by the Mizuno Shoe Guy
Just remember when you’re over the hill, you begin to pick up speed…Charles M. Schulz
Seems like whenever I’m visiting my parents and take off for a run, my mother always feels it’s her duty to remind me: “You know you aren’t getting any younger.”
She’s been offering the same witticism for the last 30 years and even though I know what she means, I still hate it. I mean, from the day we are born, all of us are aging. And nobodyis getting younger. So I’m certainly not alone in that regard, despite being a runner practically since the day I emerged from the womb.
Every single one of us gets older every hour, every day, every month, every run. There’s nothing we can do about getting chronologically older, but there’s no question that running slows the aging process. Go to any road race and you’ll see plenty of Baby Boomers who look (and run) 10-15 years younger than they are.
The flip side to that is–unfortunately–aging slows the running process. Nobody gets faster once aging has settled in. Physiology always wins. That’s why you don’t see any 50-year-old Olympic marathoners. It is true that some of us get slower…slower. But that’s about it.
I’m pretty interested in this kind of stuff so I dug up some physiological facts that are especially pertinent to older runners, as presented by Dr. William Evans, a renowned geriatrist at the Duke University Medical Center, who is an expert on aging and its impact on muscle loss.
- On average, we lose about one percent of our fitness per year. After the age of 60, aerobic capacity (fitness) goes down. Staying fit, helps maintain a higher ability to gulp down and process oxygen than a sedentary person, but the rate of loss is about the same.
- Starting at age 20, we lose muscle as we age with a steady, inexorable decline. To slow this age-related decline, lifting weights or other types of resistance exercise, including running, helps.
- The more muscle you have, the more calories you can eat without getting fat. But, muscle loss can mean greater weight gain with aging. Contrary to popular belief, though, the cause of weight gain is not due to a slowing metabolism. Our metabolic rate remains about the same, but the level of activity in the general population declines as we age. Running helps to counteract the typical weight gains associated with aging as it does at younger ages.
- As we age, we lose more fast-twitch muscle fibers (used for sprinting) than slow-twitch fibers (long-distance running). This loss starts fairly early and helps explain why sprinters peak in their early to mid 20s and distance runners can still excel well into their 40s. But even top distance runners eventually slow down because the nerves that connect to muscles start to die, resulting in a loss of slow and fast-twitch fibers. Athletes lose about 20 percent of their muscle fibers between ages 40 and 70.
- Weight training as little as one day a week can maintain strength and prevent muscle loss. Strength training also helps prevent bone loss among older people. Especially among women. Post-menopausal women who lift weights can improve their bone health and prevent osteoporosis.
- Finally, just because some older people run every day, exercise and lift weights doesn’t mean they should eat more. The problem is people 60+ who exercise also tend to rest a lot. They often take long naps and sleep longer too. So they’ve exercised—which is obviously good—but they also tend to be more sedentary the rest of the day. Running only counterbalances that inactivity, which can result in weight gains.
And then there are these words from my former physician—Dr. Walter Bortz—who once said: “No one really lives long enough to die of old age. We die from accidents and most of all, from disuse.”
Not us. Better to wear out, than rust out.