50+ Masters Training and Racing Open Forum

Charlie: I’ve noticed my enthusiasm wanes in the “tween years” of age grouping. I’ll be 62 soon and it seems ridiculous I’m sort of treading water ‘til 65.

Allen59: Good week! Yeah, weight, that’s the other 50% of training so many of us have a blind spot for. I ballooned up to 157 from my ideal of 150. However, I’m getting lots of calcium with all the ice crème and cheese I eat! HA!

Tue = 4 miles treadmill with 3 @ 9:05 pace

Thr = 4 miles easy civic center parking lot

Sat = 4 miles AMC parking lot with 3 @ 8:30 pace

Sun = 4 miles easy greenway

It was a good week and I changed it up quite a bit. I am finding the abandoned parking lots, sans human-petri-dishes, to be a welcome escape. The Tue and Sat runs were a bit of a shock to the system after months of plodding, pedantic Maffetone miles.

It felt good to get the blood flowing a bit and test out the various parts. Calves and hips seemed to do OK after 3 months of dormancy.

Have a good one.

fantastic time for having resumed running a month ago. I'd be curious to hear more, if you have time and inclination to write it up, re what type/amount/intensity of cross-training you were doing to stay so fit. When I've had extended periods of cross-training, I usually have the sense that I'm working hard, but upon coming back to running find that I've lost a lot in the meanwhile. Anyway, nice going!

My week was good, notably turning in my grades Friday afternoon.

M 1:00

Tu 1:30 with 5 X 4:30 (3:00 jog) at 5k effort (average 3:54 at 1000 -- a little slower than recent 5k pace, but [excuse alert] very windy

W 1:25

Th 1:10 with drills and strides

F 1:30 double with 20:00 tempo (thru 3 miles in 19:36)

Sa 1:15

Su 1:40

have a great week,

Dave

My best week since pre-Covid times. Total volume was 49.25 Igy miles, paces improving but still pedestrian. If I could keep this up until summer I might get in shape.

Sunday: 60:00 spin bike

Monday: AM- 2 miles easy; (Igloi Intervals) 8 x 150m good speed / 50m easy; 400m easy; 6 x 300m good swing / 100m easy; 400m easy; 8 x 150m good speed / 50 m easy; mile easy; 2 sets free weights; core exercises; PM- 2 miles easy flat trail run

Tuesday: 2,000 yards swimming

Wednesday: AM- 2 miles easy; 7 x 700m critical velocity @ 4:13 average / 100m walk; mile easy; 2 sets free weights; core exercises; PM- 2 miles easy flat trail run; .50 walk

Thursday: 60:00 spin bike

Friday: 2,000 yards swimming

Saturday: 7 miles in Boise Foothills climbed 500+ feet @ 12:12 / mile; .25 walk

Have a good week.

Igy

Charlie, I hope you will continue to chime in periodically with your creative thoughts on training. I also find that my competitive intensity fades after the third year in the age group and then I start looking for events that are more entertainment than serious racing for the last two years of the age group. I got my training volume up a little bit more this week and had a very good trail run yesterday. 36 miles running and 4 paddling this week.

M- 6mi walk with strides

T- 7mi hills 9:40/mi; 2mi paddle

W- 6mi walk with strides; 2mi paddle

Th- 4mi easy run 9:54/mi(but HR was way up indicating fatigue)

F- rest

S- 7mi trails with my son 8:00/mi

Su- 6mi walk

Happy holidays and good running to all!

I owe an update to the thread! I'm at Day 59 post Tenex. Training and recovery is going as well as can be expected. I'm continuing on with the walks, light elliptical and indoor biking. I've started doing my rides in an interval fashion with off/ons and sprints. Though I'm still finding it hard to get my heart rate into the 80-90% zone. My runner legs just aren't made for biking! I ran my first run since Oct 8 last Thursday. Just an easy 5 minutes. There were no adverse side effects from my little jog. My achilles has been nearly 100% pain free most of the time. I no longer limp. I'll continue to run a bit every 2-3 days and add a few minutes to each run. I've been diligent with the weighted heel dips and foam roller.

