50+ Masters Training and Racing Open Forum

M60, 5'11", 181 lbs

Sun - Bike 18.3 mi @ 17.6 mph

Mon - off

Tue - 4 miles (splits 9:14, 9:10, 9:22, 8:55)

Wed - off

Thu - 4 miles (splits 10:40, 10:09, 9:41, 9:18)

Fri - off

Sat - 4 miles (splits 13:52, 11:07, 10:53, 10:22)

TOTAL 12.0 MILES

I'm continuing to progress with weight loss after peaking at 192 a few weeks ago. That is my main motivation for returning to the roads. Historically, my non-competitive normal weight is 170. She I was racing well a couple years ago, 160.

Have a great week, be well.

glad to hear knee report not too bad......

Before I forget, I call 17:59 for CDB prediction pool, as much for sub-7 pace for fairly relaxed 13 miles as for the 800's

Good week for me culminating in practice race to wrap up week 10 of Fast 5k program:

M 14 miles double incl. 20 X 400 (100 jog) 5k pace (or a second faster as it turns out) ave. 88.6

Tu 14 double

W 9 incl. drills & strides & 4 X 90 sec hard hills (5:00 jog)

Th 8

F 4

Sa 7 incl. 5000 meters in 18:38

Su 5

Sat. race went well. I don't have Charlie's skilz for video production, but the kilometer splits tell the tale:

1. got out hard to string out the field (3:43)

2. & 3. Tactical segment (3:45, 3:44)

4. Surprise attack to take the sting out of my rivals' kicks (3:43)

5. Bekele-esque long drive for home from 1000 meters out (3:43)

Got both the age-group and overall wins. Many people (i.e., my daughters) are saying that the gold medal is tarnished by watered-down field for the TMST3 (Tilden Middle School Track Time Trial) Classic this year, and indeed all my competitors were walkers who showed no sign of awareness that we were racing.

However, you can't beat but who shows up, so I count it as a win. Rematch on the 25th.

Have a great week,

Dave

I've found I don't handle heat as well as I used to so I shifted my LR to midweek so I could run it in the UP instead of "down south" in Chicago where we're visiting my in-laws. I run in the early morning to avoid the sun and I'm also careful to stay hydrated. I used to just drink water on my runs but I began to use an electrolyte replacement drink during longer runs and races last year and I found it really helped me. If it's very hot/humid, I'll even commit the sacrilege of running on a treadmill! Will y'all still allow me to post here?

Sun: 6 E (9:15)

Mon: 6 E on sandy trail (thought of you, Charlie)

Tue: 6 chased by deer flies, 19 bike trainer

Wed: 12 E (9:29), yoga

Thu: off

Fri: 6.6 E on Chicago Lakefront Trail, 17.6 bike trainer, :30 strength

Sat: 7.1 Track (12 x 400 @ 2:00/1:00 E)

LucKY: Keep up the good work. You're on the comeback trail.

KP and MF: Sending you healing thoughts.

Brittle: Good to see your progress but be careful with your lunchtime runs.

Long May You Run!

Nice 5000, Dave!

lucKY2b, glad to hear things are coming along. My current climate is hot but dry, but I did live in Kansas for four years where summers were both hot and humid. My husband, a cyclist, agreed that it feels better to work out when the temperature is significantly above the dew point. I never felt that way, and always wanted to run when the temperature was a minimum (and the sun wasn’t yet up) even if temp and dew point were about equal. I think the difference is I don’t tend to sweat much, so evaporative cooling isn’t so effective for me.

Rtype and Mopac, I know different people need different amounts of sleep, but 5 hours sounds crazy and even 6 seems like not nearly enough. I typically get around 7 and would prefer 7.5. But if it works, more power to both of you!

MikeF, good luck on continuing the streak. I raced twice early this year before the lockdown and I don’t expect to race again until 2021 unless something unexpected happens in California. I guess if you have to do a virtual “race” to continue your streak you do what you need to do…

Igy, sounds like a solid week. I assume your "COVID-10" is pretty common. In contrast, I have lost a good four pounds during the shutdown and I have no idea why. Four pounds in four months is hardly a dramatic weight loss but that’s coming off a base of 115. Working from home 24/7 (at least until last week) I’ve always been within 10 meters of the kitchen, and struggling with this PMR I’ve been running a bit less volume and a lot less intensity than before. Go figure.

