Is age 35-50 the worst part of life?

Middle age is depressing wrote:

- No more PRs

- Still a long way from retirement

- Parents and other older relatives start dying

- Having to deal with teenage kids (for parents) or loneliness (for singles)

Discus(s).

The 35 year old is 15 years from retirement. That isn't long. The 50 year old is retired. Why on earth would you work til 65? Didn't you save money?

The lack of PRs is sort of a bummer but you can still do pretty normal training til at least you mid 40s. Might not be as fast as your 20s but it still looks like running.

Teenagers are a ton of fun. Go out and play some golf or take a trip to Europe instead of Disney.

Your 30s and 40s are awesome. In most professions, you're grinding constantly for relatively little money in your 20s. You're in med school and residency. You're trying to survive that 80 hour/wk entry level finance job. You're a guy with a master's degree working for $45K "for the experience." Even if you are getting paid well, you're in the part of your career where you have to prove yourself every day.

But then in your 30s you get over that hump. You're making decent money and you actually have time to enjoy it if you want to. Even if you aren't going to throw down an 1:50 800m, you're still in all likelihood physically healthy enough to enjoy being active and to not be hampered by any serious medical conditions.

I don't know one attending physician who wishes they could rewind their life by a decade or two and wake up tomorrow as a brand new intern.

Learn to enjoy every stage of your life, as you only get to experience it once. Raising kids is great if you take the time to appreciate it. Yes, you don't have as much personal time, so running will suffer (not the end of the world), but I have enjoyed the time I have spent with my kids and wife. From everyone I know, as you get older, you will miss the soccer practices and track meets with your kids once they are off on their own (so make the time to enjoy it).

I'm 64 so therefore 64 is the worst part of life.

I'm 47. Like any period of life, middle age can be depression or it can be good. It all depends on the circumstances of your life combined with your frame of mind. If both are good, happiness is easy. If one of them is good, happiness is possible but not assured. If both are suffering, then you're in a rough patch. But one thing certain in life is that nothing ever stays the same. Sometimes just hanging on, moving forward and giving it your best shot is enough to get through to better times.

not even a runner wrote:

I'm 37. My path has been a little less conventional, which might account for my seeing things differently.

[...]

My wife is just 29 is she is gorgeous. We have been together ten years and no post-nuptial shutoff yet. In fact, it keeps getting better.

I know this is slightly off-topic, but with that age gap and having been together for 10 years "a little less conventional" seems like an understatement. A couple of 37 and 29 isn't odd, but one of 27 and 19 definitely is. I feel like late teens and late 20s are totally different worlds, but clearly it worked for you.

I would guess 75+ would be unambiguously the worst part of life.

- No more PRs - lucky if you can run at all!

- Personal health is likely starting to decline significantly, no matter how much you exercised or how well you ate

- Spouse may be dead or in significant decline

- You are probably losing your hearing and in the early stages of dementia. If you're lucky.

- You might be dead.

- Even if you saved and are well of financially, all the medical expenses add up fast.

- You have time to travel but it's too difficult to do too much.

- Your kids have grown up and moved away. They have grandkids but you don't see them often.

I'm 41 and pretty happy. I'd say 18-24 was an awesome part of my life (college / grad school). 24 - 32 was ok - fun meeting and dating my husband, but the work scene kind of sucked. (Lots of hours, kind of boring.) 32 - 39 had big ups and big downs. I despise being pregnant and there were three pregnancies and labors in there I wouldn't care to repeat. 39 - 41 has been pretty good so far - enjoying my kids, getting back in shape, rediscovering some old hobbies and taking up some new ones. It's hard to travel given young children (and Covid) and dealing with my parents' and in-laws' health problems is exhausting and depressing. And my dog of 16 years is dying. But overall, life is good.

On topic wrote:

not even a runner wrote:

I'm 37. My path has been a little less conventional, which might account for my seeing things differently.

[...]

My wife is just 29 is she is gorgeous. We have been together ten years and no post-nuptial shutoff yet. In fact, it keeps getting better.

I know this is slightly off-topic, but with that age gap and having been together for 10 years "a little less conventional" seems like an understatement. A couple of 37 and 29 isn't odd, but one of 27 and 19 definitely is. I feel like late teens and late 20s are totally different worlds, but clearly it worked for you.

I completely agree. Our relationship was unexpected and could have worked out very badly. Fortunately, it didn't. She has always been a focused and driven person, and in my 20s I still had a lot of growing up to do. I can say she is definitely my better half.

save your pennies and move out of the country, to a stable so called 3rd world country, where you can get a nice villa or house for cheap with a maid.

then pursue your hobbies, or passions.

