This article was originally published in the October/November 2024 issue of UltraRunning Magazine. Subscribe today for similar features on ultra training, racing and more.
Ultrarunning is a sport you can continue to enjoy and benefit from into your twilight years. Making the right physical adjustments for training and racing are important as you grow older, but as always, a lot of your success and satisfaction with the sport will hinge on how well you deal with the mental side of the running equation.
The physical adjustments to training and racing are straightforward. As an older runner, increase rest and recovery time between workouts and after racing. More cross training to preserve upper body and core strength is important to keep your fitness balanced and lessen the impact of constant use of running-related muscles. The intensity of your workouts and races should also be moderated to prevent injury. When needed, substitute long, slow runs or relaxed hill runs for interval workouts or tempo runs. Avoid trying to crush marathons or 50ks and run longer races with a focus on getting to the end.
Just as important, however, are the mental adjustments to your changing circumstances. In fact, a proper mental state gets even more essential since you won’t be able to rely on youth and top physical conditioning to pull your chestnuts out of the fire when things turn grim on a dark mountainside at mile 85 of a 100-miler.
Staying relentlessly positive no matter how deeply you’re lodged in the pain cave will be critical to maintaining your determination to keep going. Negative self-talk, especially things like, “I’ve never felt so bad. Maybe I’m getting too old for this,” needs to be swiftly squelched. Replace those thoughts with a positive spin like, “This is normal. This is how everyone feels at this point in the race. This means I’m getting it done, engaging the beast and getting closer to my goal.”
Recalibrate your goals to match your advancing age when you race. Set your expectations based on your age group and less on the whole field of runners. You might surprise yourself and do better than you expect, even if you are near the back of the pack in the overall results.
In fact, if you can shift your focus to enjoying the process of the race and the quality of the experience, and away from your time and finish place, you can have a satisfying day regardless of race results. During a 100-mile race, at age 71, I hardly pay any attention to what is happening with the top half of the field. I’m totally absorbed with the high drama of the runners, including myself, who are struggling at the back of pack trying to keep ahead of the race cutoffs.
One thing that you should always keep in mind when thinking about your age and your running career is that finishing any ultra at any age is already an amazing human achievement and is far beyond what most people will ever be capable of. The fact that you’re still at it, well, that’s just icing on the cake.