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Sun Feb 04, 2007 10:05 am

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That is my goal. I have been focused on this quest without a clearly defined plan for its achievement. I'm 49 now, and will be turning 50 in late August. On Sept 1st ( a Saturday ) at 10 am, I intend to step on a local high school track with other masters and give it a serious effort. There are some strides I need to make between now and then.
If any of you have tried, I would love to hear of your triumphs and disasters. I have a strong local club, MCRRC, and some local runners who are capable of going sub 5. My work schedule doesn't often lend itself to training with them however.
I look forward to hearing from you! David


Last edited by Finish Strong on Tue Dec 10, 2013 6:09 am, edited 1 time in total.


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Sun Feb 04, 2007 4:45 pm

 
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David.

I'm in awe of your goal! I ran sub-5 only once in my life -- a 4:56 in an indoor PE class at the University of Kansas when I was 20. (This was a couple years after I was kicked off the track team as a mediocre hurdler.)

I don't have any expertise in middle distances, but I want to encourage you to go gently on the joints, muscles and tendons. Take time to rest between hard runs, and back off at any sign of a tear.

Keep us posted on your progress, champ! Best of luck.

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Mon Feb 05, 2007 8:54 am

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....a pretender at this point. It was 10 degrees this morning - with a brisk wind. A run seemed in order :P . I ran to the gym and got on the treadmill without warming up ( You know what's coming ) - I now have a mild left calf strain.
I violated a few of my "unbreakable" rules. I did one thing right..stopping immediately. R.I.C.E. therapy for a few days and then a gradual return to training. I expect a few of these bumps along the road. When I return to the roads in a few days , speed will be stricken from my vocabulary for a few more weeks.
I'm pretty much a lone ranger when it comes to my training , that may be the best thing at this point. The frailty of aging joints !! 8) !!
Congrats on the sub 5 ! Google " Nolan Shaheed " if you want a little inspiration.
Have a great one .
David



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Mon Mar 05, 2007 5:06 pm

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I would recommend that you find local all comer meets that are held through out the summer, and use these as speed work outs, and use them to Gage your progress. When I have done this I have improved each week, so when my big race at the end of summer, I am ready for what ever goal I have set.
I will always start my race at my goal pace, even thought I know that I can't hold the pace. Then as I race during the season, I will finally be able to hold the goal pace for the whole mile.
When you do your speed work outs, build from you date pace ( what you can average per 400 meters on a mile race) and then drop your repeats down to the race goal pace.
As I get older, I will only do 2-3 sets of 4x400's



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Tue Mar 06, 2007 4:45 pm

 
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Thank you. That sounds like great advice. I have neglected to step on the track for serious work. I need to see speed as fun ( which I obviously do to have such a goal ) but listen closely to the signals my body sends me. I've just come back from a mild , but persistent calf strain. It is now rested and I'm back to running without pain. I haven't recently "let the dogs out" in my running , but did finish my run today at just under 6 minute pace. Tell me more about your running. I've gone from 213 pounds in 2003 , to 171 now. My lowest weight was 163 ( around Thanksgiving ) , but I am planning on having my race day weight be about 153. I'm adept at putting it back on , but I believe thinness is good when running is involved. I aspire to reach a point of being able to compete with some of my faster peers as the years progress. I haven't really competed in over 25 years - It's time to call on my competitive juices again....before I get too old. :D All the best -- happy trails. David



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Tue Mar 06, 2007 6:34 pm

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David,

Interestingly enough, I have had the same goal since around age 40. Something about its simplicity appealed to me back then, and it seemed do-able, even though I never ran track in high school or college. I'm now 48, and have discovered that my real ability is in the 800 meters; however, I still expect to run 5:00 at 50 and run at Masters' Nationals. Back when I first thought of this goal I had no idea how it would change my life, or how much work it would be to realize it.

