50+ Masters Training and Racing Open Forum

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Coyote Montane wrote:

My time was slow (1:38) but here's the profile and in an event like this it's all relative.

That’s dramatic! I’ll take any water bottles set for me, but they haven’t said how many aid stations they’ll have. So I’m putting a bottle of electrolyte at mile 5.3 which happens to be four blocks from where I’m parking. And maybe another at mile 9 which is across the street from mile 5.3. Hey, it’s a small town - you need to run through it a few times to get to 13.1.

Ghost of Igloi wrote:

I learned “real narcissistic” from watching RHONY and RHOBH. I couldn’t have done it without them.

Makes sense.

Great Bertrand, 12 of your 13 posts are directed at me. Why is that? Maybe you registered this handle just for me. How thoughtful. Anyway, never mind. You are now officially in my fan club! You have more than earned a free Igy Fan Club button. Please forward your real name, mailing address, including zip code.

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THURSDAY, August 6, 2020:

- 4 miles walking

- Regular stretches (11 stretches)

- Upper Body strength (6 exercises, 1 set each)

- Back stretches (9 stretches)

- Lower Body strength (5 exercises, 1 set each)

- Knee strength (2 exercises)

My season continues to go very well. I've only had a couple of bad races this 2020. In all my other ones I have attained my goals.

This past Tuesday I ran 4 X 1.25 Miles with 2 small hills each repeat. I took standing recoveries averaging 55+ each. I took it easy (I was nervous before the workout) while running. I went (6:16.47) (6:11.44) (6:09.99) (5:52.95). It really helped that the humidity was 38% and the dew point 61*F.

Thursday I ran 4 X 220y up an incline and then jogged back. Those averaged 27.03 up and 52.94 back. It was much hotter again today, at least 94*F (34*C) but much hotter on the pavement.

Then I ran 4 X 220y with 220y on a flat surface. Those averaged 25.29 and 57.44. Overall, I was more tired than Tuesday's workout.

2020 pvt hoke. a_fin balili li tuk. -14,40; -8,26; -5;16; -4,15; -3,52; -1:53; -53; micha ko' ma...

8/7/20 Friday 640am 61.5 yo male 6ft 150lb : Moderate run 7 mile @ ave 840/m. 75 degrees. Felt ok .

Cheers to yall.

FRIDAY, August 7, 2020:

- 4 miles running at the track before breakfast, slow and untimed, 64 F. and sunny (once the sun got over the trees), very humid.

This was the first day in many weeks that the early-morning temperature felt cool, at least until the sunshine reached me on the track. If I had been standing around, I would have wanted to wear another layer over my t-shirt. But I was running, so a t-shirt was fine.

When I was in my 40s, I used to run in a t-shirt and shorts in 20 F. because I ran so much faster in those days. Sure, I was cold at the start of those runs, but I was taught, "Dress for the end of your run, not the start." Now I am too old and injured to run that fast, so I would have to bundle up to run in 20 F.

Yep the morning is just a tad cooler. But ac unit quit yesterday so it was a warm night. Did 5mi easy to moderate then 5k @ 627-608 progression then 5mi moderate end with total of 14 miles. Tempature ave 73deg. Nothing fancy just stacking days.

Cheers to yall.

Brittle Master. I get a kick when you say you ran slow today. Speed is all relative. When I am running hard, as in a race, I think I am flying. But then when I see a video it looks like I am just plodding along. Oh well, its good to see people still active. I finished with a good week today pounding out a 7.76 (GPS certified) on a loop course running 49:18 (6:21 pace). It was a hard tempo run but under control with no real straining. Happy with time and improving fitness. Was going to run a 12k next month but they cancelled Bloomsday. Is there any word if they have cancelled the Masters 12k Championships scheduled for next month?

SATURDAY, August 8, 2020:

- Regular stretches (11 stretches)

- Upper Body strength (6 exercises, 1 set each)

- Back stretches (9 stretches)

- Lower Body strength (5 exercises, 1 set each)

- Knee strength (2 exercises)

Masters' 12k Championships are cancelled: https://www.usatf.org/events/2020/canceled-2020-usatf-masters-12-km-championships

So the race went off today ... barely! The first threat of thunderstorms was raised two days ago on my weather app, which I kept nervously updating every few hours. But as I turned in on Friday, the forecasters had downplayed that to a 30 percent chance. Well, as you might guess we awoke to a massive cell heading straight for Clinton, in rural Henry County, Missouri. Lightning everywhere. The race was delayed once by 30 minutes. The second delay, we were told, was “final,” and would be followed by the race cancellation. Finally with the entrails of the cell still sprinkling on us, we got the go ahead and started an hour late. The upside was that the conditions were overcast and cool, 72 at start, some breeze, but humid as heck.

SCgal and others may recognize the name Fiona Bayly. I had no idea who she was till I looked at the results, but I saw her on two turnarounds. I yell out attaboys to everyone I pass on turnarounds, good job good job. Anyway, I saw she had passed several runners between the first and second times I passed her, so I yelled out, “I’ve got a spot for you right here, cmon! Let’s go!” I figured she was going to catch me. She didn’t, but she won the age related going away, no one else even coming close:

https://runsignup.com/Race/Results/40302#resultSetId-207116;perpage:100

As I studied the page I thought, “who would be so hard up to run a half marathon that they’d come out here from New York City?!” And that’s when I looked up multiple USATF masters champ Fiona Bayly...

https://www.facebook.com/fiona.bayly.9/posts/10211729921443038

I learned all this on the way home from Clinton or else I would’ve tried to get a socially distant selfie with her. Anyway, kind of a fun detail to add to an overall fun day.

