50+ Masters Training and Racing Open Forum

Good luck Allen with those PSA levels. Mine were elevated in 2014 at age 48. A long year.

This week I bounced back from the 3 degrees/ice and snow here in Austin.

M - weights

T - 20 min ez

W - 30 min ez

T - 20 min ez

F - weights

S - 50 min ez

S - 2 hours easy hiking

Goal is:

T - 45

W - 60

T - 30-45 fartlek

S - 75 min

The faux hurdle is a new addition to his leg swing repertoire and a pretty baffling one for me, a non-hurdler (I didn't even leap small bags in airports like OJ once did for Hertz). But I think it's like doing leg circles, it's just that youre grabbing a post instead of doing it on your hands and knees.

Ghost of Igloi wrote:

We had a snow storm yesterday morning, and 1-2 inches for our Saturday track workout

Storm?! Around these parts, 2 inches is known as a dusting. ☃️

Yay! Temps above freezing. On Sunday at the track stripped down to shorts for the first time in 2021. It was a balmy 50 degrees. Felt good to get some turnover going.

52 miles for the week with three harder "workouts" (one mile to 5K or faster pace) followed by a recovery day. Some 6x150 strides thrown in on the easier days

Harder stuff:

-Accurate three mile tempo averaged 7:08s (very controlled and even)

- Hills 8x200 then 4x400 (up and down harder) w/ 200 recoveries 40" gain over the last 100m

- 2x400 200 jog recovery at mile pace, then 8x200 at slightly faster than predicted mile pace.

Overall, a very good week. I have been incorporating 1:30-2:00 minute static planks to help with core. Not sure they are helping, but certainly not doing any harm.

Hope all have a safe and good week - Come on Spring!

syracuse wrote:

Ghost of Igloi wrote:

We had a snow storm yesterday morning, and 1-2 inches for our Saturday track workout

Storm?! Around these parts, 2 inches is known as a dusting. ☃️

OK. Your dusting, in Texas shut the state down. ?

KCgeezer wrote:

The faux hurdle is a new addition to his leg swing repertoire and a pretty baffling one for me, a non-hurdler (I didn't even leap small bags in airports like OJ once did for Hertz). But I think it's like doing leg circles, it's just that youre grabbing a post instead of doing it on your hands and knees.

Leg circles are fine, but you can do lead leg and trail leg drills. Lead leg up to a wall height of about 36” (intermediate height), trail leg both hands on the wall. If your at the track you can use a hurdle and chain link fence.

^“If you’re at the track”

syracuse wrote:

Ghost of Igloi wrote:

We had a snow storm yesterday morning, and 1-2 inches for our Saturday track workout

Storm?! Around these parts, 2 inches is known as a dusting. ☃️

syracuse does have a point here

Ghost of Igloi wrote:

syracuse wrote:

Storm?! Around these parts, 2 inches is known as a dusting. ☃️

OK. Your dusting, in Texas shut the state down. ?

Igy does have a point here.

best to most wrote:

Ghost of Igloi wrote:

OK. Your dusting, in Texas shut the state down. ?

Igy does have a point here.

Someone's triggered!

Always interesting!

Was Shakespeare an old guy hobby jogging when he wrote Hamlet. To Take Arms Against a Sea of Troubles just has to be about trying to run into old age;)

Big question:Can I start running in the W65 races? ... just kidding?

Update

Running is going good 50 minute slogs 2 days on 2 days off. Knees seem to be ok. Still total 3 hours a day just more rowing,walking and riding.

Speed work

Stuff like 16x200 at 46 with 100 walk plus 2x400 at 85 mainly turn over with just a bit of anaerobic stress.

Was in Eugene still have not checked out Knight's Castle but looking forward to a Hayward Classic at this new venue. It was a gorgeous day to be running in Eugene on Amazon sunny warm with cool air low humidity. I decided to do 200 at 45 100 at 30 on the 1k loop with a 30 from 900 to 1000 for 4:15 per k did a 5k so 21:15 not precise as I was resetting my stop watch after every 200/100 to keep me from getting carried away. Walked a bit jogged a bit then finished with a 78 quarter mile which is a good time on the bark.

So I am in decent base shape once again the easy sand dunes saved my bacon along with a bunch of tendon exercises. Post hock I just did too much hard stuff when I switched to running trails which is a way harder surface than the sand. In the sand I use more muscle less tendon/bounce but on the harder surface less muscle more tendon/bounce and this beat the crap out of my knee tendons a real Jeff Gillooly so the plan is to keep laying low until races start popping back up then figure out a goal but I am enjoying half stepping the running and as long as I keep up with the cross training I feel like I might be extending my run span which became very important when my knees were hurting so bad. I will trade 20 seconds per mile for an extra 5 years or so.

Lookin' good Charlie...when are you 65?

I haven't posted in a fortnight with regards to my pitiful comeback.

Had a breakthrough week...'ran' 1 mile for the first time in 4 months last Sunday...yes, it was over 20:00 and on a dreadmill. I ended up with 6.75 miles for the week and am now up to 1.5 miles (and mostly in the 18:00s although I've toched 17:00s a couple of times for just a smidge).

Am about to try and tackle 2 miles later this morning...earth shattering, I know ;}

I'll look forward to hearing you war stories and staus updates...be well.

your pal,

MF

I keep chipping away at my plan for a more sensible buildup of base mileage. After 5 weeks of increasing volume by just 2 miles per week, this week still felt really tough on Wed. and Thur. and I only added one more mile this week. 44 miles for the week -

M- 7mi 8:58/mi

T- 7mi hills 9:28/mi

W- 5mi 9:20/mi

Th- 7mi hills 10:07/mi

F- 4mi easy 9:59/mi

S- 6mi trails with my son 7:56/mi

Su- 8mi easy 9:30/mi

Good running to all!

