Nearing 50 and my legs are trashed

I turned 60 this year, have been running and racing since 1975 and still "try" to get in at least 50MPW of mostly easy runs (about an hour per day) and mix in some faster running like one day of hills and a tempo day, just to maintain turnover. I usually place well in my age group, but a 5K is now lower 20's which was mid 16's 30 years ago. I've accepted that.

Most of my runs start out with that dead leg feeling/stiffness and I never really feel recovered unless I take a day or 2 off. I start most runs with a bit of walking and gradually ramp up the pace. While I once trained at around 7mpm pace, that same effort today is 10mpm...but it still fills my daily satisfaction to run. I'm never going to quit, so "have" to accept the fact that I'm getting old and will be slower... training now to attempt a sub 3:30 marathon in December, my best was only 2:48 in 1981.

Love Tailgunner's advice on page 1...and now it's time for my hour of running!

50 hit me like a ton of bricks. Nagging nicks and twinges and for the most part - a stumbling attempt to accelerate (stride/speed work) that would have been laughable a couple years back.

Learning to be fit and enjoy that with hopes of fast (relative) again occaisionally.

Dead legs seem to come with the territory.

ty

Will you challenge any track records in the 50-54 group?

Great thread! And good to see I'm not the only one struggling with "advancing" age.

I'm turning 54 in six weeks and have been running for 32 years now. Was never anywhere near national class (maybe NEIGHBORHOOD class!) but ran some decent times in my late 30s/early 40s (16:04 5k, 1:14 half-marathon, 2:43 marathon). Then soon after turning 45, things started a steady, slow slide. Now at age 53, I can't even run a 400m repeat at the pace I averaged for my best 5k!!! :(

On the plus side, I almost never get injured (knock on wood) and can still run 50-55 mpw like I've always done. But my easy pace has gone from 6:45-7:00/mile to 7:30-8:00/mile and my 5k from 16:04 to mid 18s.

It seems to take a heroic effort to break six minute pace during track intervals these days. Consequently, I rarely race anymore (what's the point?), but still enjoy the training process and social aspect of running.

There's been some good advice here on things to try, and I'll make sure to incorporate some of them into my daily routine to see what difference they make.

But just wanted to commiserate that you're not the only one struggling with running as you age.

I had to quit at 39. Every morning I felt like I had been hit by a truck. Got tired of getting out of bed that way. Tired of aching achilles tendons, pf, and god knows what else.

About 6 months after quitting I felt "normal" again. It's been almost two years to the day since I quit running....still miss it, but like not being in constant pain. Good luck.

1:46 800m wrote:

Mike Robertson and Eric Cressey have tons of articles and videos on the web about muscle and joint recovery. Here is a muscle by muscle guide. I use a foam roller and a wooden rolling pin from Walmart instead of the stick.

http://robertsontrainingsystems.com/downloads/Self-Myofascial-Release-Purpose-Methods-and-Techniques.pdf

Robertson and Cressey are two of the biggest tools in the field of physical training. They have nothing of value to say.

Get a bike.I did at 49 and love it. I still run a little on trails and soft surfaces, but my cycling takes care of my competitive urge, and my fitness converts to running well enough to still place in my age group in 5k's. Best of all at 56 I no longer limp around like a cripple as I did when I exclusively ran.

AstuteObserver ~~

I was hoping to go at them this Spring/Summer but several set backs along the way. Just putting in base miles again to go with weekly tempo/fartleks. Promising sign for me was getting my routine 10 miler from 80+ mins back under 70 mins again. Without this base - track times will not happen for me.

cheers

Treat yourself like a pro runner. Emulate their approach to running and racing. They have a plan and stick it. Yes, injury will crop up from time to time and times are slower, but adjust accordingly to the age factor.

Most successful senior runners don't just hop into a race on a whim. They have a detailed plan and follow it along with massage, light weights, stretching.

I'm crocked!

3 years pf, got rid of that now old recurrent hamstring strain back

Annoying as was just starting to feel fit again and always had loads of energy for running...if nothing else!

Went to gym and knee started playing up on rowing machine, never bothered me running so gave up on that. Boring as hell anyway

Might get the bike out over the weekend plus try and get roller for h/s

Found when I was hiking a lot had less running injuries but married and don't really have the time now

A lot of great stuff here. At 54 I'll relate my own humble story. Never really talented or fast. Once I turned 50 decided to challenge myself to do something difficult every year. 2012 brought Glen vd Westhuizen's marathon training program. Between Jan 1 and June 15 I ran 1700 miles, more than I ever had in the same time period in 30 years of running. A hallmark of the program was 4 consecutive days of hard work (LSD of 20 on Sundays, Hills on Mondays to start and then transitioning to longer-up to 6 X 4K- intervals, another 20 as fartlek on Tuesday, quarters on Wednesdays). For 20 weeks.

Remarkably I felt I was in the best shape of my entire life. Anecdotal to be sure but the main message from me is to dare to challenge yourself to do something remarkable as you age, don't give in to aches and pains, staleness or flatness. I really believe you can will yourself out of feeling trashed.

