50+ Masters Training and Racing Open Forum

Now THAT is what working the gift--in Pre's terms--looks like.

Time to get us back on the front page! :)

Anyhow, 8 days until my 1/2 marathon and so it's in the forefront of my mind now. Weather in KC has finally turned cooler and so had a solid 5 mile effort this week in 50 minutes, on a not-too-hilly course. My 1/2 will be fairly flat, too, and I am hoping that I can maintain at least a sub 10/mile pace. I don't know if a sub 2 hour effort is possible, have not been to the track for over a month.

Small, sad runner news here in KC (nothing as bad as the terrible weather out east, though) is that the Johnson County Community College track has been razed. Despite some public opposition, it is being destroyed for more parking? Or for softball fields. The track teams were dropped, coaches fired already. The teams were routinely in the top 10 nationally, whether track or xc, and had won national titles before. How can that President keep those trophies in the trophy case after doing that!?

One more day of heavy rains here tomorrow before we see a drying week. Go Chiefs!

Mike Lundgren wrote:

Small, sad runner news here in KC (nothing as bad as the terrible weather out east, though) is that the Johnson County Community College track has been razed. Despite some public opposition, it is being destroyed for more parking? Or for softball fields. The track teams were dropped, coaches fired already. The teams were routinely in the top 10 nationally, whether track or xc, and had won national titles before.

I'm afraid I'm with the school on this one, Mike. The conference that JCCC belongs to was demanding improvements to the track that would involve $250K in expenditures. It's just one of those typical keep-up-with-the-Joneses moves that over time transforms humble sporting fields into ridiculous shrines to athletics. JCCC is not a D-I track program. It was outstanding in its day. So was the University of Chicago football program under Amos Alonzo Stagg. Then they ended the football program and quit the Big Ten. All things must pass ...

Someone on the thread said there was some value in entering road races, not to run the race but to do T or MP pace running in them. Well, I did that today, entered a 5K and ran it at T pace. I didn't check out the route, which was full of climbs and descents, which could have wreaked havoc with my pacing. But I just kept my eye on the watch. I had my new footpod which greatly improved the accuracy of the watch, and stayed right on T pace. It is different in a race environment!

Otherwise, took a rest day Monday and logged 37 miles, mostly on treadmills (rain), less than the 45-47 miles I'd been aiming for. The result is that my moderate/high intensity workouts dominated - 30% of my running time.

Fall is here! Hope everyone here finds a glorious time to run this week.

I will jump the gun and post my week of training early. Well it is 10 pm sunday night here.

Mon. 4 km easy run, 22 mins. shirt off 26 deg celsius. Then straight out onto the water for 32 mins of kayaking with a few sprints.

Went out later for an easy 24 min spin on the mountain bike.

Tue. No sun today. 80 mins of slogging away in pouring rain and a howling gale on the mountain bike.

Wed. 2 km hilly warmup run into 25 to 30 kph headwind. 10 x 400 metre hill reps with 50 metres elevation gain. Slapbang into the wind.

1.6 km run back with that gale behind me in about 7.40.

Thu. 38 min kayak on the Campaspe.

Fri. 5 km easy run 26 mins then straight out onto the water for a quick 15 minute kayak.

Later on out for a 49 min ride on the roadie with 3 steady threshold 2 km hills.

Sat. Hilly technical trail run 8 km in 57 mins.

Sun..5.6 km run with 480 metres elevation gain inc 2.3 km climb with 440 metres elevation gain which included Mt Macedon's "The Beast" (1 km with 300 metres elevation gain.). I managed beastie boy in a half decent 19 minutes, been 21 to 23 the last couple of runs. That is 19 minutes for the 1 km!! All up the run took me 57 minutes.

Feeling pretty happy to be getting some half decent efforts in. I am still well down on fitness but it is a big improvement on limping painfully through 3 km shuffling jogs back in August.

A few weeks to my 33d 4 Peaks and I know I will be just trying to get through the 4 days rather than racing.

