I’m a 49F and just completed a half marathon yesterday! It sounds like you’re really just getting back seriously to running after a long break. Races are outside, on varied terrain, even road races. Spinning and treadmill running are certainly better than nothing and you’re obviously way, way ahead fitness-wise than the average person. But it’s still not the same.
You can’t change your age, but you can change your training. Unless you have injuries or a schedule that precludes outdoor running, I would try to do more outside running. Even walk-running. You need to get your body used to the harder surfaces, varied camber, different temperatures, if races are your goal. If you’re just running for general fitness, of course, spinning and treadmill running are great. But to run a fast 10K outside, you need to run more outside (at least some of your runs). There are freakishly fast people of course who can do all treadmill running and bang out a face race but I am ABSOLUTELY not one of them.
I’m a 49F and just completed a half marathon yesterday! It sounds like you’re really just getting back seriously to running after a long break. Races are outside, on varied terrain, even road races. Spinning and treadmill running are certainly better than nothing and you’re obviously way, way ahead fitness-wise than the average person. But it’s still not the same.
You can’t change your age, but you can change your training. Unless you have injuries or a schedule that precludes outdoor running, I would try to do more outside running. Even walk-running. You need to get your body used to the harder surfaces, varied camber, different temperatures, if races are your goal. If you’re just running for general fitness, of course, spinning and treadmill running are great. But to run a fast 10K outside, you need to run more outside (at least some of your runs). There are freakishly fast people of course who can do all treadmill running and bang out a face race but I am ABSOLUTELY not one of them.