Perhaps you should stop WANTING to run 85+ mpw!!!! I use to do 50+ but now at 54, I've learned to be content with about 15 mpw. I would rather run some than not any due to injuries. I can still race pretty close to what the age-graded tables predict for a guy who could break 16 for 5k in his prime. 85 mpw is wanting a lot!!

I've been very fortunate with injuries for the last 10 years. I did have a knee op in my 40s (probably from having been a steeplechaser, which does beat the legs up).Having been a 800m - 3000m track runner, I'm a forefoot striker, although I had to go a bit more flat footed and "shuffley" not to get the calves cramping up when I made the odd excursion to 10 miles or further racing on the road.I don't think foot-strike matters as long as you are not overstriding - I saw studies of one of the major marathons, maybe the Olympic Trials, and a lot of the elites were heel strikers.Glad I'm not at altitude, I had a taste of that in the Indoor Masters at Albuquerque. Tough!

Cartoon runner wrote:

Cavorty, not bad at all at 55. I'm the same age and 3 minutes behind you, although I can credit myself 25 seconds as I live and race at 5000 feet.

Do you ever get injured?

Are you a heel or toe planter? Do you think it matters?

You:” I ran one 5k in June (17:42) which was decent considering the layoff. Has anyone else experienced this and were you able to overcome it?

Did it force you to quit racing?”

Me: So, if you were 50 and ran this time that would rank you as the 16th fastest runner in the United States of America. This is a National Class 83.32 rating.

And….you did this on 4 days a week running due to injury…..

OK, got it. You are a goddam liar or you are really 30. Or worse….you are the biggest p#ssy on the planet who whines about a 17:42 at age 50???

Smismard wrote:

Get thee to the weight room. I'm 48 and doing lots of squats and lunges seems to have turned the clock back 10 years on my legs.

My experience has been just the opposite of the above poster's experience; I'm 53 and have felt the best since I stopped messing with the ancillary lifting, pylometrics, cross training on ellipticals and swimming.

The conventional wisdom is that preventive strengthening is important in middle age but I've found that adding extras is just overkill when running 60 miles per week, give or take.

I can recommend throwing out the really fast stuff like strides, hard repeats on the track, and speed work on the roads, especially on hilly roads.

Right now I'm sticking to about 7 hours per week of running, with one medium run of 90-120 minutes, one day off and alternating Sundays with a long easy run 120-160 min. or a gradually increasing 1/2 marathon pace run on the track, yes on the track. This week calls for about 90 minutes with 10 miles at MP/2 pace. I built gradually to that workout over about 3 months.

Speed kills, speed on hills kills, speed combined with long runs kills and more than one really hard workout per week kills.

Ps; even with the all of the above, my left achilles has been mildly sore this week so I've jettisoned the medium run and have walked up a few steep hills this week during my easy workouts.

Thanks for answering. Wish you luck and no doubt you will find a way.

In the 1950s, I was in school in Berkshire county and despite the lack of a track team began running a four mile loop around the campus as a penalty for transgressions against the disciplinary code at the school (running was seen as punishment). I moved to Exeter Academy where I ran the mile under a coach named Ralph Lovshin who focused on tempo runs, as I recall. I ran around 5 minute miles. Then I went to Harvard under a charismatic Coach named Bill McCurdy (ex-Stanford quarter champion), who focused on quality over quantity, typically three all out half miles or 12 quarters below 70 seconds. Flunking out of Harvard, I moved to the Marine Corps where I ran whenever I had a chance and won a three mile battalion race at Camp Lejeune in 17 minutes with a backpack. Returning from the USMCR to McCurdy at Harvard, I did the same quality workouts as before: repeat quarters, half miles, two miles. I acquired relatively little base. My mile time dropped to 4:30 and two mile to just under 10 minutes. After graduation, I ran road races in Washington, with a best five miler in 27 plus, a half marathon of 77 minutes, and 10 miles (behind Ed Duchini) in 61 minutes on the basis of daily runs of between 3 and 10 miles through Hains Point and around the parks of DC at around 7 minute pace.

I recall that the Harvard records in the mile and two mile were held by a runner named Art Reider who ran 4:11 in red Keds sneakers (his two mile as I recall was 9:14 but memory blurs). My first and last marathon was in New York in Central Park at 3 hours flat. I have run all my life since then with the chief downside an occasional Achilles tendon injury.

At age 72, I do lots of uphill running and long treks along dirt trails and do a race nearly every week. With the competition retiring, I find myself winning regularly for the first time in my life and escaping injury running trail and hill races of between 6 and 20 miles. My knees are fine after nearly 60 years of running. But since my time under McCurdy I have done little speed work and at no time have I run more than 40 mpw.

GG

You, sir, are truly what's called a "master."

Thanks for sharing.

@ imarunr, My PRs are very close to yours! But at 54 I'm down to about 15 mpw for the last 8 years or so. I've managed a 19:29 5k and 5:38 mi this year. My body would be destroyed at 50 mpw! I miss the big mileage.