50+ Masters Training and Racing Open Forum

Hang tough L2B, a few months of perseverance with the PT work might have you coming out the other side stronger and a better runner.

Good to see Bushie is back getting into some running and the like, and also Rtype getting stronger and faster. Both examples of formerly pretty fast runners nearly wiped out by injury. Keep up the good fight guys.

Thanks Mo\'pak and others: I appreciate the positivity, feedback, etc..

KP, really sorry about your foot. Hope that your prognosis is good, and you can avoid surgery.

Bushman! So good to hear from you and really glad you\'re out on the roads! Wasn\'t sure you\'d make it back, so this is most excellent news! Best of luck this XC-skiing season.

PTF (Paul), welcome to the thread. Took a gander at your blog; quite a lot to take in. Thanks for sharing!

Bend.....Oregon.....December....wish I could be there. My nephew from Bend just shared a video his friend took of them out split-boarding on Mount Bachelor. Looks like they\'ve already had a good amount of snow coverage! I think they went a little off the beaten path on this ride. I tried to share, but it was blocked.

Had another PT session yesterday--Some new balance and core routines; gonna really be working the balance ball the next few weeks!

Cheers!

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Week 128

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Salutations, 50+ers.

As we approach Thanksgiving, I'm feeling a bit reflective on life: health, family, employment, community, service seem to top my list of what's important. With my nuclear family as close as ever and my job both fulfilling and secure, I am grateful for the opportunity I have to give back through work-related and church outreach, and through volunteering with various non-profits in our area. There is so much that we can do to improve the communities in which we live. My experience with the runners in our area is that they are extremely generous with their time and energy. It brings me joy to consider them part of my larger family. And as far as health is concerned, I may be a bit broken as a runner for now, but all the important stuff seems to be in pretty good shape. Thus, on the whole, I consider myself to be a pretty lucky guy.

I'd also like to express my thanks to all of you for sharing your journeys. It helps to keep me both optimistic and grounded. Your comments always give me food for thought as I consider the next step to take, and relaying your own struggles and successes inspire me to be better.

Only managed to run once early week. The new PT routines have left my adductors really sore, and the last time I ran with sore adductors, I pulled a groin muscle. I don't want to risk that! We'll get back to doing some light running this week (I hope). We're doing a lot more with the balance ball, which really taxes the stabilizers. Then he added a routine where I lay sideways with the ball between my feet and lift the ball....this is what is really getting the adductors! It's something like this, (

http://www.directlyfitness.com/wordpress/wp-content/uploads/2011/11/swiss-ball-pushes.jpg

), but he said not to prop my head up like she's doing. I wanted to note that for all my exercises he has me do it's always in three sets of 10 on each side or leg, with a short 30s rest between sets. We stick to five different exercises per day. And then there is a set of stretching routines afterward.

I was then talking to an older gentleman in our club who has had a sports hernia for years, and he said that deep-tissue massage has really helped to keep him running without surgery. He's in his 70's and is often the age group winner, so he keeps pretty fit. I mentioned that these are so deep in the gut that I didn't see how they could really o a proper massage, and he said that it's a challenge, but a good massage therapist knows how to reach those spots. I'm not putting this on the front burner at this point, but I'd be curious if others have had experience.

OK. That's a lot of rambling. I'd better get on with my day. We've got packet pick-up both today and Wednesday for our big Thanksgiving race, so I'm pretty busy this week. Hope you are all in a good place.

All the best!

My work week was very busy so I only had 3 workouts. Getting ready to leave for a weight lifting session and I have coaching late afternoon...at an INDOOR track, thank goodness. It's a windy 21 degrees right now, ugh.

This week I had 2 sprint workouts. 1 mile warmup, 5x50m, and 2x180 meters (the entire indoor track) where I sprinted the straights and jogged the curves. That was a little crazy since one of the curves is blind as you disappear around a workout room for spin classes. I made that my final jog curve so I wouldn't be gearing up for my second acceleration straight. Luckily I didn't take out any walkers. Half mile cool down.

