50+ Masters Training and Racing Open Forum

I did a session of 8x200m in the 34 down to 32 range. Probably about 2:30 recovery. Was injured in early 40s, but at 46 did 8x200 at 30/31 with 200 jog. I was always more speed orientated and until I started having some injury problems, at about 57, I would run 4x100 at 14/15 at the end of a distance session. Dim and distant past, I did 4x300m in the 39/40 range.

I had about a 5 week hiatus for work - I work for myself and you've got to get it well you can - but I'm back on my steady or quicker 4-5 mile runs. I've had a couple of 4 milers at close to 7:00 and the last two days a couple of 5 milers at 7:20.

Main problem is that around 56, I wrenched an ankle. Once I'd got over it, I didn't notice any negative effects - I was third in the USATF indoor 3000m at 56, and ran 18:00 flat for 5k on road at 57, but then had an injury cascade. Turned out that I'd lost some plantar flexion, so had an earlier toe-off, which caused an atrophy of the calf muscle.

Last three years, every time I'd get close to fit, I'd have an ankle problem. Two years of calf-raises haven't made a lot of difference, so I have something of an asymmetric stride. Forefoot on the right, and heel strike and weak toe-off on the left. Latest thing we're trying is taping the ankle to stablize it, and wearing a soft ankle support. I'm trying to work the ankle through a bigger range of motion to develop the weak calf. I'm also about to order and electric stim device to see if that gets the calf volume and strength back.

I think I'm fairly fit. I can run 7:20 - 7:30 for 5 day out, day in, but I can't do speed work with the heel-striking left foot.

Anyway, the goal for 2020, would be to get back to where I can run with decent form, and actually start training properly!

DistaceCoach10k wrote:

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) !!

Hi DC10. That is actually not true about the treadmill, as Matt Fitzgerald explains. He also lays waste to the idea that you have to set the treadmill to 1 degree incline to compensate for the belt...

Anyway, welcome, and take it easy.

2019 seems so long ago, well the running part sort of, and progress is not linear. Had a good three year run of it coming off shoulder surgery in August 2016 to this past October.

age 61 and not getting younger!

2019 bests - 17:28 5K road, and 1:17 HM.

For 2019 - just want to get back into running and a have healthy build-up. It will probably take at least 4-6 months to get back to the 90% ag level (close to 100% for me). But I've been injured before and I'm fairly patient.

Thank goodness for XC skiing, getting in some decent training (skating does not irritate it as much as classic technique), and the elliptical trainer works well for the days 4-5 days a week I'm not getting on the snow. Running just a tiny bit, having to dial back from an attempted December build-up.

Want to quit my job, as it is untenable at this time. But that's a different story.

Have a good week all.

CM,

I think you meant 2020 for your upcoming goals. Best of luck with that. I am slow in recovery also.

Charlie, that 19:05 is indeed impressive, and your goal of 70 for the 400 is wow! I have never run a flat-out 400, but I’m quite sure that even at my “fastest” (low 18s for 5K) I could not have broken 75. But then I was always a plodder who could happily run for hours but hated trying to run fast.

Laker574 and DistanceCoach10k, welcome to the thread and I hope you gain some useful insights from it.

Mike Lundgren, good to see you back to some real running!

Big Red, nice job on the 5K just four days after your HM PR.

Coyote, it’s good that you can cross-train with skiing to maintain fitness while you can’t run. It must be so much less boring than elliptical, stationary bike, etc! Best of luck building the running back up. It sounds like you’ve been here before and know what you’re doing.

I had planned to do a 22-miler this weekend. I have a marathon coming up at the end of March, the forecast weather was perfect, and I’d feel justified sitting on the couch watching football later in the day. But I felt generally tired on Thursday and Friday, I spent a lot of time on my feet Friday working with a student in the lab, and I went to bed Friday with my legs feeling dead. Then that night I had a vivid version of my recurrent racing anxiety dream where I make a wrong turn during a race and run around frantically trying to find my way back onto the course. I got up Saturday morning and decided to listen to my body and my subconscious, and I cut my “long” run back to a “medium long” run (16.6 miles in 2:32), which I finished feeling happy and not trashed. There’s a fine line between being a wimp and being sensible, and I may have fallen on the wimp side this weekend. But I ended up with 81 miles for the week and my heel still feels about as good as it ever does, so I’m definitely not complaining.

