50+ Weekly Training Thread (for week ending 05-Dec-2010)

Hey Runmore,

Not a fantastic week, Sorry. Between weather and work, only managed to get out 4 times for a total of 32 miles. Did a minute amount a speed work one of those days, and a progression run that finished off with 2 sub-6 miles, but otherwise I'm pretty much just in maintenance mode. Continuing with a fair amount of core exercises and associated stretches, though.

Getting out and just running easy isn't really too much of a problem, if I can find the time, I just lace-up and go. But getting out and running hard (i.e.-training) does require some extra motivation. For that, what keeps me motivated is having a race to look forward to. Perhaps that is why I'm not really feeling it right now. When I'm in training mode, weather is not a factor and I put running higher on my priority list, time-wise; I just do what I gotta do. Without that carrot, I do slack off both the speed work and the miles.

As such, I pick a few key races during the year that are important to me, and I make it my goal to try to be in as good a shape as I can be for those few races. I try not to worry too much about the intensity of my training in the times in between, although I must admit that I do need to work on improving my base training, that is for sure.

Have a great week, everyone, especially those going to Club Cross this weekend! Looks like a quite a good turnout for this one.

37 miles in 4 days. My racing season is over and I’m just enjoying some long slow runs. I normally run 5 days but some unusually strong storms came through in the location I had traveled to and I felt no guilt in bagging it for my usual 5th day.

My number one motivation is my running friends. Even when I’m not running with them we support each other in our endeavors. Second, of course, is racing. I have a set of races that I use to measure my progress. The biggest challenge is finding track races for “seniors” that I can enter. I love the track and the mile is my best “distance”. I have a hard time justifying driving 400 miles to run for a few minutes though.

a pretty good week for me with more days with effort than usual, although i was hoping for more miles. mileage in the low 60s with two runs over two hours, a nighttime 8x 2:15 workout uphill, into the wind, in slushy snow -- really ;-) also 10x 1-min hill bounds another day, and an attempted 4-mile tempo that started out depressingly slow but at least ended up at 10K pace. also, while getting ready to head out the door to help the timing crew at the local all-comers indoor track meet, my husband convinced me to run the mile, since i plan to run at hartshorne next month and need a bit of experience. having not done any mile-specific training yet, i was delighted to see a woman i had been playing leapfrog with at the xc meets this fall. she was quite willing to let me shadow her. it would have been nice had i been able to outkick her, although i couldn't. still, i was happy to run 5:51 and come away uninjured.

the latter was my primary goal, since i leave tomorrow morning for a conference in charlotte and will stick around for team nationals. although i won't be running as part of a team, i will be hanging around with the large crowd of GVH folks from rochester, ny. i hope to meet some of you there. i'm the noticeably short one with frizzy light-brown hair.

my motivation? two-fold, i'd say: top of the list is enjoying being in the woods, and second is feeling good about racing, which is a big part of my husband's and my social life.

runmore, you're continuing buildup is inspiring. keep at it, and happy holidays everyone.

Mon - Kyak, rugged mt bike ride and rugged hour trail run.

Tue - 3k track race, long warmup run in the forest beforehand.

Wed - 2hr plus run inc 57min climb up a local mtn.

Thu - Rugged mt bike ride.

Fri - Easy jog. Kyak.

Sat - 70min forest run, fartlek.

Sun - 45min run with 4x400m barefoot on the golf course.

I need no external motivators to run or bike or to put the craft in the lake or river. The pleasure of being out and about exploring the environment is enough motivation for me.I still enjoy putting myself on the line in the race so this keeps me motivated to put a bit of intensity into the efforts.

Had a nice week of running. 61 miles with 4 solid 10 milers and a few easy runs.

My wife I headed out of town immediately after Saturdays 10 miler. We received a text from our Son during my run, that our first grandchild was on the way! She was born about 2 hours into our 12 hour drive to Spartanburg, SC. Pretty exciting times! We'll stay down here for the week then I'll drop her off at the airport before I head over to Charlotte on Friday. Looking forward to Club Nats (and the post race party!!!) on Saturday. Anyone else going to be there? Look me up, We'll have a beer...

My motivation? I have no idea. I look forward to my run everyday. It seems like it is never hard to get out for my daily run.

Dave

Dave- Congrats on being a Grandfather, and good luck next week!

Runmore- For my 1 1/2 cents worth; it is good to back off a bit at times as you are increasing the work load. Maybe just one day at 30 min, or the two days at 15/20% less than normal. You have done a great job in getting to where you are at now!

36 miles in 6 days.

Tues workout of 5x1000, 2 1/2 min rec.

Sat- 6x10sec hill sprints and 5 miles @7:15 pace.

Having a races to get ready for is the difference between running 5-7 days/week as opposed to 2-4.

Really looking forward to seeing the results of the clubs next week!

Rich

Racerdb wrote:

Had a nice week of running. 61 miles with 4 solid 10 milers and a few easy runs.

My wife I headed out of town immediately after Saturdays 10 miler. We received a text from our Son during my run, that our first grandchild was on the way! She was born about 2 hours into our 12 hour drive to Spartanburg, SC. Pretty exciting times! We'll stay down here for the week then I'll drop her off at the airport before I head over to Charlotte on Friday. Looking forward to Club Nats (and the post race party!!!) on Saturday. Anyone else going to be there? Look me up, We'll have a beer...

My motivation? I have no idea. I look forward to my run everyday. It seems like it is never hard to get out for my daily run.

Dave

Some indulged grandpa .

Is she flying solo ,or can she flap her arms real hard, Grandpa Walton ?

Motivation was a problem this week for me. Getting over a head cold plus 9" snow storm Friday night was a lot of it. Ended up with 23 miles on 6 runs with no long run this week.

I usually look forward to running every day. I feel sluggish too when I take too many easy days. My best pre-race taper is a day off 2 days prior to the race and a quick run the day before the race.

Moderate coldsnap going on here (the bad ones are -20s to -50s F).

M - 50 min easy classic ski, recovery effort (-18 F)

T - 2X 50 min classic ski/coaching (-14 F) [indoor weights, 55 min]

W - 30 min run (-20 F), 1:15 classic ski, incl threshold intervals (3X 8 min) (-10 F)

Th - 1:10 classic ski, but broken into 2 shorter segments (-13 F)

F - 1 hr skate ski with 3X 7 min threshold intervals (0 F)

S - 1 hr ski (+10 F, a heat wave)

Su - 2 classic hr ski (-5 F) [indoor weights, 30 min]

about 8:30 aerobic work for the week, and 1:25 weights.

Things cut short a little by events of the weekend, not to mention cold. I had wanted to run this weekend but too many things going on. Knee, mostly good, but was sore on Sunday and I started skating but turned around and switched gear/technique.

Motivation is usually not a huge problem. I'm on a continuous feedback loop: Feel better because of training (prefer an hour or more a day); race because, hey, I'm in decent shape and it keeps up motivation; the more training the better the race results; must keep on training.