Workout #3 was one hour on the elliptical. My left hammy felt sore and I was very smart in doing something safe.

This morning will be squats, glute press, pushups, crunches, pullups, and calf raise. 3 sets of the circuit.

Then I get to make chili and watch football!

Lucky, I can't speak to the success of massage for a possible tear in the abdominal region. I have had great success with graston and ART techniques for breaking up scar tissue in my legs.

Good luck to all Turkey Trotters, and post up some race reports!

Steady week, including VO2max test: 70.9 ml/kg/min, that is down ~ 7% from this time last year before the chemo and stem cell transplant.

Lat year my pace during the test was 5:00/mile, this year it was 6:00/mile. Shows you the value of economy and shifting the lactate curve to the right.

Pleased to see another Oregon XC champ. Thought it a good sign that Mac Fleet ran ~ 50ish place as an 800/1500 guy. It was cold, windy, and muddy at the race.

Happy Thanksgiving!

Haven't posted for awhile, dealing with a few curve balls life likes to throw at me. Have managed to run most days which is good for a number of reasons - being a great stress reliever, plus just staying pretty fit. Yesterday I topped the scales at 168, first time solidly under 170 in a few years and a full 25 pounds down from what I weighed a year ago. Feels very good. 165 is a good race weight for me so I am so close.

Am planning to run a local turkey trot Thursday, the start line is about 300m from my front door. A 5K, should be fun. First race since August 2012.

Mostly runs in the desert or treadmill days. Have been doing arm strength work almost daily with kettle bell and other gym equipment.

Have a good week!

Mon = 3 miles, 222 meter hill, 3 reps, hard

Tue = (25 push-ups/crunches + 15 reps with 15 lb dumbbells on 9 different exercises) X 2

Wed = 3 miles. Easy

Thr = Rest

Fri = 3 miles, hilly course (9:40, 9:24, 8:44) 29 seconds per mile improvement

Sat = (25 push-ups/crunches + 15 reps with 15 lb dumbbells on 9 different exercises) X 2

Sun = 3 miles track, (8:45, 7:51, 7:19)

12 miles running

Another good week where the foot just keeps feeling more and more solid. It’s nice to walk around and feel strength in my legs and feet instead of an awkward semi-limp. For that I am very thankful.

On Monday I ventured to one of my favorite hills. I planned to just do a run through without doing a workout. But, I missed this little 222 meter hill. It's so perfect. 222 meters with a 40 foot rise in the first 111 meters and then the ‘gotcha’ second 111 meters with another 35 foot of rise.

I was able to do 3 repeats before I really just could not go on. I slowly plodded home content I had done something good :-)

Wednesday was an easy day and Friday I was feeling good. With about the same effort I went 29 seconds per mile faster than the last time I did this course, 22 days ago. Yeah, it’s still slow but LESS SLOW than before.

Today, Sunday was a serendipitous track workout. Normally I run the Mountain but it was a ridiculous 12 degrees with 10 mph wind gusts. So the next best thing was the track. The only plan I had was to shave just a few seconds off last Saturday's track run. Last week I went 9:13, 8:15, and 7:51. This week I went 8:45, 7:51, and 7:19, shaving 84 seconds from last week's effort. This was a nice surprise.

Rtype's entire post was uplifting.

I didn't check in last week because I had a miserable cold that has knocked me out of running for 2 weeks and left me too sick to even try to run our local XC championship last weekend. This has been an XC season of reasonably good training and bad luck racing for me so far. I missed my first race with hip bursitis. My second race went reasonably well except I got a minor calf strain (left leg) when I tried to sprint at the finish. My third race turned out to be my best race of the season. My fourth race went reasonably well except I got a minor calf strain (right leg) when I tried to sprint at the finish, and the championship I missed with illness. I started back running Friday and have run the last three days. I am slow as molasses and cough like TB patient when I finish, but I have three weeks to get healthy before running a 10k at club nationals. I figure that I have all the bad luck out of my system at this point and I just need to put in miles at whatever pace I can manage from now until then. This morning I struggled to shuffle at 10:00 pace for 8 miles. When I put it in my log I looked, and 4 weeks ago I ran 6 miles at 6:45 pace with my son. The aging body is a fickle and temperamental piece of equipment to work with, but persistence can do wonders.

