Aging and Performance

Next week I’m doing a series of talks on training for endurance sport in Bangkok. One of the topics I’ll cover is the aging athlete. The following is an excerpt from that talk.

We’re obviously all getting older and that has implications for performance and for training. Around age 30 endurance athletes seem to reach a peak in performance. After that there is a slow decline year after year. At first it is so slight that the athlete may not even notice or may mark it up to poor training or bad luck. But by the early 40s it is generally apparent to most that performance is going the wrong direction. And the trend continues after that.

The accompanying chart of “World Marathon Records” (click to enlarge) illustrates what has happened to the best marathon times in the world by age group (this chart is a couple of years old now so please forgive me if I've missed a new record). Realize that the runners who set these records are the cream of the crop. They are undoubtedly blessed with remarkable genetics and have most likely trained very well in order to produce their best-ever-in-the-world times. Notice the steady increase in marathon race times until about age 70 when the change is rather abrupt. I’ve seen this same trend in age-group records for cycling and swimming also.

 

Some of this dramatic change around age 70 may be due to societal effects. The leading edge of the “baby boom” generation is just now reaching their mid-60s. In the early 1970s when that generation was just in their late 20s the running and fitness boom began. Many from that group are those who are now breaking age records in all sports. The generation that came just before the baby boomers (did they have a name or is that something relatively new?) didn’t have the same exposure to sport and fitness. The Great Depression and WWII probably had a lot to do with shaping that generation’s mores and lifestyle. My point here is that we may soon see the world records in all sports for the 70-year-old category drop as the next generation “ages up.”

In my next post I’ll discuss what you can do to slow the decline in performance as you get older.

Comments

[cpalen]

Running, cycling I can see it.
I am becoming a faster (i.e. more proficient) swimmer as I age and spend more time in the water. So it's good!

[Ted]

The generation preceding the Boomers and following the World War II or Great Generation is caled the Silent Generation.

[Ryan Rodman]

How much of that decline at around 40yrs do you think is purely related to getting older, aging, rather than just a build up of wear and tear on the body from, for example, being a professional athlete for 25 years?

I don't really know of any studies that look at something like that, decline in performance related to time in the sport, and I know you can't really look at a single case and say it applies generally, but, what about Chris Horner? He's had a great season and he's 38, and he's been a professional for probably more than 20 years.

Or George Hincapie? Last year in the US Pro Championship post race press conference he said he broke a 6 year old PR up Paris Mountain in his training leading up to the Championship (video on YouTube). So even they improved into their late 30's, but again that could be improved training, and they are not in their 40's yet.

Those two guys are already elite level, so maybe they already have something, genetic or otherwise, that the average person doesn't.

[Joe Friel]

Ryan--When it comes to trying to figure out why 'older' pro athletes perform as they do as per your cases, no one knows the answer. There is simply too much that is unknown. For ex, in cycling, one of the big variables that allows athletes to improve well beyond age 40 is racing 'smarts.'

[Larry Moray]

Personally, I think I peaked around 40, but I was never a professional athlete, did my first tri at 29 and spent the next 11 years training seriously which was probably what contributed to my improvements.

Having had my left hip resurfaced in April 2009, I believe the orthopedic surgeons will be having to modify joint replacement procedures and devices as active boomers require not return to ADL's but return to training and racing following joint replacement. (My surgeon told me not to run, but I have been going easy and completed (wish I could say competed) my first post-surgical Olympic Distance Tri yesterday.)

I will say I have lost a fair amount of drive and 'fire' as I've aged. At 54 don't have the motivation that I had at 45!

[gwendolyn oguin]

Hi Joe: Gwendolyn from Portland, Maine. I noticed a fairly big discrepancy between women's times between 60-70 years of age compared to men. Any reason for that, I thought I was just getting better like a bottle of good wine:-)

[Joe Friel]

Hi Gwendolyn--Yeah, you're right. There isn't anything on this that I've come across in the literature. I'll keep watching for it.