50+ Masters Training and Racing Open Forum

RF reader,

Do you still have your tonsils? I always had mine, but experienced more illness as a kid, but less as an adult.

We have had a humidifier on our central air for about fifteen years in two different houses. It is a modest expense to install. We live in a low humidity environoment and it is a healthy addition in colder months.

In regards to endurance activities and general health, it would only makes sense to me that physical fitness as well as psychological wellness can only benefit one as they age.

Igy

So true. At 50 I switched to mtn biking from running and it was amazing. Roads were boring but mtn biking was a gas. Best shape of my life. So why do I always return to running? Cause I was born to run. Heck I get a big smile on my face when ever I see anything running it is just amazing just watch a happy carefree dog just running all out with that big old doggy grin on his chops and that is me but the price is pretty high these days.

A 20 minute tempo barefoot in the sand today in my favorite spot

https://drive.google.com/open?id=1mRwFLWCMC-fspn9Vbk2SESSNe_PiHxIK

Guess I title this post 'Oh the price we pay!'

My week started off with somehow messing up my back. Lower back pain came out of nowhere. I was tiling a floor, up and down a ladder a lot...who knows. So I was in desperate repair mode. Had a chiro treatment Tuesday; another aggressive one Friday afternoon. Sitting seemed to really kill my back; tying my shoes was difficult. With a race in a few days I'm hoping for a miracle by Saturday morning.

Saturday I began my warmup with, ibuprofen, 20 min on a heat pad, then a mile test run on the treadmill. Got through it, ate a little breakfast and did another mile. Drove 10 minutes to the race just in time to do two strides and then start. It was freezing cold, 24 deg. Legs felt really cold. I was all alone 1/4 mile in. Just me and the lead bike the rest of the way until we hit the 5ker's around 4-1/2. The course was shortened to 6.0 due to some rerouting because of recent flooding. Well the miracle happened. Ended up going 36:13 for the 6.0, splitting a nice even 603,603,558,603,602,604. Age grades to about an 86%. How did that happen?

Now for the price we pay. Attempted to run Sunday, made it one mile around 9:00 pace. My heel was incredibly sore. Back wasn't so bad. Took Monday off just because running didn't seem like a good idea. I may or may not try a run tonite.

So for the week, 41 miles. Took Thursday off. Only workout was 3 mile light tempo on Tuesday of 7:04,6:59,6:54.

Oh and I'm really not liking the switch to DST. My body will take a while to get used to being up this early!

Have a good week,

Dave

On the flip side 125k 41 years and still going strong:

https://www.desmoinesregister.com/story/life/2018/03/13/running-streak-iowa-man-takes-daily-jog-41-years-and-counting/417712002/

Agree with the focus on Tempo work.

My recent block of training has been focused on tempo, strides and a medium length run, everything else has been filler miles at easy/recovery pace.

The tempo work I've been doing on the treadmill as it's easy to control / replicate, plus the weather has been pants.

I progressed the tempo over the block from 2 x 2 miles up to 1 x 6miles, with also included some progression work, working my way up to tempo. The strides kept me relatively sharp, but didn't add too much stress and the 12-16 mile runs were just enough to keep the endurance end topped up.

Last summer I went all Jack Daniels, with his complex mixed speed work sessions and my performances went backwards and I really felt the strain. My approach now is just enough is enough.

Good luck with the training

Spring has sprung

It is a tough time to be in the 60 AG.

CM is HOWLING FANTASTIC

http://www.shamrockmarathon.com/race-info/results/

With these guys counting down

KP has some stiff competition. Anselm LeBourne soon to be 59 is back ( 2:07 800 97AG ) . Anselm is entered in both the 8 and 15. Steve Spence ( 9:53 3000) is also entered in the 1500. KPs clubmate Berryman who is 59 will be nipping at his heels. Wish I could watch these races.

Carlsbad next weekend

Charlie wrote:

Spring has sprung

It is a tough time to be in the 60 AG.

CM is HOWLING FANTASTIC

CM killed it! Nice run. You know it's a good day when you beat Joe.

Dave

Racerdb wrote:

Charlie wrote:

Spring has sprung

It is a tough time to be in the 60 AG.

CM is HOWLING FANTASTIC

CM killed it! Nice run. You know it's a good day when you beat Joe.

Dave

Thanks gentlemen! That was an intense race. Managed to throw in the right move at a good time. Four of us under 29.