My Everest Base Camp mate Johnny Dobbo just completed his 41st Melbourne Marathon this morning. He is one of a very small group of "Legends" who have done all 41 since it bagan. Another mate Grayson has now 38 in a row at age 74 or maybe 75.

*Week 383*

Greetings, 50+ers! Hallelujah! The weather finally broke mid-week! Almost hit 19 miles and am looking forward to getting some better (cooler) mileage this coming week. The log reads as such:

Sun: 2.1 hiking up, running down steep hills at the resort

Mon: off

Tue: 3.5 easy (8:40/mi) last hot day!

Wed: Off

Thu: 4.1 mostly easy (8:04/mi avg)

Fri: 4.0 w/5x(walk 2:00, run 3:00) run portions ~6:30/40 pace

Sat: 5.2 easy (8:55/mi)

After the Bluegrass Mile last Friday (and thanks for the kudos,) my wife and I went on a couple day break at one of our state resort parks. It was still so fricking hot that I had no desire to go out and slog miserable miles on the very hilly terrain of Southeastern Kentucky (Cumberland Gap National Park is worth a visit, btw.) I'm calling Friday's run a workout; the run portions felt pretty good. The rest was just piddling about. Saturday, the arthritis in my feet flared up a bit and my feet were a little achy for the entire run....not fun.

From last Sunday's Chicago Marathon, the 70-74 Men's and Women's winning times were pretty remarkable: Jean-Pierre Solans @3:08:16 (still ~10-minutes off record pace) and Jeannie Rice @3:27:50. Her time, in particular, is a couple minutes faster than her listed 65-69 AR that she set last year and 9-minutes ahead of the currently listed AR. Kudos!

-Another great story from MikeF; what a running life it has been!

-Sorry that you're going through such an ordeal, MG! Wish I had some good advice. I know how much you'll hate missing Club XC this year. Sure hope that you can get it figured out.

-Nice HM, amkelley, regardless of the time. You've been through a lot these past many months.

-Good to see some solid steady training by many of you guys and gals.

OK, that's all I've got this week. Hope that y'all had some more good training and racing this past week. I think there might be a few races to report, yes?

All the Best!

2 why not runs , a 1200 in 4:33 (86,92,95) and a 2.5 mile run easy on the beach

daily jetty rocks and a reramped up walking to about 2 hours a day

brain is working pretty good something of interest pretty finicky or maybe it is the low carb IF ? Anyhow genetics,hormones, cytokines, hermesis and how this stuff relates to my old love of software oh boy amazing stuff with the cost of access FREE wow.

fishing

https://drive.google.com/open?id=1l8w7f4r83NLfUZHa6hVrY4yMRj4RbNK5

nice going. I like the concept of doing hard workouts in a race environment, but the few times i've tried to do so I've usually botched it by getting sucked into going faster than intended and sort of running a bad race rather than a good workout.

fun week of running for me as it finally became Fall-like past couple days.

M 1:00 x-t

Tu 2:15 double

W 1:55 double

Th 1:30 double -- hill repeats on second run

F 1:30

Sa 1:20

Su 1:20 incl. 10k x-c race in 41:20 [5th OA, 2nd AG].

The race this morning felt good -- 1:24 slower than last time I ran it, but that was 3 years ago so not a shock. I was pleased to run a negative split (20:51/20:29 for the two 5k loops) despite being in no-person's land for the second half -- well behind 4th and well ahead of 6th.

M55-59 winner was Jeff Duyn -- i kept him in sight longer than usual, but perhaps that had something to do with his having run Steamtown Marathon just a week ago. Maybe I'll challenge him to do a MikeF-style track 100-miler and then race me the next day. That should even things up. Good thing I have no shame -- as I told myself in high school, dunking on an 8-foot hoop is still dunking!

have a great week,

Dave

Good morning from a 30 degree start to the day. Cecil has no interest in venturing outside preferring to play a chase game with Jingles our other male cat. Wooly furred Gidget is not to be slowed down no matter the weather, she has work to do. Speaking of work, I am recovering from a day of fall cleanup, gutters, flower beds, vacuuming leaves with the lawn mower. So a big cup of coffee in my easy chair tastes pretty good right now.

