50+ Masters Training and Racing Open Forum

lucKY2b wrote:

Coyote Montane wrote:

See you guys out there tomorrow am! Was hoping for snow but will take some chilly temps. It's xc and you gotta have Some adversity with conditions . Have a good race all! Cush, racerdb, lucKY2b, Muddygirl et al.

+1 & KP

Coldest morning thus far this season!

5 years ago, I was disappointed I couldn't get under 39 minutes in this race; this year I'll just be happy to finish upright. I'm dead serious.

See y'all shortly! Best of Luck!

Hope to see you guys out there today... If not maybe at one of the celebrations later on.

Go Playmakers!

Dave

Ghost of Igloi wrote:

I would carefully consider how to dress for racing conditions in the cold.

That goes without saying. Fortunately the temps are expected to moderate to the 30s by race time. It shouldn’t be a problem.

Congrats to Joe, Rick & Greg for a great CNW showing in 60+. Looks like the weather is a preview for next year in Spokane. Hope everyone stays safe and is able to get home safely.

tgjers - thanks so much. Will give it a look! I am meeting with my coach to have him show me a workout called 20/20's. 20 core/strength exercises with 20 reps each...have to build good form as well so need to learn proper positioning.

62 years old.

Runner since 1977

knee surgeries, cancer and 6 epidurals.

Actually going to hit 1700 miles for the year.

Gee, I haven't done that since 2008..then everything went wrong, from a dramatic disc injury to wife being diagnosed with brain cancer.

Trained harder this year but still getting slower.

My turkey day race was nearly a minute slower than last year despite hitting EVERY training goal.

Of course the race was the day after I received my first social security payment. ha Maybe trauma from that.

Got referred to the big cancer place in Tucson for my prostate cancer...going there Tuesday..but I feel great.

Oh well. It was a good year..

Next year the goal is the same just make it to the starting line, volunteer at at least 10 races, go over 1500 miles, don't let them take out my prostate because Im still a young man.

tgjers wrote:

Igy I like your posts! Where can I learn about Good Speed and Good Swing?

Some discussion by me on the last page of this thread:

Robert E . Lee wrote:

Next year the goal is the same just make it to the starting line, volunteer at at least 10 races, go over 1500 miles, don't let them take out my prostate because Im still a young man.

I am impressed with your volunteer work. Races wouldn't exist without folks like you. Traffic control was the one job I really disliked as a volunteer. Folks unexpectedly getting stuck in gridlock can be an ugly lot to deal with!

Sorry to hear about your current cancer situation. My brother is just 53, and recently diagnosed with prostate cancer. He has yet to decide between removal and monitoring for now. Not an easy decision, but sounds like you have pretty much made up your mind?

I lost my father to brain cancer when he was 71. Then three years later, my older brother died from the same at just 40 in 1995. It's really a horrible ordeal to witness. My poor mother was the primary caregiver for both as they spiraled downward.

Best wishes for you as you move forward. Figuratively, and actually.

amkelley wrote:

Let me add my best wishes to all of you racing in Lexington tomorrow. I can't say I wish I could be there--I am way too much of a clumsy klutz for XC--but more power to those of you who can do it.

I twisted my ankle and aggravated my bad achilles just jogging across our front lawn getting the mail today. Always been a klutz myself, but I had fun running the Upstate XC series back in my early 40s. Hard to imagine handling uneven footing these days.

Have fun tomorrow! PB or not. Looking forward to all the race reports as I continue to live vicariously. Into my third month now of non-training/healing.

Curious...what was the knee surgeries for? Any osteoarthritis in the knee now? Sorry to hear about your wife (I lost my wife to an illness a few years ago and have never been the same). Best of luck on the prostate cancer.

PRd in marathon by 8 minutes - and if not for the 3 porta potty stops would have hit my goal time (5 minutes faster) - my "moving time" on my garmin was at goal and goal pace.

Now I am sore as hell as I ran hard! and definitely thought hmmm maybe I should stick to half marathons... ha!

RescueRunner wrote:

I am hoping to PR and reach goal of placing in my age group.

Congratulations on the big PR. Outstanding! How did you do in the age group competition?

Re: potty -- I can relate. My racing logs are peppered with notes on how much time I have lost to those mid-race stops. Starting with my first marathon (Montreal 1981). In my second marathon (Skylon 1981), it cost me a BQ. And most recently, it was a 52-second stop during my target half-marathon in April. I had finally reeled in my main age group competitor when I had to stop at 10K. Took until 20K to catch him again!

What's next for you? Gonna train through the Maine winter? My wife used to travel a lot for her job, and described a January day in Presque Isle, Maine. Brutally cold! Worse than Duluth, another mid-winter business trip.

It was a grinder. Really had to fight to hang on. And it was cold with a 600 m hill into a bitter headwind X3, including the final stretch of the race. So it was a slow death at the finish. Early on I could see my pack of competitors up ahead at about1K so moved up to gain contact. Hung just behind for them duration but by 6K was feeling it! So I couldn't muster much of a fight, just hung on for top 5 in AG and age grade. Great event.

