50+ Masters Training and Racing Open Forum

Ghost of Igloi wrote:

I plan to keep my distance from naked men

We don't judge you for your proximity to naked men, or your small hands which you told us about earlier.

Back in the mid-1960s, when I was a young boy, my father occasionally took me to the old YMCA in East Hartford, Connecticut. I remember the ancient wooden gym they had, with mysterious old-time exercise aids like Indian Clubs and medicine balls. I used barbells and dumbbells for the first time there.

My father liked to swim, and sometimes he would take me for open swim in the Y pool. All the men swam naked, which I thought was a little odd, but he assured me it was the way they did it there.

Ghost of Igloi wrote:

oId guy wrote:

Did you forget to take your meds today?

My apologies. I must have confused you with the “Best to Most Guy.” The YMCA does a deep clean twice a day. Before opening and mid-day. I am one of the first in. Airborne is the issue, and I plan to keep my distance from naked men, before, after, and during Covid 19.

I don’t understand why you think it is okay to taunt and belittle other posters here. This is supposed to be a safe place for us older runners to commiserate respectfully.

July 1, 2020 (Wednesday): Walking (2 miles), Stretching (9 back stretches), Strengthening (5 lower body exercises x 1 set)

Now down to 161 pounds (BMI 19.1). Thinking of stabilizing at 160 pounds (BMI 19.0), and turning my focus to stretching and strengthening exercises.

In particular, I have a worsening case of runner's knee, so I think I need to add some exercises to my daily routine, specifically to build up the muscles around my knees and combat runner's knee. I have collected some useful websites and ordered some items from Amazon toward that end (some resistance bands and a step platform).

Brittle Master 1958 wrote:

Ghost of Igloi wrote:

I plan to keep my distance from naked men

We don't judge you for your proximity to naked men, or your small hands which you told us about earlier.

Back in the mid-1960s, when I was a young boy, my father occasionally took me to the old YMCA in East Hartford, Connecticut. I remember the ancient wooden gym they had, with mysterious old-time exercise aids like Indian Clubs and medicine balls. I used barbells and dumbbells for the first time there.

My father liked to swim, and sometimes he would take me for open swim in the Y pool. All the men swam naked, which I thought was a little odd, but he assured me it was the way they did it there.

Thanks, I was a “little” worried I might be judged. I was swimming yesterday, The young woman in the next lane had a swim suit, of that I am sure. I did not notice whether the old man with hairy ears had one.

Bertrand wrote:

Ghost of Igloi wrote:

My apologies. I must have confused you with the “Best to Most Guy.” The YMCA does a deep clean twice a day. Before opening and mid-day. I am one of the first in. Airborne is the issue, and I plan to keep my distance from naked men, before, after, and during Covid 19.

I don’t understand why you think it is okay to taunt and belittle other posters here. This is supposed to be a safe place for us older runners to commiserate respectfully.

Thanks. Since all of your posts to me reflect no respect, mine to you reflects the same. Got that?

amkelley wrote:

Brittle Master 1958 wrote:

I love tracks. Not because I am fast anymore but because going to the track reminds me of being young.

I detest tracks. They remind me of running fast, or particularly doing intervals, both of which were painful. The only track I ever used much was the one at the University of Rochester, and after a while just the scent of that track would make me feel a bit nauseous.

Give me an open road, or better yet a smooth dirt trail, a cool day, and no time constraints on my morning and let me run easy for a long time. Yeah.

That's funny, I must be your "anti-matter." I love doing track reps, particularly things like 20x200m or 20x400m. On a steady run, I'm looking at the watch to see if I can stop now about 20 mins in. Toughest run for me to do is the 'long' run, which I call anything over about 8 miles. End up getting bored, and running far too hard. Unless I'm really tired, I find I'm nearly always going too quick for a 'steady' day.

