40+ and running ability

I am just turned 44 and ran better inmy mid-30s but it is hard for me to say it relates to age rather than lifestyle choice. I took up running at age 30 or 31 so I may have had a relatively late peak. Physiologically I do not have the same max HR as before and while I can get to 170 bpm like before I am not going as fast as before.

On this very forum back in Oct there was a thread regarding this which I found not only practical but also inspirational. There was one post by the name "mplatt" which I printed and saved and am referring to still. I don't know if the forum can be searched back that far but it would be worth it if you could find it (or maybe mplatt will post again.)

Important things to remember are:

Yes you slow down with aging..not much you can do to change that....but work on things you can like flexibility. Mplatt says do not discount the effect that a few extra pounds can have on your performance. getting back down to your weight at your PR will only help you. Also I have learned from this forum about the importance of a large aerobic base....it will allow you to reap the benefits of intensity training more than just going on and "trying harder".

hope some others will post too...this is a good place for information

Some things I have noticed "coming back":

Flexibility -- stretching and warm-up/cool-downs are more important.

Speed -- lost some but have gained strength over time.

Recovery -- something I have not heard many talk about, but it does take longer to recover from races and hard work-outs. I almost employ a hard-easy-moderate cycle to my workouts.

Give it time and do not think in terms of 'I used to be able to run XXX'. I have two sets of PRs -- pre-gray hair and today. Just have fun and be happy you can at least get out and do something. It does take time, in my second year of running again, semi-seriously (I have a family and a full time job) it is fun and I have dropped 4 minutes off of my 10K PR from last year. I am 47 and just having a blast. Good luck.

The main issue for me is the increased risk of injury. I can push myself just as hard as 30+ years ago, but not only do I recovery more slowly but I also suffer more frequent and more serious injuries. I think this is because as I get more fit I tend to go even harder, so that just when I'm feeling my strongest and most indestructable I get blasted with a ruptured hamstring, "big as Dallas" stress fracture, grade III ankle sprain, etc. As a teenager I never strained muscles, I suffered no fractures, and always could walk off even badly turned ankles. We were doing high miles (80-100 per week) mostly on pavement, too. Absolutely out of the question now, at age 51. Some tips: it's really worth any trouble to find safe, soft training surfaces. Consider the treadmill (set at an incline) to greatly reduce impact during repeats, intervals, etc. Try cold water leg immersion after hard workouts. Cross train on recovery days. (Carefully) do resistance work on both agonist and antagonist groups; it really helps prevent injury. But it's every bit as much fun as ever and outrunning guys a third your age is a lot more satisfying now than when I was in high school and college.

I was in the race where marcus o'sullivan ran 8:08 and he was 40 years of age.

My old highs school coach still has asperations of running sub 15min 5k and I really think he can do it and he is 42.

I think if a person has a solid foundation throughout the running career then sometimes you can suprise yourself.

I agree with three of the main points others have made about running around age 40:

1) You get slower at the top end, for sure,

2) but you can be pleasantly surprised by your strength,

3) and injuries combined with slow recovery from them can become a serious problem.

I turned 40 last summer and am running long races better than I could have in college, if I had tried them (never raced above 10k in college). I am definitely slower over short distances, for example breaking 60 for 400m is a bitch now, while it was once a hard cruise effort. On the other hand, it seems like my strength is better.

For example, I ran a 4:30 mile (which altitude adjusts to 4:26) last summer, although a 65 second quarter felt pretty f*&*#ing hard in training at the time. When I was younger, I could not have carried as high a proportion of my top 400m speed over an entire a mile.

I now win a lot of trail races in the 40 minute to 3 hour range, often beating younger runners who would kill me in a flat 5k. Trail races require strength, but don't take much in the way of turnover.

So I guess I think you can improve at some aspects of your running after 40 (my times are coming down still for trail races I run every year). For other types of racing (like 5k on the track) you're probably doomed to slower times.

Great points! I am about 8 seconds off of my lifetime best for the mile, from what I ran in college (4:00.8). What works for me is:

Stay away from injuries at all costs!! At our age, there is a lot of lost momentum. Soft surface, soft surface, soft surface! I have learned to love trail running (which seems to be helping my XC).

Go ahead and push at or below race pace once or twice a week, but slow down inbetween. My 5:00 - 6:00 pace has turned into 6:00 - 7:00 on long runs. Much fresher legs.

Don't get locked into one distance (race). Run the 100 meters up to 100 miles, New PR's!! I use variety to remove boredom. Plus, I love the different seasons (indoor/outdoor track, roads (not too often), and now cross country!). I think that is why I kind of quit for several years, I got bored doing 5k/10k road races all of the time!!