Allen1959, keep up the good work!

dhaaga, nice job on the 5K. The hardest races are the ones where your competition doesn’t know it’s a race.

SCgal, I’m not sure I’d allow heat as an excuse for running on a treadmill but the deer flies definitely qualify!

COVID-19 cases continue to explode in California and in Merced County. The number of active cases, number currently hospitalized, and fraction of positive tests all continue to go up. I didn’t go to the gym all week long, and just did pushups and dumbbell exercises at home in addition to the running. I also worked in my lab three days this week and it was great to feel useful again, although I do find that having to wear a mask constantly for many hours is mighty uncomfortable.

I ran six days out of seven, with a 9-mile hike at 8500-9000 feet on the off day. Nothing impressive, 66 miles of slow. The heat came back here too, with highs over 100 Friday and yesterday, and highs above 100 forecast for the next ten days. I’m pushing to get out the door by 5 am so that I can do most of my run before dawn or in the shade when the sun is low.

Have a good week and try to stay cool, everyone!

DHaaga Excellent 5000 hard work paid off wish I had your durability. Nice spliz. After many years my video technique remains unfettered . Good Luck on the 25th

Another Recovery week

50 minutes a day of slogging

touching the bases 2k at 6:20pace followed by 4x400 R60" 89 88 87 79

800 TT was satisfaction a bookend of sorts:

43 years and 10 months Age Graded PR 1500

63 years and 10 months Matched my Age Graded PR but in the 800

Training at 43 was traditional hard stuff with lots of races peaking ect.

At 63 was easy stuff with some neural muscular a bit of tabata no peak 2 race efforts.

I will continue with Door Number 2

Back to work on my basic speed and aerobic development maybe I might do one more TT but only if my unfettered ID wants to.

“Igy, sounds like a solid week. I assume your "COVID-10" is pretty common. In contrast, I have lost a good four pounds during the shutdown and I have no idea why. Four pounds in four months is hardly a dramatic weight loss but that’s coming off a base of 115. Working from home 24/7 (at least until last week) I’ve always been within 10 meters of the kitchen, and struggling with this PMR I’ve been running a bit less volume and a lot less intensity than before. Go figure.”

My weight gain is all nervous eating on my part, no excuse really. Not excessive, but I am a slow burner, so must remain disciplined if I am to race well.

My wife and I lived in Hoisington and Claflin Kansas 1979-1981; central Kansas. One hot summer day we drove in our un-air conditioned car to Lake Wilson about an hour's drive to the north. It was about 112 degrees that day, stiflingly hot and humid. Not sure I have ever been that uncomfortable, but the swim sure felt good.

And speaking of heat, it's been a steamer the last few days here in Denver with upper 90s and a 100 yesterday. Mid-90s (oh boy) are in store for the rest of the week. And here's one for you weather buffs: Alamosa, CO set a record high and low in the same day! (92/37). ?

With the heat, I've got to take it indoors as I'm capped at about 85 (had a case of heat exhaustion/borderline heat stroke when I did a tempo run on a record setting day of 102 back in 2012 - have never felt same, and my doctor advised me not to run in too hot of temperatures). So, even trying to go out about an hour before sunset, it's still been too hot lately. This is where I'm so glad the gyms are reopened so I can use the treadmills & bikes in a nice comfortable air conditioned building.

I can't imagine what the runners are doing in Phoenix with the re-closure of the gyms because of the coronavirus cases exploding. Daytime highs there the past week have been pushing 115! Nighttime lows are still around 95! How in the heck would you fit in a run? Maybe around 5:00 am with a zillion water bottles? So, unless most of the runners down there have treadmills at home, there's going to be a lot of unhappy campers with the unanticipated gym closures. ?

Stocky Old Runner wrote:

I can't imagine what the runners are doing in Phoenix with the re-closure of the gyms because of the coronavirus cases exploding. Daytime highs there the past week have been pushing 115! Nighttime lows are still around 95! How in the heck would you fit in a run? Maybe around 5:00 am with a zillion water bottles? So, unless most of the runners down there have treadmills at home, there's going to be a lot of unhappy campers with the unanticipated gym closures. ?

