50+ Weekly Training Thread (for week ending 6-Feb-2011)

Great potato sack race ! Who won the egg toss ?

Congrats, old guy II! Give us more race details when you get home.

Well I'm 5 Corona's into my Saturday night and shouldn't be posting now but...

My week sucked. I finally admitted to myself my hamstring is eff'd up. And has been since November of 2009! I took four days off this week after walking home from my run on Monday night. Spent all week icing, stretching, drills, not running. Today I ran 4 miles pain free! First time since for a long time nothing hurt. I really need to take this seriously or my year is going isn't going to be very good. This hamstring issue needs to go away, now.

Have a good week everyone!

Dave

Great job old guy II! Sometimes a distraction prior to a race is actually the best thing that can happen. I watched the masters race online; looks like it was a really nice day. Hope it didn't hurt too much to get out and run this morning. Man, Magill really laid down the hammer! And what about Colleen de Reuck; what a dominant performance!!! All I was thinking was...WOW!

Racerdb, you've been running all those great times with an eff'd up hammie? Impressive! Sounds like it has come to a head, though. Hope you find a speedy solution. I can empathize with having a chronic niggle. It's been a long, slow recovery for me.

My week was about like last. 44 miles on 6 days of running. Went to the indoor track MWF, did a bit of speed work on WF, and did about 20 min of drills all three days. Otherwise, miles in the low to mid 7's. Actually, I also tempoed 4.5 miles at about 6:15-6:20 pace during a 10 mile run last Sunday (start of my week).

I guess we didn't really get a topic for the week, but let's take old guy II's post as a premise. When was the last time you felt really exuberant about your performance after a race? For me, it was last July 4th, when I broke 36 for the 10k. It was a pipe dream, I thought, at the time. I don't party much anymore...but I felt a real sense of accomplishment that day. Seems like a distant memory as this winter of discontent drags on.

Hope everyone is logging the miles!

I should have added that I, too, would love to hear some more XC race report. I know that Rich also competed, winning the 55-59 range. I know that this is typically outside his usual race range; gotta think those last few miles hurt. Really excellent performances overall!

On a completely unrelated note: Go Pack Go!

OGII, i have found that posting while intoxicated is generally a risky idea, but you earned it and your joy showed through, so thanks and congrats!

A very inspiring performance by many out there in San Diego.

Here in Boston we got the truly crappy weather this week: Freezing rain. We gave thanks for the ice pellets which gave traction on the evil glaze, on our jog to the gym for one of many tm runs.

But still a good week: 87 miles in 13 runs,

with two tempo runs at 10.5-11 mph, the rest, including a 16 miler,

mostly at 8min pace or slower.

That long run was a slog over snow and ice, dodging charity runners, cars civilians and canines on Comm Ave. To borrow from Brendan Foster, I started tired and finished cold and tired.

But happy.

Old Guy 11- good run and good reason for a hang over!

L2B- yes the race was about 3 or more miles too long. Ran it hoping to hang with my team mate Dale for as long as I could before being dropped, but his calves seized on the 1st lap and he had to back off. It was a fun event except for the run. The grass seemed to be pretty soft and spongy, and happily the hills were short. Great weather and it was nice having the water and sand right next to the course, as you can see on the video. Enjoyed watching the guys battle it out on the video as well.

Hope more can make it out for the next one,

Rich

Congrats OldguyII; bummer about the hamstring rdb.

Hope that heels up well and in a reasonable time.

xcski: 88 km (5 days skiing (~8 hr))

Run: 14.5 mi (3 easy runs (~2 hr)

Weights: 1:05:00 (2 sessions)

Last week was a big volume week, and I had a race I wanted to nail this week so I cut back on Friday and Saturday. At 10 hr. Decent.

The race. 10K ass kicker course: 6 substantial hill climbs with 1200' vertical over the route. here's the course profile:

http://skiraces.sportalaska.com/2010-2011/14-02-bcup6/bcup6-10k-course-profile.pdf

Brutal. I thought I was was dying out there after about 4K through 7K especially. A lot of climbing. My heart rate hung in the mid 160s, with peaks in the 170s. Never dropped even on the downhills. Pedal to the metal.

