Each age group represents a chance to be the young runner again, providing anticipation as the turn-year approaches and offering the thrill of setting new marks and competing for awards as you enter the new group. Find new motivation with each age group or in beating your PRs with age-grading. Or, you can use 10 year age groups: 14 and under, 15-19, 20-29, 30-39, 40-49, 50-59, 60-69, 70-79, 80 and over. For the calves, the most common problems are inflexibility and muscle pulls. Find the running requirements for each age group. ", Also useful is to find a club, even if many of the runners aren't your age. Motivation - As we get older it is reasonable to expect that we won't be able to run at the speeds we achieved when we were young. At 49, with the last of her three sons in college (and a 40:56 10K already in her arsenal), she has started joining groups—one on the track and another for weekend runs—in preparation for seeing what she can do in the 50–54 age group. "Unless something happens," he says, "I'm still going to be out there moving. Whatever evolutionary biologist Lieberman says about our distant ancestors, this is an age where simply lining up for the start of a race is something most peers would never attempt. Ignore the voices that say you're too old. "But that's what masters running is," he says. The Starting Age should be set to the age at which your age ranges begin.In this case we want our age groups to start with 15-19, so the first 5 year age group should start at 15. In terms of training, the changes at this early stage in masters running are relatively minor. Work on strength and flexibility, particularly in the calves and hip flexors. Amy Begley, a 2008 Olympian and now head coach of the Atlanta Track Club, says every athlete has to deal with change. And whatever you do, don't listen to the naysayers. It also takes into account your gender so you can use the percentage score to compare your performance with other runners, regardless of both age and gender. And even those runners have to accept the fact that try as they might to keep fit and youthful, their bodies inexorably decline. What matters is that the fewer strides it takes to cover the course, the more power you have in your calves—and that you repeat this test on the same hill periodically to see whether you're improving, declining or maintaining. "The last two years in the age group can be tough," says Mark Cleary, coach of the So Cal Track Club. He lost weight and began running with the athletes he coaches. "The problem is that society wants to close you down. "I tell them, when in doubt, do a pool workout. ", And from a much younger masters perspective, Cotner notes that with each new age group, everything readjusts. Marv Metzer, an 87-year-old from McCook, Nebraska, still manages a 3:26 half marathon. You will give out 1st, 2nd, and 3rd place awards for the male and female winners in each division - a lot of awards. Some spend their early masters career bemoaning every race as a new PW—personal worst. Comparing with other Runners - By factoring out age and sex it is possible for two different runners to compare their performance for the same run on even terms, enabling people to compete with each other regardless of age and sex. The age-grading tables specify an age-factor of 0.9989 for 33-year-old male marathon runners, meaning that Kipchoge's performance is considered superior to that of a younger athlete, who would have to run 2:01:31 to achieve the same age-grading percentage. Use newly found extra time to train more. ", Reif echoes the same sentiment. The solution to any of these problems, of course, is strength and flexibility training. It's still necessary to adjust your training—and your expectations—to the realities of getting older. Priorities for a Masters Runner Climbing the Age Ranks. Another is to use the upcoming age group as an incentive. Andrew Begley used the Mile Down workout, starting with 1600m, then working down: 1200-800-600-400-300-200m. Copyright ©2006-2020 Good Run Guide Ltd. All Rights Reserved |. ", Cleary adds that this is a good time to start taking extra rest days, even if that means taking two or three days off in a row if you feel a warning twinge. It enables you to produce a percentage score for each run based on how old you were when you did the run. "You may wind up doing more cross-training." "Extra recovery time needs to be built in," Amy Begley says. Kregal is a fan of monitoring his body's twinges and reacts accordingly. That has saved more butts than I can tell you.". You may be able to find more information about this and similar content at piano.io, These Are the World’s Fastest Half Marathoners, NAZ Elite Wins the First-Ever Michigan Pro Ekiden, Big’s Backyard Has a New Format and a Live Stream, Inside the Unprecedented London Marathon Bubble, Elite-Only Marathon in Arizona Attracts the Pros, Everything to Know About the London Marathon, Why We Should Acknowledge the Land When We Run. "Humans are well-adapted to run into late middle age," says Daniel Lieberman, an evolutionary biologist at Harvard University who figured prominently in the bestselling book Born to Run by Christopher McDougall. "A few years ago, I did 60. It's also increasingly important to pay attention to strength training. Runner's World participates in various affiliate marketing programs, which means we may get paid commissions on editorially chosen products purchased through our links to retailer sites. Kregal's advice to 70-year-olds applies double to the age divisions above him. Learn to appreciate your successes, recognizing that your running years are limited. "I'm only doing about 15 miles a week," he says. When you log runs in your Good Run Guide Log Book, you will be able to calculate an Age-Graded percentage for each run. We may earn commission if you buy from a link. "That's a real change from a number of years ago," says Bob Williams, a Portland, Oregon, coach. Make caution your top priority in training. Even if you've had a relatively smooth path through your masters career so far, this is another time when you may need to revise expectations for racing and training. Five year age groups are preferred by many runners, since those at the older end tend to be similar in fitness level to those at the younger end.2. Two muscle groups of particular importance are the calves and hip flexors. But aging calves can also lose power. Comparing with other Runners - By factoring out age and sex it is possible for two different runners to compare their performance for the same run on even terms, enabling people to compete with each other regardless of age and sex. To begin, the 55-59 age group is the first to show a truly marked drop-off in the number of competitors. That, he says, makes the victory feel hollow, even though he can still run a highly respectable 22:48 5K. Long-Term Performance Tracking - Factoring out age enables you to see how good your performance is at any time given expected norms for your age. How Much Rest Should You Take Between Intervals? "Run too much pavement," Cleary says, "and your days are numbered." Find company: Join a club and look for races with strong masters fields. Consider Colleen Rocereto of Tigard, Oregon. Runners want to know how they placed among people in their category. Other training tips for runners in this age group are simpler. Marathons and long distance events often … The result is a reduced ability to activate the glute muscles, less hip extension (the upper leg going out behind) and hamstrings that are overstretched and weak—so much so that Cotner sees the combination of these problems as a common syndrome. "So," he says, "I compete with whoever's moving.