Coach Sandi Nypaver shares one of her many tips to help you train a high-performance mindset that will allow you to achieve your goals. Thanks to neuroplasticity, anyone can develop a high-performance mindset with the right focus!
One of the biggest mistakes runners make when chasing big, uncomfortable goals is focusing only on how hard the process feels.
Yes, training can be challenging. Yes, growth requires discomfort. But here’s the key: something often feels hard simply because we keep telling ourselves it is.
Words matter. The story you repeat in your head matters even more.
I recently had this exact conversation with someone about healthy eating. If you constantly tell yourself that eating well is hard, it will be. Every choice feels like a battle. But if you reframe it as simple, not easy, but straightforward, your experience changes entirely.
And the same applies to running!
If every workout is labeled as “brutal,” “miserable,” or “a grind,” your nervous system braces for pain before you even start. But when you shift your focus toward what you gain, things like confidence, strength, pride, momentum, you unlock a completely different training experience.
Here’s something worth remembering:
A belief is just a thought you keep thinking.
So the next time you’re staring down a tough workout or an ambitious goal, try this:
Acknowledge the challenge
Then intentionally focus on the pleasure, purpose, or progress it brings
You don’t need to pretend training is easy. You just don’t need to keep convincing yourself it’s harder than it has to be.
One of the most important questions Coach Sandi Nypaver asks when reviewing an athlete’s program is: How are you responding to your training?
This matters because everyone responds differently. Take high-intensity VO₂ max speed workouts, for example. Some athletes thrive on them because they recover quickly and see big performance gains. Others? Even with great recovery habits, too many of these sessions can leave them completely fried.
That doesn’t mean those workouts aren’t valuable. It just means the way they’re integrated into your training plan should look different depending on how your body reacts. For some, sprinkling them in sparingly is the key. For others, they can be a cornerstone of progress.
And that’s just one example! There are countless ways training can impact you differently than someone else. So here’s the takeaway: Look at your training and ask yourself:Are you benefiting from it, or is it leaving you exhausted and holding you back?
Your response to training is the ultimate feedback loop. Pay attention to it, and you’ll unlock smarter, more effective progress.
Are you racing your speed workouts… or finishing them with a little gas still left in the tank? Coach Sandi Nypaver breaks down why she prefers consistently “good” workouts over a few “great” workouts.
One of my favorite reminders comes from Mark Coogan who is an Olympian himself and coach to stars like Emily Mackay and Elle Purrier St. Pierre:
“Ten weeks of B+ workouts are better than four weeks of A+ workouts.”
Coogan has coached two athletes to the Olympic 1500m final, so he knows a thing or two about smart, sustainable training. And the more I read from his book Personal Best Running, the more I find myself nodding along because his principles echo what I tell my own athletes every week.
What Does a “B+ Workout” Actually Mean?
The point isn’t the exact paces but rather the intent. You train hard, but not so hard that you’re emptying the tank every session.
For many runners, “10K pace” can mean very different things (running a 30-minute 10K versus a 48-minute 10K are completely different physiological demands). That’s why I often cue athletes to run intervals at their 30-minute race pace instead, because it anchors the intensity more precisely than a distance alone.
But the message behind the workout is the same:
Finish feeling like you could have done one or two more reps. Not that you couldn’t.
Why Backing Off a Little Works Better
Here’s what I’ve seen again and again as a coach:
Runners who “race their workouts” arrive at race day feeling flat. They’ve already spent their best effort in training.
Runners who train just a notch below their limit stay healthier, fresher, and more consistent. This is where long-term gains actually come from.
When you leave a workout with strength instead of depletion, a few things happen:
You can gradually increase mileage without breaking down.
You can handle more total reps at quality pace.
You avoid the spiral of exhaustion → illness → injury.
You show up on race day feeling sharp instead of drained.
It’s one of the least glamorous but most powerful truths in endurance training: Consistency beats hero workouts. Every time.
Do YouEverDo an A+ Workout?
Yes, but rarely.
Every once in a while (especially if an athlete isn’t racing tune-up 5Ks or 10Ks before a longer race), I’ll put in a single “A+ effort” workout: something that lets them go all-in and feel that competitive gear before race day.
Try This for a Few Months
If you’re someone who loves to “win the workout,” try dialing things back just a touch for a training cycle.
You might be surprised at how much stronger, healthier, and faster you feel on race day.
Running is Life Long! In today’s article we will go over the training considerations for “master age” runners, but for the younger folks, this article is also useful to help prepare you for the next chapter in your running adventure. Something we should touch on now before diving into detail is the typical life stressors folks between the ages of 40-60s can face. Often, we longingly reflect on our ability to simply sleep off a minor injury or a hard training session from our teens or 20s. Something we may not consider is raising families, providing elder care, rent/mortgage. The list goes on and on. Simply point, your body isn’t failing you, there is most likely a lot on your plate that requires extra recovery considerations.
