Howdy, Stranger!
Categories
Options
Over 60's training (Part 2)
The materials in this website are in no way intended to replace the professional medical care, advice, diagnosis or treatment of a doctor, qualified personal trainer, therapist, dietitian or nutritionist Runners's World, Part of the Hearst UK well-being network © Copyright 2017
Comments
yes, if I fancy a crack at true benchmark time, I'll head to Rother Valley, which allows hard running from the start. (I scraped a 70% AG there, a few weeks ago)
15.2 this morning - a pleasing start to the week
Dave
hectic week last week - Manchester twice, London and Sheffield did not leave much time for running - Tuesday night hash was all I managed along with some lovely Howardian hills IPA
Mick
Snow has struck early for you this year!
Good pace on the treddie - you will have to turn the heating down in the room.......
Dave & Alehouse
yup parkruns are getting very crowded nowadays but as you have both found they thin out quite quickly as there is a large range of abilities in them.
Nice morning for your long run Dave - and is was long!
alehouse
good pace over your last K - just got to do the other 4 at the same now
well done on getting over the 70% threshold - I'm not there yet........
So Sunday was my first run in 5 days - 5.26 miles in 50 min exact (9:30m/m) - a long way for me!
followed it by 4.15 miles this morning in 39:30 (9:30m/m again!) but which felt much harder than the previous day.
Two days in London this week
Anyway hash done and I am now ensconced on a slow running train to London - countryside looks very soggy
rest yesterday (legs tired after Mon), managed 8 miles hilly fartlek this morn. Poor wardrobe choice with 2 x long sleeved tops - much milder than anticipated . . .
Dave
Another longish absence from me, although I read every post. My running's been a bit stop-start again but I'm enjoying it. The foot still tenses but it's back to being a bit of a nuisance rather than anything else, at least at the distances I'm doing (up to 5 miles).
After an early run on my September USA holiday I didn't do any more there for the remaining two weeks. My first run back home was a gentle 3 miles so it was disappointing to feel muscle soreness next day. More worrying was what felt like a thigh strain. That went away after a few days but it all added up to another three or four weeks with no proper running.
It's taken some time to get back to where I was before the holiday, which wasn't great in any case after the foot problem lay-off. Gradually getting back there though and did a flattish parkrun last week in 25:25 and a much hillier one the previous week in about a minute slower.
I've also done a couple of cross-countries, The first was a bit of a struggle but the other three weeks later, on a tough course, felt a lot better.
My weekly mileage is now between 15 and 20 miles.
Forgot to mention, I joined the M70-74 age group a few weeks ago. The day before my birthday I booked a carriage on our local steam railway for friends and family which was a great success.
yes we have been getting a lot of the white stuff, making outdoor runs difficult so a lot of treadmill running for me. Very nervous about the footing so playing safe these days.
Graham,
At least you are getting a few races in and not bad for a 70 year old.
Dave,
8 miles hilly fartlek, I wish.
Been busy this week, ran every day, with today as my cross training day. Also did my life drawing thing and picked up a new car. I find it hard to believe all the gizmos and gadgets this car has. Being a bit nerdy I spent an hour with the manual and the rest of the day playing with them.
Talking about being a bit nerdy I did another python course just to sharpen my skills a bit further. To put it into practice I wrote a program that interfaces with my garmin 235, extracts the activity file and converts it into a spreadsheet formatted file and a set of browser compatible charts.
Why I hear you ask would I do that. It is only a matter of time before garmin charge for accessing their website or they orphan the 235. Now I am independent of them. Also just because I can.
For those of you who are not into programming languages, python is an open source hackers delight with a huge library of utilities that allow you to do anything. Also everything is free, including very sophisticated development environments.
Mick
Yes I recall that you have some programming experience in your past. If you are interested in setting up a python environment and would like these scripts to play with let me know. I have not written them for others to use so they are not that robust but they would be a good starting point if you would like to be able to read the garmin fit files.
It looks like I can get outside today, no snow.
Mick
good to see you back here and your limited mileage is still producing some very good results
Congratulations on entering the esteemed and enviable >70 group. Enviable? Certainly is to those who don't make it!!
thought you might like this photo
Taken from my kitchen window this morning - all of 12' away! The pigeons who had taken to roosting in my silver birch tree seem to have gone away now. She fed there quite happily for over half an hour and there is not much left other than feathers
I watched the match on Monday evening and the Toon actually looked quite good.. Funny how all the "experts" say what an appalling miss by Ritchie and then demonstrate how even the best can miss so called simple chances
Mick
Good news that the white stuff has passed you by for a while
You have done a lot of work on your programming. It has always frustrated me how Garmin data was so difficult to transpose although nowadays I have little that needs transposition
Dave
8 miles fartlek - I wish!!
