Turning a Fitness Plateau Into a Path Forward

For years, I had a training plan that worked. I ran consistently, tracked my times and measured my progress with discipline.

Then, somewhere around 60, the plan stopped working.

The runs that used to feel strong began to feel like a grind. I was working harder just to maintain an average pace – a pace that would have felt easy a few years earlier. My aerobic capacity, which had always improved with training, was doing something I hadn't experienced before: it was declining.

This was a tough pill to swallow around the time of a milestone birthday. Frustrated by the inevitable change and not wanting to face the decline, I stopped running entirely.

The Plateau is a Threshold, Not a Failure

Looking back, I can see that what I was experiencing wasn’t failure. It was a threshold – an invitation to rethink my approach.

The warrior's response to a plateau is predictable: push harder, work more, force results. If the plan isn't working, we assume the problem must be effort, so we double down. This approach served me well for decades. In corporate life, in sport, in almost everything I pursued, sheer force worked.

But the body, especially in midlife, doesn't always respond to force.

What felt like a decline was actually a natural evolution – a shift in what my body needed, how it recovered, and what it could sustain. It was a signal, communicated clearly and consistently. The problem wasn't that I wasn't listening. The problem was that I didn't like what it was saying.

A plateau isn't the end of your fitness story. It's the beginning of a new chapter – if you're willing to change the conversation.

The Detour Was Actually the Path

When I stopped running, I turned to activities I already loved – CrossFit and hiking – and added kickboxing for some extra aerobic training.

But without the rigid structure of a running plan, and without paying close attention to my fuel, a new challenge crept in. I slowly began gaining weight, eventually finding myself 18 pounds over my ideal running weight.

This time, instead of allowing the warrior in me to get frustrated, I tuned into my sage self and got curious. That curiosity led me to a 90-day nutrition challenge that changed everything.

On November 1st, I started tracking key metrics again, but with a different focus. I began counting macros, cut out sugar, eliminated processed foods, and focused on clean protein and leafy greens. It wasn’t complicated, but it was consistent. The weight dropped more quickly than I expected.

By the end of the 90 days, I was back at my ideal weight and filled with energy. When I finally stepped back onto the treadmill, I felt great.

Instead of forcing myself to run a strict number of miles in a specific target time, I adjusted my approach. I simply set a timer for 30 or 45 minutes and did what I could—focusing entirely on keeping my heart rate up, breaking a sweat, and listening to my body.

It wasn't the grinding, effortful, pace-chasing experience I’d been dreading. It was something lighter – both literally and figuratively. The combination of CrossFit strength, consistent movement, and dialed-in nutrition had built a completely new foundation.

The plateau wasn't a mistake. It was an extended sage walk – a period of being present, trying new things, listening, adjusting, and discovering what actually works for my body in this new decade.

Listening to Your Body Like a Sage Walk

On a sage walk, you approach a natural threshold – a stream, a clearing or path – carrying a question lightly. You cross over, surrender the need for an immediate answer, and let the wisdom emerge through movement, presence and attention.

A fitness plateau works the same way – if you let it.

The threshold is the moment you acknowledge that what used to work no longer does. The question you carry is: What does my body actually need right now? And the walk is the willingness to try something different, pay attention to the response, and adjust accordingly.

Your body communicates exactly like nature does on a sage walk. It speaks in signals – energy levels, recovery time, the distinct difference between effort that feels alive and effort that feels like a grind. It responds to natural seasons and cycles, possessing its own intelligence and timeline.

Fighting it feels a lot like Sisyphus repeatedly pushing a boulder up a mountain. Working with it – listening, adjusting, and trusting – is the sage's way.

The plateau is simply one of your body's louder messages. The practice is learning to hear it, meeting it with curiosity rather than frustration, and letting it guide you forward.

Finding What Works for You

At 62, my fitness life feels entirely different than it did a few years ago.

I lift at CrossFit three times a week, where my personal records are still increasing and my strength is still building. I run twice a week, but I keep my mileage low and use an enjoyable run/walk combination. I add one extra aerobic session, take a long walk or hike on my rest day, and keep my nutrition dialed in.

As a result, I can honestly say I feel better at 62 than ever before.

This isn't because I found a way to reverse the clock or ignore the plateau. It's because I stopped fighting my body and started collaborating with it.

The run/walk combination isn't a compromise; it’s wisdom. Capping my mileage isn't a limitation; it’s alignment. This whole-person approach – balancing strength, cardio, nutrition, and recovery – isn't a consolation prize for getting older. It is the most effective, sustainable, and enjoyable relationship with fitness I have ever had.

There is no universal formula for fitness in this chapter of life. There is only the one that honors your body, your season, and yourlife.

The sage doesn't follow someone else's training plan. She listens to her own inner wisdom and designs her own path.

Your Invitation

Whether you're navigating a fitness plateau or a life plateau, the practice is the same:

Step 1: Acknowledge the plateau without judgment. Name it. Feel it. Don't look away from it. It's information, not failure. Your body, or your life, is trying to tell you something important.
Step 2: Get curious instead of frustrated. What’s this threshold actually telling you? What have you been ignoring or pushing through? What do you actually need right now, in this specific season?
Step 3: Cross the threshold. Be willing to try something different. Let go of what used to work. Follow the energy, even when you can't see where it leads. The detour might just be the true path.
Step 4: Listen and adjust. Pay attention to what feels alive versus what feels like a grind. Make small, sustainable adjustments and notice how your system responds. Trust the process, even when results aren't immediate. The body works on its own timeline.
Step 5: Trust what gets unleashed. Something deeper, stronger, and more aligned is waiting on the other side of the plateau. Your body, like your sage self, knows the way. Your job is to listen, adjust, and stay in it long enough to let it work.

What Gets Unleashed

That word – unleashed – is the one that keeps coming back to me when I think about this journey.

Because what got unleashed when I stopped fighting the plateau wasn't just physical fitness. It was pure joy and the uncomplicated pleasure of moving a body that feels capable and alive. It was the satisfaction of CrossFit lifts that keep improving, and the unexpected delight of running again, not as a performance or a pace to chase, but as a practice I genuinely love.

And something else got unleashed, too.

The momentum of this fitness journey, and the love of functional movement that deepened during those months of detour, spurred me to pursue something I hadn't anticipated: I recently completed my CrossFit Level 1 trainer certification.

While I'm not yet offering CrossFit coaching, I am currently developing programming specifically for those 55 and older who want the functional and nutritional benefits of strength, mobility, endurance, and vitality – designed for the body you have now – without ever having to step into a traditional CrossFit gym.