50+ Masters Training and Racing Open Forum

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Week 328

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Howdy, 50+ers! Still treading water; more walking than running. Only 3 runs for 10 miles (with a few miles in the 7:0x range) were covered and about an hour/day of brisk walking. Had too many distractions this week to make any progress. On the plus side, I've started back to doing some wall sitting and some planks in the evening; haven't run into any adverse issues but can tell from the wall sitting that some minor muscles around the knee are weak and will benefit from this targeted activation exercise (it's been helpful in the past,) then I'll graduate to squats. Hopefully, the work/family/church distractions have subsided and I can get back to a more normal routine. Thanks for the suggestions from last week. I feel like I'm constantly recalibrating, and not favorably, either. We're supposed to have our mile race on the horse-and-buggy track a week from Friday. I suppose I'll go ahead and give it my best effort, which is probably no better than about 6:40 at this point. Despite all appearances, my attitude remains positive and optimistic: consistency will improve, weight will come off, things will get better.

Glad to see so much discussion going on with the thread. Hopefully, I'll be back to where I can offer some meaningful discussion.

Hope you've had a good week! Any races to report?

All the Best!

Thanks for kicking off the weekly portion again LucKY2b.

Recovery week here--I took off two days following the half and eased back into it. 41 for the week. I did a downhill mile yesterday in honor of David Torrence, it started at 6,170 feet near Red Rocks and dropped 260 feet. 4:56.5, that was fun! RIP DT.

“Gradually work up to the target mileage, and then increase the speed rather than going farther. … How well you are able to train and race later will be rooted in your development of maximum aerobic pace. I cannot overemphasize this.” - Ron Daws

“Research has shown that average weekly running mileage is the best training predictor of racing performance in runners.” - Matt Fitzgerald

Mon. 1 hr 14 min mountain bike ride.

Tue. 12 km run on dirt road and trails a few moderate hills (180 m. elevation gain ) 1hr 8 min. 32 min. kayak session.

Wed. Hilly 3.5 km warmup then 5 x 600 metre rugged uphill reps with 110 metres gain on each. Slow jog down.

Brisk 21 km mountain bike ride on some sweet trails in 1 hr.

Thu. 11 km run on the hilly Pyalong Golf Course (225 metres of elevation gain) Thick grass base makes it very cushioned. 1 hr 5 min.

Fri. Easy hour spin through the forests on the mtb.

Sat. 2 km jog then strong 5 km tempo trail running 22.25. Nice 30 min kayak session on the lake. 32 deg C.

Sun. 17 km hilly trail running. 640 metres elevation gain 1 hr 51 min.

Pretty much to plan. Tuesday was off minimal sleep as previously mentioned.

Wednesday's hill reps were on an easier climb than previous 2 weeks. For the first time in 5 months the temp was above 18 deg C. I ran shirtless and slipped on the scrambly cliff below the summit copping some nice gravel rash down my back.

I added an extra day of running this week and was feeling it in the legs on Sunday.

I think I will drop back to 4 next week.

I also did 240 pushups. 280 free squats. 140 split squats 19 mins.of planks (and some other stuff )for the week.

September 24, 2017

Sunday

167 pounds

- 5 miles on the high school track, slow and untimed.

Another lovely sunny fall day here in New England, mid-70s F. with a blue, blue sky.

WEEK OF SEPTEMBER 18-24, 2017: 21 MILES RUNNING

Didn't do so well with my stretching and strengthening this week, so that's an area where I can improve.

But I ran the mileage I wanted to, including two fine warm and sunny fall days outside, so I'm calling it a win.

Good running and good health to all!

All quiet on the western front...chalked up 42 miles highlighted by 9 miles of single track on a bluff above the Pacific...most other runs were endless laps of the high school track each starting at 10 minute pace and finishing at 7 minute pace. Am such a knucklehead that I look at each and every 200 split en route...am dead serious.

Along the way, I hit day # 300 of my silly running 'streak' (1547 miles) which began last November. I never cared about such stuff when I could actually really run in my 20s and 30s but in my later 50s did a 1000 days streak...exactly...on day 1001, I rested.

