The runner’s body: how does it change with age?
Your body will change over time. Here’s how to make the most of every decade.
by Andrew McKay March 18, 2021
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Let’s call it the Ed Whitlock effect: today’s runners, some of them inspired by the ageless Canadian wonder who continued setting records until age 80, strive to be faster at an older age. There is no shortage of inspiration. If Whitlock isn’t your cup of tea, how about Olga Kotelko of West Vancouver? Kotelko didn’t take up athletics until she was 77. Over the next 18 years, she set 34 world records, including 15 after turning 95 (shortly before her death in 2014). When researchers at McGill University examined her at age 91, Kotelko’s muscle fibers were less deteriorated than those of most 65-year-olds.
Alas, this is not an uplifting story about how you can overcome the greatest challenges with genetics, a little common sense, and determination. The reality is that, with the exception of outliers such as Whitlock and Kotelko, our bodies will all undergo a normal aging process that will affect our running and training as we grow older.
The day will come when you realize that your fastest days are behind you. That’s not a bad thing: running should always be about the joy of moving and training. And you can still run longer, set new age-group goals, or look for running partners who run for the same reasons you do. The secret is knowing what your body is capable of and what you can still do.
Running in your twenties.
As an athlete in your twenties, life is good. Your bone mass is almost at its peak and your metabolism is high. As the protagonist Quenton Cassidy says in John L. Parker Jr.'s 1978 novel Once a Runner, “If the boiler is hot enough, anything will burn.”
The ligaments and muscles that hold you together are just as important. While adults reach their maximum height between the ages of 18 and 20, muscle development continues for a year or more. Untrained women generally reach their peak strength at age 20, while men reach theirs before 30. As the muscles develop, the central nervous system also reaches its peak, so the ligaments, tendons, and tissues that enable peak performance function at full capacity. In other words, genetically, you start your twenties at the peak of your physical condition, and although you may be able to compensate for some of the effects of aging, there are physical feats from this magical decade that you will never be able to reproduce.
Malindi Elmore is a good example. At 24, Elmore represented Canada in the 1,500 m at the Olympic Games. In 2020, she set the Canadian women's marathon record, and she may well return to the Olympic Games 17 years later. But she knows her fastest days were in her twenties.
"Mechanically, I can no longer run as fast as I used to," says Elmore. "At 40, my body doesn't adapt as quickly as it did at 25, when I could really hammer out a 400 m fairly quickly."
Running at 30.
How can I put this kindly? In your thirties, things start to become... more difficult. First, you stop gaining mass. Then your metabolism also begins to slow down. It's subtle—two to three percent every ten years—but enough to start adding fat to your body.
In your thirties, you also begin to lose muscle mass (3 to 8% per decade after age 30). The fine physical specimen you were in your twenties now becomes a little weaker and a little heavier, year after year.
This is about when you should really start strength training. Chris Napier, an associate professor in the University of British Columbia's Department of Physical Therapy and author of Science of Running: Analyze Your Technique, Prevent Injury, Revolutionize Your Training, says, "I don't think many people know—or want to know—that they should spend more time in the gym as they get older," Napier says.
Napier points out that even if you do strength training, you are probably doing it incorrectly. Many strength-training routines designed specifically for runners focus on high repetitions and repetitive workouts, whereas you should aim to do fewer repetitions with heavier weights. "If you do three sets of 15 to 20 repetitions, the resistance will be too low, and running already gives you plenty of that high-frequency, low-load activity anyway," he adds.
Instead, Napier recommends a low-frequency, high-load strategy to provide a different stimulus to your muscles and tendons. The ideal workout should consist of three or four sets of six to eight repetitions; by the eighth repetition, you should no longer be able to do any more.
Running at 40.
In your forties, you continue to lose lean tissue and accumulate fat, especially around the abdomen. You may also notice that you are beginning to shrink. After forty, it is common to lose +/- 1 cm in height every ten years due to changes in the bones, muscles, and joints.
