A middle aged man sprinted to stay ahead of me on my run today - is this common?

So you got turned over in your home patch by an old guy.

If it bothers you you should have sped up, if you could

While I find it very common for runners to resist being passed by other runners - temporarily speed up, maintain pace behind you etc. - it's possible this guy was going a fartlek/interval run and you just happened to catch up to him when he was doing his fast section. He may have thought you were the one being a dick - following him etc., especially if he hadn't seen you coming. So, I wouldn't worry about it unless it happens again.

But again, in general, there is a type of guy, not age related, who simply does not like being passed. It's likely they act the same way when driving.

A middle aged man sprinted? Good for him! If I tried sprinting I would by on the ground in less than ten strides.

He's probably into crossfit. Can't handle being passed.

I'm an old guy who normally runs 9:00 pace. Yesterday as I was doing a 4-mile harder tempo at 6:50-7:00 (yes, I'm slow), a younger woman who is a sub-5:00 miler in my town happens to merge onto the path maybe 20m ahead, going just a bit slower than me, for her normal pace. I started to close the gap, but realized that if I passed her, I would not really have the breath to even say "hi". We used to train at the same pace, ten years ago. I chose to slow my tempo until I could break off and avoid an embarrassing moment. Age happens.

Let the guy have his last gasp at youth.

If it was common would you have to ask? Seems like you answered your own question.

In some variation, this behavior is not uncommon. It's not confined to middle-aged and older men, but I think that it's often associated with some anxiety about virility and masculinity, so it's not surprising that it may be more common among men who seem past their physical peak. My guess is that it's probably more common among men who have become serious about the sport relatively late in life and thus still feel a need to prove themselves in some way. Of course, sometimes a formerly fast guy just enjoys the feeling of competing again or testing himself against some challenge.

I don't think that it's motivated by a desire to "mess with" you. And if the guy were just having fun or enjoying the chance for a bit of competition, he'd probably be more friendly when you finally greeted him.

Admittedly, it's tough to see a younger guy fly by you when you used to be the guy flying past everyone else. Many older runners choose to embrace, at least for a while, Dylan Thomas's admonition, "Do not go gentle into that good night; rage, rage against the dying of the light." But at some point, we have to accept and deal with the inevitable decline. That can be depressing. But as Bette Davis said, "Old age ain't no place for sissies."

I'm s 57 year old male, and I see this behavior all the time. But not from middle aged men. Mainly from less experienced runners of various ages. I wouldn't read too much into it.

I was on a tempo run recently, passed a younger guy who was jogging at a fairly easy pace, and when I stopped at a traffic light, there he was standing near me. And breathing hard. He had decided to go with me. I had my earbuds in so I pretty much ignored him.

He continued to run behind me for a while, I finished about 2 miles later, and when I turned around he was gone.

I didn't really care, I figured he was just using me to pace himself and give himself more of a challenge.

Less experienced runners sometimes need external stimuli to get them to run faster because they have no sense of their own pacing.

Usually these are people who don't run regularly, are just out for a couple miles, and find it more fun to latch onto someone else's pace to spur them on.

Like I say, try not to read too much into it. Whatever, if it helps them enjoy their run. I'm just not going to change what I'm doing, because I'm running with a specific purpose. The other guy usually isn't.

OTOH, if I was on a long run at an easy pace and someone hung on my shoulder for miles, that would be annoying.

Older guy here. I've had younger guys do the same thing when I was passing them many more times than the reverse situation when I was a younger runner passing an older one. You'll probably notice the same thing when you're over 40 if you are still running and training at a decent pace. And no its not common. I think some people have a difficult time controlling the urge to not be passed. It's probably an ego issue.

And yeah, they usually look like hobby joggers. A little surprised your guy did it as he sounds like a pretty disciplined runner typically.

Did this middle age man answer to the name "dork boy"? Also, when you were initially side by side with him, did he turn his entire body to look at you rather than a quick neck turn?

