50+ Masters Training and Racing Open Forum

Happy Holidays Ye Old Masters Friends.

If you wish for one gift to keep you motivated and inspired for a happy new running year do ask Santa to get you Jonathan Beverly's latest book Run Strong Stay Hungry. Features Mike F, Pete Magill, KP, and truly each and every one of us.

Here's a few links. If you listen to the podcast go to Episode 41.

https://www.velopress.com/wp-content/uploads/2017/07/RSSH_400x600.jpg

https://itunes.apple.com/us/podcast/the-strength-running-podcast/id1170932252?mt=2

Winter arrived midweek forcing a couple of changes on me. Specifically no more bare legs or golf for awhile. Boo. Also have to reacquaint myself with running on packed snow/ice. And that wind! It’s not an issue most of the year, but with temps in the low 20s it really stings on the face. Unfun.

Sun: 53' jog, body wt ex

Mon: golf (walk18), 88

Tues: 54' jog, body wt ex

Wed: off (too cold to golf)

Thu: off (snow)

Fri: 66' jog, body wt ex

Sat: 3 mi walk with the bride

Sun: 44' jog

Best to all!

....you must be a truly dedicated golfer to have "too cold to golf" and "snow" appear on consecutive days in the log! Hope you get friendly weather before long.....

I had a good week aside from a little snow/ice on the bike paths saturday morning -- no falls, thankfully

M 1:00 run + 1:00 x-training

Tu 1:10

W 1:20 with hill repeats

Th 2:00 double

F 1:00 run + 1:00 x-t

Sa 2:00

Su 50:00 run + 1:10 x-t

This coming thursday I plan to celebrate winter solstice by resuming training with a goal race in mind -- 12 nine-day cycles till cherry blossom 10-miler 2018!

have a great week,

Dave

Good morning from a wintertime Idaho. Boise bills itself as the City of Trees, part because of its name, and somewhat of an oasis in the desert. When we moved here my wife said “where are the trees?” I can assure one that just past the north of the Capitol building trees extend all the way to the Canadian border, to the south of town the desert extends all the way to the Mexican border. Reno and Boise are very similar in many ways, sans the casinos.

My second week of indoor training is progressing at one session a week. Outdoor training is getting challenging with morning temperatures in the lows 20s and late in the week a dusting of snow. The trails are nice after a snow. The Saturday before Christmas the club tradition is to run Lone Pine. A 16 miler to the 4,500 foot level, with the obligatory hanging of ornaments. I will miss it and race the YMCA Christmas Run hoping to improve on last year’s time. The training week:

Monday: AM- 2 miles easy; 1,200m tempo @ 4:45 / 600m easy; 2 x 800m interval @ 3:27, 3:22 / 400m easy; 6 x 250m repetition @ 68-52 cut-down / 150m easy; mile easy; PM- 3 miles easy/walk

Tuesday: Off

Wednesday: 4 miles easy

Thursday: BSU indoor track- 2 miles easy; 2 x 1,200m interval @ 4:08, 4:01 / 600m easy; 4 x 300m repetition @ 65, 66, 64, 62 / 300m walk; mile easy

Friday: AM- 4 miles easy; PM- 2 miles easy/ walk

Saturday: 8 mile trail run in snow with 750+ elevation gain

Sunday: 3 miles easy/walk

Igy

good weeks training

58 miles running

2hrs 30 aqua jogging

2 workouts

12 x 400 3kpace with 100 jog between

8M steady state run half marathon pace (lagat inspired me)

2 gym sessions

2 short hill sprint session

cheers

Opps 1200s @ 5:08, 5:01....

Igy

I followed up my disappointing 5K race last weekend with a very good week. My sorry effort to run fast in the race irritated my Achilles enough that I needed two days off to recover. Once the heel settled down, however, everything went well and I ended up with just over 60 miles for the week, by far the most mileage I’ve managed since May.

Mon: 90 min on bike trainer

Tues: 10.5 miles at 9:04 pace.

Wed: 11.5 miles at 9:02 pace.

Thurs: 10.9 miles at 9:05 pace

Fri: 11.5 miles at 8:52 pace. Felt very good and was very pleased to have four good days in a row.

Sat: Wanting to run longer on Sunday, I felt I’d better take Saturday off even though I didn’t feel I really needed to. In no hurry to get on the bike on a blustery morning, I first went to the gym and knocked out a full weight workout plus 15 minutes on the rowing machine. I didn’t feel too bad about putting in only 32 miles on the road bike in the wind.

Sun: 16.3 miles at 8:35 pace. I tried to put out a fairly hard effort and was very pleased with the time, almost what I was doing for my long runs 9 months ago. Started to tie up just a bit over the last two miles but finished in decent shape.

I sympathize with those of you who are now having to deal with real winter. My part of the world is stuck in a dry pattern with lows consistently within 2 degrees of 31 and highs within 3 degrees of 61. Early mornings are a bit nippy but nothing to really complain about. My thermometer said 33 at the start of my long run today and 34 at the end, and I ran in shorts, a lightweight long-sleeved shirt, a light headband, and mittens over gloves (my hands are always the hardest thing to keep warm). Not bad for mid-December. I’ll take 30 degrees and dry over 45 degrees and pouring rain (which we had a lot of last year) any day.

Looking forward to the 4-week break from major academic duties, and hoping the weather stays good so I can get in some miles.

Ghost of Igloi wrote:

Opps 1200s @ 5:08, 5:01....

Igy

Just about spilled my coffee!

Nice week I need to add some faster shorter stuff like those 300s.

