50+ Masters Training and Racing Open Forum

Condolences MikeF.

Skinnbones, yes Thunderhill Court. Did you run from there with me?

I had a great trip to Dallas to visit Will Steele (aka Cancer Guy), and Aaron Ramirez came up from south Texas too. Weldon Johnson with Let'sRun interviewed Will and I about our running and cancer connections. I'm not sure if, when, or how much Weldon may post on here but it was nice of him to do the interviews and it was good to meet him. Will, his wife and family, what a privilege it was to spend time with them - a very grounded family during a challenging time for them.

An interesting week of training, weather changed two workouts for me, I'm not looking forward to going to all indoor track work if this cold weather persists. But, I will most likely be racing indoors so eventually I should get indoors, just would like it to be in November rather than now.

Week of 10/01

Mon AM 2 mile warm-up, 6x100m strides, 2x200m in 30, 2 mile cool-down. Back tight, windy, and cold for me, switching Wed. and today.

PM 4 mile run on treadmill at 1% grade, down to 5:27 pace, jog/walk 1 mile, then 1 1/4 miles in 6:10, 1 mile cool-down. Hamstrings felt tight, back must be affecting them, cardiovascularly I felt fine, just somewhat awkward running today. Weights. PT 1.

Tue AM 5+ mile run dow to 6:08 last mile with elevation gain.

PM PT2, stretching.

Wed AM Indoor track: 2+ mile warm-up, 4x100m strides, 2x200m in 31, 4x800/full recovery between each - 2:19, 2:18, 2:15, 2:11.23 (65.86, 65.37), 1+ mile cool-down. Lower back still tight, felt ok, was hoping for all in 2:16 or better, pleased last one was negative split.

PM PT3, weights.

Thur AM 7+ mile run down to 5:54 last mile, tired towards end, tendon somewhat sore.

PM PT1, stretching, massage.

Fri AM 3 miles on treadmill @ 1% grade at 10:00 mile pace. Tendon ok running but sore walking. PT2

PM travel

Sat PM Cold/windy with gloves & rain top: 2 mile warm-up, 4x100m strides, 2x200m 30.3, 2x(4x300m with 100m jog) full recovery between sets, first set 47-52, second set 50-52, 2 mile cool-down. Got tired quickly on 300's, last 50 turning into wind was tough. Glad to just get through it, fingers white/blue even with gloves, calves tight from hard track. Would of skipped workout except I had a crowd who had come to the track to watch me workout, nothing like a little peer pressure to get one through a workout - Aaron Ramirez, Weldon Johnson, and Will Steele & his family. Tendon ok on track & running, sore walking later.

Sun AM PT3 Tendon sore walking

PM Travel. Stretching, some PT exercises.

Have a good week all!

Ken

My sincerest condolences to you and your family, MikeF.

Ken, I can't thank you enough for reaching out to Will and his family in such a real, tangible way. I hope that your expertise, your experience, and your presence have been of some comfort to them.

Some of the 50+ highlights from the two US marathons this weekend. (All are US runners unless otherwise noted)

Top three 50+ Finishers:

At Twin Cities

Men:

Rick Becker (M57): 2:41:45

William Enicks (M53): 2:44:57

Norm Larson (M56): 2:46:38

Also Notable:

Tim Freeman (M62): 2:52

Women:

Irma Flores Ibarra (F53) MEX: 2:42:50!!! Yikes! Is this for real?

Meghan Arbogast (F51): 2:53:22 (acquaintance of Muddy Girl?)

Elena Shemyakina (F53): 3:12:15

Also Notable:

Barbara Broad (F62): 3:18:40

At Chicago

Men: (31 50+ were sub-3:00)

Fred Zalokar (M52): 2:35:10

John Haberkorn (M52): 2:40:37

Luca Giuseppe Luigi Foglia (M50) ITA: 2:44:37

Also Notable:

Terry McCluskey (M64): 2:54:19

Women: (10 50+ were sub-3:20)

Christine Kennedy (F57): 2:56:04

Wanda Gau (F50): 3:05:36

Margaret Ashe (F54): 3:07:44

Kudos to all who partook. Cheers!

Just getting caught up after spending four days in upState SC visiting our Son & grandkids. One of my lowest weeks of the year but at least I felt good everyday. A quick recap: 44 miles...missed two days in a week for maybe the first time this year. Had a nice 4 mile progressive tempo on Wed going

558.5,553.4,547.0,535.3 for a 23:14.2 Felt very comfortable. Then did a very hilly 12 on Saturday right at 7:00/pace. 85 deg seemed very hot! Then did a lot of walking, usually with a little kid on my shoulders...

