Jo Pavey on injury-free running aged 50-plus – AW

Five-time Olympian and Imbrace ambassador talks about inspiring young athletes in her husband’s training group, avoiding niggles and why a masters comeback is appealing

It is just over a decade since Jo Pavey stormed to the European 10,000m title in Zurich. The plucky style of her victory and the fact she was almost 41 years old at the time struck a chord with the public and later that year she placed third in the BBC Sports Personality of the Year awards. “I was known for being old,” she says. “Old, but fast.”

It was one of the high points of an amazing career. She won 10,000m bronze at the 2007 World Championships, Commonwealth Games medals in 2006 and 2014 and at Rio 2016 became the first British runner in a track event to compete at five Olympics.

Now aged 51, she is a busy mum of two. Her performances have naturally slowed in recent years, but she has been inspired by seeing results achieved by fellow veteran athletes and is toying with the idea of seeing what she can do on the masters athletics scene.

“I’m really motivated to get my fitness levels up,” she says. “I feel like I spend a lot of time doing things involved with running but I need to make sure I get out there and do more myself. I’m still really motivated and I’m still loving it, definitely.”

Pavey is talking to AW at Exeter Arena, close to where it all began many years ago. In 1988 she won an English Schools 1500m title in Yeovil, in the neighbouring county of Somerset. Today she lives on the edge of Exeter and helps her husband Gavin with their growing coaching group which is based in the city.

Gavin, of course, coached her for much of her senior career, guiding her to countless major track championships, big city marathon races and cross-country events. During the winter of 1996-1997 they travelled the world on a backpacking trip, but Pavey got incredibly fit during the journey as she ran in each of the countries they visited. When they returned to Britain she qualified for the 1997 World Championships in Athens and thereafter followed an incredibly consistent streak of championship appearances.

As time went on, she was so experienced that she joked that the Exeter Harriers vest she wore in various races was literally older than many of the competitors she was up against.

“I’m getting old,” she says now looking back on her career but also forward to fresh challenges. “But it’s lovely. My husband’s doing so much coaching now and it’s great seeing the athletes coming through. I’m really enjoying that and really enjoying being involved with lots of things to do with running. I feel really fortunate to still be involved because it’s such a great sport and I’m still really enjoying everything about it.”

She still gets the competitive itch, though, as she explains: “I have aspirations to get in better shape. Sometimes I have a sneaky look at those sort of vets records and think, ‘oh, could I?’”

Yet she knows they won’t be easy records. “Those masters athletes are running absolutely amazingly and I know it takes a lot of training to do that, but I love setting myself goals and trying to achieve them.”

Pavey counts herself lucky that despite her long career she has not suffered from too many injuries. It is testament to her husband’s coaching ability, too. “I think I’m lucky that I’ve been able to keep running without too many injuries,” she says.

Jo Pavey (Imbrace)

One of the reasons for her recent injury-free running, she believes, are wearing Imbrace leggings which have knee supports built into them, thereby supporting her joints.

She adds: “I also feel like the stuff I’ve learned over the years does help me to listen to my body and make those good decisions. It’s also prioritising what the important sessions are rather than trying to do everything and ending up being injured.

“I did feel, in the later years of my career, I used to actually be less injured because my body was more adapted to running and I was able to make those good decisions on a daily basis.”

Pavey feels modern shoes also help keep injuries at bay. “It would be a silly decision not to wear super shoes if your rivals are wearing them, wouldn’t it?” she says, matter of fact. “It’s not only the performances in the races, it’s the impact the shoes can have on training. I think athletes are able to do more training without getting injuries in the same way.

“I think back to when I was running marathons and you’d be wearing such thin flats, you could feel the roads. I remember when I did the New York Marathon, I was trying to go sightseeing with my family the day after and I literally couldn’t walk.

“I’d try and do a half marathon before I did my marathon, but I would have to accept that [during the ] whole week after the half marathon I couldn’t get back into marathon training because I’d be so sore.”

Jo Pavey (Mark Shearman)

On her great experience, she adds: “So Gavin and I feel that we’re able to pass on things we’ve learnt to try and keep the athletes as injury free as we can.”

The group coached by the Paveys is called ISCA Endurance and its members include Innes FitzGerald, who studies at Exeter University in the city and whose family live nearby in Devon, plus Jake Smith, winner of the recent Bath Half Marathon.

“I help Gavin where I can because we’ve obviously got our own kids and that can sometimes be challenging,” says Pavey. “Gav is very much the lead coach and he’s done that for a lot of years obviously helping me and it’s been really exciting to see how well the athletes are doing.

“It’s great to see how motivated they were. They’ve all done absolutely brilliantly and it’s really exciting to see how well they’re doing.”

Jo Pavey and Sonia O’Sullivan (Mark Shearman)

She continues: “I say to any junior athlete: ‘Build up gradually. Don’t try and get all the training done in the first couple of years of your career because you want to capitalise on your body being at the best it can be and don’t burn yourself out’. It’s good to have a long career and I’ve really enjoyed the amount of years I’ve been able to take part in championships.”

Jo Pavey wears Imbrace Dynamic+ leggings to reduce knee pain and tight hips. She finds they help with blood flow, reduce swelling and fatigue, whereas the thermoregulation fabric technology keeps her cool. “I’ve been really excited to wear the leggings and work with Imbrace because I thought it’s a really unique concept to have leggings with in-built support around the low back, the IT bands, the hips and around the knees. You can really feel that sort of level of support. But also for me, I additionally benefit from the fact that it keeps my knees warm!”

See imbrace.com for more.