50+ Masters Training and Racing Open Forum

Total numbers for 2020 were a total of 813 miles run (mostly in short intervals of 0.1 to 1.0 miles at a time, mixed in with a total of 1881 miles walked, just a few hours on a stationary bike (an old Schwinn Airdyne), and usually 2 upper body weight workouts weekly (sometimes only once weekly, but that was rare). The total run and walk mileage gave me the ability to actually lose weight and keep me saner during this COVID danger and T****-based craziness.

Age 69 and 1/2, feeling pretty good, though building running mieage is a challenge again as my legs feel a bit more sore of late, so must be careful to not pull something. Had my hamstring knot up on me last week, now my lower calves are sore from wearing some trail Newtons d/t rainy and snowy days of late. Blessed to be still moving and able to do that with my wife.

Still have a goal of a sub 8 mile on the track after my 70th birthday in May, and maybe a 1/2 marathon in October.

Robert E . Lee wrote:

2020: 2000 miles on the nose. 13 weeks over 50 miles a week. 20 runs over 10 miles.

Nothing much else. Could not get myself to race. Sheer arrogance I guess. 40 years ago I could not have imagined an 8 minute race pace. T

Fairly similar but a little higher mileage. 64 y/o

2862 total miles with every week over 55 miles except the first week after a 1/2 marathon in February when I tweaked a hamstring - that was 45 on the nose.

Mostly 8:00 -8:15s but with 15% at 5Km race pace effort (broken up into intervals, tempo, fartleks, rare 2020 races etc.)

Just want to safe, healthy and hopefully get a couple races in 2021.

Last week was 54 miles - with some icy snowy days although at least it was near 30 degrees.

This morning I ran with the 21 year old son of a friend for 6 miles. He is a D-2 college runner so it was interesting, but it took it easy on me, so it wasn't too bad. Although I will concede, I did a lot more listening than talking - lol! 20 years ago, back when his dad was still racing and we trained together, I remember pushing him and is slightly older brother in a double baby jogger. Kind of crazy to run with him now.

Hey everyone,

I know I have not posted on here in months... I just get so swamped at work (academia like many of you on here). I figured I'd make the time because I was pretty excited about the 5k I ran this morning. For a memory jog, I never ran most of my life, I started running several years ago with my son when he was running in middle school. He is now a Sophomore in H.S. and way too fast for me (he ran a 16:19 5k this past cross country season). Anyway, two weeks ago I ran a tough 5k and had a 20:30... I have been stuck in the low to mid-20s for over a year... my son said the course was awful and that on a good course with good pacing, he thought I could do better. So, this morning, the boys on his high school team (I run with them a lot) decided to run the 5k as a moderate tempo run and they were going to make me break 20:00. I literally ran inside their drafting triangle... They kept me at a strict 4:00/k pace.... near the end, I then had a pretty good kick for me and crushed my prior 20:06 PR with a 19:45!!!! It sure is good to run with young ones!!!

Congratulations Mkarver! Thanks for sharing your story. We all can appreciate how great you must feel. What a nice group of guys to help you achieve your goal. Would they be willing to do pacing for the rest of us? ;-)

Awesome!

*Week 502*

Greetings, 50+ers! Well, so far the trial version of 2021 hasn't been any better than 2020. Sheesh! Hopefully the paid version will be better.

Nice to read your mileage totals from 2020. Good stuff. Obviously, I've got little to offer (760 miles of mostly walking), but remain ever hopeful for this coming year. The week started off well, but by Thursday I was just tired. Not sure why, I guess all those days in a row, or maybe just ramping back into work, or maybe being fixated on the recent pandemonium...who knows. The regular semester starts tomorrow, hopefully, I can get into a routine.

Congrats to MKarver! Awesome to crank out a PR! Your son is also pretty zippy!

Really appreciate people relaying their experiences with surgery, vaccines, etc..

OK, I've got to get back to working on my Blackboard shells so they are available for students in the morning. Have a great week, everyone! Keep up the good work!

All the Best!

Mon. 67 min kayak on the river.

Tue. 2 hr mtn bike ride.

Wed. 90 min run with 3 x up the "Scar" a 900 m long hill. All up11 km with 650 m elevation gain.

Thu. 48 min kayak and a 45 min mtn bike ride.

Fri. 45 min road ride with 2 x 2 km climbs.

Sat. 67 min run 11.2 kms on quite a bit of soft sandy trails.

Sun. 35 min mtn bike ride then 5 kms easy run and a 20 min ride home.

A good start to the week training wise. We went away on Friday morning returning late Sunday afternoon.

We did a couple of hikes on Friday inc a steep 3.5 km climb.

On Saturday we did a pretty rugged 10 km of hiking in temps of 35 deg C. I was a bit weary on the evening run.

This evening was just a gentle bit of cycling and running to get a few more kms in the legs.

2021 has started off OK here (touch wood) as hoped we are back to zero local cases in Vic. and I think there was only 1 new one Australia wide.

School holidays here for the next few weeks and with OS travel restrictions local tourism is going gangbusters.

