Don't tell me that increasing your mileage when getting back into shape isn't key especially for old guy 40 plus

More miles? more miles than what? when you were 20? when you were 30? more miles than last week? What if I ran 80 miles last week. The answer is always more mile? come on now. Everything needs context. We are all an experiment of 1.

At some point, if you were a serious runner in your younger days, then you can't set personal bests.

At some point, we are running for enjoyment, we are running to slow down as little as possible.

At some point we are showing up for races for the experience and environment.

Can't be injured and do any of the above.

Learn to moderate and have variety.

Almost 40 here. Coming back slowly from a knee injury in the early spring. I did a lot of biking in the spring and summer (lifting, too), and I found that it inhibited my ability to run more and run faster without feeling bad and beat up.

It was not until I got to 5-6 days a week of mostly hour-ish runs that I started to feel better in my feet, calves, knees, hips, etc. AND get faster. I have no doubt things will be different when I'm approaching 50 instead of 40. And I'm by no means running high mileage right now (40-50s), but it is a lot higher than the 10-20 w/ cross training that others are having success with.

So as always, to each their own. It's funny to me how many people on here want to tell others how to train. Train the way that makes you feel best physically and gives you the most enjoyment.

magically added 20 seconds to 5k wrote:

SUPERIOR COACH JS wrote:

IT`S NOT! My coaching shows you are wrong.

- Magic Schedule -

I have tried many different methods in my 50 years and figured I would give your schedule an honest chance. Carefully implemented it per your formula and magically got slower.

I'm sure it works for some though, just like every other method out there.

You need the magic coach himself to perform his system to perfection. All runners I have coached at different levels have improved. Coached by me you had improved too. I`m sure.

I'm 54 and do 50-65 miles per week to run 5k and some 10k. I'm not a marathoner and never will be. Key for me is make sure I do the easy runs easy, and "train don't strain" on the harder workouts. 40mpw is not enough for me, but much more than 60 and I need to be careful about intensity.

Staying healthy is definitely priority #1 at this age, and as always, consistent training over long periods of time are the foundation key. An easy day with 8 miles will always be better than a day with zero miles because of injury.

It's stupidly simple but I didn't "get it" until a couple years ago, after about 35 years of running. The idea for speed/interval workouts at race pace or cv pace is to hit the pace and hold it, not to keep trying to do the workout faster next time. Hold the pace, but keep cutting down the rest intervals. This will also help you to get a feel for the right pace, and not do the first mile of a race too fast.

Dufus wrote:

Some of us aren't willing to break too bad, or go for surgery, so balance means something different.

Agree. I was reciting a bit of a cautionary tale, highlighting the potential cost of added volume, as much as anything.

Well, it depends on the individual, completely, and one's own goals. I'd rather be in the fast lane, honestly.

I agree with OP wrote:

I found that biking made me better at biking and not at running. I found that running more was the key to better running.

I half agree. It made coming back to running easier after being injured. But, it got me really strong cardiovascularly which made running feel really easy when i came back to it. So, ended up injured again.!

Now, that i'm not injured, i still bike and while it doesn't make me any faster, it gives me a low impact workout on my off or easy days to help keep the weight off.

Getting back in shape is 90% miles! More miles done aerobically.

I agree with OP wrote:

don't know until you know wrote:

This is where a bunch of young guys chime in on what it's like to be 50 and how we should train.

Please point out the young guys on this thread? I'm having trouble identifying them.

Give it time. On the last thread they all showed up and voiced their opinion. LRP was very prominent and he's only been running for two years as well.

SUPERIOR COACH JS wrote:

magically added 20 seconds to 5k wrote:

I have tried many different methods in my 50 years and figured I would give your schedule an honest chance. Carefully implemented it per your formula and magically got slower.

I'm sure it works for some though, just like every other method out there.

You need the magic coach himself to perform his system to perfection. All runners I have coached at different levels have improved. Coached by me you had improved too. I`m sure.

No, it's just a simple formula that easy to apply.

