Most ag world class masters 55+ runners started late in life, often 40+.

So no, not required.

I had my fastest runs ever at 60 this season.

I have always been active, but never much running.

Started Tris at 40. Got serious maybe early 50's when I retired.

doing the 100/100 last year and staying with it, I think helped.

The main trick at our age, DO no get hurt!!

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Dave Campbell | Facebook | @DaveECampbell | h2ofun@h2ofun.net

Boom Nutrition code 19F4Y3 $5 off 24 pack box | Bionic Runner | PowerCranks | Velotron | Spruzzamist

Lions don't lose sleep worrying about the sheep

For any of the three sports in triathlon, you have to determine what is "good" to see what level you can obtain. Swimming (and cycling) aside, running is a sport that has several determining factors to reach your potential. If your start later in life you will only reach the potential that your age will allow. Not for a moment will I ever be the runner I was at 25, 35 or even 45 now that I'm almost 55 no matter how hard I train. As Dan commented, and from my experience, after about 3-5 years of serious running you will be close to your ability. From there its trying to maintain the times for as long as possible without getting injured.

The great masters athletes that started running when they were already older have two things going for them: fresher legs from not accumulating years of injuries and mileage, and the opportunity to get better for a short period of time. For sure if they would have committed to running earlier in their life they would have had better times than the runner they are today.

For me, what may seem like fast times today against other age group runners and triathletes of any age, seemed easy decades ago compared to not even being close to I do today. Just comparing you to your old self is proof enough of getting slower.

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Doug Marocco USAT #1039 I have been doing this sport for a while!

I always thought that becoming a good runner was something that was accomplished in your youth, and that that sort of training was not achievable for most runners in their 50's. //

As someone else pointed out, it is being a good runner for your age, not your younger self that no longer exists. Swimming by far is the sport that is most helpful to have done, you can count on your hands the number of top pros that did not come from some type of swim background. I remember starting my running career from just a swim background, it was so easy, right up until the time I started getting injured. Once I figured that out, it was just a few years before I was running 32+ 10k's from being a total non runner.


the same went for cycling, it took me 1 year to move from cat 4 to cat 2, then in my 4th year I went pro and did pretty well. Of course that was in the early 80's so there were very few pro riders in the US, and most of those would leave for Europe to race. And look at Lance, took him just a few years to go from swimmer kid to winning the world pro championships, and then of course the rest is history..


I cannot think of one single great cyclist or runner that ever achieved a decent mediocre high school swimmers time(who was not a swimmer of course as a kid). But lots of swimming background triathletes have now gone on to run 28+ 10k's or do very well in cycling TT's, some even in road races.


In the poll this was my pick for #1, just have seen too many kid athletes with such an advantage over adult onset ones..

Interesting, so what does a serious running program for a late onset runner look like compared to a program for youngsters?

One easy way is do the ST 100/100 run challenge

How does one get better? Run

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Dave Campbell | Facebook | @DaveECampbell | h2ofun@h2ofun.net

Boom Nutrition code 19F4Y3 $5 off 24 pack box | Bionic Runner | PowerCranks | Velotron | Spruzzamist

Lions don't lose sleep worrying about the sheep

I'm not surprised that you do not really got an answer yet, because there are no real, generally accepted key sessions like the high intensity intervals with biking.

Of course such high intensity intervals could be a way of improvement, but I think, differently from biking, you can become a decent 10 km or marathon runner (of course dependent on your genetics) with just a lot of jogging at low intensity. Additional advantage: not very injuryprone.

Since you have been running for about 17 years then you probably are where you are at running wise. I think it takes about 7 years to find out how good you will be at anything. Now if you have been running without training seriously, you might have some upside. Your downside is that you are going to lose heart beats each year that might offset gains.

Saw you asked below what to do? Answer develop skill(s) to offset decline.

While running, make it more like jogging with strides to open up/quicken your hips and develop some speed.

With cycling, get a power meter and challenge yourself with hills. Keep/develop balance and bike handling.

Swimming will be a never ending learning curve. Once you're aware of something and have it down then you will become aware of another facet. This is more enjoyable for me than holding onto my running and cycling skills

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Indoor Triathlete - I thought I was right, until I realized I was wrong.