Mornin' everyone.

Good luck with the cardio guy, Ribs. I hope it is nothing more than a false alarm.

I'm glad your workout felt good yesterday, Slo.

Dave, I hope your foot is doing better.

OM, I understand quite clearly that I am getting older and that aging has consequences. But I know what I am capable of, and refuse to blame a poor performance (of which there are many...) on my age. I'm much rather chalk it up to poor strategy, or it just not being my day.

"But sometimes you just gotta do it." That's all you need to say, Enke. Nice workout on the trails yesterday.

Leslie, any kind of workout, including ST, need variations in frequency and intensity for us to derive maximum benefit while minimizing the risk of injury.

Nice 8 miles in a chill, TomS.

Twocat, I'm glad the elliptical is working for you, so far.

"Still getting used to that cold-but-warm-at-the-same-time winter running feeling." There's a lot of that going around, Holly.

At 35F, it was 25 degrees cooler this morning than yesterday. It was still breezy, but this time from the north instead of the south. So I wore tights instead of shorts, and added mittens, a windbreaker, and a cap that covered my ears. I was warm when I had a tailwind, but comfortable when it was from the side or hitting me in the chest. This morning, I worked on kicking my knee forward from my toe-off (to help improve my turnover rate) and also on slightly lengthening my stride. It was tough to work on both at the same time, but I need to incorporate both to drag a little more speed out of this body, so I'm counting on it being worth the effort. Lots of stars out in the clear, moonless sky: No critter sightings, and not more than a small handful of cars passing by either.

I really detest that some box stores will now be open Thanksgiving night - it is unkind to the employees, and I doubt that our lives are any richer for us being able to shop seemingly any time, any day. I never have and never will support "Black Friday." which appears to be moving toward "Black Thursday/Friday." I'd rather buy one less gift, or a smaller one, than become part of that frenzy.

Enjoy your Wednesday!  -  Jay

...been missing you jlynne//........put in some posts and keep us up with how you're doing.

hell,

you KNOW you're running better than I am

+1

 

And I also share Jay's thoughts about the big box stores.

 

 ++++ to all the posts this morning.

definitely will not touch the discussion on aging bodies

ran 3 in the just above freezing cold and wind.  not used to morning runs, but i had extra time because i didn't bike in (couldn't bike home tonight, not because of the cold)

enjoy the day!

marj

5 mile progression run this morning...

I'm sure glad I have a running partner that keeps me accountable...that bed sure felt good this morning...

Morning, Gang ~

Couldn't agree with Jay more re the big box stores.  My coach works for Sears up in Portland, OR, and last year he had to show up at work at 2:00 a.m. - 2:00 freaking a.m. - on Black Friday, and worked about 4:00 p.m.  The whole buy, buy, buy thing for Christmas is out of control and beyond disgusting.  Many years ago our families agreed to not buy presents for each other, except for the kids, and that lasted until they turned 18.  Now we buy for my dad and send flowers to Shorty's mom, and we all call each other.  It really is nice to not have to deal with all the other crap stuff.  One of the ladies I work with spends close to $2,000 each year buying Christmas presents for her immediate and extended family.  WTH???

Wait - that was quite the rant.  Sorry.

Holly - I dreamed last night that I flew to Ohio to take your daughter to a dental appointment for you, and then you were trying to talk to me into showing up for The Monkey.  Told you I couldn't afford since I'd already flown to help you out with the dental appointment.   (I have absolutely no idea where that came from . . .)

Thanks for the thoughts on the ST.  Concentrating on specific muscle groups each time (upper or lower) is a good way to go.  I do know, too, that changing up the routine about every 6 weeks helps keeps things fresh and confusing for the muscles.

Rest day for me, so I came into work early.  LOTS to do before I'm on vacation next week.  It's a stay-cation since we can't afford to go do anything.  So while Shorty's working, I'm sure I'll be working at home trying to get transcription done, but at least I won't be at my full-time job.

Holly - I dreamed last night that I flew to Ohio to take your daughter to a dental appointment for you, and then you were trying to talk to me into showing up for The Monkey.  Told you I couldn't afford since I'd already flown to help you out with the dental appointment.   (I have absolutely no idea where that came from . . .)

Well thanks for reminding me I have to call the dentist... and I still think you should come join us at the Monkey.

Hoping for good results for you, Ribs. I also have MVP and tend to have palpitations as a result whenever I have too much sugar, caffeine or stress. I was having a bad spell of those a couple weeks ago, right around the time I was falling down during my long runs, and had a battery of tests to rule out anything that might've been something more than just pre-marathon stress and overtraining exhaustion. Turns out I was fine, and now that my chest is starting the same thudding and skipping beats again this week, I'm not worried this time. Irritated by it, yes, but not worried. Again, hoping it's nothing for you as well.

