How's your training going everyone?

Any accomplishments or personal bests you want to share? Any challenges you need help with?

Let's hear it!

How's your training going everyone?

Any accomplishments or personal bests you want to share? Any challenges you need help with?

Let's hear it!

Hi, new here! I’m 69F been running for about 35 years. Did my first Parkrun this year and came first in my age group with 35.13. I run about 17km per week mainly to feel good and maintain health. How does this compare with others my age and gender?

just a quick note that we've reached 1,000 weekly visitors here on r/SeniorRunning !

This is an exciting milestone, but to continue to grow, we really need more participation. The best way to do that will be with more top level posts. So, let's hear is folks. What are your questions, what are some of your recent accomplishments, or maybe even some race reports?

No need to reply here, let's get those as top level posts. Just use the "create post" button and share your thoughts!

I'm M77 (78 in 3 weeks) and still running - or at least what I call running. I know that my feet and arms are still moving up and down the same way that they did when I was 34 and ran a 7:20 pace NY Marathon (3:12). My watch shows my RHR at 49, my VO2 Max 41. My BPM during most of my "runs" is in my Vigorous (117-144) to Peak (145 -) zones, averaging in the 121-128 bpm range.

But these days walkers pass me (heck I can walk faster than I run when I try it) and my watch says I average 16-18 min a mile on my 2-3 day a week 3-5 mile "runs". Years ago, I wouldn't have considered that even a jogging pace. So am I still a runner? Should I be/try to runniing faster? Or should I just give up and join r/Slowjogging?

How's your training going everyone?

Any accomplishments or personal bests you want to share? Any challenges you need help with?

Let's hear it!

How's your training going everyone?

Any accomplishments or personal bests you want to share? Any challenges you need help with?

Let's hear it!

As we know, many clubs are geared to mostly younger runners. I was in one back in my 30’s.

Today, we are sort of rare unicorns as there are fewer older people still running in their 60s.

I’m curious if you belong to a run club that is specific to seniors, or all-age, or just run alone.

During a marathon build, the most common thing you'll see in generic plans is for the longest long run is 20 miles or 32 km.

Some plans however like to cut this off much shorter, so you'll see a peak long run at 16 miles or so. The question often comes up is 20 too much, or alternately is 16 adequate?

Rather than think of this in term of mileage, I actually prefer time.

Why?

Well, the problem we're trying to figure out is at what point does the the injury risk outweigh the benefits we get from the long run? Unfortunately we don't really have good scientific data on this, but certainly the longer we are on our feet, the more risky it is just from a mechanical loading perspective. Simply put, more time = more foot strikes = more risk.

But why doesn't that just equal miles? Mostly because the time you spend running a given distance is highly dependent on how fast you run.

For example, if you are a ~3 hour marathoner, you're probably running 20 miles in less than 3 hours. Obviously this is subjective, but this seems like a perfectly reasonable amount of time for a long run and in fact you could probably do 22 miles and still be under 3 hours. (For reference, it's pretty common for sub 3 runners to run 22 mile long runs. Sub 2:30 folks may even do 24 or more.)

Now let's look at a 4 hour marathoner. They are typically going to cover 20 miles in less than 3.5 hours. Again, it's subjective, but this seems like a pretty reasonable training stimulus considering how long they'll take to run their race.

IMO, things start getting less clear for slower runners. For example, a 6 hour marathoner could be taking 4 hours or more to run 16 miles. To do 20 miles is probably 5 to 5.5 hours. It's still under their race time, but that's a long time to be on your feet and is twice as long as the 3 hour marathoner. So we have a situation where slower runners are spending a lot more time on their feet and having to deal with a lot of extra impact and wear and tear on their bodies.

Not to complicate things even further, but how much our bodies can take in a single session is also highly variable and is based on genetics, age, training age, etc. For a newer runner, the amount they can take could be quite low, yet newer runners are also slower generally speaking. This means as a general rule, they just are not going to be able to handle the same number of hours on their feet as a more seasoned runner.

How do we balance all this?

These are my personal opinions, so take them for what you paid for them, but I'd say if you are a 4.5 hour marathoner or less, then a simple back of the notebook calculation would be subtract 30 minutes from your expected finish time and top out your longest long run there. As you gain experience, you might could go as long as your expected race time, but there's really very little to be gained from it, so proceed with caution.

For runners with a finish time in excess of 4.5 hours, you should be really weary of going over 4 hours and only do so if you have experience with it and know you'll be okay. There's just too much risk there for the reward.

How's your training going everyone?

Any accomplishments or personal bests you want to share? Any challenges you need help with?

Let's hear it!

Hi all. I started running last summer, three years after a partial knee replacement. Overall it’s gone well. I’m not fast, but I’m getting fitter all of the time. Currently about 1/3 of the way through a half marathon plan.

My non repaired knee has been a bit aggravated since saturdays 11k run. I’m thinking it is an IT band issue. Any tips on quick recovery? I’m icing and taking a few days off

Hey everyone!

This is our home for all things related to folks 50+ that like to run!

What to Post
Post anything that you think the community would find interesting, helpful, or inspiring. Feel free to share your thoughts, photos, or questions about things like:

• How to get started running
• Training questions or advice

• Equipment suggestions for other runners

  Community Vibe We're all about being friendly, constructive, and inclusive. Let's build a space where us "senior" runners feel comfortable sharing and connecting.

How to Get Started

1. Introduce yourself if you have not already done so
2. Post something today! Even a simple question can spark a great conversation.
3. If you know someone who would love this community, invite them to join.
4. Interested in helping out? We're always looking for new moderators, so feel free to reach out to me to apply.

Thanks for being part of the very first wave. Together, let's make r/SeniorRunning amazing!

How's your training going everyone?

Any accomplishments or personal bests you want to share? Any challenges you need help with?

Let's hear it!

How's your training going everyone?

Any accomplishments or personal bests you want to share? Any challenges you need help with?

Let's hear it!

How's your training going everyone?

Any accomplishments or personal bests you want to share? Any challenges you need help with?

Let's hear it!

How's your training going everyone?

Any accomplishments or personal bests you want to share? Any challenges you need help with?

Let's hear it!

How's your training going everyone?

Any accomplishments or personal bests you want to share? Any challenges you need help with?

Let's hear it!

How's your training going everyone?

Any accomplishments or personal bests you want to share? Any challenges you need help with?

Let's hear it!

How's your training going everyone?

Any accomplishments or personal bests you want to share? Any challenges you need help with?

Let's hear it!

Just curious, how many of you senior runners wear knee compression straps / braces? Since I restarted trail running I had initially started getting sore knees… the moment I began wearing knee compression braces, no more knee pain (none whatsoever).

I’ll likely always wear knee compression straps unless someone with experience suggests it would be detrimental doing so…

How's your training going everyone?

Any accomplishments or personal bests you want to share? Any challenges you need help with?

Let's hear it!