How to train over 60/65/70 ?

[emmilou]

Might not Overtake you now Emm

Don't count on it!

[Alexandra]

Saturday was a long slow hill rep session 8 mile and 3000ft, Tuesday is my club night a good hours run+ ... still get tired, can fall asleep anytime.

Yes, I sometimes fall asleep sitting on a hard chair at my kitchen table, wake up to find myself falling off it, fall asleep again, fall off again and so on. Out of curiosity, do you do your hill reps and club runs around Addingham? Tremendous variety of delightful paths around there, I think, or are you bashing straight through the heather? You say you STILL get tired - does this mean you hope to grow out of it eventually?

[Big Compass]

I do hill reps were I can but in Ilkley I go to Heber Ghyll (think thats how you spell it)and I do a nice little 300ft climb and drop back down, this takes about 10:30 to 11 minutes per lap last week managed 11 reps in 2 hour, was only 10 before, club run is at Guiseley with Skyrac, I do have some nice areas to run in and around Addingham just out the front door and away, as for getting tired, will I grow out of it, not after 23 years no, but it would be nice if I did.

[woodlander]

I would really appreciate advice from older runners on training. I never know if I'm running slowly because I'm over-training / under-training / old / always was a slow runner anyway.

My motto, for what it's worth is: train in the green zone, race in the amber zone, stay out of the red zone.
I'm 63. I had my first good year at 60, picking up 10 trophies and I hope to have another good year at 70. Meantime I'm easing back on the throttle and now going along nice and steady. I run 80%-90% on woodland trails 2 or 3 times a week in winter and up to 5 or 6 times a week in summer. An average run is about 90 mins. I only rarely go over 2 hrs. And so I never take any energy gels etc. to keep going. If I need some fuel I'll stop at a pub and have a pint and a bowl of soup.

Each must find his own way. What's right for one may be wrong for another.

[Trog]

I am in my early 50’s and with the exception of some 6 – 9 month blocks missed through Military tours I have been running all my adult life.

Over the years I have tried lots of methods from lots of sources but the one that keeps coming back to me originates from way back in he beginning – LSD (Long Slow Distance)

Plenty of info and useful stuff on www.joehenderson.com

My only real injury came just over 12months ago at the end of the winter where I had been caught in the trap of thinking I needed more and more speed work to keep up with my rivals – how wrong I was, it cost me 9 months out.

In the past I have at times been obsessed with miles, but my training now is time based. I prefer to run every day and work on the principal of 4 short, two medium and one long session per week.

Having started just after the New Year at 10, 20 and 30 minutes (10,20,10,20,10, 30,10,10) I have moved up through 20, 40 and 60, and this is my first week at 4x30, 2x60, 1x90. My aim is to build up to 4x40, 2x 80, 1x 120.

Some people tend to get hung up on the ‘Slow’ word, perhaps ‘Steady’ would be a better choice as I run all my sessions at a comfortable pace.

As mentioned, I no longer worry at the distance: a 30 minute run on the flat can actually cover more ground that a hilly 45 min one.

[woodlander]

Hey, what a great link there Trog. Many thanks. This Henderson guy looks like he might be my kind of runner. Plenty of reading on his website for wimps like me on cold wet unrunnable days anyway!