Old(er) guys, when did your running fall off a cliff?

61 yr old stiff here.

A little different background than probably most of you here: Played HS football & ran sprints in track - never ran distance or XC. After college, did 10 yrs of competitive bodybuilding & powerlifting - was around 200 lbs @ 5'6." Around 32 or so, I transitioned to running & triathlon shedding a ton of bulk be still competing at fairly heavy 165 (still regularly lifted weights). Joined a running club, trained & raced year round, made a lot good friends in the club & found my wife, who also was a runner.

Was doing pretty good until my 50th B-day when I ran an all-comers track mile partially tearing my Achilles. That was start of bad things to come. Over the following years had numerous calf & hamstring strains, tore my ACL (slipped on a icy roadway while running), and the big one - a few yrs ago completely ruptured my PTT destroying my ankle while trying to out kick some HS kid on an uphill finish at a local 5k. Lol).

Now, due to the chronic injuries & post-traumatic OA from the joint injuries all running for the most part came to screeching halt about 2 yrs ago (I'll eventually need ankle fusion surgery & probably a knee replacement). I'm back to non-competitive BB & a lot of spin biking (HIIT) for my cardio fix.

However, I'm able run one day week for old times sake. It's 3 or 4 miles of easy jogging followed by some short hill sprints. I'm sore as hell the next day & limping around but it feels so euphoric to run just that one day a week - it's special.

I truly miss running - there's nothing like it on this planet.

I’d guess some of the downvotes are from people who don’t believe it.

I, for one, would like to see the race result with plenty of guys aged 40-50 running in the fifteens. There certainly are some, and more and more in the sixteens, but “plenty” in “one part” of New England?

I've never taken anything. You believing me or not doesn't change what is fact.

Sorry you fell off in your EarlyFifties and haven't gotten back to an acceptable level for your age, even with your TRT of HGH...

Wherever we are, however old we are, the only thing we control is getting better today. We will be a better version of ourselves if we try to do what we can today. (And we will sleep happy.)

if yesterday had a cliff, injury, or faster time, it really doesn't matter today. no one in the universe is lamenting that old mile or 200 time.

sprinkle some perspective and gratefulness and let's try to avoid the next cliff, injury, and try to run faster tomorrow.

Yes. That very day. I remember because it was very abrupt, and there was no recovering. I meant to do a 20 miler at easy 8:40 minute pace that day and struggled mightily to complete it. Easy pace was up to 10:30 by the time Chicago marathon came along, and nowhere close to being able to run more than 15 miles. I DNF’d Chicago that year and ran only half of Philly

You can respond to the guy who implied I was on TRT or HGH, not me.

My life is fine, couldn't be happier with my running or life in general.

Great Lakes collagen powder. If you had/have Lyme and co-infections like Bartonella you should know that the bacteria destroys your collagen. Read Stephen Buhner’s book “Healing Lyme.” There are also herbs like Japanese Knotweed that can help with inflammation.

Chronic inflammation is what is causing most of these comments in here, and it can largely be controlled with FOOD and some quality supplements. Go see a functional medicine doctor (a real MD with extra training) if you have the money. Clean up your diet! Turmeric, fish oil, collagen, grass fed meat, eating enough protein, VEGETABLES, quitting sugar wheat dairy and processed foods, taking some herbs for inflammation will all help, magnesium (most are deficient) getting quality sleep, having bloodwork done to check Vit D, zinc, iron, etc

Red light therapy is great too

You post with the hubris and arrogance typical of old farts who take PEDs, that's why I posted that. You still have a weird chip on your shoulder. This is a thread about when/how older runners felt their decline and you started with something along the lines of "speak for yourself losers". If you have felt no decline and are Adonis on earth how about just letting the rest of us, the non-PED-users, post about our experiences in peace.

Jerk.

When I got married, and then again when I had kids. It’s picked up a little now that they are at an age they can run with me.

I'm 44 and was just telling my wife I feel like age is catching up with me a bit.

Started running 30 years ago this fall as a freshman in HS. Conservatively have 75,000 miles on my legs at this point. Stopped racing in 2010 as a 32 year old (really, 2008 was the last year I took racing really seriously). Hated marathons so only did two with the last one being in 2003, so I don't really have the wear and tear that comes along with excessive marathon running.

From 32 to 42 I basically felt good every day. Ran around 45mpw. I could hammer runs or decide on a whim to go run 90 mins hard in the mountains without having to think about it. My form felt good and I would respond positively to whatever I was doing. I was 100% confident to go for runs on some sketchy trails without fear.

That's started to change. I'm more tight in the morning when I wake up. It takes me longer to loosen up at the start of a run. My form feels heavier, like I don't have the pop I used to. It's only on days where I feel good that I feel like my old self, and that's only a few times a week. I've had a few horrible runs where I just feel terrible and slow in ways that never used to happen. I'm very tentative on trails because I don't feel like I have the fitness to fully focus and control where I'm planting my feet, so I have to think more about what I'm doing, which is when bad falls happen.

Still, it's not too bad yet. I haven't noticed weight issues yet, and my lean muscle mass is still good. I lift once or twice a week. I can still hammer when I'm hiking. I'm about 1000% more fit/healthy than coworkers my age. At this age, that's really important, and I remind myself that I'm running to stay healthy and strong.

