50+ Masters Training and Racing Open Forum

Oh, and Mopac, I love hearing about the kayak adventures. I am afraid of the ocean, yet drawn to it.

happy Super Sunday! looking forward to what I hope will be a close, exciting game.

fun week of training marred slightly by worrisome crepitus in right achilles since yesterday.

M 1:15

Tu 2:10 double

W 1:00 with 6 X 4:00 5k effort (2:00 jog) + 20 x-t cooldown

Th 1:00 + 1:00 x-t

F 50:00

Sa 2:40 mostly on somewhat muddy trail

Su 1:00 + 40:00 x-t

Weds. workout on American U. track -- first 3 reps I was coming through 1,000 in 3:52 (so 19:20 5k pace, about right I think), last 3 I was covering less ground but out in lane 5 or so as men's varsity soccer took over inside lanes for i think 3 X 800 hard -- judging from our comparative progress on straightaways, I think I'm faster than maybe the 2 or 3 slowest guys on their team. Need to put this on my annual report!)

have a great week,

Dave

Big Red, good job on getting through your 18-miler despite being tired. Maybe not too much fun, but good training for a marathon.

dhaaga, sounds like a really solid week and nice job on outpacing the “slow” soccer guys!

The first full week of the semester was really busy at work and for a mixture of reasons I didn’t get quite enough sleep all week, and I put in a lot of running mileage on top of that. I felt tired all week and wasn’t too enthusiastic about the scheduled Saturday long run. But nothing felt really wrong so I did it anyway and it went OK.

Mon: 11.0 miles

Tues: 11.0 miles

Weds: 10.8 miles

Thurs: 11.0 miles

Fri: 10.2 miles

Sat: 21.2 miles in 3:14 (9:09/mile or 4:00 marathon pace). Perfect weather, calm and dry, upper 30s to upper 40s. Didn’t push the pace and held up OK.

Sun: 7.0 miles easy.

I did have two problems on Saturday’s run, one weird but harmless, the other familiar and more concerning. Weird: when I got home and looked in the mirror, I was startled to see a trickle of mostly dried blood running from the corner of my mouth to the tip of my chin. I quickly discovered two small cuts in my mouth that must have come from the two gels I downed during the run, whose packets have very sharp edges. I’ve irritated my mouth with gels before but never drew blood. No big deal. Worrisome: my Morton’s neuroma, which I’ve had for at least 15 years but usually keep at bay, started to bother me near the end of the run after I stepped on a sharp rock that in just the wrong place. I hope this doesn’t become a bigger problem than it has been in the past. It didn't bother me on today's short easy run.

My past five weeks have all been between 78 and 82 miles, each with a long run of at least 16 miles. Next week my “long run” will be a half-marathon and my total mileage will be way down.

Going to enjoy pizza and the Super Bowl! Go Niners!

Good morning. As mentioned I am moving from base work to race preparation, granted nothing impressive. I did have my best tempo session in recently, so that was encouraging.

Monday: AM- 2 miles easy; 4 x 200m repetition pace @ 54; 1 x 600m interval pace @ 3:06; mile easy (dead legged, shut the workout down); PM- 3 mile walk

Tuesday: 40:00 spin

Wednesday: AM- 2 miles easy; 2 x 3,200m tempo @ 17:30, 17:05 / 2:00 rest; mile easy; PM- 2 mile walk

Thursday: 40:00 spin; core; 3 sets weights

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

Saturday: 5 miles easy in foothills

Sunday: Off

Igy

*Week 450*

Greetings, 50+ers! Well, missed Monday in addition to my usual missed Wednesday this week, so only 17 miles on 5 days of mostly walking. I also only got one run/walk day in (Tuesday), which is also my hill repeat day. I'll chalk it up to poor planning on my part; will try to rectify that this coming week. Knee continues to tolerate what I've been doing, but it's not fully quiet, either. I still hope to that I'll be able to get more %running in soon, however the weight is hovering in the 196-198 lb range, which is more than I feel like subjecting my knees to straight-up running.

Not much to add this week. Still marvel that 80 miles is a "down" week for amkelley, kudos. Props to Dave H., too, you've had a solid week of training. Look forward to reading everyone else's reports!

I know we've got a slew of regular posters on both sides of tonight's Super Bowl. May the best team win!

All the Best!

amkelley, you always put in some great mileage. I'm sure it will pay off in your half marathon.

Not much for me to report this week. At the beginning of this week my inner voice said, 'It's time to take a break." I walked 4 miles on Monday and felt tired and weak. From Tuesday through Friday I got up each morning and asked myself, "do you want to go out and run?" and the answer was "no" every time. Saturday I got up and felt great. I went to my son's house and ran 6 miles on trails with him. The run felt good and my heart rate was much lower than on last week's runs. This morning I went out and rode a casual 45 minutes on my mountain bike. Hopefully, my week off has recharged my batteries and I can settle back into my base training this coming week.

