50+ Masters Training and Racing Open Forum

You've got me beat in terms of high-stakes guiding. I was a course marshal at parkrun yesterday, but somehow "as you can probably infer, turn around at the cone" doesn't carry quite the level of suspense as black bear warnings.....

......fun week for me coming off Memorial Day race -- we're in a rare stretch of low humidity

Tu 1:50 double

W 1:10

Th 2:00

F 1:20

Sa 1:10

Su 1:20 with 5 X 3:00 hard (2:00 jog) -- on one I passed 800 in 2:59, others a stride or two shy of 800 at 3:00. Good warmup for watching the Celtics try to make it a 2-game lead tonight

Have a great week,

Dave

M62, 5'11", 180 lbs (+10 pounds since marathon!)
Age 23 -- 16:04, 2:40:30
Age 43 -- 17:10, 2:56:03
Age 58 -- 18:58, 3:07:23

MAY 23-29, 2022
M- Off
Tu- 4.0 miles (9:43, 9:18, 8:38, 7:48)
W- Off
Th- 4.0 miles (10:23, 10:07, 10:03, 10:17)
Fr- Off
Sa- Off
Su- 1.5-mi wu; 26.2 race @ 3:44:06 (8:33 avg)
TOTAL: 35.7 MILES

MAY 30 - JUNE 5, 2022
OFFMAY 30 - JUNE 5, 2022

Two more doses of anti-seizure meds, then hoping to feel more "normal." A week ago I was panicked about work deadlines, and now I've lost ANOTHER seven days of productivity. Crazy!

Looking forward to getting my road bike out, although I imagine that's still a couple weeks away. Anyway, onward and upward! As always, I enjoy following everyone's posts.

Allen, good to read that you are healing up from your marathon adventure. A solid training week for me of 56 miles -

M-6mi of 400 walk/400 run

T-11mi with AM 6mi of 400 walk/400 run; PM 5mi trails 9:43/mi

W-9mi of AM 6mi 400 walk/400 run; PM 3mi walk

Th-6mi hills 9:24/mi

F-6mi of 400 walk/400 run

S-8mi trails with my son 8:28/mi

Su-10mi trails 9:34/mi

Good running to all!

Crazy dive at the finish Allen! Just Wow!! All the best on that always hot & humid Shawsville 5k Rtype. 2007 was the fifth and final year of my 'Super Fitness Age 43-47. Oh how we wish to beat Father Time.

Speaking of which, fingers crossed I hear tomorrow that I am invited to race seven other crazy old middle-distance runners twice around the oval in front of thousands of rabid track fans at Hayward Field. Pretty good workout Friday morning highlighted by 2 x 600s at 1:48 and 1:46. Wish they were faster but at least I got my arms to go dead on #2.

You know you are old when... you hang with the 25 year-olds with bourbon and beer until 2am at the Koe Wetzel concert Friday night only to wake up the next morning rushing to kneel at the porcelain thrown for a few hours, realizing you had no hearing, crashing on the couch all day, to suddenly awake from a nap for another session of blowing grits from that Awful House late night breakfast, only to be waked up again by your dog, on your knees with a busted pinky toe and that fourth toe from a brief fainting spell. Good news is I didn't hurl anymore, got my hearing back, and managed a nice feeling super slow six-miler this morning. Toes black & blue but all in all OK. Re faint I think it was just a head rush thingy. And was just for a couple secs.

I know I know. Can hear y'all now... "KP WTH are you doing that for with just three weeks to fun and more fun at the USATF Masters Exhibition 800?"

Tuesday night is my first Atlanta Track Club All-Comers Meet at Emory University in about forty years! Fun and more fun.

M: raced a very hilly cross country course disguised as a flat and fast 5km. 27:36 for 12th overall of 3 and 2nd in my age group of 1.
T: 48:00 on treadmill @ 12:50 pace

W: 6M @ 11:42 pace with 4 x strides - 90 degrees/85% humidity/73 dew point

Th: 48:00 on treadmill @ 13:05 pace

F: 8.25M @ 10:15 pace with 4 x strides

Sat: 54 degrees/54% humidity/54 dew point - 4(10:00@8:20 pace/5:00 @ 10:00 pace)

enjoy the week

25 miles and a race.

incredible how slow I’ve become. I stick to small club races in city parks. It’s not worth it to drive into the city for the really huge races.

