Calling all Old Guys! Will running destroy my body?

SausageKINGofCLE wrote: While I don’t doubt the risks are real, I feel the enjoyment I draw from running is well worth it.

^^^ There you have it Abe Froman of Ohio. You answered your own query. Drinking bourbon, descending down trails @ 30+ mph with 500 drop offs and surfing above my limits are also sure-fire ways to compromise my long-term health, but I ain't stopping any of those things. The juice is worth the squeeze.

stanley wrote:

Oh and one other thing I will say with regards to older folks who used to run and now say that they cannot run or that they ruined their body doing too much. One thing I have noticed is that after doing something for so long, stopping can be really bad at least in terms of causing general aches and pains. I imagine that for many of those people its simply because they stopped that they have all those pains. Just try completing stopping running for a few weeks and see how your body feels. My guess is it will feel terrible and will continue on until you get back to your normal routine.

53, running 20-40 MPW (with workouts) since I was about 11 or 12. 5-8, 140. Right about the same as in HS. Do assorted leg and core strengthening exercises collected from PTs over the years (most of them in response to hamstring strains). Essentially zero biomechanical problems. The occasional soft tissue injury. Try to run most days of the week - after decades of not thinking it, suspect that there is greater value in moving blood at least a little bit every day rather than fully resting. Still miss a day or two a week, here and there. And perhaps relative non-obsessiveness is good, too!

Bottom line, 40+ years of fairly low mileage (but decent intensity), and I have zero reason to believe that running is breaking me down at all. My parents punished me with a small engine in a small frame, but it's still pretty nice still feeling pretty much exactly like I did in HS (I don't race, so I'm not presented with the actual decline!). Enjoying running as much as I ever have. We'll see how much longer it lasts.....

Ha young man you can't be serious. Take care of that PF (I recommend flats with orthotics) and get after it! I didn't run a marathon until age 47 and at 65 I have 34 under my belt, 15 of them Bostons. Still faster than when it all started and feeling great. Don't "take it easy" do the opposite go hard and see what you can do.

Running won't if you are fit and strong and don't run yourself into the ground. You may have to stop short of glory to not do the running you self into the ground bit....just ask .......nevermind.

Do your preventive exercises and you should be fine. Don't mess with plantar fasciitis. Whether you're sitting around or on a run, when you think of it or feel it, start doing the exercises, which include clenching your foot as you land, running alternately on each of the four sides of the bottom of your foot (left/right/front/back) for about 10 strides each, or rolling with a tennis ball (at home).

Running is great TOO much running can cripple you.

The dose it is always the dose. You bumped up to 50 and now have a chronic injury you think that PF is just gonna go away? WTFU put down that running crack pipe. Moderation 90 percent of the time with occasional periods of hammering for a short time is my advice.

-Maintain your fast twitch fibers without metabolic stress

-Cross train easy to supplement aerobic fitness

-Do the ozone stuff which is anything over 70percent of mhr sparingly

The running world plays down the long term health risks of too much running shame shame shame. Be smart most of the runners my age who have ran a lot of miles have chronic injuries. I am 64 and can still pick em up and put em down. But I have made many mistakes like ignoring pf until I was unable to run/walk without pain.

One more thing....

I can match my age graded scores doing way less hard stuff are the tables soft or was all that macho hard stuff I did in my early 40s worth nothing? Those last few seconds per mile will shorten your running career or too many races or too much volume. Enjoy running race now and then do a little hard stuff but try not to become obsessed like so many runners do.

Lot of anecdotes here. It is not possible to generalize. You might be lucky. See how it plays out. My old running mate is looking foreward to a blistering marathon next year. Then he is 75. I have had a lot of problems, he has not, but it was worth it. Yesterday I met a 3.38 1500 m- runner, he is 75. I walk as fast as he does. We are satisfied both of us. Another guy around the corner, still running, 72 - my age . His marathon PB 2.13. You never know, you know. Just run and run until you have to walk.

Wow, thanks to everyone for the replies. This has been really helpful. To clarify, I’m not actually “running through” PF pain. The PF only hurts when I wake up in the morning. I’ve been stretching/rolling the hell out of it everyday and have yet to experience any pain from it while I run.

Stretch, stretch and more stretching. I never did it when I was younger, but as I get older stretching will help limit injuries. I took up running at 36 and in the best shape of my life. I do though have fun with it, don’t let it consume me and I also do lots of other activities like soccer and biking.

