Your capacity to recover quickly from long or intense bouts of physical activity will also decline, but you can do something about it.

How does age affect your fitness?

A number of  studies over the years have shown:

• You reach your physical peak some time between the ages of 20 and 35.
• During early middle age, physical activity declines and there’s a 5-10kg increase in body fat. This decline in physical activity continues into old age.
• Your maximum heart rate declines, and your maximum oxygen uptake also declines by about 1% per year. Oxygen uptake is crucial as most of your muscle energy is made by combining oxygen with the fuel in your body (carbs, and fat). The faster you transport and use oxygen, the faster you can go, and the longer you can keep going for.
• The mass of fast twitch muscle fibres, needed to produce power for high intensity exercise, declines sharply between the ages of 31-40 (about 3% per annum), and then continues to decline at about 1% per annum after that.

It’s not sounding too hopeful so far is it? However, there’s no reason to  throw in the towel just yet. Most of the studies that have arrived at the above conclusions have been based on declines in physical ability relative to an individual’s maximum exercise capacity, so if you’ve not been working at your maximum exercise capacity, (and most of the population other than elite athletes haven’t been), then you actually have a pretty good chance of maintaining your current physical ability, or in fact improving on past performance. With the right types and amount of training (including recovery and nutrition) you can actually win back more fitness than time takes away from you!

Looking at it another way, your maximum ability will decrease with age, no question about that, but by operating  closer and closer to your maximum ability each year, you can maintain or improve on, current fitness levels. How awesome is that?

Other studies show that age-related decline is greater in non-athletes than athletes, and as you age, the benefit you gain from vigorous activity is the same relative to the benefits younger people get from the same training.

Train Smart

Another great thing about getting older is that you have wisdom on your side. You are far more likely to treat your body with reverence, rather than disregard, taking better care of the recovery side of the athletic equation, and you’re more likely to approach training and exercise a little more scientifically than your younger counterparts.

A recent Australian study offers more good news. It found that age-related performance declines tended to be pretty insignificant in the area of aerobic performance. The study looked at the relative rates of change across the 3 energy systems across a 30 year age range. Very briefly, the 3 energy systems are:

1. The phosphocreatine system which is the main energy source for short bursts of intense exercise (up to 10 seconds) 
2. The lactate system – for bursts of maximal exercise lasting up to 3 minutes-involves the breakdown of carbohydrate without oxygen
3. The aerobic system for longer, less intense exercise – fat and carbs are broken down in the presence of oxygen

The research tested men and women aged 35-64 years. As expected, there were significant changes in anearobic performance with aging (that’s the more intense stuff using mainly the first and second of the three energy systems above). What was unexpected however was that peak aerobic power hardly changed at all with age. There was a slight decline of about 1.8% per year, which the researchers found to be statistically insignificant.

These results show a couple of things about aging. One, if you’re a runner, cyclist, skier, whatever your discipline, switching to longer distances where aerobic power becomes more important, could see your performance decline less significantly as you age, at least into your mid 60’s. It also shows that aneorbic type training will become more important as you age. You’ll need to be operating at or close to your maximum capacity to counteract the natural effects of aging.

What about much older athletes?

Should you keep training into very old age, or is there a point when you should just give up because you’re too old? Well it depends on your mental state I guess, and whether you still enjoy exercising, and the benefits it brings. One study of 9 life long endurance athletes with an average age of 81 looked at their aerobic capacity, and how much oxygen their bodies can use. The results of the study led the researchers to conclude “To our knowledge, the VO2 max of these lifelong endurance athletes…[is] comparable to non-endurance trained men of some 40 years younger. The superior cardiovascular and skeletal muscle health profile of the octogenarian athletes provides them with a large functional reserve above the aerobic frailty threshold and is likely to be associated with lower risk for disability and mortality.” (Journal Applied Physiology, 2013 Jan 1;114(1):3-10

Summary

It would seem that to a large extent, the decline of performance in all but highly trained athletes as we age, is more a function of a lack of enthusiasm to train – call it what you will, laziness and apathy, lack of time, lack of interest, lack of knowledge, lack of motivation. For whatever reason, many of us, as we age, fall prey to the ravages of time far more quickly than is biologically necessary. Much of the measured and documented decline in performance of moderately fit members of the population is not inevitable as we age. We simply need to lift our game and keep exercising!

