50+ Masters Training and Racing Open Forum

Ah, the Blue Brothers did not wear a tuxedo.

Question for you over 50 runners.

Ever tried or had success with either of the following? Considering doing something different to try to stay healthier.

1. 10 day training cycle with two days between workouts, and after the long run. So workout, easy two days, workout, easy two days then long run...and then repeat.

2. Only running 5 days a week with only one long run and one workout. Cross train the other two days.

Really want to get over the cycle of injuries and stay healthy for a long period....

thanks

Getting older wrote:

Question for you over 50 runners.

Ever tried or had success with either of the following? Considering doing something different to try to stay healthier.

1. 10 day training cycle with two days between workouts, and after the long run. So workout, easy two days, workout, easy two days then long run...and then repeat.

2. Only running 5 days a week with only one long run and one workout. Cross train the other two days.

Really want to get over the cycle of injuries and stay healthy for a long period....

thanks

Getting Older,

If you scroll back a bit allen1959 used a 10 day cycle. Also amkelley and SCgal use quite a bit of cycling in their routine, and I did spin up until recently, stopping for non-running related reasons. Since then I have used walking for recovery days, old guy II uses a somewhat similar format. For me the walking and cycling served as recovery, I will let the others delineate there routine. I have found the weekly schedule fits my routine with Monday and Wednesday quality days and the traditional long run Saturday with Sunday off. When I start to sag I take a couple more easy days then slip back into the schedule once recovered. This has been a more consistent theme for me over the last couple of years, but at age 68 there have been more than a few diversions from routine lately.

Igy

Getting older -- At age 57, I ran a maximum of two days a week, never on consecutive days. I usually bicycled a couple days a week, one-hour rides. During the summer, I also kayaked once a week.

Because I only ran twice a week, I was able to keep the quality fairly high, under 8 minutes per mile for runs up to 12 miles. I decided to schedule a fall marathon, so included a long run of 15 to 20 miles every second week.

I stayed injury-free, and ran 3:25.

At 58, I upped my mileage and scheduled a 9-day plan with two workouts, a medium long run, and a long run in each cycle: easy, vO2max, easy, MLR, easy, threshold, easy, LR, off.

I quickly had great results -- 5K went from 20+ to 18:58, and ran a 1:28 half marathon. But after just five months, along came the injuries. I cut out one workout, minimized the medium long run, and substituted biking for some easy runs. I managed through the injuries and held onto enough fitness to run a 3:07 fall marathon.

Then three months off, followed by rehab and cross-training (elliptical). I was able ti get back on the roads, one workout and one longer run per week. That got me back to reasonable fitness- 19:13 5K, 61-minute 15K.

In hindsight, I was way too aggressive at age 58. A nine-day plan with two recovery days between hard efforts, as you suggest, is the way to go. And I should have maintained the cross-training. I was greedy, and paid the price.

At 59 (now), my goal was to maintain 50 miles per week, while including bicycling and core work, but tripped during a long run and injured my knee. Several months later, unfortunately, no improvement.

Good luck.

Getting older wrote:

Question for you over 50 runners.

Ever tried or had success with either of the following? Considering doing something different to try to stay healthier.

1. 10 day training cycle with two days between workouts, and after the long run. So workout, easy two days, workout, easy two days then long run...and then repeat.

2. Only running 5 days a week with only one long run and one workout. Cross train the other two days.

Really want to get over the cycle of injuries and stay healthy for a long period....

thanks

Short version Build a base. Runs daily. At first run slow really slow maybe run walk maybe mico mico run figure out a way to run every day.

Long version

Chronic lower leg problems since mid 40s now 62.

