50+ Masters Training and Racing Open Forum

60+, well over 55,000 lifetime miles, not knee or body pain since cutting carbs, eating unprocessed foods and incorporating these principles:

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

Mike Lundgren wrote:

Not to argue, but options to TRE and IF can be with some stand-by's like portion control (small portions on small plates), single servings, no snacking, high value (low-fat proteins, clean veggies and fruits, avoid "empty" calories, etc.). The old adage of "push-ups from the table" and spend more socializing during meals and not watching TV, checking the phone, etc.

Had a single-digit windchill day, and ran a decent 5.5 miles on snowy roads by using trail shoes for grip, felt good to meet the challenge! Especially when doing weights at the gym and seeing people on the treadmills.

I agree 100%. I’m just reporting on one possible methodology, one, among many. It’s A way to do it and not THE way to do it. This BBC documentary was really informative and contains some good science, enough to allow people to make an informed decision.

Yes, it works for me and some studies on glucosamine alone (sulfate form) support it's effectiveness for both pain relief & cartilage protection. I've been taking 1500 - 2000 mg for about 5 yrs now (I'm late 50s) for a wide variety of joint injuries sustained over the years. Studies show it has chondroprotective action in athletes by preventing collagen degradation and accelerating cartilage metabolism.

My knees are good so far (had bilateral xrays last month showing no joint degenerative disease) but I have a bad wheel (ruptured PTT & mild OA), so I'll see if increasing the glucosamine will help. Here's all the studies on all aspects of glucosamine (great site for other supplements also):

Been there...done that. I have patellar tendinopathy on one knee from an old injury 10 yrs ago (while trying to do my best "Chuck Norris" impression in a Tae Kwon Do class I suffered a grade 2 strain of the PT. ?).

From what I researched, eccentric decline squats are the gold standard for patellar tendinopathy and I've been doing them everyday now for 10 yrs to reduce the inflammation and strengthen the tendon. In addition, I've found eccentric leg extensions on the leg machine effective in strengthening the VMO and taking some of the load off the knee. I also perform one-legged eccentrics on the lying down leg sled going beyond 90 degrees flexion. I've noticed that some trainers with NBA teams use the sled for "jumper's knee" rehab & prevention. But with daily eccentrics & icing, and 3x week leg exercises at the gym, it's getting a bit arduous going on 10 yrs now.

Here's an interesting study on HIIT with older people. It's clear from this study that HIIT has a much more positive influence on genes than less intense, lower VO2max type excercise:

https://mobile.nytimes.com/2017/03/23/well/move/the-best-exercise-for-aging-muscles.html?mc=aud_dev&mcid=keywee&mccr=domdesk&kwp_0=619189&kwp_4=2200908&kwp_1=919655&referer=http://www.letsrun.com/forum/flat_read.php?thread=8581110

http://www.cell.com/cell-metabolism/fulltext/S1550-4131(17)30099-2

As we end the year I'm also sort of wrapping up my 50s decade. This year I ran just under 3K miles, and did about a dozen A/B races (with cut back and maybe a recovery week to follow if it was longer). Focus was 10K and up.

I XC skied extensively through the 2014 season but that's taken a back seat to running because access isn't as good where I now live. But I still train some on skis in the winter months to supplement running and more just to get out to do something different. Been lucky to bounce back from injuries and race times held up decent through the decade. Hope the good fortune continues into the future. And yes diet helps a lot! (I went more whole grain, less sugar and processed foods in early 2016) and have felt better since then.

Year - 5K, 1/2 marathon, marathon (some notes)

2008 - 17:19, 1:19:16, 2:54, (also 3:09 trail marathon with >3K vertical)

2009 - 17:01, 1:18:53, DNF & injury at NYC (+USA masters xc ski champ)

2010 - 18:05, 37:02 10K, injured 3/4 of year (same injury as 2009)

2011 - 17:36, 1:20:01

2012 - 17:34, 1:19:37

2013 - 17:17, 1:20:25, 3:17 trail marathon

2014 - 17:18, 1:19:39, 3:15 trail marathon, (+USA masters xc ski champ)

2015 - 18:09, 1:22:10

2016 - 18:03 (in a 10K), 1:26:22, injured 2nd half of year (upper body running injury!)

2017 - 17:39 (in a 10K), 1:18:40, 2:58 (also ran 91% age grade 10K at sea level)

KudzuRunner wrote:

I am finally at the point where the rubber meets the road, vis a vis knees. Patellar tendonitis several years back was put to rest with 15 mg./day of Mobic, two weeks, then taper. But that was just one knee. Now it's the same knee (R) with the tendonitis and the other knee is something else that probably won't listen to eccentric decline squats. I'm taking 7.5 mg 3x a week on the day before I do longer runs.

