50+ Masters Training and Racing Open Forum

Thanks for the encouragement with my Ames racing CDB. YOU are fit as a fiddle and I'm grateful to not be racing you!

Still progressing pretty well...

Monday was a good 'ol fashioned hill workout 5 x 5 with 3 mins rest. 5 x 200m 5 x 400m steady hot and humid climbs.

Wednesday was what I call a breakthrough for me and it brought me to my knees. 2 sets of 600-400-400 & 1 set of 200-200 with 3mins rest. Nailed the 2nd set 600 in 1:48-flat. Like I said - good enough for me.

Two things I am grateful for in 2021; the first began in late 2020. 1) 9 healthy months. 2) Lost 17 lbs in 2021.

Hey Big Red nice to see you are running.

Mid D glad I made the switch.

A novella

Best intro was treadmill hills started with incline progression (1percent a minute) walks from 3 percent to 18 and often times I would reduce the speed to stay relaxed keep it easy say starting at 3.4 down slowing to 2.4 mph by the steepest grade.

After at least 20 minutes of this stuff my calves were relaxed and warm actually upper and lower legs would feel really good , If after 40 min I was not loose I would bag it hit the sauna.

If I felt loose I would run/walk at 6 percent grade 4mph. The running was done supporting a good deal of my weight on the hand rails so I could just kinda dance around sounds silly but man it works. After another 20 mintues if my legs still felt frisky I would drop the mill to 3 percent and do a regular 3 minute run at 5 mph upping the incline every minutes by 1 percent :

5mph 3,4,6 incline progression per minute

6mph 3,4,6 incline progression per minute

7mph 3,4,6 incline progression per minute

8mph 3,4,6 incline progression per minute

9mph 3,4,6 incline progression per minute

This was all trial and error stuff with idea being Relaxed with no injury building adaptation.

I was also doing 4x30 seconds out of the saddle all out on the bike with 4 minute recovery

Finally I added a run that included 4 x 30 seconds at 10mph and 10 percent grade once a week

for instance 12 mph at 0 grade was ezr to do but much harder on the legs

Then I transitioned to the sand or really I was doing some sand sprints concurrently mixing it up

By the time I hit the track I was high 15s and 32 same idea full 4 minute recovery to reload the cp energy system

Did some 400s in low 70s on a slow track probably could have run a 68 TT on a good track.

Did some 800s got down to 2:268.1 this all took about 6 months.

That was a year ago but I have kept most of the speed IMO a little speed goes a long way

Gym just opened so I did 4x30 10mph at 6 percent and it was ez so reaching 10mph 10 percent incline is my short term goal say 4 more sessions once a week. I could do it now but no hurry and speed requires gradual adaptation and lots of erring the cautious side.

I am very happy I did this as it has made running more interesting and I feel stronger with better range of motion.

Oops replied to year old post

KP nice workout and weight loss Lean and Mean go get those newly minted 60 year olds. Wish Masters USATF you tubed these races. 2:22

Wanna take arms against a sea of troubles?

https://www.ihmc.us/stemtalk/episode-122/

Another week in the books. I once read a quote I live by. "If you don't enjoy the journey, you won't enjoy the destination." For the last 16-18 months I have truly enjoyed the journey. Very few setbacks, consistent hard training, as hungry as a lion. Because I train all systems, I feel like I could do well from the mile to the half marathon. Less than two weeks until the outdoor nationals. Because I enjoy training long and hard, this is actually a challenge for me- tapering and resting. So for the next 10 days I'll back off a bit.

This past week looked like this:

Monday- 14 miler easy medium effort

Tues-DNR

Wed- 5x1k on the track with 200 jog btw hitting 3:27,3:26, 3:27, 3:27, 3:24. Add those up for a fast 5,000. Hope to run that pace at nationals. After the 1k's I ran 5x45 second hill sprints.

Thur- 8 miles easy

Fri- Hilly 12 miler medium effort

Sat (today)- 8 miler medium hard effort avg 6:37 pace.

One note on my training- Almost none of my workouts are pushing all out. I try to train not strain. It helps stay away from injuries, recover faster, and stay mentally sharp.

I have a 3k time trial planned for this up-coming week at the pace I hope to run for 5,000 at nationals.

I'm new to this group. In fact I've been looking for other master runners going through what I am experiencing for a long time, but before discovering this site I wasn't sure I ever would.

