50+ Masters Training and Racing Open Forum

Nice week lucKY.

Nice race Allen!

Hope the pf gets better Charlie.

Tue: 45 min rocky trail, 562 feet climbing

Thr: 45 min rocky trail, 580 feet climbing

Sat: 20 min warm-up on the trail, 6:58 1600 push on the track, 18 min warm-down on the trail

Sun: 45 min rocky trail, 713 feet climbing

A good week free of rain for the first time in a few months! The slight soreness I felt in my right heel after last week’s 1600 improved this week and felt better after this week’s 1600. I didn’t mention it but both knees had become sore 3 or 4 weeks back but they just got better on their own doing nothing special. Previously, I simply did not get over injuries or even minor irritations. That was killing me. But this year that has changed. Is it the trails, the glucosamine, going off the statin, or a combination?

A bit of improvement on the 1600 to 6:58 from 7:01 last week. Laps were 1:50, 1:44, 1:44, and 1:40.

My HS track team is having a reunion on Aug 11th for a local run that our coach founded in 1974. He wants to see us run as his health is failing. I’m risking the track for him; he’s worth it. Many fond memories from that time. Dhaaga, you may not remember my HS team, Andrew Lewis, but I’m sure you remember the team we finished 2nd to in state CC a number of years: Hanley. Jeez, they were one of the best in the country and they just happened to be in our state!

Have a good week everyone!

I’m 54 year old lady. Started running at the age of 40. My first race ever was a marathon which I came in at 5:42. Fell in love with running. My next race was a 4:11. By the third I BQ. Did 10 years of really good racing then the wheels fell off. Injuries, stress in my personal life, death and menopause. Had to take a huge break. Now I’m back and running. But hoping to shed weight gain and regain some of my speed. My day job is very physical and always in my feet which really zaps what I can do for mileage. A whole new ball game. I feel like a beginner runner.

Welcome, Jd3! It will be nice to have some other women on this thread, and I hope you can get some helpful advice, as well as inspiration.

I tried to jog a little on Monday and once again was seized with a massive calf cramp after half a mile. So I limped back home and got on the bike, and all I did the rest of the week was ride my bike (220 miles for the week) and lift weights. I also walked a fast 4 miles on Friday, realizing that I need to do something other than cycling to stay in decent shape for hiking this summer.

The “highlight” of the week was my first effort in almost 3 years to do a hard hill ride on the bike. This was an out-and-back route, 16 miles each way, which gains 2400 feet of elevation, including the last two miles at an average gradient of 8.5%. It’s a hard ride even when I’m in good cycling shape, and it was with some trepidation that I headed out on Saturday, not even sure that I could make it all the way to the top without a rest. It turned out to be no worse than I remembered; the climb was slow but I never seriously considered bailing out before reaching the top.

My calf feels fine walking about as fast as I can on level ground, and it also feels fine going up and down stairs or hiking on steep terrain. But as soon as I try to get off the ground in a running stride it cramps up. I think it's time to try to find a competent physical therapist, which will be a challenge in my backwater. The last time I asked one of my runner friends for advice about massage therapy, he referred me to a woman who does massage as well as "ear candling", and I declined to put my body in the hands of someone who subscribes to that sort of quackery. Time to try again to find someone.

Greetings from Eugene, OR

WHAT a track meet, though, very bittersweet as it was the last time to be at Hayward Field as we have known it. My first time here was AAUs back in 1975 just after turning 19. Had the privilege of racing, coaching and spectating here for more than 4 decades...breaks my heart to see the East Grandstands go by the wayside.

Managed just shy of 30 miles this week including a a hard session of road repeats, a track workout and a solid 5K (with fellow poster KP) yesterday...Kev was just floating and chatting away... I on the other hand was at the pinnacle of my anaerobic threshold..little did I know that the other guy we were running with was once a 3:59 miler and 13:38 5K sort...my only solace was that we dropped a former 2:10 marathon sort like a bad habit around mile 2 ?

At any rate, Pre's Trail beckons...headed out for an hour slog on it ...call it my 'long' run.