Nice mckarver, good feeling I am sure.

Cases in Idaho have taken a dip, but still running 1,000+ a day; twice that at the high. The moderate weather and school holiday closures probably helped. As for last week’s training, I needed a couple of rest days, then moved back on schedule by the end of the week. I also dropped the weights and core exercises. I reduced the volume 25-30%. Hoping to notch up volume up and get back in the gym this week.

Sunday: Mile easy/walk + 60:00 spin + mile easy/walk

Monday: 2 miles easy; 6 x 200m good speed / 100m easy; 400m easy; 6 x 450m good swing / 200m easy; 400m easy; 6 x 200m good speed / 100m easy; 400m easy

Tuesday: 2 mile walk

Wednesday: 2 mile walk

Thursday: 60:00 spin

Friday: Mile easy/walk + 2,000 yard swim

Saturday: 9 miles @ 10:53/mile + 1.25 mile easy walk

Have a good week.

Igy

Mkarver, congratulations! 19:xx always seems so much better than 20:00, and it sounds like your son is doing really well with his running.

I had to dial back my training a little this week as the cumulative effects of the prior week caught up with me. After my Wednesday workout I had some left hamstring soreness. Thursday I could run but decreased the mileage and slowed down. Friday I took a day off. Yesterday's run I still had some soreness and also shortened by a mile and slowed down. This morning I did just an hour on the bike instead of two hours and didn't feel any hamstring issues on the ride. 30 miles running and 17 miles on the bike for the week.

M- 7mi with 1mi w.u., 6x1000 (~8:00/mi pace) with 600 walk recovery

T- 7mi with 1mi w.u., 6x1000 (~8:00/mi pace) with 600 walk recovery

W- 6mi with 1mi w.u., 16x200 (~6:20/mi pace) with 200 walk recovery, 1mi w.d.; PM 7mi bike

Th- 4mi with 1mi w.u., 3x1000 (~8:00/mi pace) with 600 walk recovery

F- rest

S- 6mi trails with my son 8:51/mi

Su- 10mi (1 hr) hilly bike

Healthy running to all!

lucKY2b, I’ve got to agree with your assessment of 2021 so far. Hopefully “2020” will be a bit like “the 60s”, which actually ran from about 1963 to 1972.

Mkarver, congrats on breaking that 20 minute barrier with a little help from some friends!

I had my in-person appointment with my UCSF rheumatologist. She is pretty sure that I do have rheumatoid arthritis based on a very specific blood test, even though my symptoms are atypical. This is all very discouraging given that generally an RA diagnosis means a lifetime of chronic illness. I remain not totally convinced of the diagnosis, since my problems just don’t seem to be in my joints, but in my muscles. But for the time being I’m going with her diagnosis and starting the appropriate drugs.

I didn’t even ask whether I should keep trying to run. Running hasn’t felt good in ten months, but mostly it doesn’t hurt; I just have no leg strength and no stride length, and can just shuffle along at a slow jog, but I can still keep going for a long time. This week I shuffled through 42 miles in four days, with the other three days on the bike trainer. I suppose I’ll keep trying to do some running, but I’m starting to ask myself what is the point.

Wishing everyone a belated happy new year and healthy running.

Greetings, 50+ers! After writing last week about being cautious while increasing my weekly volume, we were hit with some weather early this week that forced me into a mini break. So I happily accepted the brief time-out before getting back at it for 15+ miles of actual running. That included running yesterday between the snow flakes, but it was quite light and not much of a challenge (though the wind was another story ?). Also Thursday’s workout 5k was rather zippy, so I guess the rest helped improve my quality too. The forecast for the coming week looks good, so I’ll see what kind of volume I can muster. Life is good!

Sun-Mon: off

Tues: 50’ CR; body wt ex + med ball routine

Wed: off

Thurs: 51’ running (3 runs); 16 oz curls

Fri: walk w/ the bride

Sat: 51’ CR; body wt ex

Best to most!

2020 Totals: 1472 mi running, 3510 mi biking, 81 mi swimming

Last week: 30 mi running, 95 mi biking, 0 mi swimming

We arrived home from Chicago last Saturday and I feel like I'm in another country. People eat in restaurants, attend church, and have parties without masks as if Covid doesn't exist. No wonder my county has a positivity index above 30% and has the highest rate of infection in cities its size in the country.

I had thought about doing a few in-person races in February until I learned the Covid-approved precautions consist of corrals of 250 people. Really? What are they thinking?

My college will holding in-person classes for spring semester starting at the end of January. I've decided to teach all of my classes online. I'm the department chair so I can pretty much do what I want. I'm planning on retiring in 2022 anyway so they would do me a favor if they fired me. I'm not going to take the risk of being in a classroom for 3 hours straight with college students who think Covid is a hoax. Hope you all are living in a place where sanity prevails.

Long May You Run!

LucKY: Drats, I came in second to you on miles last year with 814. This is like golf, right, low number wins?

Mkarver: Congrats! Very nice.