Came home to nice cool Northern IN. Looking forward to getting back into the training routine.

Have a good week,

Dave

MikeF wrote:

for many many years, the act of running, regardless of whether it is competively focused or not, has seen me through countless good times and then without reserve, always(and more importantly) gets me through the absolute worst of times...for this I am MOST thankful

hoping your upcoming week is nothing but good news

warm regards,

MF

Most all on this thread truly can empathize.

Father,Sister,Her Son and Two Friends....

and a Divorce which is kinda like suffering a death of a loved one.

Patterns are revealed over time. Running to accomplish a running goal is usually just on the surface when in fact running has really been one of the ways for me to cope with a difficult situation.But I do love setting the running goals and usually way too high;)

LucKY2b,

It truly was a great weekend for me, and as you'll read in this link, I know it was for Will. I have to stress, he is under hospice care but was asking how he could help ME!

http://wrestlewithdeath.blogspot.com/2012/10/when-god-grins.html

The good side of running and this website!

Thanks Ken. Very good read. Sounds like it was quite the weekend. Will is quite a remarkable young man.

I'm harkening back to a year ago, on the anniversary of our close aunt's death. When I posted about our aunt dying back then, we didn't really realize what she was up against. We had thought that she would be able to pull through. She had colon cancer the previosu winter and opted for a colonectomy. The operation went well, but the recovery did not. What we didn't realize was that the agressive treatment for ovarian cancer that she had had nearly 2 decades earlier had compromised the repair function in that area of her body. Her body was never able to produce a good seal with the new discharge bladder mechanism, and she kept having septic issues. The doctor's said that her remaining colon tissue was like a fine parchment which was very difficult to attach to without additional tearing. After 8 months of fighting to get the bag to take, she finally succumbed. Mind you, she was not a very active woman and was extremely overweight, both contributing factors, I'm sure.

Great story Ken, thanks for sharing and keep up the good work.

Last bustin it type of run 09-29-12 saturday Glendoveer in 13:34/6:20 per mile.

START OF LIMIT ON EFFORT 09-30-2012

RR Recovery Run 7:45 4/4 or 4/3 up to 20 minutes

FR Fundamental Run 3/3 breathing up to 15 minutes apx 6:50 pace borrowed from Canova except I am using my breathing pattern to regulate pace/effort.

PR Progression Run 3/3 to 3/2 to 2/2 breathing up to 15 minutes apx 6:20 pace

RR 09-30-2012 sunday day 1 Glendoveer tired slow run plus 2 hour barefoot walk then rest rest rest slept good

RR 10-01-2012 monday day 2 Glendoveer slept good felt pretty recovered good mood energy good

FR 10-02-2012 tuesday day 3 Glendoveer a little tired run progressed well last 11 minutes at 3-3 did notice some tightness in calfs.

FR 10-03-2012 wednesday day 4 Tabor a little tire run progressed well 3/3 for 12 minutes plus 3 striders 15 sec each

FR 10-04-2012 thursday day 5 Tabor fresh run progressed well 3/3 for 15 minutes. The last 6:45 was 3 loops around the top of tabor.

FR 10-05-2012 friday day 6 Tabor PUMPED progressed well 3/3 for 15 minutes with 2 striders 15 sec each . Striders felt very good with good knee lift and decent leg speed.

FR 10-06-2012 saturday day 7 Glendoveer felt ok better as run progressed well 3/3 breathing took 14:50 HR was apx 165 bpm.(10 secs count the beats, 27.5, times 6) 6:55 pace but they just put down 6 inches of wood CHUNKS made for a challenging run.

week 2 sunday October 7th 2012

2-1 RR 10-07-2012 sunday Tabor tired very slow uphill run my lower calfs both legs were burning but not like an injury more like out of condition . My guess is the slow pace uses different fibers than the faster pace. So das es good yes.

2-2 FR 1 10-08-2012 monday Glendoveer PUMPED 15 minutes at 3-3 14:37.

Weight still 148 but I feel lighter so no dietary changes for now

My old stomping grounds. I had some killer runs on Mt. Tabor, mixing some good climbs with fast downhill sessions on a 2 mile loop. Glendoveer is always good. Do you run counter-clockwise? I usually start in the NE corner in the parking lot and head counter-clockwise, love hammering that downhill as you finish the lap.

Great runs!

1500Master wrote:

My old stomping grounds. I had some killer runs on Mt. Tabor, mixing some good climbs with fast downhill sessions on a 2 mile loop. Glendoveer is always good. Do you run counter-clockwise? I usually start in the NE corner in the parking lot and head counter-clockwise, love hammering that downhill as you finish the lap.

