Clyde's Comeback!

I really think that the best marathoning comes in the early 30's. Experience, Strategy, Commitment all those things come into play. Of course there are people who fly and set great times when they are younger, but I think a lot of these athletes burn out by the time they are truly hitting the peak years of distance running. Just my thoughts...

Hey Clyde,

I probably won't be at the club run tonight, what kind of pace are you planning to run on Saturday? Since I didn't run Hobblecreek, I'm planning on running at race pace, so I'm just curious if that will be anywhere close to your workout pace.

Also, I didn't read the link yet, but I do think all of us are at the ideal age to run some fast marathon times. I know I probably have a lot more potential than I've realized I just need to improve my training more.

Dustin,

On Saturday I will run it around 5:35 or so pacce. We will try and get around 5 good warm-up miles and then try that kind of workout.

Thanks.. do you ever think I'll be as fast as you?

Get washed off yet?!

Great job on the monthly miles, you and Dave have really had a good summer of training and racing

I've always thought that 25-35 was ideal age for marathons.

I guess I don't really have anything to shot at anyone regarding this article on marathoning age. I just think it is interesting that of male Olympic marathon winners, Gold, Silver, Bronze statistically the ages are from 27-29. With 27 year olds winning the most gold's.

While there are trends, they do not mean that if you are much older than the ideal age, you cannot run your best time. My take on those trends - you are dealing with people who change the oil in their car every 10,000 miles instead of recommended 3,000. They may be fast for a while but the life time of their engine is greatly reduced. If you take attention to the little details of the recovery routine, and do not approach it with a sloppy mindset, you will run your life-time marathon PR as a master.

On top of the basics of taking good care of your body, there is a mental aspect. People start thinking they are getting old and simply quit trying as hard. I believe a critical element to running a life-time PR as a master is developing a great deal of mental resilience, the ability to keep pushing your limits even when the light at the end of the tunnel is yet to be seen.

Sasha I agree with you that one can continue to find sucess as they age. The point of this statement is that by the numbers 27 year old runners have more Gold's than any other age group. There is no trend. It's a numerical fact. True these runners could die off and not run great as a Masters runner, but they have an Olympic Gold and have pretty much achieved all the running goals one might aspire to.

So what we learn form this is yes you can run amazing times at 33, 34, 35 and so on. But if you want a Gold then you should have someone running good marathon times at 22 or so and then getting better to peak at 27 or so. It seems that a lot of us bloggers have been around 3 or 4 years off that. Starting to run good around age 26 and then running really good at 29 or 30ish. But who knows there are guys on here that could run some crazy fast times for years to come.

Clyde - I agree that the trends and numbers are against a runner that is 27 and is far away from earning Olympic gold. I also believe that if you do what the "trendy" people do, 999 times out of 1000 you will follow the trend dead on. However, I believe there exists a path to defy that trend. If you want to defy the trend in your performance, you need to defy it in your training, lifestyle, and mental attitude in some positive way.

Interestingly enough, Running Times had an article on Ryan and Sara Hall at

http://runningtimes.com/rt/articles/?id=11293

Some quotes that impressed me:

"You’ve got to know why you’re doing it; for us it’s to be faithful to the gift and to try to bring glory to God."

"It helps you keep things in perspective," says Ryan. "That’s something I still struggle with. Having that central belief and feeling that running isn’t everything is such a blessing because then you can handle the highs and lows a lot better. In college running was the center of my life and it took a lot of heartache for my faith to be in the center, but life is so much better, whether running is going well or not, if faith is the center.

"Some people think that God’s just there like a lucky rabbit’s foot and if you think He’s on your side you’re going to win every race, but that hasn’t been my experience at all," he continues. "It’s not like He’s just going to make me Olympic champion or world record holder. Could He do that if He wanted? Sure, but is He going to make every Christian a phenomenal athlete? I think God wants us to work hard; He tells us to in the Bible. It’s a really big part of our lives and what gives us passion.

"Something that all runners grapple with, especially elites who are doing it full time is ‘Why am I doing this? What gives it meaning?’ because running in itself, it’s a fun thing to do but you don’t really produce anything tangible. Through our running we can touch other people, and affect their lives in a positive way, otherwise it’s totally empty in itself."

Good Hall quotes; they show a lot of wisdom and maturity. As a Christian, it helps me to see good role models out there like that. Definitely gives me a lot to chew on too.

Regarding the age thing, I like Sasha's "oil change" analogy. I think doing the extra little things with consistency will increase longevity - smart training, smart racing schedules, good diet, good hydration, good sleep, a runner-friendly vocation, voluntary stretching and physical therapy, massage therapy, and chiropractic care all come to mind as ways to keep the muscles lubed and healthy for a long time. They are all things I do on a regular basis, even though I am 100% healthy right now. I look to guys like Dennis Simonitis as inspiration for how I can be running at age 45.

And I think that the guys who didn't start running seriously until after college have even a better chance at running longevity. Their odometers are low and their engines are fresh. They have not incurred muscle damage over their teens and tweens. I think runners like that will not peak until their late 30s or even early 40s. It's the runners like me, who have been racing heavily since junior high, all the way through college and beyond, that need to be especially careful. But I am very optimistic that as a 28 year old, my best marathon days are in the decade ahead of me.