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Anatomy and Physiology

Data Collection

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I was recently appointed as a Research Affiliate in the UVM Department of Rehabilitation and Movement Science.  The position is unpaid but enables me to fully participate with the two professors I’ve been working with on a research project comparing the biomechanics of runners over 50 and under 30 years of age.  The gist of the research is to understand how changes in the strength and flexibility in the lower extremities (ankles, knees, and hips) affects running gait and speed. It’s well established that the “float” (time off the ground) of older runners is shorter than younger runners.  It’s also known that this negatively affects stride length, one of the two components of speed (the other being cadence, or turnover.) Thus, this research study measures strength and flexibility in the lower extremity and then has subjects run a 1.5 mile time trial, during which they pass a point 15 times (the UVM track is 1/10th of a mile) where video is taken measuring each leg’s stride length and overall biomechanics.  A key goal of the research is to identify chronic weaknesses and imbalances that might lead to injury and by doing so, enable runners to address those things and be able to run into their senior years. We look to recruit 30 runners in each age group. Participants are scheduled for 90 minutes to complete needed paperwork and then do the exercises and time trial.  

Subjects in human studies are protected so: their data is held confidential; the perceived benefits from the research outweigh potential risks; there is not undue pressure to participate, and their safety is assured.  To be added to the study team, I was required to complete training applicable to research involving human subjects.  This enables me to recruit and engage with participants, answer questions, ensure they are eligible, gather their informed consent;, and then assist with data collection. It’s a lot of work on the part of PIs (principal investigators) to develop a study and gain approval from the local (UVM in this case) Institutional Review Board (IRB) and then be directly involved in data collection and analysis. It is due to this commitment on the part of researchers that new knowledge is gained and disseminated. 

Before I was added to the team, I was a participant in the study.  The data collection was done on the track I regularly run on during the winter.  (Great to have this option on cold and snowy days!) Since I regularly strength-train, I thought I would breeze through the strength and flexibility exercises before running the time trial. It was a wakeup call! The warm-up started with walking toe-touches. The goal was to keep the back straight while kicking my leg out and touching my toes.  I failed miserably – I was bent over, never got close to my toes, lost balance and nearly fell over. The other warmups were a bit easier. Then it was on the videoed single-legged jumping and flexibility drills. More embarrassment – I barely got off the ground or moved forward. I thought the PI cut me some slack by accepting some of my trials. I wasn’t sure I even wanted to receive the results but decided to opt in. Might clue me in on things I need to do!  The time trial was the easiest thing. I typically run half-mile intervals so, 1.5 miles was a push but that was nothing compared to the pre-run exercises.  

Fast forward to my involvement as a data collector rather than a “collectee.” My first day we saw five participants, four of whom I had directly or indirectly recruited. (Naturally a key role for me is bringing in the older runners.)  It was helpful that I had previously been a study subject — I knew first-hand how difficult the pre-run exercises could be. I commiserated with and offered encouragement to those doing them (most much better than I had!)  And counting the laps and cheering folks on during the time trial I trust helped people feel supported.  

It’s generally good to put ourselves in new places and situations. Often, we feel disoriented and struggle at first, trying to put one foot in front of the other without stumbling. We learned that way when younger and it seems that really doesn’t change with age. In fact, I wonder if wanting to avoid looking foolish keeps us from doing things that help us maintain a fresh perspective, keep learning, and see something new in what we encounter and people we meet. In a way, our lives are an ongoing opportunity for data collection. Ideally, this is done with others and we learn together.

Circle of Capacity

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We’ve been in St. Augustine for the past two weeks.  I’ve met and run with some folks from the Ancient City Road Runners, a club with about 300 members of varying ages and abilities.  It’s amazing how runners quickly connect and develop threads of friendship.  I attended their monthly club meeting at the local library where Matt Reider, a local physical therapist, made a presentation about the importance of building and maintaining what he called our “Circle of Capacity.”

