50+ Masters Training and Racing Open Forum

Still hanging on to 100% healthy here. Counting on my race times to start reflecting my fitness after a few months of solid training. I'm running a road mile next Sunday morning. Admittingly, I'm seriously lacking any sort mile specific training and its too late to do anything about it now! My secret goal is somewhere around 5:30 and I'll call it a good day.

Maintaining my 50+ mile weeks. Not too many highlights other than steady 8:00'ish pace running. Last week I hit the track in 90 deg temps. Managed to hit 83 for 6x400, then 38 & 37 for two 200's. Then I survived 5 days in sweltering heat & humidity in Greenville SC. Each run was a survival run from the first step. Horrible conditions for anything outside, other than sitting by the pool! Felt sluggish for a few days after getting home but then ran a real nice 10 Saturday in 74:27 running the last 5 in 721,714,711,652,649. Almost like the old days of 7 years ago.

Looking forward to the race reports from Lexington (Yep, I checked the 1500 results in Church this morning during the sermon) and congrats on CM's Bix 7 miler. ... Good to hear from L2b.

Have a good run,

Dave

luckY: Looking forward to some reports from the Lexington USATF meet. It was unusual to see actual results so quickly.
MagicShoes: Nice week!

Racerdb: Good luck in that mile next week!

Mon = 76 minutes, 2 mile loops in park
Tue = 76 minutes
Wed = 76 minutes
Thr = 76 minutes
Fri = Off
Sat = 77 minutes (sore legs)
Sun = 60 minutes (30 am, 30 pm) (hip flexor or abductor problem)
Everything easy, everything flat pavement.

My right hip started giving me some problems. I believe it's due to the increased volume and fatigue near the end of runs. I’m reducing the volume, doing some hip flexibility exercises, and going to doubles until it gets better.

Of course it happened just days after signing up for a 5K Aug 13th. Jinxed again…

Have a good one!

Hi runners, still in vacation mode. last week 4 runs. this week complete shutdown and one easy run. looking forward to restart my hobby tomorrow. stay safe!

after stalking for a lengthy time as well, though not as long as lucky2b, i figured i'd chime in--enjoying a little more time after lots of traveling this summer, including finally meeting igy face to face, and seeing a great 800 masters exhibition event back in june that included kpdx, and hanging out with fanelli in june and july. also enjoying results from lexington, not to mention seeing a recent coyote montane 7 miler result.

pretty good health for me in 2022--just entered the 5th avenue mile, a bucket list race for me, as well as the NJ masters road 12k, both a week apart in september...

for those who shared in the joy of the tour de france overlapping with the world championships, i was lucky to spectate in eugene for 3 days or worlds--here's a short 60sec youtube vid of my teammate john gardiner and i doing our best TDF fan imitation (well, without speedos or devil suits) during the marathon, as shown during NBC/peacock's live broadcast, pacing the leader over a bridge with around a few miles to go (i'm the one dancing along on his tippy toes in the long sleeve blue shirt), along with a pretty good view from the backstretch of the men's 1500m (watch as wightman makes his move).

carpe crepusculum,

cush

great video!

fun last week of July in typically swampy DC summer weather:

M 1:35

Tu 1:10 with 25:00 at half-marathon effort (distance unknown)

W 1:40

Th 2:00 double

F 1:10 w/drills/strides

Sa: 50:00

Su 2:00 with hilly half-marathon in 1:31:37 (results not up yet, but I think about 25th OA, possibly 1st AG, or at least everyone ahead of me at turnarounds looked youthful to me)

Started race today ambivalent about just doing as hard workout toward goal half-marathon in 6 weeks vs. actually racing. Held back early, but then felt good and raced, gradually moving up. Last time I ran this (2013) it was 1:26, but factoring in my rate of slowing in those years this was not bad in comparison.

Have a great week,

Dave

Thanks for the acknowledging my return. Makes me feel as if I need to start doing something....and I will sooner than later (God willing.) Glad to see some familiar posters along with a few new (to me) folks, and even more glad to see that most are still plugging away with only minor niggles and with new goals to meet.