I don't see many if any guys that age running that fast. Love to see some of these results.

50.. 50 is real.. 50 is hard.. 50 is difficult.. I'm 55 and I can only image what horribleness 60 has in store for me.

I could run a low 17 5k well into my 40's , sub60 10M at 47, but at 50.. nope! The thing I noticed the most is the lack of power, the "umpf" in my stride. The effort is there, the desire is there, heck the training is there, but the body just doesn't respond.

I've compared it to hitting a punching bag as hard as you can... and nothing happens. And this a vicious circle, because the body doesn't respond (takes so long to recover) you can't do the training necessary to run fast, because you can't do the training you no longer race well, because you no longer race well, you don't do the training...

And, while I realize that my overall health, my body composition and the running performances I CAN do probably put in in the upper percentages of men my age, I really only care about comparing myself to myself and my peers, not some overweight 55 year old slob that's never done anything athletic or hasn't since HS.

I'm 67, and have had 3 "cliffs" in my later years.

When I was 53 I slipped on ice, broke my wrist, and on my runs the rest of the winter I was ultra-cautious about not slipping again, so my pace slowed noticeably. And it never got back to where it was, not sure why.

A couple years later I started having gait issues, which were diagnosed as weak hip abductor muscles but which I suspect might actually be runner's dystonia. Made running a lot less graceful, took a lot more effort. I managed to maintain 40-50 mpw despite this.

Then at 62 I had a heart attack (during a run), and I've since chopped mileage to 30 mpw out of caution. The heart isn't really a barrier to doing more, but all the other accumulated things are.

Getting old sucks in most ways but so far hasn't stopped me from running every day.

People like myself, who were not competitive runners in our younger years, seem to have an advantage over those who have been runners since high school and college. I have not accumulated injuries and their after effects simply because I have not put a lot of lifetime running miles on my odometer.

75,000 running miles by age 44 will take a toll on the body.
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“It’s universally true that people like myself, and people much better than me, who were winning races 50 years ago are not the fastest in our age group now even though we are still running,” said Amby Burfoot, 74, winner of the 1968 Boston Marathon and a running and fitness writer for publications including The Washington Post. “The people that are beating us, I wouldn’t say they started yesterday, by any means, because it takes a number of years to get to your potential. But they are runners in many cases who were not stars — or even runners — when they were young.”

washingtonpost.com

They didn’t start running competitively until late in life. Why are they winning?

Some late-in-life runners are turning out to be fierce competitors, surprising fitness experts and longtime elite racers.

Open link

Aren't you the guy that got beat by those Kenyan ladies and vowed to train harder about 10 years ago?

Best running of my life was in my early 40s. 2:47 marathon and was pretty competitive in the master's division at local races (save and except for an Olympian and a few locals who were div I guys back in the day). Had a really great training cycle when I was 44 for a marathon. Last workout was 10 mi easy and 10 mi at MP. Paired up with a guy who was faster than me and ended up doing the MP at 6:07 average pace. I thought I was ready to run low 2:40s easily. On race day, a front came through and dumped a half inch of rain at the start. Then temps dropped into the 40s with 15-25 mph winds. I was soaked and frozen and crashed and burned. That was the end for me. After that, I was never able to put together a good training cycle. I couldn't get through workouts and would waddle 9-10 min pace on easy days after hard efforts. Then I got patellar tendonitis on both knees. Ran my last race at 47 and have just been jogging since then. Running was always about pushing limits and seeing how fast I could get. Once I peaked, it just became a chore and I had no interest in age grouper awards or trying for 45+ PRs, 50+ PRs, etc. I trained hard and raced 16 marathons over the course of 15 years. I did Chicago, NY, Boston, Marine Corps, my local marathon and a few others. I did all I wanted to do and it just wasn't any fun trying to train when every year it just got harder and harder to do what I used to do. Running is a blast when you see the results of your training at the races year after year. But it is no fun when training and racing just become a weekly log of your physical decline.

A slightly different way to look at this: One morning this summer I had 10 miles that included 16 x 400 in 93-95 w/ 200 rest, and then went straight to the gym to lift. Of course, I had the "Damn, 30 years ago that was around my everyday pace" thought. But briefly I thought, "What fraction of 1 percent of 58-year-olds in the world could do what you did this morning?"

Obviously, most 58-year-olds aren't fit, or maybe even healthy. But much of that is because of how they've lived the last few decades. We should take pride in choosing to do otherwise.

That sort of attaboy self-talk can't be the only thing that sustains you. But it was an unexpected bit of helpful perspective.

curious about this lack of power thing - as I am experiencing it right now coming off an injury...some days I think it is the injury, other days I think it is getting older (and not having the full range of motion).

Just looking for tips/thought on how to keep the power in the stride.

It seems like older runners have shorter strides - so it might be a flexibility issue...so I am working on this - but have a long ways to go.

and strength - been watching some videos on how to strengthen those muscles.

Never said that I crashed and burned. Still out on the roads, hills, and/or track 6 days a week. There's always an opportunity to straighten up and fly right, so don't blow your top you old buzzard: