50+ Masters Training and Racing Open Forum

just something short and sweet: I had a time trial yesterday in my powerwalk event, and my time would have put me in the top 3 in my age group at the 2019 National Sr Games. Continuing to make great progress, even as we swelter here in the desert with our usual blistering heat. 107 today, but by Wednesday we'll drop down to "only" 99.

Hope everyone has a great week!

Late June in the Mid-South:

Monday, hot/humid-80:00 on the ‘mill

Tuesday, cool/dry-easy tempo at HMP

Wednesday, cool/dry-easy 6 turned into easy 9

Thursday, sorta cool/sultry-5x1000/400

Friday, not cool/humid-6 easy

Saturday, hot, humid, high dew point-19 slow to slower

Sunday, hot, hot, dry-walk with wife

I had an interesting week….

1) Bought a pair of endorphin pros (don’t laugh)

2) Ran a 46:28 10K road race

3) Ran 61 miles

4) Had an echocardiogram to monitor my chronic AR. BAD NEWS. My moderate AR is now bordering on severe and my LVESD has gone from 34 mm to 39 mm. Still have a preserved EF at 70-75%. Are my LV volumes up from running or worsening AR? If it’s the latter, I’m going to getting a new valve within the next year or two. Any cardiologists on this thread? Lots of debate on the role of intense exercise in worsening valvular heart disease. I’m so sad.

dhaaga, that's a good point with the age -2 hours. I did it at 59 but that's the only other time.

16.5 recovery miles (4 days), and 8.5 mile hike mountain hike this week (at 11,000 feet). Planning on 45-50 next week if all goes well, but not going to push it.

Wise Old Man wrote:

I had an interesting week….

1) Bought a pair of endorphin pros (don’t laugh)

2) Ran a 46:28 10K road race

3) Ran 61 miles

4) Had an echocardiogram to monitor my chronic AR. BAD NEWS. My moderate AR is now bordering on severe and my LVESD has gone from 34 mm to 39 mm. Still have a preserved EF at 70-75%. Are my LV volumes up from running or worsening AR? If it’s the latter, I’m going to getting a new valve within the next year or two. Any cardiologists on this thread? Lots of debate on the role of intense exercise in worsening valvular heart disease. I’m so sad.

Sorry to hear that. I do have three close friends I would put into the category of compulsive intense exercisers. All have had to moderate their activity level to what one described as the hobby jogger category. No advice to give, other than I think it has been established that there is a link. I believe my own lymphoma diagnosis was the results of high intensity and and large volume exercise at a young age.

Greetings, fellow 50+ers! A happy belated summer solstice to all. We’ve had tropical humidity of late and now the temps are threatening another heat wave. Welcome to summer!

I feel fortunate to have recorded another week with just over 20 miles of actual running including a couple of “speed” session and my first 60+’ run in a few weeks. The coming week may not be as productive with a forecasted heat wave, not to mention another road trip for family obligations.

Sun: off

Mon: 57’ CR; body wt ex + med ball routine

Tue: off

Wed: 62’ CR w/ utility pole fartlek (5 x 2 on/off); body wt ex + med ball routine

Thu: 39’ running (2); 16 oz curls

Fri: off

Sat: 53’ CR w/ utility pole fartlek (5 x 2 on/off); body wt ex + med ball routine

Best to most!

Thanks for your input. Just really getting back into it. I’m only 15 minutes off my 10K pr now! I’m going to keep at it, and if I need a new aortic valve, then I’ll build back better after my operation. What else can I do….

Wise Old Man wrote:

Ghost of Igloi wrote:

Sorry to hear that. I do have three close friends I would put into the category of compulsive intense exercisers. All have had to moderate their activity level to what one described as the hobby jogger category. No advice to give, other than I think it has been established that there is a link. I believe my own lymphoma diagnosis was the results of high intensity and and large volume exercise at a young age.

Thanks for your input. Just really getting back into it. I’m only 15 minutes off my 10K pr now! I’m going to keep at it, and if I need a new aortic valve, then I’ll build back better after my operation. What else can I do….

