50+ Masters Training and Racing Open Forum

@Allen1959 - your timing is perfect, as I was just looking ahead to what a 10 day training cycle might look like. I think taht I'll try adopting yours as a basis (with modifications since I'm building back up). Appreciate the post, it was quite timely.

Just flew back from Spring Training and boy, are my arms tired. Scottsdale in early March, running on the desert trails is so much better than winter.
M: 11M @ 10:45 pace.
T: 6M w/8x:40 strides

W: 9M @ 10:05 pace; 3:00 faster coming back

Th: travel

F: 6M @ 9:45 pace; 3:00 faster back

Sat: 8M @ 9:45 pace-10:20 pace out; 9:05 pace back

Sun: 2.5M-no pace; boyz were tired

Coffee; run; brunch; ballgame; dinner; rinse, repeat. 23 years of going.
enjoy the week

Not very exciting stuff, just slowly rebuilding.

Mon. 47 min kayaking and strength training.

Tue. 70 min mountain biking.

Wed. 40 min run on undulating dirt roads.

Thu. 100 min hiking.

Fri. 55 min kayaking and strength training.

Sat. 76 min mountain biking.

Sun. 55 min hilly trail running.

Everything is pretty slow but I am getting a bit fitter every week.

Amazing information Thanks for sharing your ideas

It might not be exciting to you but that's the stuff I want to do some day!

Maybe when I retire...

Dave

Lots of discussion on the main thread about high mileage. Typically 100 mpw for youngsters.

What is the view on defining what high mileage is for masters?

What is high mileage for age 50

What is high mileage for age 60

what is high mileage for age 65?

What is high mileage for age 70?

I was never a high mileage runner. I ran 75-80 mile weeks in high school but after that 70 would be a really good week. But there were a lot of 40 mile weeks too! So with that being said, I'm almost 63 and 60 mile weeks feel like high mileage to me. I may creep up a bit more but I don't want to push things much over 60. I think that's enough to get me to a pretty good place.

So my vote is 60 miles/week at 60 is high mileage!

Dave

attempting to define "high mileage" for masters would seem a fool's errand. the smaller the pool of participants, the higher the variance, and you're less likely to find an average that defines reality. for example, if you took the two best 80 year olds and found one was successful at 60 miles/week, but the other was successful at 40 miles/week, would you automatically construct a "defining program" with 50 miles a week? the older we get, the more truth there is to the adage that we are test subjects of one...

that's my story and i'm sticking to it,

cush

Yes, the pool of participants/voters matters.

E.g., if we look at the results of the top 10 at any national level competition in age groups 60+, we'll see a huge variation. 2+ min for 5K and 3+ min for 10K is a “normal practice” (compared to 20-30 sec in the young elite/pro group). The same for the mileage.

Also, it depends on the seasonal periodization, whether one is using this concept, or not. As for me, I am not as good as RacerDB (18:53/5k and 39:29/10K at 64 in 2022) and for me 50 mpw is very high. Reach it sometimes during the base period only (November-March), while during the race season (April-October) my average is about 30 mpw.

Here is my n of 1 is this and I'm sticking to it. Fortunately, I can handle decent mileage at a fairly advanced age and for me mileage makes all the difference. I only dabbled in high mileage (+/-100) for a couple of blocks in my early 20s and ended up with hip issues so never really went back. However, as a mid-to older masters do better with an aerobic based schedule, focusing on getting some decent volume, 8-10 hours a week be it with some cross training or mostly running (usually in a marathon or half marathon block).

I adopted this approach in my mid-40s following a decade of being mostly injured (with 3 good years 7 bad) while doing 40-50 mile weeks but higher quality (modified Daniels).

My sweet spot for running is 60-70 mile weeks with cut back weeks for races or recovery. In 2020, following injury and during the Covid shut down I built back up to 50-55 mile weeks the best I could do was about age graded 5% or 6% lower than with the higher volume. The quality work I do is nothing to write home about, but do enough to keep rolling along and that seems to work.

And yes, as we age everyone is going to be different so you have to find what works for you.

Changes from 40s to 60s .

-My age graded times are a few percentage points lower

-Run fewer miles and the miles are at a lower heart rate/effort

-Fewer running related injuries . These days in my 60s I never try and run thru pain;)

-Way more easy cross training like walking slow biking ect.

In my 40s , I considered high mileage to be over 50

Miles per week range was 30-80. Most common mid 40s.

In my 60s , I considered high mileage to be over 30

Miles per week ranges from 15-40. Most common mid 20s

Greetings, fellow 50+ers and happy St. Patrick’s Day week! ☘️

Though I only recorded 11+ miles of actual running, I consider the past week to have been a positive one. I took a few days off early to rest my injuries and it seems to have paid off. Beginning on Tuesday, I was able to get in 3 runs, though I reduced the normal volume of each in deference to my recovering niggles. All is feeling good right now and I’m hopeful of getting back soon to my normal daily volume, though it appears Mother Nature may once again interrupt my typical schedule. Winter refuses to let go around here.

