50+ Masters Training and Racing Open Forum

April 26 to May 2. I'm getting ready for my 800/1500 (mostly) season.

Ran 4 Long runs with the last mile fast like a race to change up the pace on M, T, R, & ST.

The fast last mile on T was not good though.

Friday I ran an easy 4 miles.

I ran 66.84 miles, and it has a lot of small hills. It' also hot.

KPdx wrote:

Club Team Virtual 5k Road Race next Saturday morning. Anyone care to predict a time for this here 59.75 year-old?

It depends on where you are doing your virtual 5K. I'm assuming flat and accurate with decent weather. I'm sure everyone does this, but playing around with the VDOT tables I'm predicting a range from 18:17 to 18:50. That's using 5:20 for a flat mile, with the upper range of 5:30 for a fudge factor because of lack of information on other workouts.

KP... I think you're a racer who shows up on race day. I'll go with a few ticks either side of 18:00

Had a nice little week. Miles are up to about 24. Ran two consecutive days for the first time since early December. Haven't had a bad run yet after 8 weeks of running (after 14 weeks off)

Mon: 6 Miles in 45:17 [7:32 per mile] w/5x2:00 @ 6:00 pace

Tue: Weights + 10 min ez run

Wed: 5.04 Miles in 40:35 [8:03 per mile]

Thu: Weights + 10 min ez run

Fri: 6 Miles in 45:55 [7:39 per mile] w/10x30 sec @ 5:19 pace

Sat: 4 Miles Easy:No Watch,No Time

Sun: Off

Getting kind of excited for my 60th B'Day Mile run in a few weeks. I haven't decided if I want to do it on the road or go to a track. My training partner who I haven't run with since last year is going to run with me. I was thinking I could run at least 5:45 or better; He's thinking sub 5:30. Obviously my endurance is seriously lacking but I'm hopeful of hanging on for a mile. Thursday I'll attempt a 3:00-2:00-1:00 ladder shooting for 5:30 pace. If I can do that then a 5:30 mile might be possible! We'll see.

Have a good run,

Dave

Gotta do it on the track Dave. After sixty years you will have earned the right to do it right.

Sub 5:30 is my prediction for you.

KP

Mon. 1 hour kayak. Just chugging along.

Tue. Mountain bike ride about 1 hr 45 min. a bit muddy.

Wed. Easy trail and cow paddock run of 11 kms in 64 mins after an hour of steep hiking to warmup.

Thu. 70 min kayak. Battling away in tiny Hedleys dam in the forest. Very cold, raining throughout.

Fri. Left the roadie at home as it was pouring rain. Battled away on the mountain bike around the forest for 1 hr 45 mins. Mud fest.

Sat. 13 kms of hilly forest trail and farm road running. 72 mins. Kms 6, 8, 10 at race pace- 4.31, 4.24, 4.32.

Sun. 15.5 kms of mixed running, first 5 kms on steep (170 metres elevation gain in the first 2 kms) rocky trails 35 mins. Then a smoother 6.5 kms as part of our club's virtual race. 29.42 ( a bit lazy really). Finished with 4 kms back up to the top of the McIvor Range, 170 metres elevation gain 31 mins. I then walked 20 mins back home down untracked bush dropping that 170 metres in a bit over a km.

Happy with that. I am just ticking along with as I feel training. I am in half decent shape and have no major injury issues at the moment.

I am missing my usual excursions but that is life at the moment.

Mopac, I don't know if I could keep up with you for a single day! The variety and what I imagine to be the beauty of your excursions sound so wonderful. I know many of us runners think that, to us, variety is just changing the pace or the distance of our runs. You are truly and Ironman of endurance exercising, plus you don't let the weather stop you from your rounds.

My wife and I had another week of around 15 miles running, 35 miles walking. Today is my last day at age 68, and it's raining now, supposed to end soon and be marvelous weather tomorrow. Will head to the track for my TT mile sometime around noon, perhaps. My wife will be my pacer, hope that there are not too many walkers in lane 1 for my little effort.

Good health to all in this trying time.

Thanks Mike. I focus on trying to enjoy what I do. The variety keeps me keen. I am always looking forward to the next activity.

Enjoy your TT at the track, hopefully in sunshine.

I got lucky with great spring weather for my 50k time trial. Drove down to a lake with some flat dirt roads. Ran 4:18 or 8:19 pace for 31.1 miles. I had some real tough patches but a great Pacer jumped in fir the last 13 miles. I feel I can go faster with better training, but pleased for a first attempt. Taking a week off now.

postmalone wrote:

I got lucky with great spring weather for my 50k time trial. Drove down to a lake with some flat dirt roads. Ran 4:18 or 8:19 pace for 31.1 miles. I had some real tough patches but a great Pacer jumped in fir the last 13 miles. I feel I can go faster with better training, but pleased for a first attempt. Taking a week off now.

4:18 50k. Good one! I am doing a virtual 50k race this month. Not doing it for the medal I'll get in the mail. I was a sucker for the East Coast vs West Coast marketing. I'm aiming for around 4:20 to 4:30. In the last 3 weeks I've run 26.2 at 8:29 pace, 26.2 @8:18, and 24 @8:45 on some hillier courses But I'm going to leave a few drink bottles at a central point in a basically flat park and do 6 mile loops and try to go a little faster.

82 miles running, and 56 biking, last week. Yesterday I ran 11 miles @7:17 pace with the second half a bit faster. I'm doing the Great Virtual Race Across Tennessee, too, another gimmick, where you run 1000k (or 2000k, across and back) in 4 months. It keeps me motivated, that and logging in Strava. Beautiful weather here in Wenatchee.