I am almost 51 years old and have been running without a break for injury or anything else for 35 years. I started running Cross Country in high school and never stopped...increasing my distances every year until I reached 43 years old when I finally plateaued. Since then, I have run 114 - 117 miles per week. I stopped racing in my 30's, and haven't run a marathon since 2000...I just figured I already run enough. I used to be fast, but the last year I ran for speed was when I was 44 years old...that year I averaged about 6 minutes per mile. I now can't even break 10 min/mile on my best days.

The drop off in performance/speed has been staggering. What started out as a gradual decline the first year (44-45 years old), increased exponentially afterwards. However, I was still an endurance freak....no pain, just felt like I could go forever until 2018. The pain in my left knee hasn't abated since...it isn't an injury, just chronic pain which at first was worse when I wasn't running than when I was so I just kept running those 16.78 miles per day, every day. This past year the pain entered my right knee, as well as my toes on one foot (multiple fractures I'm sure), and now my lower back. I am so slow out there now that even on my best days I feel like I must look pathetic.

I knew the type of running I do would not last forever. I just didn't think the end would come so rapidly....figured I would start paring it down and still be running until I was 70....but I don't think I'm going to make it folks. The mileage I do has been split into two runs per day for the past six years, except on weekends when I just do one long run, but I think I have to cut it in half and buy a good exercise bike.

Anyway, thanks for listening. I ran with a great team back in the day and coached CC for a high school at one time, but everyone I know eventually stopped running so I haven't been able to connect with anyone like me in a long time. It is good to read your posts.

When tampering my teams I would tell them: “it takes courage to rest.”

Gosh, that seems like a lot of running at any age. It would appear you may want to restructure you training to something more age appropriate. The process of taking a new approach might be fun, invigorating, and give you a well deserved running renewal.

Charlie wrote:

KP nice workout and weight loss Lean and Mean go get those newly minted 60 year olds. Wish Masters USATF you tubed these races. 2:22

The entire meet will be streamed live on USATF.TV. I believe you need a Runnerspace+ account which someone can let you borrow. Not sure if field events will be covered.

IowaBound wrote:

Charlie wrote:

KP nice workout and weight loss Lean and Mean go get those newly minted 60 year olds. Wish Masters USATF you tubed these races. 2:22

The entire meet will be streamed live on USATF.TV. I believe you need a Runnerspace+ account which someone can let you borrow. Not sure if field events will be covered.

Thanks

More info : 12.99 for one month with auto renewal until you cancel.

JM2Cents

Found the following covid video interesting the MD gets into his dad's addiction to running

-If you get covid

stop exercising, exercising makes it much worse possibly turning covid into long covid

Ivermectin might be something to consider asap

And last but not least we are all addicted to running because it makes us feel good and is usually good for our overall health but IMO as we age we need to understand the benefit comes from our bodies ability to adapt to the stress. Covid is an example of when exercise is a bad idea.

amkelley wrote:I still remember the one time I ran Grandma's, in 1991. I arrived in Duluth on a smallish plane filled almost entirely with runners. The captain did his usual announcement of the local conditions as we began our descent--something like "45 degrees, overcast and drizzling". The plane erupted in cheers. Only from a bunch of runners!

Sipping on a beer, catching job on the thread, and had to laugh at that. Ha! Had to repeat it to my marathoner wife, who has also flown into Duluth a few times on what she calls "puddle jumpers." Come to think of it, 20 below zero last time, so I suppose even the nonrunners would have cheered at 45 that day!

Ran 5k in 18:17 yesterday at the age of 53. Bad news is that a 14 year old female finished ahead of me in 17:54 the good news is that I am her coach. I'm running only 30 miles a week with no real sessions so happy with that. Think I can run sub 18 at 54 but will need to find the time. Cold here in Canberra yesterday!

Allen1959 wrote:

amkelley wrote:I still remember the one time I ran Grandma's, in 1991. I arrived in Duluth on a smallish plane filled almost entirely with runners. The captain did his usual announcement of the local conditions as we began our descent--something like "45 degrees, overcast and drizzling". The plane erupted in cheers. Only from a bunch of runners!

Sipping on a beer, catching job on the thread, and had to laugh at that. Ha! Had to repeat it to my marathoner wife, who has also flown into Duluth a few times on what she calls "puddle jumpers." Come to think of it, 20 below zero last time, so I suppose even the nonrunners would have cheered at 45 that day!

Great story!

Congrats.