I think we just gravitate to where our natural abilities lie. I'm really a slow sprinter, with a big Vo2 max, and good lactate clearance, so was born to run reps. I'm not really very effective beyond 5k, except one massive fluke where I managed to run a state age record for 10k in my mid-50s. When I did a marathon, the only way I could get through it was to run about 80 sec per mile slower than my 5k pace. I was always heavy for a distance runner - 5' 8 1/2 and nearly 150 lb when I ran my best times in my 20s (about the same now). I suspect that you are high-proportion slow twitch, which probably makes long and steady a pleasure, and sprinting reps a misery!

Cavorty wrote:

I think we just gravitate to where our natural abilities lie. I'm really a slow sprinter, with a big Vo2 max, and good lactate clearance, so was born to run reps. I'm not really very effective beyond 5k, except one massive fluke where I managed to run a state age record for 10k in my mid-50s. When I did a marathon, the only way I could get through it was to run about 80 sec per mile slower than my 5k pace. I was always heavy for a distance runner - 5' 8 1/2 and nearly 150 lb when I ran my best times in my 20s (about the same now). I suspect that you are high-proportion slow twitch, which probably makes long and steady a pleasure, and sprinting reps a misery!

You are indeed my anti-matter, or as they say, "it takes all kinds to make a world". I am sure I was born without a single fast-twitch muscle fiber in my body. For reference, my PRs (all from age 33) were 18:10 for 5K, 1:18:59 HM, and 2:42:50 marathon, all on reasonably fast but honest, unaided courses. I never knew another sub-2:45 marathoner who couldn't break 18 for 5K. I raced at a BMI well under 18. At age 62 my BMI is closer to 19 and I'm way slower at all distances, and there's a lot more spread between my 5K pace and my HM or (particularly) marathon pace, but I still hate trying to go "fast".

Ghost of Igloi and Bertrand, kumbaya, my friends! Kumbayah, my Lord, kumbayah. Oh Lord, kumbaya.

When I went to sergeant school at Fort Indiantown Gap, PA, in September 1994, the last part of our training was a field training exercise. Those of us who were still in the course, and hadn't already washed out and been sent home, set up our tents in the middle of a forest. Nearby was the encampment of the officer candidates. One night in the wee hours, the officer candidates decided to get rambunctious. They ran through our camp and knocked over all our tents and destroyed everything. We were warned not to react. So we sergeant candidates all stood up, joined hands, and sang "Kumbayah" in the dark while the officer candidates rampaged around us.

Trying to figure out if I should run today. This is one of my three scheduled running days per week (Tuesday, Thursday, Saturday) but right knee has been bothering me more than usual. So I probably shouldn't run, but I LIVE for my three running days. That's why I do all this stretching and strengthening crap. So I suspect I shall run anyway, and then afterward try to make up for it by doing some extra stretching and strengthening.

amkelley, you sound remarkable. You raced at well below 18 BMI, which I have never heard of before; and you have a best marathon pace which is almost as fast as your best 5K pace, which I have also never heard of before. I still think more muscle would have made you faster in the past, and would make you faster now. But here I am, can't even run 10 mpw without breaking down, giving advice to a 2:42 marathoner.

I prefer the track for its consistency and cushioning. I warm-up, cool-down, and recover in the opposite direction of the faster runs to lessen the muscle imbalance. I have remained relatively healthy, so plan to stick with it.

Brittle Master 1958 wrote:

Ha, I went to high school in Pittsford, NY, a suburb of Rochester.

Brittle, I was catching up with this thread today and this caught my eye. I'm still reading, maybe you've already said, but was Pete Pfitzinger a teammate? He was at Pittsford-Sutherland as I recall.

A few decent distance guys in Section 5 back then -- Pete, John Tuttle, Mike Wyckoff. Pete and Mike were later teammates at Cornell, until Mike suffered a career-ending injury.

Allen1959 wrote:

I'm still reading, maybe you've already said, but was Pete Pfitzinger a teammate? He was at Pittsford-Sutherland as I recall.

Allen, yup, Pete was a year ahead of me.

I ran a varsity time in my very first high school race, as a member of our strong cross country team, and people expected good things from me.

