50+ Weekly Training Thread

36 miles in 5 days. My right knee continued to worsen prepping for OBX so I decided not to do it. I’m simply not going to do something that injures me. I pulled back the miles and ran a local 5K to see how much I had slowed doing nothing but long slow stuff. I had a 19:28 so I was happy with that. Now time to crank the pace and get back to my true love, the track :-)

On the topic for the week: I ran in HS and College and was injured a number of times; PF being the final straw my Junior year helping me to decide to quit. Thanks to a 10 year layoff I am not plagued by anything I did “back when”. I feel very fortunate considering all that pounding I did. Of course, as noted above, I’m very cautious and err on the side of pulling back rather than pushing. I like feeling great while running; and I really do nowadays.

Folks seem to be a bit slow about posting this week. 31 miles and a Saturday XC race for me. This week was most one of those weeks where I just felt tired and the legs felt dead all week. (Probably totally unrelated to the fact the I started weight work the preceding week :>) I really struggled through my race and about a half dozen people that I am consistently in front of were ahead of me in this race, although it did, surprisingly, finally start feeling better in the last mile and I made up a little ground on the competition. Now I need to settle down to several good weeks of steady mileage and adaptation to the weights before the end of the XC season in November.

Kind of a non-eventful week of 'Just running'. 58 miles with a day off. Only workout was a set of 6x800's all 2:34+. Had two 10 milers at 6:48 and my Saturday 13 was at 6:54. Guess it was a pretty solid week. I'm running a HM next Sunday...Probably won't taper much.

Guess I'm lucky to say I've never really had any sort of serious injury. From time to time I'll deal with little stuff, but nothing that has required me to take time off. Right now everything is working better than ever!

Have a good week,

Dave

old guy II wrote:

Folks seem to be a bit slow about posting this week.

Yeah, seems pretty slow this week. Hope it's just because that the message board has been acting pretty funky the past few days: the LRC Elves working, Massive spam messages, pages not coming up....pretty frustrating.

Post 'em, if you got 'em!

Finally got on here to post. Another great weekend in MN. I can't remember the last time I got overheated in October. 35 miles this week with 10 miles of trails on Saturday. The heat and hills got to me the last 3 miles so backed off the already slow pace. I'm just putting in the miles now although I need to do some striders a couple times a week.

I never had any injuries from other sports. Since I started running at 16 I haven't spent much time in any other sport. Friends give me grief for getting bored with other sports (golf, biking, basketball...) but I keep running, which in their minds is the most boring activity they've tried. Hope everyone is staying/getting healthy.

my excuse for being late is a combination of massive amounts of work, travel, and a multiday migraine that i still can't shake (but have had to work through). these also constitute my excuse for only getting in 45 miles last week (one more track workout of 400s and 200s; same paces as the week before) and already having a day off this week. i'm home again, work has calmed down to its normal level, and hopefully my head will straighten itself out soon!

i didn't start running until age 38, and i don't believe anything i did as a dancer (age 17-23) or aerobicizer (age 27-38; yes, it's embarrassing) did anything to impair me now. i suppose if i were to blame my spate of stress fractures on anything, it would have to be on breast feeding while going through a particularly rough patch in my prior marriage during which i lost weight and likely loss bone mass as my son (who turns 21 this week) benefitted from my calcium supply. just a theory. the interesting thing will be to see how negatively my bones respond to menopause when it kicks in -- i know, just the topic you guys are interested in discussing here ;-)

Sunday- 2 Miles easy- 2x10-12 min tempo- 1 hour easy - 15 total

Monday- Easy 7 miles

Tuesday - easy 8 miles

Wednesday- Fartlek (5 min hard, 3 easy) - 9 miles total including W.U. and C.D.

Thursday- 7 in the AM and 4 in the PM

Friday-7 in the Am and 5.5 in the PM

Saturday- 2 mile W.U, 5k tempo - 17:20 - 2 Mile C.D. - 7.1 total

Weeks total -- 69.6 miles

...pretty good week, 13 till my first marathon!