Week 9 12 Minutes at Vo2

Dec 15 treadmill 6 minute mile pace 6,3,3 Recovery 1 minute walk on treadmill effort 2/2 breathing

After Nine Weeks I have run 357 minutes of quality with 259 at LT and 103 at Vo2Max

This works out to about 40 minutes a week of hard running. For me that is just under 7 miles a week of quality.

The breakdown is about 5 miles at LT and 2 miles at Vo2Max per week.

The reduced carb TRE(time restricted eating ) is working well except for occasional carb binges .

I'm dealing with snow and ice here in MN too. My low back and hamstrings have been sore and tight all week. Still got in a good hill workout and a quick (for me) longer run with a total of 28.8 miles.

M: 4.1 miles w 8 strides in 40 min

T: 4.1 miles run-walk in 50 min

W: 4.3 miles with 8 1 min hills in 44 min

Th: 3.3 miles run-walk in 40 min

F: off

S: 8.4 miles in 78 min

Su: 4.5 miles run-walk

Looking forward to a short week of work. Next weekend the highs will be single digits so I may be hitting the treadmill. Hope everyone is able to recharge during the holidays.

Squats questions

New to this thread and did some searching before posting. Squats have never been part of my running routine (were never mentioned by HS or college coaches, or came up in any running conversations later in life). But in reading up this weekend it appears that this may be something I've missed out on (up to now) to help counter various leg imbalances I've had. Thus, I want to start incorporating a squats routine.

Questions:

1) Presumably start with 'body weight' squats and work up to adding dumbbell weights? Or forget weights?

2) Different types: basic, single-leg (aka pistol), side, split, overhead, skater, other: work up to doing all these types or just focus on 1-2?

3) Reps: stick to low numbers and add weight with time, or no weights and increase quantity?

4) Number of squat workouts per week?

5) Do after running or on non-running days? (I run every other day.)

Ghost of Igloi wrote:

Opps 1200s @ 5:08, 5:01....

I was just about to post a big "Wow!" before seeing the correction. Still, a solid week. And good luck in the upcoming race. Sure seems like your training is ahead of last year. You'll do well!

Temps here have been in the teens all week. Almost always windy, which is what makes it so miserable. Very light winds this morning, though, and sunny. Very pleasant with the soft crunch of cold snow underfoot. The roads were calling me, but, alas, my outing was limited to a short trek to the chicken coop.

amkelley wrote:

Sun: 16.3 miles at 8:35 pace. I tried to put out a fairly hard effort and was very pleased with the time, almost what I was doing for my long runs 9 months ago.

That's a fantastic way to finish up a very nice week. Sixty-plus miles, a 90-minute bike and a gym workout. You will be my role model. Soon.

Charlie and allen1959,

I have been thinking quite a bit about running my JD intervals at a pace of 4:00 per kilometer, thus my mental error. On the JD repetition distances shooting for 6:00 to 5:45 mile pace. On both focusing on stride/cadence pattern trying not to push beyond fitness. I will be racing 2 miles Saturday with good weather should be under 14:00, but conditions begin to get sketchy this time of the year.

Igy

I took a few days off and then ran just easy for the rest of the week, with 3 days of 40-50 minutes and 1 at 65. The last two days were easy slogs at 8000' elevation +/- with some decent hills. Next week is going to be casz (cool guy talk for casual) with 45-60 minutes until next Sunday, and then I plan to do 80 or 90.

The race in Lexington ran through my head a couple dozen times until about Friday. It didn't quite go how I had envisioned but went after it and hung tough as I could for 4/5 of the way. Lost a bit on that last stretch, and instead of kicking it in with a blaze of glory over the final 200 or 300 meters (as I had practiced and visualized), was just hanging on at a near whimper. alas, things to work on for the future.

Been a couple of weeks since I posted. Loved the recaps of nats and the great performances. Week 10 of PT on cranky Achilles. Was able to do one of the exercises that was too painful for the first time. Feeling optimistic I can shake this thing. Toward that end, booked my hotel for Cherry Blossom yesterday.

35 miles this week plus 4.5 miles swimming, 3 core sessions and 2 indoor spins on the bike.

Start with bodyweight squats, and not too many at first. You do not want to apply the "go to failure" idea, or the next several days will be very, very unpleasant.

After a bit of time, you could do them pretty much every day if you want.

A good place to start is to get down into a squatting position and get used to it. If you can't squat down while keeping your heels on the ground, you should work on addressing that. Do this in bare feet; running shoes throw off your posture.

Once you feel comfy sitting in a squat, start doing squats with, say, 10 repetitions. See how you feel the next day or two. If you're not too sore, you can add a few repetitions. Most people can work up to 50-100 bodyweight squats over the course of several weeks.

A good next step is Vern Gambetta's leg circuit. You can find his articles on the web. It's 20 squats, 10 lunges each side, 10 step-ups each side, 10 jump squats. This is one set. He suggests you work up to five sets, then work to complete the sets in less time.

At this point, you could could start playing with all of the other variations -- pistol squats, split squats, lunge variations, etc.

Excellent! Appreciate the detailed guidance.

RE: introducing squats.

I am so weak, and my knees so sore, my PT suggested this to start: Back against a door, feet shoulder-width apart and about 18 inches out. Slowly slide your back down the door as your thighs approach parallel to the floor, then use your quads to straighten your legs to a standing position, with some of your weight still against the door. Ten reps twice a day.

An actual squat remains a fantasy for now. As is rising from a chair unassisted. Hope to see some improvement soon.

Bosu ball:

https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=iwnNQOIKIZc