Managing decline

I'm 55 and my pb's are all 10 years old. I have to accept that I plateaued a while back and am going to get slower as I get older. It's already happening.

The training schedules I see are designed to speed us up. Are there any schedules for vets or seniors or whatever we're called, those of us who are on the other side of the hill now, designed to keep us going well but mindful of ageing and slower legs and longer recovery times?

I guess the nearest I've seen is the "maintenance" option in the Smartcoach plans.

Comments

  • Bruce Tulloh has a book on running over 40 and I think Joe Friel on training for over 50 but TBH at 58 I'm not sure you need to make a change yet, apart from possibly a bit of a swap round to give an extra recovery day after a hard session like a sunday long run.

    Personally I prefer not to be on a constant maintenance schedule as you are thinking, but to cycle through marathon or other distance programmes starting part way in. You can then get better or at least temporarily peak within that programme. If you train after HR and WAVA you don't need to get hung up on speed.

  • I think you should think of each birthday as a new start and see what you can achieve as your PB for that year. Trying to catch a 45 year old you is going to be hard work but depending on your approach it might not be impossible.



    I believe the 'FIRST' training plan is aimed at those with years of training behind them and who have built up a very strong base. I think it is 3 hard runs per week but can not remember the specifics.
  • RicFRicF ✭✭✭

    I'm nearly 55 and any training session is a compromise between what might make me faster and what will wear me down further.

    It's a question of speed of recovery. The faster the recovery the more work can be put in. If you can't recover, then more work won't help.

    So it becomes a waiting game. A waiting game that lasts so long that while waiting to recover, you actually detrain. And gradually get slower as you do less training because of it.

    It becomes a vicious circle. Either accept the decline due to being able to do less training, or just give up in frustration.

    🙂

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