Over 60s training.

Thanks JJ. I will seriously give it thought for next year. I did the sponsorship thing last Sept for a half. sent out letters 2 weeks before the race and received £1700, very quickly, so will have to wait till I am 65 before I ask again. Your sponsorship money raised was quite magnificent, well done. You must have been very proud of yourself. Yes I can see the acheivable time.

I heartily agree with you about recovery and rest. I train only on 4 days a week, and will probably continue to do so. Perhaps raising the mileage on these days rather than adding another day to the programme. I also do my sprints and often my longer fast run (40mins) on the treadmill to save the pounding of the tarmac. I again agree with you that one has to have a LIFE besides running!

Ceal/JJ.
Its this thing about other things in life that quite obviously means one can't always stick to your intended running schedules or plans. Although my good lady doesnt mind my running hobby(?) its always on my mind not to get too obsessive as to appear selfish.Then again I suppose doing it in moderation would not make it easy to achieve the goals! Plod on regardless..........

Anyway you both are exemplary 60+ runners.

lincoln imp, I think that there is a fine line between not letting anything get in the way of training and appearing to be obsessive (well maybe being totally obsessive)and sticking to ones plan for the week and on the other hand being selfish to rest of family and appearing a total crank to one's friends and having a life without feeling very frustrated sometimes if one has to change one's plan. I sometimes make my week 8 days long, that helps. Paula R does that, not that we are even close to her achievements, just scale it down by 1000% and one can see that our goals are the same, to do our best. An 8 days training plan allows a day in the week for an uneventuality cropping up. However, it does mean that one's long run will be mid week sometimes and if you are working that is not so easy, especially in the winter. I am probably talking a load of tosh here! T

To a certain extent we have to be obsessive in character to keep going out training what ever the weather, how ever one is feeling etc. going through many pain barriers and some times boredom and of course disappointment. That is the negative, the positive for me is a feeling of freedom, being in control, to be outside, see the countryside,( like JJ talking to little lambs), personal achievements, challenges, being able to solve problems whilst running (I do not mean mathmatical ones)! I could go on and on.

Legs v. tired/stiff this morning and not obeying orders. I sometimes wonder who's in charge! Abandoned training run for gentle 3.5 jog/walk and turned it into something pleasant.
I know these days happen from time to time so no worries - just rest for a day or so.
JJ

Hi everyone,

Wow, you are an inspiration to me!

I realy like Ceal's 8 days a week schedule. Going to try it.

JJ Hardly surprising your legs are tired after the 18 mile run on sunday. I think whatever the age they would be tired this week. All will be well again by the weekend when you will be ready to punish the body again!!! with another long run. what are you hoping to achieve this weekend, or do you run the longer distance alternate weekends? Or are you now tapering for the FLM? I know that the current trend is to taper for 3 weeks beforehand, and this moment I am not sure of the exact date of the FLM.

Hi spud, what are you up to?

Hi

Perhaps some of the articles contained in this link will be of interest.

http://www.pponline.co.uk/encyc/veterans.htm

SH

Hi Ceal,
Nothing much today. I did a hard session yesterday so, now, i am paying for it. Tell me about your schedules, Ceal, do you train hard?

As far as the FLM is concerned, this week and next are the last of the heavy workloads. Tomorrow 6-7 miles steady. Fri. easy 10. Sat. easy 3. Sun. 18 miles as guest with local club with the fatest group I can sensibly keep up with. Total 42+miles
Next week fairly high mileage with Hastings 1/2m on Sunday. Say 35 miles total.
Week after will be a normal training week with a taper at the end for Paddock Wood 1/2m and a pb attempt. Say 30 miles.It's a fast course.
Then two weeks proper taper for FLM. Say 20 then 15 max.
I have to stress that this ain't normal. I had never run 18 miles in training until last Sunday. Normal mileage is 30ish per week but I don't have fixed schedules.
JJ

Ceal.....No you are not talking a lot of tosh. To a different degree you concurred what I was thinking about the self and/or family scenario. And like you say we have to discipline ourselves to go out there in adverse weathers or when we don't quite feel like it! I'm all for 8 days a week!
Tomorrow we go down to G.Yarmouth to set up the caravan for this spring/summer. While there will do some running on beaches & roadsides.
JJ....is also inspiring. As young Mr.Grace would say "you've all done very well". If you never watched 'Are you being served'ignore that previous sentence.

Snake Hips
Thanks for the link. Will check it out.
JJ

I must spend more time training and less time on this thread, or more time on some house cleaning!! But hey I enjoy talking to you guys.

Thanks snakehips for the pp.online web site address I will look when I have finished this. I have been on their site before but have never looked at the veterans page. I followed their carbo loading menu before the half last sunday., it seemed OK.