I received a encouraging message from Vanessa Fraser last week which eased my concerns and gives me a lot of hope I can be a runner again. She ran a 32:09 10k last weekend just 6 months after a double Tenex surgery! She's inspring without knowing it. And my training partner (who knows my running better than I know my running) gave me a nice vote of confidence by saying I'll be back to 90% AG by the Fall. I'm not sure what he based that on since I have nothing to indicate anything right now. But those little messages of encouragement do a lot for the mind games that are going on!

I watched both of Dan Kings races online and chatted with him a bit yesterday. I'm super happy for him as all of his hard work paid off this weekend with two amazing races!

That's it from here. Keep on keeping on...

Dave

Greetings, 50+ers, and Happy Hannukah! Despite the onset of winter cold and snow, it was a gold medal week for me with 20.7 actual running miles. There were some slippery spots which were especially challenging in the dark, but no new boo boos to report. Just more of the same old niggles (emphasis on “old”). The weather forced the return of long pants, but at least the yak trax are still in hibernation. With snow forecast for a couple days this week, they may make their seasonal debut sooner rather than later. Time will tell.

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

Mon: off

Tues: 53’ CR; body wt ex + med ball routine

Wed: walk w/ the bride

Thu: 55’ running (3 runs); 16 oz curls

Fri: off

Sat: 54’ CR w/ utility pole fartlek (5 x 2 on/off); body wt ex + med ball routine

Best to most!

BigMango, welcome back. That’s some fine running and your life style sounds interesting…

Charlie, I hope you’ll stick around. You bring really interesting ideas and perspectives to this forum.

lucKY2b, I hope the holidays will give you a chance to get out a little more. My finals week is next week and I’m also looking forward to a more flexible schedule, although I’ll also have to deal with the barrage of student complaints as department chair, and will need to largely lock myself up in a padded room on Thursday to grade my late Wednesday final exam.

Allen1959, Rtype, dhaaga, Igy, ogII, Olde Farte—nice weeks for all of you! Good to see a bunch of us on the way up, or at least holding steady.

Racerdb, so far so good. Your story is making me inclined to look into this Tenex surgery if I can ever get my autoimmune issues under control.

My new UCSF rheumatologist ordered some different lab tests, and based on my analysis of them (I haven’t discussed it with her yet), it appears I have rheumatoid arthritis! I had rejected RA initially because I have no pain or swelling in the small joints of my feet, hands, or wrists. But apparently when RA starts after age 60 (referred to as “elderly onset”—ugh!) it often presents differently, mainly in the large joints and accompanied by significant muscle pain and stiffness. I’m still skeptical because my problems feel almost entirely muscular and arthritis is supposed to be a joint disease. I’m still supposed to get a bunch of x-rays and MRIs and will meet with the doc in early January, and I’ll see what she thinks.

I felt a little better this week and was able to jog about 38 miles, starting with very short distances and slowly building. I got up to 9.4 miles today but I’ve lost so much leg strength that I can go only a little under 11 min/mile pace. I also put in nearly 3 hours on the bike trainer and 28 miles on the bike outdoors, limited by darkness and rain.

Watched some of the live feed of the Desert Solstice 24-hour race. The winner ran over 150 miles in 24 hours, which I find simply incredible. I must say that 22 hours into the race, most of the people still standing looked even worse than I do 2 miles into a “run”. 24-hour racing is not my idea of anything I’d want to do, even back when I had a functional body.

Good running to all!

41.5 miles. 5 days. Had to take 48 hours off for bloodwork post prostate cancer treatment ( HIFU)..

Here in AZ we can order our own blood tests without doctor orders so I threw in one for cholesterol..

My triglycerides were over 400.

My nutritionist nearly had a heart attack and my GP is probably going to put me on statins.

It’s that darn Edwards Chocolate Pie.

Nearing 2000 miles for the year.

I wish I would have saved all my logs since 1977.

Since I didn’t, I can’t say how many miles I think I’ve run.

