50+ Masters Training and Racing Open Forum

Gently, gently approach.

Mon. On the steep hills 3.7 kms with 155m elevation gain 36 mins.

Tues. Just lots of walking.

Wed. Hilly hiking then finished with 10 mins on the elliptical.

Thu. Babysitting duties. Headed out in the afternoon heat 38°C for an hour hiking but jogged the middle 2 kms.

Fri. Kayak session 37 mins with temps of 41° and strong winds. Jumped in the water then headed off hiking along the water channel for 5km jogging middle 2 km.

Sat. Just lots of walking.

Sun. 2 hour drive to Mum's 97th birthday celebrations. Went out in the cool of the evening and did my first "real" run since early August. Just a slow plod for 5 hilly trail kms. A long way to go to get back to good fitness but that felt good.

I have the all clear to start cycling this week which should accelerate the fitness.

M63, 5'11", 188 lbs
Age 23: 16:05, 2:40:30
Age 43: 17:10, 2:56:03
Age 58: 18:58, 3:07:23
May 2022, age 62: 3:44:06

FEBRUARY 13-19, 2023
Off
4.0 miles (11:25, 11:00, 10:48, 9:43)
Off
4.0 miles (10:44, 11:10, 10:37, 10:34)
Off
20 mins bike trainer
4.0 miles (10:27, 9:39, 9:36, 8:37)

Still fat and slow, but at least not getting fatter or (much) slower. Ha! Also still procrastinating regarding lower back issues. Maybe I'll make a call this week.

Run well.

Another week in no better than a holding pattern. Having a lot of trouble with stiff painful right hip, so I cut way back even on the walking. For the week:

14 miles of fast walking

50 miles on outdoor bike

4 hours on indoor bike trainer

2000 m swimming

25 min rowing

4 days of gym work, two legs and two upper body.

My husband is scheduled for a total shoulder replacement next week. I expect to be a 24-hour nurse for some number of days afterward. I hope better days are ahead for both of us.

Allen1959,

I don’t want you or anyone else to ignore scans. That said, I learned each radiologist points to areas of concern, some not noted next scan, with new concerns on current scan. There is frequently no connection to any of these notations other than my age.

Best to you.

Igy

For the exact figure, I would need to go back through this thread; I didn't keep records elsewhere.

I was limited to only THREE runs per week (never on consecutive days) due to chronic knee issues. Ideally, I would have done some cross-training, but never did.

I scheduled several long runs (over 18 miles); the longest was 23 miles. My modest goal for the marathon was to break 3:45. I had run 3:07 four years before (knee troubles then, too, but did some biking and work on the elliptical).

Before the marathon last May, I had been diagnosed with prostate cancer and was having great difficulty "emptying," so I limited pre-race hydration. I thought I could drink enough during the marathon, but probably became dehydrated, overheated and fell unconscious immediately after finishing.

The fall resulted in a severe concusion, multiple facial fractures, and five days in the hospital.

Not a good week running. 20 miles, weight lifting.

sitting at a hockey game now in between period 1 and 2

arizona 2-Columbus Bluejackets 0

I actually did a double today

a.m. 2 miles.. one mile hard

hour before game: 2 miles .. steady.

Lindgren type work ha

Alfie, this was the only week I saw with more than 30 miles.

APRIL 18-24, 2022
M -- Off
Tu-- Off
W -- 23.6 miles @ 8:48 avg (9:22 > 8:11)
Th-- Off
Fr -- 5.0 miles @ 8:28 avg (9:02 out, 7:53 back)
Sa-- Off
Su-- 4.0 miles (10:23, 9:51, 9:16, 8:35)
TOTAL: 32.6 MILES

2 shifting gear workouts

Friday 9 minutes 4 at 7:00 3:30 at 6:40 1:30 at 6:00

Sunday paced a friend prepping for Torun.

Recap 12:32
2400 10:11( 6:45/326 ) 5 minute recovery 600 2:22 (1:36/46)

Avg HR 154 felt comfortable around 10k effort so confirms my guestimate of 11:40 current 3k shape.

Odds of me getting under 10:50 in 10 weeks is probably less than 5 percent;)

So why not lower the bar set a goal with about a 50/50 chance of success say 11:15

I asked Chatgpt about this

Failure is not necessarily a prerequisite for success, it can still be a valuable teacher and can help individuals develop resilience and the ability to persevere in the face of challenges.

followed by

The decision to set your goals lower or not depends on your personal circumstances and how important the goal is to you. It's important to consider both the potential benefits and costs of pursuing a goal with low odds of success.

On the one hand, setting a high goal can be motivating and may push you to work harder and learn new skills. It can also provide a sense of accomplishment and pride if you do succeed. However, pursuing a goal with very low odds of success can also be demotivating and discouraging, especially if you invest a lot of time and effort into it and don't see results.

If the goal is important to you and you believe that you have the skills and resources to achieve it, then it may be worth pursuing even if the odds of success are low. However, if the goal is not essential to your personal or professional growth, or if the potential costs of pursuing the goal are too high, then it may be more beneficial to set a more achievable goal that will still be challenging but has better odds of success.

Ultimately, the decision to set the bar lower or higher should be based on a realistic assessment of your own abilities and the potential benefits and costs of pursuing the goal. It's important to set goals that are both challenging and achievable, and to be willing to adjust your goals as needed based on your progress and feedback from others.

