50+ Masters Training and Racing Open Forum

So treadmill hills (article KC linked) are similar to running. I kinda always thought that.

Speed walking is not my forte , I have no idea.

Caveat go at this stuff gradually use a progressive by feel approach.

I have way too much stuff like most people but sometimes I look at treadmills. The ones at my gym are good quality and well maintained and 5 minutes away but during the winter with all the colds and flu its tempting.

Sorry it took me so long to answer the incline treadmill question. Opposite side of the world and sleeping when most here are posting. I could go on and on about incline TM training and will try my best to refrain. Really enjoy this thread and don't want to wear my welcome out.

Agree with all the other previous answers. About 5 years ago after a 2 month injury break, I was able to run/walk at steep inclines minus the impact stress. Trained almost exclusively for 2 months at 10%+ inclines. Tempo runs at 5 mph and 15%(sometimes 1 hr) were murder but the next day I felt great. My heart rates would exceed my half marathon HR. I was able to hammer 3 hard sessions a week consistently without the usual stiffness.

Ran my first ever half marathon after this 2 month incline training. Wasn't expecting much but surprised myself with a 1:15:09 in terrible conditions (80 *F and 100% humidity ).

Currently all my training is at inclines or the elliptical with the exception of workouts. My workouts are every third day at 0% incline or outside. Some on this thread can handle the roads and trails consistently. I have conceded this is not in the cards and work within my limits.

Charlie wrote:

I have way too much stuff like most people but sometimes I look at treadmills. The ones at my gym are good quality and well maintained and 5 minutes away but during the winter with all the colds and flu its tempting.

My community center is less than that, and this thread has inspired me to go there for the day after my next race. My body doesn't especially feel like running the day after a 5K but it wants to do something. Too often I just go there when the weather is too cold/hot but race+1 is the perfect time for uphill treadmill.

lucKY2b, I hope that you will provide us with the honorary post for the upcoming 10,000th post, as you started this great thread. Quite the accomplishment and helps so many of us!

Have not posted in a while. Last Tuesday, when I planned my last long run prior to this Saturday's 1/2 marathon, I woke up with overwhelming fatigue. Scary, don't want to walk to another room, wonder what disease I have, fatigue. Never felt that bad even after an all-out marathon effort. Slept through the day, broke a slight sweat and felt my heart rate drop in the process, and gradually felt better in the evening but basically did nothing all day. Fortunately was my day off work, too. So am going into this 1/2 feeling less than confident, given no runs longer than 12.5 miles and only a couple of track efforts and races to pick up speed. Would love to go top 3 in the 65+, but now wonder how I will feel in the later miles. Hard course, several big hills going out and coming back, only the last couple miles flatten out. Would have loved for this to be my personal "sub 2" project, now not so sure :)

My wife finished up her 3 weeks of races with a Gold Medal for 60-64 in the KCCC 5 km a week and a half ago, and 2nd in the 60-64 at the Mother's Day 5 km all-women's race. Her Mother's Day effort was VERY exhaustive, with the sudden heat and humidity moving in and her asthma bringing her to a walk through the aid station. So happy that she backed off and just finished and did not force herself into something worse.

Other news is that I have been put on our KCCC 1 mile (track) team in 3 weeks, so am hoping to recover well from the 1/2. The participation points I garner will be important to the team, so my 7 minute mile pace will hopefully be good enough to help out. That night will be her next race, too, on Tuesday night, June 5 (6?). We'll take inspiration from the PRE meet prior to that!

Mike L,

Best wishes on your race. I forgot to mention that Brian Renshaw at Park College is one of my former athletes. We exchanged emails a few months back.

Igy

Mike, if that happens again please get a blood test.

thanks KC and thanks Igy. So far, so good, though there is a terrible-looking storm moving in tonight and into the morning, so we may be delayed, shortened, or ????

Igy, I don't know that gentleman, though his name sounds familiar. Runners always welcome to introduce themselves to me at GGRS at the Stoll Park venue.

Mike Lundgren wrote:

thanks KC and thanks Igy. So far, so good, though there is a terrible-looking storm moving in tonight and into the morning, so we may be delayed, shortened, or ????

Igy, I don't know that gentleman, though his name sounds familiar. Runners always welcome to introduce themselves to me at GGRS at the Stoll Park venue.

I will mention that to Brian next time we speak. Have a good race.

Igy

*Week 362*

Salutations, 50+ers! First off, prayers to Cush and Family. These things are always hard; hoping for the best possible outcome. Second, MikeL, that's pretty scary. I second getting checked out for some deficiency...I should probably get checked out soon, too. Haven't paid too much attention to the post count, but pretty neat that we are around 10,000 posts (always take those numbers with a grain of salt, given the nature of the boards.) It's been fun to do, and I'm happy to keep it going so long as there is interest. Helps to keep me motivated seeing all that you all are doing. And I could use a little motivation right now. Managed just 18.3 miles on 4 days of running (I did power walk for another 5+ miles, but I'm not logging those miles....maybe I should.)

