Over 60s training.

ceal,
I did them again today.
The second one is interesting as at first I wonder how I could make my knee rotate. I  found that I had to had to flex my ankle as well and then sure enough I could get it to rotate in both directions. Indeed it is a figure of 8.
I found this one really made my heels feel good. I usually get a little bit of a burn after my run and this exercise seemed to reduce it.

The one where you squish your toes up against the wall made it very obvious that my big toe is very long as my little toe hardly touched when my big toe was really squished.

The other toe crunching one also reveal another defect in that my left big toe doesn't bend well at the first joint. The second joint is fine , mmmm I wonder if that is a problem. The right foot is better but still doesn't bend much.

A 9k run outside today. Footing is still poor on some of it but at least no soakers.

Aws - Samson and JJ - would be one way to demolish a garden shed, should he want to do so.

TS: "it's funny how exercises are so long to describe and so quick to do!!"  An example of something which is "easier done than said"?

Is York a new marathon? I think someone was talking about it on the "Fetch" website.

Diana - enjoy Bangkok. How long are you going for?

I was working today, so no running but a lot of driving. Ankle feeling a bit itchy tonight, which may be good as suggests it's healing.

The last few miles of my drive home were horrendous, as it became very misty and I had to go along a country lane with no lights, no cats'-eyes and not even a white line in the middle of the road. I was crawling along, orienting myself by glimpses of grassy verge and hedge seen intermittently through swirling mist.

Columba
Not nice driving conditions. At least you made it safely.
JJ

good day - first one on today???

Tracey
now whay does the news about Hippo not surprise me ??

MIck6
watch your heels on that poor footing - no slip back is allowed!!

Columba
agreed - easier done than said - or easier demonstated than said  anyway.
The sword is mightier than the pen  - the victors get to write the history!!
Driving is not good news for poorly ankles as they tend to get stuck in one position   and stiffen up. A bit of one legged stances may help to regain proprioception in the joint ( I am never confident I have spelt that properly!!!)

Yes York is a new race in the calendar with a field limited to 5,000 so it shouldn't be too crowded. Places are going fast so I may make a profit on it if I don't run!!

Lovely crisp am today - hard frost and -3C which meant I could see the pavements quite clearly in the early morning glow of the sun.

5 miles done in 40:55 (8:10m/m) 

1m 8:26
2m 7:42
3m 7:58
4m 8:01
5m 8:42 Hipps hill

- only 21.2 miles to train for. But add a mile/week to my longest run and I will be doing ultras by the time York comes around!!

The advice from Garmin was to try another battery in my chest strap receiver/transmitter which I did this morning and guess what - it was worse!!
So back it will go  

anyone got anything tosay to this journalist ??

Columba,
It sounded like a stressful journey, I hope you chilled out appropriately when you got home.
We rarely get fog here, at least not on an English scale. Roads have no lights outside the city and of course you don't have cateyes anywhere because of the snow ploughs. All roads have ditches and are reasonably wide so that there is somewhere to put the snow. Outside of the main roads you are often driving on packed snow so you cannot see the white line anyway.
It sounds scary but most cars get fitted with snow tyres for the winter and there are a lot of 4 wheel drive cars
With the warm weather this weekend I may get to see my drive again. 

TS,
I am going to be following your training with great interest, especially when the mileage gets up there.
I do have one gripe as an over 65 year old runner. Why is it that the first thing a young runner will say on meeting me is, wow, I hope I can still run like you when I am your age, or something to that effect.
It makes me feel like I have one foot in the grave.

The temperature was 0c today and the huge snow banks are melting and then freezing. I ran 9.7k outside and that was a big mistake, masses of black ice everywhere so it turned out to be a very slow run.
It was probably the right sort of pace as my feet were tired from ceal's exercises yesterday.

The forecast for Saturday is now 11c, it is hard to imagine what that is going to do to the streets. The city crews are all out digging out the storm drains so that the melted snow has somewhere to go.
 

Mick, I know exactly what you mean about younger runners sometimes having rather a patronising attitude towards us older folk but I'm a little more tolerant since finding myself doing exactly the same thing a couple of years ago. It was at a Parkrun and there was a runner I knew to be 78 years old. I noticed he was wearing lightweight racing shoes for the 5K race and thought, what's the point of those at the sort of slow pace he'll be running at his age. How mortifying is that? It made me sit up and think. I also remember the short spell of running I did in my early 20s and thinking about my father, "poor bloke, he's past this sort of thing now". Of course, my dad then was quite a bit younger than I am now.

Good morning

6.03M; 1:21:45.7; 13:33/M; 2°C

Graham - You watch you say about 78yo, it's only a month hence for me.

al

aws, yes, I knew you were about that age and was conscious of it as I wrote what I did. Generally I hope I have no attitude I shouldn't have towards runners a bit older than me (what right would I have when my own running is pitifully slow compared to youngsters who train as much as I do?) but thoughts can pop into one's head, at least mine, which do make me more tolerant of others who may themselves be a little patronising towards runners in the higher age-groups and that's what I was trying to get across. I can be sure I have no adverse opinion about your running though, quite the opposite.