A rollercoaster couple of weeks here.

Mon 6 - 40min

Tue 7 - am 30min - pm - 4x150m accelerations

Wed 8 - should have been an indoor mile, but instead spent 2 1/2 hours stuck on the motorway behind a vehicle fire. Fortunately, no-one was injured.

Thu 9 - am 30min - pm 200m then 400m (800m training) 36.7/76.5

Fri 10 - 40min

Sat 11 - 2x300m 55.3/55.6

Sun 12 - no running - woke up with a sore back and founmd it difficult to stand up straight

Mon 13 - 20min

Tue 14 - am 15min - pm 3x150m accelerations (very easy)

Wed 15 - 4x800m indoor relay - new M70 WR in 10:46.37

Thu 16 - no running - travelling to visit family

Fri 17 - 45min

Sat 18 - parkrun 22:11 - progressive run

Sun 19 - no running - family time

Wed 15 was quite the event with M55, M60 and M70 4x800m indoor world records being set by the three teams in the same race. In a way, though, it was rather depressing to witness the effects of age.

Amazing effort from such low mileage.

Still fighting right side sciatica-type problems, which limit push off until I get warmed up, but seems to be improving, and cobbled together a decent week-

Sun - 4 miles at 8:19 per mile

Mon- 6.2 miles at 7:51 including 3x10 min harder with 5 min steady recovery

Tue - 4 miles at 8:39 per mile

Wed - 6.76 at 7:34 per mile, including 6x4 min harder with 4 min steady recovery

Thur - Off - chiropractor

Fri - 6 miles at 7:52 per mile, including 16x45 second harder, 75 second steady recovery

Sat - 3 miles at 8:52 - very tired

Sun - 7 miles at 7:46 at including 3x10 min harder with 5 min steady recovery

Curious what people think about the need for a long run at this stage. The interval sessions are all high-aerobic, and I'm basically a lifetime runner (50 years with never more than a few weeks off).

I feel like I should have the occasional 80 min or so run, but I also find that it takes me a lot to recover from a long run. So, given background are sessions aerobic intervals in the 6-8 miler range sufficient to run a decent 5k?

I do intend to try and fit in a hill session once a week, as I feel that my 'power' aspect is behind my cardio vascular ability. My Garmin thinks I can run 10k in about 38 min, where I couldn't run that pace for 5k!

Cavorty,

I am not much faster than you and can hardly be a 100% point of truth, but my feeling is that "yes", a 8 mile run is OK for those who target 3-5K. Even better to run it in a progressive way, but yet not hard in the end. All the rest could be done by consistent 2 "standard" workouts per week: interchanging intervals (from Nx400 thru Mx1500), 3-5 mile tempos and various hills.

Another thing that works for me (at least at our current age of around 65) is a good amount of cross-training to save resources of old joints, tendons and muscles.

Best of luck to you.

Thanks, Igy. Generally I am happy to ignore such things, especially since the PA thought the fractures were the result of a sudden trauma, while my Primary MD thought they were evidence of crumbling bones (he suggested I start with a bone density test).

The constant sometimes debilitating pain though, has heightened my concern. My work often involves heavy labor, so it might just be muscular or strained ligaments. I've had a long history of back woes.

Carry on! Be well!

Thanks, Alfie, but I've always been envious of those with the mental and/or physical ability to train consistently at higher volumes.

For marathons, a few long runs plus lots of recovery days has been my formula to finish reasonably well. However, historically to be locally competitive (at any distance), has required months of 50-mile weeks -- something I've managed only a few times during a half-century of racing.

In my old age, though, to be competive seems to require a bit less. I actually thought I had a shot at an age-group place last May. My recollections of the final mile are foggy (apparently on the verge of blacking out), but I clearly recall two fellow geezers passing me. By the finish, they were within a half-minute ahead, in 3rd and 4th place, M60-64. Aargh!

Hi, Dave.
I apologize for not replying sooner, but I was in a rush when I posted yesterday and did not read your post until just now.

The shorthand I use here is much the same as I used when writing workouts when I was actively coaching. I believe at least some of it was borrowed from the terminology used by my USATF coaching mentors.

”CR” is short for “Continuous Run” and “body wt ex” is my abbreviation for a collection of “body weight exercises” (push ups, sit ups, toe raises, stretches, etc.). The “54’ running (3)” entry refers to 54’ of 3 non-continuous runs (think warm-up run, main workout, cool down).

I hope this helps. Again I apologize for any confusion. All the best to you and yours.

I feel the same. It is very inspiring to see older runners still getting after it (I watched an 82 year old woman run a 96s 400m) but it certainly is culture shock after watching HS indoor track.

For myself, I have tried some indoor track this year after a 30 year lapse. It is hard! At 53, I could only manage a couple of 2:33/ 2:34 800m. Trying to decide how I feel about these. I recovered quickly but felt like I couldn't find my speed. A bit depressing.

Allen,

That reminds me of a funny story from a 5K last summer. I was struggling to keep up and finally pass an old timer at the end of the race - hoping to gain a higher spot in the 60-69 age group (I'm 63). I looked him up later ... he was 70!

Amazing as always...did anyone get your 800 split?