50+ Masters Training and Racing Open Forum

Hey kevin402can, even with running the extra 500 meters, that is a heck of a great return to 5K racing.

I took 3 months off this spring, right Achilles problem. Rest and various therapies have me running again for 2 months. Acupuncture, the roller, some PT, rest and diet changes all helped.

Started again in June with a month of 10 - 15 miles per week. Now I'm up to 25 mpw. I'd run a PR half marathon last winter as I turned 60, but I'm wary of volume now coming off the bad Achilles.

Pointing towards 10k racing this fall. My indicator workout is a 12k-ish tempo run. Had it down to 52 minutes and change last winter, just before the half marathon. Ran 56:02 this morning. Slowly getting it back.

Best regards to all and best of luck with any aches, pains and injuries... boy I did not like NO RUNNING for two months.

Hey Igy, I was looking at some photos of some of my Jamul Toads team mates that recently went up on the Facebook City Slickers (Bob Larsen movie) page. I noticed this late 70s photo of a track race with Tom Lux at the front and some SMTC singlet guy in 4th https://www.facebook.com/494329323938058/photos/a.558815574156099.1073741829.494329323938058/668914789812843/?type=3&theater There weren't that many SMTC guys racing distance. Is it someone you know?

old guy II,

The office computer system screens out Facebook, so I can't pull it up here. I do remember Tom Lux. Tom was coming on as I was going out. SMTC won the USTFF Cross Country Championships at Balboa Park in 1973, if memory serves me well the Toads were right there.

Igy

pretty sure that's tom bryant for smtc...

Tom Bryant would be that era. I found the race results of USTFF 1973:

USTFF Championships: (Nov. 24, San Diego) - (Balboa Park, 6 Mi.)

Santa Monica TC 65, Univ. of Nevada 113, SDTC 127, Univ. of Colorado

127, BHS 132, LA Valley 170, WVTC 193, Sun Devil TA 195.

1. Mendoza (SDTC) 29:39.6, 2. Menet (Nev) 29:39.6 (finished 1st

but win given to Mendoza for elbowing by Menet), 3. Babiracki

(Un) 30:18, 4. Waldrop (NorCar) 30:25, 5. Kluvers (SMTC) 30:30,

6. Innes (SMTC) 30:31, 7. Griffin (Col) 30:36, 8. Span (SDTA),

9. Harms (Aggie TC) 30:42, 10. Mathews (SDTC) 30:51, 11. Camp

(BHS) 30:54, 12. Kissin (MVTC/16 yrs. old) 30:57, 13. Valentine

(Un) 30:57, 14. Carr (SMTC) 30:58, 15. Harter (SMTC) 30:59, 16.

Kurrle (BHS) 30:59, 17. Alexander (LAV) 31:06, 18. Falla (Nev)

31:12, 19. Morden (LAV) 31:13, 20. Dagg (Nev) 31:20,...22. Scobey

(BHS) 31:23, 24, George (AIA) 31:30, 28. Brown (Nev) 31:48,

29. Meaver (SDTC) 31:49, 35. Johnson (WVTC) 32:14, 38. Haver

(AIA) 32:19, 43. Polter (WVTC) 32:43, 45. Hall (Nev) 32:48, 46.

Sheehan (WVTC) 32:50, 54. Powr (WVTC) 33:23, 55. Greer (BHS)

33:24, 57. Hernandez (WVTC) 33:27, 60. Gonzalez (Nev) 33:39, 63.

Sanford (WVTC) 33:53. /Dick Hill

There are a bunch of old results at LA1984 "NorCal running Review." Here is another cross country race a couple weeks before the previous with Tom Lux winning, again in 1973:

SPA-AAU 10 Kilo Championships: (Nov. 10, Centinela Park) - 1.

Lux (SDTC) 31:13, 2. Covert (ELATC) 31:17, 3. Wagenbach (ELATC)

31:28, 4. Scobey (BHS) 31:37, 5. Martinez (ELATC) 31:46, 6.

Patterson (BHS) 31:49, 7. Smith (Un) 31:52, 8. Price (AIA)

31:53, 9. Harter (SMTC) 31:57, 10. Valentine (Un) 32:02, 11.

Miller (ELATC) 32:03, 12. Hughes (BHS) 32:08, 13. Schmenk

(ELATC) 32:13, 14. Sybert (AIA) 32:14, 15. Cox (BHS) 32:15...

26. Haver (AIA) 33:16. /John Brennand/

Covert is Mark Covert who had the continuous US running streak record. Smith is Tracy Smith indoor 3 mile record holder in 1970, Scobey is Bill "Mad Dog" Scobey 4:01/2:14 guy, and Schmenk is Doug Schmenk 2:16 marathoner famous for 200 mile week training.

Igy

More on the Toads: http://www.letsrun.com/forum/flat_read.php?thread=469267

Interesting that amkelley alluded to with the declining quality of many races today. I would say that is certainly not true of the masters competition at the national meets. Really some amazing age group performances.

