50+ Masters Training and Racing Open Forum

KP you had a great effort in that15. I had just finished my 15 and was cheering for you inside the track hoping you could pull it off. You did all you could and had nothing left at the end. Just the way you want to feel at the end.

63 wrote:

My 5,000 on Thursday went ok. I started too slow and did not eat enough breakfast plus I ran an extra lap.

Care to tell us how that happened?!?!? You had to know where you were in the race. Did the lap counters lose track? Joe stopped didn't he? He wasn't that far ahead of you.

Just wondering what went on.

Dave

There were a couple of reasons why I ran an extra lap. First of all, at the finish line they had names and how many laps to go for each runner. Problem was since people were being lap and the fact that the number of laps left that were displayed were delayed. In other words, when I went by, I could see how many laps the people in front of me had but by the time I went by my name and lap count was not displayed yet. I did not now if the people right in front of me were being lap by me for the first or second time. The other reason was my fault. I did not pay attention to the running time after about 8 or 9 laps. I had an idea how fast I was running so I should have know better if I should have been finishing or not. Plus when you are running hard the last part of a race is a blur and a clear head and clear thinking becomes more difficult.

Ahhhhh... Makes sense. I wasn't thinking about the lapped runners! I'm sure it was a confusing situation. Nice run!

Dave

Good racing KP and all who went to USA Master's. A couple of local KC guys were there and ran well, and medaled. One was a former manager of our stores, and competes in my 65-69 age group, who pulled off the silver. He tells me that next year Master's is in Iowa, my wife and my home state! Yahoo, we'll be there, although it'll probably be hotter than......and I'd love to run a 10,000m under typical mid-western summer conditions. But seeing that only two guys ran it in my age group, it'd be my only medal chances. However, a 5000m might be fun, though the thought of being lapped several times by several people would be tough. Do most of us slow guys take lane two and get even slower times?

I could see signing my wife up for the 800 and 1500m, even though it'd be tough going against that competition. Her running the 5000m in the heat would be a risk, given her lower heat tolerance.

I imagine that the meet is at Drake? What a blast that would be, Des Moines has a ton of trails all over the metro area, and a couple of nice, inexpensive restaurants close at hand. One block away from Drake is a BBQ shack with some local brews.

We're back from time in Tucson with her Mom, my wife got her some daycare which is good and reassuring. We ran on trails along the bike paths, and also made one trip to the track. Boy were we slow and rusty, by it was about 90 degrees then. She ran 10 x 200 and I did 2,4,6,2,4,6,2,4 for a total of 3000m. By then I was on the hunt for more cold water than we'd carried with us. Not an easy way to continue to concentrate! :)

Nice sleeping in out own bed again, though the summer heat is moving back in this week and I want to do my next long run this weekend. We'll try, anyhow!

Mike Lundgren wrote:

I imagine that the meet is at Drake? What a blast that would be, Des Moines has a ton of trails all over the metro area, and a couple of nice, inexpensive restaurants close at hand. One block away from Drake is a BBQ shack with some local brews.

!

Masters' track is in Ames (ISU) next year.

Hey So Michelle and I got back on Monday evening. While I was on the trip my left lacf was sore. I thought it was just a minor strain. Anyways got back out on the bike on Wednesday and I was gasping for breath, couldn't breathe and HR was high. I knew what was wrong. After I caught my wife we went home and cleaned up and went to the hospital.

3 clots in the lungs one still in the the calf. A repeat of 2 years ago. This time we know it is a clot so I will most likely go on Xeralto. So no real danger, no damge to heart and no chacn e of going to the brain. In the hospital for a few days but should be out by weekend. Looking back it looked like it took me two weeks to bounce back.

Don't know what I am going to do next but I know it will involve having fun.

So no worries but I thought I would share - sore claves are not always strains.

Mike

Take care MikeR. Get rest.

Igy

Mike, that is scary! I'm glad it was not more serious. Please do take care of yourself.

Makes me nervous, as someone who regularly gets calf cramps...

Ghost of Igloi wrote:

Good running rb63 you have trained hard that God given talent.

