50+ Weekly Training Thread

been off three weeks/hurt

will start running tomorrow morning again

happy holidays

Is it Christmas in the Southern Hemisphere ?

Did not get scratched by a cat on this Fourth . But , day is young .

Mon- 2hr run through hilly forests, last hour in the dark.

Tue- 45min hard session on the windtrainer.

Wed- 80min mountain bike ride on hilly, muddy forest trails.

Thu-65min kyak on the lake then 75min hard run on tough, scenic trails.

Sat- 30min windtrainer and 25min easy jog along the creek.

Sun- 80min run/17kms on hilly dirt roads -pushing the hills solidly.

4th of July is my son's birthday.

Hey All,

40 miles on 7 days again this week. It was meant to be a light week leading up to a race Saturday. Easy runs and/or light fartlek all days, except Wednesday and Saturday. Wednesday was a light track workout with a couple of miles of 200 on, 200 off. "On" being 10k race pace, "off" being standard easy run pace. These past few weeks I've made a more conscious effort to incorporate more strides at the end of my easy runs. I think that's been really beneficial. The 10k race Saturday went very well. The weather cooperated and I met my goal with a time of 35:51. Not racerdb or rlb territory, but definitely a big step forward for me, shaving another 41s off last year's time. Hard to know where the bottom is for me, but 5 years in, I'm still finding things out that I know can improve my times. Would still like to up my mileage into the 60-70 MPW range, but probably the next big thing to tackle will be to actually watch my diet...not looking forward to that.

Of course for our international colleagues, it's just another day, but here in the US, I think it would be hard to argue that the Peachtree 10k isn't the quintessential July 4th race, not that I've ever run it. It sure make our Bluegrass 10k, which itself is a nice race, seem pretty provincial.

BHRR1, I hope that your pains have subsided. RuKiddingMe! here's to hoping that your injury is but an isolated incident; I'm sure it's been frustrating.

Happy running and racing everybody!

Seems like I haven't raced on the 4th for many years. Not sure why...

Had a real nice week here with 63 miles. Where did all my aches & pains go? Is it coincidental that last Sunday my wife bought me a copper magnetic bracelet that is supposed to have some sort of healing power? I've had hip pain, hamstring issues & PF all Spring. I haven't taken the bracelet off all week and for the first time in months, I have run pain free everyday. I am a huge skeptic but what the hell? How did this happen? Hhmmmm...

Anyhow, ran one workout this week. Wednesday was 5x800 with 400 jog rest; avg'd 2:30.6, my best set of halfs in years. Saturdays 12 went very well. In between I had two untimed full recovery days. The others were comfortable 6:50'ish miles.

I've got a 5K next Saturday. I think I'm ready to run a pretty good one....

All the best,

Dave

First post since foot surgery on June 1. Rehab is going better than expected but still a long way from running. I am able to swim (6000 meters last week) and stationary bike (30 miles) and core work (endless hours).

I'm able to walk for short periods now with a nearly 100% weight bearing foot plant, still tentative about the toe flexion though.

My favorite 4th race was the Baytown Heatwave 5 Mile. I give a good recap in my blog of July 2.

www.teamnebraska.com/rungurusez.htm

Interesting thought Dave. I'm a skeptic, too. You did tell us that you've been water-jogging for your recovery runs now. The scientist in me tells me that makes more sense. But, you know, I hang around with enough alt-med healing types and they're pretty adamant...so who knows.

Speaking of Peachtree, did anyone look at the Masters results, both men and womens. Some pretty amazing times.

http://results.active.com/pages/searchform.jsp?rsID=95738

Master's Men

Mbarak Hussein, 45, 29:47 (What's the age group record?)

Dennis Simonaitis, 48, 31;18

Top 50+

Ken Youngers, 53, 34:37

Master's Women

Stephanie Herbst-Lucke, 44, 33:20

Ramilya Burangulova, 48, 34:43

Lynne Davis, 59, 37:45 (Who is this woman???)

53 miles this week and a 10K yesterday. The 10K was 38:48, which was about where I expected to be right now. The race felt decent all the way around with no really bad spots or really good spots. I ran it hard enough that I spent most of the rest of my day in my easy chair watching the Tour de France and worrying that I was going to get a monster hamstring cramp.

