How do you feel at 35, 45, 55, 65???? Getting slower inevitable????

Johnny Appleseed wrote:

If you abuse your body your body will make you feel abused.

I ran 25 miles today. Age is 54. Ran a 4:41 mile last year. My high school PB was 4:45. I ran 5K in 16:04 at age 35, and 16:38 at age 52. Live clean and take care of your body, mind and spirit.

I find it difficult to believe that you ran a 4:41 mile at age 53 (last year...2013). Was this in a real track meet?

Wait till you get 55. I was late to running (age 33) and ran my best in the forties. Then got hurt again (groin) and had to take a year off at age 51. It's my 3rd year coming back and feeling real good. Just ran my fastest 5k since before my injury this morning (19:19). Pretty happy about that, 18's right around the corner (fingers crossed).

Running in the 40's and 50's is great. The key is to know your limits, train hard but not so much that you get hurt. It's like that with all ages but it gets harder as you get older. But it's still fun for me 22 years later. Cant wait to see how far I can come back. Hopefully 6 flat but maybe I'm dreaming. A good race will do that to you.

I'm wondering about the stretching/strengthening as you get old

I've focused solely on strength work but have constant ham tightness and niggles

Whats the best way to deal with this?

Feeling great in my 40's. The key is to NOT to coddle yourself and to hone both your intellectual and physical capabilities with the passing years.

I've never understood why people consider youth a time of ephemeral freedom and joy. It's probably because they have forgotten their own.

My age-graded times are pretty close to my PRs. I don't do the same mileage that I did when I was young (under 35), now 56. My mile time is 8 sec slower than my absolute pr, and my 5k is off by 1:14...but I'm doing only 11 mpw, as opposed to 47 in my prime.

Apparently, I do not need to run as much mileage to be close to my PRs in my old age. If I try to increase the mileage...the knees and back start complaining.

Good and informative thread. I'm about to hit my midlife running crisis too :-( Glad to also see a few other ladies in here. I turn 40 at the end of the year- am I looking forward to it-F$#K NO! Getting old and grey sucks and there is no sugar coating it. Personally, I plan to keep racing until I begin to slide into the abyss and my times go to hell in a handbasket. Despite having been seriously running/racing since college, most of my PRs have come in my late 30s. My 50 and 100k are still getting better, but those are now my primary events. Last month, I was in a position to possibly go after a marathon PR, but that got f#cked up when I had the sh!t luck of getting bronchial pneumonia FIVE DAYS BEFORE THE RACE. I have never been knocked out of an A race from being sick and never been as sick in my life as I have been this last month.

Recovery wise- I sometimes need an extra day to recover between hard workouts and or long runs,but I train differently now from what I did in my 20s. I may have also needed the extra day 10 yrs ago as well had I been doing more long interval workouts like I do now. At 35, I moved into the 100k when I got offered a spot on the national team after winning quite a few other distance races in my country. My coach had planned to have me try the 100k 6 months later, but this acclelerated the process. I do more long interval and tempo workouts now than I did in my 20s. I do repeat 5000s, down ladders like 5,4,3,2,1000 done with progressively picking up the pace. I do 10,15,20k or so tempo runs, 30-40k progression runs . After that kind of thing, I need a good 3 sometimes 4 easy days in between. I take the easy days easy the hard ones hard. I like to do half marathons for speedwork. I can do them a week apart all out, but then I just go realllllly easy between them. I actually got into damn good shape this spring doing the halves leading up to what was supposed to be a marathon. Weekly mileage varies but 80-100miles is typical but I do take an easy week every 4th week even if I'm not really feeling tired just to prevent overtraining or overreaching. That means about 60 miles or so and my body feels like it's on holiday:)

Sleep- I recover fine if I get 8-10 hrs of shuteye a day. If I skimp on sleep or start to get crap sleep, I'm toast. Sleep is critical for recovery. The Almighty Nap is also a lifesaver at times.

Speed- very weird, but I'm convinced that the 100k changes you physically.It makes you stronger. It definitely makes you mentally tougher.My 5k and 10k started getting faster after I moved to the 100k than they were in my heyday in my 20s when I actually trained for them. If I race anything under a half marathon, it's usually to keep my speed from tanking from all the distance stuff. Mile? My miles are about the same as they were in my 20s-low mid 5s. I have never ever trained for mid distances, I just do the mile once in a while if it fits into speed picker upper. We have them in the indoor season once a month and I do them at the end of that easy week. My 3000 is faster than it was in college.

Injuries, niggles, and other crap-

2007- I had a nasty bronchial infection that lasted about a week. I am one of those that rarely gets sick and some years I don't even get a cold. So, anything much more than a cold is a big deal for me and effs me up. This ended up being the catalyst for a compendium of bulsh!t after that put me out for a year and a half! I had serious fatigue after the illness and then had the joy of anemia and ferritin in the single digits. It was rock bottom and I almost retired then. I was never injured during this time, just had pathetically slow times. Once I came out of that hole at 33, I have raced every season since as if it were my last because, yeah, I'm not getting any younger and I never know when I might finally fall off the cliff and be done.