47

8 months injury free built up to 60 mpw 5 days of 12 barefoot on hayward infield at 65percent of mhr. Shoulda kept doing this I felt great. Went back to my old ways traditional ways and went back to jail(running injured is jail) ran a35:02 10000 off base 8 weeks of speed work puked up a couple of 4:3x 1500s ruined my base and my legs

49

18 months started out with the barefoot grass stuff then switched to a hard xtrn xtrn pattern with hard rotating distance of 12,6,3 each run 10 to 20 seconds slower than race pace. xtrn days were 1 hour of bike riding. Got down to 16:45 5000 but went back to jail pf and calf issues

55

18 months used the 9 day pattern never even made it to the starting line but I was in about 18 flat shape my legs were actually ok I quit for other reasons. This time I did pretty short tempo runs about the same run on run days because my lower legs would not take anything over 6 miles. I did not feel that good

60

20 months using a 3 day pattern HIIT long walk long walk after about a year I stopped improving and started getting the lower leg issues most of this was on treadmill felt pretty crispy the last 6 months but instead of quitting I had an idea...

62

3 months run every day most of it lsd and barefoot in sand dunes I am up to 40 minutes a day kinda reminds me of my 47 campaign I feel a bit tired but in a good way with out aches and pains start and end every run smiling.

I’m seriously looking at going back to the 10-day cycle. The thing is, to get the maximum benefit you can’t always take it easy on your easy days. You want about 10-13% of your weekly base training (measured by time and includes XT) and 18-20% of your peak training in moderate to high intensity. That’s how Matt Fitzgerald spells it out in his 80/20 Running book and it has worked for me.

So that means adding tempo to your easy runs. I keep track of my percentage with a spreadsheet.

Looks like I'm kicking things off this week because of being done very early with the minimal workout I'm doing. This was a lost week for me. After having to cancel my planned 20-mile race last Sunday because of an upper-respiratory bug that seemed mild at the time, it flared up and knocked me flat Monday night. I was very tired, feverish, and coughing badly all week, and I took Tuesday through Friday completely off—no running, no cycling, no gym. I went in to work for only a few hours each day for essential meetings, and just walking up two flights of stairs to my office exhausted me. Saturday I felt better, and I walked a little and did a light gym workout. By Sunday my energy level was approaching normal but I was still coughing quite a lot. I jogged a few miles and then watched the Houston Marathon.

I hope the cough will settle down soon and I’ll be able to return to something like normal training. History has taught me that running much with a bad cough, even if I feel otherwise healthy, often turns it into a long-term bronchitis. So I will try to be patient. My planned marathon is still 10 weeks away, so there’s no huge hurry. And the forced time off may be a good rest for my chronically sore Achilles and peroneal tendons.

I hope you're having better weeks than mine was.

*Week 397*

Greetings, 50+ers! To be honest, I've not looked too much at the thread this week. School start-up and some other ancillary projects have consumed me. Sorry for the no-go last week, AMK. Gotta be frustrating to have that happen. I get allergy attacks from time-to-time, and they're no fun, that's for sure. I see a lot of discussion about nutrition. I take no supplements; sometimes I take ibuprofen, but only when my arthritic toes are really acting up (about once a week.) I think my diet is pretty broad...we follow the old rule that the plate should have plenty of color. Probably eat more meat (red or otherwise) than necessary, but we try to stick with lean meats. Personally, I feel I mostly need to exercise more portion control....especially cutting down on the starchy vegetables, AND I should cut back on beer (damn you, local craft brews!)

I realize I'm a broken record, but at least I'm muddling through 4-5 miles of mostly running with some walking; up from 3-4 miles last week, and now in the 7:45-8:45/mile pace range. Longest stretches before a walk break have been 2.4 miles (about 20 minutes.) Unfortunately, I only got three runs in, though: Sun, Tue & Fri. Thursday didn't happen because my feet really hurt from too much standing, then Saturday was a bust due to lower back issues. Friday afternoon I was doing some work on my roof and I'm not sure what I did (may in wielding the ladder I tweaked something,) but Saturday morning I woke up with a very tender lower back and left hip (usually my right hip is what gives me problems.) Did a lot of work trying to get it loosened up in the morning, but felt uneasy about trying to run on it; I've thrown my back out before, and I don't what to go through that. By the afternoon, I think I could have gone, but by then the rain had picked up, and I just wasn't feeling it (low-40s and rain is my least favorite running weather.)

