"I don't know....... I've never been 61 before".
There was a time when I knew exactly what I could cope with, training and racing wise. I knew that I could race on a Sunday and be back running hard on Tuesday. Gradually that first hard session went out to Wednesday, now I would be thinking Thursday or Friday. Recovery takes longer as I've aged. I've certainly learn that: whether from a race or a hard session.
So reviewing last week's training pre the Blackpool half, I think the 8 x 600 session on the Wednesday took too much "getting over". Live and learn, as they say. The legs survived the 13.1 race but I could certainly feel the "deadleg" from half way. There was that constant fear that something was about to pull......but it didn't. The track session apart all the runs last week were flat and short......4, 4. track, 5, 5, 3.
44 miles on the week.including the race, 408 on the year.....average maintained at 51.
Forced back onto the road today for just over 6 miles. Hoping to drive out and find some trail to run on tomorrow but there's more snow forecast to fall within the next 12 hours so we'll have to see.
In all your evaluation of Sunday's race you have perhaps overlooked to look at performance for age.......the X Factor! This might help you and other veterans to stop dwelling on how fast tou used to be able to run rather than concentrating on what you can do now. In Bob Glover's book he has
AGE-ADJUSTED RACE TIME FACTORS (MEN & WOMEN)
The factor for men aged 61 for a 94.44 half marathon is .8223. Your time then equates to 77.53
Still several minutes short of your alltime P.B. but the age adjusted times might provide some consolation to the ageing process which is inevitable. Just count your blessings!
So true, so true. I am 44 and began running at age 32..already a big difference in how much time I must dedicate to recovery. But as long as you know that and don't try to train like you used to, I guess that's all that matters.
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