This was a term I was not familiar with but drawing from Reider’s presentation and a bit of research, it’s clear this describes what we should be considering in our training plans. In short, the Circle (I’ll call it that here) represents the outside borders of our physical, mental, and psychological conditioning.  When we push the circle outward through rigorous efforts, it gets bigger.  When we let up, it shrinks. Reider used the example of an injured runner who sits around waiting for the body to repair itself. He notes this leads to a smaller circle such that when we return to action, we have to go through the process of building back up. He did not specifically mention aging, but it’s well known the use-it-or-lose-it syndrome pertains more to our physiological systems in senior years than in our 30s and 40s.

I find it helpful to visually think about this concept by extending my hands to draw an imaginary circle.  I then consider the area within this circle, which might (loosely) be seen as our total capacity.  Since the area of a circle is A=p (3.14) x r2, and if this area represents our total capacity of some or all of our physiological capacities, then we can compare the total area when the radius decreases.  

To make this more concrete, let’s look at a simple example.  Say our Circle of Capacity is represented by a radius of 3.  Then we get injured and slack off and the radius of our Circle declines to 2, a one-third decrease.  On a relative basis, this is not that unrealistic as we lose peak fitness quickly with inactivity.  Using this example the measure of our pre-injury capacity is 28.3 (3.14 x 32) whereas the post-injury capacity is 9.6 (3.14 x 22), or just 34% of the pre-injury capacity.  That is a lot of ground to make up!

Without getting buried in the math, the point is there is a geometric increase and decrease in our physiological capacity.  And this has psychological implications, since if we’re feeling tired and unable to push it, this impacts our disposition and can affect our motivation to train using alternative modes.  The good news is this circle grows exponentially as well, though it typically takes longer to increase capacity than it takes to lose it.

For sure, this is a simplistic example (that a learned person might find holes in) that I am using to make a point.  And this is we need to be constantly on guard to maintain and ideally increase our capacities so that our circle remains as large as is possible at each stage of our lives.  The tendency is we lose strength, flexibility, and balance with age.  And the hard truth is it takes regular work to offset these losses.      

Acceptance

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2026 is off and running.  Well, the calendar is but I’m not. I strained my glute medius in early November and tried to run through it.  This is the muscle that among other things helps stabilize our gait as we run. I continued to train through November, even ran a 10K, and did some longer training runs of 9 and 10 miles.  I did start doing some specific strength training for the abductors and thought I was making progress.  If it felt sore, a day or two of water running did the trick.  But moving into December and then toward the end of month, it got worse and after a treadmill run and some running drills the day after Christmas, it worsened — to the point where even walking was painful.  Thus, my gait was off, and I knew enough not to run on it.  Or even walk very far. I had gone from hoping to top 1,500 miles for 2025 to barely exceeding 1,400 (1,412) miles. (Still, that was a notable 11% increase over 2024, a year after coming back from a torn proximal hamstring.) In early January, I have a PT appointment and expect to come away with a treatment plan.  Going from planning to run a four-mile race on New Year’s to an uncertain timeline for training has required me to embrace acceptance.

Acceptance has a number of definitions: receiving something; being admitted to a group; agreement with a set of beliefs; a willingness to tolerate something. It is this latter definition where I find myself.  Run training can be a two-edged sword.  Maybe more so as we age.  Our capacity to recover recedes, yet our memories of quick rebounds from various types of injuries remains. It is important to update my expectations. The good news is I can water-run without constraint and if anything, that seems to help.  It seems rowing and stationary bike likewise don’t aggravate it. Also, there is no limit for working on upper body muscles and I can manage the leg extension and hamstring curl machines without issue.  The importance of this was underscored hearing woes from two people on New Year’s Eve about chronically sore knees that were likely leading to replacements in early 2026.  I am quite sure the consistent work I do on those machines to strengthen the quads and hamstrings has warded off issues in my knee joints.

Fortunately, this current malady is not a joint issue.  It is muscular. There is no doubt some imbalance lurking that has surfaced. If that can be resolved, the muscles will regenerate and serious training resumed. Will that be five days or five weeks?  Time will tell and I’m lucky, even blessed, to have a skilled PT I have worked with over the years helping me resolve things.

