Wait until you hit 60...............
I still have a physical job and am sore every day. Add the training I am doing now and I wonder how the hell I did what I did 20 years ago

I'm right there with you. Even if I do an easy session I feel tight the next day. I will admit I need to drink more water. I should probably also add a stretching session too.

I wonder how much it is just becoming more sensitive to it? I feel like I'm chronically sore, especially if I do anything slightly different, but then again, when I think back I can remember often being sore from exercise when I was younger too.

I am wondering the same thing.

I had some pretty good results in my late 40s/early 50s was recovering well from high volume+intensity.

This was followed by some bad years.

I am currently doing much lower volume.
But still don't seem to be recovering well.

Inside every old person is a young person asking "What the hell happened?"

My guess is that it’s the impact on the body from running. It causes so much of this and dramatically decreases are speed as we get older.

You look at Swimming and biking in the fall off, is not nearly as radical as it is with running times

That's a signature waiting to happen LOL

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"What's your claim?" - Ben Gravy
"Your best work is the work you're excited about" - Rick Rubin

It happened to me as I passed 50, so I'm going with normal.....and it sucks.

Just hit 50, and this hasn't happened to me. It's probable my capacity for higher-intensity training has decreased, but it does not manifest itself as muscle soreness, or any muscular issue.

In my 63 year old experience, as my body declines, I keep trying harder to maintain younger numbers. That’s what keeps me sore all the time. If I cut back and acted my age, I could reduce the soreness. Or keep pushing, and suffer the consequences 😁

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Athlinks / Strava

I heard this line in a song not long ago, and I think it resonates

I've been through the wars
But that creaking you hear in my bones,
It's not pain; it's applause

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"What's your claim?" - Ben Gravy
"Your best work is the work you're excited about" - Rick Rubin

It is most likely just getting older. Right around 50 is when mad calf disease begins to rear its ugly head, and no doubt from the lack of elasticity throughout our aging bodies. And contributing to this issue is our mind set too. At 50 you are still living in your 30/40's, and you think everything should just work the same. This is the first rude wake up call, and there will be many more over the advancing AG's you got coming your way.

I'm still living in my head in my late 50's, and having to readjust constantly each year now(late 60's) as to what I can and cannot do. Best if you just accept the new paradigm as quickly as possible, and then make good plans for what is possible, not what was. And try to incorporate more recovery stuff too, stretching, massage, light weights to balance out imbalances, stuff like that..And of course sleep, #1 factor going forward, gotta get good sleep or everything just falls apart no matter what. The days of pulling all nighters and then getting up and hammering the hangover out of you are long gone. You pay for each and every extra drink, or hour of sleep you miss going forward...

Or you can go to a longevity doc and get your 30 year old recovery back, but just doesnt seem right to me until your real quality of life is so bad, that it is time to hang up the competition and just train for life...

Approaching 50? Hmmm....everyone is different, particularly as it pertains to age related issues, but I was still doing some pretty intense run-sessions (I suppose I still am) at 49-51. Looking back at my training log from 2019 (age 51) I was doing 15x60s Hill Repeats (max effort) every Saturday. Some soreness from such a session was normal. But, my philosophy is "never do something today that prevents you from following the plan tomorrow/the next day". So, I "never" dig a hole I can't recover from.


How often do you run?

I'm 55. Run 6 days a week...mostly BarryP style with 1-2 harder workouts per week. I certainly get sore when I add something new the first couple of times. But, I still run hills, do 6x600@5k, 8x400@2k, 4x1mi @10k, Mona Fartleks, etc. For instance, in the last 6 days:

Tue: 2mi @ 5k, 2x400m @ 5k
Wed: 4.5mi easy
Thu: Mona Fartlek @5k, 2.6m @10k
Fri: 3.5mi easy
Sat: 5x600m @5k
Sun: 4x600m @5k

This is a taper week (for a 5k on T-day)...so, there's a little more speed than I would normally have. Typically, I do mile-repeats on Tuesday, and some type of speed session on Thursday. Everything else is zone1/easy. All that said, I do work up to these types of sessions progressively. If I didn't, they would certainly set me back.

ETA: I'm 12ish years younger than Monty. But, I agree with everything he says. I hardly drink anymore (not because I don't like a good bourbon). 3 max in a night, once a week---Typically before my off-day. I do take a complete OFF day, once a week. I try to prioritize sleep....but, I'm not great at it---I've never slept more than 6 hrs / night going back to when I was a toddler.