What can we do about it?

• Train smart. Make sure each session you do is focused on developing specific aspects of your fitness. Know why you’re doing a particular session. Given we need more time to recover as we age, every session has to count.
• Be flexible. Know your body, and adjust your training plan according to how you’re feeling. The generic half marathon training programs you can download from any race website may not be designed with 40 or 50 somethings in mind.
• Allow longer recovery periods after particularly long or hard training sessions.
• Pay careful attention to your nutrition. If you’re training for a long distance event, make sure you get fast release carbs and proteins into your body withing 30 minutes of completing a training session.
• If you’re not into training for an event, good nutrition is just as important for you too. Ensure your diet is good at least 80% of the time, and really enjoy the other 20%.
• Maximal capacity of strength and power, along with flexibility, decline more rapidly as you age, meaning you have to work a little harder in those areas. Incorporate strength and power training into your weekly training regime. If you’re a runner, this will be in the form of interval training and some resistance training. If you’re only just starting out on the exercise path, try including a session when you walk some hills at least once/week, gradually increasing the number of repetitions or gradient of the hill as you become stronger.
• As you continue competing in fun runs as you age, you’ll be less proportionately disadvantaged if you go for longer events, however that needs to be balanced with the amount of training your body can cope with. You can use the age-graded percentage tables to compare yourself to athletes of different ages, or your younger self!
• Your body will be more able to cope with more running miles, if you have some good strength and conditioning incorporated into your training
• There’s no need to stop training as you get older. If you’re not already exercising, start sensibly now, and you should be able to keep it up into your 80’s and 90’s!

With the weather warming up, it’s time to think about b-b-q’s and partying.

Try this high fibre, quick and easy smashed bean dip this weekend. Serve with vegetable crudites, or toasted Lebanese bread, or favourite in our house, Mountain Bread wraps toasted in the oven.

When I was a teenager (so a very long time ago) you used to be able to buy “lemon pepper” as a bottled spice. It was great to sprinkle on Lebbo bread before baking, but you could used any spices – chilli, cumin, maybe a little lemon myrtle.

Smashed Been Dip

This amount is enough for a good sized snack for 4-5 people.

Ingredients

• 400g tinned cannellini beans, rinsed and drained
• 400g tinned chickpeas, rinsed and drained
• 2 lemons, juice, zest 1
• 2 garlic cloves, crushed
• 2 tsp ground cumin
• 100ml greek yogurt

Cooking method

1. Put half the beans and chickpeas into a food processor with the lemon juice, garlic, cumin and yogurt, then whizz until smooth. Tip in the rest of the beans and pulse once to get a very chunky dip. Stir in the lemon zest and plenty of seasoning.

Here’s the nutritional breakdown.

Calories
172

Carbs
22.0g

Fat
5.0g

Fibre
6.0g

Protein
11.0g

Salt
1.0g

Sugars
3.0g

 

7 years ago, Steve Way was a 20-a-day ciggie puffing couch potato, weighing just under 105kgs. Last month, he spent 2 hours and 15 minutes running a marathon, and placed 10th in the Commonwealth Games.

What an amazing turnaround, and in my experience, not the usual result when someone draws a line in the sand and says “enough!”

 

Take Action

The message here is pretty clear though. We all have the capacity to change.  You have to take action. Just something little, could lead to something big. But if you want your life to change, you have to DO something, and preferably do something today.

And whilst we’re on the subject of doing, could someone PLEASE DO SOMETHING about the weather. It’s been raining here pretty much every day for 3 weeks now – very unAustralian-and we are all over it! (sorry, I just looked out my window to witness yet another downpour)

Steve Way didn’t just say he’d like to run a marathon one day, and then keep on smoking and drinking himself to an early death, he changed his life by changing his habits. I’m not sure that seven years ago the marathon was even on his radar, but by changing his habits, he opened the door to an amazing opportunity.