I wish I would have thought to keep them all.

REL age 65....dedicated running enthusiast since 1977!

amkelley,

Good luck on all of that. I have thought of you lately on the motivation side. Mainly, perhaps setting a goal to run a half marathon hoping that will scare me enough to train more consistently. Too afraid to commit to that goal, yet. Best to you.

Igy

I'm reporting in after a three week delinquency even though I've been lurking. I don't have any exciting news to report since my Thanksgiving 5k was cancelled three days before the race. Ugh! I was rested and ready to go so I was disappointed but I don't want to mess around with Covid so I support the decision to cancel. At least I got to do one in-person race in 2020.

I've been running about 40 mpw but will be taking a down week over Christmas. The roads that I run on have been icy and sometimes snow covered so I've had to slow down and be careful with my footing. Cold temps and high winds are forecast for next week so I may be doing more riding than normal.

Sun 5.4 Easy + strides

Mon 7.7 Easy (9:36)

Tue 5.1 Easy + strides , 17.6 bike mi (intervals)

Wed off

Thu 10.3 Easy (9:48)

Fri 5.4 Easy + strides, 20.5 bike mi (big ring)

Sat 7.6 Easy

I'm attending a USATF LDR Committee meeting on Thursday evening about the Grand Prix Race Series. Are any of you attending? If not, and you have concerns or questions for the Committee, let me know and I'll bring them up.

Long May You Run!

Another base building week.

Mo 1x800m in 3:15 min, stopped my first threshold run after 800m because I was straining. Pulled myself off and sent back home to refill the glycogen.

Tu 1 h drills and jumps uphill, felt much better

We 7 miles easy, 5x100m accels with slow jog back

Th 7 miles with 10k in 7:40 min/mile

Fr 7 miles easy, 5x100m accels with slow jog back

Sa 7 miles easy with 10x37 sec with slow jog back

Su 1:25 h recovery pace

Had some pep in my legs on Saturday and breathing was good. Fun training. Is it normal for an M50 that I can easily push my pulse over 200 per minute after 6 or 7 of these runs (they are slightly uphill)? I have no HR watch and measure 15 sec with the finger on my throat. I do this rarely. This week I forgot but last week it was 54 after the tenth run. I need some fitness to run quick enough to reach this. No worry, I felt comfortably. My HR can swing up quite high since I can remember and can run fast enough. A couple of 200-300 m quick uphill with jog back results in very high HR peak after the run. Another way to reach this is to run up a mean hill as hard as I can during a fast continous run. Idiotic at 50?

Whishing you a good and healthy week.

Newbi, I'm 71 and I got my HR up to 200 sprinting at the end of a 300' hill climb on my Saturday run. My max HR has been 195-200 since I first started checking HR in my early 40s. I've found that since about age 60 my sustained race pace HR has slowed though, e.g. in my late 40s 5k race HR would be about 182, and now it's usually about 155-160. Last year my GP had me do 24hrs with a Holter heart monitor to check for any heart beat irregularities and everything checked out fine. He said that with no sign of A-fib hitting a high max HR is not a problem.

A satisfying week.

Mon. 20 laps of the dam in the kayak in 49 mins and a 45 min 15 km mountain bike ride. Index shifting playing up (cable issue).

Tue. 3 hillclimbs up Pink Cliffs/Red Edge hill on the road bike. All up 21 kms in 50 mins.

Followed by 5.5 kms of easy trail running, felt sharp so picked it up last 1500m in about 7 mins.

Wed. Hot afternoon hillclimb run up the McHarg Range from the delightfully named Dead Dog Lane. A 3 km/160m climb with a few steep sections.

All up 6.4 kms in 38 mins. One of those runs where you have wings on your feet, last 200 metres in about 45 secs just stretching out.

Rolled through 23 kms on the road bike in 50 mins to finish off my day.

Thu. Easy day. 5.5 km trail run in 30 mins and a 20.5 km road ride in 50 mins. The wind was gusting up to 40 kph. At one stage heading south through town I was riding at only 16 to 18 kph. On the way back I was cruising along at 40 plus kph!!

