More is less or less is more?

At what age have fell runners found that training wise "more is less" & "less is more"? In other words, with increasing age how much have you cut down on training, in order to avoid injury and exhaustion, to keep running well?
Obviously much will depend on your type of running, short races, longs, no races but BG type challenges, supporting, etc. But I wondered at what age and why you cut back, whether you have found that 3 good sessions a week are better than 6 a week - avoiding injury perhaps? What was your reduction in training as age increased and what prompted it? What is the decrease in performance, is it significant by cutting out 3 runs and resting instead?
I seem to recall Joss Naylor saying that he trained for one of his long challenges (I can't remember which, in last 10 years) with 1 long run a week + plenty of hard work on the farm. Talking to Mr YDT, he seems to advocate the great importance of resting the body between runs as we get older, certainly if trying to complete long outings. I'm thinking in the V60 bracket here, what is the correct balance?
I know there are dozens of imponderables, relating to ability, physique and length of runs etc. and I'm not looking for the quick answer "You lose x% per mile, per year". I'm interested in how you adapted your training, so you keep consistantly running as you age.
I'm not looking for a magic formula, simply interested (and older)!

I've never really been a strong trainer. 4-5 times a week has always been my max. just about. Most I ever did was 40 miles a week. I found I'd get injured or ill if I did much more on a constant basis. Then when I was 40 I injured my knee, this niggled on for a year or so. Eventually, when finding I couldnt even do walking descents in the Lakes, I took the winter off completely, binned the cross country season even. When I got going again I did one bike to every two runs to strengthen my knee/quads up. That was when I was 40. Since then I've very slowly got back into it, increasing my long runs and ticking off long term challanges like marathons, Three Peaks, long/super long lakes races etc. The thing is, when I returned at 40 I found all the long challenges much easier because speed was no longer an issue, and with that the training was simpler. I generally run at the most 3 times a week, often only once, occasionally I dont run for a couple of weeks. Between long races I sometimes do very little as by the time you do a 2 week recovery and a two week taper its time to 'race' again!!

So the answer, I guess, is...that for me I was aged 40 and it was the revelation that time was no longer as important to me, that helped me achieve my goals. This allowed me too rest more/train less often (but longer!)

I'm no spring chicken but nowadays I'm running better than I ever have done I think and I put it down to running every day, which I started doing last August. I wouldn't call any of it training per se (its more 'chugging out' with the dog :) ) but I'm always in the hills some days running 2 miles and others 20 and, touch wood, I'm injury free. Just off for a run in the wind and rain now in fact....

I had a long layoff from running for most of my forties.
When I started back, doing three miles on the flat was hard at first.
I've persevered and built up and now, at 50, I'm doing three to five days a week, often doing a lunchtime AND an evening session. On Wednesdays I trek over from Warrington to Winter Hill to run with Lostock, and to get the most out of the trip, I'll do some hill reps before the club run. I'm fairly competitive in a low key, compete-against-yourself sort of way, and I'll throw myself at anything from AS races to ultra long distance challenges. I am still fairly interested in times and I'm hoping to get a half marathon and marathon pb next year, amongst other thing. At the same time I have learned to understand the importance of rest and recovery and make sure I begin recovery after every outing and try eat properly most of the time and make the most of rest days.

So, you don't need to become an old buffer too soon, and like Stolly, I think I'm probably running better than I've ever done - it certainly feels that way.
And yes. I still do it for fun, and all of the above is part of the fun.

Agree with the importance of rest, usually run every other day but sometimes can't resist 2/3 days together, but then my knees start protesting. Obviously I'm much slower now, but the effort still feels the same as decades ago. Do the occasional 10k off road race and parkrun. Am very much surprised to finish in the first half of races still, do'nt these people train properly? Would love to run every day but less is more and i'm just glad to be still running and enjoying.

Say you are mid 50's and run 3 times a week (average 4 hrs total), this may include a weekend race. Do you think increasing to 5 runs a week would have a positive or negative effect? There is obviously a tipping point for every individual, depending on many things (lifestyle, knackered abused joints, time, stress). When have you made a conscious decision to drop down a training notch in order to stay running at the best quality you think you can manage?

I think this is an almost impossible question to answer because we are all so different and have different goals and expectations. For me, the most important expectation is now enjoyment....but again, that is a different concept to different people.
I know what you are getting at though. I am actually surprised at how well I do off the training I do now in my 50's compared to what I used to do in my 30's. I honestly don't think I would increase my performance that much if I trained back to that level (up to 50 miles per week). I'm lucky if I get 15 a week in now, but that seems to be enough plus I do other stuff like spinning. I never made a conscious decision to cut back, it was just lifestyle change plus an increasing element of CBA.

Main thing is, I don't worry about it. I just do what I wanna do and I'm never really disappointed....well apart from the disappearance of descending speed! Bugg*r it!

Thats one thing I don't understand!! Why does age seem to affect down-hilling speed! It used to be my favourite bit!!! Is it just that I'm knackered whe I get to the doen-hill bit!! :)

I've always found that you have a level that you can run at and stay healthy and injury free. Mine was about 65-70 a week. Any more than that and I either broke down injured or lost too much weight and crashed down ill. I ran far better off large blocks of regular training rather than higher mileages but with gaps missing regularly through injury and illness. Anthony Whiteman has just become the first V40 to run an outdoor sub 4 minute mile. He reckons he does about 60% of the training load he used to do.

if you play your cards right, by the time racing season starts you can get by just doing races i find

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Originally Posted by barnyc

if you play your cards right, by the time racing season starts you can get by just doing races i find

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Not something I'm at all interested in doing!

whether you 'race' said races is another matter entirely... helps to have fixed items in the calendar though.

easy to put off a run till another day otherwise

I just like to run and, whether I race or not, I still run as much as possible.

I know two people that are excellent fellrunners but have very different approaches to running. One runs daily and is getting stronger and faster and the other has to limit his training to 3 or 4 times a week because he finds he gets too run down and is prone to injury or illness (he has a physical job so maybe that accounts for the difference too). Personally, I'm in between, I find that I need and like a rest day now and again but I tend to get out about 5 times a week with maybe a race every other week. I vary my distances and routes and aim to get a long run (20 - 30 miles) in every 2 or 3 weeks. I'm vegetarian and I expect I'd have more strength and stamina if I paid more attention to my diet too.

Re speed, I'm 41 and am improving every year at the moment but, whilst I've always enjoyed running, I have only run seriously for 5 years so maybe I just haven't reached my peak yet! :)

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Originally Posted by barnyc

whether you 'race' said races is another matter entirely... helps to have fixed items in the calendar though.

easy to put off a run till another day otherwise

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