What is interesting is how often people raced generally when you go through the results of the 1970s. I found my results in the NorCal Running Review December 1973, and many of the same people were in these races and or racing more often than I. In a five week period this was my racing schedule.

10/28/1973 16.2 mile road race

11/10/1973 10k cross country

11/24/1973 6 mile cross country

12/2/1973 marathon

Really thought nothing of the race schedule being too hard. Quite a bit different then what you see today. Color runs and Spartan races.

Igy

Ghost of Igloi wrote:

Interesting that amkelley alluded to with the declining quality of many races today. I would say that is certainly not true of the masters competition at the national meets. Really some amazing age group performances.

Igy

I was referring to the hoi polloi at road races, not the top runners at track meets. In looking over the results from that 1991 race I was also struck by the comparatively low number of older runners back then. There seemed to be far fewer runners over 50 back then compared to now.

socal cush wrote:

pretty sure that's tom bryant for smtc...

I concur. Good catch, cush!

amkelley,

Gotcha. In Boise the overall quality of road races has declined over the last decade. In our town it is the genre of triathlons, color runs, Spartan races and mud runs. The road races are functioning more as fund raisers with distances approximate. Earlier in the year 5k was 2.94 miles. An earlier 10k was a little long but split miles off in several spots. The quality in the upper age group varies by who shows up that day. We have a strong running community, but still affected by general trends of interest.

Do you know another marathoner of your era, Patti Gray?

Hope you continue to heal.

Igy

Trying some longer stuff.

4x1 mile LT session today 6:31; 6:28; 6:29; 6:26; all off 30 sec recovery.

Felt good, so maybe it's coming back a bit.

Same thing over here in Australia Amkelly.

My fastest marathon ( 2.43 back in 84) left me outside the top 100. In recent years the same time would have me in the top 10 in the same race. Similar number of starters though.

old guy II wrote:

Hey Igy, I was looking at some photos of some of my Jamul Toads team mates that recently went up on the Facebook City Slickers (Bob Larsen movie) page. I noticed this late 70s photo of a track race with Tom Lux at the front and some SMTC singlet guy in 4th

https://www.facebook.com/494329323938058/photos/a.558815574156099.1073741829.494329323938058/668914789812843/?type=3&theater

There weren't that many SMTC guys racing distance. Is it someone you know?

old guy II,

It is definitely Tom Bryant. The runner in full view behind Lux is 13:00 three miler John Gregorio. I think you are right about the time period, but probably not much later than 1980. I think Bryant and Gregorio were done after the Olympic year. I "retired" by 1976 so could be wrong.

Igy

by the way, igy, make sure you make perry forrester suffer on your backpacking trip--we need him in shape for the 60s team in lexington this december so we can try to win the 50s and 60s team age groups at clubs...

Ghost of Igloi wrote:

In our town it is the genre of triathlons, color runs, Spartan races and mud runs.

I would like to do triathlons myself if I didn't suck so badly on the bike. And I can see the allure of Spartan races and mud runs for some people, but not for me. I'm extremely clumsy, have zero upper-body strength, and don't really like getting dirty. Definitely not a candidate for events of this type.

Do you know another marathoner of your era, Patti Gray?

That name doesn't ring any bells. My "era" as a runner was very short. I didn't start running seriously until I was past 30, had one great year (1991) when I set every PR I own and ran all three of my sub-2:48 marathons, tailed off until about 1994 and then gave up with chronic injuries, resurfacing as a much slower master around 2000.

socalcush wrote:

by the way, igy, make sure you make perry forrester suffer on your backpacking trip--we need him in shape for the 60s team in lexington this december so we can try to win the 50s and 60s team age groups at clubs...

socalcush,

Perry, my son and I depart Monday for the Queens River Loop. He fared better than I did two years ago. He was up in the morning for runs before and after our trip. I slept in, but will try to do better this year. The loop is close to 40 miles and should take four days to complete. He tells me that Holcomb is quite the task master and has already stated the fall goal, but I will let him know there is an underlying purpose to our trip"to drive the uphill."

Igy

amkelley,

I swim and bike 1-2 hours each week, but I am too chicken to race a triathlon. Patti Gray won the Cal International Marathon in 1989 and also Honolulu around that same time period. Ran similar fast marathon times as you. She may have finished around the time you were at your peak. She is a good friend and we run together on a regular basis. She also is a buddy of poster MikeF. She and her husband are from the Bay Area.

Igy

My wife was top 5 in that race (Buffalo Subaru) a couple times and I ran 1989-91. My best was just over 20 minutes and and barely made the top 40. That time would easily be top 10, and his high as top 5 or 6 these days. There was prize money down to 5th or 6th back then but it wasn't much. First would get $2K or $3K but it dropped down pretty steeply after 2nd.