Coyote Montane wrote:

Managed to throw in the right move at a good time. Four of us under 29.

Fantastic! Congratulations on the win, and all the more impressive given the depth of the competition. Undefeated in the new AG!

*Week 353*

Howdy, 50+ers! First off, props to all those racing in National Championships this weekend...Coyote,SCgal,KP...anyone else? Some nice results, for sure, and especially big props to new 60+ 8K Champ, Coyote, and his ~94% AG! Tough competition! And from last week, great race report and results, SpikePlate! Props also to MikeL (and wife,) and to "Just Passing Through."

For my week, it was 7 more miles than the previous week, and, yes, I still have a lingering hack. I've talked with a lot of folks around here who've had the same lingering hack...so I presume it will finally abate. I did manage to run something every day, but made it just 27 miles on those 7 runs---log reads as such:

Sun: 5.3 Varied (7:38/mi avg) w/3rd mile @7:10

Mon: 4.0 Varied (7:50/mi avg) w/3rd mile @7:19

Tue: 4.0 w/6xhill repeats

Wed: 4.1 Easy (8:07/mi)

Thu: 2.0 Easy (8:16/mi) just to say I ran

Fri: 5.1 Easy/Moderate (8:31/mi) 60% Grass/Trail

Sat: 2.5 Fairly Hard (7:20/mi) middle mile @6:50

Mostly just logging some miles and varying the pace, distance, and terrain; nothing structured. There were a few of those days, that my legs felt pretty dead (Tues and Thu especially.) The grass and trails, though slower, wasn't particularly easy, and left me a little sore. I ran short Saturday as a result, but I chose to pick it up a bit. After today, I'll have a mini-streak of 10 days (contributing to the dead legs,) but it'll end there, as tomorrow is not showing any promise for a chance to run.

That's all I've got. Really looking forward to some good race reports.

All the Best!

Postscript from last week: the weather *was* improving, but then Monday, we got dumped on with a surprise 10" of snow. It melted pretty quickly, but reminded us that winter ain't quite done yet!

...and go Wildcats!

I'll add my congratulations to Coyote on his 8K championship!

For me, this was about as close as I get to a zero week as last Sunday's half-marathon really did a number on my heel. It was a few days before I could just walk without limping and I didn't try to run again until Saturday, limiting myself to spinning the bike trainer in the garage and doing a little rowing at the gym. Saturday I finally ventured out for a 6-mile easy run, and boy did that feel good!

This morning the heel still felt reasonably OK so I went out for another easy 6-miler. However, 3/4 of a mile before reaching home, I made a turn and spotted my husband jogging up the one small hill on the course, maybe 150 meters ahead of me. (He is basically a cyclist but he jogs a couple of miles a few days a week.) I had a lot of ground to make up in not much distance but I turned on the burners and quickly started reeling him in. I caught him about 200 meters from home and he briefly tried to pick up his pace but then gave up, and I kept pushing it to the house. It felt wonderful to run fast, even if briefly, but I'll probably pay for this tomorrow!

My next race, which I've already entered, is a half-marathon in three weeks. It seems very questionable whether I will be able to do it, but I'll see how things go in the next two weeks.

Happy running to all!

Winning a National Championship alone is impressive alone, but Coyote accomplished one in a very impressive age grading. Congrats to all the rest winning their personal battles as I carry on mine. Ran twice this week, which was my victory. Busy completing work and personal chores I had on the back burner. Only so much energy to distribute over the week so overall exercising scaled back to about 15 Igy miles. Friday was my second treatment and I seem to be handling it well. Best to all.

Igy

MEH would be an apt description for the just concluded training week...got in 31 miles of nothing...well, aside from a 5 mile progression run on the high school track that finished in a 'blaze of speed' (7:31)...HA!

The streak is still alive (473 days) and the lifetime mileage march to 110,000 is still in play ...at 108,875 following this morning's slog

Big props to the Coyote and all those who raced Indoor Nationals this weekend

Keep on truckin and remember to train don't strain ;)

your pal,

MF

Congrats to Coyote (v. v. impressive) and all.

https://c1.staticflickr.com/5/4778/39986616755_c448f2d708_b.jpg

An easy week overall, took a few days for the body to bounce bank.