I jogged 70 mile this week

2 work outs

22:30 5k

6 x 800 at 322

goal to race 5k at sub 19

age 50

I don't have or ever have any pain or injurys

I am a bit intimidated by you guys but I will jump into the thread.

Right now I am overweight and out of shape so my first orders of business are to build up and slim down. I am doing a "Whitlock Buildup" (just coined that phrase) of adding 1 minute a day to my running. My plan is to build up by the end of the year to 90 minutes a day and lose 20 pounds along the way. Here is my week:

10/11 - 12 Min

10/12 - 13 Min

10/13 - 14 Min

10/14 - 15 Min

10/15 - 16 Min

10/16 - 17 Min

10/17 - 18 Min

Total for the week: 105 Minutes

All of this is very slow, highly aerobic.

Hey runmore, Good for you! I know exactly where you are at, as do many others on this thread. I was there a few year's back (maybe more so). It takes time, patience, commitment, and persistence. You stepped in and revived the tail-end of last week's thread, but since we had a fairly sub-par response last week, maybe we can just start from here and keep it going for a second week.

I only managed 29 miles this week on 4 runs (including 11 yesterday). After last Saturday's awful run, I took a few days (Sun-Tues) off of running and just did hip exercises. Not sure how much resting the hip helped, but I do feel like I'm making progress on the hip issue.

Maybe our topic can be: What was your longest time off, and what did you do to get back into it? Most people here know I took off 26-27 years. I started very slowly 3-4 times/week 1-2 miles for the first few weeks, and building up to about a 4 mile run by the fourth month. Rather than look at the daily cycle, I more looked at the weekly cycle. Most important thing was to get those days in, listen to your body, be willing to let up when things don't feel good, but not using that as an excuse either.

Looking towards this upcoming week, against my better judgment, I was coaxed into helping out a team that fell short a man in the 200-mile Bourbon Chase Relay. We'll see how it goes.

Post 'em up!!

Howdy. Did a 6K trail race yesterday. Part of it was single track with steep ascent/descent(sp?). It was tough and I feel it today. I am mostly a flat racer compared to that stuff. I had some Solomon trail shoes and they were excellent. Managed 2nd in age group. 3 of the top ten were over 50. Have a 15K next weekend that is hilly but on roads.

Not entirely appropriate but I seriously broke my one shoulder skiing in the U.P. requiring a 4 hour operation and a pin. I broke the opposite collar bone falling down at a Badger game when I was younger. Now, every night I have to continuously roll over because I can't stay on one shoulder too long as they ache and I wake up. So, I never really get a decent nights sleep. Have a good week. Tom

I didn't run for 24 years (20-44).

48 and 37 miles the last two weeks with 19:59 5k this week.

No lingering injuries, but it did take awhile to build up after taking so long off. Be patient. My only current injuries came when I wasn't patient.

Nicely done RunMore...remember that the body is an amazingly adaptive machine.

RE: longest period missed? Six weeks in 1979 as I rolled an ankle doing a final depletion run 6 days before Nike OTC Marathon ( anybody remener depletion runs and protein phase of carbohydrate loading?)

Aside from that debacle, have run 40+ years without a break...the downside of all those years is that there is some finite number of lifetime miles whereby once one has gone beyond X, it is kind of all downhill from there...for me that was probably somewhere around 45,000 miles...so now here at almost 96,000 miles, I get trounced by guys my age who have "only" done 30,000 miles...but I wouldn't trade a single mile as the sport has been so richly rewarding for so very long.

Just completed six consecutive 50 mile weeks and although my body continues to rebel, the spirit is still VERY willing.

