Obviously there are some very fast triathletes in their 50’s. However I get the impression that most of these folks became fast at a much younger age, and that their training in their 50’s focuses on maintaining as much of their former speed as they can. Given the reduced training volume and increased rest time that is generally recommended for older triathletes, is it common, or even possible, for people who pick up the sport of triathlon later in life to excel when competing against athletes with a long background in endurance sports? If so, what is the secret - reduced quantity and increased quality in workouts? I’m talking about people who have no significant background in any of the three disciplines.
Dave
I took up triathlon (and marathons) at age 45. NO swim, bike or run experience at all. None. No personal or family history or other indication of any talent or genetic advantage.
I dabbled in triathlon and marathons for a few years and then got more serious when I signed up to race IMC as a 50 year old. Did better than expected, went back the next two years. Did well enough to qualify for Kona in my second race and in all three of my IMCs I have finished (just barely) in the top 10% of my age group. Qualifying for Kona or any other world championship was not something that I would have thought at all possible a few years back.
I’m taking this year “off” in terms of doing an IM distance race but I will be back next year as a 54 year old and again as a 55 year old when I will try to podium. I may not make it, but I know that it is possible. And for me, that is very exciting.
I read somewhere that no matter what age you start at, you can expect to continue to get faster for the first 7-10 years. I believe that. Yes, at age 53 my genetic maximum may be declining a little each year, but I don’t think I’m performing at my maximum yet.
My own training regimen is based mostly on doing what I like doing. I think consistent effort over a long training year is the key to success and that if I’m doing workouts that I enjoy, I’m more likely to be consistent. For me that is long slow distance workouts out on the bike,and the same on the run with a bit more intensity work on the run. I don’t like doing intervals or threshhold work on the bike so in the past, I have rarely done any. But I love a 5-7 hour saturday morning ride with lots of steady state work in it and I do lots of those. To improve, I think I’m going to have to do more threshhold work on the bike but I’m not looking forward to it. I also think that I will be moving to a long ride saturday, medium long ride sunday standard week protocol as recommended by Rich Strauss over at Endurancenation.com (its worth checking out).
As for the advantage that veteran fast guys have, well, they also seem to have a lot of injury issues and perhaps have a harder time staying motivated since they have been there and done that for a long time. In any event, I respect them and use them as the target that I aim for. I choose not to think that their advantage is insurmountable.