celery wrote:
The lesson from this guy is that if you don't over train and injure yourself, you can run moderately well into your 60s. The fact that he run marathons under 3 hours is completely arbitrary. You could just as easily find a person on a 30 year, sub 4 hr marathon streak and learn the same lesson. Its a good lesson to learn if you want to keep running as you grow old, but its not a lesson that tells you how to run a sub 3 hour marathon. The #1 lesson for how to run a sub 3, is pick your parents wisely.
To me, a couple of things strike me about HOW this fellow avoids overtraining and injury. It isn't just the so called "easy" miles. Clearly, he works a LOT on form, with more or less daily sprints, form work and other supplemental exercises. Using minimalist shoes/running sandals/bare feet also shows his attention to the neurobiological aspects of running. Diet and maintenance of a more-or-less "elite" body composition probably play important roles. In looking at Cucuzzella's case, I was put in mind of someone sort on the other end of the spectrum, Gary Patton, who at 71 does intervals regularly (every 3 days) in training for masters mile competition. However, he's also big on the supplementals, takes care to recover from workouts, and maintains a runner's body even into his 70s.
https://www.runnersworld.com/masters/71-year-old-sets-blazing-fast-mile-world-record-on-low-mileageThe older you get as a runner, the more your attention to the details becomes critical, I think, to maintain consistency in training.