Spud you asked about my training schedule, I really do not do a very high mileage, I tend to go for quality rather than quantity. I always do one long run a week about 12/13 miles. This I run just above easy. Then a rest day followed by a 30/40 minute recovery run followed by a run of a similar time which I will run as fast as I am able. Sometimes I will run this on the treadmill because I can monitor my speed and distance more easily this is followed by a rest day then a session on the treadmill I will do 40/45 minutes of speed work, obviously the first 10 minutes is a warm up. This will be I mile fastish then 1k faster followed by 800 faster 400 faster still and 200 ,you got it, faster and 100 even faster. I liked putting all those words saying faster!!!! sounds good when I see it in writing. I have rests in the form of slower jogging in between sets. If time and feeling good I will repeat some of this. One feels rather B--------d at the end of this. I am going to experiment with alternating this weekly with some fast hill runs repeated over and over again with jogs in between of course. This is always followed by 1 or 2 days of rest. I only do between 20 and 30 miles a week and often nearer 25 if I have been feeling tired.

Lincoln imp Have fun running near the sea, a wonderful experience, it always feels so healthy. Be careful on the sand, unless you are used to it. I did some training on the sand once, it wasn't very flat and the sand was soft and I ended up hurting my knee and having to walk a long way home!

JJ I am totally exhausted and extremely impressed reading your programme at the moment, You must be so fit. It must be great to be able to pack all those miles in. I guess it just takes time to get to that stage. I remember only too well when it used to nearly kill me to run 6 miles, and now of course its like a walk in the park(unless one is racing it)

That sees me signed off and out.

Ceal. As I said, the training schedule at the moment is geared to the FLM. After that I'm back to 25 - 30 miles per week. The next target, for the Autumn, is to hack a large slice off my 10k and 1/2m times. So it will be quality training not quantity.
Incidently, 6-7 years ago I started running and it took me 1hr.10mins. to jog/walk round a hilly local circuit. Last year, with 28 year old son as competition I ran it in 27-50. Just shows what improvements are there if you want them. Too much testosterone as well.
JJ

Hi Peeps,

Ceal, how do you put your schedule together? Do you have a couch? What are your plans for the future?

Snakes.

Good website that! Thanks very much.
JJ

JJ your long training runs will give you such good endurance, with the ability to train faster as you train shorter runs. But of course you know this already. I guess it will make the shoreter distances like 12/13 miles seem really short. Great.

Snakes, thanks for the website, I have explored the veterans section, very encouraging.

Spud,my plans for the future are another half in May at Sandringham. I am quite selective over which races I run in. I prefer them to be in attractive locations, if possible. I will do the odd 10k etc over next 3 months or so, but have not decided yet which.

Hi all!
Just been exchanging views on wrinklies' training with someone another thread. In terms of recovery, there's a guy who reduces his training by 50% every 4th. week which is an interesting idea. I will investigate further.
What certainly keeps cropping up is the need to avoid any sudden increases in training. Keep to small improvements in speed or distance and get fully used to the new level before moving up again.
I will revert. It's not an offence is it?
JJ

JJ How can it be an offence if your body is telling you that what you have decided to do is the RIGHT action. On the pp.online web site under veterans, it definately suggests that us wrinklies' should have 5 rest days every fortnight. I think one has to find what suits oneself at the appropiate moments. I think that because of family commitments every now and again ie looking after my wonderful grandchildre who definately come second to running (I think)! thus I am forced to take an invountary rest. It is difficult to get rid of the feelings of guilt which occurr at such times especially if one has already planned in concrete the plan for the week. I think that we have to learn to be flexible for a variety of reasons. Why I wonder does one have to wait until one is over 60 to learn/relearn these lessons. ummm pause for thought I think!!

Hi everybody, I'm back again and trying to catch up with your chat It seems that us female over 60's are in the minority. Ceal, your times are terrific. Don't be afraid of a marathon - just run a bit slower and a bit longer. I reckon that the worst thing about a marathon is the training. But once you have done it, the marathon itself is relatively easy.
I am meticulously following the Runner's World current programme for sub 4 - the four times a week schedule. I actually find it harder than the five times a week but it is nice to have that extra day off. I run in the evenings and am lucky because I have a myriad of country lanes running alongside the sea - but it is quite hilly. So far I have made all my targets - but only just. I hope that I will be speedier on a flat course like the FLM. Last night I did my 20 miler which is why I am sitting in front of the computer tonight! I did it just inside the target time in 3.03. I always do my long run on Wednesday evenings because my husband goes to bridge club and I have the evening free! I think that the most important thing is to believe in yourself. Don't sell yourself short. If you want to do a good time in a marathon you can do it. But on the day the challenge will be mental rather than physical. You have to be totally focused on keeping to a regular pace, keeping the shortest line and concentrating on who/what is ahead so that you can avoid jams and keep flowing. When you begin to hurt or slow down, call up all your mental strength and you will soon get through it. Jeez, I sound like Paula Radcliffe!

Evening P.
Welcome back. Good sound advice. I think the most important thing is to enjoy it all. Enjoyment comes from being successful in your own terms, no-one else's, and success comes from doing sufficient training as is appropriate for your success.
This is all getting a bit navel gazing. I shall go thread wandering , there's some very funny stuff out there. I also run the (im)mature runners thread under 'general' but there's a lot of interlopers so you will need to be broad-minded!
JJ
BTW P. Check out that website that was posted on here earlier. It's very interesting.