I don't know how they do it either. I tried to run in Phoenix exactly once, when I had a flight cancelled and got stranded at the airport. I got booked on an early morning flight the next day and planned to go for a run well before sunrise. I opened the door from my hotel at about 4:30 am and was almost knocked off my feet by the heat. I made it about four miles before giving up and crawling back defeated.

I did visit Tucson in October a few years ago and found it fully tolerable to run shortly after sunrise. Tucson is significantly cooler than Phoenix, being at some elevation, and it was way past the hottest part of the year.

Ghost of Igloi wrote:

Lydiard had a profound affect on Finnish distance running at that time. National coach for a period I believe. Anyway, always felt the blood doping accusations were more jealousy than anything else. The reindeer milk as many of you remember was Vien’s answer to a blood doping question. I finished second to one of their marathoners at the Western Hemisphere Marathon in 1973. Reino Paukonen made the trip with a coach and a masseuse. At the awards ceremony he was decked out in Adidas gear and I had on cotton sweats, but hey he smoked me by three minutes.

A little research tells me you ran right around 2:20 in that race. That's a great time. Was that your all time PR?

Coureur des bois,

I believe our young man PRs over several distances are pretty similar, if I recall. No where close to you these days. You are pretty amazing quite frankly.

My best was Boston 1974 2:19:15 (13th); not the wind aided year of 1975. Western Hemisphere was a better race for me since it was very windy, finishing just over 2:20:00 by 6 seconds. You can see the wind effect to my hair in this photo from the race. In between those two races I set the American record for a looped road course in winning the 1974 AAU 30 Kilometer in 1:35:30. That was by far my best race ever.

https://imgur.com/a/lsxbctg

That 1973-74 was my best season. I was Southern Pacific Association AAU distance runner of the year in 1974. In the photo above I am running for the Santa Monica Track Club, and was coached by Joe Douglas that season. That is the first race featuring the now famous track club logo. Also wearing the Nike Moon Shoes I received at the 1972 Olympic Trials.

Certainly more information than you asked for, but an opportunity to reminisce of a time when I was a real athlete, rather than a somewhat broken down version of my former self. ?

Igy

Igy did you ever run in the Oly Trials?

Charlie,

Yes, twice in 1972 and 1976, both in Eugene, 28th and 26th, I believe 2:28ish, though qualified In 2:22:20 (first marathon-3rd Mission Bay 1972) and 2:20:50 (2nd Avenue of Giants 1975). Never ran to my potential there. Too young at 21, and too distracted at 25. I was top ten times United States 1973, 1974, and 1975. I quit competitive running in the fall of 1976 to begin a coaching career.

The Trials in 1972 were pretty magical. Prefontaine, Nike’s first year, marathon was held the morning of the last day of the track trials. The meet used the same format as the Olympics. Colorful characters like Brian Oldfield wearing a men’s bikini, mesh top, and smoking cigarettes between shot put throws. Gerry Lindgren wearing his famous “Stop Pre” t-shirt. Or, Mark Lutz, a white 200 meter runner from University of Kansas, making the team wearing a t-shirt emblazoned “White Dark Horse Sprinter.” A magical time for a 21 year old.

I came back from the 1972 Trials thinking I was hot stuff. My now wife (then 17) was working at the Foster Freeze across from the Santa Monica College track where I trained. She was taking down the American flag one afternoon. I cornered her, and asked her out. Her response “I don't even know you.” Shut down!

Igy

Cool stories. This was all before my time; I'm about 7 years younger than you and I didn't get semi-serious about running until about age 30, and women didn't even run the marathon in the Olympics until 1984.

Sorry, probably can’t read any of the names. But really a laundry list of great names from that era. After the race I watched Pre and George Young duke it out in the 5k as iI soaked my legs in the steeplechase water jump. Pretty cool, Pre and Young ran low 3:00 for the last 1200 meters.

In 1975-1976 I ran for San Fernando Valley Track Club under Laszlo Tabori. He had two of the women’s marathon pioneers Mikki Gorman and Jacqui Hansen. I was good friends with Jacqui and her husband Tom Sturak, one of masters track greats of the period, and later a Nike athlete representative. Here I am with Jacqui on a trip to Puerto Rico for a 20 mile race in 1975.

amkelley,

If you are not familiar with the name, Jacqui Hansen was one of the people instrumental in getting the marathon approved as a women’s Olympic event. She is still very active in promoting women’s sports.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Jacqueline_Hansen

Igy