Many things in our lives present hurdles to clear. Every creative project we take on has that. My second running book, Staying With It, is replete with questions of how to best proceed.  While I believe this project will happen, the timeline remains uncertain. I’ve been reading Rick Rubin’s, The Creative Act. In his essay, Patience, Rubin suggests “Time is something that we have no control over. So patience begins with acceptance of natural rhythms. The implied benefit of impatience is to save time by speeding up and skipping ahead of those rhythms. Paradoxically, this ends up taking more time and using more energy.  It’s wasted effort.” 

I think this proves true in injury recovery too.  Our bodies have a natural rhythm and skipping ahead of that often leads to more time off.  Our ability to recover changes as we age. We can deny that or work with it. That’s acceptance.                    

Wakeup Call!

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Wakeup Call!

I participated in a research study at UVM this week. The aim is to assess subjects’ biomechanics through a series of basic jumping and flexibility exercises and then film them doing a 1.5 mile time trial to determine if observed biomechanical imbalances might affect performance.  The two groups of subjects are those under 30 and over 50, so measurements will be compared between the groups.  All must be active runners and have recently raced. Full disclosure, I played a small role in designing the study and am helping to recruit older subjects to participate. I am also hoping to work with the two professors conducting this study on other projects.  So, there was interest on my part to make a good showing.

The protocol seemed simple enough: demonstrate biomechanical integrity and then run the time trial. The second part was in my wheelhouse.  We were on the indoor track I regularly use during the winter.  I know that 1/10th of a mile track like the back of my hand. The first part was the wakeup call.  

The session began with some warmups.  Leg kicks while moving forward and then some quick side stepping back and forth for 20 yards. I felt like my limbs were sticks of wood with minimal flexibility. Then there were four dynamic single-legged jumps and landings and flexibility squats. Nothing fancy. The young student demonstrating them made it look simple enough.  The 72 year-old who preceded me looked nimble doing them. Then it was my turn. My jumps barely made it off the ground and my landings had me falling left or right.  The squats were a disaster. They needed three camera shots to establish a baseline and I had to go five or six times to get in three they could use.  Even those were suspect I felt. I looked at my professors but they gave no hint of whether my lack of balance surprised them. It certainly had surprised me!  

In fact, I was embarrassed.  I do regular strength training and flexibility work but nothing quite like what I was being asked to do.  It was obvious I had been missing the boat on some basic movements in my training.  I sat down later that day and took stock of my routine.  I added a couple of exercises that mimicked what I had been asked to do. If there is a Round 2, I want to be ready! But more important, I was seeing some gaps that needed filling.   

The time trial went well enough.  I was in my comfort zone with that, though my pace was only about what I had run a half marathon in earlier that fall. But all in all, it was a useful exercise, and certainly a wakeup call!

Negotiation

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On a recent podcast of The Morning Shakeout, host Mario Fraioli converses with author Sebastian Junger.  Junger was a solid collegiate runner at Wesleyan University with bests of 4:12 in the mile and 24:05 for 5 miles. In his mid-20s, he ran a 2:21 marathon.  He discovered he had an ability to run at age 15 when as a soccer player he was encouraged by the cross-country coach at Concord Academy to run in a school meet and won it.  At 16, he ran the Boston Marathon in 3:15 despite not having trained, running 4, 8, 12, and 20 miles during the week before, just to see if he could go the distance.  At age 26 he assessed he did not have the speed or ability to pursue professional running and though he continues to run some recreationally, focuses on his writing projects and other activities.  

During this podcast, Junger talks about the “negotiation” we have with our bodies as we pursue excellence.  He suggests that is true of any endeavor, and his books expand on that in various ways.  This part of the discussion centered around run training and how he in his teens and early 20s had to negotiate how much pain he was going to endure to determine what his upper limits were.

This implies our minds and bodies, while certainly connected, have different and separate tendencies and that mind over matter is involved.  This harkens Tim Noakes’ Central Governor Theory, which suggests our brain saves us from our own devices by holding us back from going beyond our capabilities, in effect going through Death’s Door!.  Most committed runners have probably wrestled with this element of pushing themselves to the max to determine their top potential.  

