50+ Masters Training and Racing Open Forum

*Week 437*

Greetings, 50+ers!

T'was a terrible week for me. With the time change (getting dark earlier) and some other things (not going to elaborate) going on, I just lacked motivation to add exercise to my list.....not good for my health or mental well-being. Made it out only a couple times; on the plus side, one of them was about 1-1/2 hours, but with minimal running. Knee was bugging me a little early in the week, but that's no excuse. Will have to do better.....

Don't have much to add to the discord, as I've just been involved in too much to keep up this week (glad to have Charlie and Igy keeping the thread interesting.) Will have to do better by you all, too. Just catching up this morning. Sorry Amkelley about the marathon fiasco; I echo a lot of sentiments expressed. And bummer, Olde Farte, that you're back on the injured list,,,and Coyote M, too. Muddy Girl, nice to see that you're getting some good training in...and that VO2max work can be done without fear and trepidation; hope it pays dividends for your tune-up race.

Good to see some nice race results from a few of you, so kudos! Mopac always does the coolest race events!

I didn't see anyone comment on the father/son marathon Guinness Record. Hard to imagine a 60-year old former Olympic Marathoner actually running faster than he did in the Olympics.

https://runningmagazine.ca/sections/runs-races/1992-olympic-marathoner-and-son-break-world-record-at-frankfurt-marathon-unofficial/

Props to all my buddies that raced Indianapolis Monumental Marathon yesterday. Quite a few ran PR's and/or BQ's!

OK, that's it for me. I keep hoping that the itch to get back to training seriously will need to be scratched, but still muddling through. As always, I appreciate all y'all for your enthusiasm and tenacity; looking forward to your reports and hoping that the training goes well heading into the Club XC Championships!

All the Best!

lucKY: Although it does not seem like it, time really is on your side. You already KNOW you can do it when you are ready. Sometimes the time is just not right. It’s inevitable that you will return when the time is right.

Dhaaga: Sorry to hear about the injury. But, most of the hard stuff has been done so maybe this little hiccough won’t set you back much.

KP: Nice mile! It would be nice to hear about your training.

Charlie: I like the attitude and mental side as much or more than the actual training.

Iggy: Have a great reunion.

TU: 4 easy road

TH: 4, easy road

SA: 5 with 3 1600’s on the track at 7:02, 7:00, 7:05 with 1 lap walk between

SU: 4 easy, treadmill, granddaughter sitting (tougher than it seems)

Another good week. Was getting tired of hard 3 miler’s on SAT so mixed it up and did some 1600 reps which was a nice change of scenery. Today I’m babysitting granddaughter #3 who is 7 years old. It’s actually kinda difficult to keep up with her.

I have not mentioned previously but I always do 50 pushups and 50 crunches after each run, nothing on normal days (I consider non-running days “normal’). I have experimented with all sorts of weights and different equipment but finally compromised on something super-simple that I know I will do. As with my running, it meets the bare minimum for very long-term maintenance. My training is sort-of like a Linux distribution that is designed as an “LTR” or, long term release, meaning, no cutting-edge drivers or programs, only software that, while not exciting, is safe, reliable, and stable for the long term.

Have a good one folks!

Beckee wrote:

Ghost of Igloi wrote:

On a serious note, when I was coaching athletes of varying speeds the Williams Pace Calculator was invaluable. University of Oregon runner Bob Williams developed this slide rule tool; evidently still sold.

https://www.coachbobwilliams.com/product/williams-pace-calculator/

This may have had value before the invention of the pocket calculator, but less so now. With the technology we have today, it is much more pragmatic to just pop a few numbers into a spreadsheet and get individualized paces for each team member.

Perhaps you are correct. At the time (23 years ago) it was useful. The masters athletes I coach now I just provide the effort guidelines (Daniels/Tinman).

3:42:40 of cross training this week. So it's sort of like restarting a season after a 5-7 day break, but not running yet. Getting closer to running, maybe can start up within a week or two if things continue to get better.

Thanks for the encouragement amk and others. I'll be back for 2020 and more ornery than ever.

dhagga, hope you come around quickly.

*Week 438*

Sorry, didn't update the week again. Where's Allen Bennett when you need him?

It was a mostly positive week of rehab for me. After giving the groin a full week off, I survived a slow 20’ jog on Wednesday with minimal brief tightness. Went for a walk on Thursday before a 23’ jog (with a brief walking interlude when the groin tightened) on Friday. Saturday was another walk day. Then today I survived 30’ with only a slight moment of tightness on an incline before I quickly changed course. The plan will to continue heat treatments and gradually continue to add minutes this week. Hoping for the best.

Thanks for the shout out, L2B. I hope things turn around for you soon.

Best to most.

Just 4 x 30, 4 x 200 on track today. started easy 53 down to 49.1 33 down to 29.4 Only November, long way to go.

My training partner is fast, hits 50 in 2 months, and should go sub 26 200 next season.

SKATE wrote:

Just 4 x 30, 4 x 200 on track today. started easy 53 down to 49.1 33 down to 29.4 Only November, long way to go.

My training partner is fast, hits 50 in 2 months, and should go sub 26 200 next season.

(4 x 300).

-thinking about picking up a pair of New Balance 800v6 for the upcoming season.

Hello again, I dip in and out of the thread. It's been a hectic 3-year stretch with family at the forefront.

Anyhow, I'll stick around as I prepare a BQ attempt this March 1. I just started training again after a short3-week break.

Last week

Sunday 13mile tempo run, negative split 1:52

Tuesday 8.5 miles med. easy

Wed 5.5 miles easy

Saturday 10.5 miles medium except miles 6 - 9 @7:00 pace

I'll look to get volume up as I prepare for the March 1 race.

