50+ Masters Training and Racing Open Forum

Squatty Old Runner,

Thanks. Fortunately I was able to exercise throughout treatment. Some days it was just a walk in to the office, other days more structured. I was in my best running condition in years at time of dianosis, and if not for a lump never would have realized my predicament. Following chemotherapy it was hard to run 100 meters and now I can manage seven miles at 11:00 miles. I continued to work and handle my household chores throughout treatment.

The eccentric heel drops are performed straight leg and bent leg. Up on two, down on one. I hold a 15 lbs dumbbell weight in hand on the exercising leg. One to two sets of 10 reps. I do the standard calf/achilles stretch a couple times a week. I use a hard heel lift at times when I feel tension in the achilles.

I am on no medication. I still have my surically implanted chemotherapy port for the administration of drugs and blood tests, which needs to flushed every six weeks. In follicular lymphoma about 20% of the patients have disease progression within 24 months and their outcome is less certain. So for now the port remains. The current protocol is blood tests every three months and CT scans every six months. That protocol will lengthening if things go well.

Igy

Igy

L2b: Yep, ladders are bad! I'm convinced my job a few years ago siding a big 2-story house had a lot to do with my eff'd up heel. It was an extremely painful month.

KP: Officially retired or moving on to something new? Either way enjoy the change!

Just took Sat & Sun off...my first days off this year. Spent a few days in bone chilling temps in Northern MI. I had no desire to go running when we woke up to -13 Sunday morning!

But before we left I had a nice 7-day stretch of 64 miles. I honestly wasn't planning on running while we were there so I ended my week on Friday with my 2nd 12 miler of the week. The only workout besides the 12's was a progressive tempo on Wed that did 15 min each of Easy-Moderate-Tempo @ 8:30-7:30-6:30. Hopeful of keeping the miles up after proving I could handle a bit more last week.

Have a good week,

Dave

50+ Bobke on SUFFERING then vs now

https://youtu.be/fvYhrl_T3I4?t=165

At 50+ is suffering still one of the reasons we do this?

Getting older wrote:

Question for you over 50 runners.

Ever tried or had success with either of the following? Considering doing something different to try to stay healthier.

1. 10 day training cycle with two days between workouts, and after the long run. So workout, easy two days, workout, easy two days then long run...and then repeat.

2. Only running 5 days a week with only one long run and one workout. Cross train the other two days.

Really want to get over the cycle of injuries and stay healthy for a long period....

thanks

I have done neither of the above.

1. I take at least two days between workouts (this includes the "long" run).

2. I run six days a week, and cross train on the 7th day or take the day off.

I ran my marathon PB at age 51 on eight runs on six days plus swimming once a week. I did a mid-week workout (11-12 miles progression run) and 16-20 miles run on Sunday. My time was a pedestrian 3:22, but two minutes faster than what I ran at age 49 on two workouts and a long run, and three minutes faster than what I ran on age 47 on three workouts and a long run. (I did less overall volume on those earlier attempts.)

My week.

M: off.

T: 7 miles.

W: 6 miles.

R: 6 miles.

F: 7 miles.

SA: 6 miles.

SU: 10 miles.

So last week, I was wondering whether I should run my 10 miles on track or pavement. Well, the mother nature made that decision for me. With below freezing temperature and snow and ice on the ground, I decided to run it on a treadmill. I was definitely not going to spend a few hours shoveling someone else's track, and I was not willing to run on icy patches on pavement. I know I am "soft" but that's okay. I am not running to prove my toughness to anyone else.

“L2b: Yep, ladders are bad! I'm convinced my job a few years ago siding a big 2-story house had a lot to do with my eff'd up heel. It was an extremely painful month. “

This is not my career and I am quite a bit older (exponentially). I spent the last two days slithering thru my crawl space to relocate a TV cable and electrical outlet. Four round trips with tools is hard work. Moving on hands and knees over foundation footings and thru wall supports (river rock floor). Pretty scraped up. I think most chores over the age of 55 years need to be scheduled as hard cross training. I will be taking several days easy. I couldn’t run effectively right now and doing do would surely lead to injury.

Charlie wrote:

50+ Bobke on SUFFERING then vs now

https://youtu.be/fvYhrl_T3I4?t=165

At 50+ is suffering still one of the reasons we do this?

Bobke is funny cat. I watch a lot of professional cycling races where Bobke does some of the commentary alongside Phil Ligget and the late Paul Sherwen. The guy definitely knows his cycling.

