50+ Masters Training and Racing Open Forum

That mile sounds like a lot of fun, lucKY. Well done.

Thanks in part to the inspiration I received here from Allen1959, I went ahead and jumped into the neighborhood 5K yesterday finishing with mixed results. This was my first race in roughly 3 years and my training had consisted mainly of jogging with some occasional fartlek, so I had no idea of what pace I should shoot for. I decided to shoot for something in the 8-9 min/mi range for the first mile. That went well and I got faster from there running negative splits for the race.

All was good until the 2.5 mile point when we came to a downhill part and I decided to make a move on the group in front of me. Unfortunately I suffered a reinjury of the right calf and hobbled to the finish line. I finished in just over 26' which put me in the top third overall. Only one person older finished before me.

My max HR never got above what it does during my jogs, so my CV system seems to be in fine shape. Now if I could only get this calf to cooperate. I’ll give it a few days and hope for the best.

Sun: 52' jog, body wt ex

Mon: golf (walk9/ride9), 89

Tues: 47' jog w/ 1mi utility pole fartlek (0.5mi 2on/2off, 0.5mi 3on/1off)

Wed: golf (walk9/ride9), 93

Thu: 42' jog, body wt ex

Fri: 1mi walk

Sat: 5K road race

Best to all!

Tough to hear of the injuries and setbacks. All we can do is continue to persevere. Aging certainly isn't for sissies, is it?

I did a track workout the other day that tells me I need to start working on turnover. I did 10 x 100 meters and my lungs handled it although my legs were feeling very fatigued on the last couple. I did them all under 16 seconds with a walk back for rest. I think aerobically I'm getting into decent shape and my legs feel much stronger than they did 3 months ago but I have no speed. Time to work on that. My initial goal was to get strong enough to be able to practice sprinting; I think I' there.

My week was Monday weights, Tuesday 5 mile jog and yoga, Wednesday weights, Thursday swimming, Friday rest, Saturday the track workout I described above.

I hope everyone has a great week ahead and enjoys fall. It's my favorite time of year.

nice going; that mile race sounds like a great idea.

enjoyed seeing Chicago this morning on TV to round out my tapering week:

M 1:45 steady

Tu 50:00

W 1:15

Th 1:45 double

F 1:20 with 2 X 10 mins. (2:00 recovery) at half-marathon effort (came thru 2500 meters in 9:45 and 9:40)

Sa 1:10

Su 45:00 run + 45:00 bike

This week will be 1:00 Monday, 1:00 with 14:00 at marathon pace [dress rehearsal per Pfitzinger/Douglas system) tues, 40:00 weds, 20:00 thurs, 15:00 bike friday

and Hartford Marathon saturday.

My A goal is to break 3 hours, but since I've failed in past 3 tries (two DNF's, one DNS) and have no finishes since Boston 2014 I'm arming myself with backup goals in case hip adductor [or other injury] flares:

B goal 3:12 (my PW from age 16 -- hoping 40 years of training has helped!)

C goal 4:41 (half of the time it took me to run my only 50 miler, rumored to have been more like 54, with a couple getting-lost detours)

D goal 6:00 when they turn off the clocks

D-minus goal 7:00 [my older brother's time from a marathon he ran off ZERO training -- i've gotta beat that]

F = DNF

have a great week,

Dave

Cool one mile anecdote Lucky, solid 5K Olde, 16s are quite brisk Phoenix, Dhaaga best goal setting ever!

Cranked out 44 this week...last 9 weeks average of 42.88...IF I can keep that up for 12 more can get real close to 2000 for the year...which I've not done in 5 years.

Ran faster in general this week...training with a former sub four minute miler (now age 61) and a 1:03 half / 2:14 marathon guy (now age 63) must have helped ;)

GO ------- (fill in your favorite NFL/MLB team here)

train don't strain,

MF

L2B nice race but you should have kicked. You and your friends cousin would have had a more exciting experience. Maybe that is why I do not race so much. Once the gun goes off I am a mad dog never hold anything back.

Well my foot seems to be ok. Walked 90 minutes with half of that barefoot in the sand felt good so Ran hard for 10 minutes no pain. Three days no running with lots of BS to do but foot felt ok. So 2 hours walking with half barefoot then a hard impromptu 20 minutes of hard runnings. No pain. So last 2 days I bumped up my hiking/walking to around 4 hours per day foot is fine. Am I damning the torpedoes full speed ahead maybe so far so good. The flip side is I could have backed off took more time off walked less then tried again with similiar results. Sometimes you have to go by what your gut tells you. Also encountered a very large black bear well feed no interest in me we went our separate ways.

Allen probably do not need to mention this but once the knee feels better and you begin to set new running goals make sure you study your latest buildup. I think cross training played a big role in you being able to run so well.

Greetings, friends!

No running, no biking, no strength or stretching exercises this week as I recover from last week's marathon -- and from six months of training while injured. While watching the Chicago Marathon this morning, I crunched a few numbers from my log.