Maybe there is a “negotiation” with our bodies during an interval pace or a finishing kick in a race, but those are specific time-bound instances, when fear, doubt, and negative self-talk can rein us in. But there are certain things we can’t negotiate.  For example, the amount of rest and recovery needed, while it varies by individual, is not negotiable.  If we try to push beyond the time needed to recover, or rush the adaption process, we are moving towards injury.  Or maybe we ran six or even seven days a week in our 40s, putting our bodies on notice we were going to get in our run, hell or high water.  In our 60s, that type of notification has backlash.  

Junger, now 63, suggests he sometimes finds himself too tired, mentally and physically, to write and has to push himself through that. Maybe that can work, but if every time we hit limitations we charge ourselves to motor through, it can result in an unrealistic expectation that our minds know more than our bodies.  A tenet emphasized in Peter Reaburn’s The Masters Athlete, is we must “listen to our bodies.”  If we do, they tell us things we should be paying attention to.  This seems to apply to our mental capacities as well, which we might think of as being static.  But they, too, are dynamic.  We learn by creating new synapses in our nervous system, be that understanding a new concept or developing expertise in something like juggling.

Recently, I made a 90-minute presentation on senior running.  The workshop drew a range of runners, some “serious,” others less so. Yet, all were interested in learning more about how aging affects their running.  It was the first time I had made this particular presentation and I spent considerable time prepping, even practicing several timed run-throughs.  There was a lot (too much it turned out!) information and since there was a range of backgrounds, I had to pay close attention to who was following the thread as well as those needing further explanation to follow the topics covered.  So, it was more than just spitting out stuff I knew. After about 75 minutes, I was beginning to flag, needing to pause to focus my thinking.  By the end I was exhausted.  One lesson I learned is I do not have the same level of mental energy I had 20, 10 or maybe even five years ago.  The quality of the presentation started to go downhill and thank goodness it was not planned for longer!

Whether it’s physical, mental, or emotional challenges we face, it’s important to sense when enough is enough.  While this will vary considerably among us, it’s important to know our limits.  And respect them.   We can try to override our bodies, in a way negotiate with them, and maybe there are times this is necessary.  Discerning when that is appropriate is easier said than done. 

Time Allocation

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Over the years, I have found two hours a day, on average, has been a reasonable amount of time to set aside for exercise.  As a runner (admittedly, I am pretty much a one-trick pony!) that includes warm-up, cool down, strength training, form drills, stretching and non-running aerobic exercise, which I call running equivalents, or REQs.  This, in addition to putting in the run miles.

This may seem like a lot of non-running activity, but it’s always made sense to me to keep the chassis in good order as well as the engine.   Never a high mileage runner, topping out at about 45 miles a week in younger years, as I approached and passed 70 I have settled into a weekly regimen of between 25 and 30 miles.  Typically, this is achieved in four, sometimes five days, with two of those workouts more intense (hills, intervals, long) and the rest easier, something akin to recovery miles.  As I’ve watched my times slow, I know it is partially due to this reduced training volume.  The exercise science is pretty clear – if you want to race fast and long you need to train that way.  Yet, it’s hard not to notice that with age recovery slows and niggling injuries seem to increasingly present themselves. Thus, finding the right balance is paramount.

Two hours.  That’s a fair bit of time. And whatever our age, we have vital things to do that define us as individuals along with sleeping, eating, and maintaining family and friend connections.  In fact, with age the latter are increasingly important.  

As my running miles have curtailed, should it really be necessary to increase the other stuff?  Afterall, I’m putting less stress on my body, so shouldn’t that mean less is needed to stay in tip-top shape?  Counterintuitively, that is not the case. Ageing impacts the body in numerous ways.  Some of this is individual, but most is categorical, with the rate of change varying widely.  Genetics is suspected to be a key driver of these changes but there is a lot we have a say about how it actually plays out.  It is during those two hours a day, along with adequate sleep and good nutrition, when I take aim at managing those impacts.

