Gettin' my groove back

[shipo]

Hey gang, I had a good seven day stretch this week; I managed to coax my body into nine runs totaling 72.3 miles.  🙂

Day	Distance	E/T	Comments	Weather
Monday AM	10.2	1:36	Trail run with Mrs. Shipo; ran the first 4 together, the last 6+ on my own.	Mid 70s and humid
Tuesday Noon	9.1	1:26	Solo hilly loop around the local lake/reservior.	Mid 80s and very humid
Wednesday AM	6.3	1:04	Trail run with Mrs. Shipo.	Mid 70s and humid
Wednesday Noon	4.2	0:42	Hilly loop with a coworker.	Low 90s and very humid
Thursday Noon	10.1	1:47	First 4 miles as a trail run with a coworker; last 6 on a hilly road course.	Mid 90s and very humid
Friday AM	2.9	0:30	Dropped a car off for service and ran home; mostly up hill the entire way.	Mid 70s and humid
Friday Noon	9.1	1:31	Same run as Tuesday.	Mid 80s and very humid
Saturday AM	10.2	1:54	Trail run with Mrs. Shipo.	High 50s and humid
Sunday AM	10.2	1:57	Trail run with Mrs. Shipo.	Low 60s and humid

[Odyssey13]

Pretty impressive @shipo

Does Mrs. Shipo have a Fitbit, too?

[shipo]

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@Odyssey13 wrote:

Pretty impressive @shipo

Does Mrs. Shipo have a Fitbit, too?

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Thanks!  Yes, Mrs. Shipo has a Surge as well.

[brerbill]

VERY Nice, Shipo's! Several 9-10 mile runs with doubles during the week is impressive!

I'm now close to 40 mpw on average running, after 11 years of probably averaging in the 20's. I do feel better the more I run and when I run every day. Trying to find the "sweet spot" for myself.

Based on your previous LSD suggestions, I recently added a second 10 miler during the week to my schedule, and have been improving noticeably - thanks for that!

[shipo]

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@brerbill wrote:

VERY Nice, Shipo's! Several 9-10 mile runs with doubles during the week is impressive!

I'm now close to 40 mpw on average running, after 11 years of probably averaging in the 20's. I do feel better the more I run and when I run every day. Trying to find the "sweet spot" for myself.

Based on your previous LSD suggestions, I recently added a second 10 miler during the week to my schedule, and have been improving noticeably - thanks for that!

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I'd read about the benefits of slowing down and adding distance for quite some time before I actually tried it.  I was stunned at A) how fast I was able to increase my weekly mileage, and B) how fast I became at shorter distances with no specific speed training.

Glad things are working out for you.  Have you had a chance to run a 5K or two and compare your racing times?

[FitBeforeFifty]

Very impressive. Nice work !

[brerbill]

@shipo - I've got a 5k circled on my calendar for early Sept. when I turn 70, with a goal of 25:59 (my PR about 5 years ago was 28:24).

[shipo]

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@brerbill wrote:

@shipo - I've got a 5k circled on my calendar for early Sept. when I turn 70, with a goal of 25:59 (my PR about 5 years ago was 28:24).

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That would be awesome!  A 70+ runner logging sub-26:00 5K around here is almost always a podium position, if not first place.  🙂

Not sure I mentioned this to you before; two years ago I ran a 5-Miler, and at about the half-way point I passed a "little old lady" climbing a  hill; I slowed a bit to talk to her and cheer her on.  At the finish I waited to see how she did and was delighted when she crossed with a time of something like 38:04!  After she caught her breath I talked with her for a few minutes, she had turned 70 that year and was very much enjoying winning pretty much every race she opted to enter.  I tolder her she was my hero.  🙂

[shipo]

Hey gang, updating this thread...

Since the aforementioned week in Early July where I logged 72.6 miles of running, I’ve managed to keep the pace up pretty well.  In July I logged a total of 247.45 running miles broken up into 34 different runs on 29 different days.  In August, in spite of the intense heat and humidity, and in spite of adjusting my training to fit around two races, I logged 215.75 running miles broken up into 31 different runs on 28 different days.

