50+ Masters Training and Racing Open Forum

Condolences to Mike F's family and friends.

After a good block of base training, the flue caught me and put me on the sideline for eight days. Resting HR still elevated but trending downwards. Started running carefully on Friday with 5 km, Sat 7km, Sun 10 kmn very easy. Will rebuild this week to approx. 40 miles easy running and buildups. My goal is to add another block of base training in Dec & Jan.

Good health and running to all.

BR

Experienced a varied weather week which made the runs, varied.
M: 1.5M @ 75% HR; 3M @ 80% HR; 2.5M @ 85+HR; 1M @ < 80% HR - crisp air

T: treadmill- 5M

W: 8M @ 10:45 pace - 16deg wind chill

Th: 1.5M w/u; 12(1:30/2:30) @ 7:45/11:30 pace -big dry wind

F: off

Sat: 12M - included Letter A 9.5M loop @ 10:42 pace - steady rain throughout

enjoy the week

Greetings!

My week was usual for this season (real winter with 12-14 inches of snow already and temps
between 15 and 25F). Healing injuries and maintaining aerobic capability.

Mon – XC skiing 0:52
Tue – off
Wed - elliptical and treadmill, 1:03
Thu – XC skiing 1:13
Fri - XC skiing 1:29
Sat – A.M. XC skiing 0:44, P.M. elliptical and treadmill 0:50
Sun – arc and elliptical, 1:05

7 hrs 16 min for the week

Happy and injury-free training to all!

Every once in a while I check in. I was running 15-20 mile weeks after lagging motivation coming back from injuries that happened when I was 56. I'm now 64 and my motivation seems to be back!

I'm up to 30 miles a week (no real long run, that's coming soon).

I try to do at least one workout- like hills or 400's- a week.

Interesting:

I ran two 5k's this summer averaging 7:51 per mile (I used to be a 16-16:30 guy in my youth).

Thanksgiving Day I ran a 5 mile race averaging 7:43 per mile.

I'm targeting a half marathon in March- my AG has been won in 1:40:xx the last two years and that's my goal.

I hope to be up to 40 mpw soon with supplemental gym work- plyos, weights, core.

Last week (through Sunday 12/3) I ran 27 miles, average pace 8:30 - 9:00.
I'm starting a marathon build for a March race. I'm focused on building mileage at an easy pace for December, although I'm sure to put in some negative split tempo runs.

Did a low key 10K Sunday, I had a "blah" day, finishing in 50:22, although I did kick away from a group over the last stretch that included a fairly steep incline. The run was put on by the good old DSE club in San Francisco, along the bay and under the Golden Gate Bridge, quite a nice course.

old guy II, it is interesting to hear your red wine experience. I've had some success skipping my one glass per day over here, taking 3 days off last week. HOWEVER... I did have a glass before bed yesterday, and here I am wide awake writing this around 2am with insomnia!

hospital today suggests i have fractured a rib from last sunday's bike crash, so i am having two days off in a row after running 5km monday, tuesday and wednesday. Pain on tuesday was horrible even at 8kmh, but voltaren helped later runs. Now i have nerve pain around nipple, which is very painful if i sneeze.

You never know what is around the corner, in my case an ants nest which meant i lost my front wheel and crashed.

Hope to do a solid run tomorrow morning on treadmill.

ouch! I hope your pain is easing.

congrats to those who ran club nationals x-c yesterday. A team from my club (montgomery county road runners) repped us well in M60+, led by Mark Neff in i think 8th. Sounds as if it was warm and humid

Mostly good week on my end in and around some unexpectedly busy work situations. Highlights were 4 X 3:00 (2:00) hard on tuesday and 2 X 10:00 (2:00) at half-marathon pace yesterday.

Have a great week,

Dave

I'm back home from Club XC. I had a rough day there. I came down with some virus on Friday and ran 7:44/mi pace for 9th in the 70-74s. Based on what I have been running this season and ran at Tallahassee 2 years ago, I should have run 7:20/mi pace or a little better, which would have gotten me 4th this year. Our 70+ team got 2nd and I was happy with my effort under the circumstances, so no complaints. It's a great group of guys to compete with and I like the heat much more than freezing temperatures.

A week of slight improvement and the door opening to winter.
M - 7M with 5(5:00@8:40 pace/3:00@12:30 pace)

T - 8M easy @ 11:00 pace

W - off

Th - 8M with 4M tempo @ 9:20 pace; 2M @ 9:00 pace (0.1 on/0.1 off)

F - treadmill 5M

Sat - 11M with never ending hills

enjoy the week

It's been a rough three weeks since my return to organized running events at our 2-mile turkey trot. The race was partly off-pavement on uneven dirt/mud/grass, and I came out of it with a slightly sore ankle. Took one day off, ran 4 miles the next day, and then came up VERY sore in the ankle. For ten days the ankle kept getting worse even though I did no running and very little walking. Then I came down with what originally felt like just a cold, but after five days it turned into a nasty flu that sidelined me completely for several days.

Now I'm pretty well over the flu, with just a minor residual cough, and my ankle is feeling a lot better--but my old rheumatoid arthritis hip pain is back, and there's no way I could run right now. So it's back to square one, trying to get the RA settled down to the point where I can start jogging again.

Frustrating.

