What Running REALLY Does to Your Body (Nobody Explains This)

[00:00:00] Everyone thinks running destroys your body. But the truth, it’s the opposite. After 30 years old, sedentary people lose 1% of their fitness every single year. And runners, they cut that decline in half because running it reverses all the bad stuff. Your cells, they multiply it, your brain, it rewires, and your heart gets stronger.

[00:00:19] But only if you’re trained smart. Check this out. More than half of runners get injured every year. Why do you think that is? ’cause they load too fast and they destroy themselves. Here’s what actually happens to your body when you run, and how the other half stay in the game of running for decades. So the three things I’m gonna go over, what changes in your body when you start running?

[00:00:37] It’s real anti-aging science. Why most runners destroy themselves before they even hit 40 years old. How to train. So you’re still crushing it into your sixties and beyond. And a free training plan to implement this. ASAP. So you get the head start on everyone, and you train well into your sixties, seventies, maybe even eighties with running.

[00:00:55] I’m Daren D Lake certified coach and lifelong. Runner of 30 years. Yes, three decades. My goal, run strong for another 30 years, do all of the things that help me run 1% better each day and show 100,000 other self-coach runners just like you, how to do it too. Let’s break it down. Okay, so you start running.

[00:01:13] Here’s what happens immediately, like within seconds, your heart rate spikes. Oxygen flood your muscles, your mitochondria, those little power plants inside your cells, they start multiplying like rabbits out in the forest. Research recently found that runner’s high depends on cannabinoid receptors in the brain, not endorphins.

[00:01:31] When researchers blocked opioid receptors, runners still got the high, so runners high science caught up. It’s your endocannabinoids, your body’s natural THC, but beyond the feel good stuff, here’s what’s happening at a cellular level, starting with your muscles, they get. Tiny micro tears, especially if you haven’t ran really ever.

[00:01:50] That sounds bad, but it’s not. They actually repair stronger. That’s how adaptation works. Make the body weaker, it comes back stronger. That’s fitness, survival of the fitness, et cetera. After a few weeks of consistent running, consistent, not heroic, that means a little bit. And then a little bit more and a little bit more, and you can handle it.

[00:02:07] Not just kill yourself once and not run anymore, but within that consistent running more cool stuff happens. Your brain builds new neurons, that’s called neurogenesis within your brain. You now have better memory, better focus, better mood. Your VO two max improves the thing on your smart watch. Everyone wants to.

[00:02:23] Up. You know that number, the two number some. Some are in the forties, some are in the fifties. Some are in the twenties. After 30, you lose about 1% of your VO two max every year. If you’re sedentary, that means you’re not moving that much. You just get in your car, go to work or whatever. You sit around, you don’t do anything.

[00:02:37] A very long standing study. Track master athletes and sedentary men. For eight years, the sedentary group lost 12% per decade. The athletes who kept training 5.5% per decade running cuts the decline in half, and your tendons and bones, they adapt to, but way slower than your muscle. This is when the damage actually happens.

[00:02:56] I’m gonna touch on this, how this all happens very shortly. So we know running can keep you young, but most people screw it up. Here’s how you don’t tell yourself a future story. You actually believe you need to do that. Tell yourself a future story that you believe not someone else’s expectations for years later.

[00:03:12] The thing that makes you happy or sad, that’s what the story you want. Like that’s the emotional connection that you need, the stakes that you need. Think of it like a movie. Replay that movie in your head of 20, 30, 50 years from now. My goal is to do park runs with my son when he’s in his twenties. Not shuffle slowly with him and get hand claps from volunteers for walking.

[00:03:30] The whole thing I’m talking about running competitively with him, that’s my North star. That’s why I obsess over this 1% better thing because if I train like an idiot now and blow myself up chasing best times in my thirties and forties, it’ll be hard for me to move my fifties ’cause I’ve in injured myself and I refuse to be the dad.

[00:03:48] Who used to run or I used to run fast, not doing that. This is about zooming out for decades, not weeks, and figuring out what I need to do right now to get myself there later. Here’s how to actually do the things that will help you. It’s based on three pillars, load slow, pillar one, pillar two, run slow, and pillar three, recover smarter.

[00:04:06] Here’s the first pillar. Load slowly. Alright? Don’t increase your weekly mileage by more than 10% per week. That’s it. That’s the rule. It’s a generic rule. You may have heard this, but the rule really, really works. It slows you down. It stops you from hurting yourself. Why? Because your heart and lungs adapt in a few weeks.

[00:04:22] Muscles adapt in about six weeks, tendons, 12 to 16 weeks. See that? So cardiovascular, it’s like, oh, oh, I feel good. I’m not breathing hard. After two to three weeks. Muscles, eh, about a month or two months tendons. Three, four months to be able to handle the load of running. So this is the story of so many runners that I see, uh, and runners that I coach.