Amkelley: I agree, it does not sound like RA. I had an old running friend who had Juvenile RA. Interestingly, she was a fantastic ultra runner. Her muscles were very strong but her bones literally deteriorated everywhere, even her skull. There are so many possible alternative DX’s, I know it is frustrating. How about Lyme?

‘mopac: Escaping the US is sounding more inviting. My childhood friend owns several businesses in Costa Rica and is encouraging me to move there. Few know the mountain trails in CR are fantastic….Hum...retirement only a year away now…..

Tue = 4 miles with 3 @ 9:24 (9:26, 9:23, 9:24)

Thr = 4 miles with 3 @ 9:18 (9:20, 9:19, 9:16)

Sat = 4 miles with 3 @ 8:37 (8:36, 8:34, 8:49)

Sun = 4 miles with 3 @ 9:28 (9:25, 9:29, 9:31)

Very good week of running. Working on finding that ‘Goldilocks zone’ somewhere in the middle-effort range.

Have a good one.

M50

Mo 8.5 miles easy incl. 6x350m with 50 m jog

Tu 1 h drills & bounds & jumps uphill

We 4 miles medium pace, 6 x100 m buildups with 20-30m submax speed and slow jog back

Th 7 miles recovery, legs were dead (ouch)

Fr 7 miles easy, 6x100 buildups with slow jog back

Sa 7 miles easy including 10x200m on dirt with slow jog back

Su 1:20 h easy in hilly area

Take care

Congrats, Mkarver

SCgal wrote:

I'm planning on retiring in 2022 anyway so they would do me a favor if they fired me.

2022, you're a short-timer. Glad you're in a position to adhere to your best judgment on the working conditions this year. I'm estimating May 2029 for retirement and already sometimes feel like "do I really want to start this project/admit a new grad student/write this proposal....?" Must work on motivation.

....as to running, I balanced out Old guy II's left hamstring issue with my own right hamstring issue [chronic, but exacerbated this week] -- with 20-20 hindsight I should have considered Weds. stress test a hard day and cancelled Thurs. workout:

M 1:10

Tu 1:15

W 40:00 incl. stress test at cardiologist (tapped out a short time after it got to 5.0 mph at 18% incline on treadmill -- breathing thru mask didn't help, but mainly I'm just not used to that steep a hill)

Th 1:30 with 10 X 3:00 (2:00) at 5k effort, more like 10-mile pace (thru 4.5 miles in 28:57)

F 2:10 double

Sa 1:40

Su 2:45 picking it up some in last 40 mins. -- muddy trails of unknown distance, likely slower than marathon pace. Tired from staying up late watching end of WFT season -- too bad, but they played decently and just lost to a better team.

Have a good week,

Dave

M61, 5'11", 183 lbs

Good news is that I seem to be back to my baseline level of pain and discomfort. The recent additional issues with knee and ankle have largely passed.

Baseline means knee pain still wakes me at night, I still climb stairs on all fours, and, descending, I still negotiate each tread with both feet.

But even after going months without running, there was little improvement. So, why not run?!

I do need to be patient before increasing the length of runs. I was doing ok with 7-milers once a week, but introducing 10-milers coincided with the recent afflictions.

The holiday weight gain probably didn't help!

JANUARY 3-9, 2021

Sun - 5.0 miles @ 9:17/mi

Mon - Off

Tues - Off

Wed - 5.0 miles @ 9:05/mi

Thur - Off

Fri -- Off

Sat -- 5.0 miles @ 9:19/mi

TOTAL -- 15.0 MILES

Here's to better days ahead! Be well, friends.

SCgal wrote:

My college will holding in-person classes for spring semester starting at the end of January. I've decided to teach all of my classes online. I'm the department chair so I can pretty much do what I want. I'm planning on retiring in 2022 anyway so they would do me a favor if they fired me. I'm not going to take the risk of being in a classroom for 3 hours straight with college students who think Covid is a hoax. Hope you all are living in a place where sanity prevails.

Long May You Run!

Like your decision.

It is funny to see a lot of "bosses" are running desperatively into the empty office and claiming only face to face meetings are efficient. In the meantime, my network and myself are aligning from home office and doing the work. We are saving a lot of time in idiotic air travel, too. The "bosses" should accept that their control is not needed. Either they can facilitate good working conditions for my network or they are useless for the progress such as making a product better. Bitter pill for most "bosses" to swallow but Covid proves "bosses" have to serve or are detrimental in a motivated environment. For me, Covid is improving the working conditions.

Rtype wrote:

There are so many possible alternative DX’s, I know it is frustrating. How about Lyme?

I briefly considered Lyme disease, which can cause a wide range of symptoms partially overlapping mine. I pretty much rejected it because (1) I never had anything resembling a bullseye rash (I know, not everyone with Lyme gets the rash); (2) Lyme disease is not prevalent in my immediate area, and (3) this all started in March, when it had been many months since I had been in a wooded or even brushy area remotely close to any deer. I might have considered it more seriously had it started sometime between June and November, when I had been doing lots of hiking and backpacking in forested mountains.

Perhaps I'll suggest this to my rheumatologist anyway, and see what she thinks.