age related question

A 44y/o just one the tri I was in recently.

I'm 31, been doing tris for ~5 years, and I get faster every year.

50-yo here, did a tri Saturday where I finished 12th overall. Four ahead of me were also over 50 (two over 55). Only two of the male finishers in the top twelve were under forty.

After the overall and masters winners are culled from the field, I was first in my age group. There were eleven age groups for men and I would have won seven of them, finished second in three. The only one I would have finished third in is the age group OLDER than mine.

You're more limited by your attitude than your age.

I'm also 48 and always improving. Check the race results of just about any tri or running race and you will see that 40-49 year old men is a pretty competitive age group with an awful lot of entrants and some very fast people (not me of course)

I really don't think 45-49 gets any easier. I think I'll be competetive once I get over 70, maybe

Sure you have slowed down, it is natural and part of the aging process.  But you can recover a lot of that speed, you just have to work at it.  You had natural speed when you were younger, now you must work to keep the speed.

One of the articles I read someplace said we lose about 5% of our speed every 5 years.  But that speedwork, and training can over come that.

I figure in high school I ran 5:00 minute miles, 12:00 minutes for 2.  I can't come close to that right now, but IF I work at it, I can cut the time that it takes me to run.  Biking is the same way.  Now I don't have time to train to get down to 6 minute miles, or I don't yet.  Maybe as I drop the extra 40 pounds that I am carring since high school I can shed some of the extra time it takes me to run.  I know I will never get back to the 126-130 I was, but I figure 160-155 looks awful good right now.

I heard that 40 is the new 30.  So that makes you about 24, with plenty of time/distance/speed left in the body. 

I am 34 also and just started training a few months ago.  Right now I seem to get faster all the time but that's just because I haven't done much for the past 14 years.  I know I am past my prime for being an Elite or Pro but since this is an endurance sport all you have to do is outlast the competiton.  You'll see as you get older your odds improve at podiums during races. 

With proper training you should continue to improve for many more years. The cross training should help you improve some as well.  You might find a boost in your RR performance.

My goal is to play the game as long as I can and hope I outlive the competition!

In M50 and M55 around here you have to go under 1:10 in sprint tri's to have a chance for the podium - something my fireplug body is just never going to do no matter how much I train.  If I can crack the top ten in M50, then I'm usually having a good day.  I've got about a dozen local guys that I've  got to outlive to get on the podium - probably not very good odds on that happening. 

Mark

 Woah... obviously there are some seriously fast 50+ y.o. men in Louisianna!  (What are y'all running from?)  No, in all seriousness - great job, Bear!!!