I started doing triathlons at age 39 and have become faster every year so far (now 47). There is nothing wrong with becoming more athletic later in life if you enjoy it.

From a very popular book called "younger next year" for most people your body can become more healthy and you can have more energy as you age.

Do not perceive ageing as healthy at 40 and a gradual decline until you are dead at 76. You can lead a very active life well into your 80s.

Yes, go get checked out by a Doc, see if there's any hidden issues to be aware of, ease into training and go for it. A lot of us AGers have followed this path and it's totally normal. I personally get sick less and feel less muscle aches and pains since I started running / Tri. I feel like a 25yo me, not a 46yo.

Expensive equipment is never necessary, but if people have the money to spend and it makes them happy then good luck to them. Similarly, there is no reason why you can't be overweight and hire a personal coach - maybe nutrition is one of the areas you struggle with and a coach can help with that. I think somebody who has been training all their lives is possibly more likely to endanger themselves by going too hard as they age, because over those years of training they're likely to have built up a huge ability to ignore pain, a cardiovascular system that can push harder than their aging joints can handle, and they'll still be trying to hit the speeds they did in their prime.

There's room in triathlon for different folks with different strokes. Fast/slow, young/old, fat/thin, they should all be welcome, the great thing is just that they're out there doing it and hopefully having fun.

I also started at 39, and had some of my fastest stuff this year at 60, so you have many more years to get faster. :)

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Believe it or not, the odds of you succeeding as a 'serious die-hard racer' that might even be attempting to scale the masters world records, improves the later you start in things like running, where many of the 50+ WRs are set not by ex-olympians, but by folks who started running late, like 35+.

A common beginner misconception is 'woe is me, I didn't swim as a kid and didn't run/bike as a teenager so I'm doomed to mediocrity!' when in fact they often have the best chance at hitting their best max potential right NOW, and in truth, having them start earlier may even make it worse for them as a masters athlete.

The biggest mistake AG triathletes make is to look at ex-competitive child swimmers who came up through comp swimming for 8+years and then assume that if they themselves had started at a similar age, they'd be similarly good. The hard reality is that those kids who kept up swimming at competitive levels for 8+ years were the most talented of an already very motivated bunch, and had both physical gifts AND natural propensity to enjoy training a lot in the pool. Those are the same kids that even if they hadn't swam a single lap until age 30, would be FOP if not FFFOP swimmers within a year of 'real' swim training.

The nice thing as well about aging up to 40 as I have, is that the playing field does become a lot more level in terms of life commitments. As a 20-28 year old, and even 30-35 year old, as an AGer, you're going head to head with quite a few folks who are committed to sports so deeply that it's essentially their career - collegiate runners, collegiate swimmers, recent x-overs of those, and talented folks earnestly trying to hit pro-elite levels in triathlon. Take it up to age 40, and most of those folks are past the competitive primes of their lives in terms of absolute tri performance, and have thus been forced to seek out 'real' jobs that require 'real' work hours and as well have 'real' family commitments. It's still totally surprising to me that in local races, instead of getting blown away by 5+ guys in my AG, I can often win my AG, and sometimes by big margins, just by aging up from M30-35 to M40+. I will add though that if you're going against national-class competition (like WTC podiums) the top guys are still super, super fast, but the graying out of the competition is much more noticeable in smaller local races as you age up.

I'd think the 40+ overweight crowd IS the crowd to potentially need a coach/trainer since they need to get back in shape and probably could use the help.

When I was a kid, I always thought - what a waste to see the "old guy" driving the Corvette. Now being the "old guy' I understand we are the ones with the money to buy the cool stuff.

So, yes it is healthy to use a coach if you are out of shape and its just economics that we buy the coolest equipment.

I am not 40 yet, still 38. I am struggling with a chronic low back pain and I would be satisfied just to do tri with no pain.
In the old days, with no serious training I used to go in local running races...i just remember the last one, 7.8miles, my pace around 7.15m/mile...i just cannot picture doing tri and doing better than that. my swim is ok, but freestyle still hurts my back. so, hope to recover and try it. yet, will not go after a 10000usd bike.
cheers

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Spaniard. Sorry for my english for the sensitive ones :P

Of course doing too much too soon can be detrimental, but hiring a coach might actually prevent that. As for equipment, adds value to the hobby, if nothing else. Almost any hobby can seem ridiculous and expensivewhen viewed from the outside be it HiFi, photography, astronomy, traveling ....

I started in AG40-44, been relatively succesful and my competitive nature has gotten a better of me on occasion and this can lead to another type of problem, namely sustainability of Tri as a hobby.

I've progressed relatively fast, I won 70.3 national championship this year in my new 45 AG, won overall (or dominated!) a relatively large local sprint race and I am now preparing for IM in few weeks and I must say I will be disappointed if I dont KQ again or if I dont break, say 9.20.

Now, the problem becomes, if life situation changes, for example if I take on a more challenging or a job that requires more traveling and cant really train the same way as before, will I be able to sustain Tri as a hobby, will it motivate me to go do races when I have no change of winning or doing good times for me? Is going backwards going to keep me doing even the training I could do?

Dont know the answer, we'll see I guess. Any experience on this by anybody?

If you have a history of back issues, you probably don't want to start from zero to sixty. Start slow, progress. make it a hobby. have fun Just because a few people take it to the extreme (and possibly do very well) doesn't mean you have. Take time to heal your back. good luck

I agree with freightrain. Get checked out, then ease into it. - http://forum.slowtwitch.com/.../?page=unread#unread

Serious training can be fun at any age, until it isn't fun anymore. :) Good luck!

I don't know where you are from but last summer I had a stress test done at a local hospital in Michigan.

They are a sponsor of my tri club and I used my volunteer points to get this so it really didn't cost me anything, but for the normal walk-in price I think it was around $300. I thought it was of great value.

https://www.henryford.com/...n-performance-clinic

This is what they did:

Copy/paste from their website

The evaluation includes:

Cardiovascular screening examinationwoman running on treadmill
Maximal exercise test with electrocardiogram to monitor your heart’s activity
Maximum aerobic capacity (VO2max)
Anaerobic (lactate) threshold
Body composition analysis
Body fat percentage
Lean body mass
On-site cholesterol (total, LDL, HDL), triglyceride, and blood sugar levels
Consultation with clinical exercise physiologist
Training recommendations based on test results
Risk factor analysis to determine 10 year risk for heart disease
Nutrition guidelines to optimize peak performance
Optional services:
Follow up consultations with clinic exercise physiologist
Sports nutrition consultation

If anyone wants any details let me know. I personally know the staff.

jaretj

I agree. I started at 38 and got a coach this year (I am 44). One of the best things about having a coach is that he structures the workouts to incorporate recovery and prevent overuse injuries. The older you get, the more important it is to take that into account.

Did we pin on numbers? Then its a race, and I am going to try and beat you. I love hanging with my AG peers before and after a race- but during its time to grip and rip it.

Though I never reached the level you have I would fall into the category of someone who has gone backwards. Certain life events caused me to take a big step back from triathlon in recent years. Training volume has probably been cut in half and I stopped doing longer events. In general I think I have a better balance in my life, but it can be a tough pill to swallow when I can no longer compete at the level I was accustomed to. I have contemplated walking away from triathlon at times, but haven't found a suitable outlet to replace it and still enjoy the workouts. So it's a tradeoff I guess.

Who says that training hard, buying new equipment, and getting fast isn't fun? That's 98% of the reasons I keep going. It's never too late to start having fun

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