50+ Masters Training and Racing Open Forum

I suited up to run long-ish at 7a.m., then it started pouring. So I poured a 2nd mug of coffee and decided to run this afternoon when the rain subsides. I'll likely get my weekly miles to about 36, mostly easy running.

I've had an easy month of running, post marathon, about 25 – 30 mpw average. I'm looking back and ahead to determine how to train. My conclusion, I saw big improvements over the past year in the half marathon and marathon from moving my volume from 40 to 50 mpw.

So I will look to notch the volume up again gradually, edge it towards 60 mpw. Who knows when racing will resume. Until it does, I can do 3 month cycles followed by one month of relative rest. I would love to run Boston in 2021, I am hopeful that this can happen!

My creek trail is still open, allowing flat & fast out and back runs. The high school and J.C. tracks are just blocks away, but both tracks are CLOSED.

Some fast running there, Charlie! Love the video.

Not Done Just Yet, good luck with sore hamstring and I like the phrase “pajamas to running gear”.

KCGeezer, nothin' wrong with 50mpw to hold your fitness together.

LucKY2b – good job on figuring how to streamline your tech for teaching! Necessity is the mother of invention. Did Frank Zappa say that?!

Igy, sounds like a solid week and the bandana look is a winner!

Over here, we have a box of face masks left from last fall's fire season. This town burned in Fall 2017, and in 2018 and '19 was blanketed with smoke. Basicall we've fled fires/smoke 3 years in a row so we keep a ready supply of masks!

Rtype, that's a good workout there, the 4m with the last in 6:38. Keeps the blood pumping. And good question, how to train without knowing when you can race again?! As I wrote above, I have a plan. I'll see if I can stick to it!

amk - the ratio between your quarter mile speed and half marathon speed shows the important thing: Strength, and that you are a national class age-group athlete.

Meanwhile, my wife got up and asked why I wasn't out running. I said "rain" and she laughed and laughed. So I just got back from a nice, rainy 8.4 mile negative-split run on the creek trail...

Mike L., very sorry to hear about you being furloughed. I have to keep telling myself how lucky I am to have a job that I can keep getting paid to sort of do from home, however imperfectly.

Charlie, fun story about your track workout with the kids!

Rtype, I normally do essentially all of my running alone except for races, so there’s no adaptation required for “social distancing”. I know some of my fellow runners continue to run in (small) groups but at least in what they post on Facebook they’re careful to keep some distance.

dhaaga, good to see you keeping up the training even with nothing obvious on the horizon.

Big Red, I was wondering whether you might have masks left over from the fires. I was never that close to the fires, but my husband does some woodworking and has a few construction masks he uses for that. They’re not medical masks but they will suffice.

My second full week of shelter in place was better than the first. The low fever I mysteriously had last weekend resolved without escalating and I returned to running (cautiously) on Monday. I went on naproxen for two days to settle my aching back and was feeling considerably better by Thursday. Then I resumed the body weight and dumbbell exercises I’d been doing before and quickly found out the hard way which one of them sends my lower back into spasm. Ouch. Fortunately, the back doesn’t seem to bother me when running and I ended up with an unimpressive but OK week:

M, 7.0 miles

T, 10.4 miles

W, 10.7 miles

R, 11.4 miles plus one set each of curls, pushups, and presses (mistake!)

F, 11.0 miles

S, 14.5 miles in a plodding 2:14. 40 degrees, brilliantly clear and sunny.

U, 10.5 miles in light rain, early. Now it's raining harder.

75 miles for the week, nothing fast.

As of yesterday, my county had 27 reported COVID-19 cases, mostly in people under age 50, and no deaths. It’s still low here but ramping up quickly; it’s estimated that in my area the peak won’t hit until mid May to early June. California has done a pretty good job of “flattening the curve”, but that just prolongs the isolation. Thank goodness I can still run and walk my dogs—and that I still have a regular paycheck. Even if I can’t buy TP anywhere.

Another week of trying to stay consistent on base work for me. Since I'm usually out the door to run by 5:45AM I don't cross paths with more than about a half dozen people on my runs. We keep a pretty well stocked pantry so shopping has not been an issue for us. I know I'm in Southern California though when in addition to TP, the Costco and Trader Joe's shelves have been empty of refried beans and salsa for the last two weeks. I'm kind of bummed that nearly all of the park trails in the area have been closed now. Near my son's house there is a nice DG walking path/horse trail alongside about 2 miles of the main road through the community. We did a couple of loops of that this morning to get off the pavement for a least one run. 52 miles for the week -

M- 7mi walk with strides

T- 8 mi hills 9:21/mi

W- 7mi walk with strides

Th- 8 mi hills 9:22/mi

F- 4 mi walk with my wife

S- 9 mi hills 9:12/mi

Su 9 mi flat trail 8:57/mi

Stay healthy all

Long time no post...having read the past couple of week's thread, sounds as though most are finding a way to stay sane / healthy during this event.