Just ran my first marathon a month back at age 62 - the Rogue Marathon up in Oregon 3:51:42. For my age, BQ is 3:50, so I'd aim to go a few minutes faster to get that BQ.

Best to all, it's nice to rejoin the group.

I visit this site when I am sitting around relaxing, which does not seem to happen very often. I get inspired reading all the posts. I started running again late August after some setbacks. It has not been easy. I need to work on more patience. Anyway, things are starting to come together. Just a couple of days until I turn 65, so yesterday I banged out a 10 miler in 65 minutes. I'll take that for now. Best of luck to all training or making comebacks. Have patience and take it one day at a time.

M60, 5'11", 175 lbs

Week ending 11-10-2019

M - Off

Tu - Off

W - Off

Th - 5 miles @ 8:42/mi (22:26 out, 20:59 back)

F - Off

Sa - Off

Su - 4 miles @ 8:12/mi (8:27, 8:23, 8:13, 7:44)

WEEK TOTAL - 9.0 MILES

Both runs at full effort, start to finish, no warm-ups. 5K this coming Saturday if a buddy makes it from out of town. I won't bother with it if he's a no-show.

Have a good week!

65 wrote:

Just a couple of days until I turn 65, so yesterday I banged out a 10 miler in 65 minutes. I'll take that for now.

1:05:00 for 10 miles at age 65 age grades at 86.95%. Not too bad! A solo training run? I was happy to race a 15K at 6:26 pace when I was 58. Can't imagine doing that at 65! Wow!

Just a workout, but hard effort. I want to decide in a month whether or not to race USA XC on Jan. 18th.

After feeling clobbered immediately after last Sunday’s failed marathon, I did seem to bounce back pretty well. By Wednesday I was running again, and by Saturday I felt good enough to go a bit longer and try to put some pace on it. Trying to run fast actually felt good , but when I got back and looked at the clock I was really bummed to see that I’d only managed 12.8 miles in 1:56—barely under a 2-hour half-marathon. Not racing effort but working pretty hard. No way could I have gotten remotely close to a 4-hour marathon this weekend.

I closed out the week with 44 miles in four days of running, and today I did “active rest”, hiking about 8 miles at 7500-8000 feet. I’ve never been hiking in the Sierras as late as November, but this has been a freakishly dry fall (hence the fires in other parts of the state) and no snow yet. Chilly at elevation but a fine day for a hike.

Not sure what I’ll do tomorrow, the Veterans Day holiday. If I feel good I may go for a long, slow run and just not worry about the time. I’m planning to do my local Turkey Trot the Saturday before Thanksgiving, a friendly, low-key 5 mile race. It may very well be a Personal Worst for the distance, but so be it.

dhaaga, that’s a bummer about your shin issues. Hopefully you’ve already put in the training and can back off for the next couple weeks and make it to the starting line of your goal race both healthy and fit.

Coyote, good job keeping after the cross training.

Big Red, welcome back and best of luck on the BQ marathon next spring.

65, 10 miles at 6:30 pace sounds great to me!

Allen1959, best of luck on the 5K. I hope you do it.

^you should

Just a brief check in since I am ready to fall asleep. I ran my last race as a 69yr old today, our local XC series 8K championship race. I had nothing at stake in this race since I was out of the money for the 60+ series points and couldn't score enough points in this race to move up in the standings, and I have three 60+ team mates who all are substantially faster and would score for our team series championship. So, as I told someone after the race, it was a good workout but a bad race. My splits were 7:06, 7:04, 7:24, 7:40, 7:48 which pretty well tells the story. I knew I probably was in trouble from lack of recovery from my race two weeks ago followed by running hard every couple of days since then after my son and his family came into town. I could tell soon after two miles that I was tired and had dead legs, and it was a bit of a death march the last two miles. Now I have 5 weeks until Club XC to recover and get a little fitter for my debut in the 70-74 age group. My 39yr old son got 27th in the men's open race, and my 38 yr old daughter in law got 9th in the women's open race. It was fun to see them racing again and I only have to survive two or three more runs with them before they head back home.

Pretty fast for 70-74 AG old guy II.

amkelley wrote:

I closed out the week with 44 miles in four days of running, and today I did “active rest”, hiking about 8 miles at 7500-8000 feet. ...

Allen1959, best of luck on the 5K. I hope you do it.

Dunno about that 5K. A foot of snow is forecasted for tonight, a deep freeze rest of the week. Half the course is on the towpath, so won't be plowed.

Too risky to race in those conditions, although back in my 40s, I raced the same course on snow and ice, finishing second OA and beating guys way faster than me: I was the only one wearing XC spikes. Ha! Too fragile for that now.

Regarding your 44 miles in four days, I know I've pondered previously this, but I still wonder how you would do with less mileage, and more recovery. Even when injured, your cross-training volume would shame most 20-year-olds!

But this sentiment is coming from Mr. Lazy Low Mileage. Rest and recovery are amongst my favorite things in life.

LucKY2b -- right there with you about the motivation. The dark, the cold . . . to think that one month ago I ran a marathon wearing a singlet and shorts and today I had three long sleeve tops on plus a jacket, stocking hat, etc.

amkelley -- that's some good running, regardless of pace

Allen1959 -- hope the path gets cleared for you

Big Red -- looking forward to following your journey to a BQ in March!

65 -- dang, that's a heck of a ten miler. I'd be ten minutes or more behind. Sounds like a good sign for USA XC?

Last week:

Took a little bit of a break after running marathon distance two Sundays ago.

M - off

T - off

W - 4.10 with friends, 9:20 pace

Th - 3.19 with friend, 9:51 pace, cut the run short because my hands were frozen to the point of frostbite worries

F - off

Sa - off

Su - off