Triathlete Chiara Szolderits warns that marathon runners train too much and too fast. Here is how endurance athletes over 35 can adjust volume and recovery.
On September 17 2026, the Austrian publication Kronen Zeitung published a pre-race interview with triathlete Chiara Szolderits. The discussion covered marathon preparation and common running mistakes ahead of the inaugural Wörthersee Marathon. The publication identified Szolderits as a full-time project manager and singer who won the Ironman in Klagenfurt the previous year. She also became the Austrian mountain time trial champion in the current year.
The Wörthersee Marathon was scheduled to hold its first edition on September 27 2026. The municipality of Krumpendorf heavily promoted the new road race under the slogan "Run the lake." Regional reporting from 5min.at noted that 8500 runners from 36 nations had registered before race day. The reported course featured a complete circuit around the scenic Wörthersee.
This high registration total indicated massive demand for the new Austrian racing event. However, these registration figures do not measure athlete preparedness or expected finish times. The sheer volume of international participants provided a highly relevant backdrop for the training advice Szolderits offered. Her specific commentary addressed the exact challenges of preparing for the 42.195 kilometer distance.
Szolderits delivered a clear and direct message to recreational marathon runners. She stated that most runners run too much and too fast during their event preparation. This central practitioner warning highlights a widespread error in amateur endurance sports today. Athletes frequently combine excessive training volume with excessive running speed.
Instead of maintaining controlled and sustainable efforts, many runners allow ordinary runs to become unnecessarily hard. This aggressive approach prevents adequate recovery before the next demanding workout session. The accumulation of mileage is not automatically beneficial when the added volume is performed at the wrong intensity. A continuous background of persistent fatigue often results from this widespread mismanagement of daily training zones.
The concept of running too much remains highly individual rather than an absolute rule. A weekly volume that feels excessive for a returning runner might be perfectly manageable for a consistently trained athlete. Therefore, her warning serves as a broader load management principle rather than a fixed mileage ceiling. Athletes must evaluate their own historical tolerance before deciding to cut their total running volume.
Running too fast also requires careful context during a structured marathon buildup. Preparation naturally includes purposeful quality sessions and planned bursts of intensity. The critical distinction lies between executing planned intensity with adequate recovery and racing easy training runs. If a target marathon pace repeatedly turns ordinary runs into hard efforts, runners must immediately reassess their goals.
This dynamic creates a dangerous cycle of fatigue that ruins race day execution. When athletes constantly test their fitness during training, they leave their best performances on the practice roads. True endurance progress requires the discipline to run slowly when the schedule dictates a recovery day. Building a massive aerobic base relies entirely on keeping your heart rate low and your breathing relaxed.
For ambitious athletes between 35 and 65 years old, this warning fundamentally changes how we view daily training loads. The practical issue is no longer whether we can physically tolerate a single hard workout on a given day. The real challenge is whether we can recover sufficiently to complete subsequent training without accumulating persistent fatigue. Older marathoners must increasingly emphasize adjusting training load and protecting recovery over simply pursuing higher weekly mileage.
Hitting my forties brought a harsh reality check. The track workouts were not getting slower, but the days after them felt significantly heavier. Instead of forcing my old Tuesday and Thursday intensity schedule, I looked at the data on Masters athletes and muscle protein synthesis.
I pushed my second hard session to Friday, allowing an extra forty eight hours of low intensity recovery. My total weekly volume stayed the same, but the quality of my intervals skyrocketed.
Runners must treat this load management approach as a direct prompt to audit their own intensity distribution. You should consistently ask whether your genuinely easy runs are actually conversational. Athletes need to firmly separate the goals of easy runs, long runs, tempo work, and scheduled recovery days. Allowing every session to drift toward the same moderately hard effort guarantees a compromised race day performance.
We must also acknowledge that reducing mileage is not automatically the single best solution for chronic fatigue. The real problem often involves poor sleep, inadequate fueling, abrupt intensity increases, or insufficient strength work. Athletes must rule out these foundational lifestyle factors before completely dismantling a structured marathon training plan. Incorporating structured comeback plans can help athletes navigate these early warning signs effectively.
A dedicated masters coaching source provides specific guidance for managing this complex training fatigue. Running Explained recommends considering a down week every third week to ensure proper systemic recovery. During that specific recovery week, athletes should reduce their running volume by 30 to 40 percent. This recommendation offers an adjustable starting point rather than a rigid physiological rule for every single runner.
The same coaching source strongly suggests adding at least one complete rest day to the weekly schedule. For endurance athletes over 50 years old, the recommendation expands to potentially two full rest days per week. You should strictly protect these rest days when sleep disruption or declining workout quality suggests poor training absorption. Consistent rest is just as critical as tactical pacing restraint for maintaining peak performance output.
Athletes must increase their training volume conservatively and judge the physical response over several consecutive weeks. You should never add mileage simply because a generic training plan says more running is automatically better. The goal is to arrive at the taper period with highly stable training and manageable physical fatigue. Attempting to compensate for missed preparation through last minute mileage spikes will quickly ruin your marathon readiness.
The final weeks before a marathon represent a crucial period for physical adaptation and mental recovery. Arriving at the taper phase with highly manageable fatigue is much more important than squeezing in one final long run. Athletes frequently try to compensate for earlier missed workouts through aggressive last minute mileage additions. This desperate strategy completely contradicts Szolderits's core warning about excessive volume and invariably leads to heavy legs on race day.
There is no exact safe mileage level established for older marathoners across the board. Training tolerance depends heavily on previous running history, current injury status, professional work demands, and muscular strength levels. Returning athletes should individualize their plans with a coach or sports-health professional when they experience persistent joint pain. Understanding optimal weekly frequency often provides much better results than endlessly chasing arbitrary distance targets.
Veteran endurance athletes must prioritize controlled pacing and structured recovery weeks over the blind pursuit of maximum weekly mileage.
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