Sun: 3.1 easy (8:12/mi)

Mon: Off

Tue: 4.1 Steady (7:39/mi)

Wed: Fast walking

Thu: 4.0 miserable (8:12/mi)

Fri: Fast walking

Sat: 7.1 Easy, 2.0am (8:51/mi) & 5.1pm (8:34/mi)

My left knee was a bit wonky to start the week, so I didn't do the usual Tuesday workout once again. A little down on the miles, too, but the power-walking is helping with the knee. Haven't lost any weight this spring, and it hit me that the main reason is probably because we switched campuses so I no longer get my automatic 2.6 miles of walking to and from work each day. Nose has been so "to the grindstone" all spring it never occured to me how important those walks were. Think that I'll finally be more deliberate about that...something Charlie and OGII have been on to for a while now (I'm slow sometimes.) Really not much more to say other than it can stop raining now....please.

Props, also, to 50+er Mike Smith on his W in the Preakness to augment the win at the Kentucky Derby. Watched a clip on his exercise routine to keep up with the youngsters and it reminds me that I'm not doing enough.

OK, That's it for me. How're things in your neck of the woods? Any racing going down?

All the Best!

M - 5.7 recovery

T - 11 with 6.5 mile tempo at low, 6:20s, threw in some surges at sub 6

W - 8 on trails

Th - double with 4.7 and 5.5, PM workout included 3X 3:25 at 8K effort, and 4X 45 sec at mile pace

F - 7.3 easy

Sa - 5 AM, Mile race (Frank Shorter Track Classic). Ran alone in my heat and went through half in 2:43, a few seconds off, and then really tied up with 85s. So 5:33/age grade 83. I time trialed 5:18/5:19 last summer and fall so this was more of a drop off than I'd hoped for. So still making my way back from from that chilly near frozen Boston outing. Not a fast day at 42 degrees and foggy rainy (not bad at race time though). 10.5 for the day

Su- 15 on a course with some big hills

Something like 67 or 68 so a pretty full week.

C0l0rado yeah, let's figure a place to meet before BB start.

lucKY, I cannot fathom why anyone would want to run more than 4 days a week ?

Tue: 45 min treadmill due to rain

Thurs: 45 min rocky trail 545 feet climbing

Sat: 45 min, steep rocky trail, 613 feet climbing

Sun: 30 min, medium trail, cut short for grandpa duties

Feeling great and truly enjoying running. It was hard getting runs in this week as we had 9+ inches of rain in SW VA. Interestingly, the trails I run are so rocky your feet don’t get muddy. Almost no dirt. I cut today’s run short as I am babysitting for my 5yo granddaughter. Spending several hours chasing butterfly’s and running around a park keeping up with a 5yo is hard work!

I am trying to figure out when I want to start tuning for a race; and if I can do it on trails. I have a lot of experience in tuning on the track and a number of tried-and-true workouts that have worked every time for 40 years. But, there is increased injury risk on the track. Getting fast on a trail is complicated. I don’t want to injure myself before I turn 60, but I feel so danged good I hate sitting on the sidelines.

Have a good week everyone.

M58 -- 5'11" 166 lbs

Goal -- Defend M55-59 title in 15K (August)

Training -- Week 6 of 18-week plan; 9-day cycle with Long Run, VO2max and LT workouts; volume progression

May 14 - 20, 2018

LT -- 2.5-mi warmup; 4 x 1-mile w/1:14 static recoveries @ 6:31, 6:29, 6:38, 6:27; 1-mi cooldown

Easy - 8.0 miles @9:36/mi

Easy - 4.0 miles @ 9:32/mi w/3 x 1-min @ 5K race pace

Easy - 3.0 miles @ 9:22/mi w/2 x 1-min @ 5K race pace

Easy - 2.0 miles @ 9:47/mi w/1 x 1-min @ 5K race pace

VO2 -- 2.2-mi warmup; 5K race @ 6:18/mi (6:25, 6:26, 6:00, :44)

Off

WEEK TOTAL: 21.8 MIles

This past week was a planned step-back with a mini-taper and a 5K race. I'm not quite on target for my August goal, but happy with the progress since a three-month layoff, October to January.

The weather for yesterday's 5K wasn't too bad, 60 degrees, light rain and a light breeze. A young woman took the early lead. I settled into fourth place, but moved to third fairly early. By the mile point, the woman was maintaining a 60-meter lead, but I was quickly catching the man in second place. First mile: 6:25 with a bit of an uphill.

During the second mile the woman was steadily coming back to me. I passed her at exactly the 2-mile point. Second mile: 6:26.

For the third mile, I just tried to keep it moving enough to discourage anyone from trying to catch me: 6:00 for a slight downhill. I simply maintained pace around the last couple turns and finished with 19:35.

That's 6:18 average, about 12 seconds per mile slower than my last 5K, more than a year ago. I'm still carrying an extra 10 pounds, so losing that will help. I may schedule another 5K soon (looking for a deeper and faster field), and perhaps a 10K on July 4th.

Be well. Have a good week.

