50+ Masters Training and Racing Open Forum

condolences on the suicide. Ripple effects on families and entire communities are devastating.

Ghost of Igloi wrote:

70 is the new 60 ?

I think that is true. I'm running better now at 68 than I was several years ago. Weight at ~149 at 5'9". Focusing hard on form and stride, and making sure that I don't run more than four days a week.

Just finished another 30 mile week and started off this week with a nice fall 7.6 mile run at 9:35/mile. I'll run some tempo work tomorrow and then cycle on Wednesday.

OGII, I swam AAU in high school. I would swim before school and arrive with bloodshot eyes because goggles weren't commonly used then. I swam on an AAU team when I got to Vanderbilt University in '71 because there were no women's sports teams. I had been accepted to Duke too but Vandy had a nice pool whereas at Duke the women had to swim in an old decrepit facility. At Vandy, I swam workouts with the age groupers and with the men's team too. In '72 I transferred to Northwestern University. They had just started a woman's team so I swam there for two more years. I swam in the Big 10 Meets and at the AIAW National Championships at Penn State (there were no NCAA Championships for women). After I graduated, I married my swimming coach. I worked out with his age groupers and swam masters until I had my kids. Now I'm back at it after a 40 year lay-off!

Seattle Gray Hair wrote:

Ghost of Igloi wrote:

70 is the new 60 ?

I think that is true. I'm running better now at 68 than I was several years ago. Weight at ~149 at 5'9". Focusing hard on form and stride, and making sure that I don't run more than four days a week.

Just finished another 30 mile week and started off this week with a nice fall 7.6 mile run at 9:35/mile. I'll run some tempo work tomorrow and then cycle on Wednesday.

Seattle Gray Hair,

The excess weight is my biggest hurdle. Three days of running is my schedule currently; all three with some type of focus. Currently I am 180 lbs at a little over 6 feet tall. I was running pretty good in February when I was weighing under 170 lbs. Optimum for me would be 155 lbs. All about discipline really. I am the oldest in our running group by about 8 years, so I guess doing OK to still be out there.

Igy

Just a token check-in this week. Still maintaining fitness best I can until my Tenex achilles procedure in two weeks. I somehow managed a 19:56 5k last week going 6:20, 6:23, 6:20. Age Grades to a somewhat respectable 80.70%. I honestly thought 7:00 pace would be a realistic goal since I have done so little running over the past year so I'm ok with it. I'm currently in 2nd place in the virtual race I raced in, with 2 days to go! That was an all-time 5k Personal Worse by 1:05...

Had a few nice little runs while in SC. Walked a ton, rode a bit but ate too much as usual! We just got home a few hours ago and may try another run tonite. I haven't run 3 days in a row since last fall.

No plans for this week other than to keep moving.

Have a good run,

Dave

I saw that race photo someone posted of you awhile back. At our age(s) it’s tough to keep that boiler down. Belly fat is the scourge of the mature. I feel fortunate to have a 32-34” waist at my age, but it takes a lot of work to keep it there.

Stocky Runner wrote: I see you have drop a few pounds from the 180 you were at a few weeks ago - are you dieting or anything like that? What's your food sources like? Any supplements you take?

Stocky -- The only change in my diet has been less cereal in the morning. Except for binging on sweets, my diet is good. Whole grains, organic veggies (leafy greens, roots, etc) from our garden (or neighbor's or local farmers market), fresh fruit, eggs, fish, chicken, occasionally red meat. I take a multivitamin when I remember, but mostly forget. When I was racing well a few years ago, I was eating six eggs every morning-- our chickens were very productive. No chickens anymore, just a dozen eggs each week from a neighbor.

I can sympathize with your physical challenges. My wife is struggling with many of the same issues. With so many limitations to movement and exercise, she's finding it difficult to shed the few pounds she's like to lose. A two-hour commute and desk job don't help.

SCgal -- Thanks for that background info. Amazing and impressive! Congrats on your race; the "good" definitely outweighs the "bad."

Olde Farte -- Your mileage was twice mine last week, PLUS you included weight training. Dunno why I can't seem to muster the effort. In my 30s I had a 7-minute, 3 x week dumbell routine (plus crunches) that really made a difference. Seems so doable.

Igy -- It's really quite amazing how you've bounced back from your health ordeals. Looking forward to seeing continued gains.

amkelley -- Hope you can manage your heal issues.

Rtype -- Good luck working up to 45 minutes. Your patience is impressive. Despite good luck with my 4-mile runs, I've really been wanting to head out for a 12-miler. If I can find the time, I'll probably do it. And regret it. Or my knees will.

Charlie -- I like the Pareto Principle. Looking forward to "going for it," too.

Obi-Run Kenob -- Good-looking week. Also good to see a "youngster" join in here. Enjoy your taper. Best wishes for the marathon.

Racerdb -- That 5K shows you've maintained decent fitness. What's the recovery time for the Tenex procedure?

Thanks Allen1959, we have accepted the challenge, and we are working at it.

In regards to weight loss, and fasting:

https://www.cnbc.com/2020/09/28/intermittent-fasting-doesnt-help-weight-loss-ucsf-study.html

amkelley wrote:

That being said, probably the only way to avoid getting slower with age is to make sure you were really slow when you were young!

This gives me some hope. I have not run any PB since 2016, but I may still have a chance to improve on some of them. (Or I can start racing some odd distances to claim a new PB.)

My week.

M: off.

T: 7.1km.

W-F: 8.9km.

SA: 7.1km.

SU: 10.7km. (10:05-9:52-9:42-9:38-9:36-9:06)

On Sunday's run, I could not accelerate the way I wanted. But at least the total time was 24 sec faster than two weeks ago. The fastest lap came at the end of Thursday's run (8:53), which is about 7:59/mile.

