Masters & Female
Training adaptations after 50, female-specific physiology, iron and cycle considerations.
7 articles · sorted by most recent
Postpartum Return to Running: Why Expert Guidance Says Criteria, Not a Calendar Date
The best-known postpartum guideline says no running before 3 months, and only if you pass a set of load tests with no leaking, heaviness or pain. Time is the floor, not the green light.
Training for a Marathon at 40+: How to Adjust Recovery and Intensity
After 40, your muscles recover about as fast as they did at 26. Keep two hard sessions per cycle and protect sleep, tendons and HRV instead of cutting intensity.
Female Running Economy After Threshold Sessions: What the 2025 FENDURA Data Actually Shows
A 2025 study found threshold sessions raise oxygen cost by 2.4% in female runners — but energy cost stays flat. Here's what that split means for sequencing your hard days.
Female Durability: Why Trained Women Resist Late-Race Fade
Trained women slow 11.7% in the marathon second half vs 15.6% for men, and the gap keeps widening past 100 miles. Here's the four-mechanism physiology that explains it.
Why Does My VO2max Decrease as I Age? And What You Can Actually Do About It
VO2max falls ~10%/decade if you stop pushing hard, but masters athletes who keep doing intervals drop only ~5%/decade. Here's the science and the fix.
Training by Menstrual Cycle Phases: What the 2026 Research Actually Says (and What It Doesn't)
The 'lift heavy in follicular, deload in luteal' rule isn't evidence-based. When McNulty 2020 filtered to high-quality studies only, the effect size was -0.01 — functionally zero.
Training Past 50: The Physiology Has Changed — Your Plan Should Too
Endurance training alone does not preserve fast-twitch muscle fibers after 50 — Tøien 2023 found masters endurance athletes at 39.3% type II fibers, nearly identical to sedentary older adults at 35.0%.