Wednesday and Thursday spent in London although I travelled on each day and my 4.2 miles this morning felt very stiff and achy - must have been the work out I gave my legs on the escalators or the fact that i forgot my medication yesterday in the rush to get the early train
Mick - nice work with the daily running, esp as forced indoors much of the time . .
TS - great pic - nature "red in tooth and claw" indeed . . .
just over12 miles yesterday - ran to and from Primary School XC venue - a circuitous 7.4 there, then about 90 mins later, and some jogging around supporting, 4.8 back. Recorded as 12 in the diary, so 43 for the week in 4 running days.
(Zero today, as marshalling at the local 10K, graced by the presence of one Eilish McColgan) . . legs like yours, TS, after standing by the roadside for a while . . .
Dave
I thought you meant Eilish had legs like mine
Some good running days there Dave and nice to support the primary school X country. My g'daughter has bullied me into going with her when she runs in the Xcountry championships but I won't be running there - it's in Scarborough!
I have had a low grade bug all weekend - a bit like a cold but without the sneezes or running nose . Went out yesterday morning thinking some fresh air would help me but I felt like death warmed up so abandoned it as futile after a mile or so - not much better today either
mine were hardly moving at all (or so it felt) during my 6 today . . .
hope your bug recedes quickly, and yes, will be lovely for you to see your granddaughter in the XC Champs . . .
Dave
TS, a good bird to get in your garden but i don't suppose the pigeons would concur. Commiserations about your bug (see below).
Dave, good mileage again last week. It's always nice to see an elite athlete taking part in a local race.
Like TS, I've picked up an infection, a heavy head cold. As always, it starts with a very runny nose and ends with an annoying (especially to my wife at night) tickly cough. No fever though and it doesn't affect my energy levels too badly. I got out today for a slow two miles, just to keep things ticking over.
re Eilish, often see her running as we share the same training routes. She and her partner Michael Rimmer (GB 800 runner) live about a mile away. She is running well at present! Fortunately she always seems to be running in the opposite direction or I would be tempted to pick up the pace. It wouldn't last long!
TS,
Nice wildlife pic, when the coywolves take out a deer in the neighbourhood, I will see if I can up it, not that I am competitive or anything.
Graham,
Thanks to the British system I was sent to a technical high school at the age of 11 so my entire education has been technical including my working career. Just to put it in perspective I have an onc, hnc, Bsc and Msc all technical. However I have no education at all in the classics, music, art etc. I have tried to fix that in recent years but I think it is too late, I am an engineer and always will be. So what brain cells I have left still function as an engineer.
This last month has probably the worse November I have experienced since I arrived in Canada. It has been continuously grey with drizzly snow making everything slippery.
I managed a enjoyable 7 miles on Saturday but forced inside today, so 4 miles on the treadmill
mine are definitely hairier
No other finisher in sight . must have been a good time for Eilish
Alehouse
sorry you have also joined the lurgy group.
I hope you straighten up and assume a brisk stride when you see her coming in the opposite direction!
Reminds me of when I used to come across Charlie Spedding and Kevin Forster back in the days of marathon training and we would run along for some miles together on the riverside trails back in the NE. They would be doing an easy long run after a hard, long session on a Saturday and I would be doing my long, hard one and would have difficulty in keeping up, never mind talking, as they did!
Graham
ditto about the lurgy group!
the sparrowhawk came back on the next three days to finish cleaning off the carcass moving it closer to the hedge on each occasion as the body got lighter.
Hopefully she will return to remove some more of the pigeons when she gets hungry again!
I see you are like me hovering just under the 70% AG -very frustrating! Hope you have more success than I did at improving on it next time out.
Mick
not old - just exposed to the germ cesspool that is the London Underground!
Your drawing skills have come on tremendously since you started so it's never too late if there is some latent talent there
We have had a lot of that grey dreary stuff recently but today is bright and frosty.
I am hosting a Hash from my house tonight so I will have to go out a lay a trial and then run it so I suspect it will be a short one with plenty of opportunity for me to short cut!!
Plenty of beer and food laid in .....................
TS, it's going to take a while to move much up the AG scale I suspect but would love to get back to the mid-70s again. The occasional surge into the low 80s are long in the past. Enjoy your evening. I bet you're an excellent host.
well I entertained then first with a jaunty 3.6 miles of cunningly disguised routes that meant the front runners, which didn't include me, had to do 5+ miles.