I now train using Jack Daniels' book as a guide, but have been asking everyone I meet and reading everything I can find on how to become more specific in training to meet my personal needs. Recently I've understood that I needed to add more mileage to get to my goals. I ran 2:09 a few weeks ago on around 30 miles a week. I plan to double that in the next couple of months to get ready for the Outdoor season.

Best wishes to you. Let us know how you are progressing toward your goal.

Doug



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Wed Mar 07, 2007 11:34 am

 
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I also have calf strains as my "Achilles heel"
When I last raced seriously when I turned 40, I strained the calf, and had to go it and get a cortisone shot so I could resume training.
Since I was limited on what speed work I could do then, I used the all comer track meets as my speed work outs, and would race the mile and 800 meters each week. They were very low level, fun, non competitive races, which made them very fun, and it allowed me to build up to my goal.
I was able to make it to the meet that I was training for, but after racing a 2:05 800. and a 4:28 1500, I re-strained the calf and was only able to jog the finals in the 1500.

I do very short speed workouts since my calf will strain easily.

My favorite is doing ladders with negative splits.
200 - 400 - 800 - 1600 - 800 - 400 - 200
My last 800, 400, 200 are faster that my first, and the 200 is all out.

I turn 50 next year and am planning to try to race again, I am still trying to figure out what race I want to do. I am afraid to try to race the 800 again, since it seems to be too hard on my calf. I might move down to the 400, or up to the 1500.

When I train I listen to my body, and the first sense of any type of strain, I stop immediately and walk the rest of the work out.
My (running) doctor told me that my calf was a result of flexibility, and my lower back referring pain to that area.
So stretching is a must for me.



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Thu Mar 08, 2007 9:52 am

 
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Well, I have the same goal and I am 54.

I may be dreaming but I will give it a try.



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Mon Mar 12, 2007 11:15 pm

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Location: Boulder, CO, USA

Finish Strong wrote:
That is my goal. I have been focused on this quest without a clearly defined plan for its achievement. I'm 49 now , and will be turning 50 in late August. On Sept 1st ( a Saturday ) at 10 a.m. , I intend to step on a local high school track with other masters and give it a serious effort. There are some strides I need to make between now and then.
If any of you have tried , I would love to hear of your triumphs and disasters. 8) I have a strong local club MCRRC , and some local runners who are capable of going sub 5. My work schedule doesn't often lend itself to training with them however.
I look forward to hearing from you ! David


Good on you David!

And good for you Canadian: that's my goal, too: -- to go sub-5 this year at 54.

I've got down to 5:10-ish in training last year. We have a group of sub-5 milers here in Boulder dedicated to going for it...some of us are insane enough to believe we can actually do it in the Pearl Street Mile, which is one of the America's Downtown Mile series and has a slightly uphill third quarter! That's in August; we have some track events lined up if it doesn't work out :) (Oh , it's at altitude, too!)

We got world-class coach Bobby McGee interested; he has coached many sub-4 milers, so if we don't achieve it, it won't be because our training is not right.

I'm doing regular progress reports on the sub-5 miling thread on my own site at http://www.yourrunning.com/forum-forums ... ute_miling

My own "progress" has been slow to start after time off with injury at the end of last year, then consistent tiredness led to the discovery that I had basement level serum ferritin (iron stores), so I have been correcting that.

The quantity versus quality thing is a major concern; I have been low-mileage for the last couple of years since moving to altitude. What we're doing is keeping some intensity and leg-speed work going all the time, rather than waiting until later in the year to "do speed".

It's great to hear you are going for it. I wish I had had a crack at it a bit earlier as sub-5 at 50 has a great symmetry to it!!

Look forward to progress reports :)



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Tue Mar 13, 2007 4:19 pm

 
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Boulder ! I've been receiving too much energy from there in recent days. I read about the cross country championships last year , and saw what a wealth of speed there is in your fair city. You master maniacs ! My nephew and his wife and young family are moving there in January to start a doctoral program at the university. My ex-fiance lives there ( I think ) with her husband. I'm inspired - I think I should come out and train with you guys. Or at least go for a run while passing through on my way to Tahoe. Wherever my Asics Nimbus's take me I guess. 50 is the new 30 ; 60 is the new 32 ; and 70 is the new 35. :lol: Have a great one ! David



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Thu Mar 15, 2007 7:48 am

 
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Interesting bit of history.