Thanks Raysharp. I'm a newbie but after looking at your training runs, I think you can go faster. I'd guess more like 4:10-4:15. Good luck.

I enjoyed the 50 km races I did several years ago, but was glad to be part of a small community running them. Going alone is a whole other bear in the woods! By the way, if/when we have races again here in MO/KS, I have records posted of 50 km at

www.staterunningrecords.com

and at

www.mararunning.org

, as well.

Going to postpone the 1 mile TT one day, since it's horribly windy today even by dusk. Tomorrow looks really nice and calm, so will try then, given my limited fitness. Will still enjoy the birthday dinner and desert that my wife has planned, even though I don't feel the LEAST bit older today! Only 1 year to go before reaching the 70-74 age group!

OK, so today was a much calmer day with winds of 6 to 8 mph, so my 1 mile was ON! After warm-ups, easy walking to running 1/4 to 1/2 mile, then strides, then 4 x 1/8, we took the line, and my wife took it out "relaxed hard" so I hit the 400 in 2:01.9, then next 400 in 2:01.0, the next

just 2:00.25. Coming around the final curve and into the wind the last time I made my move and we ran alongside the whole straight to the finish. And I hit my watch at the finish and......missed the button!!!!

However, my wife, who was alongside me perfectly, hit hers and had a split time, so once home and with a calculator to add each split up, showed that we both ran......7:59.63!!!!!! Yahoo, another sub 8 for this now 69 year old! Nothing like having back-up timing :) So that last 409.34 meters were in about 1:56.5, approx.

I ran in my freshest pair of LunaRacers, the shoes that KP turned me on to many years ago in Eugene! Thanks KP!

Might try a sub-10 for 2000 next week, we will see, but for now feeling good and enjoying the birthday meal even more than yesterday!

Nothing like cutting it close! Well done. Kkep it up with the 2k.

Nice work Mike! I can't believe you still have a pair of LunaRacers.

The Lunar Trainer and LunaRacer were two shoes way ahead of their time. I was one of three lucky employees to fly on Phil Knight's jet to show these off to Jeff Johnson, stay at his home, break bread and beer with him, and fly back to PDX after picking up Joan Benoit from the tarmac in Portland Maine. We were all headed back to Oregon to host a thousand running shops for Hood 2 Coast. On the rocket-fast jet flight we shot the sh*t about coaching high school kids with my masters workouts coached for me by my old friend Tom Carleo. Jeff was impressed with the simpleton foam bottomed shoes; and my workouts. Not a year later Nike dropped the Lunar Trainer. Two classic behaviors. One, innovation ahead of its time. Two, dropping a great shoe before it earned it's following by the masses.

C'est La Vie KP.

Congratulations MikeL, long may the streak live!

Congrates enjoyed the recap way to kick the final 409. Especially after all the back issues.

Motivates maybe next time I am in Eugene I will TT a mile.

Had fun today , ad lib a workout considered 4 x 30' hills dunes naw then thought about 4800 on the track in 21 jogged to the track but just did not want to run that long at that pace so....

May 7th 2 x 1600 R400 in 2:00

First 1200 alternating curves in 30 and straights in 22.5 more or less goal 5k pace

Last 400 at faster than 5k race pace

1. 5:33,1:27 = 7:00 R 400 in 2 minutes

2. 5:14,1:25 = 6:40 R400 in 2 minutes

Enjoyed workout not too hard or too easy

thanks guys, can't believe that I did not hit my watch the last time in the most important of the times. Should have stayed on the split button and not try to switch to the shut-off button. Anyhow, it worked out, and the few people at the track then was perfect for not having to work around various walkers in lane 1 or whatever.

I know the actual time sounds slow, even for a 69 year old, but it was something a)reasonable for our current fitness b) did not take much time to perform, c) was still a "distance event" (even if more technically mid-d) d) was what we'd have been running a month from now for KC Corporate Challenge, if it had not been cancelled d/t CoVid and e) established a baseline of our running/racing fitness.

It's funny, it was pretty all-out for me, and my Garmin then predicted that my fitness would transfer to a 22:18 for 5 km, among other distances. A faster pace for 3 times farther. Now that would be some work!

It was a blast for me to just lace up the racing flats, pull on a singlet, crouch down at the start, everything we would do for a "real" race. And I needed to have all that visualized, to pull up the adrenaline for it. Sounds like I'll be going back to work this Monday, too, so the timing could not have been better, esp. with the 55 degree, low wind day. And I cannot say enough what perfect pacing my wife gave me. KP knows her, and she's a dream come true for this runner. Now she has a 1 mile goal of her own for her birthday, on July 26. Of course, it's faster, a sub 7:30 when she turns 63. Look out Hayward Field Masters! :)

KP posted, to paraphrase the thought, the mile is perhaps the best test of overall endurance. I would have to agree. It is also a mental challenge, especially 1,000 meters out.

Racerdb wrote:

... Thursday I'll attempt a 3:00-2:00-1:00 ladder shooting for 5:30 pace. If I can do that then a 5:30 mile might be possible! We'll see.

Dave, a couple years ago, Charlie suggested I run a 1200m time trial prior to a mile race. He said that would give me race pace. I ran the 1200m at 5:40-pace, and raced 5:38. Then, again, I'm not sure how it would translate to a time trial versus an actual competitive race.

Mike L: Congrats on your 1-mile TT. Seems impressive to me, for sure. I'm only 60, and probably can't break 9 minutes. 45 pounds heavier than when I was racing. Ugh.