I'm 60+ and run about 3000 miles a year. I've reinvented my training many times over, and from my mid-40s (following a long term injury) have done more miles than late 20s-early 40s. Going back a bit further (college and post college) I was a higher mileage runner most of the year, 70s-80s some blocks into the the 100s. But got injured and got into career so was mid-mileage runner for a good 15 years (40-50 or so), but I got injured a lot. Back to the past 15 years, consistently 55 to 70 mpw, a bit more for marathons (which I do about every 2 or 3 years).

By letsrun standards (where you run like Ed Whitlock or you're a nobody) my times aren't great, but have done 5:15 mile, 17:27 5K, sub 36 10K, and under 1:18 for the half in the past couple of years. I wouldn't be able to do that at 20-30 or 40 mpw. Maybe could run fast in the mile, but would get injured with mile based training I bet. As my friend SCC likes to say, that's my story and I'm sticking to it.

It's a about consistency, getting in the right workouts and recovery.

actually not wrote:

SUPERIOR COACH JS wrote:

You need the magic coach himself to perform his system to perfection. All runners I have coached at different levels have improved. Coached by me you had improved too. I`m sure.

No, it's just a simple formula that easy to apply.

It`s a simple formula in the basic details, but when it comes to the perfect performance it needs experience and the touch of coaching art.

I'm getting back into running and you telling me I need to run 70 miles a week, which would take me like 3 hours per day, isn't going to help. It's just going to keep me at my desk eating these Oreos.

Whatever keeps you upright and moving without pain is what is key. Whatever combo of pace, miles, days off, recovery tricks, diet, sleep, etc, works for you is what's best. It's calculus, not arithmetic.

You can't build on, or even DO mileage when you're over 50. Injuries aren't worth it.

You've got to do all that other stuff, and have a clean diet. I can run under 20 for 5K on 8 miles a week, you can, too. You MIGHT go a bit faster not wearing "dad shoes," but I won't risk it.

Not claiming that it is optimal, but in mid-50s I was doing one track workout (say 5 or 6x1000m at 5k pace or a bit quicker), a 4 mile run at tempo or a little quicker, and one 'long' run of about 7 miles, and the other 4 days literally jog 2 miles with the dogs.

Off that - probably under 25 miles a week - I ran 17:32 for 5k on road (certified course) in a low key race where I was leading and by myself for the last 2 miles.

Now that wasn't a getting back off a long-time off. I've been training and racing since 13 or 14 and never had more than a few weeks off at one time. I think when you have that kind of background it's probably a little different. I'm also more a fast-twitch type without much desire to race seriously beyond 5k, and generally suck when I race in a base phase.

I'm 62 now, and when I can avoid injury, I'd do about 40 min a day, with a long run at the weekend (try and do betwen 70-90 minutes on trails, which stop me going to quick, which I'm inclined to do on road). Try and do one 'cruise' rep session and an LT session, until switch to V02 max session the last few weeks before a race (tend to 'peak' and then to go off fairly fast). Trying to run daily is about keep weight off as much as anything else now.

SashaK wrote:

Getting back in shape is 90% miles! More miles done aerobically.

Exactly, hey l am not saying don't do workouts, but for example, l did a session last Friday and my next won't be till Sunday or Monday, so that's like 8-9 days and it wasn't a killer session, no my killer session was the Sunday before. All l am saying is right now l am working on putting in more miles, basically adding a mile or 2 or more to my daily miles and increasing my long run. The whole point of this was about me or older people (50plus) getting back into shape with the emphasis on increasing your miles first. I am working up to 50mpw then 60mpw and so on. You need strength, not fancy workouts when you are working back into shape. You can't increase your miles, get back into shape, and add fancy workouts all at the same time.Thats a recipe for disaster.

Why does what you like to do , even if it works for you( and how can we be sure it does?) have to be some kind of Golden Rule for everyone else?

When I was 49, I spent the whole year running as many miles as I could. Ended up with a little over 3,000.

When I was 50, my only concern was speed and keeping my legs fresh. Raced 37 times and ran faster than I had in 5 years. Ended up averaging around 35 miles/week. There was only one race I ran both years and ran 1:30 faster for 5k.