But the suffering stuff isn't for me anymore. Been there...done that in my earlier years. Training like a madman, racing almost weekly for decades, running through injuries, running angry, and always trying to shoot it out with the top local guys in my age group. Plenty of suffering to a point of insanity just to prove a point (age-group racing. Lol). Drove my wife crazy!

And what's the end of result? A ton of chronic injuries including some debilitating ruptured tendons & OA leaving this 58 year old body looking and functioning more like an 78 yr old body. I'm a firm believer that too much intense training without proper recovery and running through injuries (and chronically using NSAIDs) over decades of your younger years will leave you for the trash heap in your middle-ages. I've seen this also happen to other runners I raced against decades ago who aren't even running anymore at all.

Now it's fitness running with some occasional local charity races. No more crazy, intense racing just to try and beat some stiffs in my age group as if I have something to prove to them. More enjoyable running now every other day where I can stop and walk at times and actually breath in the fresh air (well...on none high-pollution days. Lol) and get soothing sunshine. No more running through injuries! At the first sign of a flare-up or a new acute injury - it's to the spin bike at the gym (I also spin & lift weights 3 days a week). No more timetables in trying to rush rehab through on an injury to get back to running. No more NSAIDs taken like candy to run through an injury (I was hospitalized 10 yrs ago for NSAID-induced severe gastritis..what an idiot I was!).

But I'll crank it up one day week and run a ~2 mile TT at the track (injuries permitting) just for fun and old memories. Near max VO2 (~95% max HR for me) but no more and keeping under red line. Just that feeling that this old engine can still crank out some respectable horsepower on a broken down chassis. But no SUFFERING! Something I can feel good about and look forward to doing it again the next week.

This reminds me of some of marathons I ran years ago:

Ghost of Igloi wrote:

This is not my career and I am quite a bit older (exponentially).

I don’t think so.

OK, I thought Racerdb was in his 50s.....sorry......

Just An Old Fitness Runner (No One Special) wrote:

But the suffering stuff isn't for me anymore. Been there...done that in my earlier years. Training like a madman, racing almost weekly for decades, running through injuries, running angry, and always trying to shoot it out with the top local guys in my age group. Plenty of suffering to a point of insanity just to prove a point (age-group racing. Lol). Drove my wife crazy!

Now it's fitness running with some occasional local charity races. No more crazy, intense racing just to try and beat some stiffs in my age group as if I have something to prove to them.

I've been trying to find that Goldilocks zone somewhere in-between going for it all out and just jogging. I think I'm pretty close.

Ghost of Igloi wrote:

OK, I thought Racerdb was in his 50s.....sorry......

Yep, I'm 58 until May!

Dave

Racerdb wrote:

Ghost of Igloi wrote:

OK, I thought Racerdb was in his 50s.....sorry......

Yep, I'm 58 until May!

Dave

So if Igy claims to be exponentially older, he must be at least 3364 years old. Damn!

aIex wrote:

Racerdb wrote:

Yep, I'm 58 until May!

Dave

So if Igy claims to be exponentially older, he must be at least 3364 years old. Damn!

By that I mean, in physical terms the decline is greater with age. Feel free to spin it as you wish.

Just curious for all the 50+ posters, have you retired and at what age, or what age do you intend to retire (from your job not running)? I'm a M61, and have an opportunity to retire now although I'm not at the financial targets I thought would be needed (will just have to cut out a lot of discretionary spending). Was always envious of some teachers and others I met through training and racing who were able to retire early and devote their time to things they really enjoyed. Looking for comments or opinions. I'm very competitive in my ag in triathlons, somewhat competitive in the 400m and 800m, not so much in 5k and above. Had to travel a lot so training has always been 'when ever I can'. When people look at their life in retrospect it's what they didn't do that seems to matter, would like to spend a few years pushing myself competitively.

I just retired at age 68 last year. At age 55 I started trying to reduce my hours from 55-60 per week to less, and was at about 40 per week at age 60, and 35 per week from age 65 to retiring. I am happy with my progression in terms of work and non-work activities balance. I retired because I wanted to finally set myself free from the obligation to put client needs ahead of my personal plans. I am training more consistently since retirement without the interruptions that work invariably causes.

I'm a 60-year-old female and I have no intention of retiring anytime in the near future. Financially I could probably get away with retiring now, but I would feel useless if I were retired. I'm fortunate to have a job (university professor) that I (mostly) like and is physically undemanding, and I have quite a lot of flexibility in when and how I do many parts of my job. I do have some job-related travel and dinners that somewhat get in the way of ideal training, but not very much.