Ghost of Igloi wrote:

Thanks Allen1959, we have accepted the challenge, and we are working at it.

Who is “we”? Do you have a personal trainer or equivalent?

Allen1959 wrote:

Rtype -- Good luck working up to 45 minutes. Your patience is impressive. Despite good luck with my 4-mile runs, I've really been wanting to head out for a 12-miler. If I can find the time, I'll probably do it. And regret it. Or my knees will.

Thank you! Now's the perfect time to experiment. As has been obvious, one glaring omission in my training is my complete lack of base training. It's not that I don't know how, it's that I seem to screw it up every time I try. Looking at my logs shows I was running way too hard and that's why I crashed and burned. This is my first attempt at the Maffetone method and using my HR monitor to slow down. It's difficult starting out as I've had to check my ego at the door. I feel like I need a disguise to run this slowly! Stealing a line from Seinfeld's Cramer...."Don't look at me, I'm hideous!".

Allen1959 wrote:

Racerdb -- That 5K shows you've maintained decent fitness. What's the recovery time for the Tenex procedure?

My doctor says he'd like to see easy jogging after 8 weeks. Very short recovery compared to full on achilles surgery.

Dave

Dave - Nice 5k off low miles. Maybe biking is helping?

You inspired my husband to check into Tenex. He's got an appt. in October to see if he's a candidate. Please keep us updated on your progress.

My niggles have improved so I moved back to some longer efforts from the middle of the week.

Mon. 52 min kayak session on the Campaspe. We had been back on some restrictions after an outbreak down in the Big Smoke. Those were recently lifted for regional Vic so I felt comfortable to pull in to Doaks Reserve on the way home from work and get back into the river.

A good metre higher than usual and moving quickly.

I was strong upstream but it was hard slog. The reward was a flying downstream return. I did an extra 2 mins of near stationary paddling upstream at about 100% effort in a narrow little diversion. Good to spot a platypus very briefly.

Getting dark by the time I got home and out running. A cruisy 6.7 kms with the last half on bitumen roads, we have very few street lights. 38 mins.

Tue. Steep rugged trail run with 200 metres of elevation gain. 48 mins for 6.8 kms.

Then 42 mins easy spinning on the mountain bike.

Wed. 95 mins of good testing forest riding on the mountain bike.

Thu. Free to travel around regional Victoria ( not into Melbourne though) so I drove up to Mansfield and knocked over some unfinished business with 2 hills known as The Paps.

A few months back myself and my 2 crazy besties did a morning snow run on Mt Stirling then stopped on our way home and ran the first of the Paps. I was going pretty well that day and was keen to push on and do number 2 but my buddies weren't keen so we skipped it. Probably a good call in hindsight.

So running solo I set out and climbed both and also climbed back up to the top of the first one a second time. All up 15.5 kms and about 600 metres elevation gain in 1 hr 57 mins. A lovely run.

Fri. A freezing cold, wet windy day. Snow in nearby Tooborac. Battled through a not particularly enjoyable 57 mins on the mountain bike then into Hedleys Dam for a slower than normal 20 laps in 52 mins. , normally 47 to 49 but it was tough with a windchill of minus 2 to 3 deg C and a constant rain.

Job done! But not as much fun as I usually have.

Sat. 6 hours of hard garden work then 12.5 kms running in the One Eye Forest. I did 8 x a steep 250 metre hill. 280 metres elevation gain, 1 hr 22 mins.

Sun. Same deal 6 hours hard garden work but this time out on the mountain bike for 1 hr 40 mins with some testing hills. Finished in the dark.

I am certainly not in as good a shape as I was in May/ June but not too far off. I probably need to shed a couple of kgs as my eating has been less disciplined without racing incentive.

This week has started well, a good strong kayak session on Monday and a solid session on my mountain bike "criterium" circuit today.

Ghost of Igloi wrote:

Seattle Gray Hair,

The excess weight is my biggest hurdle. Three days of running is my schedule currently; all three with some type of focus. Currently I am 180 lbs at a little over 6 feet tall. I was running pretty good in February when I was weighing under 170 lbs. Optimum for me would be 155 lbs. All about discipline really. I am the oldest in our running group by about 8 years, so I guess doing OK to still be out there.

Igy

10 years ago (age 40) running similar mileage, I was at 155 with no concerns about diet. I remember having a big bowl of ice cream every night. :-) I feel much more aware of what I eat now and trying to eat healthier. I only have that big bowl of ice cream once or twice a week, but have been stuck in the low/mid 160's for several months now. Not a big deal I suppose, but I keep waiting for those last few pounds to come off to get back to what I think of as my optimum racing weight. Maybe I just have more upper body muscle now. lol

General question, do any of you run 7 days a week? Am I flirting with disaster doing that? I probably average only 1 or 2 days off each month.

If you can replicate what a young man does, so much the better. I could run every day, and several doubles weekly up through age 60. The issue for 60 year olds is the recovery and management of running related stress. Lighter weight provides a big advantage here, and can be addressed through diet and activity.

Same here. I was running about 20 of every 21 days until my early 60s, and then reached a point where there was no easy day running pace that was slow enough to give me good enough recovery for the hard day/easy day regimen I like for training. I then transitioned to brisk walking plus strides for my easy days.

If you're not having overuse or fatigue issues with every day running then no reason to change it.

Ghost of Igloi wrote:

In regards to weight loss, and fasting:

https://www.cnbc.com/2020/09/28/intermittent-fasting-doesnt-help-weight-loss-ucsf-study.html

Over the past 13 months I have dropped 54 pounds via my IF method of choice. CNBC fake news.