50+ Masters Training and Racing Open Forum

AK-56 wrote:Thanks, I'll have to create a new name as well. Going to be a lot of big changes.

Well, let's see, Co-56 would be the obvious choice, but that's a highly radioactive isotope with only a 77-day half-life...or maybe that's what you're going for. :-P

AK-56 wrote:73 for the week. Now taper for trail marathon.

Good luck on the race.

Welcome SCgal! I’ve visited North Myrtle Beach every year since 1972. Oh man, the humidity there is awful! On runs I hope for a thunderstorm to cool things off.

This was a recovery week for me. I either picked up a new virus or I never got rid of the old one. So I pulled back this week. I'm also transitioning to counting miles rather than minutes. It's just easier to keep track of the miles on 3 different pairs of shoes, and, frankly, easier in the logbook. Mon and Tue were great, but I started feeling sick again on Wed and it seemed everything hurt. The left peroneus brevis reappeared on Thursday, I think just because the rest of me hurt too. Finally felt good Sunday for a nice run on the mostly empty downtown streets. 26 miles for the week on 7 easy runs.

Greetings all, catching up after two weeks of not posting. My last post was on having run a couple of 43+ mile weeks, but those have now been followed with low 30+ mile weeks. The good thing is that, 16 days after running a 15 miler, I was able to run a 16 miler. Tried to do 1/2 mile repeats on a flat stretch of road 3 days later and was only able to complete 2, in 3:47 and 3:45. Did try for more, so probably did approx. 200's x 2. A little worrisome, with my 1/2 marathon only 41 days away, to fatigue from speedwork that fast. But have felt more fatigue these last couple weeks, so sure don't want to get sick from overtraining (had a little throat soreness in one lymph node yesterday, so know I am walking the edge).

I have had off and on hamstring issues too, not lately thank goodness. Seems that part of what works for me is some deep muscle massage (sp?) too, to break up scar tissue and get it working well. Plus, I then don't favor other muscles incorrectly in the process, and avoid other injuries from overcompensation. Diet is good so not such an issue. My wife does feel we should be more focused on protein and less on carbs, since we don't hit the high mileage like we used to (love my pasta!).

On easy days my heartrate isn't much over 100, and resting is about 52, so makes me wonder what I am training at, since I don't use a monitor, just go by feel, and try to get in what mileage I have time and energy for once daily, two-a-days, seem to be mostly in the past (except for run plus weights, or run plus lawn-mowing).

Weather has cooled here in KC, so feels like we are moving into fall, had a pretty mild summer, except for a couple weeks, but bet that is a very rare occurrence with climate change reality. Hope the milder weather helps me get some speed back, only one more long run planned B4 the Oct. 19th 1/2, but hope for weekly 1/2 mile repeats building and maintain 3:45 per. Good health wishes to all!

lucKY2b wrote:

AK-56 wrote:Thanks, I'll have to create a new name as well. Going to be a lot of big changes.

Well, let's see, Co-56 would be the obvious choice, but that's a highly radioactive isotope with only a 77-day half-life...or maybe that's what you're going for. :-P

AK-56 wrote:73 for the week. Now taper for trail marathon.

Good luck on the race.

If all goes according to plan We'll actually be living within 5 or 10 miles of the former Rocky Flats nuclear test site, and I was thinking of playing off that, something like Rocky Flat Face Plant.

There is much I'm going to miss about Alaska, but running outside during the (6 month) winter isn't one of them.

So much great stuff on the Board to read through for the last week or so.

Welcome to some of the newest posters - SOCal and KnockKnock. Look forward to hearing about your training and any races.

A little late in posting this week. Last week was Week 4 of 18 of marathon training.

Mon: Labor Day 15K race, plus warm up and cool down. More below.