As for the meet, I really only saw a sliver, but it seemed everyone was having a good time. I made it out Saturday noon-ish (warm, but not oppressive) to watch all the 800m races, then watched the 4x800m relays later in the day. We had a lot of local folks (BLUEgrass Runners) doing 800s. I then managed to get up early Sunday (cool with intermittent rain showers) and watch the 1500s. Highlights for me were 1) watching my good friend, Erin Rock, win her age-group in the 800m and then returning with her team to win their age-group in the 4x800; 2) watching the incomparable Michelle Rohl completely dominate her events; she just chewed up the competition in whatever she ran; I then got a chance to talk with Mike Rohl in the stands, which was nice; 3) likewise, Gary Patton was an inspiration to watch; just coolly sitting back for the first little bit in each race until he was done messing around, then putting the hammer down; 4) watching KP battle the leaders in both the 800 and 1500, came up just a bit short in both, but those were some tough rounds!; sorry I didn't get a chance to meet him afterwards. I feel like the attendance might have been a little lighter than pre-covid, but I hope those that attended have nice things to say both about Lexington and about how the meet was organized; they really seemed to keep things right on schedule and got results out quickly (as was noted above.)

Just before the meet started, we had some of the most devastating rains ever hit across Eastern Kentucky. If you know anything about Kentucky landscape, you know that there are no flat parts to Eastern Kentucky; it is chock full of hills and hollers. When the rain comes down at 1-2" per hour over the course of many hours, the hollers fill up quickly and there is nowhere to run. I ask you to think about them in their time of need. It's been overwhelming.

Glad to reconnect with you fine folks. Keep up the great work, and hope to be rejoining the fray soon!

All the Best!

Thanks rdb, good to hear some reports about Lexington (congrats scgal!) and updates from lucKy2b and socalcush.
Took a road trip to Iowa and Wisconsin last week (first such lower 48 road trip in 20 years), and tapered some while adapting to the humidity. Luckily we hit a good weather week. Did a bit of everything with runs in the Arb and along the lakes in Madison, where I once spent a summer and it's now wher our son lives. Add in a bit of canoeing, hiking, sailing. We capped off the week by traveling down to the Quad Cities (where also lived for a summer) to run the Bix 7. I ran it last time in 1980, hitching down from Madison.
Saturday was cooler than normal (about 70, 80% humidity at the start, maybe 74 by the finish) and a good day for racing.
I split 6:28 (big uphill on Brady Street), 5:57 (long downhill), 6:19 (a sharp uphill), 6:24 (mix), 6:34 (uphill, long grinder), 5:47 (screaming downhill and then actually the only flat 1/3 of a mile on the course). Officially 1st in age group, and unofficially 3rd masters age grade (but well behind Abdi who ran 45:06 or so). I was hoping for 6:10-15 average, but 6:10 was a high-end goal. Fun event, and I want to go back. I like this mid-range big road races the best, from 8K to half marathon and the historic ones are all the more fun.
Shout out to the memory of my friend Gregg Newell (an early winner of the race and 10 time top 10 finisher), who has an award named in his honor for the best local finisher at Bix.

Welcome back lucKY2b! I asked about you here a while back.

Sorry I missed talking with you Saturday afternoon and this morning (Sunday) at the meet. I didn't know to look for you. Hopefully we can catch-up at the Thoroughbred 5k on Thanksgiving; I have a Grandmaster's title to try and defend - lol!

A friend from college 40+ years ago and I drove down from Michigan to run our respective age group races in the 5000 (Thursday) and the 1500 this morning.

Really really interesting to watch 800-10000m races.

It was the first "nationals" track meet for each of us (although I did run the road mile a few years ago Flint and had a rude awakening to national competition - haha!)

Neither of us made the podium, and were less than 'pleased' with our performances, but at least there were a boatload of people behind each of us, so at least it was not an embarrassment; a 4th and 5th for my friend and a 6th and 8th for me. I really can't figure out what happened to me in the 5K. I ran a certified course at a local Parkrun on twisty dirt paths with three hills a week early and yet only ran 20 seconds faster on the track in Lexington. I am just going have to let it go and focus on my next race

I guess I have figured out a couple of things:

1) Seed times for most are totally unreliable to determine who to try and hang with or key off of. Although I will say my 1500m seed time was within 6/10s of second from my actual result this morning. 2) I am not running any more 1500s Way way too short. Will likely get back to my roots and enter the 10,000 in 2023.

All for now - hope everyone has a great week ahead - I am heading out for a couple mile jog after the five hour drive home. My legs feel way too fresh even though I raced this morning.

Aerobic base building, but with mostly with aerobic intervals rather than steady runs.