Finished wobbly but strong, 32:30, 1st masters I (incl. 40 and over) and would have been top 4 on my son's high school team. Beat a rival 50+ skier by more than a minute, first time I'd finished ahead of him in head to head skate competition at a distance less than 42K in something like 3 or 4 years. He's generally better at the shorter races and destroys me in the classic technique.

For comparative reference, the top 3 overall were national class skiers (each with several top 10 finishes at US nationals in the past few years) and they skied in the low 27s.

I guess drinking is the theme of the week. I had one beer (Alaskan Amber) yesterday evening after the race. That was plenty.

it was wonderful watching the xc races online, even if fuzzily low-res and with only a view of the leaders. in the men's masters race, however, that was a fine view to have. congrats to rlb and all others who ran; there's a big discussion over on the masters thread about the usual godly suspects, but also including muddy girl's report about how she dug deep and passed umpteen women -- way to go!

also, excellent performances by you other racers.

as for me, still no running, but i've been diligently getting beat up by my ART guy as well as spending time on the bike with handweights. i'm up to an hour and a half at a time, with controlled arm flailing throughout. i'm hoping my PT/chiro can get to the "bottom" of things this week and i can start running again pronto. four weeks feels like a wicked-long time of just looking out the window at the snow instead of getting out and playing in it.

Quite a week in the world of Master's racing. Well done up there in AK;;; and the wonderment of SD XC has me mind boggled. If SoCal Pete serves up anything more stupendous, I'll end the day believing the Packers could win the Super Bowl. Which they DID!!!

My own efforts were so humble as to be hardly worthy to note But here goes anyway.

Daily short runs of 25-40 minutes on the snowmobile trail which traverses our property. Pace was in the 10 min/mile range. These are really not training runs per se. "Joie de vivre" more aptly describes them. Since the lingering PF is gone, I rejoice in being able to get out and run pain free once again at any pace. The Border collies are good training partners,if fartlek is the order of the day.

Somewhere along the line my subconcious has decreed" If this can't be fun, it ain't worth doing and won't work anyway."

Best wishes for a full recovery to any injured in our midst, esp.nls.

l2B; How about those Packers!!

Bushman wrote:

l2B; How about those Packers!!

Yeah, buddy!!

Actually, I also wanted to congratulate Dave (racerdb) on another honorable mention in Running Times magazine masters road runner of the year. Rich (rlb), I was a bit surprised you didn't receive recognition, as well, maybe it's because you did most your damage on the track last year. Are there others in there I missed? If so, accept my congrats and apologies.

Cheers.

After Sunday's recovery run, my week was officially 35 stellar miles total.

Thanks for the congratulations from all. Thinking about the race experience really brought back to mind a couple of things that I shouldn't have to constantly relearn after 40-some years of training and racing, but apparently I have difficulty remembering. First, for any race over about 5k, what you do in training the last two weeks before the race doesn't make that much difference (unless you really overdo it). It's the 3-4 months of training before that point that determines fitness. Second, no matter how many hundred races you may have run, when you toe the line at a national championship you get excited and are more likely than not to take the race out too fast if you aren't really disciplined about it.

Because of my limited training in the prior two weeks, I took the race out at what I thought was an extremely conservative pace. Even so, my first 2k loop was still my fastest by a couple of seconds over the next three loops. My first three 2k loops were all within about 0:10 of each other, which really helped my race performance. My last loop I was racing (not time trialing)so it was slower. One of my competitors made a move by me late in the third loop, so I elected to try and just sit on him if I could until the final straight. I was a 440 guy in college, so I have a lot more confidence in my speed than in my endurance. My competitor made a couple of surges on the last loop that put a lot of stress on me, but then he seemed to settle just bit in the last 800 meters, so I was able to close up on him for the final straight. Fortunately, I was able to accelerate off the top of that last rise and get 0:03 on him in the last 100 meters. Now it's back to trying to get in some consistent good mileage, and I hope to meet a couple more of you on the track this Spring and Summer.