The Buffalo Bills were my home team for the four consecutive years they lost the Super Bowl, and they broke my heart again yesterday. I don’t care much about today’s games but will enjoy watching them.

*Week 446*

Greetings, 50+ers! 2020 is here, so time to refocus (pun intended.) Welcome newcomers, props to some of you regular posters for your nice races and associated reports, and thanks to the many interesting discussions on topics that affect our aging population of running enthusiasts. I'm grateful that the thread now has a life of its own; there were many weeks back early on when I felt I needed to prod and cajole to keep things going, but y'all have been great at keeping it flowing smoothly and generally on topic. Thanks!

Last week I posted this resolution for myself: Resolve to do at least 3 miles (running or walking) every day? Happy to say I've gone 8 straight days of getting in at least 3 miles of mostly walking but generally at a brisk pace (15-ish min/mile) and including some hill repeats and strides. Haven't weighted myself yet, I'm guessing it'll lag, but hopefully I'm making better (but ideal) food choices, too. Knee is doing pretty well; I do have to use "the Stick" on it sometimes and after the strides it was a little wonky the next day. But it begins; hopefully the body will hold up as I slowly transition back to running.

Good luck to any on their upcoming winter racing; and hope for swift recovery for those still on the IR list. A special note of concern to Mopak and all the folks down under with the tremendous bush fire season....the news stories and images we've been receiving back here in the US are ones of absolute devastation. Prayers...

OK, that's it from here. Look forward to reading your reports. Have a great start to your 2020 running year.

All the Best!

lkj wrote:

Have a good week all.

CM,

I think you meant 2020 for your upcoming goals. Best of luck with that. I am slow in recovery also.[/quote]

19 has passed, but if you really want to be technical it was '19 (last two months) and now '20.

Wrapped up my second week of vacation runs this morning with a tough short run on the beach. Stiff wind and sand were a killer for me so I shut down rather than strain calf or achilles.

Mon - 7.59 hilly and 90's

Tues - 9.13 hilly and 90's

Wed - 2.59 beach and 90's legs tired

Thur - 3.62 beach and 90's

Fri - 4.65 beach and 90's

Sat - 5.00 beach and 90's

Sun - 3.54 beach and 80's. Planned on longer run but legs are tired and I could sense that running into brisk wind on sand was stressing my calf so I shut down.

In addition walked a good 5+ miles per day.

First week running every day since I started in July and feel good about that. 36.12 miles for the week.

Not looking forward to snow and cold when we get home....motivation for retirement!

my first post on the new look message board. quite a disconcerting weekend, as my local shoppers food warehouse is shutting down, and yesterday was the first Saturday in about 20 years that i've set foot in a different grocery store -- i knew intellectually that they exist, but it was still kind of shocking (they also have greek yogurt here!!!!......)

Anyway, amidst all the upheaval I had an ok week of training:

M 55:00

Tu 40:00

W 1:20

------------start here training for 4/19/20 marathon in Galway, Ireland -- 12 nine-day cycles

Th 1:10

F 1:10 with 2 X 10:00 (2:00 jog) at half-marathon pace

Sa 1:00 + 30:00 x-t

Su 1:35

have a great week,

Dave

We were greeted with an inch of snow this morning after approaching 50 yesterday afternoon. Generally we have favorable weather for running after Valentine’s Day. December was the warmest since our move here in 1996. I am glad I opted out of the time and expense of running on Boise State indoor track. Subtle benefits have been improved aerobic capacity and positive changes to body composition. Although it caught up to me by Friday so backed off Saturday and I will take today off.

Monday: 20:00 spin; core

Tuesday: 1.5 miles easy/walk

Wednesday: New Year’s Day Resolution Run- 2 mile warm-up; 2 x strides; 27:25 in driving rain; 2:27 faster than last year

Thursday: 60:00 spin; core; weights

Friday: AM- 5 miles easy; PM- 2 mile walk

Saturday: 2 miles easy; 2 x 1,000m tempo @ 5:50, 5:44 / 1:00 rest; mile easy

Sunday: off

Igy

lucKY: Great to see you getting it going.