I hope I don’t hear you saying you’re “too old” to change your habits. After the Commonwealth Games run, Way is now the holder of the over 40’s British marathon record, so he’d had plenty of time to develop some fairly well ingrained bad habits.

People Like You

In my work, I have the pleasure and privilege of seeing women go from literally not being able to run for more than a couple of minutes, to being able to comfortably and confidently run for 30-40 minutes a few times a week. Some of the women who join our Learn to Run group go on to run half marathons, marathons, and we’ve even had one Ironman! I received a lovely note from Bec after she completed the Ironman. Amongst other things she said…

“5 years ago I couldn’t run to my letter box without feeling like I would die. Last Saturday I completed my first ironman in New Zealand : 3.8km swim; 180km bike and 42.2 km run. I can’t believe I did it…. I felt the same sense of achievement after learning to run with you guys. I never thought I could do that and I did. Thank you so much for your help guidance and support over the years . You helped set me on a much healthier life path”.

Of course, like the marathon, the Ironman is not for everyone, and certainly not for me, but it’s pretty amazing to think that 5 years before her Ironman, Bec had 3 girls under the age of five, and whilst I know she could run a bit further than her letter box, five minutes would probably have been her limit.

To the outsider, Steve and Bec were just two average punters heading for a less than healthy middle age. Now they are both a long long way from that.

You won’t create a better version of yourself by sitting around thinking positive thoughts all day. Creating a better version of yourself means doing things differently, making what are sometimes brave, life-changing decisions, and never giving up.

If you’d like some help to Learn to Run, or you’d like to join one of our advanced interval training groups, drop us a line and we’ll get in touch.

More on Steve Way  –  it’s well worth a read.

The tragic collapse of a young man just metres short of the City to Surf finish line this year, and his subsequent death, begs the questions “How, or why, did this happen?” and “Could this happen to me?”

When word goes out that a runner has died of a heart attack, many people begin to question the wisdom of running a lot. After all, shouldn’t long distance running training make these people immune to heart disease?

I’d like to point out a few facts here:

• Shocking and tragic as it is for someone to die in a running event, the incidence of cardiac arrest during or shortly after a running event is very low.

• The biggest health problem in Australia today is definitely NOT over exercise

• Exercising does NOT make you immune to heart disease, and if you think you can exercise away the effects of a crap diet, then you are wrong!

 

There have been many studies on the effects of marathon racing and long distance training for running events as well as other disciplines such as triathlon and cross country skiing, and not surprisingly the results do not give us a definitive answer to the question “how much exercise is too much?”. The science does show, that overall, distance running and racing are not likely to kill you – which is little consolation to those people who in fact, it does appear to kill.

 

Does Exercise Damage Your Heart?
If you’ve ever raced for around the 2 hour plus mark, you wouldn’t be surprised if someone told you the race caused damage to your body. Of course it did. You can barely walk, and forget about getting on and off the loo in a hurry!

According to research published in Mayo Clinic Proceedings, the effort is also likely to have caused some damage to your heart. In the past, this damage has thought to have been only temporary, and that the heart repairs itself to its healthy state after a few weeks. However, the Mayo report shows that the damage to the heart of an endurance athlete can actually build up over time. Repeated extreme exercise, such as long distance racing – can cause a build-up of scar tissue on the heart. Scar tissue is the result of the body repairing itself, but an excessive build up of fibrous connective tissue around the heart can be dangerous. Termed patchy myocardial fibrosis, the researchers found this condition in 12% of marathon runners studied.

Dr James O’Keefe, one of the study’s, authors, says that the effects are a cumulative thing. Whilst he doesn’t say just how much exercise is the right amount, he does suggest that aiming at even three marathons a year is “not a great goal”. Exactly when heart damage starts to kick in is unknown, and will differ from person to person. In discussions with my own doctor, she has mentioned she is finding more and more (mostly) men who have been distance runners presenting with heart problems, which she acknowledges may be due to excessive exercise. A runner herself, she doesn’t make the statement lightly.

