I reached a milestone, and had some thoughts.
I'm still a relative newbie, but I'm now a year, give or take, into masters running. My goal was to run a 4x4 at Penn this year, and I gave myself roughly a year to do it. Background - 50 years old, have only done distance road running since I was 20.
The main issues I had to address were these:
1.) Weight
2.) Atrophy of muscles used in sprinting over many years (not just hamstrings, but also hip flexors and calves).
3.) Supporting muscles - core etc.
I can't see that I could've done this in anything less than a year.
The best advice I got was from a masters middle distance runner who said that I should "start from distance running" and "break it down". That is to say: begin to tackle progressively shorter distances with faster speed.
Part of the strategy was to gradually open up my stride. So, I'd do 2 to 4 mile runs, where I'd hammer the last mile. I kept track of my turnover and stride length with a pedometer. It definitely showed improvements in both, and my "fast" mile times began to hover in the 6-minute zone.
I also worked on my core - did yoga, weights, swam, kayaked and biked. Only the weights were really "running" oriented, but the other stuff helped my general fitness and kept the pounds off (big issue).
Starting around November, I began to do serious interval workouts. The biggest issue there was finding a decent training cycle. After a high volume workout, I sometimes felt disabled for up to a week. Or, worse yet, I'd get one of several hamstring pulls. That was pretty discouraging.
I decided to race 800's because it was a good target and wouldn't tax my hamstrings as much as 400's. That was a way-station to the 400.
I didn't have any training partners for the 800, but I did workout with a bunch of great guys who were focused on the 200/400. That helped my speed, but I had to throw in extra workouts targeting the 800.
Finally, I found a decent cycle that allowed me to have a good speed workout, a good mid-distance workout, and some distance work. Mix in some weights, yoga, swimming and biking, I managed to find a decent menu.
Penn snuck up on me, and I ran a 4x1 and a 4x4. One of my budies caught my split in 58.4. Considering that I found a 72 second 400 nearly impossible the summer before, it was a substantial improvement. What I now realize is that I've built myself a decent platform to work from - but I believe I can run faster - but it'll take continued work, incluing more 800-sytle workouts, more weights, and gradually slicing seconds off my intervals in the process.
I don't know what this all says, but I get so much advice ("don't jog, it'll only slow you down..." "you gotta break it down" "do a lot of squats...") that I found it difficult to sort out what works for me.
In the end, I think that a) building a strong base, then b) finding a good schedule for workouts that include adequate rest, and sensible goals where you can measure incremental improvements worked the best for me. I'll jog for warmups, do squats, too.
So, that's my view from one year into this stuff. I think I'm hooked.
_________________ FAT is where it's at
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