Igy

Yes...most of us aren't that fortunate to have superb anti-aging genetics when we hit our middle-age. In fact, with my arthritic ankle & hip, Achilles tendonitis, IT band friction syndrome, and bad back, I must have been at the back of the line when they handed out running genetics.Lol.

Jurassic Jackalope wrote:

Masters' track is in Ames (ISU) next year.

Can someone who does the indoor meets explain the difference? (2019 USATF Masters Indoor T&F Championships, March 1-3, 2019, JDL Fast Track, Winston-Salem, North Carolina)

Easy answer, one is an indoor track event the other outdoor. Indoor 200 meter track with different distances, for example mile versus 1500m or 55 meter versus 100m. Go to

www.usatf.org

and check it out, you will get a taste of the different flavors.

Igy

I mean, most of us in this thread discuss outdoor racing. Is that because I joined in April or is there less interest in indoor?

*Week 373*

Greetings, 50+ers! I didn't offer props to the final day of competition last week; some fine 1500s run that day! Kudos, and thanks for the nice race reports! Also, glad to see Racerdb feeling optimistic again. And MikeR, I hope that your treatment regimen works to its fullest extent and your back at it soon; I echo amkelly's trepidation.

It was a big down week for me. Not really intentional, but also not unexpected. Only about 18 miles on 4 runs this week. Log reads as such:

Sun: 5.0 Easyish (8:08/mi)

Mon: 2.6 Easy (8:29/mi)

Tue: 4.2 w/2x1000 (4:19,4:16) w/400 jog between

Wed: Off

Thu: 6.1 Easy & hard (7:59/mi avg) w/0.8 mi @6:3x pace

Fri: Off, meetings dawn to dusk

Sat: Off, Yard work

My running streak ended Wednesday after 15 days. The knee was a little tight after Tuesday at the track, and I didn't want to risk it. I graded finals all Thursday afternoon and was able to get a good run in after that, since I knew Friday and Saturday were going to be tough to get a run in. We had our fall kick-off at the community college and I was pretty much in meetings from 8:00 am to 5:30 pm; I had no desire to run after that. Then Saturday was a big yard clean-up day. Once or twice a year I use the city's loan-a-box program to get a construction dumpster put in the driveway and I load it up with all the yard debris from our "urban wildlife renewal project" (that's a joke.) Things have grown faster than usual this summer given all the heat and moisture; working solo I had it full up after about 3 hours of intensive labor hauling piles of dead branches and such. I'll count it as good cross-training day. The left knee survived all that twisting and pulling, so I hope to get a good run in later today. We'll see how the day unfolds.

That's it from me. Hope that you all have had good weeks and are no worse for wear as this summer drags on. Keep up the good work!

All the Best!

LucKY: I hear you on the yardwork. Jeez, so much rain. I think I could turn the back yard into a rice-paddy if I wanted to.

Tue: 45 rocky trail including 10X 15 sec sprints on a steep hill section

Thr: 45 min rocky trail in steady rain, 500 feet of climbing

Sat: 45 min inc. 400 in 1:35, 1600 in 7:00, 400’s in 1:38 and 1:39.

Sun: 45 min rocky trail, 800 feet climbing

My daughter and 2 granddaughters flew in from St Louis Fri so my run schedule was altered a bit. On Sat I got a late start and the track was a steamy 88 degrees with 90% humidity. I put the first 400 ahead of the 1600 and found I was already overheated starting the 1600. So 7 flat feeling like total crap is not all that bad. That’s probably how I’ll feel the last mile of the 5K next Sat. My run times on the trail have steadily speed up. Most of these are steep technical trails and I was lucky to get 15min pace on them a few months ago. Now I’m regularly hitting low 14’s and some 13’s.

I have not raced in over 3 years so next Sat’s race is an unknown. The race time predictors and VDOT tables have always been wrong for me, even when I was putting in 100 mile weeks as a teen. A 7 flat mile predicts a 7:39 pace 5K with Jack Daniels’ numbers, and 7:30 pace with Hansons. I feel like I’ll be lucky to break 8 min pace given my low miles and still carrying extra weight. I’m going out in 7:45 pace and see where I wind up. That’s frustratingly slow but, again, I’m doing this race for my HS coach because he asked me, not because I am race-ready.