[00:04:42] You’re able to breathe easier. So you push it after a month of when you start running, your muscles are like, yeah, let’s go. But you tend are like, bro, wait, what? There’s a study on this very recently have found that runners who violated the 10% rule for long runs had 128% higher injury risk. Yes. Your risk of injury, if you.

[00:05:00] Have two long runs, one week apart, and you decide to do one long run that’s 20% more than last week goes up 128%. If you go up to 50% more, you go from five miles, 10 kilometers to 10 miles, 15, 16 kilometers, your risk goes up like 200, 300%. It’s not a typo. That’s your Achilles and all your other tendons IT band, et cetera, saying not today.

[00:05:22] Your tendons can’t keep up with your ego. That’s the injury cycle. So how do we actually use this? In your life by using our free six lesson email course. This teaches you everything in this episode, how to make smarter decisions about your body and training and how to avoid injury that sets you back so you’re not running in your later stages of your life and feeling good.

[00:05:43] It’s called the 1% Better Runner Injury Proof Method, no guessing. No second guessing. Again, it’s free. Get the link in a description or scan the QR code here, or in the podcast player. If you’re listening, just open up your podcast app and get that so we know to load slowly and respect our attendance. Now, let’s talk about pacing.

[00:06:00] This is the second pillar. Running slow. 80% of your runs, they should be easy. Let’s say 70 to 80%. You know, if you. Don’t need to be perfect conversational pace. Nose breathing if you can. I know it feels slow and boring, but do it anyway. Here’s why. Running cuts your VO two max decline in half compared to sedentary aging.

[00:06:19] But if you run too hard too often, you actually accelerate aging. Over-training dumps cortisol into your body. We don’t want that stress hormone. Your body can’t tell the difference between a brutal workout and an angry boss or a young child, or dealing with a family member or traffic or stress of doom scrolling in the world and finance.

[00:06:40] Stress is stress. It’s all the same. Fast-paced leads to fast burnout, easy pace built, mitochondrial growth. Again, powerhouse of cells. We want that. Capillaries are built. The density so you can deliver more oxygen to. All the parts of your muscles so you can run slower, easier and feel better Fat adaptation.

[00:06:58] So again, you’re burning more fat, using fat as fuel and energy and overall longevity, so we can keep going. Consistency beats intensity. Consistency is key. All the trite, generic sayings. They’re true for a reason. The tortoise doesn’t just win the race. He’s still running at 70 years old. So if easy pace builds your base, what about that nagging recovery thing we keep hearing about?

[00:07:22] Say hello to pillar number three. Recovery is training. This is the one new and experienced runners including myself up until a few years ago. Totally miss. Adaptation doesn’t happen during the run. It happens after sleep, rest days. Easy week, proper passive recovery, proper active recovery activities and training, et cetera.

[00:07:40] That’s when your muscle fibers repair stronger. When your brain consolidates movement patterns, so you run with better economy, better form you not hunched over when your mitochondria, again, they multiply. Mitochondria is so, so big in this whole aerobic distance running world. You’re gonna hear it a lot.

[00:07:55] If you skip your recovery, you’re just stacking damage with no adaptation and just inflammation. We don’t want that. We don’t want stress. We don’t wanna feel tired all the time. Remember, training equals work. Plus rest, not work. Plus work. I’ll say it again for the runners in the back. Can you hear me?

[00:08:13] Training equals. Work plus rest, not work, plus work. Here’s what keeps me showing up week after week for the last 13 years. I coach runners in the sixties who move better than 30 year olds who train like idiots. Why might you ask? They load slowly. They run easy, they recover hard, and they keep doing it over, and over and over.

[00:08:31] Rinse, repeat over, over. Youth is wasted on the young, but patience and discipline that is earned. I want to be one of those 65 year olds. Still fit, still strong. Great posture, walking with confidence. Still injury free and still running fast with my kid. That’s the prize and the story and the movie that I keep replaying and telling myself, what’s your story to keep you going 1% better each day, week, month, year, decade?

[00:08:55] Tell me in the comments or email me, DARE n@onebetterrun.com. Or if you’re in Spotify, you can hit a comment there or whatever. This is always cool to hear. I love hearing this stuff ’cause people have some awesome stories. If you haven’t already, go sign up for that free email course. The injury proof 1% better runner.

[00:09:12] You’ll get six lessons every few days that clearly show you how to live 1% better. Link is in description or the QR code here. What happens to your body is the first step after running, how to actually start running or come back from running if you haven’t taken off time. Here’s the next step. Click the video below if you’re on YouTube or the link in the description if you’re on other platforms to get that.

[00:09:33] Let’s run smarter for decades. Peace.