Quick bio: just turned 78, logging miles since 4/22/76. Due to my job, career Army Officer, I had run enough to pass the Army PT tests. Smoked 1 pack cigs per day from 18-31-quit for 2 yrs in that time frame but went back to cigs. Quit for good in 11/75 and started running more to beat the negative addiction with a positive one. Not sure why, but on 4/22/76 I started logging my miles. Have a large drawer full of 44+ yrs of running miles calendars. Before GPS, Strava, etc.. Still keep track manually along with my 548 races from 1 mile to 50 + milers.
My Secret: Run 95%+ of my runs 2-3 minutes slower than my 5K race pace. Rest day 1x a week. Drink a lot of water. H2O worked pretty good for cave men/women.
Made my running play and tried not to take myself too seriously.
My weight has stayed between 140-150 pounds on my 5’10” frame, which sadly has shrunk over the years.
Rarely injured, have fallen a few times and crashed when I would ride my bike from time to time.
All my races are notall out efforts.
After about 10 yrs of running I PR’d from 2 miles to marathon/ultras.
Best 5 K high 17’s low 18’s. 10K 36:xx. 1/2 marathon 1:24, marathon 3:16, 50 miler 8:12.
Since around ‘86, times have decreased about 20 seconds per year per mile.just raced a 5K after 19 months with no racing or speed work. 30:14.
I have seen my share of “fast folks” who show on the running scene and have observed that most disappear. Do too much, too soon, too fast. They end up belonging to the world’s largest running club-“I use to run but…..club”.
EZ warm up and cool down works. Minimal stretching. Still do push ups, Never big with weights, I observed that very few people die from weak arms.
I walked 2-3 miles a day, with my dog and found the walking aided my running and found I was less stiff.
Trained by HR when most people thought Polar was a bear.
Tried Stryd, and other gadgets over the years. Been happy with Garmin/Coros.
Sorry I rambled. Hey keep running, it works!! 🏃 Nick