50+ Masters Training and Racing Open Forum

James K. Dill’s Racing Shadows is a good running novel. Dill posts here occasionally

Rtype wrote:

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.

Rtype, where do you put your treadmill? Basement? Garage?

I have occasionally tried running on treadmills at gyms but it doesn't work for two main reasons: the gym is always too warm for working hard, and I am too clumsy. I run off the belt to the front, back, or side, and/or smash my hands against the console or side rails. It requires the utmost concentration for me to stay on the treadmill even at a slow pace and the mental effort leaves me exhausted within ten minutes or so. Fortunately in my current location I can run outdoors every day; it doesn't snow here, we don't get tornadoes and such, and while the summers are very hot during the day, right around dawn it's always tolerable. Apparently most people can run on treadmills just fine if they can get over the boredom, but I'm not one of them.

Some interesting thoughts out there today, and wow lots of enthusiastic New Year's energy! I dig it.

Charlie, I like the point that it's great to try to maintain basic speed. It is the exact area I neglect. I sustained an odd non-running injury at age 23 that flares up in the left hip/thigh anytime I do too much fast running.

This year, after my March marathon, I'm going to try to sneak up on some faster stuff and see how it goes.

From age 18 to 20, I was mostly a half miler (1000 yards indoors too, anybody remember that race?). I really L-O-V-E-D running fast, and I miss it.

amkelley, I like your story about listening to the body and psyche about working in your long run. You clearly made the right call. I've planned a 3-hour run for tomorrow, but have been feeling a bit tired and sore, so we'll see what the morning brings.

Happy running all around.

amkelley wrote:

Rtype, where do you put your treadmill? Basement? Garage?

I have it in the basement. My basement is completely underground so it's about 58 in the winter and 68 in the summer. Only have one kid left and he's 2 floors up so no sound gets up there (he works evening shift).

My college coach Tom Von Ruden held the 1,000 yard indoor world record for a time in the 1970s.

Hey All:

Finished Week 2 of my modified Hansons 18-week half marathon plan.

M Rest

T 3 miles easy

W 5 miles easy

R Rest

F 5.5 miles easy (~8:50)

S rest

S 6 miles long run pace (~8:30)

Tentatively shooting for 1:38 or 7:28/mile for late April half.

Ghosts of Igloi, I seem to remember Tom Von Ruden ran a 2:05 point-something 1,000 yard run, probably about 1:49-50 half mile pace on an 11-lap track, then kick! Pretty nifty run! I was a Tom Von Ruden fan as a high school miler. Thanks for posting the article, I'm pretty sure I read it as a 15-year old and now I'll read it again.

My high school indoor track coach, Pat McMahon, was a cool guy too. He placed 12th in the Olympic marathon in 1968 at Mexico City, and third in the 1970 Boston Marathon behind a record run by Ron Hill, also Pat was 2nd in the 1971 Boston Run in a super close finish, I think 2 seconds back.

As a senior in high school I got 5th in Massachusetts state final in the 1,000 yard run. Pat's reaction? "F*cking A**hole, why didn't you win?" You had to love the guy!

I managed to run 2:17.5 for 1000 yards as a sophomore in college. Certainly not a star, but I was pumped to do it.

Long time lurker, not joining. Good information for senior runners and motivation to keep running

"now" joining

You have to love real coaches. My teammate was 3rd behind Pat in 1971. If I recall it was warm that day:

1. Alvaro Mejia, Columbia, 2:18:45 2. Pat McMahon, BAA, 2:18:50 3. John Halberstadt, South Africa-Oklahoma State,2:22:23

I ran just under 1900 miles for 2019. The lowest total in a decade. But given where I was a year ago, I should be satisfied I didn't have any major injury for the year.

R; 5 miles.

F: 6 miles.

SA: 6 miles.

SU: 10 miles.

I did not run from Dec. 28 to Jan. 1, although I did a lot of walking.

Thanks for all of the input on the CAC scores and health matters -- much appreciated! I'm doing a treadmill stress test later this week ... it will be good to have more info.

Ghost and Big Red I know those names quite well...they’re guys I like to write about.

Solid 1000 Red...what university?

Funny, my first ever win of any kind was an indoor 1,000...1972 high school soph in Philly at Haverford College

Our meet at San Francisco State this April is considering adding an invitational 1,000...see if they can sniff Wohlhuter’s still standing American record...oh, there’ll be a masters mile too

Big Red wrote:

As a senior in high school I got 5th in Massachusetts state final in the 1,000 yard run. Pat's reaction? "F*cking A**hole, why didn't you win?" You had to love the guy!

I managed to run 2:17.5 for 1000 yards as a sophomore in college. Certainly not a star, but I was pumped to do it.

Weird, this just "jogged" my memory as my first race ever was a 1000 yard indoor in Dec 1975. I was third in our district and I'd have to go digging in boxes to find the time; but it was slower than 2:17 for sure. We had a talented distance team that had the mile and 2 covered, leaving the weird 1000 yd that no one else wanted to do for me.

One of my first collegiate IT races was 1000y on the boards at Curry Hicks cage in late 1971 or early 1972. Ran in the low 2:20s which was good enough for a school record (the program was quite young at that point).

Another one of the odd indoor distances was the 600 yard run. I attended a lot of the indoor meets in Los Angeles in the late 60s and early 70s ( Sunkist Meet, Times Indoor). The star of the 600 was Martin McGrady with an incredible tally of undefeated races.

https://www.si.com/vault/1968/03/04/547321/three-on-the-line-in-the-600

Neither the 600 or 1000 are “odd indoor distances”. Both are still regularly run, at least at the high school level. The difference today is that they are measured in meters rather than yards.

600 and 1000 yard were definitely odd distances outside of the USA, but indeed were indoor standards at the collegiate level. Sort of like tailgating and 1st & 10 on fall Saturday. The meter versions are more standard world wide now, but still kind of unique.

I ran the 600y and 1000y very poorly in college, but only did these once or twice. Something like 600 1:22 to win a slower heat in my conference indoor meet as freshman. With a lap to go two guys just in front tangled up and went down, I hurdled one of them to win the heat and finished maybe 10th out of 17 or so in the overall results. My memory of the 1000 is not pleasant, I doubled back from a mile and did high 2:20s (maybe 2:28) and ended up with a field house hack that didn't really go away until after outdoor season was done, some 3 months later. Was not much of a track runner.