Then I promptly broke down under the training load, suffered a remarkable series of injuries, and never matched that time again in the rest of my high school career. Never got a varsity letter in cross country or track although I tried every year.

Even though I never could train much, I retained a certain natural ability to run throughout much of my adult life.

I served in the National Guard till forced retirement at age 60, and as late as age 50 I was still the fastest runner in the 2 mile event of our annual fitness test, in almost every unit I served in, including infantry units that had a lot of young studs. (Sometimes I was second-best, when a young stud would show up from basic training and run fast for a while before petering out due to weight gain and lack of training.)

So I never really had a running career. You can't call me a has-been; more of a never-was.

4 miles on the track at lunchtime, slow and untimed, 86 F. and sunny.

I really wasn't sure how far I would go, due to my right knee bothering me.

When I got to 2 miles, I was dying under the hot sun, so I knew I had to continue.

I had a little company on the track for the first two miles: one runner, one walker. The last 2 miles I was alone, which is unusual at lunchtime, perhaps due to the sun and heat.

On one lap a groundhog scuttled across the track in front of me. He looked like he could take me in a sprint, so I didn't chase him.

The last three laps were a death march under the blue sky. I was alone except for the saguaros and pineapple cacti, the bleached cow skulls, and the vultures far overhead, endlessly circling. They go for the viscera and eyeballs first.

OK, I live in an idyllic seaside town in northeastern Massachusetts; there are no cacti or cow skulls or vultures here. I'm just talking in metaphors. Work with me.

Is there a reason you do your runs in the middle of the day? Lot of stress as well as skin exposure.

Ghost of Igloi wrote:

Is there a reason you do your runs in the middle of the day? Lot of stress as well as skin exposure.

Good points. As a matter of fact, I am considering changing that.

Running is hard and tiring for me, especially on hot days, so I am finding that I am not as productive in the afternoon after a lunchtime run. I am working from home these days, but I still have to get stuff done.

I am thinking about maybe just taking a walk at lunchtime, as a break to get up from my desk and get my blood flowing a little, and leaving actual workouts till after work.

I have thought about running before work, but then I would probably be tired all day. Running seems to invigorate some people, but often it just tires me out and I want to take a nap. That's always been true for me, it's not because I'm old.

Makes sense. Ten years ago I would run on my lunch hour when our office was more conveniently located. Now if I don’t get it done in the morning, then life gets in the way. Does make me tired, especially on work days when I get up early. But retirement is three months away, and working at home until then. So naps not a problem.

Ghost of Igloi wrote:

retirement is three months away, and working at home until then.

Awesome! Congrats!

We have two millennials still living with us, one of them still in college, and I don't have enough saved for retirement. So I am thinking about working to 75, if my health (and job) hold up.

I could retire today if we cashed out by selling our primary residence, and moved to our second home in the Adirondacks of New York, but it is a lonely remote location and too cold in the winter for my wife.

Our primary residence is in an excellent location, and it is a bungalow with everything important located conveniently on the first floor, so it is a good situation for retiring in place. Looks I am stuck with high overhead and low savings for the duration.

I will have worked until 70 by September. It is probably a push on enough money and life expectancy. I would work longer, but it would be pushing my luck with the current job. Who knows, may work some more if I get bored. Never was dying to get out the door.

Ghost of Igloi wrote:

may work some more if I get bored.

I think it's a great idea to work at least part-time after you retire from your career.

You can stretch your money a lot farther if you have some earnings from work coming in regularly.

Think about it: if you can earn $10,000 a year from working a part-time job, that's the equivalent of having a $200,000 investment portfolio that earns 5%.

So that's $200,000 you don't have to save up ahead of time.

If my health holds up, I plan to do some kind of work, even after I retire from what I will call my "career," for lack of a better word. Over my working life I have actually had a series of mostly unrelated jobs, not a real career at all. Never did find my career niche, unfortunately.

Do I understand this correctly that you did not know if you were wearing a swim suit? How is that even possible?