As for me, the race went as planned, I PRd by five seconds despite the conditions (including a ridiculous uphill finish), and I stayed hydrated and cool throughout. Don’t know if the shoes helped but they certainly didn’t hurt. I finished fourth behind the race’s two previous champions and a kid from ... Hawaii?!? Who knew small town Missouri was so alluring?

Congrats, great time.

Happy to managed this week:

Mo. 10x100m with walk back

Tu. 9 miles easy incl. 2x600m with 600m jog

We. 1 h drills, jumps, sprints uphill. rubber legs...

Th. 8.5 miles easy

Fr. 6.5 miles incl. 10x200m with jog back

Sa. 1 h steady hilly

Su. 1.5 h easy hilly

That was serious training for me.

Still have Igi's HM workout in mind. But not yet possible to do such a monster session without limping the next day. Will see, maybe in September.

Eventually, the heat reached Germany on Saturday. Good to be an early morning geezer.

Realized that I recover better if I trink even more water. As well, my weight stays exactly the same each morning if I drink enough during the day and particularly within 2...3 h after training. During the former weeks I saw a weight decline of about 2 kg during the week and finally needed a day off. However, not so easy to drink all this water. Would be very much more easier if I could take beer for rehydration (German, Czech or Polish beer works well). It is always very easy to sip down quickly. A miracle ;)

Wishing you all a healthy and pleasant summer week!

*Week 479*

Greetings 50+ers!

Wish I could report some good things, but after an OK walk on Sunday, I just got mired in the day-to-day in working with my faculty and staff on getting the fall semester started. Was in my office for the first time since mid-March when we shut everything down. I was there every day, all day (except for Friday, when we had an all day virtual fall kick-off and Prof. Dev. event.)

I was going to finally try to get out Thursday after endless meetings and such Mon. to Wed. but I got up Thursday morning and pulled my back...probably from all those endless hours in front of a computer Mon. to Wed. Still pretty sore today, so I don't know when I'll get back to exercise. In all honesty, I think August is going to be really rough; we're already having a lot of adjunct faculty backing out of teaching any "in person" courses for us...and we're not being given the freedom to shift our courses to online, so I don't know how we're going to get all of them staffed; it's especially tough in the pre-nursing anatomy and physiology courses.

In answer to Allen's question: I sure hope I get back to actual racing again some day, I would have quit doing this thread if I didn't have some faith I will be able to get back to it...but I know that realistically it'll never be the same as prior to all the things that have happened over the 50's.

Sorry, I've once again fallen off reading the thread. Will catch up later today. I loved reading the recounts of those world relay records. Awesome stuff!

OK. I'm done for now. Hope you have a productive week, and be safe out there....this ain't going away anytime soon!

All the Best!

lucKY: I totally get that running needs to take a back seat to work. I have to shape running around work, as the last I checked, running does not put food on the table. I am finding my workload increasing during this Covid thing and it sucks eggs.

Tue: 4 miles with 3@7:52

Thr: 4 miles easy

Sat: 2 miles with 1 at 7:50

I seem to have discovered how to injure a muscle I did not even know I had; the gluteus minimus. It almost feels like a calf strain of my hip muscle. I was sore after Tue’s run but on Thr I felt very little running slowly. On Sat, I still felt nothing during the 1-mile warmup, but less than 200 meters after speeding up it started hurting. This probably blows my race next Sat so that is frustrating.

Rather than roll it, ice it, heat it, massage it, take drugs for it, do special stretches and exercises for it, and consult specialists for it; I’ve decided to…um…just stop running and let it heal all by itself.

Have a good one!

KCgeezer, great race!

SUNDAY, August 9, 2020:

RUNNING: 4 miles slow and untimed at the track, 83 F. (“feels like 87”), sunny, 64% humidity.

This week’s totals:

15 miles running, 6 miles walking, stretching, strengthening.

M61 5'11" 183 lbs

Goals: Regain, maintain basic fitness; reduce weight; maybe get back to road-race participation.

AUG 2-8, 2020

Sun: Off

Mon: 6.0 miles(splits 9:04, 8:29, 8:34, 8:36, 8:29, 7:43)

Tues: Off

Wed: 4.0 miles (splits 8:57, 8:14, 8:38, 7:55)

Thur: Off

Fri: 4.5 miles (1.5-mi jog, 880y TT @ 3:23, 1.5-mi jog)

Sat: Off

TOTAL: 14.5 MILES

Had my weight consistently down to 180 until yesterday's birthday party (burgers, beers, dessert) -- 182.8 this morning, ugh. Friday's time trial was supposed to be a full mile. I'm usually very skilled at intuitively knowing current "race pace," but went out WAY too fast, and called it quits at a half mile. I might give it another try this week. Last one was 7:30 in early July.

lucKY -- hang in there. I hear you about not giving up hope. When road races eventually return, we'll both be back at it in one form or another, eh?!

Rtype -- my philosophy on injury recovery has always been "stop running and let it heal." Well, I should say that's what I do. I'd like to take a more proactive approach -- haave even tried physical therapy -- but could never muster the discipline to consistently invest the time and effort. Good luck!

OkaO -- For real?!!! 25-second 220y repeats! Wow! For M55-59, that's better than 86% age-grade RACE result. And 1.25-mile repeats at 4:42 mile pace -- I could only dream of running that fast, even in my youth. Mile PR of 4:45, set at age 17, ugh.

Off to work. Can't believe it's mid-August and I've yet to complete projects I promised in May. More than a few unhappy (probably) clients, although they profess patience. This effects my running, as even a 4-mile run eats up more than an hour, and it's hard to just taking the time when I could/should be working. Dunno how big-mileage runners manage it. I never have. My open and masters PRs were all set on 40-mile weeks; I'll never know what 60+ mpw might have yielded.

Carry on friends. Be safe, be well.