50+ Masters Training and Racing Open Forum

Ghost of Igloi wrote:

KC,

A good 800m/1500m workout is 6 x 200m hard with 20 seconds rest. For you that would be about 36-38 each.

It’s good to get this affirmation from you, Igy. Kid Coach has been having me do that about every 6 weeks. Other intervals he likes are 2-4-6-4-2, 8x600, and last week 4x200,3x400, 2x600. Tomorrow we’re doing something a little different—a 5K time trial with him pacing me. He wants to hear what I sound going hard, and we are going hard on this. And he wants me to start listening to my body and running on effort. Watch is off. Basically I’m trying to understand what it “feels” like to be really racing, going all out without emptying the tank too soon. Things most of the people on this board learned to do in their 20s.

Believing is YUGE! The fact that you believe this will work is what is most important.

amkelley wrote:

I’ve chosen three goals for 2020: stay healthy and enjoy running,

...

Win or lose, I’m really happy to be generally healthy and still able to run at my age. Everything else is gravy.

And Charlie wrote:

Still like the idea of a daily run and prioritizing health over fitness

I know I just posted that thing about my hard workouts above, but honestly these are my sentiments too! Thanks for posting them.

Sorry to miss CM but I will pop in and see OGII, I’ll try to have KC wear on .... probably Chiefs.

I'm far from convinced that a long career means you tail off quicker.

I've been competing since I was about 14, and I'm now 62. I'm pretty sure that I've raced every year in that span. Despite a lifetime of intensive training (was never a high-mileage guy, but until mid/late 30s was doing three track sessions, or two track sessions and a race, per week), I was at my best and still improving in age graded terms at 56/57 (I then got injured - wrenched ankle not wear and tear), and have had a bit of struggle getting back, but did run 11:30 for an undulating 2 mile road race at 60, so there is still hope.

I'm probably an oddity in that I'd rather do 20x200m on the track than do a recovery run on a beach or a wooded trail, but I think if you are willing to run the intensity, and can avoid injury you've got a very decent chance of being relatively better at 60 than 20 or 30.

Happy New Year!

First time poster here but have spent time reading through early posts. Over weight and 50 and started running again this past July and have been slooow and steady. Goal for 2020 is a quite fitting sub 20 5k.

Oct Mileage - 58 miles

Nov Mileage - 79 miles

Dec Mileage - 141 miles

I live in the flat land of Indiana and currently on vacation in Costa Rica and enjoying some nice runs with beautiful hills. I'll begin posting my weekly runs and progression in my next post but thought Id recap the last few months which has been great. Starting weight in July was 193 and current weight is 168. Everyone that posts on here is quite an inspiration!

Fred

Laker574 wrote:

First time poster here but have spent time reading through early posts... Everyone that posts on here is quite an inspiration!

Fred

Welcome Fred! I joined this thread about a year ago and have found it filled with useful and sometimes 'entertaining' exchanges and posts. There are a lot of experienced folks here and not a lot of the negativism you sometimes see on other LRC threads. Checking in every week provides a solid dose of inspiration if not motivation. I found that helpful on both my 'up' and 'down' weeks of running.

My 2020 running and racing targets/goals:

-Continue to enjoy my retirement years and stay healthy and continue to run daily - at least through January 8th. (more on that next week- big OCD day coming up, lol!)

-Quick mile road or track at

Not Done Just Yet wrote:

Laker574 wrote:

First time poster here but have spent time reading through early posts... Everyone that posts on here is quite an inspiration!

Fred

Welcome Fred! I joined this thread about a year ago and have found it filled with useful and sometimes 'entertaining' exchanges and posts. There are a lot of experienced folks here and not a lot of the negativism you sometimes see on other LRC threads. Checking in every week provides a solid dose of inspiration if not motivation. I found that helpful on both my 'up' and 'down' weeks of running.

My 2020 running and racing targets/goals:

-Continue to enjoy my retirement years and stay healthy and continue to run daily - at least through January 8th. (more on that next week- big OCD day coming up, lol!)

-Quick mile road or track at

My previous post got cut off...

