How the Fastest Marathoners Over Age 50 Stay in Racing Shape (2024)

Grace Wasielewski is humble about her running—she’s not fast, she tells Runner’s World. Of the 114 marathons she’s run, her personal best is a 3:29 (which is fast in our book).

But the Prospect Heights, Illinois, resident didn’t start running seriously until she was in her 40s. She set all her PRs, including in the marathon, in her 50s. And this year, her time of 3:43:03 placed her first in the 70 to 74 age category at the London Marathon, as well as in the Abbott World Marathon Majors Age Group World Rankings, in which runners 40 and older compete in nine age groups across more than 370 qualifying races.

Wasielewski and other top competitors age 50 and older—including Jeannie Rice, 76, who ran 3:33:27 in London to improve upon her own world record for ages 75 to 79—say that some aspects of their running have changed with time. Many need extended warmups before a hard workout; injuries take longer to heal, and some have had to tweak their routines to avoid them.

But for the most part, they feel younger than their years, thanks to consistent training and comparing themselves to their peers rather than their old PRs. “It seems everyone else is stepping back and then all of a sudden, you’re still there,” Wasielewski says. “That’s the key, is not to slow down as much.”

Here’s how she, Rice, and other age-group leaders maintain longevity and success.

1. They Train With Groups (and Younger Runners)

Wasielewski, who turns 71 this month, has trained for years with the Fast Track Racing Team in suburban Chicago. Belonging to a group adds fun and gets her out the door during cold, icy winters—often, with training partners born decades later. “Some of the people I run with, I’m older than their parents,” she says. “It makes me feel a lot younger.”

At age 73, family physician Martin Keibel is the oldest runner in his training group in Manchester, Connecticut. They’re a supportive and social bunch, often traveling to races together—including the Tokyo Marathon this past March, where Keibel ran 3:16:46 to place second in the 70 to 74 age group (he’s also the first American in that category in the Abbott WMM rankings).

The group includes a range of paces, and Keibel—who’s run 74 marathons since 2005, when he switched from triathlons—pushes himself to keep up with those slightly speedier. “A lot of them were high school track stars, college track stars, people who have incredible running resumes,” he says. “To be running with them is a good feeling.”

2. They’re Picky About Their Coaches

Michael Brosilow was purely a cyclist for years, but at age 50, a busy schedule as a photographer and dad had him searching for a more efficient workout. He tried running, loved the endorphin boost it provided, and quickly realized he could be competitive. The Chicago resident ran a personal best of 2:59:02 at the California International Marathon when he was 61; this year, at age 67, his Tokyo Marathon time of 3:09:44 placed him third in the 65 to 69 age group.

At first, Brosilow followed standard training plans or worked with remote coaches, but didn’t feel they catered to mature runners. Now, he’s working with a local coach—Dave Walters—who also tops the same age group (he ran 2:56:45 at the 2022 London Marathon to win the 65 to 69 category). Walters has encouraged Brosilow to stay healthy and optimize his potential by racing only two marathons per year; he also suggested cutting back on the number of shorter-distance races Brosilow was doing, choosing a few that fit nicely into the schedule as tune-ups.

Others prefer to guide their own training. Lisa Veneziano, who ran 2:56:38 to win the 55 to 59 age group in this year’s Boston Marathon, briefly worked with a coach when she retired from a busy executive job at General Motors in 2020, but found she didn’t like the extra structure and pressure. “One of my philosophies is, you have to keep the fun in it,” she says. “I don’t want it to be so serious.”

And while Rice has gotten ample advice from friends and mentors since she started marathoning in 1983, she also eschews formal coaching. “I’ve never had somebody who tells me, you gotta do 10 miles today, you gotta do five by whatever. I go by my own schedule,” she says. That means she can adjust as needed—for example, moving her speed workout days if she isn’t feeling her best. “I listen to my body.”

3. Instead of Comparing to Past Times, They Set Lofty Future Goals

Rice knows she may not touch her marathon personal best of 3:12, but thrives off breaking age-group barriers. She currently holds world records in distances from 1,500 meters to the marathon, and has her sights set on breaking the world record in the 800 meters at this summer’s Pan-American Masters Games in Cleveland. She’s also running the Berlin, Chicago, and New York marathons in the fall, with a goal of sub-3:30.

Brosilow had a lot of hard-and-fast time goals when he began running at age 50: Break three hours in the marathon, 40 minutes in the 10K, and 20 minutes in the 5K. Having achieved them all, he’s now focused on fine-tuning his execution, aiming to run a “perfect marathon” in which he feels strong and picks up speed in the last few miles.