KC/DC10: I totally love my treadmill. I have a dedicated laptop with some big external speakers and I love jamming to YouTube music videos. It’s not humanly possible to run slowly with AC/DC playing ‘Highway to Hell’ live. Although I have it set at exactly 1 degree I always run faster on it and I’m pretty sure it’s due to the extra bouncy surface. I believe the treadmill will teach you balance and allow/force you to work on your gait and form. Mine is narrow so there is no room to be wobbling all over the place.

TU: 4 treadmill with 3 @ 8:27 pace

TH: 4 road with 3 @ 8:25 pace

SA: 4 road with 3 @ 7:51 pace

SU: 4 treadmill with 3 @ 8:27 pace

My legs were sore most of the week. I eased back a bit SAT as being too sore is sort-of defeating the purpose of my training. I’m pretending it’s 1995 and I’m a freshman at Thousand Oaks HS and my coach is Jack Farrell. I can’t train like the older kids so Mr Farrell has me doing a watered down version of the steady-state training program. He says that when I “mature” a little bit I’ll get stronger and be able to keep up with the other kids. I kinda doubt that though…..

On the CAC/heart thingy, thanks for scaring me even more! As I noted in another thread, I reluctantly went back on my statin after I got my ridiculously high lipid profile back. I have the genetic markers for dysfunctional HDL/LDL, a familial trait. I plan to push my doc to do a CAC. Glad to have all this info prior to doing it.

Rtype, M60.951

Have a great week folks!

Happy New Year 50+ers

Ready to get back at it...been in a slow but steady return to being able to compete on the track...key goal for 2020 is World Masters T&F Championships inToronto...will be at tail end of the age group at age 64+, but that sets up for a good front end of age group in 2021....I guess?. ...anyone else intending to compete there?

Managed 31 miles this week...one little track session: 4 x 100, 3 x 200, and then an impromptu 600 meter ‘time trial ‘...2:18 (48,46,44)

Another good session today: 6 miles progression run on the track finishing in7:37

Ready for a beer and some NFL...my #2 team plays today (Philly) and #1 team has a bye (SF)

Have an extraordinary week of training.

Your pal,

MF

L2B Nice to see a positive!

DC10,KC, Rtype AKA HWTH I do enjoy doing treadmill HILLS

AMK and Big Red thanks for the props;)

Cavorty thanks for the info , did not realize the extent of the calf/ankle/foot issue hope the e stim helps

CM staying fit while ReCharging XC ect is wise. One of my do overs in late 50s would be staying in shape no matter what instead of getting fat and out of shape.

Well I was very happy with the BASE LINE 200 headwind:32.73 and am encouraged excited to work on basic SPEED .

LSD is coming along no visions yet but I did manage a bunch of soggy grass jogs wearing neoprene sand shoes.

L2B, it sounds like you are off to a good start on getting back to running shape. amkelley, we have very different ideas about what wimpy mileage is. I waited a bit this morning to post to see if I would get inspired to go out and put in a few miles. My inner voice that kept saying "take a rest day" won the argument. This was my hardest week since Club XC and was my last hard week before USATF XC two weeks from now. I might run a hard workout on Tuesday, but after that it will be easy running and some short speed work until the race on 1/18. 41 miles for the week -

M- 7mi with 5mi walk with strides and last 2mi at 7:00 pace

T- 8mi with 6x800 at 3:20, 400m jog recovery

W- 7mi walk with strides

Th- 8mi hills 9:01 pace

F- 7mi walk with strides

S- 4mi trails 8:41 pace (heart rate way up from fatigue).

Su- rest

I am hoping the 800s workouts I have done will buy me some VO2 max improvement by 1/18.

Good helath and good running to all!

Happy New Year everyone!

This is my second post here. Planning to become a regular, as I'll hit a new age group (M65) at Easter and I want to make the most of being a youngster again.

- My goal for 2020 is a 10k as fast as possible. Hoping to dip under 40min.

- Ran a disappointing Park Run 5k in 22:08 yesterday. An over 60 PB by 3s, but I was hoping to hack at least 30s off my previous best.

- Ran 4 x 1600m on the track for the first time in 35 years this week: 7:14 average with 2:46 rest. Last time I ran this session, I averaged 5:35, with 2:25 rest. Oh well.