Long may you run,

MF

MF, following you on this thread reminds me that I spent about 40 minutes following you around Golden Gate Park a couple of years ago at club nationals. It seemed like every couple of hundred meters there would be some fans yelling "Go Fanelli" so I figured out it was you. I took almost 8 years off from running after college. I spent 3 years at the tail end of Vietnam ('72-75) in the Navy in situations that didn't lend themselves to running. I married a very talented swimmer (to whom I have been married 38 years now)and just swam with her for training for 5 years after the Navy. After 5 years of swimming with her I was about 0.5 sec. faster than her for 50yds., about even with her at 100yds., and about 10 sec. slower than her for 200 yds., and it was downhill from there. So, I figured I might go back to alternating running and swimming training. After a couple of more years I went back to regular running training and only occasional swimming workouts. Since about age 30 I have been running regularly except for short breaks due to the usual, young kids, heavy workload, minor injuries, etc. For this past week I got in a good solid 51 miles. I am aiming for another two weeks at about the same level, then a small taper and our local XC Championships.

35 miles on 6 runs this week. Ran too hard Tues. Easy fartlek on Thurs and long run on Saturday. Getting use to the trails. Another busy weekend of yard work and too many trips up and down the ladder left my quads sore.

Had about a month off after a job change but normally don't take more than 4-5 days off. I need to run mentally as much as anything.

welcome, runmore. keeping steady is what it's all about -- that, and having fun.

lucKY2b, glad the hip is improving; and top cat, seems as though you and i traded places this week: you racing trails and me racing a flat road 5K.

the race went well, with an overall win on the women's side (no competition, though, since the second-place woman was fully two and a half minutes back) and ninth finisher overall. i'm pleased with how it went: 19:33, which is just three seconds off my PR. the week itself was so-so, though, due to a four-day migraine, which limited both my running and my general functionality. 56 miles, including a 20K hill-ful trail race last sunday and a 12x 1-min hill bounding workout midweek (the first time i've done such a workout, so i purposefully kept it light).

the longest i've been off running is about four months with my first stress fracture, and my 2009 injuries kept me out for nearly as long. all's good now though, and i am grateful for every day i can get out and get muddy (or not get muddy -- i don't care).

Very nice 5k, NLS - I wish I could manage that.

I'm having some tightness/pain in the ol' butt/hamstring which is generally due to racing in spikes and doing a lot of running on uneven surfaces. I guess I overuse a kind of weak muscle and it gets tired and cranky. I am working on some exercises I used to do and they seem to help.

Even though it was a glorious weekend for running and I had about FIVE choices of xc races (4 college ones and one all-comers), I didn't race at all. I decided that I was tired and needed sleep - so I slept in and ran with my daughter for her long run (and I cut hers a mile short because SHE needs rest too).

Hip/butt is feeling better.

Never did another sport, but I broke my sacrum sledding with my children about 11 years ago and I do think that the way it healed has affected me. I was back in great shape in about 6 months post-injury, but I still can't roll down vertebrae by vertebrae. My lower back seems to move in one group and I'm sure that flexibility issue helps aggravate my hip/butt pain.

The longest I've been off is about 12 weeks for that injury and about 10 weeks with my last pregnancy (I ran all the way to the end with the other two). And I, too, am grateful for every run!

Runmore,

you rock!!

This week, 4:50 min aerobic training and 2 hr weights and core strength workout.

did a little skiing (3 hr), trail riding (45 min), and some running (with ski walking up the steep climbs).

As far as significant injury from back when from another sport, well all that started a year ago this month. I was running 60-75 mile weeks, and ran a 1:18 HM last year, in prep for NYC Marathon. But I fell while rollerskiing (decided to cross train to save from the pounding) and damaged my knee.

DNF'd last long run a year ago today, but tried to run NYC anyway with disastrous results. Rested all winter and had it scoped in March, but they didn't go beyond that because damage wasn't as severe as MRI indicated.

I've been able to run only 3 of the past 12 months, and re-injured the knee in June.

The good news is that for the first time in 4 months I can run without (much) pain (which usually hits the day after).

Back to doctor today for follow-up, maybe additional treatment if needed. Been doing PT for three months and have ordered new orthotics. Meanwhile, I cross train a lot.