50+ Masters Training and Racing Open Forum

65 yrs old. Runner since 1977. Prostate cancer 2019.

Colectomy.

40.2 miles in six days. One tempo run. 1773 miles for the year.

Based on tempo run, I’m right on schedule to DNS turkey day race ha

If you would have told me in 82 or 83 that I would run as slow as I do today, I would not have believed you.

I heard the stories about running as you get older, but I didn’t fully get it ha

I still like training though and will try to show up someday to a race.

Greetings, 50+ers and happy Thanksgiving week to most of you! This was in imperfect running week for me as I took one extra day off to accommodate a sore calf that developed after Tuesday’s run. I think I jinxed myself last Sunday with my enthusiastic optimism. ?. Anyway the extra rest seems to have done the trick as yesterday’s run went off without a hitch. And I still got in 15 miles of actual running for the week.

It’s no surprise that the local Turkey trot is being done virtually. I’m waiting to see if my run club has anything planned. Depending on how my schedule unfolds, I will likely either get in an early run or stay home and play with my granddaughter. Our jurisdiction is limited to 10 people for inside gatherings and those coming from afar must provide proof of a recent negative Covid test. We are hopeful that those expected to attend will be able to.

Sun: 52’ CR; body wt ex + med ball routine

Mon: off

Tue: 52’ CR w/ utility pole fartlek (5 x 2 on/off); body wt ex + med ball routine

Wed-Fri: off

Sat: 51’ CR; body wt ex + med ball routine

Best to most! ?

M61, 5'11", 174 lbs

NOVEMBER 15-21, 2020

Sunday-Friday: Off

Saturday: 7.7 miles @ 8:26/mi (8:50, 8:37, 8:42 ... 8:27, 7:30).

This was the fourth, and hopefully, the last of my one-run weeks; I should be back to three this coming week.

I was relieved to average 8:26-pace yesterday. Last week I was afraid my fitness had fallen precipitously after averaging only 9:14 on the same loop, with no sub-9 miles at all. But apparently I was fatigued from hand-splitting and stacking firewood for six hours immediately before that run.

A month ago I ran 12 miles at 7:48/mile. We'll see how long it takes to get back to that level. I'm guessing six weeks.

Mon. 49 min kayak.

Tue. 8 km forest run 44 min.

Wed. 97 min mountain bike.

Thu. 40 min mountain bike and 8 km forest run in 42 min.

Fri. 27 min mountain bike. 92 min road bike blowing a gale. I sailed north through town on flat roads at 45 kph. Returned the same way at 13 kph!!

Sat. 49 min kayak and 8 km hill run in 55 mins.

Sun. 10 km social run 55 mins and 1 km barefoot striding on the grass in 4.23.

A bit of a "squeeze it in when you can" week for me.

I am hoping for a more organised week and some longer runs this week.

It's 7 am here and my plan was to do a quick hike up the 15% hill then a 4 km walk with a stop each way at the outdoor gym and do 8 to 10 exercises. My normal morning routine if not on a morning shift.

A kayak session later on the way into work. And probably a short 10 to 15 km spin on the bike sometime during the morning. Only problem is cuurently being hammered by a massive thunderstorm and torrential rain. Hopefully that breaks up soon.

Today we are allowed no masks outside, also most state borders will open. SA will remain shut a bit longer after a biosecurity breach at returned OS travellers quarantine. Yesterday was 23 days with no cases in my State. Apart from quarantined returned OS travellers and the cluster of 26 in SA no other cases in Australia for weeks. With our vaccine (not the tricky Pfizer one) on track for early 2021 things are looking promising.

KC - I'll give that a look, I'm sort of done with racing for 2020 but that's a cool sweatshirt and looks to be a good cause!

41.5 for the week, with a tune-up on the track Tuesday (2X 800, 600, 200 at progressively faster paces) and cut back through Friday.

We had USATF 5K road champs (XC was also scheduled for this month but that got canceled) on Saturday.

As with the other 5Ks they had wave starts of 25 and they put all the USATF entered runners into single men's an women's waves of 20-25 runners.

We went first, women 2 minutes later. Most in my wave were fairly fast (some pro runners up front), so us old guys got gapped quickly, and I ran most of the way alone in no man's land, and got gapped by 50-100 meters by the mile. Took the first couple hundred meters too fast but settled in. One young guy passed me at just before 2 miles and I couldn't match his pace.

With about a half mile to go the top woman (top 6 at the USA Olympic trials marathon last Feb.) went flying by and I picked up my pace, while trying not to puke. Two more women ran by before the finish but I was better able to latch onto their pace. Split the 5K in 18:44 (course a little long because they moved the start back about 50 m), and officially 18:55. 1st in age, 5th masters and new age group course record, and 1st age graded. Fastest 5K of the year but a ways off from recent years, when I was on a roll.

Time to take it easy for a couple or few weeks and get in some xc skiing.

