Running Into My 40s: 8 Habits That Help Me Stay Fit, Feel Good and Keep Moving

Over the last five years, I’ve reflected a lot about how I am managing to stay fit into my 40s.

I am fascinated by the topic because as a kid I was told repeatedly by the adults around me that “it’s all downhill after 30…” and in some ways, I have to admit, there is some truth to that.

Family, work, life commitments and the day-to-day juggling of priorities takes hold. The shape of your adult life can, at times, seem to take on its own wild morphosis, no matter how hard we try to hang on to a structure that works for us.

However, I have come to realise that there can also be an antithesis to this modern life.

Life doesn’t have to happen to you. It can be a choice and a commitment, made daily, to overcome all that gets thrown our way.

And so, with that in mind, here are 8 of my helpful habits that have put me in fair alignment and rhythm so far into my 40s.

1. I found the movement that works for me

To me, this is running.

It’s free, available all the time, day or night, and I only need a pair of shoes and a path.

As life got busier and my time got taken up by family, work and other commitments, I was increasingly finding it difficult to find the available time that coincided with a class, or a time that wasn’t peak hour at the gym.

I also didn’t find any of the trends like F45 or OrangeTheory that appealing at the time. And so running was the most accessible and easiest thing for me to commit to.

Yes, I had a history with running and I was passionate about it, but mostly it was the ease and convenience that got me back into it.

Then came the community.

Then came the places I got to see and visit. Trails, parks, tracks, roads, beaches. Suddenly running wasn’t just exercise. It became a way of moving through the world and now it’s one of my favourite things to contemplate when I go to a new place: I can’t wait to explore this trail, I always find myself thinking.

Additionally, I no longer needed to worry about checking apps, finding a time to work out, having the right gear, or updating a membership somewhere.

It all meant fewer excuses.

Just: Time available. I can go now.

And that’s what I say to my peers. Find the movement that works for you. The one that can’t hide behind excuses. If you have 30 minutes, you can just go and get it done.

Because life is busy, schedules are full and we don’t need more hoops to jump through.

But, in the spirit of transparency, it isn’t always easy. It’s still hard to remain committed to the task.

And so I easily and effortlessly schedule my weeks, my workouts and my events around running.

2. Drafting my own plan

I think I’m quite fortunate to have the ability to draft my own plan, both in life and fitness.

I don’t really feel pressured by my peers to do things that don’t align with my values and goals. And with this reflection, I was able to draft my own fitness plan.

Personally, a few years ago, I started with a couple of days a week for 30 minutes at a time and I wrote that down.

“I am going to jog for 1 hour a week. 2 x 30-minute workouts.”

It was that simple. And it really worked for me to get back into running. There was no pressure, 1 hr a week! And when I looked at how much time I was spending on social media (at the time) or on the work commute it was an easy 1hr to make happen. 

When people ask me how they can get into running, I say, “Start with walking 5mins.” Then jog for one minute, walk for one minute. Do that three times, and that’s a 10min workout. Then double it next week. 

It sounds easy because it is.

That’s what drafting a plan does. It takes the end result and brings it back to a simple, actionable path to get there. No matter how small the first set of tasks or weeks may be, the key for me is that it is easy and enjoyable to act. I’m yet to find someone that can’t find 10mins? 

If it becomes hard from the start, it’s not going to stick for me. Why would I want to put myself into a hard hurt locker when I’m trying to set up a new habit? 

For me, run days (RunDais) are my fun days. So I’d love to be running every day. But that’s not sustainable into my 40s. So I plan for active rest days, cross training or simply a day off.

This is also where adaptation and muscle recovery happens. A rest day is not a reward to me, it’s the time for my body to absorb the workouts, and deload. 

It may sound funny, but I have got to a stage where I actively need to plan a rest day because I enjoy the  movement of  running so much now.

Which is such a strange thing to admit in my 40s, and to my peers who still try to tell me “it’s all downhill after 30.” 