Control the Variables! Obviously, these will apply to all runners, but the needs do magnify a bit as we get older. We must prioritize sleep the best we can. Even an extra 30 min a few nights a week is impactful. Quality food to help bolster recovery and ward off micronutrient deficiencies is also critical. The same goes to regular blood work to keep on top of things.
As we enter our middle-aged years, we may need to find a good OBYGYN and/or Endocrinologist to support our hormonal changes. We won’t dive too much into Hormonal Replacement Therapy (HRT) in this article. This is best discussed with a medical provider.
Keep your shoe rotation fresh and make friends with a few simple recovery tools, like afoam roller. These little things do add up and assist in keeping us injury free.
Strength Training! Yes, we are starting with this because there are a few key exercises we can program into our training plans to help mitigate age-related tendon degradation and muscle loss. The biggest thing that we lose as we get older is tendon stiffness and strength, particularly the Achilles tendon. Knowing this ahead of time, we can focus a bit on safely doing heavy lifts to load the tendons and some basic plyometric exercises. We focus so much on glute power (as we should), but a lot of our stride length is dictated by calf strength and Achilles stiffness. As we age, we compensate with a little bit of a higher cadence but shorter stride. Protecting stride length protects our ability to maintain higher paces. One thing to note about Achilles stiffness: this means the tendon should be like a coil. A strong coil is stiff and can transfer energy. This doesn’t mean we should be running with tight ankles. We want those to be mobile.
Key things to incorporate into your strength plan: heavy single leg calf raises and bent calf raises. Isometric calf raise holds (hard for 30sec at a time). In general, lift heavy (but safely)..Bulgarian split squats are a great exercise to include. You can try 3–4 sets of 5–7 reps for strength, or 2–4 sets of 12–15 reps for muscle endurance. Start with bodyweight to dial in good form before adding load. For plyometrics, double leg bunny hops are a great start and then progress to single leg bunny hops. To continue the progression, jump squats with a medicine ball and jump down from a box into a half squat and then immediately into a squat jump will do wonders for both bone and tendon strength. Lastly, see if you can set up a camera/phone to record your lifts or have a friend film you. Take note of left/right asymmetries. If lifting is new for you, a journal of things you notice while lifting is good. For example, if you feel less coordinated at the bottom portion of a Bulgarian split squat, and your back is not as engaged, one of the glutes may not have the same power as the other side. Another sneaky one is a stronger foot. Watch for your ankle/foot to roll a bit outward or inward at the top of a calf raise. Big toe mobility is huge with this one. Your ankle will do a lot to compensate and spread the load elsewhere if the big toe cannot bend properly.
Training Considerations! Hills are your friend. Short hill strides 1-2x a week help with power development and running form. They are also a continuation of the tendon strength we want to preserve as we age. Now the good news: our endurance ability does not really decline but our power and threshold can. This is great news because when it comes to intensity, a little bit goes a long way. Simply the hill strides and some shorter intervals on the track really can ward off age related decline. Of course we want to maintain endurance. As we age, we may need to spread out intense sessions just a bit more than in our 20s or 30s but we can hop on a bike or an elliptical to maintain our endurance. Our heart and lungs do not know the difference. It is ok to be creative and substitute a run day with a cross-training day. Particularly, if it allows you to have a very good speed or threshold session. Sacrificing a little bit of general running to preserve a workout is almost always worth it.
Another tip that comes from my cycling days is “big gear work.” I found I could help with late ride fatigue and build functional power by doing intervals that involve pushing a big gear at a low pedaling cadence (requires more torque from the legs). This could be perfect for a runner, returning from injury, who is ready to workout but is not 100% ready to return to running. It is ok to adapt workouts and do them on a bike or an elliptical. Thriving as a Master Runner
Nutrition and Supplements! Fuel is important! Simple as that. We must, regardless of age, give our body the fuel it needs to participate in the activity we ask it to do. Protein right after a workout can be helpful, but research shows what matters most is getting enough throughout the entire day. https://pmc.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/articles/PMC7400240/ A lot of athletes have been exploring creatine to help with maintaining muscle strength, hydration status, and cognitive function. Creatine has been around and used by body builders for decades, but a resurgence and diversification of its uses has been prevalent this past year. Women seem to come up with a bonus and respond positively to creatine supplementation. This may be because they have lower creatine stores in their muscle tissue. This is a supplement, not a requirement of course. If you’d like to try creatine, it is always safest to consult your medical provider and if you choose to try it: 3-5g per day is a safe starting point for most people.
Philosophy and the Mental Game! With a bit of planning and staying informed, we can run rather close to our abilities from our 20s and 30s. Having said that, we should also note peak performance will change over time when we enter our golden years. A decline in our relative speed and ability to cover distance is, perhaps, more technically correct, but our running is simply evolving to the phase of life in which we enter. Comparison to one another is the thief of joy and can hamper our own journeys. The same can be said of comparisons to a different version of ourselves. Don’t forget to enjoy this sport for what it can before us: health, travel, closeness with nature, companionship, decompression, and the list goes on! We should always be grateful for our mobility and our sport. Live in the moment. Control what you can control and try not to stress the rest of it.
