Welcome,
Today is the final edition of the running as you age series. I was hoping to find someone in their 80s or beyond, but I haven't been able to!
Anyway, I'm writing from Wilkes-Barr. You might think I'll never make it back to the desert. I've already put roughly 1100 miles of driving on the east coast, with about 400 left. You can follow if you want on Instagram since that seems to be where I’m most active posting.
Finally good luck to everyone running Boston today. Or when you’ve read this you might be done. Congrats to all racers from Chicago, to Broad Street, to Boston, to everything else. It was a big race weekend!
This week I'm interviewing two people in their 70s including the second woman to ever go under 3 hours in the marathon, Louise, as well as Alan, who was drafted for Vietnam!
Louise Wood Age 72:
Louise is a Canadian freelance writer and editor, and the second Canadian woman under 3 hours in the marathon (1977, San Mateo, California). Her best time is 2:58:15 (1978).
For years, she lived in Ottawa, Ontario, but now lives about 100km away in a log house on a tiny lake!
When did you start running?
Well, I've started running three times...
Time #1
I started running for the first time in the early 1970s when I was about 25. Like many people back then, I took up running "for health" after reading Kenneth Cooper's book Aerobics but discovered I loved running. I'm Canadian, but I was a grad student in the Bay Area, and there was an active long-distance running culture there. So I started entering distance races. But my racing and training were very up and down. In 1979, my running pretty much fell apart. I finally gave up and stopped altogether in 1982.
Time #2
I started running again in 2000, just after my 51st birthday. I had an emotional reunion with a running friend from "the old days." I ran and raced OK until about seven years ago when I tore my meniscus. I eventually got back into running and racing, but I never got close to how I ran before my meniscus injury.
I REFUSED to believe my slow down was about age because many runners my age were running WAY better than me. But after about five years of worse and worse running, I FINALLY gave in and admitted that that age had caught up to me.
But then my running came to a screeching halt. I started 2020 with mild pain in my hip flexor, and I finished the year booked for hip replacement surgery in January 2021. I knew I could be looking at never running again.
Time #3
I started running for the third time three months after my hip replacement. I had no idea how things would go, but three months in, I realized I was running paces I hadn't run for years. So the laugh's on me - my crappy performances were probably almost all because of a hip problem, not my age!
So my new hip - her name is Joanie, named after you-know-who - has given my running a whole new lease on life. A whole new joy and a whole new adventure...
What have you noticed has changed as you've gotten older?
I certainly can't run the paces I did when I was in my 20s, but I'm not sure much else has changed. Everyone talks about how you need more recovery as you age, but I haven't seen that at all. I think that's mainly because I have never been able to train or race my eyeballs out - I can do lots of medium-effort running, lots of running where I'm quite uncomfortable, but I don't think I've ever been able to do true hard-easy days.
I would say that the biggest change over the years is that I have a much healthier attitude toward my running. I knew when I started running the second time that I had to 1) listen to my body and 2) handle disappointment better.
In the old, old days, I was obsessed with performance, even in training runs, and I didn't listen to my body at all. Distance runners often think their running will fall apart if they miss a day of training, and I was one of those runners. That's how I repeatedly managed to turn minor injuries into major ones. I've got a lot better at listening to what my body is telling me. It may not be easy, but I now can do it ha ha.
I also didn't have the psychological smarts to handle disappointment in those days. My running fell apart in the late 70s because I had no way of dealing with disappointing races. All I knew how to do was to be mad at myself. I could not accept that sometimes you have bad days. I got a lot better in my second incarnation as a runner but I would still be mad for hours after the race, and my partner had no desire to be anywhere near me. But there came a point about ten years ago when I realized getting angry wasn't good for me and certainly wasn't making anything better. It takes some of us a long time to smarten up about such basic things!!
Has what do you do before a run changed?
When I was in my 20s and running 60 to 75 miles a week, I did no stretching or other warming up before a run. In my second incarnation as a runner, I listened to the "experts" and got quite diligent about warm-ups, mobility, and foam rolling, and such.
These days, after my hip replacement, my warm-up is the exercises my physio gave me to do after my rehab was officially over, plus a 10-minute walkout to where I start running. The exercises focus on areas where there's still room for improvement in my operated leg, and they're single-leg exercises that activate key running muscles. Plus, they take under 10 minutes! So far, so good, but I'm paying attention and will do other stuff before running if I need to.
It's always taken my body a long time to "wake up"!! That's why progression runs work for me and why short intervals are nothing but frustration - no matter how much warming up I do! Even in the old days, I did "easier" intervals - 440 and mile repeats with very short recovery.