The biggest adjustment in your forties comes from your heart. In men, the risk of heart disease begins to increase in their forties. Functionally, your maximum heart rate begins to decrease, your cardiac output declines, and your VO2 max begins to decrease. So it is no coincidence that the competitions attracting the most people over 40 and recording the most all-time records involve less extreme effort and more endurance. According to Napier, VO2 max does not matter as much in a half marathon as it does in a 5K, for example. "That's probably why master-level runners perform better over longer distances," he adds. "We generally don't see the same trends over middle distances that require reaching and maintaining a maximum heart rate."
An important change you can make in your forties to offset deterioration and loss of fitness is to hire a coach. While coaches are generally considered tools for elite runners, the physiological impact of prescribed training cannot be underestimated. "One thing that happens when you coach yourself is that you tend to avoid difficult workouts, so you tend to gravitate toward workouts that feel easy and affect areas you don't necessarily need to work on," says Napier. "As you get older, you may move away from those VO2 max workouts, whereas if you are coached, your coach will make sure you incorporate that training."
The last area of significant change in your forties may concern perhaps the most important part of the body: the legs. While younger runners may experience more form-related injuries involving the knees and iliotibial band syndrome, master-level runners are more likely to injure their Achilles tendons and calves. Simply put, with age, training load can exceed your body's ability to handle that load, and when that happens, the Achilles tendon becomes highly vulnerable. "The calves and the Achilles complex are really the most important area to develop as you age," says Napier, "because we begin to lose muscle mass there, and that is really linked to many of the mechanical changes we observe."
So, if you haven't started your jumps and calf raises yet, it's time to get moving.
Running at 50.
According to the 2019 State of Running report published by RunRepeat , the fifties are the decade when race participation begins to decline. Physiologically, this is no surprise, as more significant health challenges begin to emerge.
The risk of heart disease in women begins to accumulate in their fifties, and menopause brings a host of other issues that can affect athletic performance, although many studies—and many women—have found that running can help relieve symptoms such as hot flashes, depression, and sleep disorders.
All runners begin to lose bone density at this age, leading to an increased risk of injury, and the vertebrae begin to lose their mineral content, making the body's central structure more delicate. The spine may become more curved, increasing the risk of bone spurs. And as if all that weren't enough, the arch of the foot begins to flatten, making you even shorter and affecting your gait.
But none of this ends your career. It may not even limit performance. It may not even have anything to do with the number of miles you've put on your legs over the preceding decades. The best-trained runner can break down for no reason other than luck. "In terms of longevity, it may be more about who wins the genetic lottery," explains M. Napier. "Being able to run successfully into old age probably depends a lot on how well your body is able to handle the aging process."
Running at 60.
The good news is that almost everything likely to affect your life as a runner will happen in your sixties.
That's also the bad news.
Women will begin to lose weight, which is more likely to come from muscle than fat, so the lighter load is offset by increased strain on the muscles.
The general effects of aging, such as changes in posture and balance, can increase the risk of injury. Women may still be dealing with the effects of menopause, and their risk of osteoporosis increases due to additional bone-density loss.
That's why, when the athletes she coaches enter the second (or third) phase of their athletic careers, Ms. Elmore places greater emphasis on recovery. "The big thing I've changed for master-level runners compared with younger athletes is definitely building in more recovery time between sessions", she says. "We're moving away from the idea that you need to do two or three track sessions and a long run in a seven-day cycle. That won't work when we need more recovery time, our human growth hormone levels are lower, and we need time for healing and repair."
Running at 70.
If you have reached the age of 70 and are still running, congratulations—the perils are largely behind you. Men are beginning to catch up with women when it comes to bone-density loss, and all runners can expect to update their vital statistics more frequently, as height loss begins to accelerate after age 70. But if something were going to end your running career, it probably would have happened already.
And yet, like Whitlock, more and more runners are succeeding into their 70s and beyond. If you look at the results of the 2018 Boston Marathon (the year of the rainstorm, no less), 203 runners aged 70 or older finished.
The old saying that a runner has a certain number of kilometres in their legs has proven to be false.
"I know it's a cliché, but age really is just a number," says Napier. "Runners continue to push their bodies as far as they are able. And based on how they feel, I think we're starting to see that we can perform much later in life than we previously thought."
Inspired by and translated from the article published in the March/April 2021 issue of Canadian Running.
Andrew McKay is a proud member of the Beaches Runners Club, the Lower East Siders, and the Ajax Wannabes.
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