50+ Masters Training and Racing Open Forum

I wanted to make sure folks saw this podcast interview of Herb Elliott speaking about legendary coach Percy Cerutty.

http://mpegmedia.abc.net.au/rn/podcast/2008/12/sfr_20081205.mp3

Also would be interested in mo’ pac’s comments.

Igy

Solid week => rising optimism. Cranky Achilles is continuing to get better.

25 miles on 4 runs with 9 yesterday at 6:50/ mi the highlight

6.25 miles swimming including 2 today in 63

2 spins x 1 hour

3 lifting sessions with 1,100 sit-ups included

Diet discipline is back and the virtuous cycle of lower weight and faster training is a great place to be.

Have a good week all.

lucKY: My current schedule of Tu Th, Sa, and Su is the least disruptive to my work life.

Allen: Glad you are on the mend.

Slow running progress for me: Tu, Th, Sa, Su 4 miles elliptical + 50 pushups/crunches and finally worked in 10 min of running on those days. Better progress on losing fat as I dropped a couple more pounds and am now at 156, down 11 from Thanksgiving.

Best of luck to those toeing the line in FL and have a great week!

I resonated to Phoenix Rising's comments re stair mill. We just got new ones in our gym at American U that have various scenes unfold as you walk [you're hiking in New Zealand, or among the redwoods, or......] -- i share your sense that it's a surprisingly tough x-t option.

ok week for me including first race of 2018:

M 1:00

tu 1:10

W 1:15 with 5 X 5:00 (3:00 recovery) -- a little over 1200 each time

Th 1:10

F 1:10

Sa 40:00 run + 1:00 x-t

Su 1:00 with hilly 5-mile race in 31:41 (12th OA, 3rd AG) in decent conditions -- about 50 degrees, light rain, no wind

last time I ran this race on the real course [one year it was cut short due to a fire emergency nearby] was 3 years ago was 7th in 30:31, and around 10 years ago I won in 28:00, so the trend line is not ideal. Nonetheless, I got what I expected, and I competed to the max all the way, winning a little back and forth I'd had going with a friend for 12th vs. 13th, so I am not complaining.

have a great week,

Dave

Hey Igy you had a Great indoor without peaking . You seem to be building momentum. Health issues really put things in perspective. I truly believe that running and all the setbacks that go with it help us deal with health issues in a more positive proactive ways. Hoping for best my friend.

Dodged a bullet or at least only suffered a flesh wound, my calves are ok.

Jeopardy

Competitive 50+ runners for 100:

It is what we do between injuries.

Rehab

Losing weight is ezr now that racing season is just around the corner . I have 10+- lbs left to lose. I feel skinny enough to actually get out old skinny me levi's . These are old school denim 501s with 4 levels of skinny based upon waist size: 32,31,30,29. The 32s actually button up without me sucking in my gut. The flab hanging over the edges is minimal.

Long may we run

https://youtu.be/WYna-UAt75c?list=RDWYna-UAt75c&t=51

I concur Charlie. This was a rough week with 12" of snow Monday, then a lousy week of sleep. I only managed 15.9 miles for the week with a painful 10k in 52:30 on Saturday. It was depressing to feel so rotten the last 3 miles and have so many people pass me, but I'm still running when a lot of my friends can't. Decided to take today off and hope next week goes better. Long may we run.

Igy - it was an indoor banked track. He finished 6th so there was good competition but his shoe came untied at the 1k so he'll take the time. Guess we need to teach him how to double knot.

Sending you good thoughts for your health issue.

SCgal,

Even more impressed with an untied shoe. Your son may enjoy this article about one of my college coaches, Tom Von Ruden. He was one of the great indoor track athletes of that 1960-70s era of 10-12 lap wood tracks. Tom was also 8th at the 1968 Olympic 1500 Meters.

https://www.si.com/vault/1972/06/05/612878/for-want-of-a-shoe-a-race-was

Igy

SCgal,

Here is the original layout to the article:

https://www.si.com/vault/issue/43112/58/2

Igy

WX was a mixed bag this week with temps nearing 50 one day then windchills in the teens the next. Nothing bad enough to prevent outdoor running anywho. The golf course even opened though conditions were far from ideal.

Sun: 61' jog;body wt ex

Mon: off

Tues: 52' jog; body wt ex

Wed: golf (ride 22), 95+19

Thu: 42' jog

Fri: 3 I walk with the bride

Sat: 51' jog; body wt ex

Best to all.

