Longevity In Endurance Sports

Perform and feel confident throughout your life

Longevity in endurance sports ability to perform in your sport throughout your life span, all while feeling confident in the process that you are building over time rather than just managing injuries and exhaustion. At first sight, high performance and longevity seem to be opposites. Long hours of training, lots of wear and tear on the body, injuries. To achieve true high performance that lasts and enriches our life, you need consistency. But why do so many people struggle to achieve the consistency needed for longevity? A lot of it has to do with impatience, unnecessary pressure from within, movement patterns and stress. Let’s dive into the world of longevity.

The knowledge about your journey as an athlete

Impatience is part of our fast-living society and has a lot to do with constant comparison to others. Social media is not helpful. To fight impatience, it is helpful to set realistic goals for yourself. You shouldn’t expect to become world champion within 2 years of starting a sport. You might have seen someone else doing that, but they most likely spent 15 years in other endurance sports before that and therefore went through the whole development process. The grass is always greener on the other side. Being honest with yourself and focus on realistic pacing of your training. You might want to be at a better fitness level, but if you don’t train according to your current zones, you will stagnate in your development progress and maybe even worse get injured and pay hard for your impatience.

Once you realize and accept that rushing things will set you back, you will be able to appreciate the journey as an athlete more. The question is not how fast you can get from a 5k to a Marathon, but how well does my body adapt to the stress I put on it? Let’s take a closer look at the running example: Your running technique plays a large role in your capability to develop and adapt as a runner. Pounding the ground will cause micro injuries. Not giving your body the proper amount of time to heal and adapt will end in injuries. If you are young, your body will be able to take more hits and recover more quickly than when you are already further down the road of your life journey. Sure, as a young gun you can ignore the fact that nutrition, training load and technique play on your development while still performing well, but that’s exactly what will stand in the way of your longevity. Plus, imagine how much more a well-cared for young body can perform than one that’s simply being used without too much thought. Therefore your focus should be a healthy technique, a training load that will allow your body to adapt and get stronger overtime and a diet that will support your energy household and give you the nutrients needed.

Good thing is, all of it doesn’t have to be complicated. Longevity is the combination of solid decisions that turn into great habits over time. Knowing where you are at in your journey helps you to make the right decisions. If you are just starting out, then focusing on technique and healthy habits will go a long way. If you are already decades into your endurance journey, you might be set in your ways a bit more and it may take a bit more energy to assess your situation and make changes. That’s okay! Acceptance of where you are now is the first step towards improving your longevity. Don’t get caught up in the past too much and look at all the things you can improve to move ahead. If you’ve read this far, it’s safe to say that you love endurance sports and want to keep going as long as possible. So be nice to yourself, assess, accept and start making the right decisions that allow you to enjoy your sport for as long as you’d like!

Longevity in endurance sports is the survival of the fittest healthy You. Many athletes are excellent chasing the ‘higher-faster-further’. However, to experience your athletic potential long-term and in the most fulfilling way, upskill yourself with mindfulness regarding your training, recovery, nutrition and mental health. Get confident to leave that ‘higher-faster-further’ behind you in your draft. By doing so you’ll see you’ll be the long-term winner.

Marion Summerer

Performance Coach

A big part of great performance is longevity. To achieve longevity, you need to learn to keep your ego in check. Too many athletes get distracted and imitate things other pro athletes do, even though they are in totally different spot in their journey. Eyes on your prize. Believe in yourself and your journey.

Florian Bögge

Head Coach

When you’re used to constantly working out and giving it your all, impatience, especially during recovery times can be a challenging factor in achieving balance and adaptation in training. Check in with yourself every so often to see if you are indeed giving yourself the time needed to recover and come back stronger. If it’s difficult, ask yourself why and check in with your coach for some tools to help you

Stefanie Sichler

Mental Power Coach

While you can get away with habits that don’t optimize your performance, imagine how well you can do once you adjust your diet, mindset and training to support longevity in endurance. Consistency is key! Your body will tell you overtime the progress you’ve made.

Daniela Salvado

Nutrition Coach

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Something for you to try...

Time for you to check up on some of your habits.
Use this checklist to assess if you are on a good way to longevity. The more you can answer YES to these bullet points, the higher your chance to stay in the sport for the long run.