Good running and Super Bowl viewing to all!

lucKY: 17 miles is not bad, some people get by on that ;-)

Dhaaga: Nice workout. I recall our soccer guys jogged 4 or 5 miles every other day at about 7 min pace just for basic fitness. Youth is wasted on the young!

Big Red: Nice week!

Amkelly: Every week I just say “wow”.

TU: 4 road with 5 hill repeats

TH: 4 treadmill easy

SA: 5 track with 3 1600’s @ 7:10, 7:06, 7:13 (last week was 7:17, 7:21, 7:27)

SU: 4 cinder trail, easy

Total = ~ 3 hours

It was a good week. TUE’s hills left me nicely sore. And I felt a heck of a lot better this SAT than last, where I was really under the weather. The first goal is to get those 1600’s under 7. We’ll see….

Trying to get it together for the first race of the season on Feb 15th. Also making sure I remember to be thankful I’m feeling so well, as that can change in an instant.

Guess I’ll watch my first football game of the year later….at least for the commercials. Go Superbowl commercials!

Run smart!

Greetings all,

Hope the weather is mild and the roads are being kind to you wherever you are this this winter.

I had a decent week of training:

M 6 Pretty easy with a few strides

T 6 Indoor mini meet with the Ann Arbor Track club 6:07.05 mile in a tactical 55+ y/o race -

'won' the race with 13 runners - later ran :34 200 later ( a good time for me at 63)

W 4 Smart easy rest day

T 15.5 8.5 w/ 3x 1.25m @7:15+/- 18:00 1st loop with some friends who are training for an ultra

F 10.5 a.m with a 38 y/o friend p.m 5.5 with 4x200m steep hills

S 7 a.m. 3.5 easy p.m. 3.5 w/ 6x150 strides at 6:00 pace

S 8 up .75 5k up tempo at 21:44 (7:00/m) as part of monthly doughnut dash/ then some miles

afterwards - Super sunny day and almost 40 degrees - wow!

57 for the week

We decided to go to Columbia South Carolina on February 21+22 to run the road mile and come back the next morning for for the 5K. Should be interesting. Plan to taper a bit the week of the race - something I seldom do. I splurged and treated myself to a new pair of road racing shoes for the mile race!

It is always fun to read how everyone else is doing. And good to know there are other old folks out there doing what they can do.

It was another positive week here with just shy of 19 actual running miles (no fluff) . My only complaint is some mild soreness of the left hip which is likely the result of a misstep on an after-dark run a few nights ago. Anyway it hasn’t been enough to stop me. And I was finally able to touch on some “speed” with an abbreviated fartlek session (shortened due to black ice). Volume is where I want it; still waiting for the intensity to return, though Thursday’s run was rather peppy. Life is good!

Sun: walk w/ the bride

Mon: 55’ CR; body wt ex

Tues: off

Wed: 54’ CR; body wt ex

Thu: 33’ peppy CR

Fri: walk w/ the bride

Sat: 54’ CR w/ utility pole fartlek (6 x 1on/3off); body wt ex

Looking forward to the predicted early spring. Best to most!

Mon. 64 minute kayak on the lake in the evening. All alone with the pelicans after the holidaymakers had headed home.

Tue. 100 minute mountain bike ride inc 11.18 fot the Mt Ida Strava segment. My previous Strava best 11.21 was 3 days pre 60th birthday. Track is really rough due to hot dry conditions so was happy with that.

Wed. 13 km run with about 500 metres elevation gain in 90 minutes.

Thu. 70 minute kayak on the Goulbourn River. Hot.

Fri. 94 minute mountain bike ride getting it done before the mid 40s C weather kicked in.

Sat. Steamy 13 km forest run in 80 minutes.

Sun. A relaxed 8 km run in 45 minutes then joined a group of clubmates for a social run around the same 8 km circuit (48 minutes).

Pretty much just a default week. Moving well in all 3 activities.

SUPER workouts by many / most this week...wow.

My week was a good one, I guess , for a guy just shy of 64.

Tallied 30 miles and a5 days of weights /core.

Today made ‘streak’ day # 400

Thursday track was 2 x 100, then ( 200, 400, 600), (200, 400, 400), (200, 400, 200)...highlight was final 400 a seasonal ( 2020) best of 87.52

Today, after 2 easy days, was back on the track with 4 x 100 then 4 x 200...finished in 39.61...so, a decent turn of speed.