I would perhaps do the same. I try to avoid doing things that would cause me harm, and there are plenty worse than running. Never been one to look back with regrets.

OGII - I was fairly pleased with 5:23 but always hope to go faster. There is at least one other M70 in th UK who I expect to go faster some time during the summer.

ATP, World Class 1500m time!

Across the pond: what an impressive time. It's definitely a podium at any national championship and close to top 5 at World Masters, I suppose.

Congratulations!

Like others, I found this week's Olympic Trials exciting and motivating. Emily Sisson, Athing Mu, and Cole Hocker turned in spectacular performances over the weekend.

Alas, my own tales of woe continue. I seem to have mostly solved the cramping in my hips, but this week I developed what may be a recurrence of a problem I had several years ago: the coordination in my left leg seems off, such that even walking feels clumsy, but with no obvious injury. My left knee feels a bit stiff and just "wrong" but I feel like the problem doesn't originate in the knee. Several years ago, when I could still run, I had about a 6-month bout with what sounded like runner's dystonia, or "lack of coordination in leg" (there's a very long thread about this on LetsRun that gets bumped to the front periodically). The symptoms are somewhat different this time but it still feels like the same sort of thing.

The upshot is that I was able to do a little jogging early in the week, but by Saturday I'd backed off to just walking. Then Sunday I went on a 12-mile hike in hot weather with 2000 feet of climbing. My stride felt "wrong" the whole way and I felt I was having to work very hard just to walk down a level trail. By the end I was exhausted in a way I've never been before when hiking. I wanted to quit about the halfway point but in a wilderness area I had no choice but to walk out.

This morning I felt a little flat but basically fine except for the same awkwardness in my stride. I rode my bike for an easy 23 miles and called it good. Later today I plan to go to the gym and try various one-legged exercises in the hope of identifying the origin of the problem.

If it ain't one thing, it's another.

Charlie wrote:

Took it to the track today some rust but not bad at all no spikes

Cautious 5 x 100 R jog 100 rolling start 21, 22, 19, 17.64, 16.65

Encouraged with the 16.65 I decided to try for a sub 16 no rolling start

After a 4 minute jog on the old wavy track I felt really good smooth 16:14

short speed before long speed

One hour of jogging then

Round 2 4x100 R jog 100 : 20,18,16,15.57 3 step start no spikes

R 2 minutes standing start 16.20 not enough recovery that 15:57 had me pumped

Overall gotta say I do love to sprint wag sub 15 in a few months.

I'm running well lately. Last December I suffered an injury helping someone with Christmas decorations. I was up and down in training for most of December through April and my fourth race was April 24th.

I've had about ten races in June on the track including multiples like 400, 800, 1500.

This June I kept getting faster.

Tuesday (29th) I ran a long run of 14.04 with some small hills in 84.

Thursday I ran 12 X 200 with 200. The middle four were on an incline.

Saturday I will race 400 meters for time.

Sunday I will run a 4th of July 5K at a training pace.

Soon I will travel to Hawaii for a short time and help out with someone. Then I will travel to Japan.

I'm running well lately. Last December I suffered an injury helping someone with Christmas decorations. I was up and down in training for most of December through April and my fourth race was April 24th.

I've had about ten races in June on the track including multiples like 400, 800, 1500.

This June I kept getting faster.

Tuesday (29th) I ran a long run of 14.04 with some small hills in 84.

Thursday I ran 12 X 200 with 200. The middle four were on an incline.

Saturday I will race 400 meters for time.

Sunday I will run a 4th of July 5K at a training pace.

Soon I will travel to Hawaii for a short time and help out with someone. Then I will travel to Japan.

I'm running well lately. Last December I suffered an injury helping someone with Christmas decorations. I was up and down in training for most of December through April and my fourth race was April 24th.

I've had about ten races in June on the track including multiples like 400, 800, 1500.

This June I kept getting faster.