- Run

Okay I give up.

Just going to go out for a run while the sun is out instead.

Hope everyone has a good rest of the week....

KCgeezer wrote:

...

Sorry to miss CM but I will pop in and see OGII, I’ll try to have KC wear on .... probably Chiefs.

Good thing I was never a Chargers fan :-)

Not Done Just Yet wrote:

Okay I give up.

Just going to go out for a run while the sun is out instead.

Hope everyone has a good rest of the week....

< symbol glitch takes another victim....

Cavorty how is running?

When you were in 11:30 2 mile shape how fast could you have run 200 meters?

Yeah factors change the older we get. So if you are aging well you might set AG PRs.

The older we get the bigger influence our rate of aging has on age grading . Obvious stuff like chronic injuries, arthritis and weight gain to stuff we can't see or feel like clogged arteries and insulin resistance

Gotta nice suprise South Eugene Jan 2nd did 2 x 200 not all out but close with 5mps headwind on straight:

33.93 then dug a bit deeper for 32.73 I was happy as this is my starting point.

Still twitching after all these years .

At 43 I could hit 27 flat 200 and a 4:13 1500

At 63 that 27 flat equates to s a 31.02. I just ran a 32.73 under far worse conditions.

Stocked because I can and will break 31.02!

Q: For all What is your Long Term Competitive Goal ?

?

My Answer :Set Age Graded PRs across the board.

Sorry if this topic has already been covered by this group, but I'm curious how many folks here have had an arterial calcium scan (CAC) and what kind of results you've encountered.

I'm 52, a long-time (non-exceptional) runner, as well as competitive racing experience in rowing, triathlon and cycling. I qualified for and raced the Boston Marathon three times ('07, '09, '11), but in my mid/late 40s I developed hip arthritis and have focused mostly on rowing (on-water) fin recent years as it doesn't bother my hip. (I still travel to Boston to race, but now it's for the Head of the Charles.)

I got the CAC test because I wanted to do my due diligence in looking for potential problems with continuing to push hard in training. It came back as a score above 300, which was distressing! But I've also read a lot about how common it is for masters-aged athletes with decades of aerobic training to develop a lot of calcified arterial plaque ... the silver lining being that it's typically a hard form of plaque that is not likely to break off and cause problems.

Here's a recent study(an abstract, and not a fully peer-reviewed effort yet) that offers data to support this:

https://www.abstractsonline.com/pp8/#!/7891/presentation/30918

Any insights from this group would be sincerely appreciated! Lots of folks here who fit the "lifer" description for intense endurance training.

BTW, here's a nice essay by Amby Burfoot on the topic -- he seems to be in a similar boat with the CAC testing:

https://www.runnersworld.com/runners-stories/a20823544/i-running/

C0I0rado, in August my GP strongly suggested that I get the same 3 tests that Amby Burfoot got, EKG, an echocardiogram, and a coronary artery calcium (CAC) scan since I was turning 70 in 2019 and he was familiar with my level of training and racing. Like AB, my EKG and echocardiogram showed zero cardiac irregularities. However, my total coronary artery calcium score was 445, which is worse than about 75% of similar age males. My total cholesterol also was not bad at 189, but my GP recommended that I go on statins since lower cholesterol also reduces the rate of calcium plaque formation. I have been on 10mg statins since September and have not noticed any effect on my running. 2 weeks after starting the statins my cholesterol was down to 147. I have never experienced any sort of cardiac symptoms from any hard training or racing, and my times have only shown a slow gradual decline over the years. I probably am somewhere in the neighborhood of 100,000 running miles with generally somewhere between 1500 and 2500 miles per year since I was 16. Unless some problem develops I'm going to keep on training and racing and my GP is going to keep on monitoring the risk factors.

Thanks for the account -- seems like a quite comparable scenario to mine. Glad to hear that you're keeping on with the keeping on, so to speak!

