50+ Weekly Training Thread ( week ending Jan 16, 2011)

Hey all. Dave, thanks for getting the early start.

Another lackluster week; shoehorned a minimal set of runs in between the start of classes, late advising, and portfolio preparation among other duties. As such, 4 runs of no consequence in the low to mid 7 min/mile range totaling to about 27 miles. Overall, the last month has been disappointing, but I think that after this coming week, things will have settled into enough of a pattern that I'll be able to get the mileage back up into the 45-55 range. (Knock on wood).

To the topic: I guess that my racing season (if you want to call it that), starts late April, but I try to reach peak condition by the end of June and maintain it through start if August. I then usually back off a bit and hope to regroup for the October races (that didn't happen this year due to the hip thing I developed out of greed last summer).

I share Dave's sentiment that it was nice to see some new people posting last week, hope everyone's running has been going well.

NLS, best of luck for next Saturday's big mile race; hope you are feeling well-tuned and good to go!

well, this week has sucked for me, i'm sad to report. i snowshoed for the first time this winter monday evening under rutty/awkward conditions and then badly tweaked something in my butt tuesday when i very mildly tripped on the same trails. i haven't even been able to jog since then. i've been getting close and intimate with my ART guy, though. i saw him wed, thurs, and fri, got a massage from someone he recommended saturday, and will be back in for more ART tomorrow and thursday. i'm feeling some improvement and plan to try jogging a bit tomorrow, but realize my chance to race at all -- let alone do well -- next saturday is greatly diminished. the current best-case scenario is to jog very short but comfortably monday and tuesday, do a few 200s at race pace without pain on wednesday, and get in a few miles with strides thursday and friday. if anything resembling this can happen, i'll toe the line at hartshorne; if not, i'll be there cheering from the sidelines (and trying not to feel sorry for myself ;-)

as for the question of the week, perhaps my lack of planned downtime is part of my current problem. i enjoy going from one type of training/racing to the next, and only take substantial time off if i'm really hurt. my plan had been to be embroiled with miling beginning as soon as the charlotte xc race ended through hartshorne and shift directly back to ultra training, with something like the following schedule: feb 20, 50K; maybe mar 5, 50 mi; apr 9, 50 mi; early may, trail 26K; following week maybe 50 mi; late may 30 mi, and so on. maybe i'll learn, though, and be smarter. you think?

i'll keep the thread posted on how this week goes, and thanks for your good wishes, lucKY2b. best to you with ramping the mileage back up, and lets all hope for pleasant running conditions, whether that means dry and not cold/slippery, or nice snow for snowshoeing, eh?

Oh no NLS!! That sucks. The same thing happened to me a few years ago - I had a nagging pain in my butt, which I basically ignored and ran through. I was running the local BIG race (the only road race which I wind up doing) - a 15k that goes uphill for more than half the race. At the very end of the climbing, I started to descend and POP! My hamstring/butt just went and I actually had to come to a full stop and get a ride back to the finish with a cop. I hope yours heals quickly and that you can once again relish your Barton Hall hack after a mile well run.

The "fine, soft day" yesterday (rain) turned into a steady downpour this morning which did eventually end (after I was thoroughly soaked). But the little streams were full on brown torrents and the trail itself resembled a river bed. It was frustrating and I had a time limit on my run, so I abandoned the trails and picked my way carefully down a "firelane". There are supposed to accommodate firetrucks, but I call BS on that as I slipped and careened off trees until I reached the very steep, rocky final 50m, which I descended on butt.

A bit more than 60 this week (I think) with a tempo interval workout on Wednesday and a structured fartlek yesterday and only about 12 today. The freezing cold from last week has abated and now we're back to typical Portland winter weather -- rain, rain, rain. It's not cold, though, so it's not miserable, but the trails are rapidly approaching maximum saturation. No sign of sun for at least a week.

My knee is still sore, but I figured out that it's from swinging my leg around instead of lifting it. I dragged out Pete Egoscue's book, Pain-free, and started doing some of the e-cises for my hip flexors (which are incredibly weak). I already feel a bit better. The book is well worth the $10 I spent on Amazon.

I managed to stay above 50 for another week with 51 of steady work this week.

I tend to race year round, but focus more on the fall XC season. I think my first race this will be XC Nationals if things go well for the next three weeks.

Oh, sorry to hear that NLS. Get well soon.

