I heard a stat that said most people once they reach 30 will never sprint again for the rest of their life and it hit me right in the heart.

The body is incredibly designed and resilient to deal with the constant load we put on it, and yet, it will always strive for homeostasis, for health, for healing, and for optimization. It doesn’t take THAT much to feel better, get stronger, lose the weight, or increase your speed.

At 38, I feel like I skipped an entire decade of running continuation from my younger years as a soccer player due to my knees being a mess. After stem cell/prolo therapy 2 years ago, I did CrossFit for a year without jumping or running to build my strength and lose weight. This was really important to my stress levels because I couldn’t afford (literally and physically) to mess up the healing that was happening in my knees. Even though they say “you’re fine”, to me it was too big a risk. So after a year of strength building, I dipped my toes back into jogging. It felt awkward as hell. After not running for so long, I felt like a baby giraffe. “What do I do with my hands?!”

It took about a year of running to feel confident in running fast and DECELERATING from it. A big part of knee strength and safety is the deceleration, not many people know that. You have to relearn stopping. I now have happy knees by running and sprinting short distances. I will not be running any marathons, I’d rather ruck those!

Rucking has been incredible for my running strength, speed, and progress. Carrying weight while walking is the perfect overload training for the muscles of running! I personally would not run with weight on my back, my knees really would hate me! But some people do and that’s totally okay as long as your body feels good and able.

The other beautiful thing about rucking is that you can choose your intensity via light weight/longer distance or heavy weight/shorter distance and reap incredible fitness rewards in your musculature, cardiovascular, and nervous systems! If you’re like me, a ‘retired athlete’, you might start feeling old injuries pop up. Low intensity isn’t just reserved for aquarobics any more!! Rucking is the perfect way to feel like an athlete again and compete in events designed for ruckers!

Why do I work on running fast?

Running as fast as you can is a key component to helping your body stay young as you age. The ability to run is innate and important! What if you suddenly need to run away from danger or run to save someone? Your body’s ability to handle this stress and load will dictate your ability to stay stress-free during that time and recover afterwards. Even if you start with walking, add rucking, then work your way up to a few paces at a jog, slow progress is progress and you will be so glad you started! The body wants to move, play, run, roll….your future self will thank you for doing those things now!

I hope you’re inspired to get out and get a few steps or jogs in, it’s never too late, remember that. There are people starting in their 60s who are achieving incredible athletic feats with proper training and CONSISTENCY!!! You got this!