Although I have a little running background, I'm nowhere near what most of yoy have accomplished. Two years ago about a half mile into a run I noticed pressure in my chest that was abnormal from any feeling i've ever had. I walked home. A week later I thought Id go out for a run and about a half mile into the run I experienced the same sensation. After this second episode I headed to my GP and he scheduled a treadmill test. Long story short my LAD was 98% blocked and received a stent. I had no sympfoms and felt great until Id get a half mile into a run. Thank goodness for running! I have high plaque build up and feel better every day since I resumed running in July. I too are on a statin....among others....

I have a score of 75, one small spot but in my LAD, probably the most critical of coronary arteries. I take a statin too, and will continue it. I would think that your doctors would want you to have a stress echo at least when you have a score of 300 or more. Yes, the calcium is stabilized plaque, but you don't get any info on how much soft, unstable plaque might also be there. And, unfortunately, we don't always get chest discomfort symptoms, or, if we do, they seem vague until you find out how serious they are.

Till then, figuring out what foods are the least inflammatory for you, controlling stress, etc. Some folks would suggest no INTENSE running, getting full bloodwork, adequate rest, and so on. Working with a pro-active doctor who isn't afraid to investigate further is helpful, but ultimately it's your heart and your life that is essential. For me, I do watch my diet, my rest, take an Omega fish oil capsule, etc.

Being symptom-free isn't enough in every case, is what I am trying to say. Am I a doctor, no, but I have worked as a Clinically Certified Exercise Specialist for a quarter century, and don't wish heart issues on anyone, nor do I want to scare anyone. But I do believe that knowledge is power.

My wife and I finally were able to run 2 x 1 mile yesterday, a breakthrough! They were in 10:12 and 9:53 (her second was 9:29, that youngster of age 62 and a half, my age 68 and a half). Onward!

Charlie, huge respect for that 19:05 5K. Whew! I am also 62 so I'm fairly awed at that performance, and the work it takes to get there. I'd like to get back under 20:00 for 2019, even that is a stretch!

KCgeezer huge respect too for hitting the intervals. It's enticing. I'm eyeing my local club June/July five meet track season for 2019... but I know that short intervals would bring back familiar problems so I'll stick to longer intervals or very controlled shorter stuff. And of course tempo runs, my bread and butter.

I'm now two months out from my target marathon, after that I will take a couple weeks off then begin preparation for track season. I won't do another marathon until at least Fall 2019. It's going to be a fun diversion to commit to June/July track racing, albeit mostly off of strenth work and very controlled speedier stuff.

The idea of getting the “racing feel” is solid too. And Verilow is right about “belief”. It's the old Henry Ford adage, whether you think you can or think you can't, you're probably right!

Cavorty you sound like my younger self, a track rat, thriving on intervals. My older self is more the tempo-run fanatic I reckon...

Laker574 that is a nice progression and good luck! The hills of Costa Rica sounds fun.

This week was mostly rest for me after a HM PR last week.

Mon - 5.4 Easy

Tue - 3 easy

Wed- 4.7 total. Jumped in my club New Year's 5K, 20:50 (1st 60-64 div)

Thur - rest

Fri - rest

Sat - 9.2 out creek trail easy, back tempo run

Sun - Drive my boy back to college

The kids are back in school next week (Yes, I became a dad at 44... ) so marathon training resumes with a long run on Monday.

Happy New Year. Happy running and good health to one and all!

- Steve's

I had a calcium score of 1300 aged 43. Its a useful test provided you are ready to follow it through if you get a 'bad' result (eg invasive angiogram and even bypass).

Hey Guys, I hope everyone is running healthy. I ran fairly competitively into my early 40s and then stopped running anything hard for the last eight years as i was basically logging 12-18 mpw at a 7:30 - 8:00 pace. I turned 51 in December so today at the gym I decided to run a hard 5K on the treadmill (with trainers on as I do not have flats at the moment - did not need them the last 8 years) to my surprise I went 17:58 (I about died and I know the treadmill is easier than outside) This has gotten me thinking maybe I should take the mikes up to 30 per week - incorporate one or two hard runs per week and see what I can do? I am glad I found this thread as I hope to be a regular posting on it now. Good luck to everyone and keep running healthy!!