Generally, my mileage was low, as I battled injuries. But I scheduled some solid long runs, which, I believe, are the most important component in marathon training. Specific marathon-pace training is unnecessary -- better to do targeted Lactate Threshold work (or just easy mileage), in my opinion.

Stats from the 16-week marathon training period:

I averaged 38 miles per week, with eight long runs (18-22 miles). Long runs were 25 percent of total mileage. Six medium-long runs (12-15 miles) accounted for 13 percent of total mileage.

Only 17 miles (2.7 percent of total) were run at Marathon Pace range (6:50-7:12).

62 miles (10.2 percent of total) were at Threshold Pace range (6:25-6:50) or faster.

Weekly mileage/longest run

53/15

54/18

54/18

26/14

51/14

47/12

50/20

30/18

31/10

42/20

47/18

41/22

20/14

30/20

17/5

14/4

Marathon: 3:07:23

I must say that I really enjoyed last week's race. And the difference between last year's 7:52/mi pace and this year's 7:08 pace really increased the enjoyment level. The miles just go by so much more quickly, and it felt more like real "running."

An old college buddy has challenged me to marathon race next year, so if I can heal ... well, maybe another go at it.

I will catch up on everyone's posts tonight. Be well!

-Allen

Good morning all. I chose to take a relaxed week, and by week end feeling myself again. I needed to save some energy for fall yard clean-up Saturday. Spent four hours cleaning gutters, bagging leaves, trimming hedges, and finished with the mowing. A little sore but glad I can still handle the work after a trail run in the morning. My week:

Monday: 2 miles easy; 8 x 200m good speed / 100m easy; mile easy

Tuesday: Off

Wednesday: 2 miles easy; 4 x 800m tempo @ 4:03, 3:53, 3:43, 3:38 / 2:00 rest

Thursday: Off

Friday: 4 miles easy @ 10:12 / mile

Saturday: 7.5 mile trail run with 500 feet elevation gain @ 10:22 / mile, finished @ 8:08 pace

Good running all.

Igy

Wow MikeF those are some fast training partners.

First time back on track in 2 weeks due to sore hamstring. 9x 150, started slow and picked it up.

First 3 -22 to 21., 20.99, 20.76, 20.65, 20.47, 20.34, 20.34

At Burbank high today. Lovely weather.

Greetings to all,

LucKY2b, I really enjoyed reading about your race on the harness track. What a cool idea. Nice job on the race, too!

Olde Farte, glad you had the guts to try a race but sorry you got injured doing it. Hoping for a speedy recovery.

dhaaga, good luck on the marathon!

I got in my longest single run (14+ miles) and my highest mileage week (46) since blowing up my heel in May, but I may have paid for it.

Monday: 10.6 mils at 9:08 pace.

Tuesday: 90 minutes on bike trainer and 7 mile bike commute.

Weds: 10.6 miles at 8:58 pace.

Thurs: 90 minutes on bike trainer.

Fri: 10.7 miles at 8:58 pace.

Sat: 14.2 miles in 2:08 (9:01 pace). About halfway through the run I got a cramp in my inside upper thigh. It bothered me for several miles but finally mostly went away. I finished the run feeling pretty good. But then a few hours later I went to the gym, went to do one of my regular exercises where I extend the leg forward against resistance, and immediately felt a sharp pain in that muscle. I quit immediately but apparently the damage was done. For the rest of the day I could hardly bear to swing the left leg forward.

Sun: Got up and watched the Chicago Marathon live (5:30-8:00 Pacific time). Was shuffling around feeling rather broken, with both the inner thigh and the heel quite stiff and sore. Got on the bike and there was no sign of anything wrong. Did 34 miles easy on the bike.

I suspect I may need several more days off from running next week. I have a bunch of CD’s queued up for the bike trainer in the garage…

I am confused about whether this past week was a good week or a bad week. I still was feeling tired from the prior week's hard workouts for most of the week.

Monday I walked 7 miles.

Tuesday I walked 4 miles.

Wednesday I walked 6 miles

Thursday I ran 4 miles at 9:00 pace with my son who was in town for work.

Friday I took a rest day.

Saturday was an 8K XC race. I ran my worst race of the series and got my best scoring result. We were the last race of the morning after the college races and the women's open race. It was over 85 degrees at the start and about 90 by the finish. Before the race I thought I might be in shape to run about 34:00. My splits were - 6:39, 7:09, 7:53, 7:48, 7:54 for 37:23 (Garmin said 5.00 mi for the race course.) I obviously was out way too fast for the conditions and paid the price. However, the 60+ guy who has finished ahead of me by about :05-:10/mi in the previous 4 races cratered worse than I did and I passed him just after mile 3.

Last night I woke up with a massive calf cramp even though I tried to hydrate well the rest of the day after the race. This morning after enjoying a couple of cups of coffee while watching the Chicago Marathon I did a very easy 6 mile walk.

Now I need to recover and prepare for a 5K XC race next Saturday.

Good running to all!

