50+ Masters Training and Racing Open Forum

No complaints this week. Took it a little easy on Monday as the calf concluded it’s latest recovery, then compensated with a slight overachievement on Friday. Even bagged two birdies on Wednesday’s golf round. Feeling optimistic. May throw a little fartlek this week.

Sun: 2 mi walk w/ the bride

Mon: 44’ jog, body wt ex, med ball routine

Tues: off

Wed: 52’ jog, body wt ex; golf, 88

Thu: 2 mi walk w/ the bride

Fri: 56’ jog, body wt ex, med ball routine

Sat: 2 mi walk w/ the bride

Sun: 53’ jog, body wt ex

Best to all.

Cush, sorry to hear about your dad's diagnosis but hope for the best with the treatment. They have good hospitals in this region. Congrats on your daughter's graduation!

I'll look for you at Bolder Boulder and maybe we could even meet for the warm up. It's a great event. Tough course, especially coming from sea level. First 4 miles are rolling long hills (half mile or more) that take it out of your legs, and hill climb to the finish into the stadium is agony, but also ecstasy when you actually enter the stadium.

Are you doing the half at Ann Arbor? I am so BB is going to have to be more of a long, and not too fast, tempo run for me.

socal cush and group at large,

I think the only thing worse than suffering the disease yourself is to experience it through a loved one. As I make this journey I find weekly I am not alone.

Igy

Enjoying the posts this week. This is my running world as there is nothing else. Congrats CM! A win is a win.

I decided to slowly add running to my daily walks. I think I'll run a little at least every other day thru May then see where I'm at. I can see improvement in my heel. But I won't lie the pain is still there. Pain level is 2-3 at the most but it hasn't gone away. Usually it's very early in the walk and the next day. During my little runs there has been no pain. I got the pool open last week. The water looks great but it is a freezing 60 degrees. I can't get in for my pool runs until it hits 70 and that is still cold.

FWIW....here's what I've done the past two weeks. This is in addition to the daily icing/heat/heel dips/achilles stretching/calf foam roller/and sleeping in a night boot.

Sun; off

Mon: walk 2 miles @ 14:32/mi

Tues: walk 4.1 miles w/2 min jog at 1 2 & 3 miles @ 12:46/mi

Wed: off

Thur: walk 2 miles @ 15:13/mi

Fri: m: walk 2 miles w/.5 easy (8:54) at 1 mile @ 13:16/mi

Sat: walk 2 mile walk

Sun: 2.9 miles, 1 mile walk, 1 mile jog 848, .91 walk @ 12:56/mi

Mon: walk 2.1 miles @ 15:07/mi

Tue: 4 miles, 1 mile walk 14:47, 2mile jog 756,749, 1 mile walk 14:00 @ 11:08/mi

Wed: 2.3 miles walk @ 14:52/mi. 3:15 new record plank!

Thu: 4.0 miles, 1 mile walk 14:08, 2mile jog 800,747, 1 mile walk 13:29 @ 10:52/mi

Fri: 3.6 miles walk @ 14:09/mi

Sat: 5.5 miles, 1 mile walk 14:12, 4 mile run 755,749,739,713 1/2 mile walk 7:05 @ 9:24/mi. Heel felt fine.

Sun: 3.2 miles walk @ 14:25/mi

So more of the same for the next few weeks. I'm controlling the weight! I was 167.6 when I stopped running 4 weeks ago; I was 164.+most of last week. And still very positive.

Have a good week,

Dave

CM, yes, let's meet to warm-up. i plan on running hard at bolder boulder, but altitude has never been kind to me, nor am i really in shape for a 10k. i'm treating it as a hard, fun bucket-list race--no particular time aspirations. other bucket-list road races: peachtree, cherry blossom, falmouth, bay to breakers, wharf to wharf off the top of my head. if anyone has any suggestions as to other non-marathon road races that should be on my bucket list, i'm open to them.

no ann arbor for me--i'd be happy to never do a 1/2 again, but i won't swear off 'em. next real target will be atlanta 5k nationals in august, after which i'm signed up for hood to coast (another bucket-list race)...

when i solidify my travel plans, i'll let you set a meet-up time and place the morning of (since you're experienced with the race), and i'll find it...

cush

Couch to 5K -- August 2016

5K PR -- 18:14

Goal -- faster

M - post race rest

Tu - 7.2miles in an hour; body wt ex

** highlight of week **

We - tempo 2x10min with 3min interval jog -- this is the first "fast" tempo workout I have ever completed with consistent effort from start to finish

Th - easy 5.2mi

Fr - regular 5.1mi

Sa - LR 11.4mi in 100min

I just keep telling myself, slow and steady wins more races ...

Thanks for the welcome comments and compliments. 10 years ago picked up racing here In Thailand (lots of races) and have stumbled to where I’m at now. Wish I would have had the more experienced runners on this thread to run ideas past.

Lots of injuries on this thread! Been running this go around about 3 years with only the normal short lived niggle after a 5 year break because of constant injuries. Probably just a luck streak but hopefully it lasts a while longer.

Why have some of you been able to avoid injuries? For me, this more important than chasing times.

amkelley wrote:

Coyote Montane wrote:

WTF a win?

Did a suburban 5K this morning, expecting maybe a 5th but won the damn race. 18:13, 87.6 age grade, 5500 ft elevation. Didn't feel good throughout.

Wow, congratulations! Hopefully you felt better as you crossed the finish line in first place...

That's doggone fast. My 5K PR as a young person was 18:10!