Tuesday (29th) I ran a long run of 14.04 with some small hills in 84.

Thursday I ran 12 X 200 with 200. The middle four were on an incline.

Saturday I will race 400 meters for time.

Sunday I will run a 4th of July 5K at a training pace.

Soon I will travel to Hawaii for a short time and help out with someone. Then I will travel to Japan.

Happy 4th of July

I hope everyone had a great week.

Wise Old Man. First of all there's nothing wrong with buying a pair of Endorphins. We can use all the help we can get. Secondly, I feel for you man. Health problems are nothing to mess with. I wish the best of luck to you and your problems. Nice job BTW on the 10k and the 61 miles.

Charlie. You sure have some wheels. If I tried running 100's that fast I would pull a hammy.

Kevin. I see that you have your hands full in Iowa. Smoke those guys that are ranked ahead of you. I'm sure I'll be able to watch a race or two of yours. My 5k is Wednesday and 10k on Saturday. So I have a couple of free days. My wife is researching things to do in Ames. Not sure if there is much to see.

With my national track races coming up in a couple of weeks, I have to remind myself not to get greedy. My fitness is very good so don't want to ruin things.

Significant workouts this past week:

Monday- fairly relaxed 15 miler in 1:55

Wednesday- 3x2 miles on the track with a 300 jog btw. 11:59, 11:57, 11:48. Last specific 10k workout before Ames. With temps that day at 115 I began the workout at 4:45 AM.

Thursday- Hilly 11 miler easy

Today (Saturday) 8 mile tempo run in training shoes in 51:18 (6:25 per mile pace) fairly hard effort wo straining.

The rest of the days were easy 8 milers with gym work three days each week.

Enjoy life.

Charlie, nice speed and like the motto. I’ve started to put pure speed repeats into my routine for the first time. Think it is helping.

CDB, your hard sessions are always motivating. Keep telling myself I need to emulate some of your sessions. Lack the discipline at the moment but someday…

As for me, good week with a bunch of intervals under 5:30/mi. No tempo or threshold but this week was out of hand HOT and humid. At 5 am it is 85F and usually in the 90’s before I get my butt out running. The humidity with direct sunshine makes it hard to breath. This is not normal and sure the rains will start again. Will still be hot, but cloud cover makes a miserable run pleasant.

Definitely not in race shape. Plan to keep trudging along with a little speed work until Covid passes here. If I can comfortably run 2 miles fast, extending it usually isn’t all that difficult but I always have doubts. Only 1 run fast over 4k in the last 20 months.

Faster Sessions:

Thursday

** 1 mile at 5:24/mi but next 800 @ 5:11/mi was cut to 750 meters after being nipped in the calf and the rest of the session was all over the place because dogs kept intervening. At least I have my rabies shot and won’t need a booster and this one was more of a slight scrape than a bite. Owner told me to run with a stick. What could I do but laugh and move on.

Sunday

** Blistering hot/humid intervals 1x1600 @ 5:35, 4x400 @ avg 1:16, and 9x100 barefoot grass repeats. Ran on a nice track that was only a 30 minute drive. The rubber is thin to bare but not a bad place to run. Also a grass track across the street and a huge Asian next to it with coconuts the size of bowling balls and incredible fruit selection. Lady hacked off the top of a coconut and I was barely able to finish it.

Coureur des bois wrote:

Happy 4th of July

I hope everyone had a great week.

Wise Old Man. First of all there's nothing wrong with buying a pair of Endorphins. We can use all the help we can get. Secondly, I feel for you man. Health problems are nothing to mess with. I wish the best of luck to you and your problems. Nice job BTW on the 10k and the 61 miles.

Charlie. You sure have some wheels. If I tried running 100's that fast I would pull a hammy.

Kevin. I see that you have your hands full in Iowa. Smoke those guys that are ranked ahead of you. I'm sure I'll be able to watch a race or two of yours. My 5k is Wednesday and 10k on Saturday.

The 5000 is on Thursday.