Bushman wrote:

l2B; How about those Packers!!

lucKY2b wrote:Yeah, buddy!!

Ok, as a lifelong diehard Bears fan, I've got to admit I was cheering for the Pack. It's probably the worst thing a Bears fan can admit to...

lucKY2b wrote:Actually, I also wanted to congratulate Dave (racerdb) on another honorable mention in Running Times magazine masters road runner of the year.

Thanks on the RT thing...it only took me 34 years of running & racing to get my name in a magazine! I knew if I stuck with it long enough I just might amount to something someday...

Dave

Congratulations old guy II! What a great feeling that must have been.

I was there as well, and once again found that I can't believe how slow I've gotten. I'm in my late 50's and have slowed drastically, even since I was 50. I'm not talking about normal slowing with age. More like where my age grading has dropped way off. Looking back at my times in my mid to late 30's, I was low to mid 80's%. Even at 50, I was close to 80%. Now I'm doing well to hit the low to mid 70's%.

I'm training great, mileage up to the low 70's, with fartleks, intervals, and tempo runs. I just can't seem to crank it up to race very fast. I tried hard to recall the last time I was thrilled with a race performance, and I think it may be a few years ago when I broke 20 for 5K a couple of times. Haven't done it since. I'm not sure that my feeble competitive efforts are worth the time and energy that I put into them, but then I still enjoy all the training, so what the hell.

I'm back! lot's of great stuff on letsrun for masters. How about the Magill thread? Wow. I do not know him so I can't comment, but it is an interesting topic...performance enhancing drugs (besides viagra) for us old guys. I always throw this question out there... If you could take something with absolutely no side effects and no chance of getting caught (but knew it was illegal) would you take it? I personally think if money was involved and I was a world class runner then my answer would/could be different.

On a completely different note, I had a good week training (not that you care).

75 miles with 1 workout. 5 x 1mile w/ 1 min. R 5:25, 5:34, 5:34, 5:36, 5:32 on rolling hills. First workout of year and very pleased.

db. get healthy. congrats old guy II.

Doubt if it's much consolation but my late 50's results seem to mirror yours. Ran a couple 80% races at 56-57 YO. Last year at 59 it was a stretch to get under 9 min. pace on training runs. My one "apples to apples" 10K comparison race went from 40:12 in 2009, to 45XX in 2010.The decline has been precipitous, not linear at all. What the Hell indeed.

To quote Casey Stengel" Life is just one damned thing after the next".

Now I've got to dig around the house a little and find my RT. Gotta know who Rich is.

Good to see you posting, 26385. Maybe we can learn something...And yea, we care.

Drugs? I'd like to think I would never do anything but you really don't know what would happen if you were at the elite level. I'm currently on Ibuprofen, peanut butter & Metamucil washed down with a few Corona's on the weekend...Hope they don't ban that stuff!

I just got the meaning of your screen name...It's a marathon! I'm pretty slow these days...I thought it was a zip code or something.

Dave

26385 wrote:

I'm back! lot's of great stuff on letsrun for masters. How about the Magill thread? Wow. I do not know him so I can't comment, but it is an interesting topic...performance enhancing drugs (besides viagra) for us old guys. I always throw this question out there... If you could take something with absolutely no side effects and no chance of getting caught (but knew it was illegal) would you take it? I personally think if money was involved and I was a world class runner then my answer would/could be different.

On a completely different note, I had a good week training (not that you care).

75 miles with 1 workout. 5 x 1mile w/ 1 min. R 5:25, 5:34, 5:34, 5:36, 5:32 on rolling hills. First workout of year and very pleased.

Sure we care, and I'll say that's a pretty solid workout. Certainly outside my rep range. I think my reps would be more in the 5:50 range, and that'd be on the track.

As for the PED's question, I'm like racerdb; I'd like to think the answer is no, I wouldn't. On the otherhand, I don't rely on running for my income, so I don't have that pressure. It's easy to say you wouldn't when looking on from the sidelines.