American and world records don’t come easily for Kathryn Martin, but anyone would be excused for thinking otherwise. On March 2, on the indoor track at the Armory in New York, Martin sped to a 5:51.74 mile, the fastest ever run by a woman age 65 or over, indoors or out.

Two weeks before the Armory mile, at the U.S. masters indoor championships in mile-high Albuquerque, New Mexico, Martin lowered the world indoor 65–69 standard to 6:01.46. She also set the global 800-meter record during the meet with a 2:44.35 and won at 3,000 meters in 11:53.52. 

But failing to get a sub-6:00 mile was disappointing. Martin and her husband, Chuck Gross, who serves as her coach, were confident that back down from altitude, and at the familiar confines of the Armory, she could run much faster.

That is, provided Martin made it to the starting line.

“We left home [in Northport, New York] and went into the city,” Martin said in a March 11 interview with Runner’s World. “And we were on about 43rd Street when our son called. He goes, ‘Uh, mom, you know this old suitcase is here in the living room, right?’ And I’m like, ‘Oh, my god.’ We had to go buy everything, from a running bra to spikes to a top.”

“So if there wasn’t enough pressure, we just added a little more,” Gross said. “You gotta be adaptable, right?”

Once properly outfitted and on the track, Martin made fast running look easy. Gross had instructed her to target 5:56 pace, or roughly 44.5 seconds for each of eight 200 meter laps. She covered the first circuit a bit slow. “She overcompensated on the second 200 and then settled into the correct pace,” Gross said. “But it ended up being about half a second per lap faster than I’d hoped. So, you know, all for the good.”

Long known for her excellence at a range of distances on the track and roads, Martin is also peerless as a cross country runner. She has won five world cross-country titles and has been named USATF masters cross-country athlete of the year 11 times since 2000.

Martin leaves the writing of her training program to Gross, 73, who got his wife started in the sport 35 years ago. They take a year-round approach and hardly vary the emphasis from month to month, choosing to keep most weeks a mix of speed, strength, and distance so Martin is always prepared to race well at events of any length.

She typically logs between 35 and 40 weekly miles in six sessions, with a long run of up to 12 miles. And most weeks Gross will put Martin through a pair of workouts. One is usually longer intervals—either 1K repeats on the track or treadmill or several three-quarter mile road repeats on a route that has a significant uphill section. 

The second weekly workout is a mix of shorter intervals. Martin also cross trains once a week and fits in a session of “functional training” with a personal trainer into her busy schedule as a realtor.

“Functional training means just keeping the body moving the way it’s supposed to move,” Martin said. “My tightest area is the hips, so we focus on that. You can’t just run; you have to do some cross training, I think, to do well.”

This year, Martin has been continuing the tried-and-true approach she has followed for years. “We really don’t take any time off,” Martin said. “Years ago, we shut it down in December, but then you have indoor nationals coming up in late February or early March so you really can’t do that. And for me it’s really hard coming back. So we just don’t change anything.” 

All of this begs the question: How fast might Martin run the mile if she made it the focus her training and racing?

“The thing is,” Gross said, “if she trained specifically for the mile, then her racing at other distances would suffer. And she really likes to race just about everything.” 

Later this month Martin will race halfway around the world, when she helps lead a contingent of 101 U.S. athletes at the World Masters Athletics indoor championships in Daegu, South Korea. A total of 4,689 athletes from 73 countries have entered the competition.

Although she’s favored to win four events in the 65–69 age group (800 meters, 1500 meters, 3,000 meters and 8K cross country) in Daegu, the 1500 will likely be Martin’s focus. In that event, she will have an opportunity to better the world record of 5:36.88, set in 2008 by Angela Copson of Brixworth, England. 

Provided, of course, that old suitcase makes the trip this time.