Entries opened this week for World Masters T&F Championships...I entered both the 800 meters and 5,000 meters...they’re 2 days apart...registration is here:

https://wmatoronto2020.com/registration/

As a cat who has lived in the San Francisco Bay Area for the past 44 years, I am a devoted Forty Niners fan...should be a great game... one point spread....eeeeesssshhh ??

Have a fine week of training and racing.

Your pal,

MF

Running pain free at modest levels. Doing core and rehab strength exercises daily. And XC skied 25K yesterday @ a bit under 4:20/K, at 8800 - 9000 ft. Perfect day for skiing.

January was a hard month. I ran only 16 or 17 days of it. One week I ran only 2 times and I didn't get to race.

The last week in January and into February was a good training week.

I ran 2 races yesterday. First, I raced 2,000 meters and it was not too good. I can race it much faster. The 2nd race was 800 meters and it was a great race for me and a very fast time for me.

Later I rabbited 2,000 meters of a 3,000 and it was not all that fast. Then I rabbited 800 meters of 1,500 meters and it was a good time.

My goal is to race something every weekend this February but I'm so busy.

Thanks to MikeF for posting the World Masters info. I'll read with interest for future reference -- likely outa my reach this year.

old guy II, smart to take a break when your body and mind tells you to! We don't always "hear" these inner voices properly!

amkelley, wow another great week and good luck with the upcoming HM!

Looking ahead to this week, I'm looking to do a 20-miler and hopefully a decent tempo run at the end of the week. Other than that it'll be pretty easy.

May you all have a great week and be forever young at heart!

Chiefs ........ this town has lost its mind. WE lost our minds.....

In my competitive sport meanwhile, not much to report except Kid Coach is assembling quite a nice little corps for Wednesday workouts. Last week it was 5x300 up to three sets, and a guy showed up who could do 58s with me. Not too slow not too fast. So that keeps me engaged and motivated through a hard workout.

I’ve decided I’m going to try the Gene thing and enter an endurance trail run this spring. I have he speed but I need the legs. Running many many miles on dirt is an appealing way to build stamina. Whaddya think Charlie?

CHEEEEEEEFS

M: off.

T-W; 6 miles.

R: 7 miles.

F-SA: 7 miles.

SU: 13.3 miles (last mile @7:51)

This was a cutback week. I wish I could say my legs were fresher. I don't notice much difference. But had I not cut back, they might have felt even more tired.

Hi masters,

I am 49 and run 30 to 40 miles a week. I call myself a hobby runner for stress relief and joy and do no competition. Would like to come back to faster stuff, which I did not for about a decade. so, i am doing regularly jumps once per weak and strides after my easy runs. have no access to gym. yesterday i did comfortably on track in nike pegasus (no ad) 10x100m in average 14.5 sec with 2.5 to 3min walk back. how would you proceed to become able for 5x200 m and 3x300m in 4 to 6 months?

greetings

welcome to (almost) 50's. I have nothing useful on your actual question, since my only thought was "if you run them slower, you can do those 200's/300's right now"

ok first full week of February for me, with:

M 1:20 double

Tu 1:00 with hill repeats ( 4 X 3:00 [2:00 recovery jog])

W 1:00 1:00

Th 1:10

F 1:15 with 5 X 5:00 @5k effort [a little over 1200 each time] (3:00 jog)

Sa 1:05

Su 1:30

looking forward to an altitude training stint [of sorts] 2/16-20 as we visit our daughter in Tucson AZ. 2300-something feet, which I guess isn't hard-core, but probably noticeable for me coming from nearly sea level.

have a great week,

Dave

Newbi: Welcome!

Dhaaga: There is a lot of misinformation about altitude in general. This site digs into the real science of altitude….and is fun too...:

https://www.altitude.org/high-altitude

TU: 4 road with 5 hill repeats

TH: 4 treadmill easy

SA: 5 track with 3 1600’s @ 7:05, 7:13, 7:07 (two weeks ago was 7:17, 7:21, 7:27)

SU: 4 paved greenway, easy

It was a good week. SAT’s 1600’s continue to improve. Funny to look back on my logs to see that on 2/18/12 on the same track in nearly the identical weather I did the exact workout and the 1600’s were 6:28, 6:27, 6:26. That yielded a 19:36 5K a few months later. I was 53 then and that was the last year before I really hit the injury/slowdown/whatever wall. I was doing 18 miles a week on 5 days a week running.

One week to go for the first race of 2020. The weather is always a concern for a Feb race. For me, usually, it’s the wind. I can run in just about anything, but I really hate the wind.

My goal is to run just a bit faster than last year’s 7:39 pace (23:50). To improve ANY AT ALL after age 60 would be huge to me. I’m close, so there is no guarantee.

Have a great week everyone!