This is why you won't be a competitive masters guy if you run heavy miles all your life

You're very selective in choosing your anecdotes.

I understand the skepticism about Castille. I wondered at times myself.

Personally, I decided to believe that he is simply a world class talent who lost the bulk of his career due to his choices. Combine that world class talent, the work ethic described in the article, and the fact that running has basically become the guy's livelihood and life; and maybe him being at a level surpassed only by the Mebs and Lagats of the world makes a bit more a sense. If you think of him as a potential Olympian in his prime, then him running like a top tier D3 collegiate at age 45 kind of fits. Innocent until profen guilty, or at least until some higher basis for suspicion, beyond him being ridiculously good, comes to light.

Exception proves the rule wrote:

Skate wrote:

Wow! Looking forward to new World records in the 45-49 group. Sub 1:50 for sure.

Will you take a crack at the 1500 and Mile records? 3:50/4:12

Can you run about 50 flat for 400- would be about 5th all time

Hopefully sub 1.50, ran 51.8/3.54/4.12 in indoor races, I hope to still be able to crack 50s for 400 but only in a 4 by 4 as my starting sucks( I have given trying to do a sprint start)

Best of luck.

New Age 45 WR tommorow

2-3 seconds I am sure

GP1 Solihull. About 9:46AM PST

I believe there is a live feed as well.

100% Age graded!

I'll turn 64 this summer and have been hammering miles since 18. There are a number of factors that are responsible for decline in performance. Pretty good summary here that makes sense- dynamic flexibility, strength.

http://www.runnersworld.com/masters/the-science-of-aging-and-running

, etc. I don't think high miles at a younger age has any detrimental effect- aging is not the same for everyone. Those age graded tables are still holding true for me- around 85% over the years.

Smoove wrote:

I understand the skepticism about Castille. I wondered at times myself.

Personally, I decided to believe that he is simply a world class talent who lost the bulk of his career due to his choices. Combine that world class talent, the work ethic described in the article, and the fact that running has basically become the guy's livelihood and life; and maybe him being at a level surpassed only by the Mebs and Lagats of the world makes a bit more a sense. If you think of him as a potential Olympian in his prime, then him running like a top tier D3 collegiate at age 45 kind of fits. Innocent until profen guilty, or at least until some higher basis for suspicion, beyond him being ridiculously good, comes to light.

I lived just outside Lafayette, LA from 1991 to 2015. I know Kevin well. He is humble and self-effacing; soft spoken and polite. He always has time for anyone, and spends a lot of time and energy coaching young runners. Could he be doping? Sure. But my gut tells me he's not, as he is a high character individual. I don't know anyone in the running community in the Lafayette area who thinks he's dirty.

A high character drug dealer? Maybe you mean variable character.

What's your secret? How long did it take to get your 5k under 20 minutes? I'm 31 and started running 14 weeks ago but I'm already addicted. Truth I spend more time lurking on LR reading about and thinking about running than actually running but that's because at my current level of fitness if I ran as much as I want to, I'd blow out my knees.

Look, I have no idea if the guy is clean; and him being a drug dealer is a valid factor to consider, but it's a secondary factor. The guy did dirt. He admits it and says it was to support himself and his family. I don't 100% get it, but I didn't live in his world. His reality and mine were different, but I recognize that his bad decisions weren't necessarily borne of malice or disdain as much as necessity and familiarity.

The bigger point is that to accuse someone of cheating is to besmirch their name. Maybe he besmirched his own in your view because of past transgressions, but my house is way to fragile for me to throw that stone. He is innocent until proven guilty and is a world clas talent as I see it.

Looked like maybe 1:51.60 for Whiteman today. 1st lap about 54.35

Good strategy on pace for first lap. Later in season fades less and takes another second off. Looked windy and chilly out there. Amazing.

naia champ wrote:

I'll turn 64 this summer and have been hammering miles since 18. There are a number of factors that are responsible for decline in performance. Pretty good summary here that makes sense- dynamic flexibility, strength.

http://www.runnersworld.com/masters/the-science-of-aging-and-running

, etc. I don't think high miles at a younger age has any detrimental effect- aging is not the same for everyone. Those age graded tables are still holding true for me- around 85% over the years.

Geez...you've been holding at 85% all these years? Maybe you can help the rest of us poor slobs. What's your secret?

When you say "hammering miles," what does that mean? And just to be clear...you haven't had a break for 46 years? Wow...

Pretty much the same. Racing since 14 and now 60. Was never much of a mileage guy, but have always been a high-intensity trainer (probably to the extent of over-training).

I was also roughly 85% at 5000m from open right through to about 50. In my mid-50s I changed routine a bit and added in some longer slower runs (up to and hour and 45 min, which I'd never done much of), and got up to about 87%.

Have been working back from a meniscus op, and last weekend ran 11:31 for 2 miles, which is about 85% again.

Still running every day and still doing intensive work - ran 19:30 for 3 miles (4800m) of 100m sprint/100m jog in the week.

Have had spells of injury, but never extended spells doing absolutely nothing.

Obviously we are going to slow as we age, but my experience is, if reasonably blessed as far as health and injuries are concerned, if a high intensity is maintained, then in competitive terms it's possible to remain at a similar level over many decades.

If you are age grading the same percentile over the years, you are actually getting relatively slower.

This is because the tables always overestimate older age groups. Never met a great age group athlete that respected those tables.

The loss of elasticity in diabetics is likely due to glycation reactions, which damages muscle fiber.

A secondary factor is declining magnesium levels w age, which leads to tension in the muscle, and limits contractility, power and glucose handling.

Any sort of overtraining can impair insulin sensitivity and increase oxidative stress.

But long slow distance especially leads muscles to become chronically tight, trading loss of muscle power for energetic efficiency. If the race is an ultra, that fact can be helpful. On the track though, it would tend to make you useless.

https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC6470576/

https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/26696633/

https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/20077275/