50+ Masters Training and Racing Open Forum

Sprinter wannabe wrote:

Anyone been to Hutsman? I qualified for the 800 and wondering about logistics, altitude, weather, competition, etc...

I’ve competed there...did 800/1500 double...no altitude impact at 800 and fairly nominal at metric mile

Remember Mexico City 1968?An Australian low lander, Ralph Doubell, won that one despite 7,000 ft elevation...it remains that Australian national record for two laps.

Igy, congrats on 45 wonderful years, that is terrific! Congrats to CM, 92% is studly!

We're considering going to Tokyo, plus is it's the Games, minus is the heat AND much more costly than we expected.

Still a sore spot in my back, though lessened. Doing planks two days ago actually made it more sore. Hope for better soon, and tired of waiting it out with walks of an hour or so. Guess it could be worse, but a pain is a pain is a pain.

Third consecutive 30+ mile week highlighted by a 6 hours and 22 minutes session on Friday while tackling San Francisco’s new Cross City Trail...about 80% slow running and 20% speed goat power hiking...was like a miniature ultra marathon...and VERY cool. My bride crushed it perhaps even better than I...oh, and like our Grand Canyon Rim to Rim jaunt, this too was her idea.

I married well ?

Sending you all positive vibes towards another amazing week of old fart training and racing success.

your pal,

MF

Coyote Montane wrote:

17:29 5K at usatf in the atl this morning. 92.18 age grade and just a lean and a whisker off of winning that.

CM - That is crazy good - congrats! (It has been about 20 years since I have been able to run that - lol!)

I am starting to taper for the Master's mile in Flint on Friday, so this will probably end my little streak of 50+mpw today at 26 weeks.

Tapering and backing off is is sometimes harder for me than running hard, but I think I have it under control this time with strides and easy runs between now and Friday.

Pretty much will be racing against my 'younger self' and the clock than against the other entrants.

Hope to meet some of you in person in Flint.

Another easy week, holding to my plan to take it easy all through August. I ran a total of 52 slow miles and spent three days backpacking at 8500-9200 ft, covering a grand total of about 16 miles with our two puppies. I spent a lot of time just hanging out at a gorgeous, shady campsite by a lake, reading and just taking in the wilderness when not chasing down our excessively adventurous older puppy. (Where's Pilot? Have you seen Pilot? He disappeared in that direction about ten minutes ago...)

Coyote and Dardee, nice job at USATF 5K! Coyote, sub 17:30 is pretty remarkable.

Igy, probably a good idea to skip the racing if the enthusiasm isn’t there. And it’s tough to run well with something hanging over you. Keeping my fingers crossed that your CT scan will come back with nothing of concern.

I’ve been reading all the discussions about training with interest, but it all feels like a foreign language to me. Even when I was fast I rarely trained in any structured way, but mostly just ran whatever I felt like running on a given day. This is still what I do. I have never trained with a HR monitor (I tried a couple of times but could never get the chest strap to feel comfortable) and only in races do I run accurately measured courses at accurately measured times. My normal runs are measured using Google Maps (plus or minus 0.1 mile) and timed using the digital clock on my kitchen oven (plus or minus one minute). Very likely I would run better with some structure to my training, but then it would seem like work and I’m neither good enough nor serious enough to treat running like work. At least that’s my excuse.

Wishing everyone a great week.

60 wrote:I have a long way to go but hope to be back by next summer.

Rick: Last year at this time I was just beginning to run again after walking for 4 months. Back to almost 90% AG in races. Tons of easy miles and missing very few days have been the key. Plus lots of recovery when needed and very little fast stuff. You'll be back.

Logged a tad over 40 this week. My previously mentioned track workout on Wed and Saturdays 7.5 uptempo run with striders were the only workout days.

Feeling somewhat positive going into Flint. Looking at the entries there are 3 guys that are better than me on paper. Hope to keep in the game long enough to have a shot in case one of them falters. Being the oldest guy in the age group, I think I have a better chance to break into the age grading awards than a medal AG place. We (My training partner) and I decided we'll be the smartest racers in the field and hope for the best!

Have a good week. Hope to see some of you Friday.

Dave

M60 -- 5'11" 171 lbs

August 12-18, 2019

M- 10 mins elliptical; 4.0 miles trail @ 8:58/mi

Tu- Bike 18.7 miles @ 20.0 mph

W- 1-mi wu; 4 x 1/2-mi w/3-min rest 3:11, 3:14, 3:10, 3:14; 1-cd

Th- Bike 18.2 mi @ 19.3 mph

Fr- 12.0 miles @ 8:56/mi

Sa- Bike 11.8 miles @ 20.5 mph

Su- Off

TOTAL: 20.3 MILES

Well, low mileage and a truncated VO2max workout (hamstring) workout this week, but I enjoyed a few quality bike rides. Anything close to 20 mph is a very good effort for me -- about as fast as I've ever ridden, even as a youth.