Goal for this week is to manage 44 miles in order to record precisely 108,000 lifetime miles since I started my first training log on October 29, 1970.

Yeah, I know...weird stuff...but at this stage of the game it's all about 'whatever it takes' to keep a body in perpetual motion...even if it causes the need for a bit of psychotherapy enroute ;)

Am hoping that you've all had fulfilling weeks of racing and training...look forward to hearing about your past week and your aims and goals for the one upcoming.

your pal,

MF

Coyote Montane wrote:

Over the summer I quantified my miles and %s at different levels and the breakdown was I do two very easy runs a week, usually Monday and Friday, where I go 5-7 miles at 8:30 pace or so. The rest of the easy running is 7:40-8 (about where Daniels suggests for my race times), mileage average was 62 with weekly long run of 12-16.

Thanks for this.

I did some rounding to make it ezr for me to think about.

Average 62mpw

54 87% easy/endurance 8:30/7:40 12-16 long

4 6% tempo

2 3% V02

1 2% speed (mile pace and under)

1 2% races (just 2 10Ks and a half marathon).

So about 8 miles a week of fast running with half at tempo which I assume is JD tempo pace.

Well my week was good with my first run about 1.5 miles did it hard felt good but my foot was a bit achy but resolved after 2 days. Bumped up my hiking from 2 hours a day to just past 3 hours per day with most of this on hills. Also did run up a sand dune WOW was this hard. Onward!

This was a big week for me. I had my hard cast replaced with an aircast and I got the OK to start biking and swimming. I can't tell you how great it felt to be able to ride and swim again. I still have lots of swelling and have to ice my ankle every night but I'm doing stretching exercises 3x a day to get back my range of motion so I can learn to walk in another 3 weeks when I don't have the walking cast. Maybe I'll be getting back to running by November?

This week I did 58 miles on the arm cycle in 4:50, 50 miles biking in 2:47, and one swim session (pulling) of 1600yds. My upper body strength is much better as a result of the arm cycling but it won't make up for my shriveled calf muscle. That's going to take a while to recover.

The highlight of my week was going to my grandchildren's soccer games yesterday without crutches. I actually made it for two hours on my own two feet. Now that's progress!

Good morning from a beautiful fall day in Eagle, Idaho. Makes all outdoor activities a little easier, including yard work!

I hit my Mike F goal of 56 1/2 Igy miles. Next week I will focus on my diet a bit. Monday though Friday holding the adult beverage to one per day and no sweets. I am currently weighing in at 169 low, and shooting for sub-160 lbs. My week:

Monday: 2 miles easy; 7 x 200m good speed / 100m easy; 400m easy; 4 x 350m good swing / 150m easy; 400m easy; 7 x 200m good speed / 100m easy; mile easy

Tuesday: AM- 60:00 spin; core routine; 1 set free weights; PM- 2,000 yards swimming

Wednesday: AM- 2 miles easy; 4 x 1,200m tempo @ 5:52, 5:45, 5:39, 5:47 / 2:00 rest; PM- 3 miles walking

Thursday: same as Tuesday

Friday: 4 miles on the road 9:35 per mile

Saturday: 7 1/2 mile trail run, with 500 feet elevation climb, 10:15 per mile

Sunday: 3 miles easy / walk

Have a good week.

Igy

An easy week for me for several reasons. I was coming off an 8K XC race and recovering to race a 5K XC again yesterday. Also, my son was in town and I ran shorter with him so we could go to breakfast together before he headed to work. I had an excellent 5K XC race yesterday. I kept all of the miles under 7:00 and was about :07/mi faster than last year on the same course. 40 miles total.

M- 7 walk

T- 7 walk hills

W- 4 easy run with my son in town for work (followed by going to breakfast with him :>)

Th- off

F- 7 walk with strides

S - 8 with 3 w.u., 5K XC 20:44 (6:41/mi ave), 2 w.d.

Su- 7 walk barefoot on the beach

Good racing Old Guy II.