How's the mobic (meloxicam?) working for you? Any side-effects? I hear it's one of the safer NSAIDs out there? I know a couple of stiffs at the gym who say they can't get through the day without it.

Oh, forgot to mention that the Glucosamine/chondroitin combo works really well for me, too. I use Move Free Advanced that is sold at Costco, and take two tabs daily. It's expensive, compared to vitamins, so I am always looking for the times it's on sale, and then stock up. So worth it, and it takes a week or more to see benefits, but they did happen. I had a finger joint that was actually swollen and the skin red, and that has been resolved and never returned. It was then that I'd gone from one tab to two, both in the evening with my other vitamins. I'm now approaching age 67, approaching 80,000 lifetime miles and the only joint issues are feeling stiff getting out of a car seat (don't we all?!).

As to foods, I only choose multigrain breads (except for the rare pizza), nonfat milk, organic fruits and veggies (non-GMO only) and avoid simple sugar products (ESPECIALLY avoiding high fructose corn syrup and corn syrup products, which had raised my fasting blood sugar). Lost a couple pounds just by watching those sugars. My big treat is using Siggi's yogurt products most nights for deserts, often with some organic chocolate powder added. Chocolate is my BIG treat.

All this was a process. Years ago, it was the typical mid-western diet of fatty meats and potatoes and fried foods, Remember the roast beef, in a pot, with potatoes, celery, carrots, etc. all cooked together? That was the Sunday night meal when growing up (thanks Mom!).

Coyote Montane wrote:

Year - 5K, 1/2 marathon, marathon (some notes)

2008 - 17:19, 1:19:16, 2:54, (also 3:09 trail marathon with >3K vertical)

2009 - 17:01, 1:18:53, DNF & injury at NYC (+USA masters xc ski champ)

2010 - 18:05, 37:02 10K, injured 3/4 of year (same injury as 2009)

2011 - 17:36, 1:20:01

2012 - 17:34, 1:19:37

2013 - 17:17, 1:20:25, 3:17 trail marathon

2014 - 17:18, 1:19:39, 3:15 trail marathon, (+USA masters xc ski champ)

2015 - 18:09, 1:22:10

2016 - 18:03 (in a 10K), 1:26:22, injured 2nd half of year (upper body running injury!)

2017 - 17:39 (in a 10K), 1:18:40, 2:58 (also ran 91% age grade 10K at sea level)

Coyote, that is remarkable consistency over a decade. I'm about your age (I turn 60 in May) and my performances at all distances have done nothing but decline steadily, with considerable noise on the signal, over that period. You're doing something right!

Perhaps I'll summarize my decade similarly, so that others who are declining through their 50s know that they are not alone...

I also take the Glucosamine/chondroitin combo. I've taken it for about 6 months and noticed an improvement in my joints after about 3 weeks. I take 2000 mg daily. I am able to drop down into a deep knee squat with no problems now - before I started taking it I would have to bend at the waist to pick up anything from the floor - a squat was too creaky.

Here are my stats from my 50’s and my decidedly non-elite contribution to the thread :-) My average mileage for the running years is about 23 to 25 per week. If I could run more miles I would run more miles. As we say in the south: “I would if I could but I caint so I aint….” And given that my lifetime 5K PR is a 15:42, and 10K is 32:12 these numbers are kinda hard to look at....but that's all I have to say about that.

2009 (50): 18:47 5K, 5:08 1500

2010 (51): 19:14 5K, 25:46 4 miler

2011 (52): 19:41 5K, 5:30 mile

2012 (53): 19:24 5K

2013 (54) Injured entire year

2014 (55): 21:01 5K

2015 (56): 20:33 5K

2016:(57) Injured entire year

2017 (58) Injured entire year

Hey this is fun to do and interesting to read

43 15:47 5k and 4:13 1500

44 pf lower leg stuff ect.

45 cont.

46 34:xx 10k and 4:30

47 lost interest

48 cont.

49.9 16:42 5K and 16:45 5000 both with bad PF off 1 year of trng

50,51,52,53 Mtn biking in forest park daily really got fit

54,55 a little road bike gained weight

56 ran a 5:36 mile after 8 months of running but still overweight lost interest

57,58,59 daily hikes about an hour carrying 20 to 30 lbs of extra lard

60 5:51 mile at 20 lbs overweight running 30 or 40 minutes a week but lots of hiking

61 getting closer to ideal weight and feeling good we shall see.

Coyote Montane posted a summary of his decade showing how NOT to decline through your 50s. Here’s the corresponding summary of my best race times each year over the past decade, showing a lot of decline even though I have kept trying.