SCgal, I’m really glad to see you getting back out there again.

Allen1959, congratulations on the two consecutive days! Dropping weight is really hard, and you have my sympathy.

Nice race, dhaaga! For some reason (masochism?) I maintain a plot of race pace versus year, divided up into three groups: 5K, 5 miles to 10K, and half-marathon. That plot starts in 2004, and while there’s a lot of noise, there are two inescapable conclusions: my race pace is slightly faster at 5K than at 10K, and even slower in the HM (you’d be astonished were that not true), and I’m steadily getting slower every year. So far there’s enough noise that I can’t clearly distinguish the second derivative, i.e. am I getting slower at a faster rate?

I had another good week, although I missed my hoped-for milestone of being able to run all seven days of the week. Saturday’s long run included several sections that were very steeply uphill although very short (a dozen strides or so), and clearly my heel still doesn’t tolerate that sort of stress. I did, however, hit one milestone of the longest single run since last spring, 17.5 miles. Total for the week, 66 miles.

Monday: 10.1 miles at 9:11 pace.

Tues: 10.5 miles at 8:40 pace.

Weds: 10.3 miles at 9:13 pace.

Thurs: 10.6 miles at 8:42 pace.

Friday: 7.1 miles of easy jogging, untimed.

Sat: 17.5 miles at 8:58 pace. Not very fast, but I felt strong all the way through and could easily have kept going.

Sun: Woke up with my heel sore enough that running seemed like a bad idea. Did some weight work at the gym, watched the replay of Federer winning the Aussie Open, then rode 32 miles on the bike. First outdoor bike ride in 20 days; new bike shorts seem to work well.

I have a half-marathon in 13 days and hope I can stay healthy until then. My husband just got sick and I really hope it’s the same thing I had three weeks ago and that my immunity is still good. But I’m teaching a freshman course with 240+ students this semester, so I’m exposed to everything.

week 4 of the new year. 10 weeks 70 days run or racewalk every day. Bit of a ruff week at the end as I ended up not being able to run until after the meet.

Biked on Zwift everyday for a total of 87 miles

Mon 5 miles 8:19 pace felt ok

Tue Speed day 6*1:00-:30 with 1 min rest and 2 between each set at 6:00 pace on the tread mill - 5

Wed 5 miles on our NOT clear bike path 9:00

Thur 4 miles racewalk not feeling great

Friday 6 mile 8:20 felt ragged from bike workouts

Saturday 2 miles 8:20 on the treadmill after the meet and after dinner at chillis

Sunday 3 miles racewalk outside on slightly more clear bike trail

30 miles this week 446 miles over 10 weeks

SC Gal I will be in Greenville SC on April 7-8 for the National duathlon - I have 10 more weeks to get ready

Mike - I plan to be at the duathlon champs too. I'll be doing the sprint so my event is on Sunday. I won't be running at Fred Hardy this year. The only way I'll be there is to watch if my son is racing. Hope to see you in April!

24 miles total this week, high weekly total this month.

4 runs: Sunday, Tuesday, Thursday, Saturday. All of them have been on the treadmill.

I'm sticking to the every other day run schedule. I think the rest day in between runs has helped to keep me fresh. I'll be gradually increasing the mileage and pace. This week I did two 5 miles and two 7 mile runs. Seven-mile runs at 7:07, 7:19. Five-mile runs at 6:50, 6:48.

Tomorrow I plan on a six miler but I'll let it develop based on how I feel.

Igy, I hope the health issue gets sorted out OK soon. On Charlie's theme, running was what I was doing between injuries this week. I got my act back together with decent runs Wednesday, Thursday and Friday for a total of 25 miles. However, Thursday I spent laying tile in a bathroom I am redoing, and moving around and installing a new toilet which weighs about 60lbs. Friday I did a sprint workout (not a great idea in hindsight), and immediately following the workout I had a muscle in my foot near the arch which clearly was strained (from the combination of sprinting and toilet carrying I am sure). It hurt whenever I tried to rise up on my toes or move in a particular direction. Saturday it was still too sore to run on. This morning it felt good enough to maybe run on, but I held off on running and laid a bunch more tile in the bathroom. Tomorrow it should be good enough to get back to an easy run. One of these days I will figure out how to do strenuous non-running activities plus running workouts without getting injured, even though I haven't been able to for the last 50 years :>)

Thanks all for the well wishes, I will post more as I know more. Your thoughts are appreciated and uplifting.

