 and an AG win. The GPS showed the course about 150m long, I hit GPS 5k in 22:31 with miles of 7:15, 7:11 and 7:19. I am tending to race the last third thinking I am going to knot up and I don’t. Recovered about a minute after the race. Pleased with the progress of dropping over 2 minutes in the 5k this year. I guess running more helps, at least for me. Enough gloating, my week:

Monday: 2 miles easy; 4 x 250m good speed / 150m easy; 400m easy; 4 x 350m good swing / 150m easy; mile easy

Tuesday: 2 miles walk/easy

Wednesday: 2 miles easy

Thursday: 2 miles easy; 4 x strides; 5k race; 2 miles easy/walk

Friday: 4 miles easy

Saturday: AM- 12 miles in the foothills with 1,200 elevation gain, 2,800 feet to 4,000 feet @ 10:30/mile, best mile was last at 8:51; PM- 3 miles easy/walk

Have a good week and best wishes for those racing in Kentucky or elsewhere.

Igy

Hope all ye had a great Thanksgiving.

Thanks for the Club Nats Course details LucKY2b. Reads like a book on "good advice for how-to race 10k XC for middle-distance runners".

Turkey Trot 5k up and over 2 Willamette River bridges in the wind and rain in 18:50. I'll take it as splits were 6:07-6:10-5:58. Bigger confidence bonus... ran with 'the crud' and glad to have it now vs 2 weeks later in Lexington. Anyone else have it, or been through it?

Mike Lundgren, congrats on winning your series! Remember, at least half of success is showing up.

lucKY2b, sorry to hear of your troubles. Like Olde Farte, I long ago gave up running trails. In my case it’s just that I’m so danged clumsy I fall down a lot on trails, and even when I was in my 30s I sometimes got hurt from hitting the ground. I don’t need to run those risks now as I approach 60.

Igy, nice job with the Turkey Day AG win!

I feel I made some real progress during this Thanksgiving week. For the first time since May my Achilles heel calmed down to the point where I was able to run five days out of seven, logging nearly 55 miles for the week.

Mon: 10.6 miles at 9:15/mile pace.

Tues: 10.4 miles at 9:15 pace.

Wed: 90 minutes easy on the bike trainer.

Thurs: 8.7 miles, untimed but fairly hard, at my local running club’s Thanksgiving Day fun run. I spent most of the run trying to keep up with a new member who is a little faster than I, and I got a good workout.

Fri: 10.7 miles easy at 9:26 pace.

Sat: 40 mile bike ride at a fairly brisk effort.

Sun: 14.3 miles at 8:54 pace, working pretty hard. That level of effort would have put me under 8:30 pace six months ago. My loss of speed is a bit distressing, but I’m happy to be able to run more often even if it’s slow.

I have a 5K race planned for 13 days from now. It may be frighteningly slow but it will be good to get out there again.

Happy and healthy running to all.

Congratulations to all the holiday racers and I hope everyone had an enjoyable Thanksgiving. I managed a good running week despite the schedule disruptions and managed to keep the weight damage to only 2 lbs, even with testing my theory on Friday that leftover apple pie and ice cream are both excellent breakfast and dinner foods. I squeezed out 50 miles for the week even though I cut Monday short because of a calf cramp that probably related to spending most of last Sunday laying tile in our bathroom.

M- 3 walk

T- 9 hills

W- 7 walk

Th-7 walk/run hills

F- 8 progressive run

S- 7 walk/run hills

Su- 9 walk a mile/run mile barefoot on the beach

sorry to hear about your knee. I hope it cooperates well enough that you can do the club nationals x-c.

I had an ok week:

M 1:00 run including hill repeats + 1:00 x-training

Tu 1:40 double + 30:00 x-t + yoga class

W 50:00 + 60:00 x-t

Th 1:20 including Turkey trot 10k (39:46, 2nd of 125 AG, 59th of 3087 overall) -- rolling road course, chilly but not windy

F 1:00 + 1:00 x-t

Sa 1:10 + 1:00 x-t

Su 2:00 + 30:00 x-t

Race was evenly paced (6:25/mile +/- a couple seconds, generally in accordance with uphill/downhill) -- a bit slower pace than in half-marathon in September. Ended up about a minute behind the AG winner, who is a guy I'm usually very close to--just ahead or just behind. I'll think of it as the "before" picture for my Winter training. I'm 6 weeks post-marathon, and first 4 or so I ran entirely easy, no doubt deconditioning some.

Got to work on my nonexistent "kick", which is really just managing to hold my pace to the finish -- five people finished less than a second ahead of me in gun time, all of whom passed me in about the last 30 meters as if I were standing still.

Hope you all had a good holiday,

Dave

Five people finished