We had another cold front predicted for this weekend so the strides I added on Weds / Thur we not to be used for a 5k burn up as the race was cancelled. Met up with the club spring marathoners instead and joined them for the last 16.6 miles of their 23 mile run at a decent 6:46 pace, which was roughly 8 @ 7min/ml and 8+ at about 6:30/5.

Travel this week, snow at home so will try and bank a few treadmill miles in the morning and then just plan a much needed several easy days before launching into another block.

MTD: 145.3

YTD: 651

Streak: 217 (1,892)

Coyote Montane wrote:

Racerdb wrote:

CM killed it! Nice run. You know it's a good day when you beat Joe.

Dave

Thanks gentlemen! That was an intense race. Managed to throw in the right move at a good time. Four of us under 29.

93.5% AG

First, belated congratulations to Racerdb for the 10K win. That's a quick pace, depsite the cold, running alone, and the lingering back issues. Also congrats on the AG half-marathon win, amkelley. Sounds like the recovery took a while, but that you're back on track again, eh? And, big congrat, again, to CM for the 8K national championship, and the HUGE age-graded score. Wow! This is gonna be one heckuva year of racing. Four weeks to the marathon. LucKY2be, it's good to see your consistency returning, and some decent paces in there, too,

For me, after a step-back the previous week, I got my mileage up a little, on four days of road running, and three treadmill sessions.

M58 -- 5'11" 171 lbs

Open PRs (1982) -- 16:04 5K, 2:40:30 marathon

Masters PRs (2003) -- 17:10 5K, 2:56:03 marathon

Most recent (2017) -- 18:58 5K, 3:07:23 marathon

Goal: Defend M55-59 title in August 15K

Training status: Injury rehab, mileage build

March 12-18, 2018

Mon -- 10.5 miles @ 9:27/mi (roads)

Tue -- 20 mins elliptical, 30 mins treadmill

Wed -- 40 mins treadmill

Thu --12.2 miles @8:42/mi (roads)

Fri -- 40 mins treadmill

Sat -- 8.2 miles @ 8:58/mi (roads)

Sun -- 12.2 miles @ 8:38/mi (roads)

WEEK TOTAL: 43.1 MILES (roads)

Looking forward to more race reports. Have a good week. Be well!

-Allen

some great racing and training this week, everyone -- congratulations!

i had a fun week for spring break at work, including:

M 2:10 double

Tu 1:30

W 1:15 with 20:00 tempo (a little over 3 miles) + bonus mile at same pace after 4:00 recovery

th 2:30 double

F 1:10

Sa 2:15 with 20:00 tempo [a little over 3 miles]

Su 1:20

Definitely didn't pick them to win, but I'm basking nevertheless in UMBC huge upset over Virginia on basis of extremely tangential personal connection. Quite a while ago the UMBC coach Ryan Odom was an asst. coach at American U and would sometimes play pickup basketball with faculty/staff scrubs like myself at lunchtime. Really good player and a better guy, so it's nice to see him and his team having success.

have a great week,

Dave

My first report in a few weeks. In late Feb I reported some tightness in the outside-lower-leg-Achilles area. Some research indicates it may have been a peroneal situation. Took three days off, but the next jog only lasted 25' before I shut it down with unrelenting stiffness and soreness. This time I gave it a week's rest. No problems walking, etc. so it was back at it. Felt great for 5', then some minor tightness in the next 5' that progressively got worse. Shut it down at 15'. Gave it 10 days rest with enhanced therapy (ice, heat, massage) before giving it another go last Friday. Was aiming for 20' and stretched it to 25' with no issues. Back at it today after a day off...33' again pain free. Fingers crossed that I've turned a corner. Plan to head out every other day gradually adding minutes until I get close to an hour or so. No problems golfing other than the course conditions.

Congrats to CM and the rest of the competitive bunch. Best to all.

Congrats CM, dang, so close to Norm Green’s record at 28:07 from way back in ’93. Was it the same course at Virginia Beach?

Tu, Th, Sa, Su: 30, 31, 32, and 33 min of running respectively on those days with 50 pushups/crunches. Feeling stronger every week. Yesterday I found the perfect trail section that will be my substitute for speed work. The first mile is 900 feet of elevation but it is particularly brutal. We have some steep sections around here and a number with more total feet of elevation but almost all mountain trails have at least a few feet of level or even downhill terrain. This one does not have an inch of level or downhill, very unusual. I’ll be bumping up to 35 min next week and hold for a week.

Have a good week folks.