Fri. Lake Eppalock kayak session. Getting blown about a bit, 52 mins.

Picked up the mtb from the mech and had time to take it out for a spin pre work. Just on flat bike paths and back roads, windy. 19 kms in 53 mins.

Sat. Stopped at the One Eye Forest for a steady 9.4 km trail run in 51 min. A swim in the Campaspe then onto work.

Sun. Same routine but ran 10.4 km in 55 mins

Everyday except Monday I managed to get my little morning routine in. Hike up Roo Hill continue for another 4 to 5 kms stopping to buy the paper. Stopping at the outdoor gym for a couple of minutes doing 9 to 10 different exercises.

I also did an extra 3 km hike up and down Mt Ida's Hard Way track. That climb is rugged 550 metres at close to 30% gradient.

I am lucky to have a much simpler worklife balance than many of you.

'mopac wrote:

A satisfying week.

...

I am lucky to have a much simpler worklife balance than many of you.

That’s not my takeaway from this group, but ymmv.

Decided not to run at all this week but to heal so I can get up from a chair without wincing. A good week to get familiar with my new trainer thingy. My sister who used to own a bike shop kindly went to the rehab shop and picked out a $60 cycle for it. I found a gear that works for both the wife and me. The results....

Monday after the Sunday 5K - 4 mile walk w wife

Tuesday - 60:00 spin, 123bpm avg

Wednesday-4 mi tandem bike, 2 mi walk in the park

Thursday-60:00 spin, 118bpm avg

Friday-60:00 spin, 122bpm avg

Saturday—65:00 spin, 114bpm avg

Sunday—65:00 spin, 132bpm avg

What I’m noticing that’s different about a bike is that some days you have the legs and some days you don’t. Yesterday I just couldn’t get it going. Today I eased into high rpms and just stayed there. Even though it’s the performance bike house brand trainer, I don’t notice the noise. I watch sports highlights and talk shows and the iPad speaker is fine.

It’s true, SCgal, running even 1 race is a gift this year. I should’ve stopped after three. But I share CM’s optimism that come racing season, we will have all the racing we want.

One of the best running weeks in years from a performance and enjoyment. Been at a resort in Sukhothai Thailand running mostly soft dirt trails through spectacular ancient ruins of the Sukhothai Kingdom. Mostly solo runs unless my partner comes along but she is a city girl and the runs always pass through some sketchy areas. She seems to be OK with the snakes but her worm phobia makes it a challenge.

It is flat running and lots of it through long grass which always scares me because of all the dangerous snakes. Bitten this week for the first time. Running a riverside road the size of a bike path, decided to run the edge that bordered long grass that shed on to the shoulder. Nice and soft! Also where the snakes hangout and one decided to strike me in the heel. Would have panicked if I knew exactly what happened. I jumped in the air then proceeded to figure out what just happened. My foot felt fine and only hurt for a fraction of a second, much like an electric shock. I saw only sticks and assumed these poked me. I ran on and gave it little thought.

Woke up at 1 am that night and my foot was throbbing. Went to the bathroom and for a closer look. Two tiny bite marks a quarter inch apart and the swelling and pain was directly under the marks. Proceeded to cut the area with a razor blade and nothing happened except bleeding. Then I googled snake bites and it seems this is not recommended. Oh well, went back to sleep and my foot didn’t get worse over the next few days and now six days later only thing left is a hard spot under the bite and only slightly tender.

As for my training, best week since tweaking my knee 5 months ago. All the hard x-training seems to have kept the fitness. As usual, it takes a few weeks and a lot of doubts before the speed comes but it always comes back. Someday it inevitably won’t but been fortunate.

Monday- My new do nothing productive day. ⅕ of rum, donuts and staring at the PC screen. Have a patio at resort (not resort as in fancy but it is the name they give these type of hotels) with huge fish and giant 5 foot lizard like thing that roams the edge and and wades into the water on occasion.