Some studies reveal up to 50% of runners, immediately after a marathon, show increased levels of enzymes and biomarkers that are traditionally released during a heart attack. The actual incidence of people suffering a heart attack during or immediately after a marathon is pretty small, however, so what’s going on? Other researchers have suggested that these biomarkers are being released from skeletal muscle, rather than the heart.

 

So who’s right?
The biggest study of cardiac arrests and deaths in marathons and half marathons is the RACER study (Race Associated Cardiac Arrest Registry). This study concluded that “Long distance running races are associated with low overall risk of cardiac arrest and sudden death.”

The authors show that rates of cardiac arrest in distance runners are lower than those in 18-22 year olds involved in college sports, lower than those involved in triathlons, and similar to those amongst healthy joggers and “avid recreational exercisers” “The risk associated with long distance running events is equivalent to or lower than the risk experienced in other vigorous physical activity.”

The lead author of the RACER study is cardiologist Aaron Baggish, who also happens to be a keen runner with a marathon PB of 2:49. The study tracked 10.9 million runners who participated in marathons and half marathons from January 2000 to May 2010. Out of these 10.9m runners, the study found 59 “cardiac arrests,” defined as a fallen, unconscious runner with no discernible pulse. Seventeen of these runners were subsequently resuscitated and survived, while 42 died.

 

The Results

• The rate of cardiac arrests in marathons was found to be about 4 times that of half marathons, leading researchers to believe the marathon distance fatigues the heart more
• The risk of having a heart attack in a marathon is 1.01 per 100,000 participants
•  The death risk from heart attack in a marathon is .63/100,000.
• On these figures, big marathons would expect one heart attack for every 99,000 runners, and one death for every 158,000 runners.
• The highest risk group was men running marathons, with a cardiac-arrest incidence of 1.41/100,000, or one per 70,900 runners.
•  Men have about a five times higher risk than women for both heart attacks and death.
•  Hyponatremia (low blood sodium level usually caused by drinking too much water) and heat stroke are “uncommon causes” of heart attack and death
• Aspirin probably doesn’t reduce heart attacks in runners
• Most cardiac arrests occur in the last 6 miles of the marathon and last 3 miles of the half-marathon.
• The 71% death rate among the cardiac-arrest runners is considerably lower than the 92% death rate for similar out-of-hospital events, probably due to the large number of medical teams at the finish, and the likely quick access to a defibrillator.

The study was able to look at clinical information for 31 of the 59 runners who suffered cardiac arrest. The clinical information showed:

• No evidence of dislodged plaque in autopsies of those who had cardiac arrests. The belief had previously been that middle-aged men suffered exercise heart attacks when a chunk of cholesterol plaque broke free from an artery and lodged elsewhere.
• Autopsies found signs for what is called “demand ischemia” which basically means that more oxygen was needed than could be supplied. This might speak to the high percentage of heart attacks that occur near the finish line of races, rather than along the course. If you already have a fatigued heart and you suddenly break into a sprint that requires more oxygen, you might be pushing your heart past the point of no return!
• The study found the biggest cause of cardiac arrests and deaths was “definite/probable hypertrophic cardiomyopathy.” This is a mostly genetic condition believed to be the cause of many of the cardiac arrests among young athletes (under age 35) in all sports.
• If you are younger than 35, and suffer a heart attack while running, you are more likely to have a tough-to-resuscitate cardiomyopathy than the slightly less serious ischemic heart disease.
• Eight out of 8 survivors (100 percent) in this clinical-information subgroup received CPR on the course. Among non survivors, only 43 percent received CPR.
• There has been an increasing risk of heart attacks amongst male runners in the last five years (2005-2010) vs 2000-2004. The authors felt this could be a result of more high-risk men with hidden cardiac disease taking up running, in the hope of seeing health benefits

 

What are we to make of all this?

Well, firstly, not very many people die doing a marathon or half marathon.

