Twilight years reality

j400paul · January 2020

Being 20 year runner in my years after high school.
My lung capacity is excellent when doing a daily workout.
At 59 my lungs say go go my body says don’t you dare! I have to alternate my walking with one day of normal pace the the next with speed and different terrain.

Djproulx · January 2020

I don't know your goals, but given the title of your post, you might enjoy reading Joe Friel's book "Fast After Fifty". In the book, Friel outlines the physical factors that face athletes as we age, then he describes how to address and overcome many of them. Its a great read. To boil down several hundred pages of writing into two bullet points, I'd say his message is this:
1) You've got to push HARD on the hard days, if you want to maintain performance.
2) Athletes need longer recovery time between high intensity sessions as we age.

At 62 years old, injury prevention is my #1 priority (since recovery takes forever), so I separate my quality sessions and perform low intensity paced work for much of my cardio training.

With that in mind, following a structured training plan will allow you to develop a high degree of fitness at 59 years old.

Edit to Add: BTW, I don't accept that 59 is "the twilight years". Just look at the age group lists in ANY large race (marathon, Ironman, etc.) and you'll see many participants in the 55-59, 60-64, 65-69 and older brackets. Many of these people finish in the top half of ALL participants in these races. It gives one hope.

sijomial · January 2020

Excellent post from @Djproulx - agree 100%

I can only add as someone rapidly approaching his 60th birthday......
OP - you really need to stop talking yourself old!

My gym is busy with people my age and older not just exercising but training hard and purposefully. I also do long distance cycle rides where it's not uncommon to meet many lean, fit, mentally bright people well into their 80's riding at a pace and for a duration that is well beyond most people.

keithwp99 · January 2020

Yep. 59YO trail runner here. I completely agree with walk run.

I had xray and MRI for groin and hip pain. I thought it was just another soft tissue over use. But, to my surprise it's arthritis and disc degenerative disease. My ortho called it TMB syndrome. Too Many Birthdays. I just call it battle damage. Just keep moving and stay focused.

+Pax+

MikePfirrman · January 2020

Transition to Indoor Rowing or Rowing. Maybe trail riding/biking. A lot of runners have transitioned to other things. I ran trails for six or so years (slowly, terribly), then picked up indoor rowing. Turns out, I'm not built for it, but I'm a much more competitive indoor rower than runner! Where I was lucky to finish in the top part of the bottom 1/3 in trail races, I'm regionally competitive in indoor rowing (won several local races and got second in a tough regional competition -- lost by less than one second).

I know a lot of guys over 55 (my age) that would just crush me in rowing. I'm striving to get to the 90th percentile for my age group. Cross training is great if your body can't take running every day. Mixing it up works for some folks really, really well. Mix in some less pounding with things like bike training, skierg, indoor rowing, assault bike. All killer cardio workouts with minimal pounding. Might be easier on your body to do.

Twilight years reality

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