Is It Possible to PR at Age 55+ After Over 20 Years of Running?

No

That's what I like to hear. The impossible dream. I wont believe I cant until I am not improving any more year to year. Or unless I get hurt again, then it would be impossible.

Now if I could spell groin right I'd really be doing something. Bad enough to do it once but twice! I am getting old.

50x wrote:

now I'm wondering if it's possible at my age to best my previous 18:16 5k pr.

I think you can do it.

Personally, I'd go for it, and see what happens.

Also does anyone think I should bump up my mileage or just keep it around 40ish with some hard stuff?

Yes.

It sounds like your balance will be better around 40ish with some hard stuff.

Continue doing the things that work best for you.

Anyone who PRs over the age of 50 either did not train properly in their 30's or is running an odd distance that they never really contested before.

Go for it- everyone is different. I'm 50+ and would not be able to match times I posted in my 30's, let alone hit PR's from my 20's.

Yes it's possible, at least give it a go. I assume you're doing speed work.

HGHed wrote:

Anyone who PRs over the age of 50 either did not train properly in their 30's or is running an odd distance that they never really contested before.

Check the section here under 'Don't freak out.' This 55 yr old had a best of 1:19 for the half marathon and then dropped a 1:16 last month. Topped that with a 4th overall in his debut at Alaska's biggest marathon this past weekend.

J.R. wrote:

50x wrote:

now I'm wondering if it's possible at my age to best my previous 18:16 5k pr.

I think you can do it.

Personally, I'd go for it, and see what happens.

Also does anyone think I should bump up my mileage or just keep it around 40ish with some hard stuff?

Yes.

It sounds like your balance will be better around 40ish with some hard stuff.

Continue doing the things that work best for you.

Thanks JR, I will go for it, maybe. First I have to get in the 18's, then sub-6 pace. If that goes well and I haven't gotten injured again then we'll see.

I think you're right about staying around 40 mpw. Although I am tempted to bump it up. I'm not real disaplined about hard wos, I may have to race myself in shape for much of the hard stuff. Which is basically what I'm doing now. Cant race and do a weekly wo.

HGHed wrote:

Anyone who PRs over the age of 50 either did not train properly in their 30's or is running an odd distance that they never really contested before.

This is true in my case. I was 190ish lbs when I started and didn't know much about running in my 30's. Ran only about 20-30 mpw with not much hard stuff outside of racing. When I got in my 40's after a year off I met a group of experienced runners and started marathon training which bumped up my weekly mileage and the rest of my times all came down drammatically.

AK-56 wrote:

HGHed wrote:

Anyone who PRs over the age of 50 either did not train properly in their 30's or is running an odd distance that they never really contested before.

Check the section here under 'Don't freak out.' This 55 yr old had a best of 1:19 for the half marathon and then dropped a 1:16 last month. Topped that with a 4th overall in his debut at Alaska's biggest marathon this past weekend.

http://www.adn.com/2014/06/21/3528433/kiplagat-flaharty-run-to-mayors.html?sp=/99/474/3117/

That's pretty amazing AK-56. I'll never see those times. Good to see runners still getting it done at 50 and older.

Good to see some posts by the regulars on the Over 50 thread too.

Thanks for the replies guys. I'm getting the bug back after thinking I might never run again a few years back. If I stay healthy this fall could be fun. I run my best times in the fall.

50x wrote:

That's what I like to hear. The impossible dream. I wont believe I cant until I am not improving any more year to year. Or unless I get hurt again, then it would be impossible.

If you were going to dismiss a negative opinion why did you ask the question? LOL!

You can try for sure. If you can it likely means you weren't trained properly as a younger athlete.

no unless you weren't training properly early in your career

Not without artificial testosterone