Tues: 8 mi easy

Wed: 8 mi with 3 x 3 hill repeats with training group

Thurs: 12 mi easy

Fri: OFF

Sat: 21 mi easy

Sun: 7.5 mi easy

Total: 68.5 (short 6 miles, ugh! just had to take Friday off to recover from Monday race)

Labor Day Race - training plan called for 10 miles with 5 at HMRP. So I hoped to race as close to half marathon pace as possible (adjusted for heat/humidity). We had pretty high humidity that morning, so aimed for 7:10 pace. Race started at 7:30, so sun was fully up and heated up pretty quickly. Went out too fast (6:50 first mile), but settled in through mile 6 into a steady 7:10 pace. Course was relatively flat through mile 6 along the large trail system that runs along the Trinity River here in Fort Worth. Unfortunately, not many trees so no shade from the sun. Into mile 6, we hit a pretty steep hill and you could see people start to suffer a little. I was able to push up the hill with no problem, and pass one more woman. At this point, the front runners are turning and coming back along the trail for 1 mile. So I counted 5 women ahead - including 1 that qualified this year for the Olympic trials (so no chance in hell of catching her!). Miles 7 - 9 are back on the trail, up on a levy. Full sun and strong headwind. My pace really degraded at this point - last mile was 7:45 - and that was all I had. Legs were burning and I was debating between passing out and throwing up. Saw woman #5 up ahead put her hands on her hips as she was running and I knew she was really struggling. Managed to pass her around mile 8. Talked to her at the finish and turns out she was visiting from cooler climates, so really struggling. Could not catch the #4 woman. Finished and literally had to walk around for 15 minutes until I felt better. Sweated so much I was soaked completely through, dripping wet. But icy, cold Coca-Cola at the finish line was all I needed and felt much better then. Placed 1st woman overall for Senior Masters (over 50). The other 3 women top finishers were all in their 40's - so a strong showing from the masters ladies. Happy with my performance in very difficult conditions. Nothing more I could do - took it to failing at the end.

Thought it was interesting to see that others have plans to move to CO. My husband and I are planning our move to CO in 2016. Haven't bought property yet - although Spikez's posting is making me think that maybe we should....

My best to all and hopes for a cold front to hit your neck of the woods.

GreteHund wrote:

Thought it was interesting to see that others have plans to move to CO. My husband and I are planning our move to CO in 2016. Haven't bought property yet - although Spikez's posting is making me think that maybe we should....

Property values have been rising slow and steady. We bought about 8 years ago and were happy we did. We'll be within walking distance of Coors Field (I love to watch sports). Now if only the Rockies could get back to their glory days...We are also planning on late 2016. CO meetup?

*************************

Week 171

*************************

Warmest Regards, my fellow 50+ grandmasters. The weather has turned for the better this week; it’s been absolutely gorgeous. Managed about 39 miles on 6 days of running. The log reads as such:

Sun: 5 easy

Mon: 4.1 easyish (7:38 pace)

Tue: 7.2 w/5x800+1x400 (259.302,301,259,258,82) 1 lap jog recovery (2:30-2:35)

Wed: off

Thur: 4.7 w/progressive 1st 3. (733,643,604)

Fri: 7.2 easy

Sat: 10.5 steady, easyish (7:51 avg pace)

I think I probably could have stood to inject a little more pace for the week, but Saturday’s long, steady, comfortable run was just feeling too good. Was mostly happy with Tuesday’s track workout; although I was meant to do a second hard 400. I could tell I was mostly spent after the first one, and I’ve been trying to err on the side of caution these days, and not do “that last one” if I think it’ll fully deplete me. Thursday I was trying out some new shoes (Altra Torin), and just wanted to vary the pace a bit to see how they felt. I ended up just continuing to increase the speed until I was beyond current 5k race pace, took a few minutes rest before finishing off the run at easy pace. I generally liked the shoes, by the way. I was looking for a cushioned ride in a flat profile shoe, the roomy toe box and low heel cup agreed with my feet….they are probably a little stiff for some (good for my arthritic big toes.) I’ll let you know if I still like them after a few more runs. I’m not going to do this regularly, but here are the Garmin readouts for Thursday’s and Saturday’s runs.