Reid Harter aka Igy

regarding some earlier posts: i used a heartrate monitor for a short time back in the 90s during my post-collegiate years, but it seemed like i was always registering a far higher rate than i felt (as far as percentages go), so i decided to go with what i felt (maybe obiwan’s advice to luke skywalker resonates in my training). i did, however, take my resting pulse every morning, and found that was my best indicator of overtraining, fatigue, or impending sicknesses…

reading about kids’ racing reminds me how lucky i’ve been that my kids have all taken part (two are still taking part) in this sport. pretty cool, but way more stressful than my own athletic pursuits. SCgal, i’ve always resorted to the john wooden philosophy of coaching with footwear (he’d famously spend the first practice teaching his athletes how to put on their socks correctly to avoid blisters), so i spend the day before the first race of the season showing my athletes how to double tie and tuck the lace loops underneath where the laces criss-cross the tongue of the shoe. when the laces don’t flop, they don’t come untied. by the way, i once inquired if i knew you—it took me a while, typical SC (self-centered) southern californian that i am--to realize your SC is not southern california. either way, glad to read about your continued recovery—maybe i’ll see you and others in tallahassee…

lundgren’s post also made me think of the 30+ years i’ve been able to run with my wife since our days as ucla teammates. back in college, we spent a lot of sunday long runs together (the one day we didn’t meet with the team to practice)—she’s a tough, strong runner, and i was (am) a mid-d prima donna, so our long run paces matched up pretty well back then. however, spent a lot of years where we may not have run together at all while i was busy running with smtc and she was busy having and raising our 4 kids. we’ve both enjoyed running together occasionally again during our respective masters running renaissances and meeting with the same mixed gender/ability group of runners regularly, but she’s recently out and preparing for another meniscus repair surgery.

i’m a little jealous of everyone's indoor results (igy, i hope your health issue is resolved favorably), but here on the west coast it’s tough to get to indoor meets, and i’ve always had a love-hate relationship with the boards anyway. however, i will venture on to tallahassee saturday for a last x-c race, with which i’ve also had a love-hate relationship. the training lead-in was good until last week when i got a bug bite on my knee cap that got infected—after a week of anti-biotics and less than optimal training (the knee was swollen and sore, inhibiting some motion), it feels 100%, but then yesterday 8.5 miles into an 11 miler with my h.s. athletes my adductor twinged and i had to walk/jog the last mile and half. no running today but it feels fine walking around. we’ll test it out a little tomorrow. at least i’ll be fresh from two pretty easy weeks of training going in…

these new ailments remind me that i can’t go on past practice to predict future results—every time i think “i’ve never had this problem before” i remember i’ve never been 50 before either. but if it were easy, everyone would be doing it...

carpe crepusculem,

cush

SCgal, congrats to your son, that's a fast 3K!

Hey two kids from my former ski club made the US Olympic Nordic team.

Here's my week Monday-Sunday

7 mi-1:01:00

4.2 mi-32:10 & 6.6 mi-53:35

9.7 mi-1:14:00 (3.2 @ 6:15-20)

11 mi-1:27:10

6.6 mi-50:30/easy shakeout of 3 mi-25:20

10.1 mi-1:19:05 with 1000s and 800s at just under 6:00 pace

17.3 - moderate effort

Mon. 45 min. mtn bike. 30 min kayak and 1 hr hilly hike.

Tue. 45 min hilly mtn bike. 30 min kayak and 1 hr hilly hike.

Wed. 1 hr 36 min hike. 9 km and 500 m elevation gain.

Thu. 1 hr kayak and 40 min hilly hike.

Fri. 30 km mtn bike ride with 550 metres elevation gain.

Sat. 40 min ride and 1 hr hike.

Sun. 1 hr ride.

No running other than a very gentle 3 kms during Monday's hike. I could feel the niggle in the glute from last week so just x trained the rest of the week.

Wednesday's hike inc 7 steep uphill reps at hard hiking pace.

It has been hot here 37 to 44 deg C everyday. I have been working night shift. Trying to sleep during the day in the hot weather is difficult.

I enjoyed the podcast Igy.

Have you read the book Why Die? A good warts and all read about Perc.

My thoughts on the Cerutty/Elliott combo?

Elliott coached himself off the abstract ideas of Cerutty. Cerutty had some good ideas about training but was a very disorganised personality.