Just wow... wrote:

Older guy here. I've had younger guys do the same thing when I was passing them many more times than the reverse situation when I was a younger runner passing an older one. You'll probably notice the same thing when you're over 40 if you are still running and training at a decent pace. And no its not common. I think some people have a difficult time controlling the urge to not be passed. It's probably an ego issue.

Yeah, agree with this. At least once a week, I pass a younger guy(s), only to have him(them) speed up to either re-pass me or prevent me from passing in the first place. I'm not sure it's always an ego thing. Sometimes, I think it's simply that they see an older (age 55) bald guy go by and figure maybe they've let their pace get too slow, LOL. Seriously, though, since it doesn't affect my pacing decision, it doesn't affect me ... Except this one time--I'd already passed this young guy about three times (he kept speeding up to stay ahead of me, then slowing down when fatigue hit), so to really show me, he sped up again, passed me, and then turned around and ran backwards right in front of me. That was funny ... especially when he veered off the Rose Bowl loop (a 3-mile loop where we'd been running) to head uphill on a nearby street, which just happened to be the same direction I was going, and had to walk halfway up the hill while I loped on by.

Btw, I had the opportunity to try that crap on Alan Webb in 2007. He turned back on the trail as I was approaching him. He was maybe 20 meters in front of me. I was getting off the trail at that point. Would have been comical. I think he was in about 3:46 shape at the time.

It is what makes running fun. In almost every other sport, everyone is segregated by ability level. Golfers are seeded by handicap at tournaments. Tennis players have their classification system. But in running, everyone is out in the public. A middle aged guy who is past his prime and struggling to hold on to a 40 min 10k can stumble across a young runner who is a solid 33 10k guy and try to hang. It is always better for the older guy to say "nice pace, thanks for the run" instead of sulking off. But it is still a pretty neat aspect of running that people of all abilities and interact the way we do.

For me the worst variant of this theme is when someone decides to run with me but is just not quite fit enough to hang at my easy distance pace. I know most of the runners in my area, so I always try to be nice when I come across someone, but when I am going on an easy distance pace run, I feel obligated to make small talk or to try to adjust my pace to make the other person more comfortable, but they cannot respond because it ends up being closer to their tempo pace (usually with some of the local women or the occasional mid pack runner). At some point, I usually find an excuse to cut the run off in a direction that I know they aren't going or find some other polite excuse to split up because it just makes me feel awkward.

I'm super cautious about passing anyone just for this reason. I've noticed women are ALSO super cautious about passing people too likely for the same

That said, when the rest interval is up, and if this is a 4x1 or 6x800 repeat day, on your left!

Feel free to congratulate yourself for being faster, and remind me of how sad my interval performance truly was. Make sure to comment on the negative characteristics the aging process have taken on my body thus far.

That's funny. He was probably prepared to bask in his psychological "victory" over you when he conveniently took a turn he didn't expect you to take as well. You should have turned backwards while running past him up the hill to ask if he was ok.

ukathleticcoach wrote:

So you got turned over in your home patch by an old guy.

If it bothers you you should have sped up, if you could

Well, I wouldn't say it bothers me, but I see this guy relatively regularly and am interested to see what happens on the next run.

Considering the town we're in (competitive D1 school and good running scene post collegiately), it can't be a rare occasion for him to be fast. I'm decently quick, but I know I could encounter dozens of guys who could beat me when I go out for a run in town.

As a side note, it is possible this guy was really fast in his prime, and gets annoyed with all the young guys going by him all the time.

runthecountry wrote:

ukathleticcoach wrote:

So you got turned over in your home patch by an old guy.

If it bothers you you should have sped up, if you could

Well, I wouldn't say it bothers me, but I see this guy relatively regularly and am interested to see what happens on the next run.

Considering the town we're in (competitive D1 school and good running scene post collegiately), it can't be a rare occasion for him to be fast. I'm decently quick, but I know I could encounter dozens of guys who could beat me when I go out for a run in town.

As a side note, it is possible this guy was really fast in his prime, and gets annoyed with all the young guys going by him all the time.

Anything is possible but it seems odd he decided to vent his frustrations on you. I'd think if this is happening to him all the time, he would be more in the acceptance phase of his grieving process regarding the declining running ability.