After that the food (supplied courtesy of my wife including much home cooking and baking) and drink saw the new kitchen very well christened and the last ones left around 1130!
Just enough time for me to tidy up, get a few hours sleep and then leave at 0630 to catch the train to Manchester where it poured down all day!!
Went out his morning for a shamble and felt very tired after 3 miles and ended up walking. Not sure if it is the effects of the slight lurgy I had at the weekend, combined with a hectic week so far or a need to get my meds adjusted again - I do suspect the latter as it felt very familiar to what has gone before...............
Columba - keep on ploughing on . . . speaking of leaving age-groups, I had my final XC race as a V60-64 today - by next year's series I shall be a V65
- 3 laps of a 2 mile course; long climbs, lots of mud (by far the muddiest of the series), and 2 stream crossings per lap. (Graves Park, alehouse) Needed to keep an eye on one rival in particular to maintain my 6th
Dave
sorry about that
London eh - just too many germs! Hope the family are now suitably inured to the prevailing conditions.
I think you must have got your decades mixed up
Dave
that sounded like a real xcountry course which would,'t have been helped by the downpours on Saturday. Good, cunning plan to keep your competitor in sight - you should have stayed on his shoulder all the way round!
10 mile the day before is not quite building up one's reserves
Well done on not getting lapped by your son - just pull up the AG results if he feels like crowing!
I have been slightly off colour all week and a couple of runs on Friday and Sunday were very low key and a struggle to keep going.
This morning was at least clear and frosty and I slowly wended my way around 3.2 miles at 10m/m pace - still not feeling on top of things.
Hope you are feeling better soon, TS. I finished my antibiotics on Friday but wasn't up to pushing at parkrun so just ran round in tracksters and waterproof in around 25:45. Calf and Achilles niggled afterwards, as it did during yesterday and today's outings. Just over three weeks until the next age group...and I am certainly not going to be fit enough to set the age group on fire!
good memories - and the "Cutlers" is still going . . .
Dave, a real hard-core cross-country course! Hard luck to just get pipped at the line but, as you say, a good run. Especially after 10 miles the day before.
alehouse, well done for getting out for the parkrun when you're still under the weather. Hope your calf and achilles behave themselves.
TS, you're obviously well below par. Hopefully you'll pick up soon. Heartbreak again at SJP yesterday, not helped by twice shooting ourselves in the foot.
My cold's still lingering but I did 16 miles last week and can feel energy levels returning to normal.
must be nice to meander around a parkrun in dressing gown and slippers and do 25:45 - I have to taper, don race gear and blast it out to get that time
What AG do you move up to? Sounds like you are a Christmas birthday boy!
Dave
I have no good memories of Xcountry!!
Graham
it looked more like shooting oneself in the head - twice!! Bitterly disappointing as they were the better team for much of the game - even with 10 men.
Good to see your progress despite a cold
I finally appear to have got rid of what was ailing me - really strange symptoms - like having a bad cold but without the runny nose or eyes
Did quite a brisk hash last evening spurred on by the prospect of not only pork pies but Christmas cake on a cold, frosty, foggy evening.
rolled out this morning in much the same sort of weather expecting my legs to be unresponsive but managed 4.15 miles in 39:35 (9:35m/m) and felt okish doing it.
Got stuck in a dog jam at one stage - there were so many milling round on the path up the big hill I had to slow right down - which wasn't a big change in pace from what I was doing anyway - there must have been 7 or 8 dog walkers congregating and a dozen or more dogs some on leads, some not. All well behaved, dogs and owners, and the latter, all of whom I know by sight, did apologise for delaying my progress.
Truth to tell I was quite pleased for the slight breather!!
65 early Jan. Aiming to be running under 22 for 5k by June...if I can keep injury free, which if the last two years are anything to go by is unlikely! Building very slowly at present and being reasonably diligent with the stretching and strengthening regime. Weight loss would of course help!
a few months ahead of me, alehouse - good luck with the sub-22 goal ; I'll be happy to get into the 22's
7.5 easy effort today, after 2 days rest post XC.
Dave
good luck with the targets for next year - I think I shall confine myself to getting under 25 minutes !
Raw cold out there this morning with a steady NE breeze dropping temperatures. Pleased that I had put on a wind jacket instead of my normal tee over the base layer as I did the same 4.15 miles as yesterday in 39:55 which was just a bit slower as I took my time over the first mile to ease into it
Felt ok for the run but pleased when I turned with my back to the chill breeze
Early morning start tomorrow so a rest day - if driving 250 miles is a rest!