Forums >General Running>Weekly volume at 50 years - cut volume and see gains?
Prince of Fatness
I was an athlete growing up and then took a hiatus when I had kids. Started running at 39 -- jumped right to the marathon on very little training. Then somehow stuck with it. I would say I got serious maybe a year or two later when I started trying to qualify for Boston. It's been a heck of a ride...
I was an athlete growing up and then took a hiatus when I had kids. Started running at 39 -- jumped right to the marathon on very little training. Then somehow stuck with it. I would say I got serious maybe a year or two later when I started trying to qualify for Boston.
It's been a heck of a ride...
I'm 54 too and here you just took my age excuse and flushed it down the toilet. Thanks a lot!
Not at it at all.
Mine, too!
HermosaBoy, I stalked your log a bit after all this.
HOLY CRAP MAN. 2:42 this last December!?!?!?!? That is a bad @$$, impressive and intimidating number you put up there! At "our age" no less. That is awesome. You are the man.
- Joe
We are fragile creatures on collision with our judgment day.
not bad for mile 25
Mine, too! HermosaBoy, I stalked your log a bit after all this. HOLY CRAP MAN. 2:42 this last December!?!?!?!? That is a bad @$$, impressive and intimidating number you put up there! At "our age" no less. That is awesome. You are the man.
Right? I was wondering about cutting back as well, but if I want to emulate Hermosa, I'd need to "cut back" from ~50/week to ~80/week.
Very similar to my own athletic arc, except I started in my early 30's. Started to see injuries creeping in around 2013 (age 43 so after about a decade of serious training/racing) where before that I had always been bulletproof. Between that and life getting a bit crazy (lots of work travel, kids schedules getting more busy) it's been a struggle since about then. I had one really good season the first half of 2014 (actually maybe my best season ever) and broke a 10 year old 5k PR. But mostly I've been in a constant cycle of either being injured, recovering from injury, or too busy to try and build back mileage to where I could legitimately call it training.
It's an even numbered year so I'm contemplating another comeback, and I'm pretty resigned to the fact that I won't be able to handle the same mileage I used to (which for me has meant peaking out in the 70-80 mpw range).
I *think* I can get back to close to lifetime PR fitness even at my advanced age (48) and I *think* I can do it on maybe a peak in the 60s mpw with a lot of core/stability/flexibility and maybe some biking. One big challenge is the amount of business travel I'm doing and trying to manage that intelligently--I honestly think most of my running injuries have been due as much to spending too much time in airplane/car/desk seats as anything.
Anyhow, your results are inspiring.
Runners run
Mikey and Joe -- those mile times in your PR's look very nice. I think you can see from my PR's that I am more of an aerobic runner. Trying to close the gap on the shorter races, but they just hurt too much...
ETA -- you see where I placed when I ran 2:42? Third in the 50 to 54 age group. Ouch!
And you can quote me as saying I was mis-quoted. Groucho Marx
Rob
The mile PR in my log is in road mile that's downhill. My legit master's mile PR is 4:58.9 on the BU indoor track. Granted that's the only legit mile I've ever raced as an adult.
I was not a miler in high school (mostly ran the 400/600/800/1000) but I think I had a 4:48 if memory serves.
It could have been off a cliff for all I care -- PR is a PR.
Thank you, sir. My mile time in my Running Ahead PRs is legit (a true track mile, too, not a 1600m or a converted 1500m) result that I'm proud of as my adult mile PR, but I've wanted to break 5:00 "over 50", which I have as yet been unable to do. YOU HAVE! Last year in our Kansas City Corporate Challenge I only managed a terrible 5:12 or something like that. You know how it is, I still won by 70 meters or something running against a bunch of other old guys, but it was "internally embarrassing" to me. Maybe this year I can get it.
HermosaBoy's 4:57.90 mile is truly impressive and inspiring -- I got to watch it from about 33 seconds back. It's remarkable that it was only good enough for 5th place in the 50-59 age group that day! There are some really fast old guys in this area. I am not one of them.
I am 52, and I tried cutting back on mileage last fall for a marathon (Twin Cities). I went down to ~60-65 mpw at the peak of that cycle, which was down from the 70-75 mpw peak in other recent cycles. I did a lot of core/flexibility/strength stuff following every run, which was a change from prior training cycles. My time didn't suffer too much (3:05 vs. 3:03 the prior year), but I cramped hard in the last mile and lost about a minute walking it off. The core/flexibility/strength stuff made me feel tougher in general (more injury-resistant), so I am a big fan of that now and continue to do it. But I'm trying to get my mileage back up to a sweet spot of 70-75 mpw. Sub 3 hours would be really nice after 50, especially since I've never done it before. The window of opportunity is closing fast.
4:57.9
awesome, good job, congrats!
I'd love a sub 5 in my future...
300m- 37 sec.
awesome, good job, congrats! I'd love a sub 5 in my future...
I have only done it twice and the other time was 10 years ago...
Almost 53 here. Started running later in life; a few years ago I started peaking around 70 in marathon cycles. I originally thought I would keep increasing that, but in fact it's held steady. I have no interest in doing more, in fact would be happy with a bit less, but for some reason 70 sticks with me as the magic number that's the minimum for marathon success. In any case, my times have continued to improve, despite not increasing mileage. But it's probably still all the new(ish) runner gains, from accumulated mileage and repeated training cycles. I am expecting to plateau & decline sooner rather than later, as age takes over. Although what some of the folks here have done at an advanced age is pretty inspiring.
Dave
Almost 53 here. Started running later in life.
Me too, at age 55. Set a whole bunch of PRs after 55 but not really expecting any after 65.
I'm interested in the answer if you ever care to try lower mileage. I've been increasing mileage ever since I started running (started at 42, 48 now) and am starting to wonder what my sweet spot will be, mileage wise. I'm planning on hitting steady 75-80 mile weeks this summer in prep for fall marathon and am wondering if at some point fatigue does not nullify the benefits of running more. I guess the best way to know is to try it myself, but still interested in other people's experiences in that area.
Why is it sideways?
At page 292 of this (long) document you'll find a few pages that have been helpful to me as a young 41 year old getting back to training.