After 25+ years of running I can feel it catching up on me. The big thing is trying to recover. I still try to be put in as many miles as possible but when I need a break I usually do some mtn. biking. My lower back usually screams after 2 days of running in a row. Also, I growing board of road races so I'm branching out and doing some trail runs and possible adventure racing. I continue the occasional 5k - 15k. Keep it fun!!

T

Great posts from all. How about some details on stretching routines. Some 'must stretches' as well as frequency, reps, time holding, etc. I hate this as much as ever and can feel it holding me back. Any advice can be helpful. Thanks in advance!

this is soemthing I posted a while back:

hope it helps.

For what it is worth:

Having had some minor success in the late 80's and then missing all of the mid 90's with illness and surgeries and now running again in my forties I can speak from both sides.

I missed 5-6 years of serious training from 91 to 96. In 1997 at age 36 I decided to try and lose the 40 or 50 pounds I had gained. I missed running.In the process I realized not only did I miss training I missed racing.

After 6 months of dropping the pounds I started training again. First 70 per week with 1 sometimes 2 hard days. I was racing okay 16 minutes or so for 5k. Then up to 80-90 miles, times dropped to mid 15's. Then I started the real training, 100-120 mile weeks. My goal was to qualify for the trials. In 1999 I held pace right up until the 23 mile mark and finished in 2:24 at age 38. During that period I got back to approx. 30:45 and 14:45 type ability. This was after hanging up the sport for 5-6 years and having Dr.'s tell me back in 1991 that it was over and I should join the swim club.

I made another attempt in December '99 finishing in 2:25. But I made a tactical mistake by running with the 2:18 pack for 15 miles and crashing and burning to 2:25.

In 2000 I put in some hard months of 120 mile weeks. I had a couple good races under hot conditions, sub 20 minutes for 4 miles in central park which probably put me in 14:50 type 5k shape again and maybe quicker. If I were to hit a real good track meet like Stanford or Penn, you know, PR type meets, 14:30-14:40 would not have surprised me.

I would describe my training as very similar to what hodgie-san has described in his training logs. Simple, consistent, damn near easy!

Well, at the end of 2000 I became real busy, got a little fatigued and performances started to slip. I must have become insane because all of the sudden I thought, "hey I am forty in less than a year, I should train like a master". I backed off the mileage, added another hard workout and strides, emphasized speed, became real technical, wrote out a detailed plan for weeks in advance, started lifting weights, went on a stretching program. Real professional like, but one problem, it was INDUSTRIAL STRENGTH STUPID! For 6-7 months I floundered. I had trouble breaking 16 minutes.

Well, throughout my career whenever I start running like crap I do one thing, I go back to basics. I just run, twice a day most days, no plan, easy workouts that leave me feeling good about completing it but not crushed.I run hard on days that I feel like it. (hey, running fast is fun) No big surprise but after a few months of 90-110 mile weeks with one workout a week and more frequent racing (and I passed forty) I started to feel good again. I probably had myself back to sub 15 for 5k type of shape in fall/winter of 2001.

The recipe that worked(and always has): miles, consistency, and workouts when I feel like it. note:I do most of my so-called workouts on trails or roads by time, NO track. Stuff like 5 time 5 minutes, 5-10 times 3 minutes 10-15 times a minute.

I was feeling pretty good, better than I have in many years, up until New Years when I injured myself. (Non-running injury, sparring and wrestling with my 250 pound kid brother)

Once I get running again I feel like 40 is nothing as long as I stay consistent and stay after it. I will do nothing fancy, nothing more or less than I did as a kid. I work harder to keep my weight down. Weight is important; I am within 5 pounds of my best racing weight. If you are heavier as a master it will be a major contributing factor to your slower times. Unless you grew taller in your 30's.

The leg speed thing is overrated. I am only a touch slower over 100 meters than I was as a kid. If you are minutes per mile slower in a race it is not because you have lost sprinting speed. Shit a 4-minute mile is only 15 seconds per 100 meters. Your leg turnover has gone nowhere. It is simply the ability to maintain, which is a function of aerobic fitness, not leg turnover or sprinting speed.

The lesson: keep it simple, keep it basic. Put in the miles, put in the time and well-timed efforts.

Don?t think about diminished testosterone or inelastic arteries or whatever is supposed to happen.

Don't act forty, whatever that means. I still climb trees with my nephews and chase my dogs and race my friends at the end of runs. Oh yes, train with young competitive guys, and then outtrain them.

I Love to be able to run fast and train hard and race my friends and peers and even my peers and friends kids. I really still dig this sport.

Maybe there is something of value here for you all, maybe not, oh well, good night.

mplatt - great post, thanks, inspiring

Mike's got it right.

Base, base, base("all your base are belong to us"). You'll be pleasantly -no, amazed- at what you end up producing after 3 months of nothing put playful high mileage. Always start out slowly, and when you feel good, let it roll. I DO like 10x100m (300 jog recovery) once per week.