Catch up with everybody next Sunday...in the meantime, as always, remember to 'train don't strain'

your pal,

MF

Another week of aeorbic workouts from Coaches Julia & Alan Webb. Tues on track with a medley of intervals starting at 6min pace progrssing to 5min pace or less. Fri on bikepath whilst in Eugene. A good Bob Kennedy session of 2x 2k at 6:30 pace then 6:00 pace ending with 4x 200 at 34-33.

Wish all y'all were in Eugene to witness an epic four days of athletics at historic Hayward Field ... a hallowed ground to gather as old friends and fanatics sharing stories and witnessing glories.

KP

congrats on the mile! well done.

i had a fun, though humid, week including:

M 2:20 double, second being a "pub run" with members of my club, previewing course for 5k goal race 6/23

Tu 1:00 incl. 20 minute track tempo (a hair over 5k, which i passed at 19:55) + 30:00 x-t

W 2:10 double

Th 1:25

F 1:00 + 1:00 x-t

Sa 2:30 including parkrun 5k early in the run -- progression run 21:16 [1st OA [of 32 finishers]]

Su 45:00 + 30:00 x-t

I was a little sheepish about taking the lead in parkrun at about 4k after steadily moving up from 10th or so, but figured (a) it's probably even more annoying if someone lets you win than if they win without being in all-out race mode, and (b) as the 4-time champion of the Southeast Unitarian Universalist Summer Institute fun run/walk, it's a little late for me to develop a conscience about cherry-picking small and mostly not-competitive-runner fields for my few overall wins.

have a great week,

Dave

Oh how could i forget the honor of being a guest runner at the 20th Hoodi 5k with Mike F and the most loyal track fanatics EAST of the West Grandstands of Hayward Field. Thanks Mike. It was a great shakeout. Speaking of which... how cool was that fimnishing our hoodi only to say "good luck" to the Oregon Duck + coach doing shakeout strides in the parking lot hours before her victrious 1500.

Nice job on the mile Allen, heal up Charlie, and good to see that you're ramping up lucKY2b now that the school stuff has wound down.

Sort of a recovery week from the half last week, but with a big plan this weekend. Two weeks ago I decided to do the Mt. Evans Ascent, the highest road race in the US finishing at 14,264 after 14.5 miles. Normally I wouldn't do a long race coming off a half marathon but since it was uphill decided to give it ago. Had minimal higher elevation training (>10000 ft) but have done enough at 7000 to 8000 this year, and did get out 4-5 times in the past couple weeks.

Ran a bit under 9:30 pace for the climb (3600 feet) and felt pretty good until about 12.5 or 13 miles and about 13,800 feet. Then it got hard. Got second masters and a top 15 overall. So a good one for the bucket list, and one I'd do again.

Just under 50 for the week. I'll go easy for a few days here, and then re-start a summer build up for bigger races in couple months. I might do Vail Hill Climb, another classic event, in about a month. Other than that just train and regroup.

Overall the 2018 winter-spring campaign has been a success.

It was another week just like the others. The right calf continues to exhibit some mild stiffness, but not enough to shut things down. Though the volume remains steady, the pace is starting to improve naturally and I even attempted some fartlek on Thursday. The calf sleeve helps.

On a side note, I was reminiscing during a recent jog and realized that this spring marks the 50th anniversary of the start of my running "career." I did take about a year plus off when my collegiate competitive time ended, but it's been pretty steady otherwise. No wonder I have these aches. :-)

Sun: off

Mon: off (weather)

Tues: 51' jog, swim, body wt ex

Wed: off

Thurs: 52' jog w/ utility pole fartlek (5x 1 on / 3 off), body wt ex

Fri: off

Sat: 54'jog, body wt ex

Special thanks to Allen1959 for the positive feedback.

Best to all.

Coyote, congrats on a nice result at Mt. Evans!

I've always been curious about how it would feel to try to run at really high elevation. I have lived below 1000 feet all my life except for one year in Boulder, 20 years ago. I often hike at 7,000-9,000 feet and am unaware of the elevation, but that's just walking, albeit sometimes steeply uphill. I think the highest elevation at which I've run is in Los Alamos, ca. 7300 feet. There, running at a normal pace on level ground feels OK, but as soon as I start to climb even a little I immediately begin gasping for air. I can't imagine running uphill at 14,000 feet, although being acclimated to an elevation well above sea level would help some.

Good luck at Vail, if you do it.