Biked 45 minutes on Monday, walked 3 miles yesterday, and today I ran 4 gentle miles with some friends. Legs and all feel fine, albeit not 100% peppy. Massage scheduled for this afternoon should make my recovery complete, I think. Not sure if I should run again tomorrow, then take Friday and Saturday off, or do something completely different to prepare for Sunday's outing. I probably won't be able to run on Saturday anyway because that's a travel day for me.

It's a beautiful crisp fall day here in the Northeast. Hope everyone's enjoying wherever they are today!

Greetings. Sorry to have been so MIA. Busy with work, life and Manchester Marathon, and running kind of slower these days. The age discussions today are interesting to me.  I don't believe in making excuses for age or other factors ( though I also believe you should never leave home without you excuse...(:  ) , but I do think it is important to be realisitic about where your body is, what result is a reasonable expectation and what is just setting your self up for self-flaggellation. It is a hard thing to sort out sometimes, and at least for me, it keeps changing.

  Since recovering from my hamstring injury last Spring, I seem to have gotten a bit slower even than I was a couple of years ago.  I get that I won't run at 52 what I ran at 25, 32 or even 40, but why would 52 be different than 49? Part of the problem is that I don't heal as fast and I seem to need months and months fo healthy running to run well, so maybe I just need a few more healthy months.

 This past weekend I ran OBX marathon, for the  third year in  a row. It works well  as a way to visit my mother who lives in VA Beach and who likes the Outer Banks.  I only had a couple of months of solid mileage and very few long runs- one 19, one 20 and two about  15-16 miles each. Recent half marathons about 1:48 and 1:50, slow for me. So I did not  expect a lot but hoped to squeak under 4 hours. I started at about 8:25 pace and was fine the first half, though the trail hills tired me a little, then we were out of the shade, in full sun and climbing temps. BY mile 21, my legs were toast; my mental math thought it was still possible to slide in under 4 but not probable and I just needed to keep running. By 25 I was dead but forced myself to keep running; by 26 I questioned my ability to run the last .2, but I did, and finished in 4:03.

I don't think I could have done much more with what I had on that day There was no drama; I actually  kind of enjoyed the run, just kept slowing down. I don't care about the BQ issue, but I would like to get my times back down and I am not sure what is realistic.  Having my legs so tired the last few miles makes  me suspect I   need more training, more healthy months. It was also full sun and 70 degrees the last ten miles, not as bad as Boston, but not ideal.

November 4 we had the Manchester Marathon. We have a small board, and it is a lot of work in a normal year....  What a crazy weekend! After NYC got cancelled, we reopened on line registration for a few hours Friday night and also allowed walk ins at the Expo. We got over 300 new registrants! ( our usual marathon field is about 500; this year more like 800).  Folks liked the new course and  the NYC refugees  were very appreciative of the opportunity to sign up for Manchester at the last minute.  we ran out of full marathon bibs, had to use half bibs and then generic ones, but our timing folks were fantastic, never missed a beat. The police were also great, and we are very lucky we have such a good relationship with MPD. One officer has taken it on and really has  it wired now; we invite her to meetings and we included her in discussions about the course changes in the second half.   I saw a couple of CNY's friends at the Expo-- Vanessa and ?? That was fun.  Cold and breezy but clear weather. Things went well all in all.

No running yet since OBX. Long beach walk Monday; swimming yesterday and probably today. I will ease back in starting tomorrow.

DD is taking a year off school. She got her WFR and WEMT certifications and passed the national EMT test. She will be working ski patrol this winter and probably will do a NOLs mountaineering course in the Spring while she sorts out where to try to transfer.

I am way too far behind to comment in detail.. but I have been lurking some and will try to resume more regular posts.  ( and shorter ones!!)

thanks enki. Now I know why I didn't know what ST meant.

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Everybody’s different but not training that much, if any, makes it more possible to blame the aging process for deteriorating times over standard distances over the years. Thus, though skiing and just being in good shape anyway made it possible to slip under four hours now-and-then for the first 25 years (through 2001 at 58yo), it eroded pretty fast to a last sub-five in 2007 and, with only one sub-six so far this year, it’s slowly dawning on me that 2012 may be the last time for any in the five hour range too

.

In fact, if I thought it would make any difference, it’s starting to get pathetic enough that I might have to start training for the next decade. . I wonder what kind of training some of our fellow runners do compared to their early running days to be able to continue setting so many PR's year-after-year without apparent regard to age.  <<<(ilene/ilene)>>>