A few months ago I posted a thread about training for a half-marathon, and got lots of GREAT advice and encouragement from folks (and completed it under my target time).

New goal: At the 'encouragement' of my 14 year old son (he keeps referring to me as 'old man'), we plan to run a one mile 'race' against each other in late April (on my 50th birthday).

We ran a 'tune up' race last weekend (one 400m and four 800m): Here's how it went...

-400m: I won by a step.
-800m:
-1st set: He won by 5 seconds.
-2nd : He won by 20 seconds
-3rd: I quit at the 400m mark, trailing badly
-4th: I laid down on the grass and refused to run (he ran another one by himself)

His recent mile PB is 5:45, and I don't know what mine is. My recent 5K time was 7:25/mile.

So experienced runners....should I race him (and is there any chance I can win)? Or should I just concede?

He's going to lap you and he'll love it. DO IT!

My 5yr old likes to challenge me on the bike. One day he's going to smoke me, but not yet little dude.

I'd say no chance, but you have to do it anyway. Good luck, have fun, don't hurt yourself.

Thanks everyone for the encouragement (and humor) and also for keeping me in reality that I'll likely lose (but to do it anyway)!

Thanks for the training plan recommendation, I'm going to follow it and try my best. Will post outcome in late April!

Race him. But have him spot you at least 200. Maybe 400. Should make it a "race".

Hey now, I'm way too proud to take any charity from him!!! Plus, he knows if he has to pass me late I may resort to throwing elbows, grabbing his shirt, etc when he passes.

Based on your 5K time, I'd peg your mile PR around 630. I'd do a bunch of 200 and 400 M repeats and see how it goes. Shaving a minute in a month is a big feat but who knows, competition brings the best in everyone.

For a the week, I'd go with hard day, off, easy, hard, off, easy, off. Three hard days in a week might be too much IMO and provide diminishing returns. Depending on how much you are currently running you could sub the easy days for an easy.

I feel like we need a sticky on this subject. It comes up pretty often, surprisingly. And this isn't meant to be any negative towards the op, I just think it'd be really cool to have one thread and follow up on how these competitions go

Hahaha...love the suggestion for the beer mile! I agree with y'all that say I'll probably STILL lose :-)

Thanks for the training suggestions above y'all, I'll follow those starting tomorrow and am going to give it my best.

Agree that it'd be great to have a 'challenge' or 'race' thread on here, so folks can share approach/outcome.

I'm drinking two beers tonight, and will make those the last two I have until the race is run! Results to follow in late April!

That's awesome! It's so much fun to see kids getting faster, stronger, etc. as we try to hold onto our pride and beat them! Also fun to have the whole family there to see the race run and to have that as a family experience.

As a kid, some of my best memories are the times I competed against my dad. I never beat him at anything related to cycling, running or lifting.....but it was fun and it made me respect his athletic ability and beast-mode training philosophy.

First training session in the books. Ran hard and felt good.....but let me say what everyone on the thread is already thinking......there is ZERO chance I will win this race.

Seeing it with a stopwatch on the track made me realize just how far behind I'll be if we both run our best.

But I'm not giving , I'm just realizing that rather than running against my son, I will be running with my son and racing against my aging self (if that makes any sense).

Oh, and my AARP application arrived in the mail today (on my way to train), which was an added insult!

Maybe you can lay a bunch of Legos out in his room before the race.

He's still getting faster and well you can, but probably going the other way, but maybe keep it as a fun family tradition where on the day of race, dad names the distance.

The night before, he should probably try beer for the first time. Leave a 6 pack out, schedule the run at 5:15a and hope for the best.

Sweep4-2 said:

---

First training session in the books. Ran hard and felt good.....but let me say what everyone on the thread is already thinking......there is ZERO chance I will win this race.

Seeing it with a stopwatch on the track made me realize just how far behind I'll be if we both run our best.

But I'm not giving , I'm just realizing that rather than running against my son, I will be running with my son and racing against my aging self (if that makes any sense).

Oh, and my AARP application arrived in the mail today (on my way to train), which was an added insult!

---

Maybe you make it a 10k instead. You have the foundation for that. You'd probably be on your 2-3 beer by the time he finished.

Regardless, do it. Never pass on an opportunity that involves your kid wanting to spend time with you. Ever.

Good luck "old man"

Thanks!! Yeah, I tried to get him to run a longer run but he didn't fall for it. Maybe for the next challenge.

Totally agree re spending time together. We ran 4 miles today at a relaxed pace and just enjoyed being outside and running. It was nice, even if I was covered in sweat/sunscreen and he was as cool as could be at the end.

You have no business running a sub-6 minute mile at age 50. And trying to get there in a month, you are probably more likely to have a stroke or heart attack than beat your son.