I had 40 miles in 6 running days in my comeback week after some nasty flu last week. I’m morphing my schedule to increase the volume for no other reason than I’m finally, finally able to do it without something falling apart. I’m afraid to jinx myself, but I feel really good. I’ve been working through a number of mechanical issues for 5 years so I hope my patience is finally paying off.

My racing season will start on April 2nd. This year I’ll get back on the track in mid March to add some speed. All the way back 35 years I have always peaked dead in the middle of the summer, much to my coach’s dismay back then…ha ha. I work on more base, add some more speed with more hills, and then try a second peak in October. It’s never as fast as July for some reason.

Nice job knocking down +50 old guy II.

i definitely plan to err on the side of caution. sounds like quite a fun, sloppy time out on the trails, muddy girl -- i bet you completely lived up to your screenname. good going on getting your mileage up. take care of that knee. i spent quite a bit of time in portland in the late 90s, and those not-so-cold, drizzly winter days made for fine running, but it's hard to find the joy in chilly downpours.

NLS, I hope your whirlwind relationship with the ART guy is just what you need and you are back in action soon.

muddy girl, I'm glad to hear you seem to have found a solution to your strange knee problem. Those are usually hard to figure out.

I ran in college at Humboldt where rain and mud were pretty severe.

"Here Comes the Sun" was my theme song in April.

Now living in Boston, winter is eternal and no one sings.

My week was like this:

Sun 12 mi Newton hills

Mon am 4 pm 8

Tues am 4 pm 8

Wed am 4 (treadmill, blizzard part deux) pm 8 (tm, progression to 11 mph)

Thurs am 4 t.m.

pm .5 then stabbing pain in right soleus at first hill. No run can do, walk home.

Fri am drugs pm drugs

Sat 4mi jog

Sun 6 mi ez calf seems better

Dunno what it was (hope past tense is appropriate), except maybe too much running at 2% incline on tm, with Saucony Kinvaras (low heel lift). Love the Kinvaras but switched back to Grid Tangents for the while. Scary, but calf seems to be ok. Will try 2x tomorrow.

As to the Question: Right now it's indoor season.

Hopefully I can race 3k at the GBTC meet this weekend then 5k at New England indoors in Feb.

But these are just tests of fitness in the laboratory. The first real race is New Bedford Half Marathon in March. I've run it at least 10 times, lotta race memories, set my pr there, so it is a real benchmark. Great course, great headwinds, great competition (from several 50+ guys who would be valuable contributers to this thread. C'mon Johnny Boy, Craig, Norm, Tony, Jimmy, Chris, Paul, Doug... I know you're lurking.)

NLS, yes, I'm sure you have the visual -- short, middle-aged woman, wearing black short/top, completely drenched, mud splattered all up her legs, with bits of leaves and other trail debris stuck on. Long brown ponytail, hopelessly snarled up and bangs dripping. The only thing missing today was a streak of blood coming off a knee or hand. Gee, it's a wonder that a string of guys isn't fighting for my attention!! ;-D

As long as it isn't too cold, you hardly notice the rain. ;-) And I gladly traded rain for the Minnesota winters (or worse yet - heat and humidity)

My training is essentially focused on xc, so I spend the entire spring/summer working on mileage with rarely a race in there. August is Hood to Coast, then xc, xc, xc until clubs, a week or so easy, then more xc until Feb. Then back to basic training. I did run a bunch of races this summer, but that was an anomaly and I didn't really focus on any of them. My races in summer are usually trail or adventure ones.

I do miss indoor track, though, but I have a hard time imagining Dempsey as being as fun as the Armory.

NLS, so sorry about your bad luck. :-( I sure hope that the quick rehab works its magic, and you don't have to bail on your race.

Muddy girl, excuse me for chuckling, but I just have images of you cursing as you're on your ars sliding down what is supposed to be an emergency road! Pretty raw stuff, glad you survived it relatively unscathed. One of those events you'll recall with humor some day. It certainly makes for an adventure. Hope you've truly solved your knee issue. From what I've read, it seems like weak hips are the bane of most of us aging distance runners, and is no doubt the cause of my current pathology as well.

Sounds like most of you guys have been able to get your miles in one way or another, even if the weather has been dicy. Nice! I keep thinking I should invest in a treadmill, then I think, why? Then I read MG and NLS's posts and I think, well, maybe it would be prudent....but then again, where's the fun in that?