Tuesday - Great workout! 2.75 miles 5.33 pace and the last mile 5.24. Put on some heavier trainers and ran 5k 5.58 pace. PM-walk on my mini treadmill brought in the camper. Probably at 15%+. It doesn’t have an incline adjuster. Just put the front end on a curb.

Wednesday-Incline treadmill walk -1 hour in morning and evening

Thursday- Same as above

Friday - Intervals on treadmill at 17% incline and around 10 mph. 2:00x7 then some shorter stuff but 1 speed level higher. 22 minutes total of intervals. My tiny treadmill doesn’t have speeds just levels that as far as I can tell mean very little. Higher levels are slightly harder - go figure. You don’t get much for $150 but it is perfect for traveling. 30 min slow jog in evening.

Saturday- 1 hr inline walk. PM -1 hr very slow jog in Sukhothai Park with Tuk and she was able to hang. She isn’t far from 60 and would be a great runner in her AG. She would rather run sometimes and do Yoga all the time.

Sunday - mostly just recovered from a fun night. Managed a slow 1 hour incline walk.

Great week and nice reading everybody's running stories and other stories.

Thank you very much OGII.

I hope my comment wasn't taken as some form of criticsm. It is just that I realise I have a pretty easy life in many ways and can find plenty of time to do what I want to do. This wan't always the way. Working on regional medical transport while my wife studied I often worked several 15 plus hour days per week.

Currently racing is almost back to normal here, 7 weeks now without a new covid case. I hope to get to a few races in the new year. My racing plans usually start around March and April. This year I might have a serious crack at our Saturday afternoon forest 1500s.

I typically run the 5 to 10 km races on Saturdays but I feel it might be time to sharpen up. Race the short one on Saturday and then the longer one on Sunday morning. Last year my best races were a Sat/Sunday 8 km double but at 61 I am thinking doubling like that might be getting a bit tough.

"I hope my comment wasn't taken as some form of criticsm."

No, it is humble to let others know you have a slight advantage. I retired at 40, far from wealthy, and never have to worry about getting to run. At times, this is a disadvantage but as a whole greatly reduces the stress of competitive running.

You seem to still be able run lots of miles and lay down great times. Congrats!

@ Dhaaaga,

I'm a top heavy runner and have regularly lifted for 30 years. My skinny legs can't handle the weight of traditional training. Started running at 42 or 41. Within a year was able to run around 34:00 for a 10k (Few GPS watches in Thailand at the time ). Then the injuries started and didn't let up. A year later I gave up running and jumped on a bike.

The cycling here is incredible but also extremely dangerous. Love speed and owned many of the downhills on Strava ( ego issues ) on some of scariest downhill in the world. After the last serious accident and 3 weeks in the ICU, realized I was too stupid to be on a bike.

My lungs were a mess and hurt for years but I was determined. I could not run consistently after the accident. Hurt too much and had these odd leg cramps that started sometimes minutes into a run. Started doing workouts on the elliptical which is difficult, at least for me. To hit the same heart rate on the elliptical is no fun. I tired of this and moved on to 15% incline runs at 3.5 mph on easy days and 8 mph for TH workouts.

I can ramble on - sorry. I'll try to answer your question. On an average week if injured or recovering, the exercise volume was the same as when healthy but no real running. 2 easy hours on the elliptical, 8 hours walk/runs around 70% of maxHR at steep inclines below 6 mph, and 90 minutes of intense incline sessions ( 2 or 3 session per week)

To do the above, a little imagination is needed. Could never do this in my garage. Had 5 gyms to choose from and some with incredible scenery. Two were over busy night markets and another had spectacular ocean views. Downloaded all the TDF races since 1986 and other sporting events. Sometimes was so into the races I would fall off the treadmill.

The run you are referring to was an aberration. Ran about 10k today at 6:08 (35 sec slower) pace and it was difficult. Also, shorter runs are much easier because of the heat/humidity in Thailand. That workout might look like I'm in sub 35 10k shape but I'm not close.

Funny thing is, if you copied my routine, you would probably be slower. I definitely can't run 50+ miles like yourself and you are an old man .