RICHMOND —
Question: If a runner starts racing when he is young, will he be worse in middle age than if he started fresh when he was older? In other words, can you have too many miles on the tires?
There are very limited data on this subject, but there are some related findings. For instance, a study of senior Olympians, athletes over 50 who participate in the National Senior Games track and field events, found a very small rate of decline in performance until age 75. After that, the athletes declined much more rapidly. The vast majority of the athletes (95 percent) had started competing when they were teenagers and 85 percent said they were active as young adults.
Unfortunately, the study did not determine what sports they played when they were younger. It may have been that many were competing in different sports, a fact that has a bearing on how many miles had accumulated on the tires. In addition, it’s likely that many of the women, growing up prior to Title IX, did not compete when they were young. This too has an effect on the edge that late bloomers may have as they get older.
Another study of the endurance capacities of men aged 20 to 75 has implications that could help answer this question. This study examined the VO2 max, or maximal oxygen consumption levels, of sedentary and trained endurance athletes. As one might expect, the athletes had the far superior VO2 max levels, but the interesting finding was that this measure declined more rapidly with age in the athletes. In their 20s and 30s, the endurance athletes were able to run 10 kilometers (6.2 miles) in approximately 36 minutes. In their 40s, they were nearly as fast—about 38 minutes. But in their 50s, the athletes had slowed to about 44 minutes. In the 60 and older group, the athletes ran the distance in 53 minutes.
But what if the sedentary men suddenly took up endurance running? Would they be able to match or even surpass the longtime athletes? Would the absence of years of pounding on the joints and cumulative injuries, the inevitable consequence of long term endurance training, provide an advantage to the newer athletes?
No one knows the answer but there are some interesting anecdotal stories of amazing athletes who have done just that.
Take for example Kozo Haraguchi, a runner who took up the sport of sprinting later in life, at age 76. He recently broke his own world record for the 100-meter sprint at 21.69 seconds. Haraguchi didn’t even start running until he was 65. There are also countless masters distance runners competing at a high level who took up the sport in their 30s and 40s.
On the other hand, many elite athletes retire when they are still young, leaving the field to novices. Who knows, if longtime runners like Joan Benoit Samuelson, 55, choose to continue competing, perhaps the many years of competition may give them the edge.
At this point, we just don’t know the answer.
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