Bummer about the strained muscles, NLS and maybe missing the Hartshorne mile.

Kind of a bleh week, capped off with a return to the deep freeze.

total training, 9:30 with just 7 miles running (a 4 and 3), the rest skiing, plus 2X 30 min core upper body workouts. I had a horrific 10K race on Saturday. Last week 1:10 for 20K, and basically same course did 36 min for 10K this week. A guy who had beaten me once in 7 years was 3.5 min ahead. Felt blah and distracted going in, and it showed up on the course; plus one extra layer of wax didn't help. You learn.

I have 2 seasons. Ski racing is endless and starts here in November and goes until the end of March. I build to March and usually do 2 or 30 marathons (extreme, but recovery is much quicker on skis).

Running season is fairly short and I break it down into 2 sub seasons. The early season (May and June) are the quantitative races, where I try to run my fastest times for 5K and 10K or mile. After that most races shift to trails and odd distances on our local schedule. I go more aerobic and aim for longer distances and trail runs. There is an off road half marathon that I really enjoy. Be Sept things are winding down. One trail marathon and anything else is a fun run.

My wife and I are initiating a fall xc series this year (4 races in Sept and Oct)--should be a lot of fun.

Reeder wrote:

(from several 50+ guys who would be valuable contributers to this thread. C'mon Johnny Boy, Craig, Norm, Tony, Jimmy, Chris, Paul, Doug... I know you're lurking.)

No sh@t? Those guys are 50+ thread lurkers? I better watch what I say...

Post up. Trust me I have nothing when I get on here each Sunday and end up just winging it!

Dave

thanks to all of you for your friendly commiseration. without providing the blow-by-blow details, i became cautiously optimistic about racing on saturday, but am now somewhat less so. still, i haven't ruled it out altogether. today will be my fifth ART session in less than a week! tom hartshorne (the son of jim and the current organizer of the masters mile) assured me that i'm welcome to race even if i'm not at the top of my game on saturday, but what matters is being smart and not doing something that will set me back for an extended time. again, i very much appreciate everyone's support, and i'll keep you posted.

NLS- looks like you will do whatever is smart this weekend in regards to the race.

MG- Glad you didn't get lost on that run! And thanks for the Egosque reminder, I have been having problems with an old injury that has been flaring up these last few weeks, to more than just a constant slight reminder. Some of the things I've tried have made it worse, so broke out the book last night, after reading your post, and researched a few different exercises and think I hit the right one, as it was feeling better soon after.

For starting the season, mine sort of started last Saturday. An out and back 4 mile road race on a flat fast course, in 22:57. Did it as a wake up toughener for the 8k in San Diego in a few weeks, otherwise I would have run a much shorter track race this next weekend.

Have a good week everyone!

Rich

With the clamor for increased participation, I guess I'm way past due to chime in on this discussion.

I have about ten weeks of base training in as I prepare for next month's USATF XC Championships. I plan to travel out to San Diego, and even though I'll be a non-entity in the race, I'm looking forward to watching the other races, and enjoying a break from what has been a good old-fashioned northern winter here in NJ.

While I normally enjoy doing most of my running on trails, I've had to pound a lot more pavement recently than I have in a long time, even resorting to some extended treadmill runs on occasion. This morning, for instance, I awoke to snow, rain, and ice; so I headed over to the gym and played mind tricks to get through eight miles on the mill. After 15 minutes easy, I settled in for five miles at a steady pace, all the while picturing where I would be at any particular time on a familiar trail. Cooled down for a bit, then dashed off to work.

Logged 62 miles last week, 70 the week before, so despite the weather, I've gotten off to an OK start in 2011. Last week I included 6 x 1000 w/ 2 min. rests at a little faster than my 8K goal pace, and felt great. Most of my running has been at a "steady" pace; i.e. faster than easy, but slower than hard, probably around my projected marathon pace (not that I run marathons anymore). I've mixed in some fartleks and tempo runs, and am feeling better than I can remember at any time in the recent past.

Muddy girl, those Egoscue exercises can be quite helpful. I bought the book at the suggestion of a Letsrun poster (one of the many useful things I've learned on here), and not only do I do the E-cises faithfully, but I've been to a local Egoscue clinic for analysis and a custom menu. I'm convinced that the good posture and movement that result have played a big part in my being able to train as hard as I do at my age.

I'll look forward to seeing some of you at xc nationals.