*Week 339*

Greetings, 50+ers! First off, welcome to some new posters; look forward to reading about your journey, but also sorry for some of the trials some of you have experienced recently. Second, disappointed not to meet more of you here in Lexington. Always seems the case with these things that everyone tends to scatter after the race, and without a good way of communicating, I can't "hunt you down." Did get to spend a good amount of time with Racerdb post race down at the main venue, which was nice. For me, I'm just glad I finished the race without having to stop. Here's my 22+ miles for the week:

Sun: 5.2 mostly easy (7:56 avg) w/mile-3 @7:04

Mon: 3.4 short accel run w/mile-3 @6:55

Tue: off

Wed: off

Thu: 4.0 moderate effort (7:43 avg pace)

Fri: 2.3 Warmup on XC Course

Sat: 7.5 w/10K USATF XC Club Nationals @46:15

So, it wasn't pretty, but I did race the whole thing without stopping, which is a first for me in a while for a 10K. It was the coldest morning of the year, and the ground was pretty hard. In retrospect, I probably shouldn't have worn my spikes, because the hard uneven ground was not conducive to spike traction, and the arthritis in my big toes was only magnified by the lack of padding. As I'd already promised I was trailing pretty much everyone from the get-go, but my goal was really just to finish, so I was OK with it. The wind was pretty cold and stiff for the start, but once you got going it really wasn't too bad; the uneven ground was really the main issue for me (that and the total lack of fitness and 20 pounds of excess weight.) I've already previewed the course here, and it pretty much laid out just as I stated. Racerdb says it was hillier than what he expected, but that's because he's a total flatlander, LOL. The 3xClimbs up the undulating hill at the end of each loop while going into the wind did take the air out of your tires with each pass, and there were moments with each that I wasn't sure I could go another 6km (after the first pass,) and then another 3km (after the second pass,) but despite my dead quads and aching feet, I slowed it down a bit each go around and hung on to finish. Everyone's first mile was too fast (partly due to the long downhill start), but then my splits just became a gradual slowdown: (6:46,7:18,7:27,7:37,7:48,7:53,1:23), pretty much what I anticipated with my lack of any long runs. The good news is that I was actually worried about just staying under 48 minutes and not getting lapped! So those goals were achieved. Loved watching the open women's and men's races. They were flying! The senior grandmasters men and masters womens races also had some impressive times at the top. All-in-all, I think the races went off very well.

OK, that's the report from the caboose of the race. Would love to hear more reports from higher up in the pack.

All the Best!

I am seriously considering changing my screen name to Old Goat WIth Gout. Or just call me OGWG. It has a ring to it.

My toe is much better but I'm still swimming to give it a bit more rest. I'm actually swimming a lot! I like it. I mix in aqua jogging as well since I have one of those flotation belts. I amuse myself by reciting lists - Presidents, the Greek Alphabet, and I'm working on the Periodic Table. I figure it's good mental exercise as well.

Back to running next week. In the meantime, let's hear some XC stories!

A few afterthoughts.

1) Here's a link to the results:

http://www.usatf.org/Events---Calendar/2017/USATF-National-Club-Cross-Country/Results.aspx

2) Greater Springfield was mighty impressive...but we all knew they'd be 50+ tur de force.

3) Our team was stronger than ever, but we still ended up second to last. Hat's off to my teammates on their performances. They all had a blast.

4) My quads and calves are a little tender this morning.

5) Heading out to Reno, NV to visit our daughter on Tuesday, so hoping I can hook up with Reno for a run while we're out there.

OK. That's enough out of me.

Allen1959 wrote:

Congratulations on the big PR. Outstanding! How did you do in the age group competition?

.

5th in AG so pretty happy

I think I need to do more long tempo runs. I start triathlon training this week - 2 half ironmans next summer.

A March half marathon and a May marathon that I may switch to half marathon to concentrate on speed work and getting back to swimming and biking and pick a late fall marathon.

Rest of season includes rollerblading Berlin marathon (skate to run - though honestly skating it sounds like so much fun that might be enough for me) and MDI half marathon in October (hilly) there are some shorter races 5ks, etc I will throw in

I am on the coast so weather not as bad as Presque Isle BUT I am an hour from a pool.

Definitely feeling all 55 years today.

Tough racing in Lexington. I read the results and commentary but can’t imagine racing cross country at this point. Sorry to say simply not fit enough. We have had our share of cold weather however. Low 20s morning and mid-30s afternoon. Snow level is about 3,300 feet, so traction is spotty on trail runs. I started indoor track this week for the first time in five years, so maybe cross country racing in the futures isn’t such a stretch. My week:

Monday: AM- 2 miles easy; 1,000m tempo @ 4:45; 400m easy; 3 x 600m interval @ 2:37, 2:33, 2:29 / 400m easy; 8 x 400m repetition @ 48-42 / 100m easy; mile easy; PM- 3 miles walk/easy

Tuesday: Off

Wednesday: 4 miles easy

Thursday: (Boise State Indoor Track) 2 Miles easy; 3 x 1,000m interval @ 4:22, 4:19, 4:09 / 600m easy; 5 x 200m repetition @ 42, 40, 37, 42, 39 / 200m walk; mile easy

Friday: AM- 5 miles easy @ 9:33/mile: PM- 3 miles easy/walk

Saturday: AM- 10 miles trail run @ 10:43/mile, with last mile @ 7:40; PM- 3 miles easy/walk

Best to all.

Igy

Coyote Montane wrote:

... hung on for top 5 in AG and age grade. Great event.

Great racing and great results. Congrats! Looking forward to reading more race reports today. Also, a shout-out to the Genesee Valley Harriers, a relatively small club that fielded at least one team in each division, with some very solid results.

I have a question for the group here, as my current down-time has me pondering future goals. If/when I can start training again, I would like to target a sub-3 marathon at age 60 in autumn 2019.

In the upcoming year, I had been thinking of concentrating on the 5K to enjoy racing and to stay motivated. But, do you think it wiser to instead devote the year to base-building -- easy mileage and exercises for core strength and general resilience? Then maybe return to racing in 2019? With the latter approach, I worry about sustaining interest and motivation, but am thinking it may be "safer."

Thanks!

allen1959,

In my view you are better off working on another area of fitness, for example train for mile/5,000 meters. I would say you have built sufficient base over the years and it is money in the bank. Once you lose the ability to run fast every race distance suffers.

Igy