is the “Run less run faster” best suited for old folks?

Try everything, use what works. I too have always had “fragile legs” and feet. When I was 50 I averaged 23 miles per week running 5 days a week, never on Thr or Fri’s. From my logs, a typical week in the 8 weeks leading up to racing season, looked like this: Mon easy 4, Tue 10 rep hill workout, total of 3 miles, Wed, easy 4, Off Th and Fri, Sat 3 one mile repeats or 2 1 mile reps with 4 400’s, or 10 400’s, total 4 miles, Sun 8 miles easy. I went 18:47 in the 5K off this. The most important training though? Diet! I stayed lean but not skinny at 5’8” and 150 pounds.

Ran 19:45 last year for 5k, age 65.

I found a big difference from 50s to 60s. In my 50s I was doing 1 hour 40 min runs in base phase, fast finish long runs, as well as track sessions. My quickest 5k in my mid 50s was 17:32.

Now, I find I don't recover enough to do something worthwhile everyday. Last year to get the 19:45, I used the Easy Interval Method, and with some of those sessions, I was running for over an hour, so didn't worry about the longer run (I was primarily targeting 3000m events).

I did 3-4 EIM sessions per week (sessions being 3x2000m, 6x1000m, 12x400m, 16x200m - or for the two longer sessions, a time equivalent on the road). I also occasionally did hills, and for the last five weeks before a target race, one race pace session per week.

I did do 3 or 4 miles at around 8 min miles as recover between the EIM, but really just for calorie burning.

I think you could do 3 or 4 EIM sessions per week and get virtually the same impact, by ditching the slow recovery runs, and either doing cross training or just recovering.

I don't think after 50 years of running there is much to be gained by older runners just plodding along (unless you are going to run a marathon or half, where you would need some longer runs of course). If we have limitations to the amount we can train, we need to make those sessions count.

Wow, Orient is fast at 65!

Lastchance, if you want to do intervals, how aout 4 @ 1 mile, work it down to faster than 5k race pace. Maybe 2:00 - 3:00 between each. Start with 3@1 mile and build up to it.

Feet hurt? Try some eccentric heel drop exercises on the stairs. Helped with Plantar faciitis and achilles problems over here.

Good luck. Going 22:30 to sub 20 is a tall order.

It's doable, but 4x1 mile at 5k pace with 2-3 minute recovery is a really tough ask.

Maybe it's something that you'd do a couple of weeks out before a major race, but it's not one you'd want to do regularly.

Agreed! 4 miles total at faster than 5K race pace?? Dayum.

Its not crazy right? If it was threshold you would do 4 x 1m with almost no rest at 15k ish pace. If intervals its 4 x 1m with maybe 5-6 min rest at 3K ish pace. So 4 x 1m at 5k pace seems solidly in between threshold and interval pace. 3 min rest seems reasonable. Age aside.

I'm 64, it's so hard for me to take a day off without the guilt but I DO feel better when I give my legs a rest. I think 3 days off every 2 weeks works for me. I have found that a 10-14 day cycle works better than a 7 day cycle.

I was a tad older than you but with the exact same goal and did the Run less run faster training program for 5K. This is back when they had an app which was even better.

I found the workouts pretty challenging to hit, I don't think I ever hit the ones consistently for 20 minute 5K, but when I got to race day I crushed, went sub 20 and won my age group in a pretty competitive field.

After that I wasn't so worried about hitting the times, it was just afterwards when reviewing the RLRF splits I could tell what type of shape I was in basically.

Best of luck

Run less and faster and improve fast should be done by all runners😲 But you got to know how to do it the perfect individual way. 🇸🇪🧙‍♂️🇸🇪J.S

Go by time and not distance. Mile repeats at 65 are going to be a minute and a half slower per rep than they were 30 years of age.

I worked on sub-20 5ks from age 45-60, but I didn't do high mileage either: 15-20 miles/week. But I had to have one "fast" run per week to make that work, which was usually 400s and 800s, or 1 or 2 mile runs faster than race pace for the 5k.

I'm approaching 50 and believe that high volume (60+ now on 6 days with doubles) with 1-2 workouts per week is a better and safer approach than low volume/high intensity.

Also, my race distance goal is 5k and I seldom if ever train faster than 5k pace. I think with higher volume you can get away with slower paces in workouts. We're all different though.