I managed one run Friday, felt pretty good, other than that had a couple of walks with my wife. I finish RT Tuesday which will conclude my treatment. I felt less tired this week, rested more on the front end. No more microwaving of partially digested food in the lower intestine. ?

Have a good week.

Igy

Even though I haven't decided what I'm going to do today about running or not running here is my week so far. I really tried to be patient and let my achilles settle down and get some very easy recovery work in. After getting it pretty sore with last Saturday's XC race I took Sunday completely off and then did the following:

M- 20 min rowing

T- 20 min rowing, 4mi walking 15:53/mi

W- 20 min rowing, 4mi walking 15:30/mi

Th- 20 min rowing, 4mi walking 15:02/mi

F- 20 min rowing, 4mi walking 14:30/mi

S- 10 min rowing, 6 miles progressive on trails 8:44/mi. average. Saturday was a milestone because it was the first time I have run with my 7 year old grandson, who recently started asking his parents if he can run with them. He ran a 1.5 mile loop with us and then peeled off with his other grandfather to go back to their house. He ran a fairly steady 10:22 the first mile and then steadily picked up the last half mile to finish at 8:00 pace. My son, daughter-in-law and I then continued with another 4.5+ miles. Our run went 10:22, 9:37, 8:27, 8:21, 8:09, 7:49.

After yesterday's run my achilles is slightly sore again but much, much better than a week ago. I have two more full weeks to get it right before I race again.

Good health and good running to all.

Mike Lundgren, good luck on your upcoming half and I wish you good weather. And I’ll be rooting for the Chiefs tonight too.

KCgeezer, sounds like your 5K tempo in a race environment went well. I don’t know if I could do that, or would even want to try. I often show up at short races poorly prepared (e.g. no taper), but once I toe the line I run as hard as I can. I have so much trouble forcing myself to run hard in training that I really don’t want to get into the habit of not running as hard as I can in a race!

Nice job on the x-c race, dhaaga. The negative split must be encouraging.

I took a light week following my half-marathon last Sunday and the inevitable resulting soreness in my bad Achilles heel. I ran only four days for 46 miles total, including a slow (9:12 pace) 15-mile “long run” this morning. The other three days were two on the bike trainer and a 40-mile bike ride yesterday. Like many of you, I’m also really enjoying the fall weather. Today’s 15-miler was done under clear skies, bright sunshine after the sun rose, and a nearly steady temperature of about 50 degrees with low humidity. I didn’t even bother with a water stop.

I now launch into a buildup cycle for my “big” fall half-marathon in 21 days.

M59 -- 5'11" 162 lbs

Open PRs ---- 16:04 5K, 2:40:30 marathon

Masters PRs --17:10 5K, 2:56:03 marathon

M55-59 PRs --- 18:58 5K, 3:07:23 marathon

Goal - 3:00 marathon Oct. 2019

Oct 8-14, 2018

Off

MLR - 12.2 miles @ 7:18/mi

Easy - 8.2 miles @ 8:14/mi

Easy - 10.0 miles (untimed)

Easy - 4.0 miles @ 8:56/mi

LT -- 2-mi warmup; 15K race @ 6:33/mi

Easy - 5.0 miles @ 8:34/mi

WEEK TOTAL: 50.7 MILES

Tuesday Medium-Long Run: Coming off a rest day, my goal was to run some quality miles. First 6 miles averaged 7:37, starting with an 8:43; last 6 miles averaged 6:59, closing with a 6:30. It's been a while since I've seen training paces in that range.

