50+ Masters Training and Racing Open Forum

Hi everyone! Happy new years to all. Good to see so many of you continuing to do well. I had to take a break from posting this past fall. Sunday nights I use to plan my college team workouts for the week and between that and Packers games I would run out of time. I spent most of the fall recovering from that stupid Long Course Triathlon I did in Pentcition. I had a good time there and the race went well but I am never doing that again. I like to run more and do the shorter races. So about 7 weeks ago after the IC4A meet I started running every day and worked my way up to 50 miles in week. It took a really long time for me to run normal again after that really slow training I had to do over the summer. But all is back to normal now. Haven't missed a day of runing in 7 weeks!

So here was this week:

Mon 6 on treadmill 7:58 PM 60 Mins on Zwift bike

Tues Hilly run 550 feet in 7.1 @8:42 (i suck on hills

Wed 7 miles 7:48 pace 17 degree PM Bike night with Zwift

Thu 6miles racewalk on the treadmill 64:30

Fri 2WU 4 tempo @7:12 2 cool down

Sat AM 60 mins spinning on zwift PM 5 miles racewalk 53:30

Sunday 12 miles 7:48 pace 15 degrees

Feel good and healthy. Hopefully going to open the race season at Richmond track 10k March 30th - maybe SC Gal will be there?

I've been checking this thread just to keep the motivation going. I know there has to be better days ahead!

BTW, Whatever Man is the greatest handle in the history of LR. And it's my answer to most questions thrown my way these days.

Started out my year 7/7 days with 40 miles of just running. 7:30-7:50 pace. No workouts for awhile while I rebuild after 2-weeks off. All treadmill miles. I just don't feel like slogging thru all the snow and cold and wind and crap. I may venture outside later this week when we're supposed to get above freezing for a few days.

Scgal: You sure did pick a cold snowy week to head upNorth. Northern Michigan got slammed! Our trip to SC last week was pretty cold too.

More of the same this week. Just shooting for consistency for awhile.

Dave

HAPPY NEW YEARS : completed just over 2000 miles for the year. With Dec the highest month @ 233 miles.

1/1/18 Monday: WU 2mi on treadmill 15 degrees outside. Drove to 5k race did another 2mi. Temp at race start 19 degrees with windchill of 14 degrees and snow flurries. Ran 1825 for Best overall age graded 86%. WD 3mi.

Tues: Easy run 5mi on treadmill

Wed: Easy run 5mi on Treadmill

Thurs: Off some lite weights

Fri: Easy run 5min on treadmill

Sat: 10 miles with farlek at varying time /distance all by feel.

Sun: 10 miles on the road steady.

Have a great Year!

Sorry to hear about your continued woes, Reno. I always hope for the best for you.

As for me, until I stop timing my runs with a sundial there's not much point in posting, ha.

Racerdb wrote:

BTW, Whatever Man is the greatest handle in the history of LR.

I can die happy now. ;) jk - took it a little out of context there.

I think I came up with the handle when someone kept trolling my old handle One Keg. I kind of shrugged my shoulders and said, 'whatever, man.' Lacking much imagination at the time it stuck.

I’ve just returned to LR from a self-imposed exile of several months due to some unfortunate harassment in another thread. During the hiatus I reached the half-century mark! Imagine my pleasure to discover this thread on my first foray back. I haven’t had time to read beyond this page yet, but I am looking forward to perusing the earlier pages as time permits. It will be nice to participate in a discussion without the drama and verbal abuse sometimes found in threads frequented by younger, less-mature posters.

It’s good to be back!

I did not post here last week, but the last week of 2017 was so unremarkable just like the year itself. I had the slowest half marathon SB since 2008, and the lowest mileage total since 2012.

M: off.

T: 7 miles.

W: off.

R: 7 miles.

F: 7 miles.

SA: 7 miles.

SU: 12.2 miles. (last mile @7:25)

Well, I didn't have a good start for 2018. I was planning to run six times, but got sick and could not run on Wednesday. I was finally feeling normal by Saturday, and the weather improved to high 30s on Sunday after below freezing for the entire week. It's supposed to be cold again next weekend (single digit), so I might need an alternative plan for that.

Sally V wrote:

I’ve just returned to LR from a self-imposed exile of several months due to some unfortunate harassment in another thread. During the hiatus I reached the half-century mark! Imagine my pleasure to discover this thread on my first foray back. I haven’t had time to read beyond this page yet, but I am looking forward to perusing the earlier pages as time permits. It will be nice to participate in a discussion without the drama and verbal abuse sometimes found in threads frequented by younger, less-mature posters.

It’s good to be back!

Welcome and glad you are back. Perhaps we can add a woman’s touch.

Is this thread only for 50+ Masters or is there one for 40+ Masters? Thanks.

to my knowledge there's no regular 40+ thread. we used to have "masters weekend runs and races", but that has elapsed after a period of dwindling traffic. can't speak for anyone but myself, but fwiw I think it's fine for the young people to post as long as you don't make fun of me for remembering where I was when MLK died, when we landed on the moon in a soundstage in California, etc. --Dave

kjk wrote:

Is this thread only for 50+ Masters or is there one for 40+ Masters? Thanks.

.....

...or “the day the music died”...

kjk wrote:

Is this thread only for 50+ Masters or is there one for 40+ Masters? Thanks.

I thought Masters was 40+ and Grandmasters 50+, and last classification would be Seniors 60+.

Now there's talk of a new classification; "Veteran Grandmaster." Interesting article but too many classifications:

kjk wrote:

Is this thread only for 50+ Masters or is there one for 40+ Masters? Thanks.