Had a friend who attended Washington State University on a track scholarship. During his sophomore year he wrote me a letter (obviously the days before email :D ) about a cross-country meet they had run against Oregon. I remember a small phrase in the letter: "A freshman named Prefontaine won the race." At the time, I did not realize how prophetic those words would be.



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Sun Mar 18, 2007 9:32 am

 
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canadian wrote:
Interesting bit of history.

Had a friend who attended Washington State University on a track scholarship. During his sophomore year he wrote me a letter (obviously the days before email :D ) about a cross-country meet they had run against Oregon. I remember a small phrase in the letter: "A freshman named Prefontaine won the race." At the time, I did not realize how prophetic those words would be.


Eugene is becoming "TRACK CITY" once again.
Someday people will say I remember a freshmen named Rupp won a race.

I was privileged to be able to coach Kenny Klotz when he was on my CYO track team at St. Matthews. He wanted to be a sprinter, but I could tell he was a natural distance runner, he went on to go to Central Catholic and was coached by Alberto Salazar, and now he is a freshman running for Oregon. Rupp also ran for the CYO track program here in the Portland area and also ran for Central Catholic. There is another runner at Central Catholic who ran a 1:52 800 as a sophomore last year, Taylor Morgan, who I feel will end up at Oregon, he broke Galen Rupps 1500 meter CYO record when he competed for CYO here is Portland.


My goal is to run a 4:40 mile when I turn 50 in 2008, the reason being that it is the year that they will run the Olympic trials at Hayward field in Eugene, and it will be 100 years since my grandfather ran a 4:40 mile for Oregon when he competed there. I don't know if I will be able to do this, but this is the goal that I will be training for, even if I get 5:00 or a little better, I will be satisfied.



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Sun Mar 18, 2007 2:24 pm

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....and I thought 4 x 75 sounded bad ! I do feel that the 800 meters is probably my best race to compete in. My goal remains a sub 5 on September 1st of this year - as a newly graduated 50 year old. At 51 , I want to go sub 60 for a 400 , and at 52 , a sub 2:10 800....approaching 2:00 in my fondest dreams. I'll need to be patient , disciplined , and probably exceed my talent. If nothing else , I have rediscovered the sheer joy of striding out. I'm giving serious thought to embarking on an exploratory vacation in Lake Tahoe next month. While enjoying getting accustomed to altitude and enduring a few video-worthy wipeouts on the slopes , I want to see what it would take to relocate. I'm happy to see all the geezeresque individuals like me , who refuse to yield to time's ravages prematurely. Keeping pressing the limits while listening to your body. If I get to Tahoe , I would welcome any fellow travellers who want to run the Sierras. All the best , David



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Sun Mar 18, 2007 4:38 pm

 
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Today, I went for a 10 kilometer run. Just ran easily at a relaxed pace. Even after all these years, my body wants to hammer the last 1000 meters. I was tired but still wanted to push it. I had to rein myself in.

It seems that wisdom is acquired with age. Hope so!



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Thu Mar 22, 2007 1:39 pm

 
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All you guys are embarking on a very worthy Quest.. have gotten near but never there as a 50 yr old. Luckily I am now 55 so can obsess elsewhere...

need to tain@73/74 pace
The slower that strength goes into you the realer it is ...

I have had a lot of sucess with athelete by starting them runn200m/jog around to start run 200m... do x 10

the next week is 220 run jog around to start....x10

next 240 ... and so on and so on

once you reach 300m in repeats stay using 100m jog till end of programe

In 12 weeks you are running 10x400 @ Mile pace with a 100m jog rest
you are one ready individual

Good luck to All

My PR s in 50 age group are 5:06 and 2:12.5



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