I also want to thank the mods for their quick action in removing the hateful posts that appeared this past week on our beloved thread. It is unfortunate that one poster can ruin this for the rest of us.

Sun-Mon: off

Tue: 33’ CR

Wed: off

Thu: 45’ running (3); 16 oz curls

Fri: off

Sat: 44’ CR; body wt ex

Best to most!

Promoting St. Patrick's Day to a week is a brilliant concept. Nice job on the injury management as well.

I'm doing entirely slow running (6:00 total this week, longest being 1:30) and cross-training (5:30 -- mix of stationary bike, elliptical, and treadmill-inclined walking) as I continue calf tear rehab. Some ups and downs (e.g., cut a trail run short after twinges and inability to get it to loosen up on cold windy day), but mainly I think going slowly in right direction.

have a great week,

Dave

In response to Bumble Bee’s query: my younger me would run 6-8 hours per week, average mile pace of 6-8:00, equating to 50-60 mpw. Now at 64, I average 8-10 hours weekly of running, 50-55 mpw. I second Coyote Montane’s thoughts in that, 8-10 hours is now my sweet spot and interval training is now . . . Interesting.
M: 6.5M - 11:10 pace with 7x:30 strides

T: 9M - 10:25 pace with 5:00, 4, 3, 2, 1, and 1 repeats @ 8:10 pace on the bike path. Ran faster the last 3.5M than during the workout portion.

W: 60:00 treadmill @ 3% @ 10:45 pace

Th: 10M @ 10:45 pace

F: off

Sat: 18M chunked - opening 6 @ 11:00 pace; middle 6 @ 10:20 pace; closing 6 @ 9:40 down to 9:10 pace. Good run.
ankle strength vastly improved with PT and it shows.

enjoy the week

Hi,

Have no idea about my sweet spot in mileage now at 52. Shooting for "high" mileage such as consistently 50-60 miles per week would bring overuse injury. A lot of soreness as well. Until 35 years old, sweet spot was 100km, i.e. 60 miles a week, in off-season and 40 to 50 miles per week targeting the 800m. Currently, I feel well in the range of 35 to 45 miles per week. Always was a hobby jogger/runner. This week:

Mo off

Tu 30 min drills and jumps uphill, 8x60m flat

We 7 miles steady

Th 7 miles very easy

Th 30 min drills and jumps uphill, 5x150m uphill

Sa 7 miles steady

Su 7 miles very easy

Currently, steady means 8 min per mile, very easy means 9:30 min per mile. I get dizzy when I see the volume and paces of Dick et al.

Keep the fun and stay healthy🙋‍♂️

I ran my rust-buster first 5k of the year yesterday and it was a good but not great effort. I ran 21:30 with splits of 7:02, 6:56, 6:57 and a last 0.1mi fast enough to pull the average down to 6:56/mi. I was very happy with the evenness of the splits, but a little slower overall than I was hoping for, particularly since my 71yr old team mate ran 21:06. I hope to catch back up to him by XC season this Summer. My longer, slower approach to training this year seems to be helping my endurance but not my speed right now. I plan to do one more month of base and then start building more VO2 max and speed work into my training.

On the question of what constitutes high mileage training, at 73 I am very close to maxed out on the 55mpw I have been averaging this year. I was never a high mileage runner. As a miler in high school and a 440 guy in college I probably never went over about 45mpw. As a triathlete, and then back to being a masters runner, I was somewhere in the 35-45mpw range from my mid-30s until my mid-50s. When my sons got to college and I was able to cut back my work hours, I moved up to the 45-55mpw range. Every time I have attempted to go above 60mpw I have run into over-use injuries and/or over-training issues.

As others have said, training as a master is an evolving process of figuring out what gives you the most benefit with the least risk of injury.

Good running to all!

Goal sub 6 mile May 7th at Hayward Classic

Tuesday treadmill 4x2 minutes with 2 minutes walk polar's zone 4 or about lactate threshold

Wednesday soft sand 60 minutes super slow

Friday Beach hard sand 23 minutes a bit ezr than lactate threshold felt good

Sunday On the track first time since last fall cautious stress emphasis on good form

-flats 12 x 100 run the straights walk the curves

first 6 25 down to 21

next 6 21 down to 19

-spikes 400/1:26 60 second rest 600/2:07

Satisfied the treadmill hills translate to the track pretty good.

Steady as she goes! vs the old Charlie who would say Dam the torpedoes full speed ahead!

I did a little running for a couple years about 20 years ago. During that time I was able to loose some weight and I felt like I got in half descent shape. Fast forward to now and I'm just about to turn 60 and probably about 50 lbs over weight. Anyway I just started running January 1st and today I was able to do a 7 mile run in 71 minutes. This past week I ran 13 miles which I consider quite a bit of running. I think some kind of goal would be useful to help motivate me to continue but I really don't know what is reasonable .... maybe to be able to run a sub 50 minute 10k? I don't think I want to spend any more time running per week than what I am currently doing but faster would certainly be better.