Igy

congratulations! great progress.

fun week of training for me:

M 2:10 double incl. 2 X 20:00 (4:00 recovery) tempo -- just over 3 miles each

Tu 1:25 + power yoga class

W 2:10 double

Th 1:10

F 55:00

Sa 3:05 with 5k hard tempo in the middle in a parkrun (19:12, 4th OA, first age-graded)

Su 1:30

Saturday's "race" fit in at 1:30 mark of long run -- felt fine and ran evenly (9:35 out, 9:37 back) but probably a bit too hard -- got caught up in competing with the runners around me rather than sticking to plan (high 19's). Dragging myself home the last 1:15 should serve as good reminder in case I do this again.

have a great week,

Dave

Ghost of Igloi wrote:

Good racing Old Guy II.

Igy

what Igy said ;}

LucKY, I like your attitude and am working to remain optimistic myself. I remind myself I’m in this running thing for the VERY long haul.

That’s good news on the cast Scgal.

3 miles easy to medium M, W, F, Su.

My youngest son and I ran in the mountains today. He’s 19, has juvenile diabetes, and seldom runs. Yet, for him I was slowing him down and he was constantly prattling on while I’m sucking wind unable to talk. Jeez, what a difference 39 years makes!

I’m still struggling with the sore right heel, which, really, is just PF. When I had the same thing on my left heel I and the docs misdiagnosed it as all kinds of calamitous disorders. It’s “only” PF which can get pretty danged nasty all by itself and needs no modifiers. I did notice the elliptical was irritating the arch which was the root cause of the PF as it radiated back to the heel. So I dropped the ellip this week. I really don’t like the ellip, which probably means its good for me…..but I don’t know any better.

Have a great week folks.

Felt good today- must have been the cup of mint tea before I headed to the track. Seriously need to cut down on coffee, giving me the jitters.

3 laps warmup 2 x 100 strides

600m grass infield-socks

2 x 300 & 150 :60 second rest between each. 44.32, 46.09 (Last 50 meters of that was uncomfortable) - 150 in 22.3 - last 100 meters legs heavy-hurt, but good race simulation. Average pace of all that = 90.8 for 600 meters.

Goal is to run a 600 with about a 5% positive split 44.5/46.73 (91.23 =90.12% Age graded).

400m grass infield

4 x 100 14.42,13.37, 13.29, 13.23

Decided to treat myself to 3 x 200 relaxed at "far in the future 800m pace".

Average- 30.8 (one can dream).

Felt almost enjoyable to back off and just float like that for 200 meters, so smooth and relaxed, barely out of breath. I guess that is about 85% effort though so maybe everyone feels like that at 85%.

2 laps cooldown to lazy to go farther.

Monday: 4 miles recovery.

Earlier in week:

Tuesday mile easy, 8 x 150 dirt hills about 12% grade. Hard pace- 90 strides about 27 seconds no cooldown

Wed 2.5 miles legs shot

Thursday 3/4 mile warmup 8 x 100 on pavement slight 1-2% grade up and back. about 15 sec flat up and 13.5 down 3/4 cooldown

Friday- breaking in new pair of shoes. Felt good 5 miles average pace about 6:27.

Sat- 25 minutes lifecycle

Have a great week!

In response to Smoove...

My thoughts on why my drop-off seemed to take much longer than most others, was because I stayed away from high mileage and marathons in my younger days. We had a real nice training group of 7-10 regulars back in the 80's. All of us were in the 31:00's & below for 10K. And everyone ran marathons, except me. (I did run two in 85 & 89 but really didn't train for them, and couldn't break 2:50). Two of the guys were 2:17 & 2:18, the rest in the 2:20's & low 2:30's. None of them are running today. My good friend John Roscoe, 2:17 marathoner, told me last year he can walk faster than he runs!

I had always run and had always done ok. I like to say 'I was pretty good but not real good'. PRs are 4:16/15:03/31:36/1:14:27/2:50:36. I ran in college but didn't do anything. I didn't make our Juco travel squad that won the '78 National XC Champs. Most weeks in the 80's & 90's were 40-50 miles; Most years 1400-1800 miles.