That's downright smoken! ? My PB as a young man was only 18:30, and several decades later in my late 50s with a plethora of chronic injuries to boot, I can barely break 25:00! So, 18:13 from a 60 yr old is downright intimidating and hard to comprehend since I never could run that fast as a youngster. IMO, Grandmaster/Senior running in this century has become so performance based that it increases the division between the fast and the very slow, i.e., the "haves" & "have nots." Crazy fast times from some on this site!...difficult to comprehend some of the speed here.

BigMango wrote:

Why have some of you been able to avoid injuries? For me, this more important than chasing times.

That's what I liked to know. If it's not superb genetics then what's the secret?

cush sounds like a good plan - I have a pretty good place to meet and park, only a few blocks from the start, but you have to get there very early to get a space. Maybe Todd could meet us too if he's racing. But he's gone to the mid distance dark side and doesn't do many 10Ks.

Hear you on the bucket list races, also add Bloomsday and Bay to Breakers or me. I did Gasparilla 15K this winter and it was really good, but not a big time race like it was 20 years ago. It's a big citizens race and the pros travel out to do the half the next day.

As far as time off anymore, I'll take off 3-5 consecutive days about twice a year. Past couple it's been after a spring marathon and after Club XC in December. Otherwise, rest days as needed, usually one day off about every 10 or 20 days to give my legs a chance to recharge a bit.

Mango, those are fast 50 plus times! Staying healthy & uninjured is a big deal and in fact that overrides just about everything. For me staying on my feet (my last 2-3 injuries were from falls) and cutting back on speed work (I tend to shorten my V02 and CV type workouts, compared to what you'd see in a training guide), while emphasizing consistent running, with easy recovery days every 3 or 4 days, and tempo runs every week.

Mon. 4 km hilly hike with 1.5 km uphill run. 45 min.

45 min windy kayak on the lake.

Tue. 24 km mountain bike ride 1 h 24 min.

Wed. 4 km hike with weight vest in 40 min. 170 metres elevation gain.

4 km weight vest hike with 300 metres elevation gain in 1 hr.

1 km uphill "run" with 190 metres elevation gain. About 14 mins. Slippery easy trot back.

Thu. 32 min kayak session on the river.

Fri. 23 km mountain bike ride. 2 climbs up Mt Alexander 760 metres of elevation gain. 1 hr 33 min.

Sat. 3 km run climbing up Roo Hill and down the other side. Another 8 km hilly hike.

Sun. 20 km mountain bike ride in 1 hr 14 min.

Coyote Montane wrote:

... ran with 4-5 younger women for 10 of 13 miles, and even then we were doing a lot of 7:10s to 7:30s (averaged just over 7:30). Probably need to just stick with the old guys and drop this club.

I dunno, CM. That doesn't sound too bad to me, both in terms of pace and the company ... :)

Racerdb wrote:

I'm controlling the weight! I was 167.6 when I stopped running 4 weeks ago; I was 164.+most of last week. And still very positive.

Dave, it's good to see you still posting, recharging your batteries, and NOT getting fat in the meantime. I seem to be stuck at 167ish. I was about 160 for the marathon last fall, and put on nearly 20 pounds during my 3-month layoff. A weakness for sweets is killing me.

Coyote and Socal, I live in Boulder and will be running in the BA wave -- let me know if a plan continues to evolve. It would be fun to say hello in person! My wife is running with our 10-year-old son and we will be hanging out at the stadium for a bit before jogging back to our bikes. We usually lock them up at the Target or Whole Foods near the start.

Happy to say that I've been making decent progress in recent weeks. I turn 51 two days after Bolder Boulder. Mileage is still low but in the mid-20s now, with mostly quality miles. When I push the pace I get close to 7:30ish miles without feeling like I'm straining too hard. A leisurely pace usually puts me at 8:15 to 8:30s.

I've been ditching the watch for runs a few times a week and trying to get used to feeling my way into the right effort level. But I still feel compelled to look at the splits afterward (I record my runs on Strava via a phone).

Best of luck to everyone dealing with health problems. My father and my mother-in-law both have Parkinson's, and my father-in-law is dealing with advanced dementia and other serious issues. I'm very thankful to be feeling healthy at the moment.

Another 20 mile week for me that included 4 days of travel recruiting at the NCJCAA meet in Utica. Nothing more motivating then to stand at a meet for 10 hours in the cold and rain and then try to go for a run. Streak is still going 25 weeks now - almost a half a year. I'll have more time now that the season is over.

Thank you. Why do you use the incline on the treadmill?

SprintTriathlon wrote:

Why do you use the incline on the treadmill?

I'll answer that -- it allows you to achieve the same heartrate action as an easy run, without the running. I'll often start at the max, 15 degrees, and when I achieve my desired HR I'll turn it down to 7-8 degrees usually. There are other benefits to uphill treadmill walking that Matt F has written about:

Chiming in on the treadmill hills did these 2 years prior to my latest return to running.

One of my favorites:

Walk at your regular walking speed and 9 percent grade .

Every 2 minutes increase the grade by 1 percent .

Keep increasing the grade until it is just too difficult.

Hold the highest grade for 2 more minutes.

Lower by 1 percent every 2 minutes.

I used to do this one for 2 hours straight never the slightest injury but it was an arse kicker.

Man I am gonna go do this right now!

A bit late to report this week. (It was a really busy week at work.)

M: off.

T; 6 miles.

W: 6 miles.

R: off.

F: 6 miles.

SA: off.

SU: 10 miles.

I managed to run four times a week. This week's plan is to run five times, and then get back to six times next week.