Ok, so I am pushing 38 and, with the exception of major league pitchers, the better days of almost every athlete are behind them by that age. This has all got me wondering how others have noticed the impact of aging – when did you notice age being a factor? to what extent were you able to improve your times despite getting older? did you make any adjustements to your training regimen? etc. For whatever reason, this has been on my mind lately and I’m just curious what others have experienced.
I’m pushing 48 and the biggest challenge seems to be staying injury free. A close 2nd place is longer recovery time from a hard workout. Offsetting this to a degree is attention to detail that I have for technique now vs. when I was younger and relied on raw energy. I much more a student of the sport now. I take much better care of myself to maximize the years I have left.
One of my training partners is 44 and says the exact same thing as last tri in 83. He will be out for a mild run and all of the sudden have problems. Same thing on his bike. He is trying to work around it, but getting frustrated. He is having to watch his volume a lot more now. He normally trains 18 hours a week.
He has been doing tris consistantly for 20+ years. He used to be a competitive IM AGer 5+ years ago. Now he does Olys and is top 15 at any large race.
I raced bike for a long time, did a marathon and then did Tri’s for a few years. I’m back to cycling and at 41 this is what I know. My TT time is as fast as 1992, I’m actually faster but have better equipment. My max heart rate, which was 207, then went to 175, is now at 188–took two years. I can hold 183 in a TT. I have to watch my diet before during and after more now. I used to be able to sprint to 40mph without working at it, but now have to train specificly to be good at sprinting, hill climbing or TTing. If I neglect anyone of those, it drops quickly. I also have lost the snap to sprint late, and must build up speed sooner than a sprinter should. Changes in speed in Cat 1-2 racing is harder than ever, but I can win any (doesn’t mean I do) Masters race in the area. I’m encouraged that the 50+ crowd is posting our fastest TT times. How does 51min 30 sound for a good 50 year old 40K TT time. The Firehouse 50mile record just fell to an old guy at 1hr 48 min. When it comes to speed variation racing like road or crit, the kids are tough these days. Makes Tri’s a good deal.
My max heart rate, which was 207, then went to 175, is now at 188–took two years.
This shows another misconception about “max heart rate” or the definition thereof. Your true maximum rate that your heart can beat (which number is of little use in training) goes down, on average, about one beat per year. It does not go down 32 beats and then up 13, regardless of the time frame.
Well it was 207 in 1986, 175 in 2003 and now is 188. So the math isn’t to far off. Since most folks had a max HR of over 200 and now at age 41 are in the same ballpark, I would argue no misconceprion, and it is a fairly accurate to take 220 minus your age to get max HR. When I was 20 it was close to 200, and at 40 it is close to 180, with 10,000 miles on the bike last year, and 6700 so far this year, I think I should score above the average and I did. I would guess most of this forum would concur.
Well it was 207 in 1986, 175 in 2003 and now is 188.
While 207 and 188 seem accurate, the 175 was not your maximum heart rate… perhaps it was as high as you could get it at that moment, but in no way can the true maximum heart rate go down and up like that… regardless, it’s an irrelevant number and is no indication of fitness…
Not irrelevent in the least. I can set my L5, 4, 3, 2, 1, numbers by the estimate and even go faster. Sure I could spend the dough for them to say my max is actually 189, or for heavens sake 190, but I will loose no sleep being off a beat or two. Sure my 175 might have been closer to 178, but I do the same self tests every other week and my max HR test is the same. Big ole warm up, balls and toungue out for 10 miles then sprint till you can hardley hold your empty stomach in, I think I’m at the limit. The university real max test I did offered no different results, close enough to prove the dumb chart accurate to a beat or two and more than accurate to set training paramters. That’s my story and I’m sticking to it. Besides I’m getting faster all the time. Getting close to a sub 55 min 40k, and I’m getting older every day.