OK. That's it from here. We went front heavy rain yesterday, to steadily dropping temps today. Going to bottom out somewhere in the single digits tonight. Lexington doesn't handle the cold and ice too well. So it goes. Have a great week everyone!

Oh, and I agree with Rtype....OG II is clearly on to something.

All the Best!

we're having that same drastic-temperature-drop-during-day pattern. unusual here. good football watching weather in store tonight it seems.

I had a fun week of training leading into MLK Day.:

M 1:10

Tu 2:10 double

W 1:20 double with 20:00 at half-marathon pace

Th 1:10

F 1:00 + 1:00 x-t

Sa 2:40

Su 1:00

Long run yesterday was a hybrid -- 1:45 outside slog on uneven refrozen snowy bike paths, last 55:00 inside on treadmill to be able to run more evenly and with less need to concentrate on every footfall.

have a great week,

Dave

OGII yea I am using his toss in a little juice with a twist so thanks for that idea.

30 miles or so

Jan 13 long 62 minutes 50 easy last 12 tempo Heceta Lighthouse to Washburn state park and back walk down last hill

Jan 14 30 minutes mico mico sand dunes felt pretty good

Jan 15 30 minutes mico mico sand dunes felt pretty good

Switched measurement from time to distance each lap is about 14 minutes

Jan 16 3 laps easy/medium dunes felt pretty good

Jan 17 3 laps easy/medium dunes felt pretty good

Jan 18 3 laps easy/medium dunes felt pretty good

Jan 19 5000 LT track 20:46 6:32,6:42,6:44,48 HR 156 3/2 breathing trying to hit 6:40 backed off a bit after first mile last few laps I was feeling a bit tired but maintained 3/2 breathing picked it up last 200 in 47. So HR check at end was only 150 vs 162 a few weeks ago same run/effort with time of 21:26 about 3 seconds a lap faster at a lower HR but felt the same . I think I was running in a glycogen depleted state as I did a pretty hard 40 minute bike ride just before the run . On my low carb ~500 calories of carbs a day it does not take much to deplete;)

Vitamins added a B complex to my D3+ glucosamine, C and areds2. Tossed the multi had too much stuff.

Good morning. Spring like weather here in Eagle. Foggy this morning close to the Boise River. Temperatures in the mid-40s for the highs most of the week, with a couple of light snows gone by the afternoon, if that. More like late February weather. One year ago Saturday I noticed a lump on my left clavicle and by Monday afternoon had an initial diagnosis of suspected lymphoma. Not to steal the name of our leader, but “lucky to be here” and healthy. Notable training progress with the weekly volume, daily distance and intensity. Started back in the gym. My week:

Monday: AM- 2 miles easy; 4 x 700m constant velosity / 1:00 rest @ 3:50; mile easy/walk; PM- 3 mile walk

Tuesday: 2 miles easy/walk; Gym= physio ball; planks; clams; leg lifts; Bosu ball single leg squats; free weights- overhead press, bench press, squats, eccentric heel drops with weight

Wednesday: AM- 2.5 miles easy; 4 x 150m hill @ repetition pace / 150m walk; 1.5 miles easy; PM- 3 mile walk

Thursday: same as Tuesday

Friday: AM- 4 miles easy/walk; PM- 3 mile walk

Saturday: 7 mile walk

Sunday: off

Igy

Good Running all ye masters.

Hoping all y'all are running well into your new age-group year. Wanted to let you know I've changed my signature from kevinpaulk to KPdx . After 2 years at The Athlete's Foot, 8 years at Reebok, and 27 years at Nike, I am officially retired from the footwear business. I pledge to continue to run for life and shall expect to continue benefitting from your wisdom on this site. Who knows, maybe I can contribute more.

May you run-on and not be weary.

KP

LucKY: I’ve never, not once, used a ladder without something hurting; and I stay off the roof at all costs!

Igy: Congrats on the only race that really matters!