Greeting all, its been a long time since I've posted any training stuff. In the last few years I've been recovering from a meniscus repair, weight gain due to the time off. I've been focusing more on my athletes (high schoolers and some marathoners) training and had gotten away from consistent training. In the 18 months or so I've started running with one of my OT qualifier female runners as she was recovering from a stress reaction. The result for me was a renewed desire to get into shape. I've lost almost 20 lbs in the last 18 months and feel like a runner again. This was last weeks training.

Monday - 6 Miles Treadmill (45:15)

Tuesday - 8 x 800 w/ 200 jog (kept these at tempo effort due to heat and humidity) 8 miles total with WU and CD

Wednesday - am: 8 miles easy pm: 4 miles easy with my high school runners

Thursday - Lower back injections to deal with old disc rupture from 2001 in the early am, did 5 miles easy on dirt trails in the afternoon to shake things out

Friday - 10 miles easy (7:45 pace)

Saturday - 16 miles easy (7:50 pace)

Sunday - 10 miles easy (7:45 pace)

Goal Race - half marathon in Duluth next month.

No race for me, it was cancelled d/t the thunderstorm around the venue. Perhaps they could have run it an hour or two later, but that was the KCCC decision, not mine. I did not feel good with my run today so was glad it did not happen, didn't feel like I could have even held onto a sub 10:00 pace for it.

Off to the track today with my wife, since we are both running the KCCC 1 mile in a couple weeks. I have been added to the track team to garner extra participation points. Just hope I can run something under 7:30 for the meet. Wish me luck, I'll need it! ML

Best wishes to all running their Memorial Day races!

Gary B welcome back. Somewhere back in prehistoric times I did the Sunday RSF loop with you a few times. Those were the days when my sons were in high school and college and took great delight in making the pro triathletes suffer on the run, while I hung on as long as I could.

I had another lackadaisical week of 21 miles. While I did not have the crushing fatigue that Mike Lundgren talked about, I just haven't felt like I have a lot of energy for training the last couple of weeks. I think that after about age 65+ that even a little bit of over-training can hit you in a big way. At our age we always have to be cognizant of potential medical issues, but I also think that the physiology of training hard further evolves in your late 60s and the effect of training too hard has a much bigger impact and longer duration than it did even compared to 5 years ago. So, trying to build better fitness at this age requires more patience and very careful monitoring of effort and recovery to not periodically go off the rails. At least that's my rationalization of why coffee and pastries with my wife at our new local French bakery seemed like a better plan than running yesterday morning. This morning's easy 4 miles felt pretty normal and I hope to be back on my usual training schedule beginning tomorrow.

Prayers for all with serious health concerns and best of luck to all the rest with racing and training.

Three good workouts that included a race in the sand for 2k followed by 7k on the road at 4pm. Never raced in this extreme heat - 88*F but it wasn't that bad. Last mile was my fastest and dropped the over 40 competitor by 45 seconds ( no over 50). Averaged 5:57 mp after the sand which was much better than expected. Fun times running through thousands of tourists ,jet ski trailers... Won a little money and some cool prizes finishing 3rd overall 10 seconds behind a couple young runners.

Lots of niggles but feel confident they will disappear in the short term.

Date Time of Day Acivity Duration AvgHR/Max Workout WO Duration Note

05-14 16:49 Run Treadmill 00:41 153/164 Threshold 00:38 Low end TH 37.30 10k

05-14 16:51 Run Incline TM 00:30 117/125 None 00:00

05-14 16:53 Walk Incline TM 00:19 117/125 None 00:00

05-15 14:12 Walk Incline TM 00:30 107/117 None 00:00

05-15 14:12 Run Incline TM 00:30 118/125 None 00:00

05-15 18:15 Walk Incline TM 01:13 114/119 None 00:00

05-16 18:11 Run 01:23 140/175 C-Int&TH 00:29 3x1200 @ 3:50 avg + 2x400 79 secs + 15 TH

05-16 09:35 Walk Incline TM 00:20 109/119 None 00:00

05-17 11:21 Run Incline TM 00:47 114/123 None 00:00

05-17 18:28 Walk Incline TM 00:50 102/117 None 00:00

05-18 11:12 Run Treadmill 01:00 120/127 None 00:00 14kph

05-18 11:13 Walk Incline TM 00:24 106/115 None 00:00

05-19 19:59 Run 00:09 119/133 None 00:00

05-19 20:00 Run 00:31 173/180 10k effor 00:31 Bikini Race 88*F at 4 pm- 2k sand rest road

05-20 18:23 Walk Incline TM 00:20 114/120 None 00:00

05-20 20:25 Run 00:51 124/136 None 00:00

Love reading all your posts! Best of luck to all of you.

nice to see the sun again today (albeit accompanied by about 200% humidity) after 8 straight rainy days. not my favorite but at least it's been warm.

M 1:30 double with 10 X 90 seconds hard uphills (2:30 recovery) on first run

Tu 1:10

W 2:15 double

th 1:05

F 1:15

Sa 1:35 including 12 X 1:30 hard (1:00 recovery)

Su 1:40

have a great week,

Dave

Y'all mind if i uhhhhh

Davis Love III wrote:

Y'all mind if i uhhhhh

get the 10,000th post?