Personally I have found my 40s to be the best part of my life to date. Way more financial security, comfortable in my own skin, smarter decision making due to maturity and just more experience. Also I think it's a myth that people can't PR in their late 30s or even in their 40s even at the elite level. Certainly if someone is a sprinter it will be hard to maintain a PR north of 35 though with improvements in shoes it is very possible.

Al Oerter set a new PR each and every time he won his 4 Olympic Gold medals over a 12 year span and set his all-time PR at age 43, 24 years after his first Olympic Gold medal and 18 years after he first broke the world record.

Bernard Lagat set his 3000M PR and an American record at age 35

Lagat set his PR and American Record in the 5,000M at age 36

Lagat set his PR and Master's (A40) world record in 10K road race at age 40

Lagat set his PR and World Masters (A40) record in the 10,000M at age 41

Lagat set an American A40 Masters Record in Half Marathon and PR at age 43

Lagat also set his PR for 1500M and the mile after age 35

Now these are just two examples of elite athletes setting PRs into their 40s and for certain events such as the 100M it might be harder but Kim Collins hit his PR of 9.93 at age 40, thirteen years after he was the 100M world champion.

Troy Douglas Current Masters A40 record holder for the 200M set his PRs for both the 100M and 200M at age 39

With training and advances in nutrition and equipment setting PRs into one's 40s is possibly not only for elite athletes but even more so for those who are casual runners. Personally I'm running much faster in my early 40s than I was at 18 because of more disciplined training, better sleep habits and diet.

18rabbitskiing wrote:

Lagat also set his PR for 1500M and the mile after age 35

Nope. Both set in 2001 when he was in his 20s

Comparing normal people to great super high level athletes never works.

This guy gets it.

I've run since high school I was okay (2 min 800/ 17 min 5k). Kind of slacked off running in my late 20s/ early 30s...I still ran but wasn't serious. Focused on my personal life / professional life.

I was pretty well set up at 35. Had a great wife, had a couple kids and a solid career. I refocused on my running. Ran a ton. I knew I was never going to be as fast on the track but I set PRs in everything above a 10K. I also tried to keep within a minute of my HS 5k time. It was challenging and fun.

I also put the time in on my marriage and kids - I've been similarly rewarded. Things are definitely hard running-wise in my late 40s and college is expensive. But overall, the things habit and life you set up 35-50 can really set you up for the rest of your life.

Middle age is depressing wrote:

- No more PRs

- Still a long way from retirement

- Parents and other older relatives start dying

- Having to deal with teenage kids (for parents) or loneliness (for singles)

Discus(s).

Not from this seat. Very comfortable in my own skin. Plenty of $ and no pressure living check to check anymore. Kids - what a trip; they teach you as much as you teach them. While you're not going to go knock out a 4:10/1:55 double in a track meet like you once could, so what? Health is still fine and I seem to worry a lot less about stupid $hit I can't control. Sure, there are downs with the ups, but in the balance, 35 to 50 has been a nice ride.

Yes you are correct Lagat set his outdoor 1500 and Mile PRs in his 20s. That was a mistake on my part I meant to say William Tannui who set his PRs in Mile and 1500 (indoor) after age 35. The other Lagat examples I gave are accurate.

I’m 28 and am afraid to spend hardly any of my extra income due to the obsession of early retirement.

I am having trouble with balancing enjoying the moment while also planning for the future.

I fear reaching my late 30s and regretting not splurging some and doing cool things

I am under 30, Head Coach of a University, married with kids and am looking forward to the next 5-7 years, but I am stuck wondering if College Coaching is a good long term choice.

I love the flexibility, interaction with the team at practice, good relationship with co-workers, but the pay is minimal (under 50k) and won't go up tremendously unless I land at a big D1 school. Which isn't out of the picture for me, but it has its own stresses at that level.

Anyone have a story of switching careers after age of 30-35 and it being a successful decision?

Anyone been a college coach and switched to something else and enjoyed it?

I do love coaching and have been fairly successful, but sometimes I wonder if there are other things that would be a little more exciting or allow for a more interesting trajectory 10 years from now.

If you do it right your kids will excel at athletics and it can be as much fun or more watching them achieve great things. I liked to take them to practices and get in a workout at the same time.

I am female 54 about to turn 55..... I really wish STRAVA was around when I was fast.....2:48 marathon PR....back in 1999....

Kids, work, life is good .... 2 are off in college (1 at home in HS) and the house is a lot emptier which did fly by fast.... it seemed like for so many years it was all about them and now I'm kinda bored.... I did enjoy Covid when they were not working and we had family dinners - listening to the bicker at the table about politics was fun.

Athletically I'm adjusting to age group stuff realizing things will never be that fast again. Did my first long course swim event this year since I recently had knee surgery. 5.5 miles of swimming takes a long as a marathon 2:59 but not as stressful as a marathon....

all this time to myself and I still don't do my strength exercises like I should.....as we age we should do our strength training.....