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in 1981. The 80s belonged to Fordyce with his last win being in 1990, after which he suddenly discovered in the 1991 Comrades that he no longer could win. However, the signs had been there for a few years that he was slowing down despite his training.

Deirdre started running and racing at age 79, and runs exceptionally well. Another such runner is one of my elite women, Judy Bird. I started coaching her in 2002 when she was 40-years-old, and in 2003 she won the World Veteran Champs in both the 10km and 21km races in New Zealand. Last year at age 56 she ran a 37min41s ten kay.

Now this may sound contradictory. On one hand we have a runner such as Bruce who excelled in his youth, and then boom, his racing days were over; and on the other hand we have runners like Deirdre and Judy who started later in life and who are still racing well.

Biological and chronological ageTo understand this, we need to look at the concepts of biological age and chronological age. Biological age is how old we are, while our chronological age is how many years we have been running.

Bruce Fordyce, at the end of his racing career, was at a young age biologically. But he was chronologically old as he had started hard training and racing marathons and ultras in his teens. Deidre and Judy are both biologically old at 87 and 57 respectively, yet both are chronologically young as they started running and racing later in life. Judy is to a certain extent chronologically old and the reason for her longevity, still racing well after 16 years, is that she specialises in 10km and 21km and doesn’t race marathons or ultras.

I am a runner who is both biologically old and chronologically old. I ran my first ultra marathon in 1977 at the age of 15 years, and have run 258 marathons and ultras.

I started training and racing intensively at the age of 20, ran my marathon PB at age 24 and my Comrades PB at 35, after which I suddenly experienced a rapid decline in my performances. It was as if someone tripped a switch and I was no longer the same runner. To be old both chronologically and biologically is the toughest as not only have we slowed down dramatically, but our recovery from training and racing is also longer.

This decline in performance is due to our racing lifespan of about 10 to 15 years. The limit applies to us all, whether we started running and racing in our youth, or much later. There is supporting evidence from research on the age group record holders at the Two Oceans Marathon, by University of Cape Town in 2000.1 The study showed that damage done by intensive training and racing in earlier years is irreversible. Note we are talking about intensive training and racing; those who are more relaxed will not suffer the same fate.

Runners who do big mileages, and race marathons and ultras suffer the greatest muscle, tendon, and connective tissue damage, and tend to have shorter racing careers. This is not to say that those doing ultras will suddenly have to stop doing them, but it does mean that their performance and recovery will decline and the number of injuries increase.

A rough guide would be that those racing

marathons and ultras can expect a running career of about 10 years, while those racing short distances can expect running careers of about 15 years. It also depends on our genes, and there will be runners who remain competitive for longer.

One person who appears to be the exception to the rule is tough-as-nails Linda Doke. The 49-year-old ultra trail runner set the mixed record for the Drakensberg Traverse in 2015, and podiumed at the Himalayan 100 Mile in 2018. She has been a regular on podiums since 1994 and has run three Tuffer Puffers, three SkyRuns, the Grand Raid of Réunion as well as over 10 Two Oceans and Comrades Marathons. Linda is undoubtably both

Her eyes twinkle with a zest for life. And when she runs, her legs twinkle so fast that she

sets world age group records.

Octogenarian Deirdre Larkin from Randburg is a sprightly 87-year-old who is rewriting world age group records. After breaking the 21km world record for over 85-year-olds at the McCarthy race last year, the Carte Blanche TV team sponsored her for a trip to Geneva where they accompanied her to document her attempt to lower

her own world record. And she rose to the occasion, lowering the record by a further seven minutes to 2:05:13.

Her record-breaking spree brings hope to older runners and raises the question: Is age just a number?

Short answer: no.Sadly age isn’t just a number and there are biological reasons for slowing down as we age. However much depends on what age we started, how many years we have run, and how hard we trained and raced.

There are elite runners who excelled at a young age and who were unable to race at the same level in later years.

An example is the great Bruce Fordyce, who won nine Comrades in his twenties and early thirties. He ran his first Comrades in 1977 when he was 22-years-old, was third in 1979, second in 1980 and started winning

Find out how much time your legs have left with COACH NEVILLE BEETON. There are ways to extend your expiry date by years!

Is age just a number?

