50+ Masters Training and Racing Open Forum

Not a bad week for me. Temps are down, there’s snow in the air, but the legs are still bare (getting some quizzical looks). I’ve recharacterized the quad soreness from last week as a lower ITB issue. It’s still present, but intermittent and something I’ve been able to run through. Also, got in a few (final?) rounds of golf before the snow fell. No b2b jogs this week, but I did a "double" on Friday. ?

Sun: 54' jog, body wt ex

Mon: golf (walk 18), 92

Tues: off (waiting for a contractor who never showed)

Wed: 55' jog, body wt ex

Thu: golf (walk 18), 93

Fri: 55' jog, body wt ex; golf (walk 18), 88

Sat: walk 2 mi

Allen1959 wrote:

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!

you could do the latter and throw in some 5ks to have fun, maintain your interest and give you some speed work

I enjoyed reading the race reports from Lexington. You guys are tough.

Winter, such as it is, has finally arrived here in California’s Central Valley, with lows slightly below freezing. (My rule of thumb is shorts down to about 28-30 degrees. I'm hoping to make it to Jan. 1 before pulling on tights.) For my 5K on Saturday it was only in the upper 30s at race time, although sunny and pleasant. I'm not complaining.

The week started out very well but ended in a disappointing race--a personal worst (by a few seconds) for 5K. Still, I managed to run five days out of seven for a total of 47 miles.

Mon: 10.5 miles at 8:57 pace.

Tues: 10.4 miles at 9:02 pace.

Wed: 10.4 miles at 9:09 pace.

Thurs: 10.7 miles at 8:58 pace. This was the first time since May that I’d been able to run four days in a row with only mild complaints from my bad Achilles tendon. Very encouraging.

Fri: 90 minutes on bike trainer.

Sat: Our big local holiday-themed 5K race. I started too far back and lost about 10 seconds at the start, standing still and then shuffling behind walkers until the course widened out and I was able to find some running room. But after about 200 meters I had enough room to run as fast as I wanted, so the start wasn’t much of an excuse. I felt good throughout but I just couldn’t get my legs to turn over fast enough to max out my aerobic system, and I came across the line at 24:25 (7:52 pace). I haven’t run faster than 8-minute pace since May so perhaps it’s no surprise that I couldn’t find any speed in a race, but it’s still discouraging to be a full minute slower than last year. In a race that has lots of participants but few competitors, I won the F55-59 age group (out of 72) and was 17th female overall (out of 1011). The race director makes a major effort to attract kids (teens and pre-teens) to this race, and it’s nice for a change to run with so many young people. Eight of the 16 females who beat me were under age 19.

Sun: Although I ran only about 5 miles total on Saturday, the attempt to run fast took its toll. Not only was my heel pretty sore but I banged up my right big toenail and my whole right forefoot was stiff and sore. I did 34 miles on the bike and called it a week. Hoping the foot feels better by tomorrow.

Wishing everyone a happy and healthy week.

congrats to all x-c nationals racers. sounds like it was quite a character-builder.

more uneventful week on my end, with....

M 1:40 double including "pub run" with fellow club members

Tu 1:10 + 1:00 x-training

W 1:00 with hill repeats + 45:00 x-t

Th 1:20 + 1:15 x-t

F 1:10 + 1:00 x-t

Sa 35:00 in light snow + 1:00 x-t

Su 1:10 with 4 X 8:00 (2:00 recovery) cruise intervals

have a great week,

Dave

Been tracking the USATF results here:

https://runsignup.com/race/results/?raceId=54498#resultSetId-104628

...impressive racing by a number of our geezer posters/friends...solid.

My week was highlighted by the second speed work in as many weeks...4 x 100 then 5 x 200...the good news is that the slowest 100 and slowest 200 were both faster than the fastest 100/200 from the preceding week. Am thinking that if I could continue said trend every single week until early April that I might just scare Usain Bolt's best marks ;)

Crested 1800 miles year to date on Thursday...1900 is looking pretty good...how about you guys/gals...I'll bet some of you are already 2000 miles+ for the year.

Have a fantabulous week of training and racing...catch up with you next Sunday.

Your pal,

MF

Well done to everyone who raced and great to see more new folks joining (I'm not the rookie anymore).

This week was targeted at an indoor meet on Thursday evening, a bit of a trek for me and a late start to my race 9:30pm, more to come.

Mon Double: AM recovery 3.54 @ 8:03 / PM Easy + 6 x 250m @ target 3k pace - 6.1 @ 7:26

Tue Double: Lunch 4.21 @ 7:50 / PM Easy 5.14 @ 7:49

Wed PM Easy 5.12 @ 7:49

Thu Indoor meet, 3,000m B race

I had a few cracks at breaking 10 outdoors over the summer.

Mid May as I was exiting Spring mileage based training I placed 1st M50 in our country champs in 10:05.4 in what was a solo run after 2 laps with splits of about 3:16-3:24-3:25. I was pretty happy with this and felt with targeted training I could go close in 1 of 2 graded meets that I planned.

