50+ Masters Training and Racing Open Forum

Mike yeah I was suprised , entertained and inspired. Road trip with some camping and hiking in the near future . Maybe watch the race next year.

Newbi yeah at some point in a runner's life creative problem solving becomes key to keeping on keeping on. My max hr first measured in late 30s was 193 and is still around there BUT my daily comfort zone is much lower 120 to 130s versus 140 to 150s. Now days running at 140 feels like LT hmm wonder if others exp the same thing?

Hips Jeff's stuff has helped me out of a couple of chronic issues.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tdFtlHyUSXo

AMK Yep! upselling the old colonoscopy EASY MONEY. Our health care system is broken. Big medicine gives em a hammer and you are the nail. Knowledge is power , people are educating themselves taking charge of the their health which will drive the quality of health care.

2 workouts spinning the type 2As.

-50/40 till I missed which was lap 4 6:05 plus 2 x 800 50/40 with full recovery . I like these.

-5x800 cutdowns -5 seconds starting at 3:18 down to 2:58 with 2' recovery jog. Pace was all over the place so adjusted every 100 meters maybe it was the 20mph winds? Thought about doing 2:53 for 6 and could have but convinced myself it was not about if I could but what the workout was supposed to do. Which is be an endurance stimulus of type 2a fibers without too much stress.

std slogging volume plus bike and c2 rowing

Health stuff as the older we get the bigger role health plays in our training.

Weight: since deKetoing 2 months ago I have gained 3 pounds def some sub cute fat but seems to have leveled off.

RHR has dropped dramatically from mid 60s to mid 50s with no orthostatic hypotension !

also my blood pressure sys and dia both much lower I am convinced that all the stuff I am doing has removed calcium from the arteries not calcified plague but what occurs in the media or muscle layer of the artery which makes em stiff....The K2,D3 and Magnesium is most likely what worked but it could be other changes I have made no more cold hands and feet even my blood glucose levels after eating respond better I can eat a reasonable amount of carbs say 50 grams and my bg peaks about 120 . Seems like vascular health is key to many issues. Wish I knew this 60 years ago but I am also happy to see some significant signs of improvement.

We all have our routines in disarray. The exercise routine of substituting walking for my usual recovery days of spin biking or swimming is just not the same. The legs stay flat, making any quality days less so. I am motivated more out of the challenge of racing, with no races in sight makes training hard at this time somewhat pointless.

As a result I have spent more time on house projects. Knocking out sanding and staining outdoor furniture this week. Oh, and replacing some weed barrier. Yard has never looked better, but down to only 20 miles of walking this week. At some point I will really have to focus on my sport since I am “running” out of projects. Good news is it looks like the gyms will be back open mid-May. Not sure if I will return that soon.

I enjoy all the videos, especially the Cush Dr. Seuss recital.

Have a good week.

Igy

Last week I mentioned the showing of the 1964 Tokyo Olympis film...it was really fabulous...history, drama, lots of track, and cool cinematography.

TONIGHT NBCSN will show the 1968 Olympic film...those Mexico City Games are by far my favorite...7:30 PM left coast time.

Eked out 41 miles for the week...nothing sexy...just steady edddy maintenance mode...6 consecutive weeks at 30+...on track (figuratively only) for a 150 mile month of April.

Sending good thoughts to all for a safe and productive training week.

yourpal,

MF

It finally was time for a recovery week for me. I never have been a high mileage or big consecutive days streak runner, so after 5 straight weeks over 50 miles and 38 straight days of running my body said to dial it back a bit. The prior week I struggled to make my planned mileage on a couple of days and was thinking that I was training at the current limit of my ability to recover. On Monday of this week I felt like I was over my limit. So I took Tuesday and Wednesday off and dropped my mileage and intensity through today. That put me at 35 miles for the week.

