PBs in Your 40s

BiGPoPPa wrote on PBs in Your 40s 6 months ago

... got a stress fracture in this years VLM, but managed to get GFA for next years... had 3 months off & now battling back to race weight (still a stone to go lol) & hopeing 2012 is my year!

How you guys doin?>

Terrythemover wrote on PBs in Your 40s 10 months, 1 week ago

Hi all, completed the london marathon last year in 4hrs 16mins at the ripe old age of 47, would love to do it next year and be quicker. Any tips

doug_unkles wrote on PBs in Your 40s 1 year, 3 months ago

Thanks for adding a message BiGPoPPa. You must be training hard like me! I'd love to offer some tips, but it's all pretty new to me. I am following quite a tough programme, that has weekend runs of around 20 miles at present. Generally I am managing to do these runs at an average speed of 7:25/mile, which is around 10% slower that marathon race pace. I read that this was the training pace I should do for long runs. This weekend will be my longest on the programme at 22 miles, so I'll see how I get on - can't say I'm looking forward to it! I then do Silverstone Half on 6th March, followed by 3 consecutive 20 milers on Sundays, so hopefully that will get me used to the distance. My biggest concern are the miles above 20. Most people tell me that it is these miles where they really slow down, so we'll have to see. cheers.

doug_unkles wrote on PBs in Your 40s 1 year, 8 months ago

Hi Chupi, Great that you are starting out on your running journey and if it's a midlife crisis, it's not a bad one really! I think starting with a 5k run in December is perfect for you and a great target to aim for. It's also great that you have some friends to run with, who I am sure will motivate you and help you through those early runs. In my experience, some of the key things to starting out are making sure you have some good shoes that are right for your running style and not doing too much too quickly. Depending on your general fitness, will dictate how many miles you should cover on your first few runs. For example, if you are new to exercise, I would only consider starting with 2-3 miles at a very slow pace and intermittent walking; however, if you are generally quite fit, I would still go steady, but you may not need walking intervals. In any event, please let me know how your first runs go and good luck.

doug_unkles wrote on PBs in Your 40s 1 year, 8 months ago

Ok, we have got 3 members, including myself. It's a good start, so why don't we kick things off by setting a few short-medium term goals? What are you folks running backgrounds? If we can promote some discussion, let's set out how we can aim to achieve those elusive over 40 PBs. I can offer some advice from my own experience, which might help you. I look forward to hearing from you. Cheers, Doug