Old Runner: Rebuilding My Stride/Form

I am not sure how old "old" is, but I am 46 and am certainly feeling the effects of time and cumulative miles despite taking off significant periods from my mid 20s until late 30s. As a guy whose primary running asset is a long stride, I share your fears about what will happen as I continue to mature. But as of now, I have managed to keep a nice long stride with the features that you have described. I attribute my maintenance to regular speed work more than drills (the only drills that I do are strides and a few skips on workout days). And at this point, by speed work, I mean work at 5k pace, as I only go down to mile pace for one or two 3-6 week stretches per year.

Just turned 50, and I can't say I ever had one of those smooth Nick Willis flowing strides, but I was better than what I am now for sure.

Just thought about adding some of the stuff I did in college, hurdle walk overs, skips etc.. on workout days. I know it can't really hurt, but then I need to use what little time I have to work out, wisely.

EZ10Miler wrote:

Just turned 50, and I can't say I ever had one of those smooth Nick Willis flowing strides, but I was better than what I am now for sure.

Just thought about adding some of the stuff I did in college, hurdle walk overs, skips etc.. on workout days. I know it can't really hurt, but then I need to use what little time I have to work out, wisely.

Get on a bike.

You can do all the things you aspired to do when you raced as a young man. Find a road bike club and stop running, start riding. You can be competitive and fast. I'm 64 and kicking ass, while I can't even shuffle due to a knee replacement and 9 other surgeries. And you can chat along the way.

Age is very hard on runners. I can barely walk, and I ride A level in the bike club. Its magic

+1 for strides. I'm 48. Two years ago I was starting up again after an 8month layoff for injury. My stride felt terrible and my pace was abominable even after getting back to the mileage I was previously running and doing consistent weekly intervals. I added 4x strides 2-3 times a week with the goal of getting back some turnover and power in my stride. After about 2 months of that, I felt like a different runner. I was better than before the injury. I am still doing the strides on easy days and despite lower mileage my race times remain consistent.

I am 68 and was a 51 second 440 guy in my college days. I have been running more or less continuously since finishing my Vietnam military service in the mid 70s. I still was able to run a 65 second 400m at age 60. Just before I turned 65 I went through a couple of years of overuse injuries and had to stop all fast running. By the middle of last year I finally was injury-free again. I couldn’t break 80 for a 400. I started doing “accelerators” where I would accelerate to the maximum turnover rate I could generate and then coast out of it every third day. My seed and stride length have been coming back quickly. I recently did a 400 time trial and ran 72 seconds. I feel like I can get into the mid-60s with a little more strength work. As you get older I think you have to do supplemental strength work and some small amount of very high quality speed work to hang onto your speed and stride but you produce surprisingly good results.