4 weeks into a bastardized JD plan came the 1st meet, 10:04.2 off reduced mileage and more speed work with an almost identical result 3:16-3:24-3:24, but with 6 weeks to go until the next race I felt I could nail it.

Lots of complicated sessions followed and I felt reasonably confident toeing the line.

The result was a season's worst 10:13, 3:21 followed by a serious fade 3:25-3:28, left me scratching my head running the last 2k at 5k pace.

I ran a week of easy mileage around my favorite haunts and then took a complete 3 day break. This gave me some time to assess. I came to the conclusion that running hard complicated interval sessions off reduced mileage were not giving me the bang for buck I was looking for.

This cycle has been focused on getting the mileage back to respectable levels, with a sustained tempo run at the core, building to a 10 mile run with 6 miles at 6 min pace, 30sec to 60sec strides and keeping a medium length run in the 13 - 16 mile range.

Thursday night has 2 x 3,000m at the end of the evening an A race with a handful of sub 9'rs and the rest targeting sub 9:30 and a B race for everyone else.

I got a clean start and was in 4th after a lap, glancing at the clock for 37 secs.

Quite quickly this became a time trial for me, with the 3 at the front (1 pacer and 2 participants) much too strong for the rest of us and me pulling away from the next group, not ideal, but here we go.

This was a test, I was targeting 40 seconds a lap and each time I came to the line I would glance up and see a 6 turn to a 7.

In control through 6-7 laps, 1k @ 3:17, had a buddy shout 4:57 @ 1,500 and made it to 2k in 6:37.

Only my 2nd indoor race and the longest having done the mile 4 weeks previous, I experienced an usual dryness in my mouth, the lack of air was sucking every bit of moisture I had out of me and as my breathing increasing, my mouth became dryer.

I'm hanging on now entering the red zone and doing little deals with myself, "1 more 40 sec lap and you're 3 seconds up with 4 to go, another glance, another split ending in 7, come on then 1 more.

At this stage I become aware of the stadium compare getting exciting about the race in front of me, or should I say behind me! I can hear him say 500 to go for the leaders as I'm entering the home straight with about 650 to go.

I recall 7:57 with 3 to go, I knew I had to be under 8, focusing on form now and working really hard, 8:37 and I can hear fast approaching footsteps. I keep my line and eventually get passed like I'm standing still in the winners last 40.

As I go through with a lap to go, fook the clock is stopped at 9:15 and noticeably increase my effort for an unnoticeable increase in pace and drag my ass around the last lap in an estimated 38 for 9:55.

A little fist pump follows and shortly after I'm on my knees, very happy.

The week was rounded off with a little mileage.

Fri PM: Easy 100, 13.62 @ 7:21

Sat AM: Had to bring Mrs SP to A&E after she fell walking the dogs, got in a slow 8.25 @ 7:58 while she was getting sorted.

Sun AM: Freezing rain so I retired to the pain cave for a gentle 10 mile progression run on the treadie - 10.86 @ 6:54.

Possibility of getting an indoor mile in on Thursday to see if I can sneak under 5 mins.

Happy Running

SP

Nice racing everyone Hey all you 60 - 64 year olds CM is coming . L2B way to hang tough at the end of my uphill LT run I thought about your post and asked myself if I could have done the 10k answer was NOPE! so nice going. amKelly well I told you so;) SP thanks for the details really motivating bet you had a dry cough afterwards good luck on the sub 5 if you do it.

MF you might want to try the Altra Torin why cause it is really easy on the feet but also feels firm sounds like a contra but I just socked up as Amazon has em for 70 bucks a pop. Igy looking good really see you progressing well. OGII you only turn 70 once XC is your game. Allen just run man!

Week 8 in Minutes EZ/LT/VO: 30/42/15 weight 142.6

Dec 4 10/00/6 minutes on treadmill 6 minute mile on treadmill relaxed

Dec 5 10/00/0 minutes easy up 11 percent grade 1 mile hill shuffling along

Dec 7 0/20/9 minutes Vo2 3x3 minutes with 1 minute walk hill then 20 minute LT tempo after 3rd vo2 all on 10 percent grade

Dec 10 10/22/0 minutes 10 easy then 22 minute LT tempo uphill 2 miles on gravel road the rest on a nice trail 3/2 breathing

Just finished my lt run so here is the dealio. Started 3 hour hike prior to run after not eating for 20 hours. I figured the lt run was gonna be interesting and it was not felt the same . I have read all this stuff about ketosis but I have yet to get the symptoms however I do enjoy running when empty.

Running Totals in Minutes EZ/Hard (lt/vo2):

1 0/42 (32/10)

2 0/98 (68/30)

3 0/150 (104/46)

4 7/158 (108/50)

5 26/218 (152/66)

6 66/243 (172/71)

7 66/288 (217/76)

8 96/345 (259/91)

Good running in tough conditions for those of you who ran XC. Nice run to get under 10 Spike. Running indoors sounds more fun than the cold and hills of XC. It will be training runs for me until the end of January when I do a 10k in the St Paul Winter Carnival. I ran my second week of short hills (6x 1 min) this week. It was after a 2" rain-snow but the footing was decent. On Saturday I ran 10+ miles and was tired all evening. Other runs were pretty easy.

