 Des Linden has a milestone birthday coming up on July 26, when she’ll turn 40.
Well-meaning acquaintances often tell her that “age is just a number,” but she scoffs at that talk. Age, she says, has real consequences for her running. “Age is not a mindset; that’s silly,” she told Runner’s World. “It’s a physiological thing.”
Acknowledging the effects of age doesn’t mean she has to give in to it, though. She’s not calling it quits. Linden is trying to be smart as her body changes and adapt her training to account for the 24 marathons she has finished in her career.
Last November, she thought she was very fit heading into the New York City Marathon, and she was frustrated when she finished 16th in 2:32:37, almost 6 minutes slower than her best time on the New York course in 2019. She ran the first half in 1:12:37, the second in 1:20.
For the Boston Marathon on April 17, Linden and her coach, Walt Drenth, took a different approach in her training.
It seemed to work: She ran 2:27:18. True, she finished in 18th place, but she was much more evenly paced, with halves of 1:13:06 and 1:14:12. “After New York, I was like, it just has to be solid,” Linden said. “It was not a day to take big risks. I thought I ran really solidly, so I was happy with it.”
Here’s what she changed between the two marathons. |
Des Linden has a milestone birthday coming up on July 26, when she’ll turn 40.
Well-meaning acquaintances often tell her that “age is just a number,” but she scoffs at that talk. Age, she says, has real consequences for her running. “Age is not a mindset; that’s silly,” she told Runner’s World. “It’s a physiological thing.”
Acknowledging the effects of age doesn’t mean she has to give in to it, though. She’s not calling it quits. Linden is trying to be smart as her body changes and adapt her training to account for the 24 marathons she has finished in her career.
Last November, she thought she was very fit heading into the New York City Marathon, and she was frustrated when she finished 16th in 2:32:37, almost 6 minutes slower than her best time on the New York course in 2019. She ran the first half in 1:12:37, the second in 1:20.
For the Boston Marathon on April 17, Linden and her coach, Walt Drenth, took a different approach in her training.
It seemed to work: She ran 2:27:18. True, she finished in 18th place, but she was much more evenly paced, with halves of 1:13:06 and 1:14:12. “After New York, I was like, it just has to be solid,” Linden said. “It was not a day to take big risks. I thought I ran really solidly, so I was happy with it.”
Here’s what she changed between the two marathons. |
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