M- 7mi walk plus strides

T- off

W- off

Th - 5mi hills 10:34/mi

F- 7mi walk plus strides

S- 6mi trails with my son 8:40/mi

Su- 10mi hills 9:36/mi

hips-don't-lie, my experience with high hamstring issues is that they just take a ridiculously long time to heal. I had a strain near the upper attachment point that took close to a year to get pain-free. My advice is do the exercises but stay away from any high intensity efforts in the exercises or running, and don't over-stretch it to the point where there is any discomfort. Do all the low intensity running that you can and BE PATIENT. Being patient in rehab is rarely any competitive runner's strong suit, but is a necessity at our age.

Good health to all!

easy recovery for the most part this week after solo marathon [thanks, everyone, for kind feedback on that one]

M off

Tu off [except for online exercise class, mix of yoga and strength]

W 20:00

Th 30:00

F 45:00

Sa 30:00

Su 10 miles with 10x 30 sec hard (1:00 recovery jog)

Today started base training week before 12-week program from Pete Magill's "Fast 5k" book, so i'm switching to 7-day cycles [from 9] and miles [from minutes]. I plan to do just about exactly what he says, with the tweak of folding one of the quality days into my long run so i get more completely easy recovery days.

goal = 18:00 + 1 second per year of life -- i.e., track 5000 in 18:59 on my birthday 7/25/20. To make it a valid test, I will sync the conditions with recent 19:10 time trial during marathon buildup -- recruit walkers to walk two abreast in inside lanes, hire a 4-year old to roam diagonally across the track while bouncing a ball they can't quite control, etc.

No pressure on me; it's all on Pete. If I manage 18:59, he will be proclaimed [by me, but I'll try to get Gov. Newsom to issue a certificate when he has a moment] the GOAT coach to go along with being AR holder for 5000 in our age group.

have a great week,

Dave

Charlie. Someone I know posted that they thought they saw a mutual acquaintance storming up and down dunes in Florence. It wasn't that person, but I have shrewd idea whom it might have been!

Calf/ankle has got to the point where I can try some strides. Still a heel-striker on one side, and forefoot on the other, but at least at a faster pace.

That 40/50 is a pretty good session. In my 50s I could do 4 miles (or at least did once) of that. A couple of years back I did do 3 miles of 100m jog/100m stride in 19:00.

Yesterday I tried a session of 30 seconds fast 90 seconds easy (it's supposed to activate fast-twitch without generating too much lactate - it's about turnover rather than fitness),

Did it for three miles in the middle of a continuous 5 mile run, so was 7:18, 6:57, 6:59, 6:56, 7:28. That made the middle 3, the 30/90 about 21:20 5k pace, which would age-grade to a 16:48. It didn't feel like a race effort, so it seems positive. I could recover pretty well with steady bits at 7:30 or so. No idea what that session is worth for a 5k, but it's a move forward from a few weeks back when I pushed 3 miles of a 5 mile run and wasn't any quicker than doing it as intervals.

Anyway, it's progress, and the first time I've done anything faster than steady/hard running in about 12 months.

I'd love to race! Who knows when this will happen?

Got back over 50mpw at 51.5 miles

M-rest

Tu-10 miles 1:25:05

W-7 med easy

TH-10 miles 1:30:35 (breaking in new pair of PureFlow7. Fairly slow shoes, good for my achilles).

F-7 easy

Sa-7.5 easy/medium

Su-10 miles 1:26:39 (back to nike trainers, a bit faster than the PureFlow7 shoe)

Currently I'm on a gradual volume build, with my last marathon eight weeks back. Trying to stay motivated, hoping that racing will resume by the end of the year. I'd like to build up to 70mpw, then I'll back off for a recovery period and start it up again. Somewhere out there I'm seeing another marathon, por favor!

Rtype, sounds like a fun week. I want more info on your makeshift 800 meter “track”. Sounds like a good solution. I am sorely tempted to go to the high school track 5 blocks from here sometime soon at sunrise for a session. It's “closed”, but easy enough to access. I don't want to be a scofflaw but I'd love to do some quick running there...

am good luck with your pain problems! At least things improved for you as the week progressed.

Hips-don't-lie, maybe there is a nutritional solution? Could gluten or sugar intake be a problem? Just a thought.

