The Old Man And The Road

Stazza

I did a bit of running - on and off - as a nipper (16-21) and managed to run 3:57 for the 1,500m and 8:38 for the 3000m. I also ran 14:58, I think, for 5,000m. I stopped running and loaded on the timber. After a visit to the Doc and getting told my B.P. and cholesterol were high, I quit smoking, drinking, eating rubbish and started running again. I've built up to 50 miles a week (last two weeks) and shed 3.5 stone. My goal is to run a marathon in 2014; I hope to run somewhere around the 2:30 mark. I'm a fan of all the Canova stuff... But here's where I'm at now:

Sunday - 10.5 easy.
Monday - a.m. 5 easy. p.m. 3.5 with a bit of effort.
Tuesday - a.m. 5 easy.
Wednesday - a.m. 5 easy. p.m. 3.5 pick up.
Thursday - a.m. 5 easy.

I'm running without a watch but think I'm running between 7 and 8 pace (all pretty comfortable). I intend to build the mileage up until June and then I'll structure the training and add in the sessions with a view to running a few 10k races next year, prior to getting stuck into the marathon training...

Stazza

a.m. 5 relaxed miles. Legs felt good and wanted to pick up the pace but I held back and saved it for tonight's zippy 3.5. The old legs are handling the miles and no signs of niggles so far, which is suprising - given my age.

Can't wait to get this mileage foundation out of the way and drop the last stone so that I can start putting in some workouts. Must remember to start slow tonight and let how I feel dictate the pace.

p.m. 3.5 miles with a bit of zip. Started out slow and picked up the pace so that the last 4-5 mins were a smidgeon faster than LT(ish) pace. Felt comfortable and the pick ups came naturally.

5 miler tomorrow and that'll be the third consecutive 50 mile week. One more week at 50 and then up we go to 60 for four weeks.

Stazza

a.m. 5 miles in the rain. Felt nice and relaxed. And that's the 50 (or a touch over) up for another week.

Stazza

a.m. 10.5 easy(ish) miles to start off the week. Took the Garmin with me this morning as I needed to measure the route - undulating out and back course. Intended to run at about 8 - 8:15 pace but found myself running at 7:25 pace and feeling very easy: must be the weight loss. Picked it up at mile 7 and dropped in a 7:10 and then finished off with a 6:52 and a 6:48. All very comfortable, which is hugely encouraging.:)

Stazza

a.m. 5 mile plod. Legs a tad heavy from yesterday's run, so just plodded out the 5 miles.

p.m. 3.5 miles with a briskish final two. Legs felt better than this morning. Tomorrow morning, I'll drop in a few short and gentle pick-ups to obliterate the cobwebs.

Stazza

a.m. 5 miles. Nice and relaxed with a gentle pick-up over the final two miles. Cobwebs obliterated.

Stazza

a.m. 5 miles relaxed. Beautiful crisp morning - not quite gelid, but certainly chill-ay. Legs felt great and breathing was fine and dan-day. Seemed to be zipping along but held back for tonight's run. Defo getting fitter. Still a long way to go...

p.m. 3.5 miles steady with an increase in pace over the final 1.5 miles.

Stazza

a.m. A frosty five. Steady all the way. Everything's tickety-boo.

Stazza

a.m 5 miles steady. Fresh out this morning but great for running.

p.m. 3.5 miles steay with a geriatric flourish in the final mile.

@ T Runner - It does feel great to be back running around the streets in tights at 5 a,m. especially at my age.

@ Krusty_Clown and RayCun - I'm 47 and a Luddite: don't know how to put quotes in my post; tried and ended up nearly crashing the system. On the jump from 50 to 60, I know it goes against the 10% rule but I had a comeback in my early thirties and a 10 mile increase every 3-4 weeks up until 80mpw worked out ok. I feel fine at 50 and the runs are short because of shedding timber. If I stay away from speed until I'm down to 133 pounds, which will have me around 70-80mpw, I should be okay - hopefully. I'm still trying to work everything out at the moment - things have changed since my times; I'm trying to work out what these timing chips are and before I bought my Garmin I thought they were a wind-up.