I'm trying to be better with some auxiliary strength and stretching, hoping for some improvement with my knees and hip. I'm still considering a 5K race on the 30th. I won the M55-59 title last year, with my season best 19:13 (82.4% AG); I would be very happy with sub-22 this year!

Have a great week!

Congrats to CM, Dardee and dhaaga for some very impressive racing!

Plus One on the racing as well as upcoming races I find persperation in all of these oldies but goodies ;)

Week 6 of base ho hum which is better than oh well seriously just making the doughnutz

up to 40 minutes a day most days all easy except one tempo per week

Highlight was a 36 minute tempo which felt great for a few minutes there I thought I was 43.

Interesting was running most of my runs on hard surface my left hip was sore from too much soft sand. Sand is like wine you got your mad dog 20/20 boonesfarm remember that crap ripple well the boyz along the paved trail I been running on prefer 40ouncers and a little weed which here in oregon is like legal man when is a criminal not a criminal when they change the laws? When I was 17 got popped for an oz and was looking at a felony made a deal they dropped the charge if I joined the service whada deal it was a few days later it was 2 am and me and a bunch of scary looking guys from places like Los Angles were being "instructed" on emptying our pockets called the last chance to come clean if ya know what I mean. Dudes be dropping dope and knives into the garbage bags Next day we all looked the buz cut green fatigues no facial hair nice and so it went.

but I digress

So I broke my no pace rule and measured a few of my hard surface runs 9:30 pace at 120 and 8:30 pace at 132bpm

The upper body work is paying big dividends. Look out Al Bundy. Really do enjoy pumping a little iron and rowing on the c2.

The anti lectin diet seems to be working according to tommy the toilet do not miss dairy or wheat at all.

Have fun!

So today I celebrate the 6 week anniversary of my calf heart attack. Thanks in great part to the advice I have received here, the recovery is progressing very well. The calf knot is barely noticeable and pain free. The soleus and Achilles still have a way to go, but they are getting closer. As of today, I have successfully completed four days in the last week of the recommended alternating one minute of walking and jogging. Progressed from 20’ at the beginning of the week to 30’ today. Wore the high heels for the first three outings, but reduced the heel height today. Still running mostly flat footed with a tiny stride length, but it is working. The biggest challenge is being patient.

Thanks to KPdx for the advice. I have incorporated much of that into my recovery routine, but was very interested in the massage tools you referenced.

Best to most!

Rick, hang in there with the rehab and rebuilding and we'll catch up next year. You're probably the toughest guy out there, along with Joe, and will wreak lots of havoc in the next age class.

About the recovery Igy mentioned my post got cut off, but was just going to say I take 2 recovery days each week, usually Monday and Friday, where I run 45-55 minutes at 30 seconds to a minute slower than my normal effort. And happy anniversary!

Charlie wrote:

Sand is like wine you got your mad dog 20/20 boonesfarm remember that crap ripple well the boyz along the paved trail I been running on prefer 40ouncers and a little weed which here in oregon is like legal man when is a criminal not a criminal when they change the laws?

I had not thought of it that way!

I’d like to see how you do without the dairy but with the wheat. I’m not saying gluten is the next lactose but I sorta am.

Ghost of Igloi wrote:

And one of my former athletes is coming into town on Tuesday, and we are planning a run in the foothills. Much to be thankful for.

Just the ability to run, at any speed, for the sheer pleasure that includes running with others, I think that’s what it’s all about.

This week’s workout was rated R. Kid Coach calculated 350m laps for each of us based on VDOT, and he got a number that I thought was perfect for me: 66.5 seconds. It was not perfect! In fact after two sets of 4 x 350 it blew. Seeing my plight, coach extended our recovery time in the first set from 75 seconds (I was paired with a younger faster buck) to 2 minutes, and 4 minutes after the set. The good: I lasted 9 reps on time, 65-67 secs per. The bad: I’ve never hurt worse than I did after the 10th rep (69.5) and recovery took the rest of the week. Of course I wanted to finish 3 sets, which I would’ve if I’d run 68s or 69s. But I had wanted to run at 66 before coach suggested it, so lesson learned.

As discussed earlier this week, I ran easy pace all three days afterward. And I have to say my 33 minutes of T on today’s longo felt pretty good, probably as a result. I worry that by not running a more aggressive — but still easy — pace on non-recovery days I am shortchanging myself. But Stephen Seiler says I’m not. And I did enjoy taking it easy all three days, so I’ll continue this for a while. Thanks for the attaboy, CM, but until I run a 10K again who knows how fast I really am.