Saturday 15K Race: Midweek I decided to run this -- a certified course less than an hour away. At the start, it was mid-40s with light rain and a 12 mph breeze. The race was small -- fewer than 90 starters, and only 10 in my age group. My finishing time was 1:01:02. That's 6:32.8 average per mile, a nice improvement over the warm summer 15K at 6:43/mi. But well off the 6:26-pace I ran 14 months ago. Still, it was good for 1st M55-59, 4th master, 9th overall. Also, good for an 81.35%

age-grade and a $25 gift certificate.

Charlie wrote:

2 why not runs , a 1200 in 4:33 (86,92,95) and a 2.5 mile run easy on the beach

daily jetty rocks and a reramped up walking to about 2 hours a day

brain is working pretty good something of interest pretty finicky or maybe it is the low carb IF ? Anyhow genetics,hormones, cytokines, hermesis and how this stuff relates to my old love of software oh boy amazing stuff with the cost of access FREE wow.

fishing

https://drive.google.com/open?id=1l8w7f4r83NLfUZHa6hVrY4yMRj4RbNK5

Two words for you, Charlie: Snake Diet

Ka-boom!

IF oh yea after a year I am very happy with IF with moderate to low carb. last blood work hdl 68 and triglycerides 66 best ever

https://medium.com/the-mission/the-sweet-spot-for-intermittent-fasting-9aae12a2158c

Fasting promotes autophagy

One of the great benefits of intermittent fasting that I’ve written about often is that it promotes autophagy, the cellular self-cleansing process that breaks down and recycles damaged molecules and cellular organelles.

During the fed state, when insulin is increased, the rate of autophagy is low. During the fasted state, as insulin drops, autophagy increases dramatically, perhaps 5-fold.

Many of the anti-aging effects of calorie restriction and intermittent fasting come from the increase in autophagy — which I discussed at length in my book, Stop the Clock: The Optimal Anti-Aging Strategy.

A high rate of autophagy is characteristic of young organisms; with aging, autophagy decreases, and this allows cellular damage to accumulate. By fasting intermittently, autophagy rates can be reset to that of a younger person.

Nice weather about 75 degrees and almost no wind to speak of on the track today here in Norcal.

Mile warm-up 2 x 50, 2 x100

2 sets of 2 x 200 with 1:25 recovery. 10 full minutes recovery between sets. basically a 400m simulation.

1st set - 27.77 - 27.81

2nd set - 28.03 - 29.51 (last 100 15.5) this truly felt like the last 100 of a race tied up the last 50.

800 recovery jog

6 x100 various straights and turns. 14.30-14.20 14.02, 14.02, 13.49, 13.49. Amazing to see those same times on my watch. I have had the same time show three times in a row before but not in this weird fashion. Hand timed of course.

Legs felt decent today.

Wednesday 6 x 250 90% or so.

Sunday 400m masters track meet Glendale California.

Carry on!

haven’t had much to post recently, but after a solid month of training, i’m starting to feel like a runner again—not necessarily the runner i once was, but at least i’m running daily and managing hard efforts. as everyone knows on this board, this aging thing and the constant recalibration of expectations ain’t easy…

solid workout last tuesday: 5 miles AM with my h.s. team, 3 miles in the afternoon with the team again with newer runners, then track work with calcoast in the PM: 5:25 mile, followed by a mile with faster younger teammates where i did the first 800 in 2:27-ish, sat out the 3rd 400, then jumped in the last and ran 72-ish, then an 800 in 2:25 and 3x400 in low 70-72. made for a 12 mile day…

friday i ran one way to a meet my h.s. team puts on, the orange county championships, that was 9 miles from my house, gradually climbing around 900 feet. i managed the run in sub 7 pace, with the last 4 around 6:45 pace—a pace that wiped me out a few weeks ago, but i felt fine after this one. saturday was a day off as the two-day meet consumed my time and energy—we actually had a half-inch of rain, almost causing a cancellation of the race—i’d imagine the rest of the country must laugh at what we southern californians call inclement weather. the course, all dirt and grass, did get treacherous and muddy enough that we cancelled the last 4 races; fortunately they were sophomore and jv races so it didn’t cause much of a commotion since were still able to crown county team and individual champions in the sweepstakes races. i’ll try a long run today with a middle effort at 80% and see where i’m at.