Just prior to the whole shut down, I was probably fitter than I had been in a couple of years...with an eye towards World Masters in July.

As that meet has since cancelled (along with essentially every tune up meet en route) I've retreated into maintenance mode...gym closed, track closed.

At any rate, have squeezed out consecutive weeks of 34 miles, 32 miles, and 40 miles (first time in 2020)....463 day 'streak' and 111, 724 lifetime miles (who's counting?)

Upside if they move Toronto Worlds to 2021, is that I move to the front edge of the new age group...I'll take a ray of sunshine anywhere I can find one these days .

Sending you all warm regrads and thoughts of continued good health.

your pal,

MF

We had a bit a blow towards the end of the week which led to me postponing Friday’s run and ultimately reducing the week’s running mileage to 15+ (no fluff). But no injuries or significant niggles to report, so life is good. Other than my runs, it was a stay-at-home week thanks to previously stocking up on vittles and beer. Might have to replenish the former soon, but the latter is stocked well enough to get me to at least next week. Plenty of TP on hand.

Sun: off

Mon: 53’ CR; body wt ex + med ball routine

Tues: walk w/ the bride

Wed: 52’ CR; body wt ex + med ball routine

Thu: walk w/ the bride

Fri: off

Sat: 54’ CR; body wt ex

Best to most!

finally getting some decent running in (30+ miles for the week), though less than half what i was doing back in february/early march. today's 6+ mile run with 4 @ 6:20 pace felt about as taxing as my 14 milers felt a month ago when i would do the middle 8 at 6:00 pace. that said, i feel lucky the latest calf/achilles issue only required a little more than 2 weeks off and not 2 months off like the last one. the usually little occupied trail that i run most of my tempos was teeming with people, and although it's heartening in some ways to see so many people out on the roads and trails during the last few weeks, people of all ages, families on bicycles, etc., it also inspired this new word (excuse my english teacher brain working overtime during a sunday run)--i doubt it'll catch on, but if it does, you heard it here first:

dyslexercise (dĭs-lĕk′-sər-sīz′)

n. the backwards philosophy of starting an exercise regimen during a global viral pandemic and thereby increasing the chances of contracting said virus, instead of exercising regularly and eating healthy pre-pandemic and thereby increasing your resistance to said virus.

i can relate to amkelley's feeling about remote teaching. i wasn't made for it, though it has stimulated some creative juices in terms of delivering instruction, but difficult to sustain. because i'm not too fond of the some of the new language that has entered the lexicon during this crisis, i'm trying to invent another word to take the place of remote/online learning:

isolearning: /ˈaɪsoʊˈlɝnɪŋ/

n. knowledge acquired in isolation by systematic study in any field of scholarly application, without actually ever leaving your home.

not to be confused with "mesolearning," knowledge acquired on the streets of vietnam or hanging out with luke skyywalker (luther campbell); or "misolearning," knowledge acquired while eating at a sushi bar.

my final word for the day is what i hope will take the place of "social distancing," but i will likely be disappointed:

autoimonroe doctrinization /ˈɔ toʊ ɪˈmənˈroʊ ˈdɒk trɪn əˈzeɪ ʃən/

n. the belief that anyone entering within a 6 foot radius sphere around my person be treated as a foreign body and a manifestation of an unfriendly disposition toward me.

anyway, as you can see this public school english teacher+runner recovering from injury has way too much time on his hands...

carpe crepusculum,

cush

Nice definitions, cush. Glad to see you're remaining in good spirits.

A bit of a mixed week but still managed to hit my normal training loads. Actually a higher cycling volume than normal.

Mon. 20 km mtb ride in 58 mins out on hilly dirt farm roads and trails. Straight into the kayak and a solid 30 min fartlek on the waterhole.

Tue. 26 km road ride in 57 mins hammered the last 8 hilly kms. A solid 6.2 km run on testing hills. Averaging around 85 % of MHR so pretty hard.

Wed. Easy 5 km jog on mixed trails 30 mins then a lazy 50 mins on the mtb on the same.

Thu. An hour of kayak on the waterhole. Good overnight rain had topped it up nicely.

Fri. 10 km trail run in heavy rain . 3 laps of a mixed bag loop pretty muddy. Middle 4 kms 18.30 at around 85% of MHR hitting 4.15 for the last of the 4 kms.

