Quote:
Originally Posted by Rain Man
I'm actually built more for math than for speed or power. But if I have to pick something physical, it's probably more endurance than speed.
I started running half-marathons at age 46, and my best-ever time is 1:58:56. For most of them I would run between 2:00:00 and 2:10:00. On my last race before the shutdown in 2020, I ran (I think) a 2:36, which was my worst time ever. For this upcoming race, I'm expecting to be slightly under 3 hours, and my dream goal is to beat 2:45. Yes, my aspirational goal is to have a worse time than my previous worst time. So not fast, but as explained below, I'm old now.
From 2009 to 2020, I did 122 half marathons, and I think 5 races that were shorter than a half-marathon. I think the long-distance running destroyed all of my fast-twitch sprinting muscles, because I just loped along in shorter races at my same half-marathon pace.
I've run a few 5Ks and 1 10K in the past six months, and my 5K pace is generally slightly faster than 10 minutes per mile. But recall that I'm in my 60s now, so I've done pretty well in my age group at that pace. I've been top 3 in my age group about half the time.
I've lost a ton of weight this year, so my heart rate has not been close to my max in the shorter races, which tells me that I should be running faster. I ran 13 miles this weekend and I was at my maximum heart rate for much of the time. Historically, I've usually run half-marathons at my maximum heart rate and I haven't died. I think it's really rare to die. In all of my races, I've only seen one guy die, and they brought him back with the paddle-thingies.
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Running is very underrated part of working out. For me its harder than lifting. In my opinion it really tests you mentally. I can't tell you how many times I am in the middle of running and I feel like quitting but I force myself to push through.
The health benefits also are crazy, especially as you get older and our muscle growth tends to slow or disappear - for a lot of people I believe running is the way to go exercise wise.
Props to being your age and still getting after it. Respect.