3. Win the weeks, not the workouts

After all these decades I’ve learnt to trust my body.

It’s okay to ignore the plan or program for a session or two. This is where I taught myself to win the weeks, not the workouts. Even as I am writing this, last night I had a longer running session, with a total of 12km, made up of 1km reps. 

At 4.5km I eased off, walked for a bit and checked in. I wasn’t feeling it.

The body was tired. I felt dehydrated and decided to call it a day. I wasn’t making excuses, which I wrestled with in my mind, I was just feeling off. Maybe I ate lunch too late? Perhaps, not enough water?. Either way I had nowhere to be. This session was part of the plan. But I just wasn’t feeling it. And so I tuned in and listened to the body and reminded myself to win the weeks, and it’s okay to cut a workout short. 

There is not much more to write about with this helpful habit, other than the one thing I have learnt from trusting my body and focusing on the longer term is a stronger sense of my own boundaries and limits. That’s how trust with yourself is formed. One good decision. One helpful habit at a time.

I think this is one of the biggest changes that has happened to me as I’ve gotten older. When I was younger, I wanted to prove something. Now I’m more interested in listening.

4. I brought back the power nap

This was an accident.

A helpful habit that came into my life when my daughter was born five years ago.

I was fortunate enough to spend a lot of her first few years working from home, which meant I could be present during her feeds and naps. A time I will be forever grateful for.

When I would lie with her during her daily naps, I often found myself dozing off into a deep rest myself and for a few months I fought this, thinking I had places to be: A zoom call, a quick tidy of the house etc. But one day I just decided to go with it.

Forty-five minutes later when I woke up, I found myself so refreshed, revitalised and ready to get stuck into whatever task I was doing at the time.

This taught me a lot about my body’s need for rest and recuperation, more frequently than the eight hours I had learnt to believe was what I needed.

I was a father, partner, runner, entrepreneur and volunteer at the local fire brigade at the time. There was a lot I was trying to get out of my body.

And with this reflection, I was able to implement something that I still do today.

These days I have my power naps on the weekend and, if possible, I go for one during the week.

What it has done for my body and mind in terms of recovery, calmness and alertness throughout the day has been immeasurable.

To this day, I still remain mostly injury free, recovering well and alert during the times that I need to be. I think we sometimes underestimate how much recovery is actually part of fitness.

Rest isn’t the thing that happens when the training is finished.

It is part of the training.

5. Being conscious of nutrition, hydration and inflammation

This helpful habit has been a real game changer for how I feel in my body, and how responsive I am able to be with my weekly tasks and physical output.

Those that know me well know that I deeply love wine. So much so that I would call myself a proud collector of both Chardonnay and Pinot from around the world.

However, over the last 10 years, and more specifically since we started RunDais, I have had the great fortune of working with a lot of Australia’s best nutritionists and dietitians.

And I have developed a new helpful habit, yet I still don’t have a strict diet or nutrition plan.

But I am very conscious of what I consume and put in my body.

I think in terms of nutrition:

What fuel and recovery do I need?

And the same goes for hydration. Since moving to the Sunshine Coast, I have had to relearn this and up my fluids and salts. I am simply losing so much more fluid during a run.

But most importantly, I would say that being conscious of inflammation has served me well.

It might sound like a silly or fad topic, but what I mean by this is trying to limit the foods and liquids that cause inflammation in my body. Needless to say, I am no doctor. But what I have learnt in my own body is that when I indulge in a glass of wine, or some fried food, my body does not respond well.

My joints are achy. Walking down the stairs in the morning is  uncomfortable. My thinking is not as clear and most importantly I am not as present and peaceful as I’d prefer to be. 

We all know the feeling too well of being hungover, and to me this is a combination of a few things.

Lack of restorative sleep, nutritionally depleted, dehydrated, inflamed. I am sure there is some good science behind all this, as to why but I just keep the healthy habit of being conscious of what I consume. 

I don’t need to be hungover to be conscious of some of the same things going on in my body and mind. I’ve simply become more aware of what I put into it and how it makes me feel.