Have a good week folks!

Good to hear you'll be lacing up for the first time in a long time Rtype...look forward to your result.

Not much new here...foot still kills...still run on it anyway every single day...surgery may or may not help...fusing the cuneiform to navicular may reduce/eliminate pain but then the foot will no longer bend...so I opt to keep the bone on bone sharp pain and ability to bend the foot ?

Surpassed 1000 miles year to date this week...took 13 days longer this year than last...but 49 days sooner than in 2016.

Just waiting for my local high school track re-surfacing job to be complete so that I can get back on the oval at some level...that and needing 480 more miles in order to crest 110,000...don't try this at home kids.

Have a mighty fine week...'train don't strain'...gotta run...literally.

Your pal,

MF

In case you missed this, here is a little flavor of the place I call home:

https://www.idahostatesman.com/news/local/community/boise/article216044460.html

I “raced” the Idaho Senior Games 5k road yesterday. I had two goals, to run the entire distance and break 30. I managed this first but fell short of the second with a 30:39. My splits showed the limit of my fitness 5:53, 5:45, 5:57, 6:24, and 6:34. I have dropped about one-third of the bloat.

Monday: 2 miles easy/walk; (Igloi intervals) 4 x 250m good speed / 100 walk; 400m walk; 4 x 350m good swing / 150m walk; 400m walk; 4 x 550m fresh swing / 200m walk; 400m walk; 4 x 350m good swing / 200m walk; 400m walk; 4 x 250m good speed / 100m walk; 400m walk (8.75 miles total)

Tuesday: 4 miles easy/ walk; core; skipped weights this week

Wednesday: 2 miles easy/ walk; 3 x 1,000m interval @ 5:53; 5:40, 5:22 / 600m walk; mile easy/walk

Thursday: 3 miles easy/walk

Friday: 1 mile easy/walk; 4 x 100m strides

Saturday: 2 miles easy/walk; 4 x strides; race; mile walk

Sunday: Off

Have a good week.

Igy

happy August. ok week on my end with:

M 1:45 double

Tu 1:10 with 2 X 10:00 (2:00 recovery) at half-marathon pace

W 1:10 + 1:00 x-t

Th 1:00 x-t

F 45:00 incl. track 2-mile race in 12:10 (25th OA, 2nd AG)

Sa 1:05 + 1:00 x-t

Su 1:30

I hadn't trained for the 2-mile specifically and was not optimistic but figured under 12:00 was realistic. I'd like to blame the extra 10 seconds on peculiar weather [swampy, dew point in 70s all day -- becoming a driving rain and quite windy during race], but the more salient culprit is my own stupid pacing. I elected to run in the fastest heat [up to 12:00] and figured i'd latch on in back of the line and get pulled around.....

....which is true except at too fast a clip. I was about 10 sec ahead of schedule [only slightly slower than in recent 1-mile race] through 800 meters. Come to find out, the time you "bank" early in a race gets paid back at usurious interest rates in second half. I've only been racing 43 years, so I may need a bit more time to master such technicalities. Oh well, another go in 2 weeks at a road 8k.

have a great week,

Dave

Igy, congratulations on getting back on the starting line again and working all the way through the 5k. I know it's always mentally tough to do that when you are so far away from the fitness you believe you are capable of. For the last several weeks I have been on mostly a non-training program due to minor injury, lack of motivation/laziness, and a nice long weekend in the wine country with my wife. 3 weeks ago I was off for about 5 days with what is probably sciatica rather than a piriformis strain. After that I was just lazy about getting back to running and then we left for a 4 day weekend in the wine country. I didn't run Tuesday, but then started to mildy panic as I realized my XC season started in two and a half weeks. So this week I ran 2 miles easy Wednesday, 6 on Thursday, off Friday and 5 yesterday and 5 this morning. I now have two more weeks to do the secret two weeks to fitness training program before my XC race which, thankfully, is only 5k.

Good running to all!