Are you training as much now as at age 41?

Nope. In fact, I haven't really trained since a bad crash in 2014. Now I more just exercise when time and my back permit, which works out to about 5 hours/week.

The good news is that "60 at age 60" is still within reach (hit 59.8 mL/min/kg this past summer).

I started triathlon training and long course racing in 2006 at age 37. I had some decent run fitness at that time. My fastest ages were 2011-2012 ages 42-44 approximately. I’m 50 now and can’t touch those paces and results.

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Aboso-damn-lutely! In addition to the Dylan Thomas line I quoted earlier, I want to add this one from George Bernard Shaw: We don't stop playing because we grow old. We grow old because we stop playing.

Your experience is what I have seen in myself and friends. The decline seesms very gradual because we are active.

Yet if there is an "event" like a bike crash or injury then there is a drop rather than the gradual decline. Much more concerned about drops rather than the decline at this time in life.

Have altered/reduced my training in an attempt to avoid the drops rather than hold times and distances to fight the decline.

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

It is often the case in sedentary folks as well. Population averages just show a gradual decline because they smooth over the hiccups that frequently occur at the individual level.

browse the web for "world masters records" for swimming and running and you will get a reasonable evaluation of the rate of decline you should expect with aging

Fixed your post for you.

That was going to be my suggestion. I think you'll see a fairly small steady decline until around age 80 or so, and then a much more precipitous decline.

Been doing tri's for 25 years. Set an IM pr 2 years ago at 46 and my 1/2 marathon PR last year. I think it's more a function of a new coach and his training program than anything else.

I have noticed my run speed has declined steadily the past few years.

Recovery is much longer now though. And if I don't stretch after a workout, I can feel my legs and hips tighten as the day goes on.

not sure your correction is correct. Some people will decline less than that rate.

For example, looking at the 100m fly (SCM) WR, the 45-49 WR (56.66) is 8.58s slower than the SCM WR (48.08) My own times have dropped off by 3.5s between age 21 to age 45, on substantially less training than when I was in college, on the order of about 1/4 to 1/3 the volume at the time I set my Masters PB. Even if I just stick to comparing masters world records (which only start at age 25) the WR dropped off by 4.2 seconds, from a 29 year old (Townsend) to a 45 year old (Granger)
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I found a similar thing with the 200m (SCM) World records, where my performances declined slightly less than the world record progression for masters, and substantially less than the absolute WR's vs the masters WR.

Those were the only 2 events I checked

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It appears that we are about the same age and same speed. My decline has been very close to yours. I started when I was 21, and my fastest times were mid-30s. The slide has been most profound after 55. At least we are still moving!

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David
* Ironman for Life! (Blog) * IM Everyday Hero Video * Daggett Shuler Law *
Disclaimer: I have personal and professional relationships with many athletes, vendors, and organizations in the triathlon world.

The last open marathon I raced was Boston in 2008, I was 39, and ran 2:58. My Ironman Marathon times have been:
IMAZ 2007, age 39, 3:30
Kona 2007, age 39, 3:26
IMAZ 2009, age 41, 3:21
Kona 2010, age 42 , 4:10 due to injury
2012 IMSG, age 43, 3:29 on a harder course
Kona 2012, age 44, 3:34
At my current age I just ran a 1:33 at IMSR 70.3.

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-Of course it's 'effing hard, it's IRONMAN!
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Well you don't want to do it for running, Ed Whitlock scewed all those records ;o)

Can you provide any source proving that faster people decline at a slower rate, sir? I can't find any

It's not even that. It's that different people hold the records. If that were the minimal rate of decline, then it would be same individuals holding the records across age groups. Since that isn't always the case, that means that the record holders in the older age groups must have declined at a slower rate than the record progression.

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Think of it this way: for somebody to be a world record holder at, say, 100 y of age, then clearly their physiological function must have declined less than is average, because most people simply don't live that long.

IOW, by looking at world record holders, you are relying on data from a select population, thus defining a minimal rate of decline as a function of absolute age. Most people will experience a more rapid rate of decrease.

(I could go into a whole bunch of physiological background on the effects of aging - it is one of my research foci - but the above should be understandable all by itself.)

But the issue with that line of thinking is that the guy who holds the 100-104 AG world record doesn't hold the absolute world record. He declined LESS than the world record progression.

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Right: his data illustrate the minimal rate of decline that can be expected to occur with aging.

his individual data, you mean? So tracking his PB's at age 20, 25, 30, ........ 90, 95, 100?

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his individual data, you mean? So tracking his PB's at age 20, 25, 30, ........ 90, 95, 100?


I think what Andrew is saying it is the minimal amount in the human race, the farthest outlier on the decline curve. Since he is the world record holder we assume by that evidence he regressed less than everyone else on the planet, so a kind of PB for the human race..

I don't think you can quite make that assumption. But happy to be proven wrong.

Unfortunately, the firewall at work is blocking the FINA masters WR tables. so I can't see who the record holders are.

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Athletes have won Olympic gold medals in their 40s. Really, the decline from 20s to 40s is relatively modest and looking at declines in that age period tells you little about what happens when you're quite a bit older. The decline in performance is not linear, it speeds up as you get older. Also, swimming records are probably a best case scenario compared to many other sports such as running simply because it's a non-load bearing sport that's easier on your body, compared with, say runnning, where injury reduces the pool of athletes to a greater extent.

It's not really an assumption, it's simple logic: by only looking at data from "the best of the best of the best, sir!", you will arrive at a skewed estimate as to what happens in the population on average.

(BTW, the idea of looking at world records to ascertain the rate of decline in athletic performance/physiological function is not new...my first experience with it was in 1988, when you still had to mail away to obtain a booklet listing all of the master running world records at that time.)