Distance complexity The loss in performance is greater in those who do short distances, despite having longer racing careers. Fast running requires a high VO2 max, low body mass, good muscle mass, and good elasticity in the tendons and connective tissue, all of which deteriorate as we age.

To further complicate things, those doing long distance races will find that they can no longer use their times over short distances to predict their performance over longer distances. For instance, by my mid-40s I had slowed down from a 32 minute 10km to 36 minutes. The 36 minutes meant I should theoretically run around 2h48min on a marathon, but could only manage 2h59min despite good training. This was due to the damage to muscles and connective tissue after years of high mileage and long races.

Deirdre Larkin: 87 years youngDeirdre is an 87-year-old retired concert pianist, who at the age of 79 decided to start running. In 2013 she set a new world record for over 80s in the 10km with 54min17s. Last year, she set a new world record for 21km for over 85s in 2h12min36s at the McCarthy race. Then she again smashed this with a 2h05min13s in Geneva.

Did you do sport at school?Lacrosse and tennis, but I wasn’t good at them, and didn’t enjoy them!

Do you follow any particular diet?Very much so. I am a vegetarian. I strictly don’t eat anything with sugar, salt, caffeine, or white flour.

What does your typical training week look like?I attend the Fitness League once a week (The Fitness League teaches rhythmic movement to music to energise and strengthen the whole body. Classes are fun and varied, and include exercises to strengthen abdominals). I run five days a week. Normally I do two races over weekends. I don’t run the day before or after a race.

What is the secret to your success?Perseverance, enjoyment, and a strict diet. The more I run, the more I enjoy it! Before I run, I almost always do exercises for balance, flexibility, and strength. I also stretch.

Tips for older runnersKeep moving gently, and sometimes harder when you feel like it.

Why do you run?I run to keep my body mobile and healthy, but also for the happiness and joy I experience after a run. I feel I have done a good job.😊 Life is movement – so keep moving!

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Bruce Fordyce setting 50 mile world record in 1984. PHOTO SUPPLIED

Linda won the 100 mile Addo Elephant Trail Run women’s trophy in 2016.

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chronologically and biologically old and would appear to break the above rules. The key to her longevity, says Linda, is that “I don’t hammer my body in training. I don’t run when I am sore, and I make sure I rest and recover well from training and races.” This cautious approach to her training and racing has enabled Linda to prolong her racing career and is a good example for those who want a long racing career.

Biological brakesFactors that slow you down over time:

1 VO2 max As we age, our maximum heart rate

declines by about 10% a decade. This means less blood flow to the heart and less oxygen, which in turn means a lower VO2 max (the amount of oxygen our body can transport). A lower VO2 max means slower running.

Regular training, however, can reduce the drop in VO2 max as we age. Sadly, the drop in VO2 max is greater in fit runners than in inactive people, with those who train hard such as runners losing about 10% a decade, but unfit people losing only about 5% a decade. This is because runners started with a higher VO2 max when they were at their peak.2

2Muscle decline. Muscle strength peaks at about 24

years of age and then remains relatively stable, although it has dropped by about 10% by the age of 50.

But after we turn 50 the loss in muscle mass is faster, so that by the age of 80 another 30% has been lost.2 Lower muscle mass means less power and loss in ability to sustain pace.

3 Body fat composition. It’s much harder to keep our

body fat down as we get older and our metabolism slows. Some runners are genetically fortunate and can keep their weight consistent, but most are not that lucky. Higher body fat translates into lower VO2 max and slower running.

4Losing elasticity. Our tendons and connective

tissue need elasticity to help propel us forward, and this elasticity declines as we age. Our Achilles tendons can conserve 35% of the total energy

required during each stride (Farley et al. 1991) so a drop in this percentage will slow us down.

We also become prone to injuries in these areas, particularly the Achilles tendon, says Tim Noakes.

Chronological brakesThese factors are what slow you down over your race career.

1. Intensive training and racing cause repeated muscle, tendon, and connective tissue damage

2. We become more susceptible to injury after years of intensive training and racing

3. It becomes harder to stay mentally focused and keen to train and race

Beat your ageThe question then is which is better, to run intensively at a young age, or rather wait until you are older? It depends on your viewpoint, as we will all run our lifetime best at a younger age, with the ideal age being the late 20s when we are biologically and chronologically young.