I can’t seem to hit 50 mpw. A Monday shakeout run may be in my future. 49 miles thusly:

Tu-Th-F-Sa Easy runs

We 10 x 350 at mile pace (66s) w/ 1:1 recovery easing to 1:1.75 and 1:3 after 4th & 8th rep

Su 14miles, miles 8.7 until 13.5 at tempo (6:49, hilly/humid)

Wow, great runs by you guys, esp the M60's! Dardee - i had a chance to briefly meet you and KY in Dedham at the finish line.

I had a tough week training and needed a few friends to talk me down off the ledge (metaphorically anyways).

Monday / Tuesday - best i've felt in 6 weeks, no hamstring pain or tightness at all - very easy 5 milers on both days

Wednesday - rest day even thought I felt like running, trying to play it smart

Thursday - Armageddon! I start off slow and about 600 yards from the house I hear and feel a series of very loud 'clicks' coming from behind my knee then a dull pain. Had to walk home and it was painful. within 15 the knee was swollen significantly.

So far I've had an xray which showed no damage to the bones in the area. trying to get an MRI scheduled for early in the week.

The swelling is down significantly and icing helps a lot. There really isn't any discernible pain other then the stiffness from the swelling. I can move the knee around without pain but I'm still dreading the next doctors visit.

Anyone ever had anything that sounds similar?

P.S. MikeF and others who count, according to Runkeeper (which I haven’t used since I got a Garmin but keeps capturing all my data like a stalker), today’s run put me over 4,000 miles since I started running three years ago. Woot. And 30% of those on a single pair of Saucony Freedom ISOs which I’m tryin’ to quit but ah cain’t ....

Olde Farte wrote:

So today I celebrate the 6 week anniversary of my calf heart attack.

Leo Manzano described his calf injury as a "calf heart attack."

congrats to dardee and CM, who continues on his path towards world domination--i'm extremely jealous since i had this race on my calendar back in may before my achilles ended those plans. good luck to those going to flint as well...

good and bad of this week:

the good: i ran a mile tempo on the track tuesday just to see where i was before i dare to jump into workouts with my h.s. team. managed a 5:52 (felt like i could have gone another mile at close to that...), and thought i'd maybe turned a corner in terms of adding some quality.

the bad: unfortunately, wednesday the achilles was pretty sore, and i wondered if i'd re-injured it. just did a hard elliptigo ride...

the good: it actually felt pretty good thursday/friday/saturday and i managed a 3 miler/ 4 miler/3 miler + a couple of elliptigo rides, then punctuated the week with a 5.5 miler today with club members, longest run of the summer.

while it looks like the comeback trail may be the only trail i ever know now, there are worse alternatives...

carpe crepusculum,

cush

I think so. A few years ago, I was doing an easy run when I felt a pop behind my knee. I limped home and didn't run again for three months or so. X-ray showed nothing, and the doctor couldn't find anything by testing. So I waited until the swelling went away and eventually started back. I did finally have an MRI after a few months. The doctor thought the meniscus looked bad, but counseled against surgery, which I probably would not have done anyway. Once I started back, I've not had any subsequent problems with that knee.

One thing I did do was to start pool running after eight weeks or so. Anti-inflammatory drugs did nothing for the swelling. Getting in the pool seemed to help the swelling subside. In retrospect, I should have started in the pool as soon after the injury as I could.

Thanks for the input, that does sound real similar.

jimBos sorry to hear about the knee. I had similar once I was just bending from the waist making the bed and all of a sudden pain behind the knee and a small pop. I believe it's from the lower back, hip area being so tight that it pulls on tendons, ligaments, soft tissue like chain and pops them out of place. Causing pain swelling and a bunch of problems. Stretching and strength exercises have help. It was so tight that I had a bruise on my thigh & buttocks. Just from making the bed. Hope to see you back out there sooner than later.

Dardee that sounds exactly like the issues I've been experiencing. My PT said I had the stiffest low back / hip region she had ever worked on. I guess I'd rather deal with making that area more mobile than a true knee injury. Thanks

Dardee wrote:

jimBos sorry to hear about the knee. I had similar once I was just bending from the waist making the bed and all of a sudden pain behind the knee and a small pop. I believe it's from the lower back, hip area being so tight that it pulls on tendons, ligaments, soft tissue like chain and pops them out of place. Causing pain swelling and a bunch of problems. Stretching and strength exercises have help. It was so tight that I had a bruise on my thigh & buttocks. Just from making the bed. Hope to see you back out there sooner than later.