Every time a new month rolls in, the Instagram squares light up like Times Square.
Everyone posts their monthly mileage totals, the graphs, the color-coded charts, the “look what I did” screenshots. It’s fun to see, and I love celebrating consistency — but there’s also a quiet pressure that sneaks in for a lot of runners.
Especially midlife runners.
You start comparing.
You start wondering if you’re “behind.”
You start thinking maybe you should add a few extra miles just to feel like you’re part of the group.
And suddenly your training isn’t training anymore — it’s a math problem you’re trying to solve for approval.
Here’s the thing I want you to genuinely hear:
Monthly mileage doesn’t mean a damn thing if the miles themselves weren’t serving you.
It’s so easy to look at someone else’s numbers and think you’re not doing enough. We’ve all been pulled into that trap, especially when a new month starts and the comparisons feel fresh. But those numbers rarely tell the truth. They don’t show how that person felt, what they sacrificed, whether their body actually tolerated the load, or whether their “big month” was mostly stress miles they forced into their calendar.
And for Masters and menopausal athletes, that kind of emotional mileage-chasing can derail everything you’re working for.
Mileage isn’t the enemy — the obsession is
Mileage by itself isn’t bad.
Mileage done intentionally is great.
Progressive mileage within a plan is even better.
Mileage you pile on because Instagram told you to? That’s where we run into problems.
When you start adding extra runs or unnecessary doubles just to hit a neat number on your screenshot, you’re no longer building fitness — you’re eroding recovery. And most runners don’t feel the cost of that until it shows up as fatigue that feels “mysterious,” niggles that turn into injuries, or a strange loss of motivation they can’t explain.
It isn’t mysterious.
It’s the mileage trap.
And for midlife athletes? That trap has sharper teeth
Once hormones start shifting, the cost of chaos mileage goes up. You don’t recover the way you did in your twenties. Your sleep is lighter. Cortisol hits harder. Tendons stiffen faster. Stress lingers longer. Bone density needs intention, not random loading. And your energy availability becomes far more important than the internet wants to admit.
When you stack extra miles on top of all that just because everyone else is doing it, your body takes the hit. And it always collects the bill.
It might look like slower recovery.
Or feeling heavy all week.
Or workouts that don’t go well.
Or feeling puffy, stressed, or flat.
Or the dreaded “why does my pace suck?” spiral.
Or a stubborn injury that came out of nowhere.
But the root cause is often the same:
You ignored what you needed, trying to match what everyone else was doing.
The real goal isn’t more miles — it’s meaningful miles
The strongest runners I coach are not the ones racking up massive monthly totals. They’re the ones who train with intention. Who fuel well. Who lift consistently. Who build aerobic capacity through smart, steady progress instead of frantic catch-up miles at the end of the month.
These athletes stay durable because they let their plan guide them, not their Instagram feed.
Your biggest breakthroughs won’t come from mileage inflation.
They’ll come from:
• consistency over intensity
• recovery you actually respect
• fueling that supports your physiology
• strength work that keeps you durable
• workouts that make sense inside a bigger plan
• mindset that resists comparison
• and giving your body time to adapt instead of demanding instant results
This combination, repeated over time, is what makes you a stronger runner — not the number you post on the first of the month.
If you want to thrive in midlife, your training needs to work with your physiology
More miles aren’t the solution.
Smarter miles are.
And once you shift your focus from totals to purpose, you’ll notice your progress actually accelerates. You’ll feel better, recover better, and perform better — without running yourself into the ground.
That’s the part runners miss when they’re stuck in the mileage trap:
You don’t have to out-mile anyone.
You just have to out-smart your old habits.
If you’re ready to step out of the mileage trap and build fitness in a way that actually supports your midlife physiology, here are a few places to start:
Fuel Like You Mean It
If your runs feel harder than they should or your energy swings all over the place, this guide helps you build a fueling foundation that makes every mile more productive.
The LEA Protocol Guide
If you’ve been running a lot but recovering poorly, dealing with chronic fatigue, or feeling stuck despite high consistency, this resource will help you identify and fix the low energy availability patterns that often hide behind mileage chasing.
Project: Breakthrough
A structured, progressive training plan built for athletes who want mileage that actually means something — not arbitrary totals based on comparison.
And if you want a truly personalized plan that respects your recovery, hormones, and goals?
That’s exactly what coaching is for.