Gray Guy/Girls Tri--Masters Sprint/Olympic Mentor Group CLOSED (Page 19)

Over 100 is not something u can acclimate too, even if u r out there all the time. SCOTT u must b a swimmer, sheesh. LOL

All in all though, a nice course and a good workout. 4th out of 15 in age group.

Stu

I won the 55+ age group and was 19th overall out of 193 finisher . . .

 . . . I clocked the 5K in 20:09, about a 6:30 pace, and cut about 10 seconds off my run time on the same course from last year.

Steve

My wife and I peddled around Lake Washington and the surrounding hills. Granted, I looked a little goofy just cruising along in my aero helmet and TT bike, but it was all I had on the road trip so it was that or nothing.

Best of all, the Tour de France is back!

Steve

CONGRATS!!!! The winner of the Black Dog mug is Dustytrails.

 . . . And as always, be CAREFUL on the track. It's extremely stressful on grey guy/girl legs. Any twinges of pain (other than aerobic discomfort) and the workout should be terminated.

Steve

OK, so now I am confused and I fear about to show my running naivety.  I have always been under the impression that it is easier on the joints to run on a track because it is 'softer.'  Is that not the case?  There is a park close by the house that has a 1/4 mile dirt track.  I alternate running there and with a 2-mile asphalt loop.  I can feel my foot slipping on the track, but feel the impact more on the asphalt.

So which is the 'preferred' surface to run on?  I still run about 50% of the time on asphalt since most races are on the road, i.e. asphalt, so I figure I should be training on that.  How off base am I here?

And specifically, why is a track "extremely stressful on grey guy/girl legs?"

OK, so now I am confused and I fear about to show my running naivety.  I have always been under the impression that it is easier on the joints to run on a track because it is 'softer.'  Is that not the case?  There is a park close by the house that has a 1/4 mile dirt track.  I alternate running there and with a 2-mile asphalt loop.  I can feel my foot slipping on the track, but feel the impact more on the asphalt.

So which is the 'preferred' surface to run on?  I still run about 50% of the time on asphalt since most races are on the road, i.e. asphalt, so I figure I should be training on that.  How off base am I here?

And specifically, why is a track "extremely stressful on grey guy/girl legs?"

That said, what I was referring to on the "extremely stressful" comment was not the surface but the pace. Running a faster pace, especially well above race pace, taxes the muscles and joints--even the abs--much differently than when you're just plugging along at your normal cruiser pace. It's very easy (particularly for us aging baby boomers) to break down because at the higher pace your body starts calling for energy production to achieve speed from muscles/ligaments/joints that must be engaged differently than when you are running slower. Typically when you run fast your foot strike changes moving from a heel strike to midfoot (shifting how your legs absorb impact and accelerate) and your turnover rate goes up all of which create new stresses to which you're not accustomed. In addition, the track is a circle with a continuous series of left hand turns. Those turns cause additional stress on the joints when running fast due to the repetitive corners you're hitting twice per quarter mile. Especially for the first few trips to the track to run "hard", it's very easy to tweak a muscle or joint.

What I learned over the years is the "tweaks" seem to come on slowly, giving the impression that it's probably not a big deal to keep going to finish the workout. WRONG. That small tweak on interval four morphs into a significant issue by interval 12...then it's 2-3 weeks on the rebound trying to get rid of tendonitis or a muscle pull.

So, the point here is to make sure your track interval paces are appropriate for your current fitness and training goals. This isn't meant to be a workout that is identical to what you do on the road, just shifted to a track. It's meant to teach your body to produce and adapt to speed. And that creates the stress. Steve

There are a lot of "depends on" with running. Running is the easiest of the three sports to get injuries in. There is a lot of impact pounding that can create havoc with the joints, ligaments, and muscles. Tracks can be hard on you if they are hard surfaces and if you are running a lot. It's better to run off the track if you're running a lot because all that circling will train different muscles than running straight. The general guidelines are that you should run on a variety of surfaces and try not to run all the time on surfaces that are tilted or curved (ie: don't always run on the same side of the road if it is slanted away from the middle. Don't always run the same direction on circular tracks). If you're race is on asphalt, train a little bit on asphalt. You don't need a lot of time for your legs to get used to the surface and the possibility of stress outweighs the benefits of long periods on the asphalt.