Thur:

http://connect.garmin.com/modern/activity/588328416

(note the steady increase in my HR)

Sat:

http://connect.garmin.com/modern/activity/589344156

There is something weird with the elevation calculation.: On my home Garmin program, it says there was about 1400 ft of elevation gain for Sat’s run (I know that’s an overestimate), and I’ve checked against RunningAhead, which states that this run has an elevation gain of about 900 ft. I can guarantee this hilly course has more than 500 ft of total elevation gains. Anyone else notice inconsistencies in how elevation is computed?

At any rate, generally happy with the week, hope yours has been as enjoyable. I’ll try to ease back over 40 miles for this coming week.

Missing Alan Bennet’s posts; hope you are well, my friend.

Quote for this week: “My Manchester streak is not a record, and I'm not particularly fast these days. I know many runners my age who are faster, damn them. I don't feel special in any way. Maybe just a little stubborn.

But proud? Yes, I'll cop to that. Because my 50 years at Manchester represent an ethic of sorts. It's what runners do: We keep on keeping on.” –Amby Burfoot,

Cheers!

That was a good week lucKY. Just my opinion, but I am tending to think we can get by on less speed-work that previously thought. Or maybe that’s just my continuous fear of being injured talking…..

My week:

Mon = 4 miles trail

Tue = 5 miles greenway

Wed = 4 miles trail

Thr = 5 greenway, nice run avoided the storms

Fri = 2 easy road and trail

Sat = 5, 5K @ sub-threshold pace

Sun = 7 miles road

Total = 32 miles

A good week even though my ankle is still not 100%. On Sat I did a 5K on the track at slightly faster than easy pace. It’s more of a fitness measure than anything. I was about 1:15 minutes faster than two weeks ago with the same effort so I feel like I’m moving in the right direction.

Have a great week everyone!

I am not sure if I would say I am in a rut, or being consistent in my training. The past week was a near duplicate of my prior training week. Another 39 miles with a good 19x:30hard/:30float up my 2 mile hill on Wednesday, followed by a strong progressive 9 mile trail run yesterday with my kids. I am tired again today but still nothing feels damaged by the hard running. With one week until the next XC race it is time for a recovery/taper week until the race.

Greetings All,

I don't have the running history most of you have but I know I can't do much speed work without getting injured. I try for once a week but I'd rather be able run regularly than to run a fast workout and have to take time off due to injury. Here is my week:

Sun 13.1

Mon 1.9 aborted run (see below)

Tues 6.5 hills

Weds 7.6 easy

Thurs 4.7 tempo

Fri 6.6 progressive

Sat 6.0 track intervals (100% humidity)

TOTAL 46.4

We've had high temps and humidity until this morning. Rtype, I'm in the Upstate of SC in the foothills so we're not as hot/humid as Myrtle Beach - thank goodness.

I've got my 2 mile race on the BMW test track on Friday evening with temps projected to be in the 70s. That should be a treat since it is usually in the high 80s with track temps in the 90s. I've just started having pain in my left hip after a misstep at an XC meet last week. I've got an appt. for ART and massage on Tuesday so I hope that does the trick. I'm still able to run but it takes me about 2 miles to work out the stiffness. Then as long as I keep moving I'm fine; so I guess I just need to keep moving!

Happy running to all!

Thanks again lucKY2b for keeping this thread going and everyone else for contributing.

Taper week 1 for next week's trail marathon. I was tired for most of the week, but did a fartlek on Wednesday with 3X 5 min and 1X3.5 min at 10K effort on hills/XC ski trails. Had to take a round about route to the trails to avoid a 10 hr police standoff with an escaped con. That was weird.

Yesterday was a tempo-progression 5K on a regional XC course, 6:09, 12:13, 18:25. That last mile was a series of 20-30 sec surges with float recoveries, and was surprised to cover it in sub 5:40 pace.

47 for the week, including an easy 12 miler today.