Not much going on here other than painting my house. Bought a DIY paint sprayer, so hopefully less ladder time. I did this eleven years ago, and ended with an achilles injury by mixing hard running with painting a house. This time I will manage my effort better.

Have a good week.

Igy

MikeF, that sounds encouraging--keep up the good work and keep moving forward!

My disastrous decline continued this week. Last Sunday I was quite sick following my second COVID vaccine, with a fever up to 101.2. I toddled off to bed at 8 pm Sunday, slept over 9 hours, and woke up Monday morning feeling fine. But the memory of how bad my last few runs had felt kept me exclusively on the bike for the first four days of the week. I finally got up the nerve to try a "run" on Friday, painfully jogging 5 miles in 60 minutes. Saturday was back on the bike. Today I tried jogging again and made it about 2.5 miles before pulling a muscle in my hip. Limped 2.5 miles home and nearly froze in the 40 degree air, unable to generate any heat while walking slowly. For the week, 7.5 miles of jogging, 4:45 on the bike trainer, and 78 miles plus anything I do later today on the outdoor bike.

I don't know what to do at this point except stop trying to run at all. Until my pulled hip muscle heals, even walking is painful; I'll see later today whether I can ride a bike. After I heal, perhaps I'll start walking a few miles in the mornings. Until I can figure out how to treat this severe muscle stiffness/pain/weakness that's now been going on for nearly a year, it doesn't seem realistic to try to run. If it's really RA then this is probably forever, but I still don't believe that diagnosis as my issues seem to be entirely muscular, not joint.

My news is that I got to "race" a real 5k last weekend. I haven't done much speed work so my goal was to break 26:00. I never thought running so slowly would be my goal, but never say never. I had celebrated the start of the season by buying a pair of Endorphins so I decided to try them in the race.

The morning was grey and gloomy with temps in the 40s and 100% humidity. Hundreds of new runners had decided to use this as their first 5k because it's close to the city and is mostly flat as a pancake. Masks were supposed to be worn at the start with social distancing but most people seemed oblivious to those requirements. The race director used his triathlon "run start" inflatable as the starting line. The inflatable is about two people wide so we ended up with a mass of people/stollers/kids/dogs trying to squeeze through the arch. I was about half-way back in line so once I managed to get through, I had to weave my way around the walkers, kids, stollers uphill for the first half-mile .

I managed to leave the masses behind after the first mile and settled in to a good pace. The Endorphins felt like I was running on clouds but the part I liked the best was the roll technology that basically pushed my feet off the ground. I have a bone spur and arthritis in my big toe that prevents me from pushing off with my right foot. The Endorphin made toeing off much easier and also helped me to increase my cadence above 180. I know they're not made for 5ks but for me, they're worth it if they take the pain out of running with my bad toe.

I ended up running most of the rest of the race behind three 20-somethings who chatted away while I was huffing and puffing. We kept passing and re-passing each other and I thought they would beat me until near the finish, the road we were on veered to the right and so did they. Too bad they hadn't studied the course map to know the race route veered to the left and went up and across an overpass to the finish line. I yelled at them to go left but they were so busy chatting they were down the road before they realized their mistake. Too bad for them; the wisdom of old age won out. I beat all three of them, my finish time was 25:58, and I was 2nd grandmaster behind a 50 year-old. Not a great time but I got it done.

MikeF nice to see your making progress , you are a tough guy!

August will be 65 for me, I can('t) wait?

Last post I speculated that cutting my running from 34 to 17mpw with the same mix / percentage of easy hard I would run 20 seconds per mile slower. A refined WAG would be 20spm for a 5000 a bigger impact for longer races and of course less of a time penalty for shorter distances like the 800. Another factor is overall time spent training. Since I have not cut back on my 3 hours per day maybe less running might be less of a factor?

Happy to be enjoying running once again!

amkelley - I'm so sorry that things haven't turned around for you. No running with a hip injury is a good plan. Once it settles, do you have a good PT to help you rehab? Whether you can run or not, you still need to be able to walk without pain.

You don't sound convinced that your medical issue has been correctly identified. In the long run, do you have a plan to investigate that further? If there's anything we can do to help you figure out the puzzle, let us know. Many of us have research backgrounds and contacts in the medical community that may be helpful in your quest for an answer. Sending you hugs.

great race. Well done!

Amkelley, sorry to hear of the hip problem being so bad.

Tapering for me this week, culminating in......DNF in my own invitational marathon (i.e., solo time trial on bike path). All went fine at first -- I thought the national anthem to myself while walking to the start, gave encouragement to a baby in running stroller as I passed in second mile ("tuck in behind me, and I'll pull us up to the leaders") and went ok through a little over 15 miles (on 3:14-ish pace, aiming to beat last April's 3:17 time trial) and began to dream of the gold, but then.....

.......slipped on a patch of black ice, and almost immediately thereafter my left hamstring seized up [had been tight already during a long segment in uphill direction into the wind on chilly morning -- 26 degrees at start]. I couldn't get any range of motion thereafter and just turned around early, jog/limping back home.

So I managed a little over 20 miles with 15+ at marathon pace, which would be an excellent workout but obviously disappointing as an intended marathon TT.

Planning now to rest/heal, then get back to regular training, then try to get a sense of a good local (real) race, maybe in summer, to target. Will be content to leave pandemic time trialing behind -- it mostly went well (ok/good marathon in April, excellent 5000 July, very good 10-mile November, epic fail today) -- as good a % on goal races as I get in regular times it seems.

have a great week,

Dave