50+ Masters Training and Racing Open Forum

Hi Everyone

An update here. so Michelle continues to train and run really well. She did a 69:30 10 mile with the team and 14:55 4k timed effort. We think she can go sub 18:40 for 5k when she turns 55 on November 11th. I am wondering what would I have to do to make a legit record attempt race for her? Or, are there any track 5k's she might get too?

I have been doing some running, biking and walking each week nothing spectacular really. Mostly been preoccupied with house repairs. In march half our roof blew off in a windstorm and then we started June 1st with what we thought was a vinyl siding repair. That turned into finding a completely rotted out wall, bottom plate and top plate and a complete replacement and reframing of 40 foot of wall, leading to complete replacement of siding, and then repainting the house. I did all that myself. We had a roofer repair the blown off flat roof but I had to repair all the rafter tails that were rotten. Then I built a new deck, (10*20) then I remodeled our downstairs bathroom which included redoing the plumbing because the upflush toilet leaked and rotted everything out. Everything had to be replaced and new, shower, vanity, toilet, floor, walls electric moved and a lift asure macerating system installed. Again, I had to do it all myself. Then the 40 year old furnace cracked and I had to replace that. While I was doing that I added baseboard heat to our downstairs bedroom and living room and another 8 feet of baseboard in our family room that is always cold. So I installed the furnace myself because no contractor would come do it. That turned out to not be that bad. I also redid the plumbing to the hot water heater and added a new water line for the hose spigot.

So I a now down to just finishing the remodelling of the family room which I had to do because it was part of the rotting wall. At least I can put full insulation in now instead of the 1 inch that is there and I have to finish the deck steps and move a fence. So yeah, that was my summer and fall so far. Also I have really, really, good grip strength right now!

If you are looking for some entertainment you can see the updates on my facebook page. The ones where I am under the house in the spider infested dank and dirty portal to hell of a crawl space are some of the best!

So to that end I ran 1.5 miles today in 12:20

Have a great one and be safe!

Coach - Have Michelle contact Lynn Cook. She's current on the track meet schedule. It's not easy to meet all the record requirements. It will take some planning. Good luck!

Coyote Montane wrote:

60 miles with workouts of 7X 3 minutes on hilly/rolling sand/gravel path (6:18 average), 2X5K in 20:10 and 19:40 (best tempo effort in a year) and 13.6 miles. Other workouts were fairly easy.

CM, speaking of specific workout advice, can you tell me what possessed you to do two 5Ks? I’m running a half in two weeks and Kid Coach is having me do 3x2 miles this week and some kind of a race predictor the following week, nothing even close to that mileage. Or is that just your long run with some speed? I mean, it WAS a progression........

Oh and hey MikeF, nice to see your name in this book which I’m reading now ... I’m with you on age grading. I’d rather see how close I am to the real life AG elites than some number.

https://www.velopress.com/books/run-strong-stay-hungry/

amkelley wrote:

What's wrong with giving training advice? Just don't be upset if your advice is ignored.

There is nothing wrong with giving training advice. IMHO, there is something wrong with believing your training is superior to other people's training, and other people should be copying your training. I see way too many people on this board (not this thread) who say."You should do what I did because it worked for me."

Here was my week.

M: off.

T: 7.1km.

W-F: 8.9km.

SA: 7.1km.

SU: 10.7km.

I pushed the pace on Thursday (9:53-9:32-9:21-9:11-8:38) and Sunday (9:53-9:41-9:32-9:18-9:10-8:32). 8:32 was the fastest lap this year, so things are looking good. I don't even know if this is how I should be training now, but I am improving with each meso-cycle. So I must be doing something right.

I like to mix up longer tempo work with shorter efforts, usually about a week or two apart. I consider 40-50 minutes enough for a long effort, but 30-35 is pretty good as a transition. My plan on Saturday was 10K to 7miles at slower than HMP, but my son was intown and wanted to do a 7 mile time trial for a virtual race, so I ran part of that with him, and rather than continuous decided to break it up.

Here are my tempo efforts during my build-up a year and a half ago, peaking with 8K road, 8K XC, half marathon in consecutive weeks in mid-late March.

All these workouts were at 5300-5700'

1/16: 3.2 mile tempo at 6:26

1/23: 5 mile tempo with 6:38 pace into slight (1%) grade and headwind, 6:20 return

2/5: 3X 1 mile at 6:24

2/23: 10K at 6:21 (a fair amount of snow and ice on the route)

3/9: 4X 2K at 6:23 (blustery day)

Michael Rohl,

I checked out your videos on Facebook. Impressive work. I have been replacing some water damaged baseboards, just getting the mitre angles correct was tough enough for me.