Yes old guy but you got out there and ran 8 miles. THAT is good. I shall hope to do the same after church today knowing it will take some motivation to "just get it in".

Wicked tough 10k XC yesterday at our NW Regionals. There were 25 or more M50+ harriers out there in the cold blustery mushy grass. for 5 x 2k loops.

Thankful to see the Sunrise of Compassion in my heart.

Took another ez week with 2 hikes some long walks an ez 5 mile run and just did the hill sprints.

Hikes one Gorge and yesterday Forest Park.

Here is a TED Talk on Manufacturing Happiness:

http://www.ted.com/talks/dan_gilbert_asks_why_are_we_happy.html

Someday I shall race but it might be awhile except for a 400 because without a base any other race will end with me falling on my face.

Onward!

Long time no post.

Thanks much for the recent well wishes.

Had prostate surgery 4 weeks ago hence the radio silence.

Although am inspired by the concept of citius altius fortiius, my reality is older, shorter, slower ;)

That being said I delighted in a 90 minute trail run on sacred single track on a bluff immediately above the Pacific Ocean on Thursday...a total and complete bucket list run if there ever was one.

Hope to get fit enough to lace up racing flats early in the new year.

Have a quality Thanksgiving/Hanukkah!

Your pal,

MF

Hi Folks,

Thank you for all your contributions here.

Had a good week. About 45 miles on 4 runs...3.5hrs of steep incline walking on treadmill...and 5-6 fairly brief weight/circuit training type workouts. Details are in "training" section here...if you have any interest -

http://www.capecodcoaching.com

Made a change this week...which wasn't easy. For recovery days...did steep incline walking on treadmill...instead of doing an easy run. I've been an every day...or nearly every day runner for forever...so I was a little uncomfortable trying something new. But I have to admit this is the best I've felt in a while. It could be my easy days were no longer easy enough...a common tale.

Happy Thanksgiving to all here!!

Paul

I've happily settled into a specific routine now. MTWTFSS focus is 100m/400m/1500m/(0)/200m/800m/3000m efforts. Call me crazy, but this weekly routine is more important to me than scheduled events. For example, I will not "race" an 800m unless it is Saturday, or 1500m Wednesday, etc. This could be construed as tail wagging dog, but at this stage, my routine has become omnipriority.

M-30min jog + 6 short strides + "100m" incline (21sec) + 9min jog.

T-25min jog + (200m-200m-100m-100m) strides + 400m push (75sec) + 12min jog.

W-20min jog + 4x45sec strides + "1500m" (5:42) + 10min jog.

T-no running.

F-30min jog + 6 short strides + "200m" slight incline (36sec) + 12min jog.

S-25min jog + 4x200m strides + 800m push (2:38) + 10min jog.

S-3k jog (16:40) + 4x60sec gallop + 3k tempo (11:28) + 2k jog (10:12)

I cannot tell a lie - the 2:38 800m was somewhat hard. I have a long way to go towards 2014 goals, but hey, it's only November.

I'm fascinated by the subject of what a warmup and cooldown should be. Many of these warmup "jogs" got slightly tempoish in latter part.

I want the 3k to be sub11 next weekend, so I will prep for that accordingly.

Happy training and goal setting, everyone.

Enjoyed reading the running and non-running related posts this week. Especially focused on the weight training regimens that people are posting. I gave up a lot of my weight/resistance training regimens when I began running in 2007. Just would get too tired trying to incorporate the weight training in with long distance running.

Curious if the regimens I am seeing posted here have always been followed or are reactions to recent injury/rehab strategies.

Still in recovery mode.

Monday: 3.5 miles easy. 20 minute light weights and resistance training at gym with husband (this is new for me, so starting very easy) Using the regimen suggested in the Pfitzinger Advanced Marathon book.

Tuesday: 8 mi easy. Yoga at lunch

Wednesday: OFF; 20 minute weight/resistance regimen.