Hi Jd3, welcome and welcome back!

The newspaper did a story on Karissa Schweizer, who won her 6th NCAA title yesterday, despite not having won a thing in high school, and I was struck by how her grandfather, a longtime track coach in Iowa, would keep her mileage down when training her.

"Frank — who spent more than four decades as the track coach at Karissa's high school, Dowling Catholic — believed in keeping the workload light for the teenager. He sought to prevent burnout. And he wanted to save time for himself. 'It was occasionally an inconvenience for me,' he said as he drove down Douglas Parkway last week. 'I quit coaching so I could play golf.'"

Gotta love Gramps. But it's instructive to see Karissa, with her fresh legs, still only logs 75 miles a week tops.

https://www.ncaa.com/news/trackfield-outdoor-women/article/2018-06-06/ncaa-track-and-field-missouris-karissa-schweizer

As for me, I tried increasing to my new weekly total of 45 miles, made it halfway.

Sunday - 7.6 miles

Monday - 8x1-minute tempos, 2 minute jog rests

Tuesday - 5.2 miles TM

Weds - 6.5 miles

Thu - 5 miles

Fri - 10x20-second road intervals, 40 second walk-jog rests

Sat - 10.4 miles

It's weird not having a race on the horizon, but with these early-morning 85F heat indexes, I don't see the point.

With both my sons staying at the house this past week for the first time in about 14 years, I got in a modest amount of mileage, but all of it at high quality effort for me. 28 miles with one or both of my sons and most of it at below 8:00/mi pace.

M- 4 at 8:14/mi

T- 3 at 7:34/mi

W- 4 at 7:53/mi

Th- rest

F- 4 at 7:33/mi

S- 6 at 7:40/mi on trails

Su- 7 at 8:07/mi on very hilly, soft trails

Now I'm off to some liquid refreshments with them :>)

Quick turnaround after Ann Arbor with the biggest local race today Litchfield Hills. Not nearly as crazy as what CM accomplished. It’s a 7.05 mile race with a near 10 percent grade hill at mile 6 for about 3/10s of a mile. Weather was favorable, cloudy in high 60s. 44:08, first Master and first in 50-59 ag.

For the week

3 swims for 4 miles

20 miles on 4 runs incl race

2 lifting sessions.

M: off.

T: 8 miles.

W: 7 miles.

R: 7 miles.

F: 8 miles.

SA: 7 miles.

SU: 12 miles.

I was hoping to run a bit more on Sunday, but after seeing the hotter than expected weather, I decided to run slowly and finish with only 12 miles. Next two weeks will be extended cutbacks as I will be traveling.

Mon. 1 hr 10 minute mountain bike ride. Feeling flat and leg weary.

Tue. am. Gentle shuffle up Roo Hill and down into town. 3 km 110 metres elevation gain in 24 minutes.

pm. Mt Hickey time trial climb on the mountain bike. 4 km climb in 29.03, best for the year by 17 secs. The last 500 metres in 5.17, a 9 second improvement. All up 45 minutes climbing and 16 minutes descending back down, the 4 km tt section was descended in 5 minutes. 600 metres elevation gained and lost in 15 kms of riding. Stopped at the river and kayaked for 30 minutes.

Wed. 8.7 km trail run from home up Roo Hill and looping through the McIvor Ranges. 315 mwetres elevation gain over rough terrain in 1 hr 7 minutes.

Thu. 30 minutes of hard effort kayak in the Campaspe River followed by a fast hour mountain bike ride on rough old farm roads.

Sat. Walked out to the Argyle Forest and did a 10 km trail run in 1 hr 5 minutes then walked home.

Sun. 9.5 kms of mostly bush bashing exploration hiking in the National Park behind my place. After nearly 15 years living here I can still find new sections to play in. Some very steep, rough terrain. 450 metres elevation gain during 2 hrs.

amkelley wrote:

Coyote, congrats on a nice result at Mt. Evans!

I've always been curious about how it would feel to try to run at really high elevation. I have lived below 1000 feet all my life except for one year in Boulder, 20 years ago. I often hike at 7,000-9,000 feet and am unaware of the elevation, but that's just walking, albeit sometimes steeply uphill. I think the highest elevation at which I've run is in Los Alamos, ca. 7300 feet. There, running at a normal pace on level ground feels OK, but as soon as I start to climb even a little I immediately begin gasping for air. I can't imagine running uphill at 14,000 feet, although being acclimated to an elevation well above sea level would help some.