The main issue for me and retirement is my husband, who just turned 65. He doesn't want to retire anytime soon either, but it would be extremely awkward for me to continue working after he retires and he will likely want to move away from our current location, so I'll probably have to either retire or change jobs (tough to do in your 60s) when he decides to give it up. I hope that is quite a few years down the road.

I am 68 and still working yet plan to retire at 70 in 20 months. I am currently working 32.5 hours a week and will likely reduce to under 30 my last year. We are a one income household by choice and it made more financial sense for me to work a couple extra years. I have a business partner which gives me some flexibility. A health event this past year made this decision profetic.

apologies for a late midweek post--day job(s) is(are) keeping me busy, but right now my students are taking a district writing test and i already finished my grading, so now's a good time as any. it does, however, make me appreciate those who post and contribute so regularly--it can be time consuming!--and i hope it's ok that i probably benefit more from this thread than i contribute...

as a self-professed winner of the genetic lottery for runners, one thing i'm pretty sure i had yet to succumb to was canceling a race because of illness--until last week. yes, in 38 years of running, i've definitely run while sick, usually poorly, but a week ago last saturday i finally gave in and chose not to race. woke up early AM, feverishly sweating my @ss off, turned off my alarm, and went back to sleep. the sickness had actually started a week earlier with a pretty bad cough, but it'd clear up when i ran, so training went well that week until the night before. saturday ended up being the worst of it, though the week since was spotty training-wise as the sickness continued to cycle through. last night i had a decent workout, so i'm probably 80-90% through, meaning by tallahassee in 10 days i should be fine. can't really complain, especially if all i've missed is a local 5k in my leadup to nationals.

as for the "getting older" questions:

i have found, especially around the age of 46, that i more often than not needed two days between some of my harder workouts. my tue/thu/sun cycle sometimes became a tue/fri/sun followed by a tue/sun cycle. tuesday nights are the centerpiece, sunday long runs are the next priority, then i try to build around that by feel.

i'm a lazy cross trainer, because i simply like running. not too many viable alternatives for me at this point, but i suppose i may have to reevaluate that stance if i ever have a real long-term injury, because i definitely enjoy being fit as well.

i'm probably 9-10 years away from retiring from teaching; i'll likely continue coaching longer, though. neither impacts my training much--coaching generally helps it--but they do impact my ability to race whenever i want. but racing is actually low on the list of why i run, so it really hasn't been a sacrifice. some of the world championship meets in europe seem attractive, so someday i can hopefully make one of them...

carpe crepusculum,

cush

M60 here. When to retire is a pretty complicated question for most of us. I am very fortunate to have a good pension plan and at age 63 I will have 30 years in it and can retire with full benefits. BUT...I’d have to pay for my health insurance until 65 when we all are eligible for Medicare. Also, Social Security teases you with the data that you will make a bunch more the later you retire. I’ve ran the numbers for every year up to 73. The formula for when you get social security is based on your birth year, so it’s not the same for everyone. Me, it’s 67 and 10 months for social security but the amount goes up the later you retire. BUT….then you have those vexing questions on just how long do you plan to live? SS knows that if you put off retiring and die really soon they save a ton of money. So if you take the money early it will be less….but you get to draw from it longer…..Not so easy a decision.

I’ve finally decided to retire at 65 as health insurance is my number one issue.

In regards to Social Security benefits you lose about 25% of your benefit if you take it at 62 prior to your Full Retirement Age (FRA). Your benefit increases about 8% a year from your FRA until age 70. The breakeven point for me, FRA 66 to 70 was about age 83. That is, I would have to live until at least age 83 to breakeven.

Pension benefits create an additional question if you are married, i.e. spousal benefit should you die early. You have some similar issues with Social Security, but less critical. There was a time I considered a single life benefit thinking the odds were in my favor, well my thinking has changed.

The health insurance question looms larger for some of us. My cancer treatment was billed at $492,000 and paid at $454,000. By far the largest portion was pharmaceuticals and biologics. I was Medicare eligible at the time, but that was secondary to my employer plan. After my diagnosis was confirmed all my co-pays were covered, so my portion was around $1,000. My understanding is the treatment would have been covered at higher discounted rates under Medicare, but the flexibilty in treatment may have been compromised or slowed and the co-pays would be higher. Pharmaceuticals and biologics administered outside a hospital have a higher cost for Medicare recipients.