Mon: off

Tues:3.8 miles with 6 hills in 40 min

Wed: 4.2 treadmill run-walk in 52 min

Thur: 4.1 miles with 8 strides in 42 min

Fri: 3.4 miles run-walk in 39 min

Sat: 10.3 miles in 102 min

Sun: 2.2 miles run-walk in 27 min

Have a good week.

Charlie,

Thanks for noticing. Working at it with a focus that was lacking since 2010. I am still planning to run Hayward and Spokane if I keep improving. No reason to if not.

Igy

Congrats to you lucKY2b and the other weekend cross country racers. My good friend ran the women's masters race and I didn't even know! She said the camaraderie was amazing (her first USATF club event) and watching the other races was motivating.

My first week back in the saddle saw the following:

M - 4.5miles E - 9:30pace

T - Circuit workout with Gazelles - 1.5m w/u, core/strength circuit with 400m X4 then 20/20's then 2m cool down.

W - Off

Th - 2.5 miles easy (aborted fartlek workout due to snow on trail) - calf started to cramp/strain so I stopped.

F - 5 mi fartlek (15 min w/u, 10X1 hard with 1 min recovery, then cool down. Worked calfs with stick before workout, stopped to stretch and open hips after 1/2 mile.

S - 7 mile "long run" - first 7 miler in a loooong time. kept it easy (9 min/mile pace)

S - off.

Goals next week are to run at least 4 times over the week and show up consistently to group workouts. Right now I am training digestive system and brain that a 430am wake up for a 530am workout is normal. Getting into that routine has been a bit of a challenge.

Notes: As I ease back in to this, I am noticing that my 52 year old body requires much more attention to get loose, and stay loose, BUT when it does, I can feel that old fire coming back. Need to bank the embers however, and be patient with slowly increasing distance and effort. Looking forward to the path.

Hey Allen1959,

if you decide to concentrate on the 5km I think you should seriously consider adding in a large percentage of elliptical training. I combined running, an Arc Trainer and Zero Runner to set a 5km PB last fall while having what I thought was a pretty low mileage summer. I'm not convinced yet that combining elliptical and running works well for longer distances but I am convinced that it works for shorter distances and it does save a lot of wear and tear on your legs.

It did take me months to get good enough at elliptical to enjoy and think it was helping so you have to be patient. You also need to try a couple of different machines until you find one you like.

Kevin

I appreciate the kudos, but I'm still mostly just happy to be here. This is what inspires me:

Coyote Montane wrote:

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 about 1K 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.

This is so understated, almost as an afterthought..."and age grade." Can we talk, just a minute, for how significant top 5 age-graded is here? We're talking about everyone 40+; We all knew that Coyote was on a tear this fall, but this is just a punctuation mark on how well he has recovered from a year ago (or more....can't quite remember and too tired to go back through the thread.) This age-grade exceeded the likes of Joe Sheeran...no small feat. Kudos on a great season, Coyote, wish I could have congratulated you in person on this remarkable accomplishment.

So what's next? Are you moving on to the other cross-country (skiing) sport until spring? We were camped out with the team from Minnesota (TC Running Company,) and one of the guys was wearing a Birkie 2016 Skull-Cap. Are you heading back there this year?

At any rate, I'm totally impressed with your entire progression since moving to Colorado; Well done!

OK, carry on, Folks!

I should careful, the currently posted 40+ women's age-grading is really screwed up, so there are probably some awesome results there that can't compare. But there's no doubt some great stuff there, too, starting with Sabra Harvey.

Cheers!

Very well said, lucKY. It’s nice to read reports from runners like CM who ooze modesty. Wouldn’t it be nice if everyone followed CM's lead? The world recipe could certainly use more of that particular ingredient.

Meant to say "that I can't compare"....adding "I" makes all the difference in meaning.

Ghost of Igloi wrote:

Amen. Pretty impressive Coyote. Not to slight others I may have missed, miler SoCalCush and 800m KP displayed tough running for 10k cross country.

Igy

In 100% agreement! There are many more that we could call out, either as direct participants on this thread or close friends and associates to posters. It really was a tremendous meet and I was grateful to be a part of it.

Looks like CM came through 8k faster than 29:29 which was Sheeran's excellent win time for the 60 year old age group. Just speculating but all them years of XC Skiing created an aerobic base specific enough to running while sparing his legs. Now the CM is running year round he is reaping the rewards. Very happy for Coyote.

Whew! They accidentally deleted the thread. Glad they got it restored!

Now let's hear those race reports.

Cheers!

lucKY2b wrote:

Whew! They accidentally deleted the thread. Glad they got it restored!

Now let's hear those race reports.

Cheers!

Thanks for your patience. This thread has nearly 9000 posts so we wanted to make sure this got done correctly. I'm a part-time prof so this time of year gets a little busy for me with exams and grading.

Erik