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Is it possible to approach my PRs from 7-8 yrs ago? (Read 300 times)

    Possible....of course it's possible!

     

    I am running times at 45 that are damn close to those I ran at 25 - do I train differently - yes, I actually train harder AND smarter.  Recovery is key as the body just isn't as resilient as it once was.  Life has changed quite a bit too....no longer am I able to nap, eat and nap after Sunday's long run.  There are soccer games to coach, kiddos to attend to and just a go-go-go life.

     

    Running now is as competitive for me as it was in my 20s.  But it also take on a different role - It's mine.  ALL mine.  One of the only things a working mom of two crazy boys has.  It has connected me to a great group of runners but it's also solitary and amazing and therapeutic and painful - all wrapped into one.  It makes me relatively sane.  Without it I cannot imagine being the person, parent and wife I am able to be.

     

    So - get out there. Go get it.  And stick with it for the long haul.  It's a damn beautiful thing.

    Ready, go.

     

      I was my fastest when I was about 24-25 yrs. old. Although I ran a 5K near the end of my senior year of college, I have no idea of my time. After I went in the Marines, we ran 3 mile fitness tests all the time at OCS and TBS and then semi-annually in the fleet, my best time was 15:45 set when I was about 24 (I suppose that's about a 16:10-15 5K). While preparing for OCS I ran a lot, about 5-6 miles a day, so I had a good base going in. The months prior to that 15:45, I tried to run regularly and I did a weekly long run with a buddy training for MCM. I didn't know anything about tempo runs or speed work.

       

      Now, 25 years later, my 5K times are all around 20 minutes more or less and I run a ton. I do speed work and hill training and tempo runs but I still turn out about the same 5k times. I'm only about 8-10 lbs heavier than I was when I was 24 and, during the intervening years (except for one 3-year period), i've worked out pretty regularly with running and ice hockey, So its not like I'm a guy with a long break from being relatively fit.  I'll blame it on age, which is better than blaming it on  being too wimpy  to run a good race I suppose.

       

      But 49 years old is a big difference from the OPs age, so I think you (the OP) can certainly best your high school times and continue to improve for several more years at least, if you want to and you keep up with your training.


      Latent Runner

        I was my fastest when I was about 24-25 yrs. old. Although I ran a 5K near the end of my senior year of college, I have no idea of my time. After I went in the Marines, we ran 3 mile fitness tests all the time at OCS and TBS and then semi-annually in the fleet, my best time was 15:45 set when I was about 24 (I suppose that's about a 16:10-15 5K). While preparing for OCS I ran a lot, about 5-6 miles a day, so I had a good base going in. The months prior to that 15:45, I tried to run regularly and I did a weekly long run with a buddy training for MCM. I didn't know anything about tempo runs or speed work.

         

         

        Did you ever spend any time at Camp Upshur?  I did my OCS there in the summer of 1977; my two strangest memories of my time there were the Chaplin coming into our quonset hut after a long march and telling us Elvis had died, and beating a major in a three mile PFT.  Apparently the major had participated in the MCM for several years years running and considered himself hot stuff.  I had a severe case of Bronchitis and hacked and spit my way for the full three miles, with him chasing and trying to pass me for the entire distance.  In the end he passed me with about a quarter of a mile to go, only to get beat out by me just as we crossed the line.  Geez was he pissed.  Smile

        Fat old man PRs:

        • 1-mile (point to point, gravity assist): 5:50
        • 2-mile: 13:49
        • 5K (gravity assist last mile): 21:31
        • 5-Mile: 37:24
        • 10K (first 10K of my Half Marathon): 48:16
        • 10-Mile (first 10 miles of my Half Marathon): 1:17:40
        • Half Marathon: 1:42:13

           

          Did you ever spend any time at Camp Upshur?  I did my OCS there in the summer of 1977; my two strangest memories of my time there were the Chaplin coming into our quonset hut after a long march and telling us Elvis had died, and beating a major in a three mile PFT.  Apparently the major had participated in the MCM for several years years running and considered himself hot stuff.  I had a severe case of Bronchitis and hacked and spit my way for the full three miles, with him chasing and trying to pass me for the entire distance.  In the end he passed me with about a quarter of a mile to go, only to get beat out by me just as we crossed the line.  Geez was he pissed.  Smile

          I did mine at mainside right next to HMX1. The only time I saw Upshur was during IOC when we did some training there. Not a lot of frills at Upshur.

             

            He's not.  If he really said that.  I don't know a single runner who has done that.  I know a lot of long time runners.  Some have held pretty steady into their late 30s, but all had some degree of slowdown by their early 40s with a much more significant decline by 50.

             

            Even Mr. Ageless himself, Bernard Lagat, while still very good, is not as fast as he was when much younger.

             

            I agree- I am 63 and can tell you this statement is ridiculous!

            PBs since age 60:  5k- 24:36, 10k - 47:17. Half Marathon- 1:42:41.

                                                10 miles (unofficial) 1:16:44.

             

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