If I’m running 40% less but maintaining the two hours, how it that time, a good five to six hours a week, best filled?  First, the aerobic options are crucial.  We know how the cardiorespiratory system loses efficiency and integrity.  If these systems fail, we are history.  One of the reasons many of us started running was to protect and bolster these systems.   Second, as emphasized through this book, we lose muscle with age.  Both the quality (more Type II fast-twitch fibers lost than Type 1 slow-twitchers) and reduced muscle mass due to smaller fibers of those remaining.  This is called sarcopenia and the reasons it happens include: neural changes – motor neurons needed to activate (recruit) muscle fibers decrease with age as does their efficiency in recruiting fibers; testosterone and human growth hormone are needed for muscle synthesis – the body’s natural output of these hormones declines with age. Some have taken mega-doses of supplements to try to offset this.  These can be both detrimental to health as well as setting one up for competitive disqualification;  chronic low-grade inflammation due in part to the normal oxidation (an example is metal rusting when exposed to the elements) of cells interferes with muscle regeneration. Third, our muscles and tendons become less pliable. Again, there are various reasons for this including cross-linkage of collagen fibers, water loss affecting lubrication, decreased blood flow impairing tissue elasticity, and accumulated scar tissue.

It may not be a stretch to see how it could take an added five to six hours a week to shore up these systems.  On the aerobic side, both volume and intensity are important. The two or three intense running sessions must be that – intense!  Hills, HIIT, Intervals. However, the volume can be filled with water running, Stairmaster, elliptical, cycling, and swimming.  For strength training and flexibility work, these should be targeted every day for 30-45 minutes with maximal weight lifted two to three days during 60-75 minute sessions.

So, my 14 hours a week go quickly.  This does not include getting ready to exercise, e.g., dressing and driving to meet others to run.  Rather it is time putting in the effort.  We each must figure out what works for us.  But I have found erring on the side of more an effective approach as I’ve entertained the notion of less in the amount of time I’m running.

Time and Weight

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I recently attended the two-day fall meeting of the New England Chapter of the American College of Sports Medicine in Springfield, Mass. The sessions included a range of topics with this year’s theme focusing on the connection between exercise and mental health. I attended one session entitled “The Dirty Side of Clean Eating.”  The two presenters were registered dietitians who drew from what they observe in their client base. Among other things, they parsed the difference between eating disorders and disordered eating.  They noted while 9% of the population will experience an eating disorder during their lifetime well over 50% show signs of disordered eating, which may include chronic dieting, food restriction, categorically avoiding certain foods, as well as constant scale and mirror watching.  An eating disorder can be fatal as well as lead to the dreaded “female athletic triad,” a combination of osteoporosis, low energy, and amenorrhea with the men’s version resulting in the first two, whereas disordered eating affects quality of life and detracts from optimal health.

Diet and weight are touchy, related topics.  They involve preferences, knowledge, beliefs, and biases, all of which are fed by various sources of information, some of which are contradictory.  While runners intuitively know that carrying extra weight slows us down,  becoming obsessed with our weight and body image can lead to the dark places noted above. 

Runners of all ages aim to maintain a “healthy” weight while taking in sufficient nutritional quality and quantity to support vigorous training.  This becomes one’s set point weight, which varies depending on body type, muscular definition, and genetic bone structure. These factors make assigning a target BMI (body mass index) problematic.  BMI is the measure the National Institutes of Health uses to indicate 73% or the U.S. population is overweight or obese.  Most runners fall well below this threshold.   

For seniors, establishing a set point weight is complicated by the fact our bones and muscle are being slowly replaced by fat.  This is not the stuff we can pinch.  Rather, it becomes entwined in our muscles.  There are two issues here: One, since muscle uses more energy than fat, our basal metabolic rate (BMR) decreases.  Thus, if we eat the same amount of food as we did when we were 40 we will gain weight, even when keeping physical activity constant.  Two, muscle and bone weigh more than fat. Thus, if we are the same weight as 20 years ago, we have more fat and less lean tissue.  The result is by age 60, and likely before, the set point that depicts a healthy weight typically decreases due to this loss of muscle and bone. Ideally, we weight train to retard muscle loss, but it invariably happens regardless. Thus, it behooves us to periodically track our weight and watch what we eat. It is easier (and far better for our bodies) to maintain weight rather than cyclically gain and lose.  

