Masters Runners when did you notice yourself slowing down?

OrvilleAtkins wrote:

I have been fighting an achilles problem since December 13, 2008.

The orthopedic expert in our group says that when you have an achilles problem you should stretch facing the wall every hour every day.

The worst thing you can do to an injury is to stretch it.

The site is already stretched, which is why it is injured; it is not able to heal when you keep stretching it more. If you had a flexibility issue and NO injury then stretching the backs of your legs (not achilles) would be helpful, but not ever to stretch an injury.

It is sad that people keep doing the thing that causes them to be injured, albeit with well directed "advice" from professionals.

One aspect I have not seen addressed in weight. How much of the noted slowdowns are weight related? I have heard many different types of althletes mention that they needed to get lighted as they got older. For runners, I expect most are getting heavier and wonder how much that contributes.

I'm 44 and am still on the way up since I have only been running for 2 years.

:...the real question is then, how do you prevent injury so you don't get sidelined.

I think that perhaps to some extent you have to expect injury if you are training hard. The trick is to back off before things become chronic. Listening to yourself has never been as important as it is now. With that said, I get injured, but I'm always trying to cut it off at the pass. Easy days are a must and rest days, too. Then with the running gods smiling you can toss caution to the wind and let it loose.

I don't think it is at what age, but at what injury. And not major injuries, just those little cramps at the end of a 7 miler that used to be sore a doay or so and then went away. Nowadays (55) the cramp becomes stiff during the day at work, more sore the next day and befor eyou know it, it has hung around for 2 weeks before you feel like you can run on it.

I guess I have not gotten smart or intuitive enough to figure out which little funny feeling is just a spasm versus a soon to be strained muscle. My joints and tendons are fine after all the miles, just muscle issues.

I did have one of those twinges 2 weeks ago that I was able to back off for 3 days, very easy for a couple of days and gradually picking up the intensity to "normal" levels and was able to avoid the dreaded 20 day shut down period.

I have not figured out how to get into top shape trying to peak at the end of the season so now the goal is to not get hurt and only get into 75% shape.

I am currently trying to train without the strain for Club nationals next month. 40 -50 miles per week with couple of harder workouts without getting hurt.

I've already bought the plane ticket so hopefully that won't be the kiss of death.

Haven't slowed down yet. PRs as I aged:

Marathon

41: 3:49

42: 3:36

43: 3:36

44: 3:24

45: 3:18

46: 3:09

10K

43: 43:54

44: 42:27

45: 41:01

46: 40:17

I think a key point is that I didn't start running a lot until I was in my late 30s. As Joan Ullyot said (quoted by Jeff Henderson): “No matter what your age when you start racing, you can expect about 10 years of improvement. That's how long it takes to learn the game.”

Pete

Thank you old school steve.

J.R. Thank you for your advice. It is my opinion that an injury can not be diagnosed without it being seen. I always seek the advice of an orthopedic surgeon who has run marathons. In addition, I feel that runners should always go to medical practioners who are runners whenever possible.

To age matters. Age does matter but the question is starting when? Training and mileage do not always stay consistent year in and year out. Listen to your body. Do not increase mileage and tempo at the same time. Back off when you feel an injury coming on. Be conservative. As we age there becomes no rush. The objective is still to do ones best but there is no rush. The number one goal is to keep on doing it. There is no shame in walking. From day one I took at least one day a week off running and went for an easy walk. Don't be greedy.

Below is how my marathon best times for various ages tailed off but this list is misleading in that I trained mostly on intervals until my 30s and after that just ran as I felt and raced on the roads for speed work. Most weeks I did one long run of 20 miles or longer.

age 24--2:31:17--2,000 miles for the year

age 30--2:30.26--3,000 miles

age 34--2:31:07

age 35--2:31;30, 2:31:26.6, 2:32.02--3,363miles

age 36--2:28.22--2,500

age 38--2:35:55--2,690

age 41--2:55:12--2,600

age 51--3:28:47--1,270

I then had severe allergy problems and did little running for nearly a year.

I think marathon running can be very hard on the body but shorter track training and races can also be hard on the body and mind but in a totally different way. Some of us do not have the speed for that kind of racing.

The important thing still seems to be to do what you enjoy especially when in the higher ages.

OrvilleAtkins wrote:

J.R. Thank you for your advice. It is my opinion that an injury can not be diagnosed without it being seen. I always seek the advice of an orthopedic surgeon who has run marathons. In addition, I feel that runners should always go to medical practioners who are runners whenever possible.

I understand that is your feeling, and wish that it worked for you - or for anyone.

Can't really add anything new to all the excellent posts so far, but my story:

Started running in 1980 at the age of 22. After 18 years of running, I had my best years of racing when I was 39/40. Set PRs at just about every distance in those two years (5k = 16:04, 10M = 55:36, 1/2MAR = 1:14, MAR = 2:43).

As I was starting to feel good about myself, one of my older running partners said 'wait until you hit 45 y/o, it all goes downhill then'. I blew him off but now swear he put a curse on me.

Things started slowing down for me right at age 45. Now at age 51, I'm running mid-18s for 5k and 3:00-3:04 for the marathon. While I feel I'm working every bit as hard during my track sessions, the times are nowhere near what I use to run.

I was never anywhere near elite but it's still tough to take. I hardly race anymore these days because I know I'll never come near what I used to run and because of that, what's the point of racing? Don't get me wrong, I still love running and the interval sessions every bit as much but just am not psyched to go race.

I could have written your post, Ima. I'm 46 and just in the last 6 months have noticed a huge slowdown. Like others have said, I feel like I'm working just as hard...the watch says otherwise.

