Thats a good question I was sort of waiting to see how I felt over different distances but I was leaning towards the sprints.But I do enjoy the long runs.
By long runs do you mean the 8 mile runs?
Are you looking to compete or is it purely to keep fit?
If I can get some reasonable times in training
then I will consider competing. I do train as if I will race at some stage but I am just not making the progress I would like.I have worked on conditioning before putting in the more specific stuff but I am finding that I have to leave about a week between speed work to let my legs recover.Is this normal for someone of my age in the first year back or am I being in to much of a hurry to see results?I am a coach and train some talented sprinters but when it comes to myself and at my age it is a different ball game
My suggestion would be to decide on competing and just go for it. Masters comp isn’t necessarily about winning (although that is nice) it is about getting out there and giving it a go.
If you haven’t been involved in competition for a while you will probably simply being in a competitive situation again regardless of how you do, I know I was. Comitting to a comp will also give your training an edge and help keep you motivated. I also found it helped me from overtraining as much, a problem I have always struggled with.
Last season I kept it to 2 high intensity sessions per week and never more than 500m a session when I was doing 100/200 but have stepped things up a fair bit this year as I will be doing 400 as primary focus.
you are right I am just a little scared of taking the plunge I think.Maybe by trying to get the times in training first is totally the wrong way round.Do you ache as much asI do after training god I wish I was 18 again 
Not as sore as that no but then I’m just a kid comapre to you at 44 
I have really become a fan of a long soak in the bath and am pretty vigilant about warmups and recovery.
The physical qualities of 18 - 25 maybe but certainly not the life hassles.
My suggestion would be to decide on competing and just go for it. Masters comp isn’t necessarily about winning (although that is nice) it is about getting out there and giving it a go.
I’ve been running Master’s track for 26+ years and enjoy the thrill of competing as John stated, no bigger thrill then to achieve your goals and run against former Olympic and College stars, besides we are the elite think of it that way, not many guys our age can do what we do and hopefully we are an inspiration to young adults. It’s all about health first and competing second, but keep it healthy by competing for and against yourself.
I started sprinting the 100 when I was 42 y/o. I did alright and with a team for the first 2 years and then left it do to work commitments etc. I switched to CrossFit for a few years to stay in shape but in 2009 was drawn back to track and decided to try again but work meant I needed to train on my own. Unfortunately some recurring calf and groin injuries always sidelined me for few weeks at a time. I eventually enter the 2010 World Masters Indoor Athletics and did make it to the finals in the 60m but tore my hamstring with 10m left in the final. I am now 50 and still not willing to pack it in. I seem to have a month or so of good training them again either a calf pull or slight groin strain. My current schedule which I got off this site is Su - Speed/strength, Mon- tempo, Tue - rest and stretching, Wed - speed/strength, Thu - tempo, Fr/Sa off -
Just wondering if it’s time to pack it in? I hope to do some races this year and was recently given the all good on my calfs. Warmed up for 30-40min today with lots of dynamic stretching and then started into some 60m technique runs and felt the slight groin tightness after the 3rd so packed it in went to the weight training session. Groin a little tight but I stopped early enough so layoff should be minimal. Sorry for the long frustrating rant. Just looking for words of wisdom or advice from other masters.
Trevor, have you had those injuries assessed or just let them heal themselves?
Would recommend a ton of foamrolling followed by stretching for many months then maintain your new flexibility and loose muscles with regular rolling and stretching but less of it.
Learn to do drills correctly before preceding into sprints - for some this can take months.
Just do tempo and some very slow jogging in the mean time till the above takes place
When your body feels ready to start some sprints - don’t - do Hills instead for a good 6-12weeks.
After which - you’ll be ready to sprint on the flats without much drama
You may find only 1 x week for your 1st year of the harder stuff will be all you need.
I have a 60yr old guy who can cycle 1km faster than everybody in our facility (except me) And that takes just over 1min.
So you can still perform at your age no drama at all. You just need to do the right work and balance it off with plenty of easy running (tempo and aerobic jogs) so you can neutralize the system from the harder efforts (otherwise you get really tight)
Ease into speedwork by decreasing tempo distance with increasing speed until you are hitting close to max v. For example, run 200 tempos, then slightly quicker 150s, then quicker 100s and so on. A sort of long to short approach. And keep up the easy paced longer tempo efforts for aerobic base/recovery.
I find dynamic circuits using body weight or light weights are better than max strength heavy lifts. For example, a set of squat thrusts, abs and press ups is better than developing whole body strength via olympic lifts.
I have had them assessed and treated by physio and massage therapists. What is generally occurring is that my right hip is more hypermobile compared to me left which I am working on. This does cause my right adductor to be forced to do a little too much work sometime leading to the slight strain. I do lots of dynamic stretching pre work out on a regular basis.
Thanks, I always spend at least 30 minutes warming up dynamically and include all the usual A,B,C, skips etc. and have been running 200m x 10 tempo for the last little bit without any indication. I hear you on the hills but unfortunately the cold winter climate forces me indoors to a track for the training. I’ll increase my soft tissue and flexibility component more for sure.
Hey guys, I’ve been totally flatlining the past four years as a masters athlete, and this year was convinced to try KitKat’s GPP. It is going incredibly well- it suits my body most importantly, and the wear and tear is greatly reduced. I think a read over of the insanely long lactate threshold thread is a must for any masters guy considering a comeback. KK’s program is really good- it’s not too hard on the muscles / joints, and get you fit in a hurry.
Did you make any modifications? If yes, what
What is the set up of the program? Also if I recall you are fairly tall right? Do you think this program suits your body type?
Thanks
Hi Jay, sorry I didn’t see this until now. I am tall, and I really think the program suits my body type. One of my problems has been that I don’t seem able to tolerate / recover from an exclusively short to long approach. I’m 6’3, 190 lbs, so I’m very lightly muscled. As Charlie mentioned many times, tall lean athletes tend to have a lower tolerance to power oriented work (e.g. short to long) than shorter more muscular athletes.
The KK program has a lot of lactic work in it also, which helped with improving my baseline fitness. I realize now that I simply was starting from too poor of a fitness base previously, so that the speed work I was doing just wasn’t having much of an effect. This time, I did two 6 week GPP’s, with a 4 week transition afterward, and am currently in the midst of an 8 week speed-oriented SPP. It seems to be working better. I am able to hold better base fitness, though I still have a lot of work to do cleaning up my diet. It has always been hard for me to control my eating. I started a journal just for the race season to give more of an overview. I’ve only run one 200m race so far, and that was a few weeks back, so we shall see how I do on Sunday. I have a 60m and 200m race then.
I noticed that I made HUGE strides in the 300m on KK’s program. I went from a hand timed best of 42.5 last season (that was outdoors on a big track too) to a 39.9 (outdoor track in Texas over Christmas holidays). We will see how well that translates to my 200m indoor time- hopefully it does!
Now I don’t know what your fitness is like, but mine is probably mediocre compared to many. I’m a masters guy, so being fit should probably be the first priority. I find that keeping one lactic focused day per week with two speed days (approaching / during SPP) is working better for me than my previous approach of two straight speed / two tempo days. It seems the lactic work helps build my fitness, whereas I always had a hard time getting fit from tempo, but it sure helps me maintain it. Clearly I’m coming from a much lower level than most of the athletes here. Does that make sense?
Do you have a link to KitKat’s GPP?
Thanks.
ESTI that’s just mean :rolleyes: Neospeed try http://www.charliefrancis.com/community/showthread.php?21613-Kit-kats-400m-program
and
then move on to the feast that is the link ESTI provided