Fast forward to 2003. For some reason I started running a lot more. I thought I wanted to be a marathoner. Ran Chicago unsuccessfully 4 times (00,01,03,04) only breaking 3:00 once in 2003 going 2:54. After Chicago 2004 I said never again. My breakthru was in 2007 at 47 years old. I was still running a lot, 2800-3000 miles per year. I joined Front Line Racing and discovered Masters running. I didn't know it existed. Never heard of National Masters Championships. Until then I was just winging it running about 17:00 for 5K. Just being part of that team really raised the bar and helped me improve like I never thought possible. At 48 & 49 I got my 5k down to 16:08 & 16:09. At 50 I went 16:07. My last really good 5K was at 51 going 16:13. Then the falloff began in earnest! The next 6 years the 5K dropped off to 16:23, 16:32, 16:38, 16:46, 16:54 then just 17:08 this year.

I was never injured before my early 50's. Then it seemed to be always something. PF, achilles, knee, hips, calf, ham... More fatigue. So currently I'm just trying to keep the miles up and stay healthy, in case we're able to scrape together a team for the Club XC champs. I'll probably never do intense speedwork again as the 7-weeks leading up to the Flint mile champs just about did me in. I feel like I'm still recovering from it.

......Damn, that was wayyy more than I'm used to saying! The rise and fall of my masters running career.

With all of that being said, here's my weekly roundup. I hit my goals of 50 miles and a tempo.

M: 7.21 Miles in 54:10 [7:30 per mile]

T: 6.18 Miles in 49:45 [8:03 per mile]

W: 7 Miles in 49:30 [7:04 per mile] with 3 miles 19:12 (6:34.3,6:25.5,6:13.0)

T: 7.04 Miles in 54:28 [7:44 per mile]

F: 10 Miles in 1:15:33 [7:33 per mile] prog 8:00-7:09

S: 8.29 Miles in 1:05:00 [7:50 per mile]

S: 4.5 Miles

Goals for next week are to hit 50 miles again and shoot for another 10 miler early in the week. Running a 5K Saturday. I've got no idea what to expect but I'm pretty sure my personal worse record of 18:13 could go down!

Yours in running,

Dave

@SCgal, so glad to hear of your progress. It must be a great relief to start doing more normal activities again.

This week was one of those where my job seriously got in the way of training, but a few days off/very light certainly won't hurt me.

Monday: Zero workout; traveling/working continuously from 2:45 am PDT to 8 pm EDT.

Tuesday: 40-45 minutes of attempted running when seriously bonked and dehydrated from Monday's activities. Didn't work at all.

Weds: 5.2 miles in about 45 min before going to the airport to travel home. Felt good and wished I'd allowed more time to run.

Thurs: 10.2 miles at 9:12/mile pace.

Fri: 10.3 miles at 9:07 pace. I was very pleased to have very little Achilles soreness before or during today's run.

Sat: Achilles was sore and I clearly needed a day off from running, so put in 40 miles on the bike on a gorgeous day (55-66 degrees, bright sunny sky, very little wind).

Sun: I had hoped to run today but the heel was still sore and it was another gorgeous day for a bike ride, so put in 44 miles on the bike instead.

So only ran about 30 miles for the week, but hoping to do a little better next week.

I recorded the Berlin Marathon last night and watched it this morning. A great race, but a good reminder of how hard sub-2:03 really is, even for Eliud Kipchoge.

base building

66 miles last week

70 miles this week with 12M and 16M long runs

Most miles 7min range (6:40-7:20)

Will add 6m tempo this week at 5:45 pace

cheers

I posted yesterday about my week. It was a good one in that I'm gradually building frequency and intensity in my workouts and I feel that I'm finally able to call myself a runner. At least by my definition. Or maybe an athlete. Eight weeks of training has made me stronger with more endurance. It's fun to read of everyone's progress and I wish lots of fast healing to those who are hurt. Please keep posting your wisdom!