2008: 5K 20:58, 10K 41:42, HM 1:37:27

2009: 10K 44:56, HM 1:37:40

2010: 5K 21:08, 10K 42:46, HM 1:37:14

2011: 5K 21:42, 10K 44:00, HM 1:35:42

2012: 5K 22:31, 10K 47:32, HM 1:42:15

2013: 5K 22:19, 10K 47:07, HM 1:42:15

2014: 5K 22:53, 10K 47:57, HM 1:42:28

2015: 5K 22:41, HM 1:40:17

2016: 5K 22:59, 8K 36:57, HM 1:40:56

2017: 5K 23:18, 8K 37:42, HM 1:43:07

These were my best races of each year. I ran between 3 and 11 races each of those years and some of my times were much slower, but this is a reasonable summary of the best I was capable of running during each of those years. Over this time my weight was reasonably stable (114-118 at a narrow-framed 5’5”) and no big changes in my diet. Lots of injuries, but all except the most recent (Achilles tendon on July 5, 2015) have been recoverable.

I live in an area where there are quite a few races within about a one-hour drive, but the level of competition is generally low. Local races are geared toward participation, not competition. As a result, even when I run rather poorly I win my age group most of the time, and if I don’t win I’m usually second. For example, my most recent two races were both slow, a 1:47:57 HM and a 24:25 5K. I won the F55-59 age group in both races, with 23 competing in the HM and 72 in the 5K. If I’m willing to drive more like 2 hours to the Sacramento area or the east bay I can find many more races with a generally higher caliber of competition. I do that once in a while to remind myself that there really are women my age who are much faster.

On to age 60 next May!

I had a light day at work. It is interesting to look back. I can certsinly see many mistakes made and perhaps something learned. In my first two seasons at M55-59 I medaled in cross country, indoor and outdoor USATF, with bests of 2:28, 4:53, 5:16, 10:24, 18:02 and 39:16. By the 2008 outdoor track season, shortly before my 58th birthday things noticeably changed. Hard to quantify what those changes were, and the physical declined coincided with being a member of the sandwich generation.

2008 2:36, 5:02, 5:29, 10:24, 18:39 (18:33 road)

2009 19:58

2010. 2:32, 5:40 (mile), 11:10, 20:33 (road)

2011 6:17 (mile), 21:13 (road)

2012 2:52, 6:18 (mile), 12:35, 21:09 (road)

2013 1:18.41 (400m I), 6:09 (mile)

2014 24:02 (road)

2015 no racing

2016 1:25.10 (400m), 3:22, 6:25 (1500m), 25:07 (road)

2017 1:22.71 (400m), 3:16, 6:25 (1500m), 22:57 (road)

What I think I have learned: 1) I am better at managing my aging; 2) cross training maintains and enhances general fitness, but is not race specific; 3) I am motivated to be more dedicated to diet and training when I race more frequently; 4) I am fortunate to have what I have, in running and more importantly life.

Igy

Cool story.

I will go back to my 40s, as I raced so little in my 50s. Inconsistent training ever since high school. My collegiate career consisted of just senior year track, although the coach had actually recruited me for freshman year XC (Division III).

I trained some after college, and set all my lifetime PRs at age 23. Low 16s 5K, 2:40:30 marathon. On again, off again training since then. A couple dozen marathons, including a few at 4-hours plus.

40 - 3:12:45 marathon

41 - 3:50:24 marathon

42 - no racing

43 - 17:10 5K, 2:56:03 marathon

44 - 17:21 5K

45 - 18:38 5K

46-56 - no racing

57 - 3:25:38 marathon, 18:57 5K (6 months after marathon)

58 - 3:07:23 marathon

On my 58th birthday I ran 59:59 for 15K, which age-grades better than the marathon, and just shy of the 5K a few months earlier at age 57.

Started a trend! But it's also good to look back and what went right or not so right for us.

amkelley yes we are close in age, just a couple months for me. It's like no way! But also looking forward to new AG.

Coyote,

I have a sense you trust your instincts.

Igy

OK, you people made me go back and look up my last 10 years too. For me it's age 58 to 68. For most of these years I have been doing very few road races and mostly XC.

5k, 10k

2008- 18:48

2009- 19:01, 39:29

2010- 18:41, 38:48 (I turned 60 and was very motivated and managed to stay uninjured)

2011- 19:32

2012- 19:34

2013- 20:30, 39:53

2014- 19:29 (last uninjured year)

2015- 20:47

2016- 20:13

3017- 21:17 (almost fully healed but at my low mileage point on the recovery process)

My mileage has been progressively increasing since mid-2017 and I remain injury free. If I can stay healthy I think getting back in the neighborhood of 19:00 for 5k is realistic for this year.

old guy II,

You can do it and perhaps more.

Igy