4 Noteworthy Differences for Running in my 20s vs 30s
By K10 Patel / Nov 29th, 2023
I’m in my fourth decade and I feel as if it was my best decade yet. Part of that I can attribute to recency bias since we tend to remember things more vividly if they were recently done versus many years ago. I started running when I was 19 years old when I was a sophomore in college. I’m 39 years old, so it has officially been over 20 years of running for me.
Some don’t even consider 39 as an age. No, I’m not kidding. For many of my friends and family, 39 is considered “nearly 40”. If somebody were to ask me my age the day before my birthday, I would still respond by saying “39” because that’s the truth. Nevertheless, I turn 40 in 2024, so I felt the need to reflect on the similarities and differences I’m seeing in my running from my 20s to my 30s.
Recovery Time
I need more rest or recovery time after each workout in my late 30s as compared to my early to mid-20s. Now that I’m running in my late 30s, if I go on a long run, my body feels a little sorer the evening of my running workout and sometimes the following morning. It’s not significant, but rather just the fact that I feel it more. This leads me to believe that I need more recovery time than I need a decade ago.
In my 20s, I would go for a long weekend run on a Saturday, and then complete a shorter running workout on Sunday. In my late 30s, I have learned to listen to my body better. If I’m not close to being fully recovered from my Saturday morning long run, I take a Sunday rest day or if I’m up for it, I would do a much lighter workout such as brisk walking.
Stretching
I stretch more pre-run in my late 30s than I have ever before. In my 20s, I would usually skip the pre-run stretching and just step out for a run. My stretching routine post-run has not changed. It’s just the routine I have gotten into the habit of doing, but post-run stretching has always been a consistent thing for me. As for pre-run stretching, I need it today. I feel physically better prepared for my run by stretching before the run.
Food Intake
I have logged in way more running miles in my 30s than I did in my 20s. In my 20s, I would refuel and I sure could eat a lot. To put this into perspective, there were numerous times that I ate two footlong subs and I was still left feeling hungry afterwards, so I would eat again within the next three hours.
Today, I can consume a footlong sandwich, but afterwards I would feel like I ate too much. I would feel full and not eat again for the next 5 to 6 hours. Easy to say that these are signs that my metabolism is slowing down. For a lot of people, metabolism slows down much earlier.
Desire and Drive
Maybe this last difference is solely how I feel, but in my 30s, I feel as if I have more of a desire to run and workout. I genuinely enjoy running. In my early 20s, I became a consistent runner and also enjoyed running, but in my 30s, I have a stronger desire to continue to exercise.
I look forward to my running workout during the day. I try to make it a priority to schedule my running workout rather than in my 20s where it happened whenever it happened. Part of this is because my 30s are busier than my 20s, but most of this strong desire and drive is because I have a better understanding of the importance of my runs for my physical and mental health. I’m very thankful that I can move around and can enjoy running to its fullest extent.
Bottom Line
Age is just a number. For me, “nearly 40” is like the new 30. Who is with me? At some point in 2024, I will be in a different age bracket, but I feel physically great considering 2023 has been wonderful year of physical fitness. I set myself a goal of running 540 miles this year and I’m 93% there. It feels good to be very close to completing a realistic fitness goal I set for myself. Over the course of the calendar year, I have mixed in more speed work and worked on my running form than ever before – All while being injury free which is the key.
It feels like a lifetime ago, but I set a half marathon Personal Record (PR) back in 2010 when I was 26 years old by clocking a time of 2:02:21. This was in the Southwest Half Marathon in Palos Heights, IL. Since then, my half marathon finish times have been increasing slightly year by year, however, the last few years that trend has been reversing. I honestly feel as if I’m close to setting a new half marathon PR within the next few years.
Yes, I realize that I will be in my 40s when I accomplish setting a new half marathon PR, but it has been done before my numerous others in their 40s. Age is working against us but don’t call it quits yet, there is plenty left in the tank. I genuinely believe that my running fitness can get better as I age with a shot at not only improving my half marathon times, but 10k and 10-mile race times as well.
For some, achieving PRs in the 30s or 40s decade, implies that the 20s decade underachieved. While this may be the case since most people have optimal health in their 20s, I can’t agree or disagree with the underachievement statement. Every individual has different factors they bring into their health equation. I’m not an elite runner, but many of you have set PRs in your 30s and 40s. What changed for you to set this PR? I would love to know, so please tell me your story by dropping a comment in my Contact page.
I will leave you with this one final though because I realize that for most people, running a 2:02:21 half marathon compared to a 2:02:00 half marathon time, doesn’t really mean much. After all, the difference in time is 21 seconds. Most people won’t care enough to train and condition their body to run 21 seconds faster over the course of 13.1 miles, but for me its about the journey of how I got there (when I get there) just as much as the result itself. Even if you don’t realize it, the future is looking bright. Keep working at your running health.