Socalcush thanks for the '64 olympics video, which I can cherrypick, and also I must say I would kill to be able to suffer through a 10:52 two mile at this state of the game.

Kpdx very nice road mile workout! Same with Charlie on the 800s. Youse guys are animals.

Dhaaga good luck on the goal 5000.

Happy running!

Seven weeks into my ump-teenth comeback. Seems to be going better than I expected. Still running every-other-day, weights on the non-running days. Runs have been 40-45 minutes (5-6 miles) amounting to a seven day total of 22'ish miles. Tempos have been 10 minutes long in the low 6:20's, weekly striders of 45-60 sec's in the low 5:20's pace. Every run has felt good with no bad days, yet. I'm going to start alternating tempo days and CV days every third run. Tomorrow I'm thinking about 5x2:00 around 6:00 pace.

This weeks plan has runs on M-W-Th-F...First time I'll run two consecutive days since early Dec. I think I'm going to run a mile TT on my 60th Birthday in 3 weeks, just to see.

Coronavirus? Doesn't bother me in the least, hasn't affected me at all with the exception of missing Church, not going out to dinner and my wife working from home. . Personally I think the fear and control we're all being fed is a bunch of bullshit... But that's just me.

Have a good run,

Dave

6Ds5

dhaaga wrote:

goal = 18:00 + 1 second per year of life -- i.e., track 5000 in 18:59 on my birthday 7/25/20. To make it a valid test, I will sync the conditions with recent 19:10 time trial during marathon buildup -- recruit walkers to walk two abreast in inside lanes, hire a 4-year old to roam diagonally across the track while bouncing a ball they can't quite control, etc.

No pressure on me; it's all on Pete. If I manage 18:59, he will be proclaimed [by me, but I'll try to get Gov. Newsom to issue a certificate when he has a moment] the GOAT coach to go along with being AR holder for 5000 in our age group.

have a great week,

Dave

dhaaga , cool goal...funny commentary...made me grin.

MikeF wrote:

dhaaga wrote:

goal = 18:00 + 1 second per year of life -- i.e., track 5000 in 18:59 on my birthday 7/25/20. To make it a valid test, I will sync the conditions with recent 19:10 time trial during marathon buildup -- recruit walkers to walk two abreast in inside lanes, hire a 4-year old to roam diagonally across the track while bouncing a ball they can't quite control, etc.

No pressure on me; it's all on Pete. If I manage 18:59, he will be proclaimed [by me, but I'll try to get Gov. Newsom to issue a certificate when he has a moment] the GOAT coach to go along with being AR holder for 5000 in our age group.

have a great week,

Dave

dhaaga , cool goal...funny commentary...made me grin.

Me too. I can use things to make me grin.

Drove 90 minutes up into the mountains with dogs and husband only to find that all of the roads into the forest were barricaded a very short distance from the highway. Several were marked "no dog walking, no hiking". Really??! How is not going hiking in the mountains supposed to make us safer against the coronavirus? We finally selected a road that was barricaded but not marked off limits and walked some distance down the paved road, taking some detours through closed empty campgrounds where we let the dogs off lead to run around and play in small piles of snow. It was a lot more fun than the usual walk through our neighborhood but quite disappointing. I'm wondering whether they are going to keep all roads to the hiking trails closed all summer long. Why??? I can see closing Yosemite because of the huge crowds that gather there, but in the wilderness areas where we usually hike it's unusual to see more than half a dozen people per hour out on the trails. This is getting very hard to take...

Dave. Good luck with your Sixty Mile TimeTrial. Mine is July 28th and I have the same plan. Keep us posted. KP

My last 2 or 3 weeks have gone very well.

I was well under my goal time for 5K (2 small hills) and got 2nd overall. And I should lose 6 pounds (maybe 2.8 kilos) to get that "perfect" race weight.

I ran 13 seconds faster than the 5K I ran in December on a flat course.

I felt a little tired for the race and after the 3K split, I tired even more.

My first K was the fastest and the last was the 2nd fastest.

My slowest was the 4K split (7.48 seconds slower than the first)

My training included a fast 1/2 marathon workout with a couple of the guys riding along on bikes with me.