What do you do differently since when you started?
The biggest thing is now I have a coach. Previously, I coached myself but I've found that having an online coach saves me from obsessing about what training to do when.
It has also exposed me to training ideas that weren't around when I ran in the 70s, or at least not for runners like me. Examples include strides after several runs a week, progression runs, and long runs with longer and longer finishes about 1:00 to 1:30 off 5K pace.
I've had three different online coaches, and with each one, I've followed training plans that are different in interesting ways from what I did in the old days. The most significant difference I see is what I DON'T do - not one of my three online coaches have had me do the old reliable "fast continuous distance" (aka steady runs) or the second long run as a pure distance run. Turning an interval workout into an 80-minute session doesn't count!
What keeps you motivated to run?
The thing I love is trying to get better at something. I love that in my work, life, and running. As Joanie - the runner Joan Benoit, not my new hip - says at the end of her autobiography, Running Tide, "There will always be something to strive for. My hope is for the heart to strive forever."
As for my favorite race distance, when I first ran, I did several races in the 10-mile to marathon range. But these days, I love the half-marathon. I ran way too many 5Ks in my second incarnation - I say "way too many" because I've never liked the distance, but I listened to those who said I needed to get better at the 5K to do a good 10K. So if my hip continues to cooperate and if road races ever start up again, I plan to run the distances I like and am better at - the half and other races between 10K and the half. I'm hoping to race more often than I've done of late - to use the races as my speed work and to get better at dealing with good and bad races!
What are POSITIVE things you've noticed since growing older with the sport?
These days I have a healthy relationship with running. That's a HUGE change since my first incarnation as a runner. I figure that some of that is just about getting older and wiser, haha!! But I think the more significant part of it is about what I've learned in each running incarnation.
Alan Age 77:
When Alan was 17, his girlfriend tracked him down in the park he ran in. She took that time to break up with him, and he has been running since.
In high school and college, he considered himself a "slow runner." His nickname was Lightening, as he says "the way a tall guy is called "shorty." He was drafted for Vietnam out of a doctoral psychology program.
With basic training and advanced infantry training, he lost some weight and got in great shape. He was eventually placed to work as a psychologist in a stateside army hospital. That enabled him to run regularly throughout my army tour.
As it turned out, he discovered he was no longer the slow guy, and running became an essential part of his life.
He has run marathons in the 70s, 80s, 90s, 2000s, and 2010s. His last marathon was in December 2019, so he is just one month shy of running marathons in six different decades. He’s run 25 marathons!
What has changed as you've gotten older?
I used to get up early, lace up the shoes and go out for a run. I didn't have to warm up or stretch. Now, it's quite a routine to get out the door. I stretch about 20 or 30 minutes, then walk a mile or more before I run. It takes me longer to wake up my mind and body.
These days, if I'm going to "race" a 5k, I will have to get in at least a 2-mile warm-up before the race begins.
When I was 57, I noticed a significant drop-off. And then, another one at about 73. With the pandemic, my gym closed, and I had no races on the calendar to look forward to. I worked out at home and stayed in relatively decent shape.
I am happy to say that I'll be doing a half marathon in Delaware this November.
What keeps you motivated to run?
People always ask me the question, "Why do you run?" The answer comes easily to me.
I run because I can.
I am grateful that I'm healthy and fortunate to still be able to run at this age. I once asked myself whether I would run if I were the last person on earth. The answer came immediately, "Of course."
The most important lesson I've learned over the years is to accommodate change. I can no longer do intervals, hills, and my long run in the same week. They need to be spread out over a two or three-week cycle. I try to run the roads less and stick to softer surfaces such as trails, tracks, and treadmills. So far, so good. I've endured some serious injuries, the latest one being a hip labrum tear at age 70.
Since that injury, I no longer sprint. But I am still kicking. Gratitude is my default setting. I've hung around long enough to be able to win my age group in 5ks, 10ks, half-marathons, and marathons. Although I am not as strong or fast as I used to be, I can still put one foot in front of the other, and that's the game plan - to run as long as I can, as long as I can.
Thank you, Louise and Alan, for your time.
What is keeping me entertained?
Crawlin Crab Half Marathon 1:32.32
New Balance More v3 Shoe Review
Reebok Floatride Energy 3 Shoe Review
Molly Huddle is Having a Baby: "A Happy Reason to Take a Little Break"
Galen Rupp Finishes Second at the 2021 Chicago Marathon
“Making New Strides” with Mary Cain
David Monti Explains Pro Contracts
If you are enjoying the newsletter series, I appreciate you sharing. Sharing helps new people discover it!
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