Hope all y'all have a happy thanksgiving and are as lucky as me to have run a 5k Turkey Trot yesterday here in Cartersville - a terrific running and walking community. It was a perfect day to run one's best. Mine was a mini-breakthrough as I've been healthy for six consistent weeks and therefore was able to train like Pete Magill and win the M60 age group and Turkey with a 19:35.

I'll take it,

KP

racerdb, I continue to follow your Tenex procedure recovery with great interest. Regarding the bike, my husband the bike racer keeps telling me it’s all about getting the cadence up, but I just can’t. Out on the road, the only way I can increase my cadence is by gearing down to the point where I’m just spinning unproductively and hardly moving down the road at all, and the only way for me to generate any speed is to go to a stiffer gear and slow the cadence. I was just not meant to ride a bike, I think.

dhaaga, interesting point about Zoom eliminating the problem with attaching names to faces. I am absolutely the worst person in the world for remembering what people look like. I survive at conferences only because people usually wear name tags and my distance vision is good, so I can usually read their badge before I get within speaking distance.

Guess, I’ve been dealing with a usually mild Norton’s neuroma for about 15 years. It is definitely highly shoe-dependent, but I’ve never been able to connect it to the width of the shoe—some shoes with really wide toe boxes are totally unwearable because of how much they hurt my neuroma, while other shoes with fairly standard toe boxes give me no trouble.

Newbi, nice week indeed!

KCgeezer, good luck on the 5K—both having it happen and running well.

Coyote, that’s a fine 5K and I enjoyed your race report!

KPdx, congrats on the Turkey Trot also.

This week was even worse for my heel than last week. I kept taking days off but it wouldn’t get better. I did get in some decent outdoor cycling over the weekend, when I had time to wait until it got warm enough to go out. But only 21 miles of running for the week.

Mon: 75 minutes on bike trainer.

Tues: 10.4 mile run.

Weds: 75 minutes on trainer, 10 mile outdoor ride on hills.

Thurs: 11.0 mile run, but heel was quite sore.

Fri: 75 minutes on bike trainer.

Sat: 35 miles on bike outdoors. One of my usual roads is closed for construction for a couple of weeks and the alternate route is really rough—nearly shook my teeth out of my head. Ouch.

Sun: 32 miles on bike, using a different route to get around the rough stuff.

COVID-19 is blowing up again in my area. My husband and I had discussed re-joining our gym but decided against it, figuring it would shut down again soon. Good call—they did close the gyms, and that gym is now listed as a center of a COVID outbreak.

Stay healthy, everyone. With multiple vaccines appearing to be highly effective, this should be mostly over in six months or so(?).

CM,KP Congrats on the 5ks

DH nice 2x10

ALLEN nice to see you had not lost a lot

RDB 21 for 40 minutes in my book is flying glad your tenex is still looking good

After no running last week I ran 6 out 7 days about 3 miles a day doing the reactivity loop but I decided to slow some of the running down really enjoying these runs which seems to be where I am headed more fun less work most of the time.

I have slacked on my hard stuff and felt it today went to the track out of curiosity and ran a hardish 1600 in 5:56(87,89,90,88) . I might start doing this a few times a month kinda like the mile version of a cv run.

Here is to a safe effective vaccine for 2021!

Great Race C - that is flying - Looks like racing here may be done until who knows when in 2021.

Michigan is again quasi - locked down again with 'organized sporting events" (with very very limited exceptions) and groups of over 25 prohibited until at least December third.

As a result the 100 person 10km time trial set for Thanksgiving morning north of Ann Arbor (out in the middle of almost nowhere) has been cancelled. The race director is a super organized and careful guy, but chose to error on the side of caution and cancelled. The plan was like the 1/2 marathon TT on Halloween. Four waves of 25 separated 15 minutes apart. - 6 x 4 persons (+1) socially distanced starting a 10 second intervals, no showing up more than 15 minutes before your scheduled time, no hanging around afterwards, and a mask on required right up until your start time.

So I decided to back off intensity of training this week. Still had 50 miles over seven days, but just a couple days of harder miles. We got a good does of cold and measurable snow this morning, so I may have seen my last 'shorts' run for the year.

Backing down to 50 mpw and using a general rule of two easy days between hard efforts has left me feeling a lot more springy and basically as healthy as I felt 15 years ago.

Hope al lhere have a safe and uneventful Thanksgiving!

dhaaga wrote:

When we go back to in-person meetings/classes, I'm going to ask everyone to carry around a little white board with their name in big letters and hold it in front of them while we talk.

Several years ago, our school started providing the "photo roster" for every class we teach. The problem is that some students do not look what they look in the ID photo. So the first few weeks have to be spent on matching the ID photos and the actual faces in the classroom. Once that's done, I just look at the photo roster at the beginning of each session and figure out who is in the room. There was additional challenge this semester because everyone was wearing a mask. That made it harder to identify faces.