Honest, about 115 miles per week consistently from age 43 to 51?

averaged this mileage with 6 min per mile at 44?

BS

Cdb, you are so right about greed caution and the difficulty to taper when so fit - like you. I have to watch my greed level with the high-speed sessions for the 800. I feel pretty good about my 2 weeks out track workout yesterday. Hit these splits with plenty of rest - and a big focus on the 600.

100 @ 14.8

300 @ 53.0

600 @ 1:44.0

400 @ 67.1

200 @ 33.2

My taper begins today with a big 1000m effort in a few days followed by a 1500m race Sunday.

Ame-ing to RACEWITHCONFIDENCE.

CdB:

As usual, quite fast times from you! I am especially impressed with 5x45 sec hill sprints after 5x1k @3:25-3:26. Means that you had plenty of resources left after 5x1k.

With such speed I assume you could be under 17 at 5К and (taking into account your endurance) under 36 @10K at the upcoming national. And I wish you good luck (and good weather!) and every success with that.

Isles2279:

A sad story, but you should not give up, at all! Many runners (including some of us here, and myself too) had some difficult times after 50 but managed to recover. Did not you try some SYSADOA drugs (it is a generic term used for symptomatic slow acting drugs for osteoarthritis)? In my case I think they helped me recover my knees some 5-6 years ago (i.e. when I was 57-58).

Also, your mileage appears to be quite high. I don’t know what is your favourite or target distance, but for 5-10K it may be enough to drop to 40-50 mpw until you recover (I am usually within the range 35-40 and still enjoy running).

And of course soft shoes and soft ground to run on may help.

Good luck!

Charlie:

Thanks for the video about COVID. I was part of this 80% “dark matter” who likely encountered covid without any noticeable signs. Felt nothing wrong throughout the whole year 2020: was training hard, participated in competitions, enjoyed skiing the whole winter. No fever, no running nose, no sore throat, not a single day. When vaccination started in Jan-Feb. I first tested antibodies (IgG) and surprisingly found they were quite high. So, the doc said I had to wait for some 6-8 month. Recent test showed that the level is still high, but I can go for a jab. Nevertheless, in spite of no symptoms and no effect on sport fit, the virus seemed to make some harm: level of thrombocytes in my blood is some 8-9% below the lower bound of the normal range. Will it recover “automatically” over time, or shall some special actions be taken, nobody knows.

Greetings to all!

Short report about my week.

After a week of relief, the heat returned on the previous weekend and keeps staying. Not up to 95-96F this time, but 90-91, which is still pretty high and unusual for the local area.

Logged only 30 miles this week because there was a regional-level road race planned for this weekend (Sat) in a city some 2 hrs drive from me, and I preferred to give some rest for my legs.

Unfortunately, (or fortunately) the race was cancelled because of raising covid in the area on a very short notice (more than 1k participants was found too much). Nevertheless, since the hotel was prepaid we decided not to cancel the trip and go with my wife and my son’s family and spend time with our granddaughters (7 and 4 y.o.). I searched on the Net and found a parkrun-type event that was not banned. So my son and I, we signed for 10K and ran it this morning. It was even better than the cancelled event that was scheduled to start at 12:30 (near the heat peak) and take place in the middle of the city with no shadow, “stone jungle”, etc. Instead, we ran in the forest and at 10:30 a.m. It was already 87-88F by the start time, but at least we were not exposed to the sun.

The race went well. My left Achilles and metatarsalgia on the right foot were still here and hurting, but I could tolerate all this. As for the heat, I am not very much sensitive to it though never lived below 50 deg. north latitude in my life. Nevertheless, when I felt I started feeling it after 6-6.5 km, I slowed down being concerned that it may press me heavily in the end. My feeling is that I lost some 20 sec at this segment, but it worked in general, and before 9 km I was able to increase the speed considerably being sure that I could maintain it up to the finish.

So, my final result was 39:34 and I was first overall. Funny that the second one was a 67 y.o. guy who is famous here for his tireless ability to compete throughout the whole season. He races nearly every weekend (sometimes every 2 weeks). I look at his log and see that from 16 May thru 12 June he ran 4 HMs all close 1hr 30min (plus minus 1 min). When I tried to congratulate him he murmured something like “nothing to congrat with, be above 40 min is a shame”. So, today’s 10K was an “old lads’” day here.

I wish everyone stays healthy and injury-free. Enjoy running!