All interesting posts - thanks everyone for your input. From my standpoint, I'm on a steady plateau over the last 4 years ( at 44 now). My marathon times are staying right at 3:00 over the last two years, but surprisingly, my 10k times are improving slightly (based on a 10k that I run on Labor Day each year, with the most recent being 38:04). About the only thing that I can attribute this to is a layoff from racing from about 1988 - 1997 (kept training, just was busy with other stuff, starting a family and such); the layoff from the heavier training seems to have extended things a bit.

A few things that I've found helpful, both from my own experience and from my practice (I'm a PT, specialize in treating runners and examining runners for injury prevention programs):

1. Supplemental training: for myself and for the runners that I see, I find that most of those with injury problems have a common set of imbalances; hip abductors and gluteals being the most common/weakest. I often measure their strength with a hand-held dynamometer and often find a correlation between deficits in those groups and injury problems. Someone already mentioned the problems with getting worn down/immune system problems with marathoning; I find that weight training combats some of this. Besides, we have to weight train - vigorously - to prevent the losses of muscle mass that occur with aging. Here's a good article on it.

http://www.everythingtrackandfield.com/catalog/matriarch/OnePiecePage.asp_Q_PageID_E_379_A_PageName_E_articleresistancetraining1

2. Small doses of barefoot training on a treadmill and short/fast hill repeats seem to be really helpful in reinforcing better running form

3. Hip flexor lengths need to be worked on frequently; hip flexor tightness gets worse the older we get, particularly with runners whose work requires lots of sitting.Stretching helps some with this, short/fast hill repeats does also.

4. Vitamin D and Omega-3 supplements seem to really help

5. Sleep - I just don't bounce back unless I get really good sleep each night, particularly before faster workouts.

6. More rest days - If I feel crappy, I'm more apt to skip a workout, which seems to help. I'm usually hitting 5-6 days a week at this point.

I'm a sprinter and hurdler, but I'll add my 2 cents from a speed and flexibility point of view (I'm 49). I need to stretch my flexors, hams, quads, and hips every day or else my desk job will tighten me up. Sure didn't used to be that way. I took 25 years off from sprinting (stopped in college, started up at 45) and I'm still hitting PRs. I don't think I've gotten noticeably stronger from last year but I'm paying careful attention to technique and my times are still dropping. I think I'm running smarter, not harder. I can still hammer a workout, but I need more recovery time and more rest. If I'm overly tired or feeling "off" like I'm on the verge of illness I'll take the day off and not feel guilty. My "two-a-days" are a thing of the past.

A 50+ friend told me it all goes down the toilet after age 50. I hope to prove him wrong.

A lot depends on when you started running. Almost everyone can improve for 7-10 years from when they start. I've coached runners who began serious running in their 50's and 60's and ran PRs 6-8 years after they began.

I began to run seriously in my early 30s (took an 11 year break after college) and ran PRs at 41. I'm now 63 and obviously not nearly as fast. I've set a goal to see how many more years I can break 20 minutes for a 5K. This year was a squeaker with a 19:57. There are still days that feel like I'm flying along, despite what the watch says, and that feeling is as exhilarating as ever. Like someone mentioned above, it's harder to run on the "red line" than it used to be, which leaves me frustrated sometimes after races when I know I could have run harder.

I can literally remember the month. I was 39 years old. I had just run in the low 55's for 10 miles and in the mid 73's for the half. I knew I was in low 33 minute 10K shape. I took the next month easy and then ran a 35 minute 10K. I figured I had just had a bad day. I never got back under 34 minutes after that.

Age 10K

39 33:00

40 34:03

47 36:08

50 38:00

1. Supplemental training: for myself and for the runners that I see, I find that most of those with injury problems have a common set of imbalances; hip abductors and gluteals being the most common/weakest. I often measure their strength with a hand-held dynamometer and often find a correlation between deficits in those groups and injury problems. Someone already mentioned the problems with getting worn down/immune system problems with marathoning; I find that weight training combats some of this. Besides, we have to weight train - vigorously - to prevent the losses of muscle mass that occur with aging. Here's a good article on it.

Problem is many runners (myself included) would rather eat scorpions than go to a gym. I find exercises and stretching to be v difficult to face, so I don't do them. What I do enjoy, though, even at 52yo, is drills on the playing fields. I'm hoping those have the same effect!

I noticed a drastic slow down at age 21; when I fell in love..... with beer. I'm 26 and it has only gotten worse. When I got married I discovered two things; sex and home cooking. That is when everything (my running) fell apart. Sex in the morning destroys any chance of a morning run and home cooking has packed 28 pounds on my skinny skeleton in 3 years. I will probably never run again. Or at least not until something drastic happens to my wife (e.g. she gains weight or looses a hand).

very gradual.

i noticed a slight loss of leg speed thru my late 30's.

noticeable increase in recovery time in my early 40's.

more severe loss of leg speed after 45.

I noticed I couldn't recover doing the speedwork I had been doing for 800m racing when I was around 35.

I ran within a second of my best 3k steeplechase at 36.

I think the slips really come with injury and then not getting back to the same level.

Approaching 40 I was in shape to run high 15 min for 5k, but got injured, and was never really sound until a knee op four or five years later, so only ran 16:48 at 46. I'm 52 now, and last year got down to 17:38 which was my fastest for three years.

I was someone who loved hard track training, and miss not being able to hammer reps three times a week. I get the need for slower recovery runs, but find myself looking at my watch after 10 mins, 11 mins, 12 mins....etc.

I did your wife yesterday!

40 for me too