Thanks for the nod on drquirky, I'll have a peep. And of course, I'll take a pootle over to your logs and have a gander. I'm trying to work out how everything works. Thanks for the warm welcome.

T runner

Well done, consistant improvement and very impressive times as a nipper.
Id say it feels great to be back?

Krusty_Clown

So... ho hum.... No beating around the bush.. How old is old?!
Increasing from 50 to 60 mpw is quite a jump. Might be better to do it in stages (53->56->58->60), rather than jumping from one rung to the next, however, with your background in running, you've probably got a pretty good idea what stresses the body can take. It will be interesting to follow how someone with a talent in middle distance adapts to the longer distances. Best of luck.

Incidentally, drquirky has come from a similar background, so might be worth taking a peek at his log to see how he has managed the transition to the marathon.

RayCun

Krusty_Clown wrote: »

So... ho hum.... No beating around the bush.. How old is old?!

I was thinking the same thing. I bet he's 25 :eek:

Stazza

a.m. 5 miles easy to round off my fourth and final week at 50 miles.

@ Krusty, T Runner, and RayCun, I've replied to your posts in yesterday's post - sorry, I made a right mess of it! That's what happens when you get old.

Krusty_Clown

You're telepathic; answering the questions before I asked them.
Just curious, what kind of a come-back did you have in your 30s?

Stazza

@ Krusty - In 1999 (34) I was 14.5 stone, smoking 30-40 a day and drinking heavy(ish): wine every night and regular all-dayers. The old lady was running and I decided to give it a go. Packed in all the rubbish, started jogging 0.5 mile, and built from there. After a year I'd got down to 10 stone and I was running about 60-70mpw. Started doing some Frank Horwill type multi-pace training (on top of 70-80mpw) and managed to run 33:17 on a hilly Blenheim 10k. Every two weeks I was knocking 4 secs off my 4x1 mile with 60 sec rec - started off doing about 5:44's for the reps and the last session was about 4:50. Jacked it all in due to wife getting pregnant (partly my fault) and work commitments.

Since December 2000 until August 2011 I was back on 40 smokes a day, drinking wine every night, and shovelling in the rubbish food. Weight was 14 stone - today it's 10:7.

Don't know how the form will go, but I'm not going back on the booze or the smokes and I'm keeping to running and healthy eating. :pac::pac::pac:

Stazza

12 miles easy - 1hr 26 mins; av pace 7:10. Felt relaxed and strong and kept the pace consistently around the 7:10 mark. Nice start to my first 60 mile week.:)

Stazza

Monday
a.m. - 7 miles recovery run.
p.m. - 3.5 miles steady.

Tuesday
a.m. - 7 miles easy: 3.5 miles @ 8 pace and then picked up the pace a notch and averaged 7:15 for the second 3.5 miles.

Legs feel fine, considering the increase in miles. No second run today, so I should be able to recover and be ready for tomorrow morning...

dna_leri

Hard to keep track of all the good logs here.

Good luck with the comeback.

Are you going to wait until 2013 to toe the line in a race?
Hope you can keep the motivation going.

Stazza

dna_leri wrote: »

Hard to keep track of all the good logs here.

Good luck with the comeback.

Are you going to wait until 2013 to toe the line in a race?
Hope you can keep the motivation going.

I know what you mean about keeping track of the logs, but it's interesting to see how others are progressing. Thanks for the good wishes on the comeback. I'm not sure when I'll start racing; if all goes to plan and I don't get injured, I hope to get a couple of races in at the end of this year but nothing too serious.

Stazza

a.m. - 7 miles easy.

p.m. - 3.5 miles steady.

Legs are feeling heavy from the increase in miles, even though I've slowed the pace a touch. I actually feel as though I'm training now. Just hope the old body doesn't crumble...