Thursday: 8 mi wayyyyy too fast - some of it in the 7:30 range. Ran with a friend and lost track of our pace in the midst of catching up with each other.

Friday: 5 mi easy - suffering from Thurs run.

Saturday: 12 mi easy

Sunday: OFF

Total 36 miles.

One more week of easy, short running and then I have to start getting ready for my April attempt at my goal finish time for the marathon distance. I'm serious though - one more shot at that time and then I quit! Too much time spent on training for that distance. Ready to move on to doing some other things in life - like 5K's and maybe some XC adventures.

Plan to run the local Turkey Trot - mainly will serve justification for a large second piece of pie on Thursday.

Happy turkey day to all the US posters! For those outside the US, hope you can also enjoy a piece of pumpkin pie on Thursday! Heck - we all deserve a little dessert with the amount of effort we put toward training!

Wishing all the best to those recovering. Thanks to Charlie for the TedTalk posting.

GreteHund wrote:

Curious if the regimens I am seeing posted here have always been followed or are reactions to recent injury/rehab strategies.

Regarding the weight regimen I follow, I’ve actually had the same set of 15 pound dumbbells since 1981. So I’ve used them off and on for a long time depending on whether I was running or not. This go-round I’m using them to augment my minuscule running mileage and to help build strength to race the 1500, 800, and possibly the 400.

Mon. 10km kayak across the lake and up into Wild Duck Creek, pretty smooth conditions for a change, about 1h 36m

Tue. 15+kms running with 470+m of elevation gain. On rolling farm roads, mostly dirt with 2 steep bitumen pinches. 1h 29m. Pretty solid efforts on the steep climbs.

Wed. 30kms on the mountain bike with 660m of elevation gain in 1h 43m.

Fri. 23kms running in 2h 32m with 730m of elevation gain. Starting in the same spot as Tuesday. I added the very steep paddock scramble up Hayes Hill toward the end. 19th km took 8.24 and the 20th 15.13!!.

Sat. 6.2km kayak session on the lake in just on the hour. Some good waves and wind in my face on the way out, neg. Split by 6 mins!!

For various reasons didn't get out to play on Thursday and Sunday.

Been a bumpy couple weeks, which has had an impact on training but hasn't completely derailed it either.

Last week about 8 hr total training including 4 runs and 2 XC ski sessions. Had to fight a major crisis with no electricity for 6 days with temps falling from 30s down to 0 in that time. It cost us, but no damage to the house/plumbing. The week before that twisted my ankle and then had a visit to the ER with family member. All seems to be on the path to recovery, but that wasn't a good week either. Managed 5 hours of running that week.

Looking forward to Bend.

Hi Grete,

My weight/circuit training "routine" is not the result of any specific injury. However, I have not always done it either. But as I've gotten older, I've become more and more interested in alternative training modes.

I got interested in Crossfit a few years ago because I noticed all the participants in a Crossfit class at the gym...most of whom were in there upper 40's...had such wonderful posture and good mobility. And I was also noticing how all the older runners had such crappy posture and mobility. And I thought to myself that I should really be able to do basic things like lunge and squat and press and pull...if that makes sense.

I do not for one minute recommend Crossfit. It's a great way to get hurt...fast. But it did teach me a lot of stuff and I have basically tried to borrow from it...and try to find what works and doesn't work for distance runners. I'm always experimenting and I keep a lot of notes as to how strength training affects distance running.

Sounds to me like you are taking a good approach by going light. Just keep the volume low and don't go to failure. As you get better at the movements, you can start to go a bit heavier...but just don't do a lot of reps. Also, taking plenty of recovery between exercises is another good idea for endurance athletes.

It's sort of the opposite of running...in that heavier resistance, low reps, plenty of recovery seems to be more effective. In other words, you don't need to work on endurance in the weight room. You already have that down pat.

It seems to be a good idea that we incorporate some resistance training as we get older. It helps keep our bones strong, improves posture and mobility and helps us function better in daily life.

All the best,

Paul