In the latest Ultrarunning Magazine, they had a theme of longevity in running. They interviewed ultrarunners in their 60’s and 70’s who were still running. What’s their secret? Don’t be greedy with mileage. Seek out adventure. A race is about the experience not the finishing time or place. Some wonderful tidbits of advice.
In coaching athletes, I need to make training decisions with long term health and longevity superseding a short-term race goal. I want them to be able to do what they love for as long as possible. With this in mind, here are 5 tips to maximize your longevity in running:
-
Find your happy mileage & adjust as needed
Happy mileage is a weekly mileage that you can do week after week without getting injured. Take a look at the last 8 – 12 weeks of your training. How many times per week are you running? What mileage are your runs, and what weekly mileage does this add up to? Create a bar graph of weekly mileage and look at the mileage that you seem to repeat frequently. If you have a lot of variability in your weekly mileage due to life circumstances, calculate the median value for the last 8 – 12 weeks.
If you are wanting to increase your weekly mileage, this will need to be done with care especially as we age. Rather than ramping up 10% per week which can end up being a large increase in a short time, increase your weekly mileage by ~ 10% and stay there for a number of months. Include recovery weeks once every 3 – 4 weeks. If you don’t get injured this is a new mileage that you can handle successfully.
Depending on how long you’ve been running and your current age, you may not need to do the same amount of mileage to achieve the same goal. It can be helpful to work with a qualified running coach to provide expertise in making these decisions. Perhaps the running mileage decreases and is replaced with some added cross training. Be open to changing how you train as you age if that is what is needed to keep you running longer.
-
Build a team of support
There are many experts that can help you increase your longevity in running. These include running coaches, strength and conditioning specialists, physical therapists, sports medicine physicians, and more! When a familiar or new niggle pops up, seeing your physical therapist or other health professional early can help increase those healthy running years.
Training partners can also be an important part of a support team. They provide community, encouragement, and accountability to get out for your runs. This can be in the form of organized group runs or meeting one or two friends for some of your runs every week.
-
Be consistent with training
Detraining starts to happen in a matter of days. When we add the effects of aging on top of detraining, it can take a very long time to rebuild fitness after a layoff. Training doesn’t always have to look the same every week, but consistent exercise should be a priority if longevity in sport is your goal.
For example, let’s say you just completed a half marathon race. Rather than rest completely for 4 – 6 weeks after the race, build a training regime that includes other types of movement such as strength training, cycling, swimming, hiking, etc. This ensures that you allow your muscles to recover from the race without losing too much fitness.
-
Strength Train
The size of our muscle fibers gets smaller as we age. However, we can slow the rate of decline by committing to regular strength training. Lifting weights will not only help our muscle size but will also aid in hormonal health as we age, muscle function, and agility. All of these benefits will help us run healthy for longer.
-
Keep it fun
I hope you run because of the way it makes you feel. Alive, invigorated, simple, wonderful, happy, peaceful are just some of the words I’ve heard athletes describe their running. Hobbies should be fun – seek out adventure, run alone or with a friend, on a road or on a trail, slow or fast. Whatever makes it fun for you – do that! Here’s to running happy, healthy, and for many years to come!