So, what is the cost of this so-called “extra weight” when we race? Studies have shown that each pound over one’s set point weight costs a runner, on average, two seconds per mile.  For 10 extra pounds that translates to about two minutes in a 10K and over four minutes in a half marathon. For a serious recreational runner that is a significant time difference.  

As with most things in life (and running!) finding proper balance is important. We should rightly pay attention to our weight and body definition while not obsessing over them. For sure, there are various ways aging impacts race times.  That can be daunting, but it may also offer us a puzzle to be continually explored.

Pressure

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On the latest Morning Shakeout podcast, host Mario Fraioli and Simon Freeman were considering pressure runners put on themselves to train and ultimately perform.  During this podcast they watched the 1500 meter Olympic final where Jakob Ingebrigtsen, who had won the gold in 2021, was favored to repeat.  They speculated he may have been feeling the pressure as he uncharacteristically led from the gun and was passed by three runners in the final stretch. It seems he had consumed too much energy to withstand the final sprint. Interestingly, four days later he won the 5000 by reverting to his normal pattern of running in the pack and taking off the last 600 meters. Fraioli and Freeman are youngsters, 41 and 49, but they are now at the point where their best times are behind them, something any senior runner can relate to.  Where they came out on this is that pressure, at least for them as recreational runners, comes largely if not entirely from what they put on themselves rather than from what others expect them to do.

Fast forward to our senior years, what role might pressure play in our ability to continue to train and race? Certainly, there is some benefit of putting ourselves to the task, whether this be completing a hard workout, running a strong race, or doing a long run.  This involves compulsion, a synonym for pressure. Compulsion is internally driven and if we don’t feel it, it’s hard to get much done. It takes this internal pressure to get us out the door to train or compete.  

By its very nature, running fast creates pressure — at any age. Our heart rate and blood pressure rise, and we are faced with continual decisions of whether to hold fast, push the pedal down further, or let up a bit.  Each of these actions might make sense at different times. We know if we exert ourselves, we are going to feel discomfort. That doesn’t change with age.  What may change is our ability and perhaps our resolve to sustain the discomfort.  This can be due to a greater RPE, or rate of perceived exertion. We may feel that discomfort sooner and find it’s slower to dissipate. 

This invokes one of the cardinal rules of senior running; the gap between intense efforts needs to lengthen. We simply can’t go to the well as often as in younger years when perhaps every race was an all-out effort. Spacing out these maximal efforts can be a reasonable strategy for the senior runner looking to compete in 16 to 20 races a year. We can think about the difference felt when lining up to drive an optimal pace compared to using a race as a tempo run.  It’s a whole different feel and results in a vastly different level of physical and mental wear and tear.

For sure, the type and source of pressure we senior runners feel will be different than that experienced by Olympic runners.  We may feel pressure to prove to ourselves or others that we are staying ahead of the aging curve, either by achieving a certain race time or place, or age grade percentage.  At times we may succumb to the pressure to race or train hard when we are recovering from injury, such that we set ourselves back.  Who among us can honestly say that hasn’t happened!  

Pressure can work in our favor too. For example, having team members counting on us can encourage us to train and show up at races. And through our training, we should have a sense of how hard we can go out in a race to avoid crawling to the finish, feeling depleted.  As with most things, some pressure is good and too much is, well, too much. 

Cardinal Rules for Senior Runners

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It may be useful to consider some basic guidelines we can organize our running around.  I have found five that I refer to as cardinal (which means central) rules.  

1. Strength train and stretching

2. Do something every day, but not always running

3. Warm-up, cool-down

4. Vary pace and distance

5. Race, but varied and not too much

Strength train and stretching

This is so important it could be counted twice!  Reasons for not strength training and stretching seem to revolve around time and resolve.  Some say if they strength train, they won’t have time to run.  Where to strength train can become a time issue, too.  “If I spend 15 minutes each way driving to the gym, that’s time I can’t be running or working out.”  Resolve may be driven by a lack of knowledge about the importance of strength training and stretching. 