4. They Keep Their Motivation in Mind

When Rice first went after the world record for runners 70 to 74, she put the name and time of the woman who held it before her on her fridge (3:35:29 set by Helga Miketta of Germany in 2013). “I would see it every day,” she says. And in the 2018 Chicago Marathon, she ran 3:27:50 to smash it.

For Wasielewski, the deeper reasons for running relate to health and family. “Both my parents had dementia, and I know that exercise helps,” she says. Her daughters Lisa and Kimberly also fuel her; they come to as many of her races as they can, making posters for her and cheering her on.

5. They Find Strengthening and Stretching Routines That Work

Combining tips from Runner’s World articles with guidance from Kimberly, a physical therapist and former personal trainer, Wasielewski created an individualized regimen to stay strong and injury-free. Each morning, she does 25 heel raises on each leg on her stairs, then 25 single-leg squats on each leg. The whole routine takes her about three minutes. “It’s a habit; I can’t brush my teeth until I do those two things,” she says.

She also lifts heavier weights—often, at the CrossFit gym where she’s gone for more than 20 years—once a week to offset the loss of muscle mass that would otherwise naturally occur with aging. And, she spends about a half-hour most days stretching, including standing hamstring stretches and runner’s lunges for her hip flexors.

Veneziano has also devised a 15- to 20-minute stretching routine for her hamstrings, quads, and calves. She’ll do it after a run or a stint in her backyard hot tub, so her muscles are warm. And Keibel has found a dynamic stretching warmup—seven or eight moves like military marches and leg swings—keeps his muscles limber and prepares him for harder efforts.

6. They Cross-Train—Sometimes, Hard

Veneziano has always been a relatively low-mileage runner. Now, she logs 30 to 35 miles weekly—sometimes 40, during marathon training. But on days she’s not running, she challenges her cardiovascular system by cross-training on the spin bike, outdoor bike, elliptical, or Zero Runner.

While she uses the elliptical and Zero Runner for recovery days, she pushes it on the bike. She’ll go for at least 15 miles—sometimes, up to 20 or 30 miles—at a threshold effort. Sometimes, she does a combo workout to practice running hard on tired legs “without running myself into the ground.” For example, she might do an 18-mile aggressive bike ride, followed by a 5K tempo run.

When Keibel first started doing marathons at age 54, he ran six days and about 50 miles per week, with little cross-training. He’s cut his running by a day and five to 10 miles, swapping in more efforts on a spin bike and in the pool, with a buoy between his legs for a core and upper-body workout. “I’m more focused on making my runs better and more efficient, not putting in empty miles,” he says.

7. They Recognize the Difference in Aches versus an Injury

Most seasoned runners have small niggles or recurring injuries that occasionally flare. Brosilow, for example, has a minor pain in his hip that always lets up after several days. But after six stress fractures in his tibias and fibulas, he’s learned that any pain in his shins is a warning sign to back off. “You have to respect it and not push it because what used to be a six-week recovery will be a 10-week recovery,” he says.

Veneziano—who’s had chronic hamstring issues—has a three-day rule for any tweak or twinge that’s different from her baseline stiffness or discomfort. “If I start feeling something I think could be an injury, I’ll take three days off and cross-train,” she says. “Otherwise, it typically will get worse.”

8. They Find Doctors Who Take Them (and Running) Seriously

The last time Veneziano had a major injury—a more serious hamstring strain—was in 2006. A new physical therapist told her the problem was actually in her back, not her hamstrings, and she’d need to stop running.

She was briefly devastated but decided to get a second opinion. Another PT treated her with ultrasound and gave her stretching and strengthening exercises to get her back on the road. “If you do get an injury, keep pursuing what it could be that could help you get over it and prevent it from happening again,” she says. “One person may not think of or see all the options that could be available to you.”

As a physician himself, Keibel knew just the orthopedic specialist to turn to in July 2022, when a tumble during a trail run tore all three hamstring muscles. Many people in his age range might recover well enough without surgery, but Keibel and his surgeon knew he required a full repair if he wanted to return to running.

He had surgery a week later, and while his recovery was long—six months of no running—he stayed diligent with rehab. He returned to marathoning in Philadelphia 11 months later, where he eased back in by running 4:05:36. Four months later, he snagged the 3:16:46 finish in Tokyo.

9. They Use Aging as Inspiration

At age 59, Veneziano says she thinks she could still potentially beat her personal best of 2:50:44, which she ran in Las Vegas in 2000. She realizes that at some point, her age may slow her down—so she harnesses that goal to stay mentally strong when things get hard in a workout or race.

“One of the things I tell myself is, ‘Don’t have regrets. If you back off now, you will regret it,’” she says. “As you get older, you never know if you’re going to have that opportunity again. So don’t blow it.”