Ahhhh, Achillies- bursitis...Ihad had an on again off again relationship with that for over 4 yrs. I finally broke down and got prolozone treatments last year when I was in the US, and they worked! They got rid of the lump I had had on my heel and the annoying soreness from time to time that I had just learned to live with. I try and be proactive about preventing injuries. I stretch and get massage. I also do most of my running and have throughout most of my career, on trails. I do hard days on the track,but most of the high volume has been on soft surfaces like dirt and snow all these years. I am utterly convinced that is why I still have knees and ankles that work. I like trails and the change of scenery.

Retirement- I have always said that another incident like the illness I had in 2007 would likely be career ending. Unfortunately, I may have just hit that last month. I had a horrible bronchial infection that lasted nearly a month and although my lungs have been clear since the beginning of June, my ribs are still sore (but getting better). I am going to see how this month and next go. If I feel I am coming out if this mess,I will try and race again later this year. If not, I am not at the age for another year or 2 to eff off and figure it out. I had planned to keep going as long as I could still chase 50 and 100k PRs and be competitive anough to continue to podium. If that's well into my 40s, sweet, if not, then it's time to go.

Masters? It's a great thing I think for folks who started out later in their careers and are still progressing. For me, I think it would be drepessing as holy hell when the goal becomes not running the next season much worse than the previous. Irina Privalova retired at 40 which is pretty damn impressive for a sprinter. She declined to continue into the masters because she felt it was more for people who hadn't accomplished as much when they were younger. I completely understand her now. There are very few exceptions to the rule of 40 and 50 smthgs still competing on a high level. Mutola, Meghan Arbogast,Joan Samuelson, Coleen DeReuck(sp), Kami Semick, Connie Gardner, Maria Konovalova(tuns 40 in August PRed at 39 in Chicago,Zinaida Semyeneva was strong into her mid 40s still kicking ass at Twin Cities,Fira Sultanova, Vyacheslav Shabunin, Luba Denisova...but these are exceptions to the rule.

My coach was a 13:50s 5k guy 29 in the 10 1:00xx in the half

He's 58 now 59 in 3 weeks and runs 17s in the 5 mid upper 30s in the 10

At 57 he ran a 16:54 5000 at Masters National Championships. He usually medals at Masters Worlds and at the Euros. His times age grade within a few seconds of his PRs in most cases.

I'd like more feedback on this. I hear more and more about masters runners not needing massive volume in order to run good times. Unfortunately, my sweet spot mileage has been about 600km+- a month in order to maintain both speed for the shorter stuff and the endurance to negative split in a race like a 50k. Negative splitting also comes from using your head in the first half of the race too. :)

If you keep telling yourself you are old and slow guess what you get older and slow lol. I couldn't crack 11 seconds through my teens and 20's ran 10.6 at 33 with no weight training and 21.1 both smashed my prs of 11.0 and 22.2. My key is maintain my weight and I haven't changed anything since high school and finally broke through. I still run/train/rest. The main thing is mindset and the people you surround yourself with. Many fall off by 30 because they constantly tell themselves they are old and cant do this or that. That will make you decline even faster.

54 getting gerd/ stomach problems so make it hard to get going

late 40s stopped braking 20 for 5k

i have been running competitively since age 17.

i am 57 now.

each year, my long distance times get slower and my sprinting times get faster

Age 66. Pleased to say after high school when I first began serious running, two yr. hiatus during college, began again age 22, and more or less continuously at it with unfortunately quite a few stops due to injuries (why else?), am still getting out now. Never a big mileager now run no more than 15 mpw, less presently due to some lingering problem.

Feel sore quite a lot of the time but always snap into it once I'm on the road.

You're only as old as the woman you feel.

txRUNNERgirl wrote:

You're only as old as the woman you feel.

Dang; my wife is older than I am.

Read your post and LoL. Same thing happened to me on a track in Wausua

I ran well until about a year ago, when I turned 33, especially at longer distances. I found that I could run the same times over longer distances with much less training (60 mpw vs. 90 mpw for the marathon).

Then, right when I turned 33 I noticed a big drop off. I think a lot of it may be related to desire because I've been running hard for a long time and decided to focus more on my career, but when I started running less the injuries started. Now my achilles, knees, and IT band are constantly sore and I feel like I'm in my 50s when I run.

In sum, I think the drop off can hit at any time, but a lot of it is mental and related to your desire.

U R a stud sir. Well done.

great post.

So, slowing down is inevitable as we age.

So, maintaining is key.

So, out today for another slog and am always surprised how great it feels when I pick up pace last few min.

So, if I ever decidde to run circles on the track for softer footing i will have this tune on my walkmans, or if I ever get an iPod

Turn volume on this one up

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=R8M8R835Ck4

Yes, slowing down is inevitable. The more one ages the more one should listen to their body. It is also to try to loose as little condition as one can since it is harder to gain it back as one ages.

I started training and racing at age 22 in 1958. Stopped racing in my mid 40s. I have always run because I enjoy it. Also, it lowers my blood pressure. Over 40 years ago I found that to keep going I had to stretch my Achilles tendons daily.

I just got back from my mile walk/jog (shuffle) to and from the gym. I guess I will finally be old when I reach 80 in two years.

I wish you all enjoyable running. Be patient and keep at. It is the only way to age.