Sat. Big rain overnight. I had got home from work just before midnight and had to head out again at 4 am. Was pretty weary in the afternoon.

Popped the kayak into the rather flooded firefighters dam inthe forest near home. Just 270 metres a lap. Managed 40 mins in a howling wind and soaking rain. Headed off for a comfortable 11 kms of muddy trail running in 69 mins.

Sun. 2 hours of mtb riding through local forests in a howling wind and pouring rain. Completely covered in mud by the end.

Things are sharply improving here covid wise. We have cut our new confirmed cases dramatically despite aggressive testing. In my state (pop 6.7 million) we only had 20 new cases confirmed from over 4000 tests yesterday. Sadly we lost another person yesterday, the 8th death in the state andwe have 10 patients in ICU in our state hospitals.

Australia wide 35 deaths, many of them cruise ship passengers. The numbers of new confirmed cases has been dropping sharply despite increased testing and thorough tracking and tracing.

We have tested well over 1% of our 25 million people so far.

I will leave it there and head off for a session in the kayak before work.

I will read everyone's posts in my teabreak tonight.

Stay healthy.

socalcush, Glad to hear you are on the mend. I finally got some time to listen to your podcast interview. It was interesting and an hour well spent. Thanks for sharing.

It has been a full calendar month since I ripped my hamstring doing a core workout. With a regime of exercises, heat/cold, moderate massage and stretching and lots of slow slow miles, I think I am about 90% back. At least there is no pain and takes just 1/4 to 1/2 mile to loosen up a little stiffness going into a run. Seems a little better each day this week.

Completed week two of a new base building phase. Again 60 miles total on six single (all running solo) runs and with two runs today. I gradually reintroduced just a touch of faster stuff - a few strides and some light 1/2 mile up tempos segments within my normal runs. Looks like we all have lots of time before there will be races of any sort. I will be actually surprised if we have any around in by August and even them that may be optimistic.

Roads and paths about here in S.E. Michigan are pretty empty. Encountered just two couples walking in the opposite direction yesterday while doing a 10 miler. Part of that I am sure is the routes I plan out - I know certain times of day and on certain roads, I will probably encounter no one. Still sort of eerie running through a deserted college campus that normally has 20,000+ students in attendance.

Haven't been in the car for almost a week, but we ought to go to the grocery store sometime in the next few days. 521 cases. What is a little unsettling is COVID19 in our county is 45% are in our (and an adjoining zip code). So the less we are around others, probably so much the better.

Stay safe all.

Good job running sub 15-00 on that track. Virtually impossible to find a lane without a dip in it.

I'm still on steady running most of the time at the moment, due to ankle/calf. Did get in a 5 mile in about 7:08 per mile with three of the miles under 7:00 in early March. Then started to get slower. I think months of 75% of runs in a tempo/lt range caused a peak and then a drop off. I've often had that happen. At one point I was getting fit and running a 3.5 mile track l/t every week. I was getting quicker and quicker, then flattened out, and it wasn't long before I was a racing 5k at a slower pace than the l/t session! I've found since that I tend to peak fairly quickly, plateau, and then go off pretty quickly.

Anyway, that and a sore posterior tibial tendon led to an easy March - especially with no targets on the horizon.

I've been gradually working back this month, with KT tape on the tendon, a soft brace, and an orthotic with an arch support. Had funny instance this week. Running uphill, and the foot with the sore posterior tibialis landed a little turned out. Heard a big crack and felt a shooting pain up the inside of the calf. Hobbled a few strides, the the ankle felt a lot better. With in a couple of days posterior tibialis cleared up completely, and I can put a lot more force on the front of the foot (I've been heel-striking one foot, forefoot on the other).

The problem has been down to something with the navicular/talus of the foot, where I wrenched it a few years back, and I think because the foot was held in position by the tape/brace/orthotic it "chiropracted" the navicular/talus into a better alignment. Anyway, I'll take it!

I've still got to get some muscle back into the calf, but it's a big improvement. If I can get myself to back off the pace a bit, and go longer/slower, I'll try and build some better aerobic base.

Another week of 70 miles running, plus 60 biking. Mostly trail running now. I had 8,400 ft of elevation on runs, and 5,100 biking. Slow trail runs of 16, 14, and 6 miles with 2,700, 2,200 and 1,300 ft of climbing, the last of those with our blue heeler. The trails in Wenatchee are dry and the flowers are blooming. A 32 mile bike ride with W up Swakane Canyon and down Nauham, 3300 ft with dirt. Tonight I hit the pavement for 11 miles at 6:44 average on the Apple Capital bike loop. I'm ready for a sub 3 with nowhere to run it. But happy to be healthy and able to do these things. Be safe, Everyone. Hi to CM.