Great runs!

Steep downhills are not my forte so I run clockwise. Starting out at various spots. Lately just east of the NW corner at a quarter mile marker and bench. I live just east and also walk over then start at the top of the steep hill.

Mt.Tabor is usually west side south up to water police HQ then up the down portion of the bicycle crit race course then up to the top and some laps if time permits followed by an hour or 2 of barefoot walking!

:-) I always run Glendoveer clockwise, starting at the NE corner. When I used to run with my friend Kevin, who always ran it counter-clockwise, we had to switch direction every lap. ;-)

Yes, Meghan (Meg-leg) is a friend of mine. TCM was a semi-sub-par race for her, but at 52, she's still running great times -- at many distances (mostly 26 mi and above!)

Mike, I am so sorry about your sister! I had no idea. :( That's just heartbreaking. I just turned 50 on Sept. 28th so it looks like I've made it to the other side.

Just spotted a facebook post from Keith Bateman saying he'd knocked out a 5k windsprint session in 15.28, scary stuff for a 55 plus.

I was also going through some old photos of runners from back in the day. Found one of WOC hurdling out front in a steeple at Melbourne's Olympic Park, guessing from the first 1/2 of the 80s probably 1984.

A mate and I went up to Mt Stirling (Aust.Alps)yesterday. Stirling is a popular xc ski area in winter. The season officially finished on sunday so we were able to drive to 1200m toll free.

We ran off along the summit trail and encountered our first sections of snow after about 2k. Patchy snow for the next km then basically slogged our way through fairly compacted snow.

The summit is 5k from the start and about 550m (1757m) higher. We reached the summit in about 40mins of running. Unfortunately clouds blew in so the usual stunning views were absent. We trotted across to a secondary summit but by this time the wind had picked up and temps were down (guessing -5C or so).no loitering in that weather.

We then headed out further to Craig's Hut about 3.5k away. We had to do a long bum slide to get down from the slopes of the summit.

The 3.5k out to Craig's involves a very steep downhill to 1400m in about 1.5k this was all covered in snow. Not sure how we got down in one piece but we did.

A quick km climb back up to 1500m with minimal cover and then another steep drop (no snow)down to 1400m before a quick climb up to the hut/campsite at 1455m.

The return journey back to the summit area was tough. Climbing the last 20% grade in the snow had me really struggling.

From just below the summit we picked up different trail of about 9k back to the start. The going was much easier although we did encounter a km of very compact snow.

An excellent run and although we were running on familiar trails it was a very different experience doing it with the snow cover. All up about 21kms with around 1100 metres of elevation gain/loss accumulated. About 3hours of hard slogging fun.

We drove down the mountain then unhitched the mountain bikes. My mate Greg was keen to do some reconn. on a trail that climbs to the summit of 1800m Mt Buller. So off we went on the bikes up a fire road for 5.5k climbing 560m, just what my quads really wanted to do!!!

We located the trail head at this point. Should be fun, as it climbs another 800m in 5k! But that is for another day.

We turned and let the bikes charge back down.

Today (tuesday), the legs feel ok.

I spent 3 hours mowing lawns and then 2 hours painting ceilings. I took the kyak up to the lake at 6pm. After 30 squats, 20 pushups and 2x2 min. planks I took off for a solid hour across pretty flat water. No one else out there, just me and a group of pelicans.

Back to shore for 30 more squats, 20 more push ups then a good long soaking of the legs in the lake.

My condolences to Mike.

Mo'pak,

I don't think I ever steepled in Melbourne, or even raced there, visited Melbourne and trained some while there though. A link to the photo?

I do miss grass tracks!

just wanted to say i am sorry to read about your sister

Thread went cold and I am getting old.

Below are my goals .

Please post some running Goals or point me to the thread thanks

Charlie's master plan for world domination

56 78.74 % 19:15 currently +19lbs 24 weeks runnin

56 84.xx % 18:03 After a year back into training

57 88.xx % 17:22 88 percent where I used to age grade

58 90.77 percent 16:59 7th year of running new level

59 91.57 percent 16:59 ect

60 92.36 percent 16:59 delusional

My one running goal is to run Boston with a number, and finish of course. I am originally from that area, growing up TV sports was the Bruins, the Boston Marathon, and later when we got cable the Tour de France. I was the smallest guy ever to play junior hockey. My half-serious cycling days ended with the carpal tunnel syndrome. But given the favorable masters standards, Boston seems achievable.