Igy

Coyote Montane wrote:

Here are my tempo efforts during my build-up a year and a half ago, peaking with 8K road, 8K XC, half marathon in consecutive weeks in mid-late March. )

Thanks for this. Other than the badass flavor it lends your hobby, the complexity of those workouts suggests you're really familiar with your own style, and with the workout possibilities you could adapt to getting fit for three rather different races. Way beyond my experience level right now.

Another one bites the dust. This one's personal, since Kid Coach is affected.

https://kcroos.com/news/2020/10/22/general-kansas-city-athletics-suspends-mens-golf-cross-country-track-and-field-programs.aspx

The long tempos have worked for me, although the big picture (miles, consistency, recovery and other types of training mixed in are the key) not just one type of workout every couple of weeks.

Colorado is burning up in this crazy year. One fire--near where I ran my mountain half this summer--grew from 20,000 acres to 125,000 acres in one day. That's a rate of 7 football fields a minute. Some people had just minutes to get out of their homes. It's going to snow this weekend, so that will help. Big fires are not supposed to happen in the high country, above 9,000 feet (especially in October!) but this has been such a dry year with high winds.

Last chance l for longer races, and I signed up for a USATF certified 10 miler (flat course) about a hour north, but said snow will hamper travel so I also signed up for a half (hilly course) closer to home and will likely do that instead. So my plans are somewhat screwed up (oh yeah, 20 degrees and snowing is the forecast), but compared to the fires and everything else it won't be so bad. And if it gets bad, I'll just run on pure hate.

Maybe Earl vs Ed is a false dichotomy ? Why not keep or restore your fast twitch speed and build aerobic endurance? That has been my plan for about a year. The crucial part is keeping the speed part neural muscular with a minimum of anaerobic stress. No doubt at the end of 30 seconds my Blood Lactate is HIGH as a KITE . Heck my HR was over 190 today but returned to 120 in 60 seconds. So this short duration in the ozone does not seem to impact my aerobic development.

My sprint feels pretty good and I am excited about next spring!

Earlier today after an easy trail run doing my hill sprint aka SHIRT workout:

https://youtu.be/dQwByi1ZqUE

Nice work.

Ghost,

Thanks I am glad you liked them. The key to miter cuts is a good saw and very careful measurements.

Mike

Thanks Coach, all of the above, and in my case clean glasses.

Looks like it should fit.

https://imgur.com/a/G5LUOh0

It would be a lot easier if houses actually were square and level. Part of my house is 75 years old and every repair or update is an adventure.

old guy II wrote:

It would be a lot easier if houses actually were square and level. Part of my house is 75 years old and every repair or update is an adventure.

old guy II,

Interesting.

We owned a couple of houses that were adventures. One built in 1925, and the other in 1889. My wife and I had the PBS This Old House Bob Villa bug. I am sure Allen1959 could elaborate on this topic.

In this case, I found out the baseboard on the upstairs are stock at 5.875” wide, but part of the downstairs was ripped down to 5.125” and 3”. Not sure why not uniform, perhaps a design decision based on room size, or other considerations. The baseboards are a wood composite that swells up if exposed to pooling water. The photo is from a leak where a patio addition from the previous owner had incorrect roof flashing, which over time caused a leak into the wall cavity. Two other spots were shower water exposure. On the repair I pre-calked the floor and joint sides to prevent water intrusion.

I am not as skilled as you, Coach Rohl, or Allen1959, but reasonably skilled, after a mistake or two. Like when I made my first rip of a baseboard. I used one fence, which did not give a straight cut. So, trashed an $18 piece of baseboard. Funny how experience teaches you that. Coach had a similar learning experience fitting his floor radiators. I think you would enjoy his Facebook saga, if you haven’t seen it.

Igy

Ghost of Igloi wrote:I am not as skilled as you, Coach Rohl, or Allen1959, but reasonably skilled ...

Igy, one bit of advice for inside corners: cope, don't miter.

Besides LRC, I was at one time quite active on Fine Homebuilding magazine's message board. One weekend, a few of us got together with some of the magazine staff for an epic century bike ride, followed by dinner at the executive editor's house in Connecticut. Very cool.

It would be fun to meet a few of the LRC 50+ group someday. I had hoped that might be Toronto 2020, but, alas, wasn't to be.

old guy II wrote:It would be a lot easier if houses actually were square and level. Part of my house is 75 years old and every repair or update is an adventure.

I tell my clients that in old houses, every step of every project is a project in itself. Of course, to me, "new" is anything post Civil War. My European friends might say anything post-Calvinsm.

Allen1959,

What tool , and how to approach my project (photo), if not mitre?

Igy