This means that training intensively in your 20s will give you the best possible time, however it also means that in your thirties you will start to see a decline in performance.

All of the above means that if you are in your 40s and started racing and training in your 20s, you will be beaten by a runner of similar ability who only

started running in her 40s, as she will not have the years of damage to her muscles, tendons and connective tissue. For this reason, our top age group runners are usually those who started running later in life.

But, enough of the doom and gloom! There are ways to keep running well as we age, so let’s have a look at them!

In a nutshell, the big secret to running well at an older age is high intensity sessions, strength training, lower mileages and more recovery.

We saw that the factors we need to look at are declining VO2 max, declining muscle mass, increasing body weight due to an increase in body fat, loss of connectivity in our tendons and connective tissue and finally, a loss in mental focus as we become tired of racing.

So, the aim is to work on these.

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Cross-training advantageIf you are a competitive cyclist or swimmer at a young age, and then switch to running later on, you can reap the benefits of years of cardiovascular development without having trashed your legs from a weight-bearing exercise such as running. Two of my runners are good examples of this.

Graeme McCallum (pictured) is a former Springbok cyclist who as a master started running a few years ago. He has since represented SA at the World Ultra Trail Champs in France and is also a super-fast roadie. He is able to still use his cardiovascular development from years of top-level cycling.

I have recently started coaching Trudi Maree, an Olympic swimmer who competed at the London Olympics in 2012. She has already come fourth in a trail stage race and it will be very interesting to see how Trudi adjusts to running, as her cardiovascular development is already at a high level.

Oxygen flowSlowing the decline in VO2 max can be done through short, high intensity sessions such as intervals, and hill repeats. To this we can add tempo runs to boost lactate threshold. As we age it becomes a case of “If we don’t use it, we lose it”. The intervals boost VO2 max and the tempo runs are lactate threshold sessions which help you sustain a fast pace for the race.

Examples of VO2 max sessions are 200m, 400m, 800m, and 1km intervals. Tempo runs are done at around your 15-21km race pace and can be done over distances of 4-8km, depending on your fitness.

Muscular strengthTo maintain good muscle mass as we age, we need to do some strength training. Hill running and stairs are excellent for leg strength.

Strengthening exercises can also be done in the gym. If you are new to it, then it is wise to at first have guidance to make sure you do the correct exercises and with correct technique to avoid injury.

It’s also good to do some upper body strength training, and core work remains vitally important. Pilates classes are a fun way to work on your core strength.

Fight fatFighting body fat can be done with sensible eating and high intensity training. Most of us take in too much sugar and processed carbohydrates such as white bread. Cutting out the sugar, wine, beers, and fizzy drinks can make a difference.

Speed sessions incinerate carbohydrates, leading to weight loss, so doing these sessions has a double effect, boosting your VO2 max and trimming your waistline.

Stay flexibleLoss of elasticity in our tendons and connective tissue is harder to fix. Many runners will have scar tissue from years of hard training and racing, and regular massages will help to break down the scar tissue and restore elasticity.

A plyometric exercise such as using a skipping rope is also good for elasticity.

Keep it variedWithout the desire there can be no mental focus. Sometimes we need to try something new for a while, such as cycling. Or if you have always been an ultrarunner, take six months off to work on short distance speed.

As we get older, variety becomes important to prevent getting jaded.

Recover wellIncrease the recovery time. In our twenties we can usually bounce back 48 hours after a hard session. But later on, increase the recovery time between hard sessions to two or three days. At some stage you may find that one hard session a week is all you need and can cope with.

As with everything in life, there is no such thing as a free lunch. There is a cost to the years of hard training and racing and payback time will come to us all at some stage. However, if we train wisely, and avoid over-racing, we can still be out on the trails in our golden years having fun - and we too can twinkle like Deirde.

Bibliography1. Lambert M.I., Keytel L.R. (2000) Training habits of top runners in different age groups in a 56km race. South African Journal of Sports Medicine 7, 27-32

2. Noakes T.D. (2001) The Lore of Running, 4th ed. Cape Town, Oxford University Press.

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NEVILLE BEETON Midrand-based coach for runners of all abilities.

coachneville.co.za CoachNeville CoachNeville

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