Naturally Mr. Murphy has a way of mucking things up, and my training is no exception.  Over the last 10 days both of my kids have moved, my daughter just a few miles across town in Boston, however, my son was being transferred from NAS Lemoore in California to NAS Whidbey Island in Washington.  What with all of the moving and travel related activities I've only managed four runs in the last ten days.

Some of you might ask why the concentration on getting lots of miles in; each year for the last four I’ve gotten involved the 200+ mile “Reach the Beach” relay in September, and this year I have drawn a leg assignment which has me picking up the baton at about noon on Friday the 16th and running 10.9 miles down to the Attitash ski resort, then getting the baton again sometime within an hour of midnight for a 5.8 mile jaunt through hill country between Lake Winnisquam and Lake Winnipesaukee, and finally a nice flat 3.1 mile "sprint" through southeastern(ish) New Hampshire on our way to Hampton Beach.

Given I am the oldest on our team of 12 by an easy 15 years, I have to keep my end of the bargain up by training rather harder than many of my younger teammates who seem to be able to roll out of bed with no training and knock off a sub-two-hour half marathon.

[WendyB]

I am sure you will do fine! Let us know how it went when its over with!

[shipo]

Will do; we just got our official start time for next Friday morning; 6:45 AM!  I'm already yawing.  🙂

Edit: I just checked, Sunrise at Bretton Woods on that morning is set for 6:26 AM, so it will be kinda-sorta light for our first runner; good thing too, that first leg has a 1,000' climb up the center of a very steep ski slope, and then back down that same elevation via a gravel service road.  He'll need all of the light he can get to successfully navigate all of the rocks and ruts and such.

[emili]

Good luck!!

[shipo]

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@brerbill wrote:

@shipo - I've got a 5k circled on my calendar for early Sept. when I turn 70, with a goal of 25:59 (my PR about 5 years ago was 28:24).

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Hey @brerbill, did you run your 5K in early September and did you get your PR?

[shipo]

A quick update...

At I'm thinking of wrapping up this thread by saying, "I got my freakin' groove back, yeah!"

Back in late September my boss roped me in to join his "Corporate Fitness Challenge" team for Fall 2016; this challenge was an eight week event where points are earned for the team primarily by getting in lots of steps.  The actual challenge period started 03-Oct and went through 27-Nov; as I had run a little over 21 miles on the first and second of October, I thought, "Hey, why don't I see if I can run an average 10-miles per day for the whole month."  Prior to this point my highest running mileage month of my life was 285 miles back when I was 56 years old in January of 2014.

Good news, by the end of October I'd met my goal, however, the closeness of the competition caused me to wonder if I could keep the pace up for the rest of the challenge, and then add the cherry on top of finishing out November as well.  Final tallies:

• 03-Oct through 27-Nov: 627.15 miles
• 01-Oct through 31-Oct: 345.20 miles
• 01-Nov through 30-Nov: 330.05 miles

Final note: My last non-running day was 25-Sep and my next non-running day will be tomorrow.  Why?  Because I want to!  🙂

[bcalvanese]

Daaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaamn Duuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuude!!!!!!!!!!!

You're like a super hero!!!... "shipo man".

When I could only run 2 minutes at a time, i was walking/running on a track with my Sister one day, and saw a guy that looked to be about my age running on the same track. We were doing 2 minute jog intervals, but he was running complete laps. I tried to count his laps and figure out how far he ran and seemed to be 2 to 3 miles.

I thought to myself that I wanted to be able to do that, and every time I ran after that I thought of that guy, and it motivated me to go further. I could not see myself running even a mile non stop back then, but now I can run 5 miles.

I can't use that guy to motivate me anymore so if you don't mind, I would like to use you as my motivation. And if anyone asks me what my motivation is, I'm going to say... "shipo man"...:)

[shipo]

@bcalvanese, thanks man, the truth is many of us old farts can still hammer out the miles as fast or faster than many kids these days.  If you keep piling on the miles, you're going to be the inspiration to others to get out there and do it.  🙂