50+ Weekly Training Thread

Pretty limited running over the holidays - don't even want to look at the mileage. I take a physical beating this time of year together with a generous helping of stress so I've learned to cut back some and try to avoid getting sick all January, occasionally even succeeding somewhat. Slept through most of the 1st and down with a headache all of the 2nd but up and running today which provides some hope.

Don't have any horrific weather stories, but live up here in the Pacific Northwest so running in the rain is a fact of life. The 30s can be pretty miserable up here once the damp penetrates and the wind is blowing, but as long as you keep moving.... Do have a clear memory of heading out daydreaming or whatever and not noticing the combination of a bus coming alongside and a gutter flowing deep with water - tsunami time. Too stubborn or stupid to turn around so lugged an extra five pounds of water for six miles.

38 or so on five runs, one (New Year's Eve when we had snow here) on the treadmill.

I've always thought the NYC-area has good weather, never too hot, never too cold. I don't know how those folks up north do it. If you were a pioneer, why would you stop in Minnesota? Alas, I have no weather-related tales. And I do remember wearing long-johns top and bottom and socks for gloves.

Spotty mileage; 7 miles on 2 runs. Both had bright spots as I did some pickups and uptempo down hills.

9 hours on Nordic skiis. Varied effort levels and enough trail side gabbing, but still some solid uphills interspersed left me winded at times. The 9 hours was over 4 outings.

No real tough weather stories. Cold weather running in Northern Wisconsin requires about 6-7 pounds of appropriately layered clothes and you're good to go. The icey conditions are the greater challenge. Inov-8 Mudclaws are my shoe of choice as they possess a metal carbide inserts that really steady things up.

We get cold here, but the wind in the Dakotas,etc. would be the end of me. How do those people prepare for Fargo's Marathon??

38 degrees @7am down here in SoCal, 55 mi wk with 3 speed work days. Tues 4x3x2 3x, Thurs 6mi tempo @ 6:07 Sat Farleks ended with 12 miler Sun. in hills. Warmed up to sunny 74 for the day.

Great stuff everyone. I think on this thread we're close to representing all 50 states, coast to coast, north and south. It seems like everyone here has some kind of weather issues to deal with whether it's snow, rain or heat. I tend to agree with old hamdog though that the heat and humidity can be worse than many of the colder days. Good advice from oh too. Be careful on the ice. One of my friends lost several teeth taking a dive on the ice. And for me it's a constant problem with my groin and hams just trying to gain traction on the snow and ice.

Great stuff everyone. I think on this thread we're close to representing all 50 states, coast to coast, north and south. It seems like everyone here has some kind of weather issues to deal with whether it's snow, rain or heat. I tend to agree with old hamdog though that the heat and humidity can be worse than many of the colder days. Good advice from oh too. Be careful on the ice. One of my friends lost several teeth taking a dive on the ice. And for me it's a constant problem with my groin and hams just trying to gain traction on the snow and ice.

In the midst of the maintenance-level cross training mode. I did try to xc ski last week (just 5K), with mixed results. Felt great to be out there, and didn't hurt much, but knee was sore for the rest of the day. Overall grade C+.

My worst weather story was at 65K cross country ski race in Idaho, about 20 years ago. It started in potato fields in Ashton, out to Targhee National Forest and back. A front moved through on the morning of the race. It was windy at the start, and about 15K in, a blizzard swept in. Fog, driving snow, and no trees in that area for protection. Total white out.

I skied off the course and into a snow drift, and immediately knew that this could be trouble, because I was just wearing a lycra speedskating suit and it was about 10 F and blowing like mad. So I got back on the trail and waited for the next racers to catch up. About 6 of us packed up for a few Ks, until we found a road crossing. Race officials were out there and pulled us off the course. I rode into town wearing a woman's ankle length down coat.

The leader, a cyclist from Boise had refused to stop, so he skied 42K until they got him off the course.

It was President's Day weekend, so they restarted the race on Monday. I led from 20 to 55K, but had no feed for more than an hour because the aid stations weren't ready when I came through. Bonked, but hung on to 3rd place, just in time before another front came through. Only 18 people finished the race, out of 150 original entrants.

It was tough here in Boston Saturday and Sunday. Normal runs I do in sub 7:30 were in 8:20s. Still hit my target 80 for the week.

With some extra days off this week, I was able to up the mileage to 44.

Monday - Wednesday, 4 easy

Thursday, 7 easy

Friday, Used low key 5k race as tempo run/fitness test and ran 17:53 on a flat course, very pleased

Saturday 8 easy

Sunday 8 easy (15 degrees and 30 mph winds)

Most of my life I've been in the Mid-Atlantic states so I don't have any major weather extremes. My coldest run was at -10F and there were several runs in snowstorms, including one just a few weeks ago. However, I did have one 9 mile time trial in a snowstorm during my college years where by about 7 miles, snow was accumulating on the top of my bare quads. Ah good times, good times.

All runs at 130 - 138 HR and on grass unless otherwise stated.

M 55 min ice msg R ITB

T 82.5 min fatigued at end of run, sombra to R ITB

W day off

H 82.5 min around neighborhood /asphalt in lunar racers

F 27.5 min easy mountain trail run

Sa No run spent all day investigating the almost 700 dollars worth of damage Jiffy lube did to my 2009. Went in for a 20 min oil and air filter change turned into an all day ordeal and three different mechanic shops including the Toyota dealer who confirmed the manager at Jiffy Lube had lied to me and used the wrong part for the "repair' further damaging what they attempted to fix. Moral of the story Stay the HELLO away from Jiffy Lube.

Su 2 hr 17:30 run over some unexpectedly very steep mountain trails had to walk same of it due to steepness.

Too many winter stories to tell having lived in Michigan, Utah, Colorado. Just a brief one, it was one year either the first or second time CU closed due to conditions. My roommate and I were going to take advantage of the wide open streets as we were leaving the townhouse I turned to tell my sister when we would be back. She had a look of shock on her face, our beards and long hair had instantly crystallized. Still have the picture, it was so cold we only managed about a half mile before turning around fearing we might incur lung damage. Neither of us has long hair anymore,one of us has a nice shiny dome ( it's not me ;)

AK51 try to keep your nordic pain free or you risk further damage. You got a much better shot at keeping the damage to a minimum. Have a great everybody.