I did 10 x 400 intervals (90 seconds between) at the running track on Wednesday and found them as tough as ever. Laps between 1:29 and 1:31. There's snow forecast in the NE next week so pleased I took the chance on the track while I could.

I offered to help Mark A in his planning for Australia and he suggested I did a risk assessment for the various animals and nasties he could come across. I finished it yesterday and sent it to him.

good morning

Graham
I hope you remembered to include my physio's advice about Oz wildlife  - "If it moves it can kill ya!!!" 
the last time I saaw her she showed me a photo her father had sent after the floods in Rockampton of all the snakes he had killed with his 5 iron when they sought refuge on the house porch - all of them highly venomous!!!!!!
Great set of 400 intervals there - time to reduce the  interval to 60 seconds - you are recovering too  much before the next one so your HR drops and you spend too little time in the high lactate zone you are aiming for by doing 400 reps

aws
and you are still beating me in terms of  daily miles run!!

Mick6
I know exactly what you mean  by that remark - is it a comment on longevity or performance?!!!
I did have a much younger guy after the last Parkrun I ran thank me for towing him around to a PB. He said "if an older feller like you could keep going at that pace then I just had to as well". I was sooooo pleased I had outkicked him on the run in when he tried to overtake me 

Another nice crisp morning but no frost. Thought it time for a cut back after all the big miles I have run !! 
So 4 miles in 32:47 (8:10m/m)

1m 8:26
2m 7:51
3m 7:59
4m 8:25 Hipps Hill

Same route as yesterday less one of the flat miles so quite pleased the pace was exactly the same  although the hill/flat ratio was higher

Garmin have informed me they are sending a new HRM 

MIck6
I have 261 days to go before the marathon which is good as the build up can be nice and progressive with none of the pressure that some races bring because of the limited time between notified of acceptance and the race itself.

I will identify some targets along the way and if I am not close to, or ahead of them then I will reconsider the event.

TS, it doesn't feel like I'm recovering too much but I'm sure you're right about reducing to 60 seconds and that's what I'll do next time. It's always been my aim but tempting to put off doing it! The pace is going to drop though as no way I could maintain that with less recovery time. I know that's OK and to be expected. The 90 seconds have always been strictly from the time I cross the line and not after I've slowed down and checked the watch again. It's going to be hard! 

Tracey
yes I have!!
There are only a couple of hundred places left as of this morning - it has filled quickly for a new race.

Graham
a HRM ( well a properly working one!!) would soon show you what is happening. On a 60 second interval my HR would drop from 155 on finishing to around 100-110 bpm. Another 30 seconds would have seen it down to around 75-80 bpm.
So by starting at the higher HR I was almost  immediately into  my lactate threshold rate and would complete the inteval with an avHR of about 145 which was 78% WHR so right on the lactate threshold.
And yes they did hurt - but start with fewer intervals and try and keep the quality up 

Hello

Sorry been awol. Christmas may be over but  doesn't mean the mania has. We've had the sale but it still ain't over (think Kenneth Wolstenholme). ... Then we have to get the store back to normal biger than normal as  the layout is changing hopefully another week or so and normality can resume

TS you naughty man what happened to you. I may be running one as well that day binned the idea of ever doing a spring one  while i'm in my current job not pratical as training deteriates so may try for an autumn one

TS and i'm with you in the training stakes right at the back, but i think you are just ahead of me

Why is it when you post  you have it in your head to say something only you don't and only remember a mile down the road (literally) Was on my bike on ay to get some extra lights for my  bike.  ....

Columba was it JJ or TS that mentioned (can't remember) about that even with a had torch its hard to make things out  with the different shades of black or something on the road/pavement

Know that feeling sometimes you see  something that just aint there which i suppose  is better than not seeing something that is there

Thanks for tips Mick - I have worked it out and loaded ceals stretches, plus some Bangkok info to my Kindle 

TS, I looked at York too, and was very tempted, but it's a long way for me, so probably Bournemouth makes better sense.

I led a group on Wednesday for 9 x 200m reps, which we did in 55 - 59 seconds. Recovery was a further 200m jog or walk. Impressive 400s from you Graham.

Columba & TS - yes 3 weeks in Thailand. We start with 5 nights in Bangkok, then head south on the overnight train.

Hi all.
Not managed a run  for two days but still getting plenty of exercise.

TS
I may well have something to contribute to the journalist's project. Thanks for the link.
Do you realise that you did nearly one fifth of your marthon in 40 mins. That's 3hours 20minutes pace.

Graham
Well done on the 400s. Quick and consistent too.
If you shorten the recoveries you may have to settle for less reps if your target is to run consistently at lactate threshold.

Pammie
Good to see you doing your bit to keep the economy ticking over.
Wasn't me that made the head torch comment.
JJ