So, congrats?  Not sure congrats makes sense.  How about, welcome back!  Yea, that's better.  Can't imagine I  want to congrat you on this new journey of pain, self discovery, and  well, it's a whole lot different now for me at 47 than it was between  17-19.  So, based on my signature, you'll see we come from a not too dissimilar place.

Having had a reasonably successful past has been a  double edge sword I think.  It has been an extremely difficult lesson to  realize that no matter how much time, effort, and dedication I put  forth, this old body isn't going to match what it could do 30 years  ago.  But, by the same token, having already ridden the bicycle so to  speak, I think that gives me a background on how to maximize my  performance even at this age.  I learned marathon pain, etc in my youth,  and that's still pretty valuable today.

Everyone is  different, so not sure my advice will apply to you.  There's guys in my  age group round here who can really kick my tail, and that's hard to  accept.  So, basically I've convinced myself people age differently.   Or, they were just all american's for a god given reason.

How  do I do it?  Will, determination, yes.  That can't be underestimated.   But, there's alot more specifics than just that.  First, I have to learn  to take it easy.   I'm not 18.  Injuries and soreness and over training  are so much more real now than they were then.  If you've never heard  of the 10% rule, read up on it.  10% has been too much for me.  5% has  been about it.  Second, time served matters more now than then.  By that  I mean the dedication over years is required to advance.  Back in the  day, seemed just ramping up training enough got results in the here and  now.  At 47, my results are coming over the years.  Marginal  improvements each season.  No huge knocking a minute off my 5K time in 6  months, or at least not since the first year back on the racing circuit.  Next, keep an open mind and always be willing to trying new  things.  I've tried so many different things I never would have thought  really mattered back in the day.  Back then, running was all that was  necessary.  Today, I'm concerned about plants, leg lengths, diet,  protease enzymes, foam rollers, accelerade, on and on.  I've been  through all different phases.  Was pool jogging last year to  supplement.  Now I'm into my own variation of "continuous" training.

It's  been hugely rewarding, depressing, exhilirating, and frustrating.  I'm  in my 4th full year of it now and I don't see myself getting off the  ride any time soon.  Earlier this year I threw in the towel, put back on  15 pounds in 3 weeks, and swore off competive running for good.  But,  it slowly reeled me back in and now I'm back trying to best last year's  PR and then its back to try to beat my high school times.  I'll most  likely never do it, but it sure is interesting to try.

Good luck.

Hey Mike,

Welcome back to running! I think my best advice is to forget what you did as a high schooler. You have a different body now with totally different musculature so you need to approach your training differently. The most important thing is to stay healthy and build your mileage gradually. To do that, you need a foundation of strength, general fitness, and incrementally increasing aerobic capacity.

My recommendation is to include spinning, weight lifting, dynamic stretches, pool running, and core exercises into your program so that you'll get really strong, resist injury, and make the transition back to running a lot easier.

I have a lot of articles on this category here: Injury Prevention. Let me know if you have any specific questions - happy to help.

Good luck!

- Jason.

You have some great advice above.  My advice is don't be in a hurry take it slow and steady, build your base miles for a while (6-8 months) before you worry about speed.  Enjoy the ride and make it a lifetime goal!  Good luck

I will back up BOSNPM and reiterate again, even, that you really should sit yourself down and think about this a little more before you go getting yourself injured.  You stated in your first post that you're 57, right? 

You must get used to the idea that you will be getting hurt if you push.  Pushing, in my mind, includes thoughts of things like going to more frequent runs or thinking at all about speed.  Enjoy your running,  Enjoy the fact that you are improving. Focus on just getting out to run on a regular basis and taking really good care of yourself, even when you're not running. Get in the habit of listening to your feet, legs and the rest of your body.  Healing time is healthy.

Speed will do you in!  Slow and steady will keep you running for the rest of your life.