About the only thing I’ll say is, I think I was like 141st out of 500.

In 1988, I was running 5k’s over 11 minutes faster than I do now! We’ll really from 1977 to 88.

But, that was one cancer diagnosis, colectomy, and 3 miniscus surgeries ago.

my knees were so stiff last night, I thought about not going. Then I remembered. When I race, my knees for hours afterwards feels as close to normal as they ever were!

Then, I sit, watch the NHL Playoffs and a couple of Perry Mason re-reruns and try to get out of my rocking chair…. Oooph!!!

Another race next Sunday plus I volunteer at this one. I’m the best clean up guy in the history of road racing… ever.

Read Bill Squires book on “ Improving” your running, “ Varsity Seven” about famous Spokane are runners..( the chapter on Rick Riley was some of the most interesting running stuff I’ve ever read) and for the first time I actually found two books I couldn’t find in all the years before “ Ron Clarke Talks Track” and the “ David Bedford Story”

I’ve been wearing red socks in races for years now ha

Charlie, I'm inclined to stay with my brisk 60 min v 100 min slow (although it did earn a downvote!). I know there are benefits to 100m or longer runs, but after 50 years of running they might have pretty small incremental benefits. It also takes me several days to get over a long run, where I can bounce back from the quick 60 min with one easy day.

My sister only runs 4 days a week (walks, aqua runs other days) and she won the W60 mile indoors this year, and does a pretty mean 5000m without every going longer than 6 miles.

Hope your transition to the hard stuff keeps going well, and maybe we could get few road runs in.

Anyway, as they say "the week in review."

Last Sat - 7.54 miles in 54:33 (7:17 per mile), including 12x400 with 400m
steady recovery (7:50 to 8:00 pace) - averaged about 95 per 400m overall.

Sun - 8 miles in 60.02 (7:30 per mile).

Mon - Recovery. 3 miles 25:29 (8:29 per mile)

Tue - 7.18 miles in 52:05 (7:15 per mile) including 3x10min at around 10 mile/half-marathon pace with 5 min steady recovery.

Wed - Recovery. 4 miles in 32:06 (8:01)

Thur - 4.63 miles in 33:31 (7:14 per mile) including 15x20 sec strides with 1 min steady run recovery

Fri - Recovery 3 miles in 24:58 (8:19 per mile)

Sat - Off. Was going to do track session, but backs of legs a bit tired from faster running Thursday, and I didn't fancy doing yet another track session in the pouring rain.

Sun - 6.81 miles, including track session - 6x800m with 200m/2 min jog/walk recovery - 3:09, 3:06, 3:07, 3:06, 3:05, 3:04. Definitely felt the benefit of the day off. Recovery might be a bit long, but McMillan gives 800m recoveries for this session, so maybe not. Was quite cautious, back them down a bit on first few. Pleased with that.

Question for those that have been long-term posters here.

Keep getting down votes.

Is it not done to post the training for the week, or is it just my particular schedule that is offending?

Or is it the conviction that I can run respectably while having an extended period without a weekly long run?

Cavorty, Downvoting individual training logs makes no sense in this thread.

My week:

Mo 7 miles easy

Tu 30 min jumps and drills uphill, 6x60m uphill

We 7 miles easy

Th 12x70sec/40sec on/off

Fr 7 miles easy

Sa 4x100m buildup with walk back, 6x200m in 32 sec with 200m slow walk in 4 min.

Su off

Had to recover my archilles on Sunday. Telling me, dare to take off. do not be foolishly addicted. let some air in for recovery. right decision. running 3 times faster per week is plenty for my tendons. happy fun week running wise (work is hell).

Peace and health to all

Read the Dave Bedford story and inspired me to bump up my mileage in a big way. One week while in college ran a then record of 145 miles. Shortly thereafter I was quarantined as the only student at Oklahoma State with chicken pox.

I have clumsily hit the down vote instead of up vote with my big fat thumb a couple of times (apologies OG11 and Robert).

