Sub 5 minute mile at 50... I did it! (barely). Will I ever do it again?

A Sub 5 minute mile at age 50 or beyond is indeed pretty hard as I found out in March. The short story is I just squeezed in under 5. The full story follows.

Training for the target March race (Indoor Masters Nationals, Boston) in Boulder was mighty tough due to weather. The recipe: Blizzard, wait 1 week, blizzard, repeat indefinitely. Training on snow and ice or concrete just didn't fit the need for speed. On the other hand our coach rented the indoor C.U. fieldhouse track 2x per week allowing for some faster training, oh boy!. On the other other hand its been called "the worst indoor track in the country" with its very tight non-banked turns, which limited volume pretty significantly.

Several weeks prior to the race I managed a time trial 1600 in 5:08 at the Boulder High School track off of very uneven pacing (76,80,80,72). That last lap of 72 gave me the confidence I could go sub-5 at sea level with tapering! Other specific indicators of the possibility of sub-5 were:

59 second 400 (in that nasty fieldhouse).
1:36 for 600 meters followed by 4x200 in 30-31.
72 seconds for 400 meters started feeling kind of easy.
Healthy body with no tendinitis.

I started having all kinds of ideas. A good day would be 4:52, a bad day 4:55, a very good day 4:49. I'd be in the medal hunt. It'd be fantastic. I could maybe stay in contact with big guns Chantry and Robinson, both who recently had run mid 4:40's.

Then the week prior to the race I felt a little off. A very easy sharpening session of 50's and 100's at 4:52 mile race pace just before travel wasn't very easy at all. . That's ok I thought. Just a bit tired.

Strides on the track in Boston the day prior to racing felt very good. I was relaxed, ready, focused... Race day arrived and I was really sharp mentally and emotionally. Off we went and sure enough I was right in the mix, feeling good, confident... for 400 meters..

Then I started to drift back, losing contact. Twice I tried to pick it up and felt my body tighten and strain.. not a good sign. Both times I backed off to some semblance of relaxation but each time fell further back. My muscles felt 'wierd'. I was running high 70s rather than the needed mid to low 70s per 400, and it was getting really hard.

With one lap to go I knew I was pretty much spent at a too slow pace, but as I rounded the last turn could see the clock.... The first digit on the clock was still a "4", not a "5". It was going to be really close. I gave it all I had and hoped for the best....

Well it was really close. Here are the results of two sections, M50-54:

M50 1 Mile Run
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Name Age Team Finals Points
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1 127 Chantry, Stephen M52 unattached,Williams 4:47.39
2 557 Robinson, James M53 Genesee Vall,Roches 4:48.92
3 454 McMahon, Kevin M53 Green Mounta,Essex 4:51.19
4 96 Burno, Joseph M53 Maryland Mas,Mitche 4:51.67
5 294 Hartshorne, Thomas M53 The Finger L,Ithaca 4:53.95
6 512 Patton, Russell M51 Philadelphia,Norris 4:57.62
7 9 Aldridge, Danny M50 Empire Runne,Sant R 4:58.50
8 6 Albo, David M50 Ric Rojas Ru,Boulde 4:59.63
9 534 Radford, Gary M50 Genesee Vall,Cicero 5:01.36
10 34 Batteiger, Byron M54 unattached,Bargersv 5:03.07
11 580 Schallenkamp, Stev M52 unattached,Kingston 5:07.79
12 325 Hubbell, Brian M50 Eden Athleti,Bar Ha 5:11.03
13 203 Dwyer, Wayne M53 Mystic Runne,Readin 5:15.73
14 532 Qualls, Robert M54 unattached,Reno, NV 5:18.89
15 7 *Albouy, Mark M54 unattached,Devonshi 5:40.38
16 380 Kolb, Tom M51 GCS Triad Ra,Merrim 5:46.43

It turns out my visions of low 4:50's being the battle for 3rd were correct, only I was not part of it.. Two weeks later I was still extremely sore and stiff off of only light jogging. Maybe this was it. Sub 5 was a near death experience. I might never do it again.

But why were my numbers early in the training so much better than my race day performance? Any number of "reasons" can be called up and oh yes they were! Travel, wierd travel diet, biorhythms, lingering fatigue, working too hard in February, etc.

Then...a blood test revealed some problems with cholesterol medication and my muscles, a known side effect of the drug. I have heredity-induced high cholesterol pushing 300 hence the drugs. The Doc switched medication and immediately I felt really really good! Best guess is that was the problem, it had just started to effect me around the time of the race, then got worse after.

I'm now full of hope that going well under sub-5 is indeed still something not impossible even as I reluctantly continue to descend further into my 50's. I believe 51 is next, then 52.

Till I can give it another go I have the honor of being the slowest sub-5 50+ runner in the country!

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