What happens to use biologically that slows us down as we age?

I don't know if you handle is fair. Failure at what? Being middle aged? :)

Getting old is hard because the mind and the body don't age in sync all the time. I did 7x800 today at a pace that was my long run pace a few years ago. Does that mean I am a failure? Getting old is tough. I still want to get after it on the track but my body is almost 30 years past its peak.

We wake up sore, our joints hurt, we don't flush yesterday's workout through the system fast enough to recover for today's workout. It is reality.

As of the heart, it is sadly impossible to keep that +180 bpm upper limit. I think there is no well established reason why. It is "incompletely understood" but just a fact:

ncbi.nlm.nih.gov

Decreased maximal heart rate with aging is related to reduced β-adrenergic responsiveness but is largely explained by a reduction in intrinsic heart rate

A decrease in maximal exercise heart rate (HR[max] ) is a key contributor to reductions in aerobic exercise capacity with aging. However, the mechanisms involved are incompletely understood. We sought to gain insight into the...

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It got down voted because it's an idiotic statement. You think the reason there are not 50 year old Olympians is because they "got tired of the grind"? You think the reason no 65 year olds are winning your home town road race is because they just dont want to train?

Pure stupidity.

I am baffled at the number of people that think a 50 year can or should be able to do the same thing as 20 year olds "if they just train." Time is a real thing! What time does to your body is horrible.

I have a different answer to the OP if the question is why Rupp slowed down vs. why someone at 68 is slower than at 30. In the case of Rupp, I don't know, but I suspect there were particular individual things in his life that slowed him enough to no longer be top 5. The one thing I do know is that he had surgery for Haglund's deformity (calcium growth on back of heel that tends to cause achilles problems) - that surgery is a big deal and can take months to get back to any running - I remember people on this site ridiculing that Rupp was training with a high school boys team, while I was thinking: "Wow, he's back and that fast already? Amazing!" Presumably there were a bunch of other things like that I don't know about, but even that could be enough to move one from top of the podium to outside the top 5.

Before I address the bigger question, I don't think you should assume things will get worse from early 30s to mid 30s - that seems to be a very individual thing - my 2nd best year of running was when I was 37, and Carlos Lopes won gold medal and set world record marathon between ages 37-38. I will say that people who are at their best running-wise in their early 40s are more outliers and most of the ones I know of were women

As to the bigger question, people have listed many things in their answers (telomeres certainly were not the issue for Rupp!). It could be different for different people. I'm 68 and, before I was hit while walking across the street in a pedestrian cross-walk by an idiot driving an SUV who wasn't looking were he was driving (I'm still working on rehab-ing my completely ruptured hamstring that was repaired via emergency surgery), I was still able to run a straightaway on the track at my old mile race pace (4:38) - I don't seem to have lost significant muscle mass, and I was never very flexible, so I don't think that's a factor. But my max heart rate and hr at first and 2nd threshold are way down. I could not have run nearly as fast as I did when I was 30 if I'd been constrained to these heart rates - and no way that cardiovascularly I could have maintained that 4:38 pace for a mile!

I'd never really understood why everyone's max HR slows down with age even if you train hard until I watched this - and now understand that the gradual slight stiffening of heart tissues prevents heart from beating as fast (it's not like there's some internal clock telling your heart "now, no longer beat as fast" - it's just a mechanical issue).

To the OP: for fun, measure your pace at different heart rates and record it - even at heart rates much lower than you would normally run at now - and this will give you interesting comparison as you age!

(view it in Chrome and choose the english language version - unless you also speak Norwegian!):

nrk.no

50 år gamle Anders Auklands kamp mot den biologiske klokken

Nils Christian Mangelrød / Journalist

Må alle gi tapt for alderen? Innsiden av Anders Aukland (50) avslører et unikt svar.

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In laymen's terms, rust.

What do you expect when you see a guy like Central Park Joe?

My goodness - this guy is 61 but could pass for a effin 40 yr old! 😲 He trains like a madman & has endless energy. He says doesn't use any TRT, HRT or anything like that.

Maybe I need to move to the Big Apple & start training there. Lol.

That's good for his age for sure, and working out will certainly help you avoid some of the issues the vast majority of older adult deal with, but... you WILL slow down.. your body CANNOT recover as quickly... you CANNOT generate the same power and quickness... as a young person.

Aging well is about continuing to be physically active, socially engaged, and lot lucky.

No need for my own post on this

I believe it has to do with EMF exposure.

Let me give you my opinion. I am 58 years old and began running a month or two before age 16. Although I still run I was only a full time runner from age 16 to 36. You are right in my example my peak years were age 22 to 27. I was still at a high level but the down ward trend began after age 30 then by 35 I had been running almost 20 years. I believe most runners will probably peak 5 to 10 years after beginning to run depending on health, miles and training programs etc. In Galen Rupps case you have to remember he has been running at an extremely high level for 20 years now. It makes sense that he peaked between 2012 and 2014. 26 to 28 years old. People that say start running at age 35 probably will peak at age 40 to 45. They also don't have all those miles on their bodies like someone in my instance I was running 20 years by the time I was 35/36. I hope this helps

He's not enhancing his age, it is more a reflection on the rest of sedendary world that we measure 'age' by.

In the running fraternity there are many 60+ guys banging out sub 20 5kms for example

riddle me this ..

WHY will all of us die eventually? Why will everyone/you get get sick and die at some point?

Yes, excellent question:

18 (440yd) 52.4

22 (440yd) 50.1

31 (400m) 53.8

38 (400m) 52.82

45 (") 54.0

50 (") 55.5

55 (") 57.76

60 (") 56.78

65 (") 61.46

70 (") 64.27

About a 1/2 inch shorter (5"11 to 5" 10 1/2). About 5 lbs heavier (168 to 173).

Sprinting is stride length x frequency. Frequency feels about the same, but stride length is alarming shortened (now amazed that I could ever "three-step" the 42" college high hurdles!) That probably explains it.

Exactly.:) Another example: When I completed a classic session like 10x400m in my youth, every single of those 400s was at least 15 seconds faster than today. You can imagine the consequences.

Remember that the average person on this site is a very young and inexperienced male.

You’re never too old to start running on Pure Hate.

because this has been true for everything since the dawn of time? everything dies, every animal, every tree, blade of grass, and every human being... dies.

the whole creation groans and labors with birth pangs together until now. 23 Not only that, but we also who have the firstfruits of the Spirit, even we ourselves groan within ourselves, eagerly waiting for the adoption, the redemption of our body.

Assuming the person doesn't eat like crap, recovers well and doesn't overtrain,perhaps the pressure to move up in distance slows us down. No good runner had success moving from marathon distance down to 400. we can look at a runner like Nick Willis who stuck with short distance and still not slowing down