I don't think I have done that to you though Cavorty.

Jealous turds, mostly.

I believe your instincts on the long run after decades of endurance training are correct and beneficial. Besides you are running very well, so why even consider changing?

Actually there are some strange downvotes to totally innocuous posts on here. Not worth worrying about...

Being the social media dinosaur that I am, I almost never look at the up/down votes. Cavorty, I have run very similar times to yours at the same age and did it on similar training. I rarely race over 10k and always felt that a long run wasn't that important if you are getting in a good volume of interval and tempo work. I have gone to somewhat longer and slower training the last 10 years only because it has a lower injury risk for my old connective tissue. I still believe that for those of us who are not trying to hit professional athlete levels of training, it does not make a significant difference whether you get the appropriate effort level in small bites or a long run, if you are not racing more than 10k.

Greetings!

Good to read many posts about good training and racing.
Allen, glad to know you are recovering well!

My week was not bad except for the weekend when I had to go on a short-notice mission and lost 3 days (2 of which should have been hard). This is especially painful in front of the upcoming 10K road on June 18.

Mon – (planned) off
Tue – “long ladder” on a road: warm-up, 4K 16:13, 2 min jog, 2K 7:56, 2 min jog, 1K 3:56, cool down. 7 miles altogether
Wed – (unplanned) off
Thu – 63 min easy/moderate in the forest, 8+ miles
Fri – 70 min elliptical. After 18 min warm-up “ran” 42 min (10K race duration + a small margin) near LT by feel (HR was lower than LT though), then 10 min easy.
Sat - (unplanned) off
Sun – 45 min elliptical easy

Happy running to all!

Mon = 66 min easy, flat, paved greenway
Tue = 72 min easy on flat, gravel trail with group including some walking with the group
Wed = 66 min easy, flat, paved greenway
Thr = 66 min easy, flat, paved greenway
Fri = Every Fri off
Sat = 67 min with 34 min easy, flat, paved greenway, then 1 mile at 80% effort at 7:18 as a test, then 26 min easy
Sun = 67 min easy, flat, big paved loop in park, 86 degrees

Not very exciting running but happy to keep shuffling along and feeling good. Saturday I did a test to make sure I could still run a bit faster and maintain form. I guess I just felt the need to move the legs a bit so I won’t forget how.

Next week, 68’s!

Have a good one!

M62, 5'11", 177 lbsl
Age 23 -- 16:04, 2:40:30
Age 43 -- 17:10, 2:56:03
Age 58 -- 18:58, 3:07:23

JUNE 6-12, 2022: Off

Still recovering after passing out at the marathon finish line two weeks ago. It's been slow going -- still very limited activities allowed. There was significant internal brain bleeding, and more CT scans are scheduled.

The prostate cancer symptoms also seem worse than ever, but maybe I'm just consuming more liquids. I'm up every hour during the night now -- previously I never got up at all!

Meanwhile, the summer is flying by, and I remain too disoriented to consider running or bicycling yet.

And every day I am further behind with client commitments. Frustrating! It's after noon here in the northeast U.S., and I am struggling to get out to my shop to make reproduction 1840s window sash -- that I promised many months ago (millwork done, but joinery and glazing still awaits).

But onward and upward! Looking forward to better days ahead. Thank you all for the well-wishes and kind thoughts.

Run well!

The four things that keep one honest: the track, the stopwatch, the training log, and Sunday mornings Masters 50+ training and racing posts ;}

Hit 30 miles for the week...mostly active recovery runs with one REAL hard six-miler. Don't wanna' jinx myself, but never once felt crippled all week long.

There you go...now I'll probably go out and rip a hamstring or two this morning.

SIDEBAR: What an AMAZING weekend of track & field watching...OMG, beginning with Rome Diamond League on Thursday night, 4 extraordinary days of NCAAs, Portland Track Festival...and later today, on NBC 4:00 - 6:00 EST is the NYC Grand Prix, a star-studded final tune up meet prior to Nationals / World qualifying. A GREAT time to be a track fan for sure.

Have an outstanding week of training, racing, and re-habbing...I'll look forward to hearing how you did.

Your pal,

MF