Yes, there are only so many hours and minutes in a day.  Yet, by being inventive we can combine trips that go near a gym several times a week.  The number of 24/7 gyms are proliferating, and there are Y’s and low-cost clubs in most places.  And very good home options, assuming one has a bit of space, can be crafted for between $500 and $1,000, a one-time cost providing years of solid payback.  Regarding resolve, we don’t have to look too far to find ample evidence that muscle loss and inflexibility not only impact our quality of life in our senior years but also can be largely mitigated.  Finding workout partners can help but it still comes down to making this a priority.  Personal trainers can get you started but depending on them for all your workouts is both time consuming and expensive.  True resolve will result when you see and feel results, which then lead to greater resolve: a positive reinforcing cycle!   

Something every day

Our bodies need to be regularly stressed.    This is a fundamental precept of exercise physiology.  Guidelines from ACSM say 30 minutes of moderate exercise five times a week is sufficient.  But this is simply not enough to be a successful senior runner.  If we are to run credible races, we must vigorously stress our running bodies, ideally every day.  The human body is an amazing machine, but with age our parts become less resilient. They need reminders they will be called upon to perform.  Daily activity lubricates the joints and increases the rate blood flows through our tissues, including the brain.  

This topic raises the question of how often to run.  I still hear from a few seniors who try to run every day.  This is a prescription for injury.  Streaking might work for younger runners but rarely for seniors.  I find running four, or at most five, days a week optimal. That leaves space for water running, Stairmaster, cycling, and even brisk walking the other days.  I call these running equivalents (REQs), in that they can be measured in equivalent running miles.  I compile each week’s exercise in running miles, REQs, and total. This, then, sums to monthly totals.  We know there will be times we are nursing an injury.  In those cases, using REQs to retain mileage is particularly good.  You will find your own system to track your activity. Bottom line, by committing to something every day, you don’t have to think about whether to exercise, but when and how.

Warm-up, cool-down

We wouldn’t (or shouldn’t!) gun our cars after starting them in cold weather.  And that is probably even more important with older vehicles.  From high school days, we were told to warm-up before starting a workout.  This was abbreviated as I recall but involved some toe touching and calisthenics.  The modern warm-up engages a foam roller and a variety of dynamic movements that prepare the body to run.  Perhaps most important is starting slower, even for up to a mile or so, so blood can reach our muscles and prepare them pick it up.  If we’re aiming for a 9:00 pace, maybe that means going 10:00 for the first mile.  

The cool-down might be combined with strength training on some days.  But at a minimum, a bit of a jog at the end of the main run, then moving into a full range of both dynamic and static stretching, especially engaging the muscles in the lower extremity.  Foam rolling up and down the legs is very effective.  Eccentric heel dips are also great followed by calf stretches.   Quad stretches off a bench allow for a full stretch of the hip flexors. The cool-down takes longer than the warm-up and should always be done. If time is tight, cut down on the run but not the cool-down.  In total, our warm-up and cool-down might take 25% of the workout – a good investment of time.

Distance and pace

This rule suggests both distance and pace should vary during the course of a week or other regular training cycle.   Distance becomes a major conundrum for senior runners who have run 40, 50, or 60+ miles per week.  Combined with number of days, which ideally settles down to four, or at most five, per week, it’s hard maintaining higher mileage. Some may view it as a badge of honor to continue to run 2,500 to 3,000 miles per year, or 50-60 a week.  As we age, that badge tarnishes.  I used to see 2,000 miles as an annual goal.  I now aim for 1,300 – 1,500, assuming injury-free.  And I put those miles in typically with runs ranging from four to 10 miles, with an occasional 12 or 14-miler when building toward a half marathon. 

Pace is the holy grail for most of us runners.  Maybe we were able to shoot for a sub 6:00 pace in races or mile intervals on the track, though this could have been 6:30, 7:00, or even an 8:00 pace, depending on gender and a variety of things.  Regardless, we find ourselves slowing down.  We can be frustrated by that or we can work within our physical limitations to maintain maximal speed.  We also have to be wary of topping out more than twice a week. Speed builds but can lead to injury.  But let’s not short shrift ourselves – we do need to do some regular speed work. As with all things, the key is finding a balance.    