Things are winding down here. Three more weeks as HS XC asst. coach (my son got 2nd in the 10 team invite, their team dominated both varsity and jv boys and girls), my XC series ends in two weeks and someone else will take over, and I fly south in just a month. Finally getting used to and accepting the idea. Going to miss a lot of things about this place and the change in lifestyle is going to be drastic. Yet there is also much to look forward to. Denver is huge but Colorado isn't such a bad place.

I've not posted here before but I figure the act of posting may keep me honest. I'm 57 (58 in a month). Been running since 1970. Live just north of the Bronx, near where I grew up. The last few months have been ups-and-downs with little injuries creating problems. But hope, springing eternal as it does, keeps me going. I hope to race again if I can get some consistency. I'll be brief, with some color given this as my first time. Good weather all week, especially today.

Monday: Nothing (planned)

Tuesday: 5 easy in the morning. I'd been getting lackadaisical about these, but I have to do them to get mileage in.

Wednesday: Nothing (planned)

Thursday: 5 easy in the morning.

Friday: 5 in the evening. This was a run to the Bronxville track, 10 laps, and then home. I frequently do Friday runs there because I like the rhythm I get into. Because I don't run at night (the consequence of a post-broken-elbow ban from 2008), I'll often drive to the track and do an easy 20 laps on most Fridays. Those runs remind me of the many times I did 4 loops of the Reservoir in the winter, flat and a solid pace.

Saturday: I worked at a local race and ran around a lot. In the late afternoon, having poured myself a glass of wine and some snacks I knew I'd regret not going out so going out I did, getting in a relaxed 5 in a light sprinkle. Then I had the wine, etc.

Sunday: There's a local trail to which I can run (it's about 1.25 miles away) but I like to be able to get the full trail-experience so I often drive to a stable lot and head out, which I did today. There's a "lake" with a 1.67 or so loop and then a 1.5 mile stretch. I start with the loop and the out-and-back stretch -- so 4.7 -- and then the trepidation is how many loops I can then put in. Last week I ran with someone and we got one extra loop. Today my objective was to do two and that's what I did feeling pretty fresh throughout with a fast final mile. Not so fast as it might have been a few years back, but these things are relative, and I was very pleased with today's effort.

Another solid week for me.

Tuesday: Stairs, stairs, and more stairs..

Wednesday: 3 miles on my treadmill

Thursday: speed endurance 4x200, 4x80 at approx. 80% effort..

Saturday: Sprint and hurdle work on the track

Sunday morning: Weights and a 3 mile jog since the weather is gorgeous.

Now it's time for laundry, housework, and prepping my food for the week ahead. My husband is out of town and when I'm alone I have a bad habit of eating anything convenient instead of preparing a decent nutritious meal. Right now I'm baking yams, roasting a chicken, and making some meatballs...yum!

Have a great week ahead.

I'm running. Mostly easy, but have attempted some transitional work, like tempo runs, the last 2 weeks.

I arrived to pick up my son at practice after a long day - and noticed he was just finishing. It was 5 pm and the trail seemed nice and cool. Fortunately, another mom was there and they live near us, so my son caught a ride home with them and I ran. My distant teammate sent me a text with her workout, and despite the fact that I had no watch (!) and was on the trail and the light was fading (making even more difficult to see the roots and rocks), I attempted it. Thankfully there are quarter mile marks on both trails. -- 3 miles of tempo effort, a short jog (hers was 6 min., mine was down to the flatter gravel road), then 3 x half mile with a quarter jog. It felt pretty good and even better, I didn't fall.

Easy runs of about an hour most days, with a 9-ish miles on some lovely, hilly trails in nearby Camas, WA and another 13? miles on Wildwood today. Not quite as cool and crisp as I like, but still BEAUTIFUL weather.

Attempting a race at a massive college invite (small schools) next week. It's going to suck as I haven't done any real speed work (last week was a tempo run). I'm hoping to finish in the middle somewhere. Both college daughter and HS son are running the meet as well - which should be fun.

Good week, my legs felt like normal again. Turned another year older (56), quite thankful to have another one!