Ghost of Igloi wrote:

Mo Pac,

Dave Bedford reportedly could barely break 60, but set the 10k world record. So I think you are good!

Igy

I think that is a bit of a myth. He had a British record of 5:03.16 for 2000m. That's 60.63 per 400m, so got to think he was more a 56 or so guy. He ran a 60 or 61 early on in one of his fast 5000m or 10000m, I think the European 10000m record he set on a cinder track at Portsmouth.

I'm keeping very busy and my training is going great.

I'm still running without a schedule. Since I last posted I have done no single long runs, but I've run easy short runs or speed work.

The speed work can get to 8 miles or more running.

I've had a couple of long repeats sessions and a couple of short speed sessions like 1s but mostly 2s.

I'm really fast right now for 5K and shorter.

Ghost of Igloi wrote:

old guy II, I am fine. I wore my bandanna and latex gloves to the grocery store and a toilet paper quest.

I am glad to hear you are well. Thank you for being proactive and wearing the mask to protect those you encounter.

Cush, love the new words and their definitions. Looks like I am going to be more careful in my sentence structures with you around! :) :)

I love the dyslexercise word. Tying in with that, we here in KC have had some of our usual ups and downs with temps and conditions. Yesterday, with temps over 50 (55 or so) and sunny, their were a great number of people out walking and running. The day before with a temp not above 40 and cloudy, and some scattered rain, only one person and they were walking their dog. Is that a case of tempexercise? When our summer temps reach near 100, I doubt if I see many folks out then. One of the funnier scenes we say yesterday in our very small city park was of 6 cars parked in a circle, each with their cartrunks open towards the center, and 6 women sitting on trunk/back bumper and talking to each other, while maintaining social distance.

Amkelley, my wife and I are actually doing well with being furloughed, as we'll be able to draw unemployment. With the added amount that the US Government added in ($600/week) for each of us, it'll be about what we'd be earning. So we won't need to dip into savings or retirement funds. Plus, it's set up for 26 weeks, taking us in late September. I do miss the enjoyment of helping people get into much more comfy shoes and gear, AND being inspired by their stories of health and fitness. Because I realized many years ago that my purpose in life was to promote health and exercise, working in a running shoe means more to me that just "slinging shoes". The only downside is when confronted with some very dark, non-scientific attitudes (such as being promoted from you-know-who).

We covered 7.5 miles yesterday, with 5 of those running, 10 x 1/2 mile each, then did yard work. We got our steps in (over 18,000 for me) and then enjoyed a couple of good movies, including one of Ruth Bader Ginsberg's early life/career.

Cavorty, feel pretty good about regaining some speed. Will continue to take a very cautious approach to sprinting but it sure is FUN!

RAP (Racing After the Pandemic) will def include some sprints. Get my arze kicked by a different set of top dogs. Except no one in the whole world is fast enough to lap me from 400 on down including indoors;)

Maybe some head start for the old fart racing

OFR(Old Fart Racing) 300/ 400 150/200 even 75 vs 100.

IMO regarding LT,CV and Vo2 is the baloney Speed and Endurance are the bread.

Hey Ray, greetings from under the radar. Another good week for you! We're doing pretty well here although winter keeps hitting back about every 5-7 days.

oId guy wrote:

Ghost of Igloi wrote:

old guy II, I am fine. I wore my bandanna and latex gloves to the grocery store and a toilet paper quest.

I am glad to hear you are well. Thank you for being proactive and wearing the mask to protect those you encounter.

Yeah that’s really the thing. With the CDC reporting a high number of asymptomatic positives out there, the masks are just one more layer of protection in both directions, because you just don’t know.

On Saturday — this doesn’t seem to have gotten much play — Dr Birx urged people not to go to grocery stores or pharmacies for a couple of weeks if they could avoid it. Other lesser aides were out there saying that too. Seemed kinda half hearted but I got the message: Just run and go home. So I gave in and ordered grocery delivery. Tipped 20 percent. I’ll take it out of the stimulus check. Truth be told, it’s kinda fun ordering off instacart and avoiding the perforated lines at Costco and the organic grocery.

On a related note, I resolved in 2020 to patronize businesses besides amazon which has become our societal default, like Walmart was 20 years ago. So it’s eBay for supplies, Etsy for face masks, Sprouts instead of Whole Foods. We’ve been without Prime for six months and our world hasn’t shattered. As for everyone’s favorite stock up item, Costco was running a hell of a deal on Charmin’s red pack in February, so we’re good on TP until probably Halloween.

Going to tune in Cush now.