Older runners: When did you start feeling old?

Female, 50, sprinter. I'm lucky enough that I hit some massters PRs this summer. I took about 25 years off from collegiate running to running as a master. It was torturous getting back in shape. I find that weights and stretching keep me strong and seem to keep the injuries at bay, and if something does start to crop up I address it immediately. I feel old when I get out of bed in the morning because my joints are creaky, connective tissues are tight, and my muscles are stiff. I still feel young when I realize my best 100m time this season would have put my 4th in our varsity girls H.S. league championship race. Eat my dust, kiddies!

Spikez wrote:

I still feel young when I realize my best 100m time this season would have put my 4th in our varsity girls H.S. league championship race. Eat my dust, kiddies!

Kickass! You do all us oldsters proud!

I really notice stiffness in my joints. Particularly after a half hour drive to wotk in the morning which was preceded by a long run.

Flexibility and strength is way down from my youth, but neither is needed as much to run distance compared to activities I pursued in the past.

One lift that is good for both flexibilty and strength is the back squat, in my opinion. I need to get back to doing those regularly.

A couple of 70+ year olds on a lifting forum have a great saying, " Keep Breathing Defiance".

knowsers snausers wrote:

At what age were you certain that your age, and not just your lack of shape or training, had started catching up with you? How did you know?

What are you talking about? What is this thing called age and getting old? I feel like I am going back in age not forward. I'm in the best shape of my life physically and mentally. Now ask me again in ten years..haha.

I was never very good, but I was as good at 31 as I was at 18. At 35, it was like flipping a switch--speed dropped, necessary recovery time soared. Now, at 41, I have made some peace with the new reality. I still run, but expectations are lower. I think that it wasn't just the physical changes, but also the altering of priorities with regard to job and family. Thank God for the WAVA conversion tables!

Skinny Bastard wrote:

I probably run 5 days a week and do whatever I feel like doing, which usually winds up being 5-10 miles. I have kids, wife, job and house to maintain so I need running to be a form of relaxation, not another agenda to push.

This summarizes my feelings about running very well. However, once or twice per year, I like to spend about 1-2 months actually training. It's fun while it lasts, but I get sick of the "agenda" pretty quickly.

One of my goals is to keep relatively fit enough that when I'm eligible for the masters category, I can be competitive. I'd like to be a lifelong runner.

I'd also like to get under 1:10 for the 1/2 marathon. But I think this may require more than 40mpw.

OP, hopefully you've seen from the posts here that you can be a long time runner and a racer - but just not as fast as you were in your youth.

No one doesn't get old, but running keeps you younger than not running. It's a life-defining item - keeps you menatlly sharp opposed to the years in the cubicle, keeps you physically fit opposed to the years playing Farmville, but the goal setting and the work needed to keep after the goal that truly defines someone. At any age.

At 44, I don't feel old by any means, particularly when I look at my same age typical peers, but I've definitely noticed the need for more time to warm up (even for a steady run) in the past year. I need a good half mile to get the kinks out, double that if I've been on the track the day before.

What surprises me is how much I enjoy running at this age. Hope I'll be able to keep it up for a few years still. Feel bad for these people who crippled themselves with 150-200 mile weeks through their teens and twenties and are lucky to still be able to walk. Pace yourselves! You're only halfway there at 50.

I'll add that flexibility is not a problem at all...

I have to warm up for 3 miles to get the kinks out. Argh! But, I trashed my legs in my early twenties doing crap like 20x400 in 64-66 seconds w/1:15 recovery. And 19 miles at 6:10 pace the day after championship XC races. yeah, we were smart.

Lithe Middle-Ager wrote:

At 44, I don't feel old by any means, particularly when I look at my same age typical peers, but I've definitely noticed the need for more time to warm up (even for a steady run) in the past year. I need a good half mile to get the kinks out, double that if I've been on the track the day before.

What surprises me is how much I enjoy running at this age. Hope I'll be able to keep it up for a few years still. Feel bad for these people who crippled themselves with 150-200 mile weeks through their teens and twenties and are lucky to still be able to walk. Pace yourselves! You're only halfway there at 50.

It was the great Frank Bozanich who memorably said "everyone has a finite number of miles in their legs. And when they're done, you're done". Didn't believe that in the late 70s when I was in my early teens (and read the quote), but have an understanding of that now.

This thread is very interesting. The implication in the question is when does this terrible thing, "age" start and how much time do I have left.

The master runners I know are extremely positive people and they don't buy into this conceptualization. Read the responses and the first thing you will see is that it ain't so bad. our experiences are not so different than they were 20 years ago. Skills change but the joys remain.

agapius mackwamba wrote:

It was the great Frank Bozanich who memorably said "everyone has a finite number of miles in their legs. And when they're done, you're done". Didn't believe that in the late 70s when I was in my early teens (and read the quote), but have an understanding of that now.

Please ask the Great Frank how many miles that is?

Do tell; we'd all like to know.

You start feeling old when your main job is to post on a message board. The bad thing is that masters runners in this sport failed to create a sport. The good thing is that the kids today make the times run by masters runners in their prime look trivial. I wonder if the runners today will repeat the same cycle when they become "masters". I don't think so.

In my early 30's-- I couldn't keep up with my high school PRs. Half of it was lack of training, half of it was getting injured everytime I started training seriously.

Now I swim. Every week-- I improve. I'm pretty sure I still suck compared to even a mediocre high school swimmer-- but the improvement keeps me going.

Most young runners I know are much wiser than you. (Nice try at making this out to be an older versus younger generation battle. It's not. I would suggest you check out some of the older times. Now if you want to argue with someone older go back to your usual sparring partner, your dad)

DaveW wrote:

You start feeling old when your main job is to post on a message board. The bad thing is that masters runners in this sport failed to create a sport. The good thing is that the kids today make the times run by masters runners in their prime look trivial. I wonder if the runners today will repeat the same cycle when they become "masters". I don't think so.

I'm nearer 60 than fifty and have been running for more than 40 years and love it more than ever.

Some things don't change including pre-race nerves!

I really noticed 'getting old' in my mid-'forties, after several years of just ticking over due to other things in life.

I started trying again in training and (more) races and was flabbergasted by how slow I was..... but instead of seeing this as a signal to give up, as some do, for me it was as spur to action. You also have to accept certain things as they are.

By thinking; trial and error; and paying attention to the vast amount of training theory/discussion there is these days I think I've cracked it. Most Letsrun readers know the sorts of things we need to do regularly in our training. Most active Masters are also familiar with the dos and donts when not training..

Downsides include the aches and pains; the plus 8 minute starts to any run; the loss of power and short distance speed; the long recoveries needed from any hard run; reality pouring cold water on all unrealistic plans etc

Plus sides include the wonderful feeling of just running (in nature); the sensation of speed in, say, 5K races; a real buzz I'm getting after doing my first track work in decades; much better health than 'ordinary people'; still enjoying racing and being tested; occasionally getting multi-year bests; self-acceptance and looking forward.

I also find all the super vets in athletics(all disciplines)to be as marvellous as the youngsters. I doubt that the Masters scene will be as interesting in twenty or thirty years as it is now.

aigle wrote:

I doubt that the Masters scene will be as interesting in twenty or thirty years as it is now.

Why?

Why?

For one thing there is very little depth in under 40 athletics. This is apparent in local races; civilian clubs; national rankings for many countries; and big city marathons everywhere.

I could think of other reasons.