Cavorty & Charlie: I'm really impressed by your short intervals. I was always terrible at sprinting, which is maybe a good reason to add some shorter stuff to the mix. What do you think?

Cavorty: for your ankle, do you do any exercises on a balance board, or BOSU ball or similar? In my 3 x weekly cross training, I do "round the clock" kicks on one bent leg on a balance board until I get "the burn". Works those ankle muscles really well.

Coyote Montane: Fantastic times on the road, there. They must be close to the fastest in the world for last year. I checked: they would have put you 4th and 1st in the runbritain rankings (just for comparison, I don't know a US ranking site).

My year end report shows 630 actual running miles (no fluff) for 2019. I’m happy with that, but hoping to have less injury down time in 2020. Speaking of injuries, my recovery from the latest one took a positive turn this week. After a week off, I survived a very slow 17’ on Friday, then another 22’ on Saturday. (The b2b was necessitated by the weather forecast and a scheduling conflict.). Tomorrow I will shoot for 25’ and hope to be threatening 40’ by week’s end. Wish me luck!

Thanks again for the positive thoughts and well wishes. It really makes a difference.

And welcome to our new posters. There is a lot to like about this thread. It’s been great to see our little group grow over the years.

Best to most.

Alan55 ....

IMO In general it is beneficial to maintain basic speed as we age. But only if the runner can safely do so. The benefits will vary with muscle type composition playing a major role.

Hypocritical of me as I did nothing to maintain my speed over the last 20 years and it is still relatively the same if not better!

WAG is in my case I have a lot of FOG fibers.

Article excerpt

The Fog Factor

With some know-how about muscle-fiber makeup, function and adaptability, you can design a training program that suits your speed or distance interests. As noted, slow-twitch fibers support endurance-based activities, while fast-twitch fibers generally support speed-based activities. But there is a catch: Fast-twitch fibers come in two varieties, known as Fast Glycolytic (FG) and Fast Oxidative Glycolytic (FOG). As with slow-twitch fibers, your allotment of FG fibers is set at birth. FOG fibers, however, have the ability to take on the characteristics of either slow-twitch or FG fast-twitch fibers. In other words, FOG fibers are the ones you develop specifically to improve either your endurance or your speed.

In deciding how you want to train, it’s helpful to have a clear idea of precisely what all these fast- and slow-twitch fibers do:

https://experiencelife.com/article/the-fast-and-slow-of-it/

Mon. 1 hour kayak session on our rapidly shrinking lake (25% capacity).

Tue. 1 hr 25 min mountain bike ride.

Wed. 13.5 km run on the very hilly Pyalong golf course in 1 hr 18 min.

Thu. 1 hour kayak session on the Goulbourn River in Seymour. Fast flowing river so some very tough muscling on some upstream sections.

Fri. Hilly 1 hr 30 min road bike ride.

Sat. 1 hr 15 min mountain bike ride then a 5.5 km steep trail run 43 min.

Sun. Club social run in Bendigo. 7.6 km flat trails in 44 min. I went back out after the gang left and did another 8.5 km in 47 min. before heading into work.

Happy enough with that week. That was pretty much what I did through the first part of last year.

The weight is a tad higher than it should be, too much xmas cheer! I dropped a couple of kgs before 4 Peaks pretty easily and hopefully will get back to that weight in a couple of weeks.

Thanks L2B for the thoughts re the fires.

It is a terrible situation. So far the total areas burnt equal the area of the Rep. of Ireland. It is early days as our "fire season" is normally late January to March.

We are in a high fire risk zone but so far have had no significant fires nearby.

My region the Central Goldfields has always been prone to extreme fire risk conditions, drought, high winds and frequent 40 plus °C temps. Unfortunately the alpine and sub alpine forested areas and wet forested areas have been experiencing such conditions for some time. It is mostly these areas burning.

It is actually cool and wet at the moment through much of the fire grounds which will give the firies a chance to actually fight the fires. Looks like back to 40 plus later in the week though.

Alan55, that's interesting. I'm hoping to try 5K on a faster course this year. But who knows now. I do think I'll be ready at some point, and hopefully sooner rather than later.

Charlie, and all, re the calcium test I had that done in 2012 because I was the the same age as my father had been when he passed way from an MI. I don't remember the score, but my results were the 0-5% range so very low risk at that time.