Why Masters Runners Get Injured (And It’s Not Just Because of Age)

If you’ve been running into your 40s, 50s or beyond, chances are you’ve heard (or said) some version of this: “I’m just getting older, injuries are part of it.”It’s a convenient explanation, but it’s also wrong.

Most injuries in masters runners are not caused by ageing itself. They’re caused by a mismatch between training load and tissue capacity. Age changes how your body responds to training, but it doesn’t doom you to injury.

Age Isn’t the Problem, Load Is

As runners age, aerobic fitness is often surprisingly well preserved. Many masters runners maintain strong VO₂max values, high lactate thresholds, and years of efficiency built through experience. Yet injuries become more common.

The reason isn’t cardiovascular decline. It’s that muscle, tendon, and bone adapt more slowly with age, and they tolerate training density, how often you load them, less well than they once did.

In simple terms:

• The same run causes more tissue disruption than it used to

• Recovery takes longer, even if the session felt easy

• Repeating sessions too close together creates cumulative overload

This is why many masters runners feel fine during training blocks, only to break down weeks later.

What Actually Changes With Age

Ageing brings predictable biological changes that influence injury risk:

• Reduced muscle mass and power (sarcopenia), especially in the calf and foot muscles

• Reduced tendon stiffness and slower collagen turnover

• Slower muscle protein synthesis and repair

• Greater neuromuscular fatigue

• Higher cortisol response to stress

None of these prevent running, but they reduce your margin for error.

The problem arises when training habits don’t change to match these realities.

Why Masters Runners Get Hurt Doing “Normal” Training

A common pattern seen in clinic:

• Long history of consistent running

• Reasonable weekly mileage

• No big spikes in volume

• Injuries still appear

The hidden issue is usually density, not mileage.

Back-to-back run days, stacked intensity sessions, or strength work layered on top of running without recovery space gradually exceed tissue tolerance.

This is why masters runners often say:

“I didn’t change anything, and suddenly everything hurts.”

The body changed. The training didn’t.

These Are Not “Wear and Tear” Injuries

Masters runners are more likely to develop:

• Achilles tendinopathy

• Calf strains

• Proximal hamstring tendinopathy

• Gluteal tendinopathy

These are overload injuries, not degenerative failures.

They reflect tissues that are under-prepared for the way they’re being loaded, not tissues that are too old to load.

The Real Fix: Match Load to Capacity

Staying injury-free as a masters runner isn’t about running less. It’s about running smarter.

Key principles:

• Strength train to restore force reserve and protect tendons

• Manage density, not just mileage

• Avoid stacking hard days back-to-back

• Allow recovery to catch up with training stress

• Use cross-training strategically to maintain fitness without excess impact

When load matches capacity, masters runners don’t just stay healthy, they often keep improving.

The Bottom Line

• Age doesn’t cause running injuries. Unmanaged load does.

• Masters runners who respect how their tissues adapt, prioritise strength, and manage training density can remain consistent, competitive, and confident for decades.

• Age changes the rules, but it doesn’t end the game.

To learn more about Master's Running, listen to our podcast on the topic here