Amkelly: Get well soon. Maybe A little break is good at this time.

Tue = 4 miles road with 8 X 1 min acceleration drills with 2 min jog interval, .75 mile warm down

Thr = 4 miles, medium, treadmill

Sat = 4 miles road with 3 miles @ 7:44 pace (polar vortex wind/cold)

Sun = 5 miles, medium, treadmill

A good week. Changed up the Sat workout for variety and bumped up the today’s run a mile.

I’ve signed up for races on 2/9 and 2/16. In the 2/16 race 111 people have already signed up and not a single one of them is in what will be my M60 AG. Tons and tons of M50 and M55. Boy, talk about culling of the herd! Geez!

Have a great week everyone!

It was another respectable week by my standards. My only complaint is that the legs were a bit weary. Nothing major, but with a couple of days of challenging weather it looks like a good time for a mini-break. Listen to your body. Too cold for golf (20s), at least for me...there was a picture posted by the local club of some much tougher gents preparing to tee off recently. Good for them.

Sun: walk w/ the bride

Mon: 51’ jog, body wt ex

Tues: off

Wed: 50’ jog, body wt ex

Thu: walk w/ the bride

Fri: 51’ jog, body wt ex

Sat: solo walk

Best to most.

RIP, TL.

I see that my name has been taken in vain enough times above that I probably need to comment a bit more than just posting this week's mileage. That said, this week was a steady 52 miles on the plan -

M- 7 walk with about 150M stride every 1/2 m

T- 8 hills 8:14/mi ave

W- 7 walk with about 150M stride every 1/2 m

Th- 8 hills 8:16/mi ave

F- 7 walk with about 150M stride every 1/2 m

S- 8 hills 7:55/mi ave

Su- 7 walk with about 150M stride every 1/2 m

A little more detail on the hard day hills is that I am running up an 800 ft hill near my house. The route I take gives me about 1-1/2 rolling miles of what I try to make brisk warm up pace, 2-1/2 miles of uphill threshold effort, 1-1/2 miles of rolling fast recovery and 2-1/2 miles of downhill threshold effort.

I ended up with this hard day/easy day training plan through an iterative process the first six months of last year of trying various hard day/easy day distances and efforts to find the maximum volume and effort I felt I could maintain on a continuous basis. I also believe that the most productive, lowest injury risk training is threshold effort mileage, and the more the better. As with most of us the limiting factors on training are fatigue and overuse symptoms, both of which seem under control on my current plan. The strides on my walking days are all the speed work I want to risk doing right now.

According to Strava I have run my 8 mile hill loop 110 times in the last two years. My all-time average for that is 9:41/mi. Since I got on my current plan my average time has been steadily coming down and was about 8:08/mi this week. My recent PR for the route is 7:49/mi from a couple of years ago on a close to race pace effort when I was feeling good one day. I now have run7:55/mi twice in the last two week on solid workout pace, but not race pace efforts. The plan seems to be working well and my times continue to improve. I am planning to continue with this at least through April and then see if it makes sense to tinker with it further or not.

Good health and good training to all!

Hello all, 56 years young here, been hurt off and on for pretty much 10 years now but finally starting to feel better other than a pesky sciatic nerve flare up again, I have seen a chiropractor in the past and do the stretches for it but nothing seems to help, anyone have any magic cures for it. Thanks

Nice 5k workout Charlie

KP

KPdx wrote:

Nice 5k workout Charlie

KP

Thanks feel like I am on the right track . LSD is good for me.

Enjoy Retirement .

Most impressive!?Getting cancer at your age and having to subject your body to the side-effects of chemo & other drugs, and yet having a workout program of that caliber only a year out from diagnosis is very commendable.

A couple of questions: On your eccentric heel drops with weight what do you use for the added weight? I also do the eccentrics for a previous grade 2 Achilles strain (that has progressed to tendinosis) and use a small backpack that I can put small weights in.

Also, do you have to take any maintenance medications while you're in remission or are you pretty much free of any further pharmaceutical therapy? (e.g., prednisone).