Anyway, I just had the last "in class" sessions today. Our case numbers stayed remarkably steady although the number in the community has been soaring. Who said college students are irresponsible? They have done a better job than older adults if those numbers are correct.

My week.

M: off.

T-SA: 10.7km.

SU: 12.5km. (9:56-9:47-9:35-9:25-9:11-9;05-8:36)

Sunday's "long" run was slightly slower than last week, but that's okay, since I was running more volume. It was actually a bit faster than I expected. Now two more weeks of build-up before the next cut back.

Charlie wrote:... went to the track out of curiosity and ran a hardish 1600 in 5:56(87,89,90,88)

Very nice "hardish" run. Before I breathe my last, I'm hoping to match that in an "all-out" run. Haha. Gonna have to do better than today, though. Late afternoon scheduled time for 4 miles, then sat on the sofa, then put my feet up, then fell asleep. Woke up, too dark, went back to work.

Allen1959 wrote:

Charlie wrote:... went to the track out of curiosity and ran a hardish 1600 in 5:56(87,89,90,88)

Very nice "hardish" run. Before I breathe my last, I'm hoping to match that in an "all-out" run. Haha. Gonna have to do better than today, though. Late afternoon scheduled time for 4 miles, then sat on the sofa, then put my feet up, then fell asleep. Woke up, too dark, went back to work.

Allen , sub 6 after 60 is a great goal and I will enjoy following your efforts.

On the limited running I had some success with running once every 3 days when 2 months shy of 50 ran a disappointing 5000 in 16:45. It was a great race though . Portland Masters at Mt. Hood 2006. I was third in my age group;) Chuck Coates won the 45-49 in 16:09 . About two months prior I had gotten my weekly cv 5000 below 17 and was really shooting for a sub 16 once I turned 50 later that year. And that is the problem with setting the bar too high. I ignored the early warning signs of pf and just kept pushing because I had built up so much fitness. Of course the course ran its course workouts went south pf got worse and by race time it was all I could do to hit my old workout time. Just something to consider.

Charlie wrote:

... was really shooting for a sub 16 once I turned 50 later that year. And that is the problem with setting the bar too high. I ignored the early warning signs of pf and just kept pushing because I had built up so much fitness.

Two important points there -- good advice regarding goals, ambitions and injuries,. AND a reminder to avoid goal-setting based on more gifted competitors' results.

I never broke 16 even as a youth, and didn't break 17 as a masters runner. Only went under 19 once in my 50s -- 18:58 at age 57.

In any case, my knee condition limits running to probably three days per week, so hopefully the rest of the drive train will never be over-stressed, ha!

Charlie, Portland Masters 2005 was my first track race since 1976. I ran the 10,000m on Saturday, and 5,000m on Sunday. Oh, to be young again.

Igy

Allen you also ran a fine 5:3x at 57 correct?

IMO it is easier to run a good mile off low miles than 5k so I think you have set an excellent goal given your constraints.

Igy Yeah back then the masters track meets were GREAT! Watching Hayward Classic is what got me fired up at age 42. 1888 er 1998;)

Well I am running at the keyboard today but hey this tread needs some activity

Allen1959 wrote:

In any case, my knee condition limits running to probably three days per week, so hopefully the rest of the drive train will never be over-stressed, ha!

Poe wrote

"but the noise arose over all and continually increased. It grew louder --louder --louder!"

the noise of decrepitude a noise we all must deal with eventually

My neighbor is 95. For 95 she does well . But without a hint of sadness or despair, she said she was ready to go.

The appetite for life is never satiated , but it is life's menu that changes.

This is where physical fitness can keep the joy in living a not so secret weapon .

Bill Lauderback setting a WR in the mile at Hayward 2008. The finish is pretty cool

Bill Lauderback made it to 99. He ran a 10:52.98 WR mile at 91. That was the last race result I could find for him. BTW the old record was 10:54 set by him.

Charlie wrote:

Allen you also ran a fine 5:3x at 57 correct?

IMO it is easier to run a good mile off low miles than 5k so I think you have set an excellent goal given your constraints.

Igy Yeah back then the masters track meets were GREAT! Watching Hayward Classic is what got me fired up at age 42. 1888 er 1998;)

Charlie,

Baring unforeseen circumstances, if they host Portland and Hayward I’ll make the journey.

Igy

I have mentioned my clubmate Johnny J before. Well at 83 or 84 it looks like his days of sub 7 min miling might be over. He did run a 3.31 800 on the weekend though so he still is going ok. For him training is now mostly maintenance. A couple of runs during the week, usually 4 laps on the grass track, a few strides then a few fast 150s and a 300. Finish with a couple of easy laps.. A short race on the grass track within the veilodrome on a thursday night. Interclub on the synthetic track on saturday arvo. Keeps him looking pretty good for a bloke of his vintage.

Amazing actually (3:31).