I believe about half of the current posters on the weekly "road racing and training thread" are 40-plus. Always civil and informative discussion there as well as here. Igy, I don't remember the day the music died, but at age 4, I was vaguely aware of the JFK assassination. And today I struggle with the notion that I am now part of "the older set" -- which in my mind is still the WWII generation.

Funny, I still think of the "older" generation as folks that are or appear or "behave" older than me! :)

Anyhow, first 6 days of the year (first week for my running calendar) was 24 miles and a 25 minute indoor bike effort.

Looking back on my years of running, the injury bugs seemed to hit more after age 50 than age 40, but maybe being age 66 now means that I just remember them more because of them being more recent. My two biggest, though, 6 months of plantar fasciitis time off, and partial meniscus arthroscopy, did both occur after age 50.

Warm days here in KC for a couple days though the overnight lows means that there is some residual icing from the remaining rain and snow we just had. Gotta be careful out there! Might try some fast turnover running today since temps will peak in the 50's.

On the home front, I am trading in my 2001 Honda Civic HX that I have had since it was new, for a 2016 Prius version 4, with 26.2k miles, today. Pretty excited about that, looks like a great deal, low mileage and much less cost from new. Tough seeing my old dependable go, but feel like it's time as I am tired of the semi-regular repairs and looking forward to creating less air pollution, too.

Allen1959 wrote:

I don't remember the day the music died, but at age 4, I was vaguely aware of the JFK assassination. And today I struggle with the notion that I am now part of "the older set" -- which in my mind is still the WWII generation.

I don't remember the day the music died either, but I was more than vaguely aware of the JFK assassination. And I agree with Allen. "The older set" is the WWII generation, i.e. my parents' generation, not mine. However, very few of the WWII generation are still running at any speed.

cecelia b. wrote:

Sally V wrote:

I’ve just returned to LR from a self-imposed exile of several months due to some unfortunate harassment in another thread. During the hiatus I reached the half-century mark! Imagine my pleasure to discover this thread on my first foray back. I haven’t had time to read beyond this page yet, but I am looking forward to perusing the earlier pages as time permits. It will be nice to participate in a discussion without the drama and verbal abuse sometimes found in threads frequented by younger, less-mature posters.

It’s good to be back!

Welcome and glad you are back. Perhaps we can add a woman’s touch.

Thanks, Cecelia! I’m looking forward to honest and respectful discussions regarding the challenges brought on by the aging process. And it’s good to know there are other women here. Talk to you soon.

Training

Man I feel good. A few hours ago I felt like crap. I was sluggish. Today was supposed to be a slow LT run for 2 or 3 miles followed by a couple of 60 secound reps at 11mph/5:27 pace on the mill. I thought a nice walk might get me going. About half way through my hour walk in my favorite park The dog lady did her usual Release The Hounds . I usually deal with the doggies well which really pisses her off but today I just shuffled by. Charlie not me one of her doggies jumped up and clamped down on my jacket which I usually enjoy just playing but not today I just waited until his grip loosened and gave dog lady a dirty look and headed for the far side of the 40 acre park. Maybe I should just bag it. Maybe I am coming down with something. How could that happen? I am in GermoPhobe mode. Oh wait a minute 2 days ago I shook hands with Ilene and she had sniffles. Oh crap! So I went home not sure what to do. Then I remembered last year when I felt like this exactly like this. I went and did a hard track workout. Ok let me caffeine up with my favorite energy drink(only before workouts) RockStart Recovery Orange. I guzzled half a can , laced em up , out the door for the half mile walk to the geriatric gym. I like this place cause all these old farts make me feel like a young buck. Call me a sand beggar but I do enjoy being the fastest guy at the gym. Ten minutes into my warm up I feel the need for speed. Forget 9mph for 20 minutes I HATE THIS WORKOUT. I want to go fast rest go fast rest you know the drill. I want my heart pumping my legs churning I want to run hard. So I did. 3 x 3 minutes at 11mph with 3 minutes recovery. Only went to 2/2 breathing after 2 minutes. On the last one I was thinking do one at 12 a good thought but a bad idea. Did some pullups and walked home feeling like a million bucks. This is why I do this.

amkelley wrote:

Allen1959 wrote:

I don't remember the day the music died, but at age 4, I was vaguely aware of the JFK assassination. And today I struggle with the notion that I am now part of "the older set" -- which in my mind is still the WWII generation.

I don't remember the day the music died either, but I was more than vaguely aware of the JFK assassination. And I agree with Allen. "The older set" is the WWII generation, i.e. my parents' generation, not mine. However, very few of the WWII generation are still running at any speed.

I grew up in the LA area listening to AM radio KFWB. Later in the evening dialing in to Wolfman Jack on 50,000 watts KPRB out of Tiajuana. Bee bop to Motown riding my skateboard. By 1963 I was delivering the evening Herald Examiner. The day of the Kennedy Assasination several people met me to get their paper. By the late 60s Chechen and Chong had a show on an FM station that was once exclusively classical music. At the time it was referred as underground radio.

In regards to WW II generation my wife and I were care givers to her veteran father. He was a B-24 bombardier shot down over Vienna, four out of a crew of ten survived. He spent the next year as a “guest of Herr Hitler.” Good man. My father had rhumatic fever as a child and was declared 4-F. Volunteered with four of my uncles that severed in army, air corps and navy. One never returned. None of them would talk about until later years. A common story of survival I suppose.

Igy

Charlie,

I have found the mental preparation for a hard session daunting. I tell myself I will feel pretty good after my first couple of reps. By the time I finish I am energized with a feeling of accomplishment.

Igy