Our PR’s are very close, except that I was a late starter, running 16:39 for 5k, and 33:48 for 10k at age 43, my peak year. After having a couple good years after that my training started tailing off until I was doing almost nothing by age 51. Then, a little more than 3 years ago before turning 59, I started to pick it up again. It wasn’t long after getting going again that I realized that it would be impossible to run the times I did in my 40’s. Like you, I started looking at he WAVA tables to get an idea of what was realistic. After some study, I set a few goals with my primary one being a sub-39 10k. According to the tables I would be able to run a 38:51 if I were able to train up to the same relative level of fitness I had in my 40’s.
However, I realized that it took 3 solid years of my most focused level of training to run the sub-34 back in ’89, so it wasn’t likely that I would be able to go sub-39 in just one year. At age 61, the equivalent time drops to 39:13, and by age 62 to 39:37. Therefore I made sub-40 my goal. This was using the 1994 WAVA tables. The more recent 2006 version makes it a little easier.
After a few months I ran a 5k to set a benchmark to base my training on, running 21:30. That first year back I averaged a fraction under 40 mpw and brought my 5k time down to 19:40. I didn’t even run a 10k that year—2005.
In 2006, my first year as a 60-year old, I was only able to bring the 5k down another 5 seconds, running 19:35 in the spring. I also tried a few 10k’s, with the best being a 40:24. Average weekly mileage for the year was just over 40 miles.
By the beginning of 2007 I started to have some doubts that I’d ever see another sub-40. I wasn’t getting any younger and had been training steadily for more than 2 years. However, I wasn’t quite ready to throw in the towel. I increased my mileage to the level I was at in my 40’s when I set all my actual PR’s. It worked out to an average of 53 mpw for the entire year, but I averaged 60 mpw over most of last 6 months. Finally, in May, I got a little nibble when I ran 31:49 for 8k—still not quite good enough for sub-40 in the 10 but it gave me hope. Then finally, on August 5, 2007 I broke through with a 39:36 on a flat, fast, certified loop on an unseasonably cool day in Northern Cal. This was after well over 2 years of trying and many doubts along the way.
After that day, things really started coming together. I finally lowered that stubborn 5k PR that I'd hardly improved on after such an encouraging beginning. A month after the 10k breakthrough I ran 19:11, and followed it up with a 19:04 two weeks after that. PR’s at other distances also came in rapid succession. All those miles, often getting up early to run in the rain, had finally started paying off. Now at 62 I’ve already broken 3 of last year’s PR’s, including a 10k in 39:22 I ran a couple weeks ago. What I forgot mention was weight, which I’m sure has also been a factor. I’m actually 5 lbs lighter now than when I set actual PR’s when I was in my 40’s. Resting pulse is also the same as it was then. In a nutshell it's taken 3 years of training at same volume as in the old days, getting down to an even lower weight, and same resting heart rate--a lot of work, but well worth it.
It seems that we have communicated before back on the old CR thread. Your handle sounds familiar, but I can’t quite place the name with it. We might have even exchanged an email or 2. How does your training now compare with your PR years? How about weight?
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