At 40, I’ve recently achieved a big marathon PB after a lot of hard work. I’m starting to think that I’ve maybe peaked and can’t get faster. How do I know if I’ve peaked? I’m unsure what I should focus on next in my running. A lot of friends think I should look at ultra marathons!
Rhonda
Running coach answer: Have I peaked in running?
It is hard to know if you have peaked at a distance. You don’t know until a few more tries, and eventually, you can look back and say, ‘That was the day’. We all have genetic potential, but very few realise that potential, and if you do, how do you know that you have peaked? There may be some markers, such as a decline in performances in other events, such as 10km or half marathons, despite doing the same training. You can’t maintain the same level of training, either because of mental or physical fatigue. Injuries may start to limit you.
You have to consider at what point in your running career your PB marathon came:
On the last point, my marathon PB was 2.09, but several years after doing that, I hit a happy medium of regular 2.16 to 2.18 marathons. I was happy with that, then I decided to retire from marathons before I was slowing any more – I dropped back to racing 5km and 10km races, and now just mostly do park runs!
In the end, you have to decide what you want from the sport: One more marathon PB? Success at ultra running? Do you like running fast and would like to run a faster 5km or 10km? As you are entering the Master’s age group, would you like to feature in Masters events?
Whatever you choose, another PB marathon attempt or a change, do it because that’s what you want to do!
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