Every runner knows a PR doesn’t happen overnight; it can take years to accomplish. But with those years of experience comes better endurance and time to learn, test, and fine-tune training habits, allowing you to get faster as you get older. To help you run your fastest times at any age, we gathered six tips from athletes who scored a PR after 50.
Here’s what transformed their training. At 68, Gwen Jacobson holds an all-time marathon PR of 3:16:04, earned a World Marathon Major six-star and eight-star medal on two separate occasions, and ran marathons in all 50 states and on all seven continents. The reason Jacobson was able to earn such an outstanding list of accolades is because she’s constantly setting goals for herself and reaching them.
For Jacobson, setting goals is a natural habit that gives her something specific to work toward and makes everyday training feel more purposeful. Actually achieving those milestones also boosts her sense of accomplishment and confidence, and encourages her to set another benchmark to reach. (She’s currently chasing a 50-miler and wants to complete a half Ironman before she turns 70.) McKnight explains that runners over 50 don’t have to limit their goals, but it helps to break bigger, long-term goals down into shorter steps to check off along the way. This provides you with the confidence to go after and chase that ultimate long-term goal,” says McKnight.
Setting big goals is important, but taking planned steps toward those goals actually gets you to accomplish them. Mike Uelses, 60, got back into running during the pandemic, running a 3:22:31 for his first marathon in 2022. He continued getting faster every year since by closely examining his race data and setting incremental goals.
More specifically, Uelses examines his performance data from Garmin, Strava, and Runalyze, looking at his weekly mileage, heart rate, training readiness, sleep, stress, VO₂ max, marathon shape, endurance score, and race predictions. This gives him a full picture of what he’s capable of accomplishing. That way, he doesn’t try to progress too quickly or risk getting hurt.
In doing so, he ran his most recent PR: a 2:48:16 at the 2026 Boston Marathon. McKnight tells his runners to keep a workout journal or training log to reflect on how they feel and what their training looks like as they progress. (Tracking via tech as Uelses does works, too!) This helps build communication between him and his athletes, but it’s also helpful for runners without a coach to stay honest with themselves, he says. Nora Cary, a 70-year-old record-setting American masters runner, doesn’t follow a traditional training plan or work with a run coach to achieve results.
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