One good thing as you get older you can usually afford the new fancy expensive shoes vs the cheapo crap I used to use without knowing better

Just turned 60 in July. I've been running daily since I was 15. My best guess is about 55,000 lifetime miles so far and now running between 40 and 50 miles/week. I've not tried the joint supplements but enough doctors and vets recommend them that they must have some value. My "secret" is replacing my running shoes when the hard rubber compound wears through in the heel because I believe that the mis-alignment caused by your feet hitting the ground wrong must impact your knees and hips. This means throwing them out with far less mileage than it takes for the EVA to compress or the upper to wear and since I'm a heel striker being smart about buying shoes with heels that will hold up

I think you actually can do high intensity work like intervals your entire life but you need to budget sufficient recovery days afterword and extremely fast intervals like 200M or even 400M repeats are probably not a good idea. Whatever connective tissue is called into action when you run say a 30 second or 32 second 200M interval runs a high risk of snapping violently after maybe 40 years of age. Perhaps with weight training and flexibility drills you could run the faster/shorter stuff but I'm not trying to hit an 800M PR

gsimmons2005 wrote:

Stretch, stretch and more stretching.r

I haven't stretched in years. I'm 55 and averaging a little over 60 mpw this year. As this thread has shown, everybody does it a little differently.

Most older runners I see that give up running got a little too pudgy. Extra weight at any age is not good for running. I weigh 128 lbs and as difficult as it is some days , I couldn't imagine trying to run at 160 or 170 lbs.

gsimmons2005 wrote:

Stretch, stretch and more stretching. I never did it when I was younger, but as I get older stretching will help limit injuries. I took up running at 36 and in the best shape of my life. I do though have fun with it, don’t let it consume me and I also do lots of other activities like soccer and biking.

One good thing as you get older you can usually afford the new fancy expensive shoes vs the cheapo crap I used to use without knowing better

Congrats, worst post on this thread! You should be banned for spreading misinformation.

I see all these old runners with skinny legs and big guts. Heck yeah your knees are gonna hurt.

Weight Train! Heavy weights! You naturally lose lots of muscle after 40, so you need to combat that with weights. Also you lose testosterone as you age, so weight training will help with that too.

All those old guys from the 70s were running on hard surfaces, in crappy Nike’s, and thought weight training hurt their running. That’s why they have knee issues.

This just happened to me finally, but at almost age 52. Patellar tendinitis syndrome. Did you absolutely have to take the year and a half off?

I did not stop running, but ran every other day and it was extremely painful, starting off limping badly until the knees numbed out. Took 4 & 1/2 months give or take. Hope it doesn't come back. When I could, I threw in lower body weight training which was also very painful. My low bodyweight hasn't changed in over a quarter century, but I did spend way too much time running on asphalt over the years.

Go away wrote:

gsimmons2005 wrote:

Stretch, stretch and more stretching. I never did it when I was younger, but as I get older stretching will help limit injuries. I took up running at 36 and in the best shape of my life. I do though have fun with it, don’t let it consume me and I also do lots of other activities like soccer and biking.

One good thing as you get older you can usually afford the new fancy expensive shoes vs the cheapo crap I used to use without knowing better

Congrats, worst post on this thread! You should be banned for spreading misinformation.

What? For advocating stretching? It’s not like I stretch before I run, but I do it at night with some squats and other things to strengthen the joints. Seems to me all the top runners also stretch and strength train, but your entitled to your thoughts,

Or rolling sore muscles...I find t hard to believe the non stretch crowd does nothing after a long run? No rolling, ice, nothing? If so, I wish my body could handle doing nothing.

Rainy Day wrote:

fisky wrote:

Agip is right on this. Don't do marathons as you get older.

Um, ever hear of Ed Whitlock?

Wasn't the cartilage in one (or both?) of Ed Whitlock's knees almost completely gone?

Abe Froman wrote:

Look up Jack Lalanne - "The body doesn’t grow old from overuse – it grows old from lack of use"

As far as I know, Jack LaLanne was not a runner.

RyecorDone wrote:

But full marathon is an unnecessary unhealthy strain for old folks.

Ahhhh, but maybe it becomes easier to Podium in the marathon at advanced age, yes?