I am almost 40 and noticed a dramatic slow down this year. I am training hard as usual. When did you notice yourself slowing down? Was it a gradual process?
I am almost 40 and noticed a dramatic slow down this year. I am training hard as usual. When did you notice yourself slowing down? Was it a gradual process?
When I started slowing down, I started throwing more miles at the problem. I didn't train hard, I trained a lot more.
I now wish I had done that when I was younger.
I noticed a marked slowdown around 43. I could still run in the low 17's for 5K at 40 but by 43 it was the 19's. It was nothing compared to the slowdown at 53 though. I'm just trying to hang on nowdays at 56.
I turned 40 years old this year and I ran a 5K PR on the track exactly a month after my birthday. Then I ran a road 5K PR four months later. I also ran an 8K XC PR four months before turning 40. My times are not very fast, 15:29 on the track, 15:31 on the road and 25:57 8K XC.I haven't seen any major changes yet. The only one that I can think of is that I feel like need more sleep. I used to function pretty well on 6 hours of sleep and now I started to take naps. I feel like I need more than 6 hours of sleep a night.I started running when I was 27, so maybe that's why I have not slowed down too much yet. I ran a marathon in 2:32 last year (at 39) and my PR is only 2:30 at 34 years old.I will probably not see any more personal records, but as long as I stay healthy I will keep running.
39yo wrote:
I am almost 40 and noticed a dramatic slow down this year. I am training hard as usual. When did you notice yourself slowing down? Was it a gradual process?
47 has the aches and pains magnified a bit more than my early 40's. Staying healthy enough to get the required volumn is the tough part. & then there are life issues,....
I first noticed it at 33. I would say anyone who says they kept on improving from adolescence through 40 either took up the sport late or increased training in latter years.
I don't think anyone basically improves after 35. I think Carlos Lopes would have been even better in Moscow!
...and for me it was gradual. At my best I was about 30:45 10K. I'm 52 now and still trot out 7min/miles no problem off a third of the training.
ditto 43
takes MUCH more training to stay sub 3, and injury has become a problem
Also, the weight...
Biggest change is mental--I just don't feel like being cold/tired/sore alla time anymore...
Theory says that after 40, you lose 3-5% per year. I have noticed that some years, I stay relatively flat and run similar times to the previous year. And other years, I lose in excess of 5 seconds per mile. My worst year was 45 when I dropped a good 10 seconds per mile. I was solid between 40-42 for sure.
Look for the truck that comes by around age 43. Try not to let it hit you. Everyone is different though.....
after 27 I noticed a reduction in all-out sprint speed. Strength continued to improve for 10 more years, but never could break 50 sec. for 400 after 27.
I'm 41 and had a big slow down at 35 after training hard and racing a ton since I was 14 y.o. In a year or so I went from 15:50 to 18:25 for 5 km. Just like that. Some of this is just having been at it for 20 - 25 years and some of it is having done a lot of ridiculous ultra stuff at a relatively young age. The rate decline has leveled off a bit and I am still running injury free, but just slow. Still doing about 50 mpw and running about 19:30 for 5 km. Very little ability to go long easily, run fast or recover.
From tracking a lot of times of runners, 45 is the age that I see when the slow down is the most noticeable. A lot of these guys were running the same times as when they were 35. Of course the elite runners slow down a little sooner and the guys who started late will slow down later. There are also some who start training a lot more and others who train less.
I am 44 but I didn't run most of my 20s and 30s. I hope to be improving until around 50 before I hit the gradual decline.
39 and not noticing anything except for top end stuff. Short fast workouts like 400/800s or short fartlek stuff (1 min hard/1 min easy) always leave me with aches and pains. Tendons just don't like that stuff. But longer slower efforts feel really good. Didn't run much in my 20s, so I think I have more gas left than those who crushed it post-college.
I have seen guys hold on to their times up through 45. Strength training seems to be a good way to beat back the clock. I have added two sessions of resistance training a week and have noticed a big difference.
I'm 42 and am still running close to the same times as I ran in high school - maybe 10 seconds per mile slower in a 5k, but I think if I ran 65 mpw instead of 45 I could get those seconds back. I still respond well to increased training.
I'm just an age grouper - 17:40 for a road 5k.
For me, the mental aspects are the most important - doing something new and getting excited about a new kind of race is more important than physical. Feeling improvement in a new event snowballs into success.
I'm 52 and haven't noticed anything to drastic. What I have done is recognize the fact that leg speed goes away with birthdays so rather than try and chase the glory days I have merely adjusted my focus. I no longer run 5ks, 10ks and instead focus on events like the marathon where strength built up over a lifetime does matter. for example at age 22 I ran 3:07 at Boston and at age 52 I ran 10 min faster 30 years later. Again at NY in 1980 I ran 2:48 and this year, 29 years later I ran just a shade under 2:55. My advice to masters runners is to stop chasing ghosts in the weekend 5K and use your strengths to catch them in longer events.
45 is tough to come back from. but if you take up the sport late or came back to the sport after a long layoff, you can continue to improve for 8 years or so, regardless of whether you're in your mid thirties or early forties. Three pr's this year for me at forty from 3k to marathon, after a dozen last year, and would have been many more if not some factors irrelevant to age.
...at the age of 27; when my foot blew up with PF, never was the same after! now 48 I qualify as the the Turkey Trot champ.
I am 40 and I believe that all I have lost so far is sprint speed. I used to be able to knock out a sub-60 400 at will; now I would have to train specifically for it to have any chance at all of breaking 60.
But I set lifetime PRs this weekend in a half marathon at every distance 8 miles and above. So the ability to endure is still there, I am just training smarter than I used to. My easy days are ridiculously easy (5 miles at 8:45 - 9:45 pace with walking if I feel like it), but the hard days are harder than I used to run them. I am finally balancing rest with effort better than I used to.
I don't think I will be revisiting my 800/mile PRs, but I do feel like I still have a shot at everything from 5K and up. So for me there hasn't been a huge slowdown yet.
You have to keep up with a few things to avoid total slow-down:
more maintenance on the body
Overall great diet - lots of antioxidants (berries, sweet potatoes, etc.)
Vitamin D
Vitamin B's (decline after forty)
HGH - counteracted by arginine and more sleep, tryptophan production
Hydration to avoid muscle pulls
Pay attention to sloppy form that developes from overtight hip muscles and laziness.
Another one in the age 42-43 camp. I was late to the sport (early 30s for road races/first marathon training, and nothing impressive compared to times listed here for most), so got the requisite improvements until about 40, then stabilized for a year or two.
Then it seemed I could no longer handle any decent training volume without injury. I've learned to manage and tread water, but it seems the aches have taken over... the paradox of needing more training just to keep up, but at the same time needing more recovery time and cross-training, along with spouse who also works, children, house, full-time job.
Fitness running and entering a few 5-15k races per year is now my running existence, and I'm at peace with it.