Every year I hear dozens of people tell me they wish they could run, but they didn’t start doing it when they were younger, and felt it was too late for them. Within a few minutes, these folks wish they hadn’t said what they said to me. I tell them I work with hundreds of people every year who are in their 40’s, 50’s, 60’s, 70’s and even 80’s who are taking their first steps. Most of these folks become runners within 6 months. Many of them finish marathons—yes, even the 80-year-olds—within a year.

The principles of training which are described in this book apply to everyone—at any age. If you add a little stress followed by rest for recovery, your body rebuilds stronger.

The psychological rewards are the same at any age. Endorphins make your muscles feel better. You have a better attitude all day after a run. Each run brings a special relaxation not bestowed by other activities.

Elliott Galloway

As my father got more obese in his 40’s, and more out of shape, he gave me every excuse possible why he couldn’t exercise. By his 50th birthday, even I had pretty much given up on trying to get him to exert himself. His “reality check” was a high school reunion.

Out of 25 guys who had been on his football team, only 12 were alive at age 52. As he drove home, the advice of his doctor and others came back to him. He realized that he could be the next to depart this world, at a time that he was just getting into his life’s work—the founding of an innovative school.

The former all-state athlete was shocked on his first run, when he could only run about 100 yards before his legs gave out on him. But he stuck with it. Every other day his mission was to run to one more telephone pole before walking back. Within a year he was regularly running around the golf course in front of his office, 3 miles. A year after that, he completed The Peachtree Road Race 10K. After another 3 years training, he completed a marathon. I’m most proud of the fact that in his mid 80’s, my Dad is still walking and running over 20 miles a week.

Today I work with dozens of runners who consider themselves “over the hill,” but accomplish some amazing things. Even the 80+ year-old beginners get caught up in the excitement of getting more fit. They cannot believe how much better they feel every day. Honestly, these people are my heroes. I hope I can be like them when I grow up.

Recovery slows down after 40

Having run since I was 13, I’ve noticed subtle changes that are usually not noticeable. It’s only when I now look back over almost 5 decades of running that I see the trends.

1.	Your recovery rate slows down each year past the age of 40.
2.	At the same time, your mental focus has increased so you can push yourself further into fatigue.
3.	By the age of 55, there has been a significant slowdown from the age of 40.
4.	By the age of 65, another significant slowdown has occurred—even from 55.
5.	Continuing to train the same way every year will produce injuries, lingering fatigue or burnout.
6.	It takes longer to warm up for each run.
7.	Any type of fast running will greatly increase the time needed for recovery.

My experience: walk breaks, slower pace

I began tosue as I approached my 40th birthday, when I was running 6-7 days a week. So I decided to follow the advice I was giving to other 40+ runners who felt the same way: run every other day. In about 4 weeks, my legs were fresh again. But after 2 years of getting in only 3 runs a week, I needed more endorphins—I wanted to run more. Gradually I added more days. Now, I’m past 60, but running almost every day.

How is it then, that I enjoy running more now than ever, even when running each day? It’s because I am running much slower and taking walk breaks very frequently. At the start of every run, I take a walk break about every minute. After about 3 miles I’m usually walking about every 3-4 minutes, but sometimes still at one minute. I adjust for how my body feels that day.

How many days per week should you run?

I am not advocating that you try to run as many days as I do. After about 50 years of running, I’ve discovered many intuitive tricks, and haven’t had a single over-use injury in over 25 years. Feel free to follow that part of my example.

Running fewer days per week reduces injury risk, but doesn’t have to decrease conditioning. Even when runners maintain the same weekly mileage, they reduce injury risk by running fewer days per week.

Adjusting your running days per week by age

If you are experiencing more injuries, fatigue, or less enjoyment, run fewer days

What do you want out of your running?

This is the most important question for anyone to answer—but especially for runners over 40. For me, the answer is simple—I want to be able to run almost every day, injury-free, for the rest of my life. That is why I slow down and walk often. My ego has been able to adjust to slower running, and I know that I feel better every day because I run slowly.

As I mentioned in the first chapter, you are the captain of your running ship. If you want to run a certain distance every time out, or not run slower than a certain pace, or win your age group in the local road races, it is your right to go for it. With these as your goals, be sure to have the phone numbers of your sports medicine doctors handy.

But for each goal, you must take responsibility for the consequences. In other words, if you get injured trying to stay up with a runner or group that is faster than you, realize you put this on yourself.

You have lots of choices as to what you want to see as your final running product, each day and each year. Think carefully and structure accordingly.

A series of little things ...

One of the cruel hoaxes that the body plays on us is that even in our 60’s we can come very close to the workouts we did when we were in our 30’s. Unfortunately, the recovery time required after these power workouts is substantial compared with the way it was 30 years ago.

•	Turning a “social run” into a race. It is too easy to get led astray when we are feeling good. Older runners will often find that their running cadence and stride mechanics can feel easy at the beginning of a run, and sometimes at the end. But the next day, and the day after, it is a different story.
•	Trying to run no slower than a certain time is a losing battle—especially on warm days, hilly courses, etc. Mind games work against us as we get older. Your mind can remember when a certain pace was easy and will get you focused to stay on track for that goal. It is better to be flexible with distance, pace, course, and weather.
•	Junk miles are short runs on days that would be better spent as no-running recovery days. In almost every case it is better to take the day off on a short mileage day—and add the miles to other running days that week.
•	Starting runs too fast—even a few seconds per mile—produces much greater fatigue. Your legs will feel so much better if you run slower than you could during the first 2-3 miles of a run.
•	Over-stretching—tears muscle and tendon fibers and increases healing time for all runners. This damage takes longer to repair as you get older. It doesn’t take much of a stretch to be an overstretch. Since I’ve not found stretching to be beneficial for almost all runners I’ve worked with, I don’t recommend it. If you like to stretch, be very careful.
•	Pushing beyond your speed or endurance limit for a mile or more will greatly increase the time needed for recovery. Even younger runners must pay for these violations. Older runners pay by not having legs that are bouncy and resilient for a significant period after pushing too hard.
•	Running form violations produce more fatigue and muscle damage as we age

-	striding too long
-	bouncing too high off the ground (even half an inch too high)
-	kicking behind you too far

•	Refusing to take walk breaks more often because it is too “wimpy”. I’m proud to be a wimpy runner who runs every day—instead of being forced to be a couch sitter because of never taking a walk break.