Stazza

a.m. - 7 miles easy.
p.m. - 3.5 miles pick-up: First 2 steady and then eased through the limited gears for the final 1.5 miles. Felt much better today.

ecoli

Just finally catching up on this log proper.

Love the long term approach here I think alot of people can learn from this and that an 18 week marathon plan isn't the be all and end all but that you need to build the fitness month after month and year after year. I could be debuting the marathon around the same time as your target time so hopefully will be aiming to stick to your shoulder if you get down to the fitness to hit your target

Also like the fact that you are running by feel in the early stages very Lydiardesque in the aim to tune into your body as ultimately it is the best guide in terms of training and I think that it is something the Garmin generation (myself included to some extent) should aim to try work on

Keep up up and best of luck on the come back

Stazza

Thanks for the encouragement, ecoli.

I agree with you about the 18 week plan: I could follow a genetic (oops, edit - generic) plan and run a sub 4hr marathon and then what? I think it's better to build an aerobic foundation first and then move on from there.

The Garmins are a great invention and I genuinely thought they were a wind-up at first. I'll probably use mine to measure runs and then later for tempo workouts. I couldn't handle the pressure of the watch on every run; I think it's important to get used to running by feel.

You seem to be doing some handy sessions; Imo, speedwork is the way to jumping levels (improvement) - just make sure that you give your body enough time to recover and adapt. If I were in your position, I'd take a look at Frank Horwill's multi-pace stuff - brilliant. In my youth I went from a 4:30 1500m runner to 4:00 mins in less than 10 weeks following his stuff. Again, make sure you give yourself plenty of recovery time - there's no rush. He doesn't just focus on the middle distance stuff either. I wouldn't follow his 10k and marathon ideas but he does have some decent sessions.

We'll have to pick a marathon and bet a pair of old running socks on the outcome - you'll have to give me odds though, as you have youth and talent on your side.:p

Stazza

a.m. - 3.5 miles relaxed.

I had planned to do a 7 this morning and 3.5 tomorrow but decided, while running this morning, to swap them. Felt ok this morning, but thought that dropping in the 3.5 rather than the 7 might help the body recover from the jump in miles this week: 50 - 60. Time will tell.

This week, I've found it difficult to balance getting in enough nosh to help me get the training done with making sure I drop 1-1.5lbs. Weight's been all over this week. I think what I might need is a dedicated harder workout once a week - maybe an An. T. run or a hill session. Not sure, will monitor.

ecoli

Stazza wrote: »

You seem to be doing some handy sessions; Imo, speedwork is the way to jumping levels (improvement) - just make sure that you give your body enough time to recover and adapt. If I were in your position, I'd take a look at Frank Horwill's multi-pace stuff - brilliant. In my youth I went from a 4:30 1500m runner to 4:00 mins in less than 10 weeks following his stuff. Again, make sure you give yourself plenty of recovery time - there's no rush. He doesn't just focus on the middle distance stuff either. I wouldn't follow his 10k and marathon ideas but he does have some decent sessions.

Its funny you should mention that over the last few months have been coming around to his and Coe's multi-paced work idea's and though not following it religiously it is the basis for many of the idea's in my plan and I have to say so far seems to be working as long as I can focus it on progressing so that I get the best results come the summer

Stazza

a.m. - 7 miles easy. A touch over 60 miles for the week.

Stazza

a.m. - 12 miles easy. Ran without a watch and enjoyed the scenery and the beautiful morning.:) Hopefully, the esay pace of the run will mean that I'll cope a bit better this week with the 60+ miles.

Stazza

a.m. - 7 miles easy. Wanted to run nice and slowly (8:30); ended up running at 7:20 - 7:30 pace, which was fine as the run felt very easy and very slow.

Stazza

a.m. - 7 miles easy.
p.m. - 3.5 mile progression.

Legs feel much better than last week.

Stazza

a.m. - 6 miles easy. Everything hunky-dory with the legs.

alitoast

I read some of these logs with envy. Impressive times. I can only dream of getting to your times