Secondly, no-one every climbed Mt Everest for their health. I don’t say this flippantly. I just mean if you want to challenge yourself, there will be some risks, but there are things you can do to minimise those risks.

 

Reducing Your Risk of a Running Related Heart Attack
Whilst statistics show that the overall risk of anyone dying in a marathon or half marathon is low, you can reduce your individual risk factor in a number of ways

• Move frequently. Sitting at a desk all day and then getting a dose of exercise is not optimal for your health. Getting a dose of vigorous exercise is no more important for your health than moving regularly throughout the day. And by regularly, I mean don’t sit for longer than 30 mins at a time – and better still, not more than 20 minutes.
• Don’t sprint at the end of a long distance race, particularly if you are not trained to do so. You are far more likely to suffer from an ischemic attack if your already fatigued heart cannot get enough oxygen in due to you being a hero
• Break up your training to give your heart a rest. Don’t train for long distance events year round. Train in several blocks per year. You might spend 6-10 weeks twice a year training for shorter races such as 5 or 10kms, and slot your longer distance training blocks between these.
• Be sensible about the number of longer races you race each year. If you’re truly pushing yourself during the race, and you do a lot of training to prepare for the race, one marathon in a 12 months period might be enough, and two half marathons should be the limit.
• In order to find out if your heart has scarring or damage, you could get an MRI, CT scan or echocardiogram – but that’s a bit full on
• Get adequate sleep. For adults this is between 7 and 9 hours per night.
• Don’t race if you’re not up to it. You can still participate in the run, without actually racing it. Sometimes, you have to accept that you’re underdone, and ease back a bit.
• Eat a healthy, balanced and varied diet, which includes junk food only very occasionally. No amount of physical activity can make up for a crap diet.

Signs of  Heart Attack

If you compete in distance events, you need to be aware of, and monitor yourself for, signs of heart problems. Warning signs include:

• chest discomfort or squeezing
• throat tightness
• pain that radiates into the jaw or left arm
• unusual tiredness that can’t be put down to an increased training load or lack of sleep
• recent infection (not in itself a sign of heart problems, but it could put more load on your heart)
• unexplained drop off in performance which you can’t put down to over training could indicate something is wrong with your hear
• sudden heart palpitations

Of course it’s possible to experience some or all of the above signs and symptoms, and have absolutely no problems with your heart, but if something doesn’t seem quite right, ask your doctor to check it out.

You should be particularly aware of any kind of discomfort in your chest which appears during exercise, then stops afterwards. Angina frequently does not present as sharp pain. Symptoms include squeezing sensations in the chest, and feelings of pressure or chest tightness.

It’s likely that many people who suffer a heart attack actually had a fair number of warning signs in the weeks leading up to the incident, but they either didn’t know what to look out for, or shrugged it off as unimportant.

If you think there’s something wrong, there usually is, so do something about it.

Having said that, I once underwent a series of tests for my heart as I was experiencing pain in my chest, down my left arm and into my jaw when running. The pain would stop as soon as I stopped running. I was pretty sure there wasn’t anything seriously wrong, as I happened to be wearing a heart rate monitor a couple of the times it happened, and there was no change in my heart rate during these episodes. None the less, I had it checked out. After wearing a heart monitor for 24 hours, and having lots of pictures taken of my heart, I had a good massage around my shoulder area and the pain disappeared. It was rather what I suspected, but I would have felt a dreadful fool if I hadn’t had it checked out and had a heart attack on the massage table!

 

Running Shoe Tying: Heel Lock

Tying your running shoe the right way can make all the difference between a snug fit and a poorly fitting shoe. Take a look at how to tie your running shoes to keep your heel firmly where it should be.

httpv://youtu.be/9e3sp-hpd8U

Running Shoe Lace Tying to Prevent Black Toenails

Some of my runners complain about their running shoes wearing out on the top above their big toe. Others worry about unsightly black toenails. This simple shoelace tying technique will help with both of those problems. Combine this technique with the heel lock technique and you’ll have a great fitting shoe.

 

httpv://youtu.be/23KdQwCGnLY