For me, that awareness has become more useful than any strict diet ever has and the simplicity of the principle has a loud me to sustained it.

6. Stretching and massage

I’m just going to say it upfront. I don’t love stretching.

However, I have learnt to embrace its benefits as I have continued to run into my 40s.

Using  a foam roller I stretch most nights before bed and use it as a time to reflect and tune into my body and the day that’s been.

I ask my body: How am I feeling? Where is there some tenderness? Is something feeling different today?

In a lot of ways, this process is quite meditative for me and something that I now look forward to. It has become less about stretching and more about checking in. I also ask myself: “What am I leaving today, and what do I want to take into tomorrow?” which reanchors my presence into the moment, and in a small way allows me to see my days, and weeks as a series of moments stitched together to make a life. 

The best part is how I wake up feeling mobile, well rested, dare I say youthful, and ready to embrace another day. It’s an exciting feeling when I get that feeling of wanting to get up and get going in the morning. 

And I think that’s ultimately what I am aligning with… Not necessarily being faster or looking younger. Just wanting to wake up and move effortlessly and enjoyably with presence and peace.  

7. Find your people

This one has become more important to me as I’ve gotten older. Running can be an incredibly solitary sport.

You put your shoes on, walk out the door and off you go. But some of the most meaningful parts of running for me have come from the people I’ve met along the way. The conversations before a run. The coffee afterwards. The person you keep seeing at the same park every Saturday morning or the local run club.

The race where you know absolutely nobody and somehow come home knowing five people. Community gives movement a reason beyond the movement itself. And I think this is particularly important as we get older.

Personally, I made a very big effort to connect with the people that inspired me and were leading by example. People running, training to improve themselves, building a community for me was just as important as the running itself. 

Our lives can become quite narrow. Work. Family. School friends. Endless tasks.

Running has opened the door again for me. Literally, it gets me outside exploring places and It gets me around people that I would not serendipitously run into.  

And sometimes, I think that is just as important as the time and kilometres.

I’ve seen this first-hand through RunDais.

The more I’ve learnt about running in Australia, the more I’ve realised that there is this extraordinary network of people, clubs, coaches, volunteers, race directors and everyday runners quietly building a running culture around us.

And I am so lucky I get to step into it every day. 

8. Keep it light. 

This might be the most important one. Keep it light and fun.

I say at RunDais “run days are fun days” for a reason as I genuinely believe movement should add something to your life. Yes, there will be hard sessions.

There have been events where I have wanted to throw my shoes in the bin, or the rain (in Melbourne) was so torrential that I would have been better off swimming. And the mornings when my alarm goes off and I absolutely do not want to get out of bed.

But somewhere underneath all of that, there is a lightness and a joy. 

For me, that joy is getting out early and watching the day come to life. The first light in the morning  is my favourite part of the day. And in that light, I love discovering a new trail, and meeting someone new. 

I have reflected on this topic a lot: lightness and fun. And I have landed on a few feelings that make it all worthwhile but they all boil down to one overarching feeling. It’s the feeling after a good workout when I come home and feel that sense of peace and presence. 

This is also something that my family has implemented more broadly. We have become a morning family. We get up at first light, or as early as we feel and get outside. This has become an effortless and helpful habit that has contributed to a beautiful start to our days.

I think this is where getting older can actually work in our favour. We become better at knowing what we like, need and what we plan to do, and how we want to show up in the world. 

I become less interested in what everyone else is doing and when they are doing it. We can stop chasing every new program, every new gadget, every new fitness trend. And we can simply find the things that make us feel good and keep doing them. That, for me, has been the real secret and there is a luxury in that lightness. 

I’m not trying to stay in my 20’s. But I am trying to be a good version of my 40’s. To be a present dad and partner. To build things I care about. To run and lead by example.

To wake up feeling good in my body and to keep moving for as long as I possibly can.

Maybe it isn’t all downhill after 30…

Maybe we just have to decide which direction we’re going.