Realistic targets for a 40 something

I guess its all part of the "How fast can a 40 something run". Tthe recovery time between runs increases with age, and trying to push for more can tip us into the injury zone. I seem to be teetering on the brink at the moment and may need a couple of lighter weeks.

Enjoy NZ

Wow a great thread I am soon to be a 47 year old and got back into running about 3 years ago. After devoting the last 15 years to football coaching. Did my 1st marathon Edinburgh last year and was very lucky this year to get a place in the VLM through my running club. The point I would like to make is both times I have stepped up the training and followed a plan I have got injured and ended up paying a fortune on physio. I work 12 hr shifts 2 days 2 night  and only mix training with my shift days when I start to follow  a marathon plan. After 2 attempts my old body is telling me hey a 12 hr shift is enough So next year a different way to train (I do get 6 days off) just got to decide which marathon next year !

   Some awsome times from you all well impresed

Hi LeedsNick This year i tried to follow a sub 3.30 marathon plan from runners world. The issue I have is that when I start training on work days I break. Throughout the year i just go for a steady  run on my change over day. So at the moment I am promising myself to keep doing that and not run after work. It is very hard to find a plan designed for shift workers I have to work weekends so cannot even plan a long run every Sunday and every plan I read has that.  What plan for next year ?as yet not sure. I am going  to speak to the knowledge in my running club. Also my physio got me out on a bike and swimming which I hope to keep doing . Also although recommended I struggle with hill training probaly to do with the way run (Like John Wayne I am told) the going down bit always brings strange aches n pains!    

Think RRR_Caz has hit the nail on the head that as we all get older and ricketier avoiding injury is the bigest challenge. I took up running age 39 (now 43) and it's only really in the last 6 months I've had a decent chunk of injury free training time. Never had anything major - just nuisance niggles which stuff things up in a low level way ! Hitting the balance between hard sessions that lead to improvement and just "ticking" along with easy miles is the hard bit though eh !

Good luck in your endeavours Jake

Excellent news with the PB, FRC. If you are going to beat a PB, you might as well do it in style

A friend has suffered with ITB for ages, and after reading up extensively, switched to some minimal running shoes and has adopted a midfoot strike. Took him a little while to get used to the shoes, but now he cannot run in his old Brooks without all kinds of niggles. He says things have never felt better and the ITB problems have totally gone away (in training at least).

LeedsNick wrote (see)

I do my long easy runs very slow. ie. anywhere between 10.30 and 11 min miles... Shorter runs of 3 to 8 miles I vary between 10min pace and 8.30 pace depending on what my aim is. I seem to be fine until my weekly mileage creeps above 20 miles per week. ... it's more like 3 miles, 6 miles and 11 miles say.

I'm 45 and also have to cope with the danged Leeds hills ... and weather!

The problem may well be that your long run is too long based on your weekly mileage. An11M LSR in a 20M week is looking for trouble ... that's over 50% of your mileage in one run and you are not doing enough running to support this LSR. I would typically do an 11-12M LSR as part of a 40M week!

You would be better off doing a 6M long run and 3 other runs of 4-5M. If that's still too much (from a recovery point of view) reduce mileage evenly (eg. 3M, 3M, 3M, 5M). Keep all your runs easy until you're comfortable and recovering well ... as you improve, you increase mileage gradually and evenly over all your runs. Don't just make the LSR longer ... make sure your longest run is only 20-30% of you total.

JakeUK wrote (see)

A friend has suffered with ITB for ages, and after reading up extensively, switched to some minimal running shoes and has adopted a midfoot strike. Took him a little while to get used to the shoes, but now he cannot run in his old Brooks without all kinds of niggles. He says things have never felt better and the ITB problems have totally gone away (in training at least).

Yes, avoiding heel-striking can really help to reduce the stress on the knees ... and minimal running shoes can help to break the heel strike habit. I was a heel-striking ITBS sufferer but I spent 6 months in VFFs a couple of years back and converted to forfoot striking ... have not had ITBS since. I run in racing flats now.