Oh, man, I can’t think of any words more sophisticated that just plane sucks! I can testify you’re certainly not alone. I’ve been in the background as, I’m certain, are many others who can commiserate with the struggle to stay in the fight to keep running. I last checked in, in August with my posterior tendon problem that started, no foolin, Dec 18th of 2022. At that time I was on a spin bike hoping to maintain fitness and eventually add running. This, after trying trails, which failed. The bike hurt my knee. None of the pt, stretching, balancing, etc, etc. worked. Finally, short frequent walks were successful in starting improvement. The orthopedic doc confirmed the tib tendon is healing and my ankle is stronger. Now, adding some minutes of running with walking every other day. You feel like a fighter that’s been knocked down, and your opponent is standing over you telling you to stay down. But you don’t. You can’t.

Hi runners,

kudos to the cross runners. Tough sport.

Ran approx. 40 miles mostly easy in 6 days with some hills and one subthreshold 8 miler. HR still higher as before the flue. Will patiently continue this week with 6 days running about 40 miles. No need to rush and push in early December. Looking forward to 3 weeks vacation at home.

All the best... BR

today 6km on treadmill, striding 200m 13kmh and jogging 200m 9kmh.

bit uncomfortable due to nerve pain right pec.

stepups 50cm and 60cm high and then 104 reps (52e) bodyweight walking lunges and hypers.

best walking lunges i have done for five years, but maybe fitness helps me here.

Greetings, fellow 50+ers and Happy Hanukkah to those celebrating! 🕎

Somehow I was able to get in 4 runs last week, so my actual running mileage for the week soared to 18+ miles! I suspect that this week I will return to the “new normal” of 3 weekly runs, but last week does give me hope that I may someday get back to challenging 20 mpw on a more regular basis. Wish me luck!

Sun: 47’ CR; body wt ex + med ball routine

Mon: off

Tue: 59’ CR; body wt ex + med ball routine

Wed: off

Thu: 48’ running (3); 16 oz curls

Fri: off

Sat: 58’ CR; body wt ex + med ball routine

All the best!

Greetings!

My week:
Mon – (XC) skiing 1:12
Tue – skiing 1:03
Wed – A.M. skiing 0:46, P.M. – arc and elliptical 1:04
Thu – skiing 0:45

Fri - A.M. skiing 0:43, P.M. – arc and elliptical 0:53
Sat - arc and elliptical 1:01
Sun - arc and elliptical 1:02

Total training time: 8 hrs 29 min. 19% at sub-LT effort. Zero at and above LT.

Looks boring, but it’s a (cold, snowy, slippery and windy) winter here. Aerobic development only, time for speed will hopefully come in spring.

“ 'till forever on it goes, through the circle fast and slow….”

Happy and injury-free running and training to all!

Showing signs of improvement on my "path of least resistance" style program.

Mon. 27 km mt bike 1 h 30 m. Very windy and 35°C. First 4 km around our paddocks and rough tracks very gentle. 21 kms solid on gravel and a bit of smooth bush trail which finished with aggressive 5 km of hills, gentle 3 km back through the bush.

Tue. 10 km hike and run with a total of 460 m of elevation gain 1 hr 45 m. Hiked 2.5 km rough trails to the top of Rose Hill then jogged down the service road, 5 x up service road 460 m and 70 m elevation gain,, tops out at over 30% gradient. Hiked and jogged back along rough trails.

Wed. Loddon Canoe Trail. Kayaking from boat ramp to Weir and back 1 hr 30 mins of beautiful paddling.

Thu. 12 km trail hike and run 1 hr 30 m. 2 km hike, 1 km slow jog, 7 km steady run, 2 km hike.

Fri. 39 km mtn bike. Hot and humid 2 hr 15 m. A bit longer than planned as I took a few new directions. Similar to Monday e.g gentle start and finish with strong stuff in the middle.

Sat. 12 km trail hike and run in 1 hr 30 m, 2 km hike, 1 km shuffle jog, then 7 kms with 1 km solid, 1 km jog, 4 x 400 m striding, 400 m jogs, finished off with strong km then 2 more km of hiking.

Sun. 11 km trail hike and run in the hills 1hr 30 m. Hiked 2 very steep kms, 1 km easy downhill shuffle, 1.8 km solid hillclimb, 1.6 km very steep trails, 1.8 km steady downhill and 1.8 km solid hillclimb then some cool down hiking.

I am still super slow but getting stronger if not much faster.

fractured ribs healing with pain in chest easing, especially with a few panadol.

Today 6km on treadmill, including 7x200m@15kmh speed average with 100m jog between@8kmh.

Pain went away after 1km jogging holding my right pec still with hand.

Greetings!

My week was good, 8+ hrs of aerobic cross training:

Mon – elliptical, arc and treadmill, 1:10
Tue – A.M. (xc) skiing 0:40, P.M. elliptical, arc and treadmill, 1:04
Wed - elliptical, arc and treadmill, 1:11
Thu – skiing 1:10
Fri – planned to have a day off but had to run 2x15 min in the evening through deep snow to help my niece get her car out of a snowdrift.
Sat – A.M. (xc) skiing 1:18, P.M. elliptical, arc and treadmill, 0:54
Sun - arc and elliptical, 0:43

Happy and injury-free running and training to all!

also had pretty good week with the exception of calf soreness in wake of 5 X 3:00 hard (2:00 jog) on Weds. longer run Sat. (2:00) was fine. Particularly when it's colder, my various injuries seem exacerbated more by speed than mileage. Will need to be careful this Winter.

Best of luck to all coping with illness or injury.

Have a great week,

Dave