My plan to BQ: Keep having fun, run lots of mileage every morning, do auxiliary work almost every night, try not to get hurt too often. I get hurt quite a bit though, no matter what sport I try, so I'll have to be patient and lucky.

*************************Week 71*************************Greetings fellow grandmasters. I must admit that I didn't try to stoke the thread this week; I figured that if people had things they wanted to talk about, they'd just chime in. Should I do a mid-week bump if it goes quiet? I have plenty of discussion topics I'd be happy to try and elicit thoughts on....although I much prefer when someone else bumps the thread, if it needs it, mid-week. :-)At any rate, with fall weather in full swing, so too is fall racing. I counted about 13 races Saturday, and 6 races Sunday in and around the Lexington area. And Jeff Galloway is in town: he offered a clinic, made a dinner appearance (althought I attended neither), and is presiding at the Iron Horse Half-Marathon being run in the neighboring town of Midway this morning. It's a great weekend to be running in the Bluegrass!Having said that, my week was not so great and was nothing like last week. I did manage 47+ miles, but my legs were dead for much of the week. My weekly log reads as such:Sun: 8 easyMon: 9 easy w/6.4 on grassTue: 4.7 easyWed: 8.5, w/13 laps of 1/2@5k pace, 1/2@moderate pace + 4 accel laps.Thu: 5 easy mostly on grassFri: 5 very easySat: 7.2 w/5k race in 18:06 (5:37, 5:49, 6:40 (last 1.1))Notes:-I expected my legs to be a bit run-down Sunday after last Saturday's tempo run, but that ennui lingered through Tuesday. I expected to be feeling it a bit Thursday, but my legs were uncommonly stiff and achy through Friday. They recovered a bit by Saturday morning for the race, but I don't feel I was really race ready. In retrospect, I wish I'd raced the previous weekend, when I had a lot more bounce in my step. Oh well. At least I got out there and toed the line. -On Tuesday, I did about 20 minutes in my Merrell trail gloves running on the balls of my feet (on concrete). I can feel the springiness, but I really have to think hard when running like this....feels very unnatural for me.-Wednesday was meant to be an easy shakedown interval session in preparation for Saturday, but I think I ran them just a little too hard with the 13 laps (4.88km) completed in 19:19. The accel laps were walk a turn, jog a straight, cruise a turn, hard-stride (not quite a sprint) the final straight (x4).-Saturday's race was on the RJ Corman Railroad Group property. Beautiful venue, that I've talked about before. If you recall, RJ Corman is living on borrowed time undergoing cycles of chemo, then antibiotics, repeat. He gave a stirring speech before the event and then at the awards ceremony he had everyone misty-eyed, as he discussed his joy amidst his ongoing personal struggle. Here's what I posted on my Facebook page:

Thank you RJ Corman, you are a most generous and compassionate man; what you have given back to the community and how you support us endurance athletes is truly remarkable. Thank you for hosting the Duathlon/5k race to benefit the Chrysalis House this morning.

http://www.cormanracesforchrysalis.com/

The weather was great, the venue was first rate; the competition was intense but collegial; the hosting was over the top (who ever heard of a complete lunch served for all competitors in a 5k?); and most importantly, the cause of helping those women with addictions to get back on their feet is a most worthy one.

For me? My time was OK, 18:06, but I should be faster...oh well. Regardless, it was an awesome morning for racing and meeting up with my good buddies for a great cause, so it's all good.

As for the race itself, I pretty much fell into a gulf behind a bunch of fast guys, including K. Castille (and one gal), and the rest. I did have the benefit of passing a bunch of those that were running the simultaneous duathlon (they started a bit before us), but once again I slowed each mile and finished just over 18. I guess that is what I am, as I've now run 5 5k races since last spring with times just over 18. I do feel like I'm fitter than I was in the spring, so I'm hoping my latest was just because of the dead legs that I felt all week, but it seems to be the pattern. Losing a few pounds would certainly help; still sitting at 160-161, which hasn't budged much since the spring, either.

Charlie asked about goals. 1) Get healthy, 2) stay healthy, 3) trim up the waistline (more core work), 4) get my mileage up to 65-70 mpw (add doubles?), 5) improve back to where I was two years ago (this one's dubious...my pie-in-the-sky goal would be to get under 17 for 5k). I would also love to take one more stab at sub-3 marathon, but my hip issue has to be 100% before I'll try it (see goal #1). Also, I was doing lunges back 2 years ago, but since I hurt my knee summer '11, I've been leery about doing them (see goal #2); I think this is also something I need find a way to start doing again.....but safely.

OK. Hope things are good in your world.

Cheers.