That sounds like an excellent event lucKY. Not a bad time for so little training.

Today was day 12 of taking a break to allow my heel to heal. I’ve done upper body work but nothing else other than normal day to day activities. 12 days ago, my weight was 165 and today its 164. Since this is about 12 or so pounds overweight I guess it’s easier to not gain even more. My habit is to run right after work but I’ve been able to substitute meditation quite well. It’s nice to know that if I could not run for whatever reason I’d be just fine….at least mentally. Physically I’ve noted some odd sensations as I de-trained. A couple days last week both knees hurt just like runner’s knee; and then it just went away after a day. The PF in the center of my right foot which was the progenitor of the right heel pain has had some really odd sharp pains at times, but then, that too went away. I’ve had that PF in the direct center of my right arch since 2015.

Watching Chicago has got me stoked to get back to running. On Tue I plan to start at 10 min of slow jogging, adding 1 min a day, 5 days a week. I’ll be hiking some next week so the run/hike mix will be unpredictable.

Have a great week all!

Really enjoyed watching Chicago this morning. Rupp continues to show why he's my favorite runner these days. Skipped church...I don't think my wife would have liked me checking my phone during the service!

Running has been a real struggle for me the past six weeks. Well, more like since I started the track work on 7-10 in preparation for the 8-25 mile race. I'm not sure what has happened to me but I can barely move these days. Had to walk home on yesterdays run. Everything from my hips to feet is uncomfortable. Before I started all that speedwork I had a nice year going...Ran a 61:30 10 mile in April and a couple of nice 5k's in 17:17 & 17:08. The 5:01 mile wasn't too bad either. But all of that seems so far away when 8:00 pace feels like about all I can do most days. Meeting with my Chiro (son-in-law) again Wed to see if we can figure out what is so eff'd up.

Here's how my sucky 38 mile week went.

M: 8.11 Miles in 1:02:36 [7:43 per mile]

T: Off

W: am: 3.9 Miles in 31:56 [8:11 per mile] pm: 5 Miles in 34:34 [6:54 per mile] with 3 miles in 18:52 (6:26.1,6:17.0,6:09.0)

T: 8.3 Miles in 1:06:00 [7:57 per mile]

F: 8.03 Miles in 1:04:50 [8:04 per mile]

S: 5 Miles in 41:31 [8:18 per mile] walked/jogged last 2

S: Off

I should probably just do short very easy runs until the legs feel normal again. For how ever long it takes. Keep up the light stretching routine I've been doing. Its getting kind of discouraging.

Have a good week,

Dave

67 mile week

2 solid efforts

8M tempo @ 5:38 pace

19M long run 6:34 pace

bunch of 6 milers at 7:15 pace

Injury bug here again may need to cut back this week

cheers

Hey Old Farte FWIW I too suffered calf issues as well as PF. Most injuries are hard to figure out exactly why they happened and what we did to fix em cause we are always doing so many things HOWEVER.....

Eccentric strength cured me of both calf issues and PF. Every week I include at least one day of walking up and down a really STEEP HILL. Steep enough so that if you do not concentrate on the descent you end sliding down on your arse. Going up is also slow. Think of these as a weight range of motion excercise not cardio.

Decided to do a 20 minute twisty rolling trail run in the middle of my 3 hour hike. Went easier than usual 3/3 as I think I have a hole in my base that I am going to fill up.

Got so fired up from Galen's Win that I went long myself. 13.1 miles in 1:37:55 ~7:27pace. That's 2 miles longer than I've run in years. That's 3 miles longer than my middle 6 miles tempo run ~6:33pace 6 days ago. That's 2 better training runs and 1 better aerobic-tank training week than my season debut 5k XC 8 days ago. Now If only I can learn to remain calm, recover for 2x or 3x number of days at age 57 vs age 27, and not get hurt. Wish me wise wits.

KP

Sometimes you eat the bear and sometimes the bear eats you:

https://drive.google.com/file/d/0BxbhZ16IUhreVnpZQml5cWtLbUk/view?usp=sharing

This guy is a bit bigger and closer than the one I saw.

Charlie,

I had a bear tear up my backpack, chase me out of my tent one night in Yosemite in 1973. I hoisted my food in a tree, but that didn't stop him from tearing up my gear. Ended the trip. I carry bear spray on all backpacking trips these days.

Igy

Ghost of Igloi wrote:

Charlie,

I had a bear tear up my backpack, chase me out of my tent one night in Yosemite in 1973. I hoisted my food in a tree, but that didn't stop him from tearing up my gear. Ended the trip. I carry bear spray on all backpacking trips these days.

Igy

Hey Igy What species?

American Black Bears are pretty much scardy cats unless really hungry or threatened. Except when fed which is a big Problem around Florence camp grounds. The one I encountered was more annoyed than scared of me.

Charlie,

Black bear I suppose. He left my camp, but his paw tore the nylon of my pack and put a hole in an aluminum pot. He scared me and since he left suppose I ran him off with my imposing 135 pound scrawny frame.

Igy