Training through different life stages

The change tends to land around 40. Thirty to forty is still a broad, normal band, but from 40 on, two hard sessions a week is a sensible default, though it varies a lot person to person. Keep the intensity and the VO2 work in, because older runners handle it well and tend to enjoy it, and the top end stays trainable. Recovery is the limiter, not your capability, so the hard work stays, just less often. Cap the long run with the same restraint as anyone, add strength to push back on age-related decline, and set goals that are honest about your age. Keep it simple and resist the urge to over-engineer it.

Shift work and broken sleep are real factors, not excuses, and they are something we genuinely understand. The approach is to manage sleep on purpose, nap strategically, and respect the real hit that circadian disruption takes out of your adaptation. You coach around the disruption instead of pretending it is not there, building the training to fit your actual sleep and roster.

This is one to educate, monitor and refer on, rather than improvise. The key gate before you run again is a pelvic-floor assessment, with a referral to the right professionals. Beyond that, coach it much the same, with plenty of restraint, and do not push too far too soon.