Also, I put extra emphasis on in-workout fueling/hydration to minimize the recovery costs of dehydrating/glycogen depletion. That's probably been the biggest game changer in the last year or so, from Dr. Alex posts. Staying hydrated and fueled, has made a big difference in how hard I can go, and how often. There's a dramatic difference when I f*ck it up.

I think that one may have hit me. I'm a very infrequent drinker to begin with, but a few months ago I had one beer, and felt awful the next day. Thought it was unrelated. But then last week I had another single pint of average beer, and the next morning as I sat up I felt a slight "spin" as if I'd gone to a college kegger. And felt bad all day again.

I fear I'm now the lightest of lightweights.

Does this happen regardless of running surface? I'm 48 and do 80+% of my running on trails and I notice significant increases in muscle soreness if I've been running on the road more than normal. Also, I try to pair harder run days with swimming afterwards (either immediately after if possible, or later the same day) and that really helps with avoiding muscle soreness. My take is that you can still train hard as you age but you absolutely have to train smart, there is not the same margin for error as when you're younger.

both things are true - it's normal, and you need to pay more attention to recovery, foam rolling, yoga etc etc.
Diet is not likely to be a factor unless you're eating SAD (the Standard American Diet, Mickey D's for breakfast and hamburger for dinner).

It's a full-time job staying fit after 50..

I've all but given up on alcohol for the same reason.

I did a trail race earlier this year and was having a rough time of it. When I got to an aid station they said the traditional “you’re looking great!” line. My response was: “I may not look my age but right now I’m feeling Every Single Year”.

Running was so much easier ten years ago...

As long as your base was big - you don't need extra :)

I’m curious how tall are you and how much do you weigh?

Wondering if weight is part of all this

I’m curious how tall are you and how much do you weigh?

Wondering if weight is part of all this

I'm in the same boat. Yes, it's def harder to insta-recover when we're older. But as well, lets be real - at 50, its not that bad compared to your prime unless you were an elite or collegiate-level runner in your prime. If you weren't from a competitive run background, chances are high you can run faster at 50 than you did in your non-competitive 20s-30s.

But yes, it's easier to get injured, for sure. And doing triathlon does us no favors on this as well - you'd think running LESS would help you stay less run-injured, but it's actually the opposite - running less just lets your run-specific tendons and muscles not retain the resilience they need to not get injured when they suddenly go hard.

The tips I've found the hard way that have let me keep running reasonably close to my heyday -
- Never stop run training. Meaning no big breaks of like 2 months off - preferably max 2 weeks off running at any point, but get right back into it. At our age, if you dont' use it, not only will you just lose it - you risk the real chance of losing it permanently.
- But don't run TOO much. You have to stay under the mileage that will lead you to start breaking yourself, and often it's not as high as you think. In particular, the rate of mileage increase is hugely important.
- At our age, don't do stupid stuff with running. You know, the stuff you did when you were 20, like deciding to run a half marathon on a whim even though you've only been training for a 5k and have done few to no long runs. This includes hero workouts.
- Training plans are your friend. Because they have built-in ramps in volume that prevent you from doing stupid stuff like doubling your running one week just because you feel great that week. With sustained training builds, I've been able to run speeds I felt were literally impossible at the start of the plan. If you're getting beat up on your runs more often than not, if you're not on a plan, you should be unless you want to feel worse and worse the way you're doing it.
- Accept that you WILL suffer minor injuries in running, despite taking high precautions, and be ready for them with substitutes. Once you learn to swap in things like pool running, arctrainer, or whatever works for you, you'll feel less bad about run setbacks. Note that swim-bike alone isn't enough to help accelerate a true run comeback - it'll go faster and likely be mentally better if you are doing things that will actually help the run muscles in addition so Bike-swim.

I'm 5' 11" , currently 161 lbs.

In 2019, I was 151 lbs.
In 2020, after surgery I was 142 lbs. <-----Working on getting back to this.

My training volume and quality are pretty good and I stay consistent but recovery has been getting slower as I get older. Do a lot of foam roll, massage, sleep deep & well and stuff. You get to the point where you can’t push too hard anymore. It’s always second day hurts the most for me, not the day after so I know exactly what I need to do recover faster. Don’t get too caught up on your routine and habit. It’s better to rest some days if you need to.