Racing

For many of us, racing is the payoff.  All our work comes to bear when we find ourselves at the start line waiting for the horn to sound.  First, let’s dissect the difference between running hard and all-out racing.  The former can be in place of a tempo run, the latter requiring tapering and extended recovery to both perform at our best and avoid injury.  It’s also good to vary race distances: 5Ks obviously differ from a half marathon (or a marathon if you still include those in your race menu – I do not.)  

As to how often, let’s say you aim for 15-20 races a year, roughly one or two a month.  Consider sketching out how many 5K-4Ms, 5M-10Ks, 8-10 milers, and half marathons you wish to do in a year.  My 2024 calendar lists 16 races: five 5Ks/4Milers, eight 5M/10Ks, one 15K, and two half marathons, totaling 100 race miles.  This is about 7% of my total expected mileage.

Racing not only tests us but gives us a chance to connect with friends and those in our cohort.  Running might become pretty boring without it.  So, let’s enjoy, but not overdo it.

So, those are my five cardinal rules.  You might have others but if you incorporate these, it should allow your running to stay fresh, fun, and injury free.

ACSM 2024

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i joined the American College of Sports Medicine in 2014. Studied to be a personal trainer with an emphasis on run coaching.  My first regional meeting was in 2014 attended by about 1,000 students, researchers, and practitioners from around New England.  Then, in 2016 I attended the ACSM annual meeting in Boston, and in 2018 in Minneapolis.  Last week, I attended the conference again held in Boston.  These four-day meetings attract about 6,000 people from around the world. It serves as a reminder of how much is happening in the field of sport, fitness, and health.  Among the array of topics covered there is always a subset related to how aging affects runners and other athletes. 

These annual meetings are collaborative.  Very little one-upmanship is apparent, with presenters sharing current learnings and giving credit to those who have helped them.  It’s not that ego doesn’t exist in this crowd.  Many are, after all, world renown experts.  Yet, most see it as an opportunity to learn something new and make valuable connections. 

I also got some good feedback from the Human Kinetics rep on my SDRE series.  She spent time looking at my draft book and we discussed how this probably is best presented in YouTube format, which was the original idea.  She also thought a podcast with senior runners done well could be well received. For me, this was probably the most important takeaway from the conference.  In a way, it’s back to Square 1, but this development is really part of a continuum.

Here are a few snippets I heard at the conference:

  • Trail running has grown 231% in the past 10 years and participants are getting older with the average age now 39.5 years old.
  • High Intensity Functional Training (HIFT) is different from HIIT (High Intensity Interval Training), which is largely focused on improving cardiovascular capacity.  HIFT combines cardiorespiratory and strength training, and as such is considered “concurrent training.”
  • In endurance athletes, Total Energy Expenditure, or TEE, is not simply adding the caloric cost of exercise to baseline needs.  Rather, highly trained individuals tend to be more metabolically efficient, thus not needing as much incremental caloric intake as expected.
  • Running, per se, has minimal effect on bone density.  Running does help to build and maintain muscle, but bone density requires something more, such as weight training, plyometrics, or single leg hopping.
  • Perhaps not surprising, data on senior runners is limited, and very few seniors are involved in this research.  I observed this when I first entered this field and it continues to be so. This suggests there is a need for something like Senior Distance Running Essentials.
  • A lot was presented about developments in wearable technology.  Studies show high variability in accuracy of internal movements, though that continues to improve.  Rather GPS tracking, using external satellites, is more reliable. 
  • The medical director of the Boston Marathon indicated there is a team of 18,000 professionals supporting the runners. A conundrum they face is discerning who needs help.  Wearables are likely to help fill this gap.  They have been tested in races with up to 500 runners monitoring vital signs during races using color coded monitors indicating a runner is in trouble before they come into sight of medical staff.  Sensors may be embedded in clothing in the near future for this purpose.

I was also glad Jon Waldron, fellow senior runner and reviewer of SDRE, was able to connect with Human Kinetics and get some good feedback on a pending book he is writing related to coaching high school students.  I truly believe such a book, drawing from Jon’s own experience over 24 years of coaching, has great potential to touch many lives.  

Next year the conference is in Atlanta.  Not as close as Boston, but a direct flight from Burlington takes less time than driving to Boston. A lot can happen between now and then.   But it’s on my calendar!

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