like kcgeezer’s recent effort, i’ll try what i call “tracing” this friday evening at a cal state fullerton x-c 8k around their campus, more roadrace than x-c. i’m pretty good at managing sub-race efforts that usually reward me with a better effort than i could have managed training alone. i’m hoping 5:50-6 minute pace will not require 100%, but we’ll see…

good to see dhaaga’s x-c efforts—hope to see you in spokane…

igy, we’ll be celebrating another joe douglas b’day on november 11th with some local smtc alumni. looking forward to seeing old friends and my old coach…

old guy II & amkelley, good luck with the achilles—i feel your pain. i’ve been able to manage 30 years of achilles tendinitis, and the only thing that seems to have made a difference is the eccentric exercises, but they’re still never 100%…

allen1959, congrats on the 15k. i was hoping to be ready for the tulsa 15k at the end of this month, but that won’t happen. even though i’m a miler, i kinda like the distance…

i’m hoping in my next life i’ll come back as mo’ pak—besides loving that part of the world (i’ve only been to nz, though) there was brief (like around 30 seconds) moment of my life where i wondered if i could be the first sub-4 guy to climb everest, since many point out that fewer have broken 4 than have scaled that peak. not sure if anyone’s accomplished it as of yet, but too lazy to google. in honor of your mates and their impressive melbourne marathon streaks, i’ll try to extend my 36 year streak of sub-5 miles some time after my thursday birthday, maybe on sunday or tuesday…

carpe crepusculem,

cush

Lots of weights and track-ness around here. The weather continues to cooperate.

This mornings workout was 6x200 with a 200 walk back for rest. All under 33 seconds.

I'm thinking about that 800m training more and more. I think I'll jump into it next week. Any tips

from the 2 lap experts on this thread?

cush,

Please give Joe my regards. I am planning on coming out this spring shooting for the week stradldling Carlsbad. If it works out I would like to pay coach a visit. I will treat for breakfast, lunch or dinner if you can make it. Last time I sat down with Joe it was over breakfast about twelve years ago, so a visit is long overdue.

Igy

Allen1959 wrote:

Saturday 15K Race: Midweek I decided to run this -- a certified course less than an hour away. At the start, it was mid-40s with light rain and a 12 mph breeze. The race was small -- fewer than 90 starters, and only 10 in my age group. My finishing time was 1:01:02. That's 6:32.8 average per mile, a nice improvement over the warm summer 15K at 6:43/mi. But well off the 6:26-pace I ran 14 months ago. Still, it was good for 1st M55-59, 4th master, 9th overall. Also, good for an 81.35% age-grade and a $25 gift certificate.

Good race, Allen! 10 guys in your 5-year age group with fewer than 90 total isn't something I ever see in my neck of the woods. I'm used to there being a lot of 50+ runners but not to that extent, and in most of my local races at anything shorter than the marathon distance, roughly 60% of the runners are female. Wondering how many were in the female equivalent of your age group, and what the winner ran.

phoenix.rising wrote:

Lots of weights and track-ness around here. The weather continues to cooperate.

This mornings workout was 6x200 with a 200 walk back for rest. All under 33 seconds.

I'm thinking about that 800m training more and more. I think I'll jump into it next week. Any tips

from the 2 lap experts on this thread?

Phoenix,

A good variation of your workout today would be the same 6 x 200m with 20 seconds recovery. Of course your pace would have to be adjusted in accordance with the short rest. I would estimate closer to 36-38 seconds based on your current paces with full recovery, but a workout more specific to the 800m in my view. Numbers 5 and 6 will make your lungs burn and your toes curl.

Igy