I also had a fast 10 miler on one of those days where I tell myself to slow down but it doesn't happen (it was so natural).

I had a couple of longer speed repeats like 6 X 1/2 mile and 4 X 1/2 mile.

The other speed work was mostly 2 repeats with 2 jogs.

I want to focus on my 800/1500 training now but not lose too much for 5K.

Good luck y'all.

KP, there MAY be a meet to compete in...they're planning Bay Area Senior Games here (College of San Mateo)for November 15...fingers crossed.

Still running 70 miles a week. 71 running, 48 biking. Spring in Wenatchee is beautiful with so many flowering trees and shrubs. I ran a marathon on Wednesday in 3:37 and a hilly 14 today. Stay healthy!

Great to see the thread and to know there are some serious runners out there at 50 plus. Keep up the great running.

KPdx wrote:

Dave. Good luck with your Sixty Mile Time Trial. Mine is July 28th and I have the same plan. Keep us posted. KP

Cool! You should run mine virtually on May 19 and I'll run yours virtually on July 28.

I can't decide if I want cake or beer afterwards...

Dave

Mike F -- I'd still like to meet for some intervals! Once the "social distancing" lets up a bit.

hips-don't-lie wrote:

48 year old here. I was running between 50-60 mpw, but I am now barely doing 5-10 a week due to proximal / high hamstring tendinopathy and various other tweaks and pains in my hip area.

Has anyone managed to get past this. I have thrown all manner of strength work to try and resolve and it won't budge. All I get from physios is prescriptions to do more strength work, but I can easily do 100+ single leg bridges etc (not bragging, that's just how much work I have put in to try and rid myself of this godforsaken condition).

First of all, if only one side is hurting, you need to check if there is pseudo discrepancy in leg length. This is caused by your pelvis tilted sideway. If this is a problem, you need to get someone pull your "shorter" leg (the one that is not hurting) to make it even.

If there is not leg length discrepancy, then the most likely cause is tightness on hip flexor. If you spend too much time sitting, your hip flexor gets shortened, and that pulls your pelvis forward. The way to fix this is to stretch your hip flexor. (There are many types of hip flexor stretching, and I don't know which one is most effective for you. Just try as many as possible and see which one you like the best.)

Another possibility is that your spine is not straight. The most effective way to correct this is to hang on a high bar for at least 30 seconds. If you cannot find any bar to hang on, there are exercises called "pelvic tilt" and "cat and camel."I do them every day, and used to do twice a day when I was recovering from proximal hamstring tendinopathy.

All the strength works are important, and you should keep doing them. I am not sure if you have tried this, but lying leg curl with ankle weight could be very effective. You lie on the floor facing down, and bend your knee toward your butt, and then lower the leg very slowly. (You should take 2-3 sec to lower the leg. This lowering phase is the real purpose of this exercise, not the bending part.) You can also do this on a leg curl machine by raising the bar with both legs and lowering it with one leg. But I guess you don't have any access to a machine right now.

still on furlough, until mid-May it appears. So we (wife and I) are still walk/running, about 50 miles weekly. Last week was the first "down" week, with only 15 running miles and slightly less (50 vs. 55) total, after 3 higher weeks. We both agreed it was time for a reduction. It allowed a solid, for us, Sunday, that finished for me with a 1/2 mile in 4:09, and feeling like I could do more, plus in 70+ degree weather.

I am also feeling like doing a race/time trial, since our favorite spring races have all been cancelled. Knowing that the high school track will probably be busy, and it'll be hotter, I am thinking of an all-out 1 mile at ours, on my birthday, May 5. I will be 69. Don't know if I am ready for a sub-8, but that would be nice to get, and to see if I can extend the number of years I have run one. Not to mention it would not tear down my immunity as much as a longer race/TT.

AmKelly, sure hope your back is better, I have been doing daily stretches for my lower back ever since last summer's "back attack". Still have some soreness, but nowhere near what it was then. Just gentle stretches in every direction, and with pauses during, seems to help.