Good luck at Vail, if you do it.

Yes that's where you feel it the most. On the inclines. Just signed up for Vail Hill Climb. The elevation isn't as extreme (finishing at 10,600) and it's steeper than Mt. Evans but not too much.

Coyote I always had the Mt Evans race as one to do if I ever made it to the States. That is serious altitude. I know the summit is 4348 metres (I can't relate to those feet measurements lol). Does it finish at that height or at the car park just below?

4450 metres is my highest "run". An easy km from Dingboche village to our tea house lodgings (in Nepal) in minus 20 celsius. Boy was that hard yakka!

My O2 sats were only about 88% at that height dropping to 85% at 5300 metres. A few trekkers were below 70% at Base Camp. What I found hard was restarting after a rest. I would think any attempts to accelerate late in the race could turn ugly!

Amkelly I can 100% relate to your effort on that climb. Mine is short but nasty, 2.5 miles and I think 1200 feet, the last half km rises about 300 feet and I totally max out over that section.

All that bike work will be keeping you in great nick so be patient with the calf.

Another big volume week. 12.5 hrs and 75 mins at workout effort. Feeling fit but hard runs are slower than I like. In past years I race rarely between April-October. I have to keep reminding myself that the speed will be there in December when temps will be 70-75 *F.

Raced on Sunday and was second behind a young Kenyan. Have no idea why he was at a no prize money race with a thousand runners. The race information was only in Thai and think he thought there was mony for overall winners ( his wife won also). Funny, beat this guy at a 5 hour race and 7,000 feet elevation gain race earlier this year. He didn't bring food and I ended up giving the little I had left to him the last 5k.

The race started with a severe headwind and ended with the wind at our backs. At the finish line we were all drenched in sweat. For 30 minutes after the race I was a mess.

Date - Time of Day---- Activity--------- Duration --AvgHR/Max-- Workout-- WO Duration --Note

06-04 Afternoon ----- Elliptical----------01:11----104/111-------- None------- 00:00

06-04 Afternoon -----Walk Incline TM- 00:22----103/113--------None ------ 00:00

06-04 Evening - -------Run --------------- 00:55----128/140--------None ------ 00:00

06-05 Afternoon----- Run Incline TM-- 01:02 ----112/122--------None ------ 00:00

06-05 Evening --------Run-------------- 00:59----136/175--------C-Int&TH ------ 00:20--- 3x1200 (3.56, 3.51, 3.47) + 9 TH( 5.50 mp)

06-06 Evening------- Run Incline TM -01:42----119/133--------None ------ 00:00 --- 18 barefoot

06-07 Late Morning--Run Incline TM- 01:07----121/141-------- None ------ 00:00 --- 7 min @16kph

06-07 Late Morning - Walk Incline TM- 00:10----109/114--------None ------ 00:00

06-07 Evening--------Run----------------00:21----139/143--------None ------ 00:00

06-08 Evening-------- Run---------------00:28----128/158--------Tempo------ 00:10 --- 10 mins at about 6.03 mp

06-08 Afternoon------Run Incline TM- 00:50---- 113/119--------None------ 00:00

06-09 Late Morning---Run Incline TM-00:21----124/156--------Threshold------ 00:04 --- 4 min at L18 (11.20 mph)

06-09 Afternoon------ Run--------------- 00:08----113/123--------None ------ 00:00

06-10 Afternoon----- Run---------------- 00:40---- 169/178--------10k effor ------ 00:40 --- 10.5k race. Severe headwind- literally tore off shirt

06-10 Afternoon ------Run Incline TM- 01:15----111/118-------- None ------ 00:00

BigMango wrote:

Raced on Sunday and was second behind a young Kenyan. Have no idea why he was at a no prize money race with a thousand runners. The race information was only in Thai and think he thought there was mony for overall winners ( his wife won also). Funny, beat this guy at a 5 hour race and 7,000 feet elevation gain race earlier this year. He didn't bring food and I ended up giving the little I had left to him the last 5k.

BigMango - I love this story! Every single detail is wonderful and brought a smile to my face.