E-Race Cancer will officially launch in the spring, the link was a preliminary one for a club that wants to do something later this month - I was checking other possible club interests. Thanks!

Kim Jones' book & Lopez Lomong's book both got read recently in our house. I highly recommend both. Apparently margins are better on Kindel, so use that if you can for their benefit.

Have a good week all! Hope you are planning on USTAF Master's here in the Indy metro area.

lucKY2b wrote:

There is something weird with the elevation calculation.: On my home Garmin program, it says there was about 1400 ft of elevation gain for Sat’s run (I know that’s an overestimate), and I’ve checked against RunningAhead, which states that this run has an elevation gain of about 900 ft. I can guarantee this hilly course has more than 500 ft of total elevation gains. Anyone else notice inconsistencies in how elevation is computed?

Cheers!

Happy Birthday Ken!

lucKY, I forgot to answer on the Garmin elevation probs. I don’t know if this is true for all Forerunner’s but my 405 is a joke as far as accuracy is concerned. Mine seems to think any track has a 13 foot elevation change and when I’m climbing mountains for which I know the elevation it’s seldom within 75 feet. If I had to guess, the transceiver is too small and the algorithm is too old on the 405 to take advantage of the new satellites being added all the time. The “GOV-A-MENT” has upgraded the formulas and the satellites for more accuracy…you know, to keep an eye on us. So newer GPS’s tend to be more accurate.

Thanks Joe for pointing out this thread.

I'm 57 and have been running since 1979. The main events I like are 3000 and 5000 on the track - numbers for the 5000 locally are quite low so I've become quite keen on the "Parkrun" phenomenon which is a weekly free and timed 5k run.

My best 5k time as 50-54 was 20:54 (17:33 at 34). Now at 57 my 5k time is 22:52, but I hope to improve on that this summer.

The training I like has been around 60-70k a week of mainly steady running, one 5k or so race and maybe a "long" trail run of 12-15k. Did an interval session on a bike path last week of 3 x 1k in about 4:40 each (1k jog recoveries in 6:00). Recently though I've introduced cycling into the mix after seeing this video about breaking 3 hours for the marathon on 10 miles a week:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mTea3NJ4kCA

Have only been into it for a few weeks, so early days. Doing about 3 x 20-40k rides a week and running 40-45k.

SCgal wrote:

I've got my 2 mile race on the BMW test track on Friday evening....

Must be from the upState area? My son lives there (12 hours from us) and works at BMW. The wife & visit several times each year, usually staying in downtown Greenville. I've got a lot of miles on the Swamp Rabbit Trail.

Kind of a blah week here. Told my training partner I felt like I aged 30 years last week. Legs seemed sore & tired, all the time. Doing the two days on/one day off of just easy running for a while... No plans, just running.

Getting thru Petes book. Kind of makes me realize I'm barely scratching the surface of all the things I should be doing!

Have a good week,

Dave

Happy 56th Ken. The Nov. Master's meet is the weekend of a niece of my wife's, so I know where we will probably go.

This week was a better one for me, 36 miles, including a hard 7 in new shoes, HOKA Clifton's, light-weight and still cushiony. It's been 15 days since my 16 miler, so might be ready for something a bit longer tomorrow (12 or so?), but last really long run will be in a couple weeks, so I have a full 3 weeks to recover from it before the 1/2 marathon.

Since a long run wasn't in the plans yesterday, my wife suggested going to the track, since we can talk some and she can continue her gradual comeback/recovery with her walk/runs. I decided to do 1000's, but got a bit aggressive and ran harder so pooped out after 2, though they were in 4:30 and 4:22 and so finished with 2x200 under 51. Given that I had run a road 1/2 mile two days before in 4:00, I feel like I am getting a bit of speed going. Did them in the newest LunaRacers, which might be my 1/2 marathon flats again. Tough decision between them and the Cliftons.

Need to see the doctor about a pain in my head and neck that has not gone away. Have a brother-in-law by marriage who's having his thyroid and lymph nodes near it removed this week d/t a rare cancer, and he's my age. Good health to you all!