Mon. 5K trail race

Tues. 5K road race (using new insoles that I got that morning to treat functional hallux limitis- the first metatarsal goes soft and the arch and joint collapses on contact with the ground and foot doesn't roll over the joint or support weight properly) was about 20 secs slower than last week and definitely not used to insoles

Wed. 6 miles 2 X 2 miles track workout- struggled

Thurs. 8 miles slow

Fri. 8 miles very slow but decide to try insoles on bikes which I haven't used all year- 8 miles kickbiking (great) 8 miles cycling (unreal-this is the most solid my foot and leg has felt on a bike since I started cycling in the early 80s. I could never get it working right even though I did triathlons, bike racing, and 5 Ironman distance races at that time, then 8 miles on a mountain bike. Excellent day! The insoles work beyond great when walking around and cycling.

Sat. 8 miles even slower.

Sun. rest and 15 miles cycling (go with what works)

There are so many running form and muscular adjusments that my body needs to make as I get used to the insoles, but I am thrilled with how the bottom of my feet seem to work properly and support my stride.

lucKY2b- good race! While that wouldn't be in Dave's territory, it would be in mine. RuKiddingMe!, Runguru, and TDF- good luck with your rehab/come back!

My 4th story was working the local 5k race, The park that it starts out in, is between the Jr and Senior high schools I attended. The course always follows the parade route, lined with crowds of people, there early waiting for the parade to start, and they cheer the runners on. You end up seeing people that you might not have seen for decades.

Also did my 1st run after my 3 weeks off...2 miles at 8:50 pace, which is the slower scale end of my recovery runs. Funny how old injuries often seem very noticeable when starting back... even after just 3 weeks off!

Cheers!

Rich

RLB, BHHR1 and Runguru, hope you can continue to heal and get back out there soonest.

My week was like the one luckY2b had with a total of 35 miles, all easy leading up to a race, only my race was Sunday. The race was a 5K that I had as one of my summer target races. I was pleased with the result (17:43) because it was 15 seconds faster than the time I ran 5 years ago when I turned 50. The mile splits were roughly 5:30, 5:40 and 6 minutes as the lowest point of the course is around 1.5 miles. I figure to be able to have the same or slightly better level of fitness this year as I turn 55 is a good thing!

I've got an 8K on the schedule in two weeks that I also ran that year I turned 50, so I will get another point of comparison.

My age group prize was a free pair of Vibram Five Fingers - KSO model. As an ancient, orthotic-using, Morton-toed runner, I would never have spent my own money to buy some, but I am willing to experiment with a free pair. If nothing else, they will be good water shoes!

Vacation week. 18 miles on 4 days. Some quick race times. Hope to race next week but it will be slow. Have a good week all.

94 miles for the week and one 10-K road race.

I've never been in good form this time of a year.

Partly due to the humidity and partly due to after

effects of putting in a lot of hours at work the

first 30% of the year.

although my week was hampered by a new back/hip pain and travel, my chiro/ART/PT guy gerrit gave me a couple of adjustments and told me that racing the trail 50K (actually, 33 miles) shouldn't set me back to a place he couldn't fix me from, so i went for it on saturday, leaving me with a total of 63 miles in four days for the week and only moderate discomfort afterward.

i had helped to redesign the course, which is just up the hill from my home in the finger lakes national forest, and it was nice to hear all the positive comments about the changes from those who had run it in years past.

i was quite satisfied with my performance, although i only finished third woman (1st masters, 7th overall of 112 50-K-ers). as i've been managing to do lately, i hit exactly even splits of the two-loop course, working hard toward the end to finish in 5:02 and nearly (but not quite) catching an inov-8-sponsored woman 20 years my junior. i then enjoyed a nice cool down with her before taking my station at the finish line for the following eight hours with my husband and gerrit and a few helpful others.

despite the heat that has now settled in, i ran 13 trail miles monday (after taking sunday off) and am feeling good enough to finally send in my entry for this year's goal race: a 50 miler the end of this month.

as for the topic of the week, although the race noted above was on july 3rd this year, it is always held on fourth-of-july weekend, so i guess it qualifies: finger lakes 50s (distances are roughly 25K, 50K, and (wheel-measured) 50 miles).