Sunday - 7.5 miles, including 12x400m with 400m easy recovery

Monday - 3 miles easy - 8:40 per mile

Tue - 6 miles including 16x200m in 44.5 with 200m easy recovery

Wed - 3 miles easy - 8:00 per mile

Thur - 5 miles steady - 7:40 per mile

Fri - 6.5 miles, including 3x2000m with 1000m easy recovery

Sat - 4 miles easy - 8:00 per mile

Sun - 8.25 miles including 6x1000m with 800m recovery

Anyone running the USATF Masters 5k XC Championships in Boulder this year? Is the altitude enough of a concern for us flat landers?

usatf.org

USA Track & Field | 2022 USATF Masters 5 km Cross Country Championships

Link:usatf.org/events/2022/2022-usatf-maste...

Formally Mopak in case my new name has anyone wondering.

Flew to Western Australia 2 weeks ago for a 3 week campervan trip with my wife.

I took the first week off from running bar a gentle 3k slow jog around Bunbury one night.

On the Tuesday we ferried across to car free Rottnest Island (famous for it's cheeky Quokkas). We hired crappy bikes and cycled the 24 km loop of the island. I actually ended up doing 35 km.

I did average 25000 steps per day with plenty of soft sand and knee deep wading.

Last week was just short runs but also heaps of hiking.

Mon. pm. 5 km hilly run 30 mins in Augusta where the Southern Ocean meets the Indian. The most SW point of Australia and at 3600 kms about as far from home as I can get and still be in Australia.

Tue. am. Similar 5 km run in Augusta.

Wed. am. Hilly 5.7 km from our bush camp near Pemberton deep in majestic Karri forests.

Thu. am. Hilly 5km in Walpole inc some very soft sand beach running.

Fri. am. Same run in Walpole.

Sat. pm. Very hilly 5.2 km run on Mt Clarence in Albany.

Sun. pm. "Run" up Mt Trio. 1.3 km 320 m elevation gain. Stunning views of the stunning Stirling Ranges 23 mins. A careful descent took nearly as long as the climb.

Today I headed to the base of Bluff Knoll, highest peak in the SW. The only place in WA that ever gets snow. It snowed a few days ago. It's a rugged 3 km climb gaining 650 metres.

It was straight into howling winds and thick cloud. I only got as far as 2.5 km (510m) in 39 min before turning back. The wind on the exposed climb was brutal, the roar was frightening and it was impossible to stand upright. I didn't fancy taking the risk on the exposed climb to the summit so wisely headed back down ( a cautious 26 min descent).

A bit frustrated not to reach the top but it was the smart call.

Back home next Saturday.

Nice story! How did you learn swim technique? Did you have a good foundation as a child or did you take lessons as an adult?

I run for the host club. The elevation is at about 5500' it's not bad for a sea level runner, but you'll definitely feel it. Best advice would be to arrive the day before or a full week out. A week gives enough time to get some acclimation. Otherwise, you are probably better getting there and racing it within 24 hours.

I have about a half dozen races on that course and last year we did the same thing in reverse. The hill at 0.9 and 2.4 is steep but not terribly long (maybe 30-40 seconds).

Thanks for the info.

I have mentioned some of this before. I was an avid body surfer growing up in Southern California, that and skateboarding were my sports before running. Anyway, as a soon to be 72 year old I find swimming to be a good compliment for this aging body. Wearing swim fins gives me the propulsion to maintain good form. Also, the fin aide keeps me in the water longer usually 1,000-2,000 yards per session or 20-45 minutes depending on distance or spunk.

Igy

In nexcare now. Since 2008, this GERD, diverticulitis thing that led to my colectomy is giving me fits.

they said it would. They weren’t lying.

Just another thing about getting old.

Thanks. (Um....did my actual post go somewhere? Or am I just not seeing it anymore? Maybe because it is swimming related?) :)

I began as a nearly 57 year old!! Right after I quit running. I love that swimming is "cover various distances at a certain goal time"....like running. My big dream is sub 6min 400m and sub 1:15 100m. Youtube and swimbooks are my friends. My technique is very far from perfect. There's so much to learn and try to improve.

I was just about to ask where you post went...thanks for the response! That is really cool. I watch my kid's swim team and feel a bit envious that I never received the proper swim instruction that he did. Seems like it's a great skill to learn, especially when running injuries come into play.