That said, following through and giving a good effort is sounds important to both you and your son so I would train for it. Heavy on the intervals.

lb3 said:

---

You have no business running a sub-6 minute mile at age 50. And trying to get there in a month, you are probably more likely to have a stroke or heart attack than beat your son.

That said, following through and giving a good effort is sounds important to both you and your son so I would train for it. Heavy on the intervals.

---

Why not? I'm almost 49. I ran 6:20 a few months ago in the middle of marathon training. I'm not even a good runner. People in their 50's routinely run sub-20 5K's. My 5K and half marathon times suggest that I should be running a sub-3:50 marathon, but I can't break 4:02 right now.

But, as for trying to get there too fast, you're right.

Some people are better at short distances, some longer. There are people out there running 1:35 half marathons who can't beat my mile time. But I'm running the half in 1:46. It's hard to know what you can do until you get out there and work at it.

It's funny when the HS cross country runners move into track season and they see how easy the track kids have been going. And don't the track kids know it! There are plenty of them who could run cross country, but why log all those miles when you just need to be fast at 400m? If you can stay healthy through the sprint workouts, it's way easier (for lots of people) to bust out a good performance at middle distance if you do the work.

Yeah, I definitely do NOT want either of those to happen. But I'm confused by your comment that a 50 year old shouldn't run a sub 6:00/mile. Is that specific to my situation (times, miles, etc.)? Or rather in general re the 50 year old body and s sub 6 time? Either way is fine, just curious to know more.

I appreciate everyone's training advice and also bringing me back to reality both in terms of 'winning' as well as what's realistic in such a short time frame to prepare.

Plan is to keep training and to use the approach several recommended on this thread. He is so confident he's agreed to be my training partner (which is more fulfilling than winning or some time goal could
ever be).

This is the right approach, you'll do something together, get more fit and maybe faster. You never know, but getting to 6 minutes with only a month of training is a tall order, and beating a kid who's run a 5:45 sounds highly unlikely. My guess is, with a few weeks to go, you'll run well enough to keep it respectable. Don't let the comment above discourage you, lots of us over 50 are still pretty fast.

Thanks!! I'm going to enjoy it.

Btw, ran my 'benchmark' time 1600m run by myself at the high school track a few minutes ago so I've got my target time. It was faster than I thought it would be but obviously nowhere close to breaking 6:00.

I'll continue training and will post the outcome at the end of April.

lb3 said:

---

You have no business running a sub-6 minute mile at age 50.

---

i have a buddy who PR'd the mile with 4:47 at age 48. He's in his fifties now and still going sub-5.

Yeah, I know it's going to be rough. But I aim to keep it respectable and to try and keep him in sight. Oh, and not to throw up! I'd never hear the end of that!!

But he slipped up a bit the other day, got a little overconfident and challenged me to a submission grappling match. He weighs 110 lbs and wrestled for one season. I'm at 175 and a BJJ black belt. Advantage old man! He knows how that will end up, but it's fun to have a little back and forth competition (and beats the heck out of sitting around playing video games or watching TV)!

Sweep4-2 said:

---

Yeah, I know it's going to be rough. But I aim to keep it respectable and to try and keep him in sight. Oh, and not to throw up! I'd never hear the end of that!!

But he slipped up a bit the other day, got a little overconfident and challenged me to a submission grappling match. He weighs 110 lbs and wrestled for one season. I'm at 175 and a BJJ black belt. Advantage old man! He knows how that will end up, but it's fun to have a little back and forth competition (and beats the heck out of sitting around playing video games or watching TV)!

---

I like the grappling match to make it 1-1, now you just need a good tie breaker

Sweep4-2 said:

---

Yeah, I definitely do NOT want either of those to happen. But I'm confused by your comment that a 50 year old shouldn't run a sub 6:00/mile. Is that specific to my situation (times, miles, etc.)? Or rather in general re the 50 year old body and s sub 6 time? Either way is fine, just curious to know more.

---

I'm basically of the opinion that running is hard on old joints etc. and given your starting fitness level and short timeline, relaxing your goals might save you some injuries. There is no shame in running 6+ minute miles at 50. If you can do better and your body isn't prone to breaking down, great. Just don't try to be Superman.

I've seen Gunny Sgts running stupid times and I remember running behind one just amazed he could keep doing it based on how badly his right knee bent laterally with each stride. I'm pretty sure he had a torn MCL and I just kept waiting for his knee to snap in half.

Ah, got it. Totally understand, thanks for the perspective and advice. I've already adjusted my goal as well as training approach to recognize that more doesn't necessarily mean 'better'.

As far as the joints, yeah. Know what you mean. But I just love physical challenges and am stubborn about slowing down. I've spent the past 14 years training a violent sport (BJJ/Wrestling) against people in their 20's and 30's and it gets harder every year. But I just love the feel of a physical challenge and have a hard time accepting that I can't do now what I could at 25.

But as one of my t-shirts says "Brazilian Jiu-Jitsu ruined my life, but it was worth it."