Physiology & Age

I noticed today that (look below) Cavedog is 34. I would have thought he was older. Frodo and Stinkyfeet are both in their late 30's, Tim Seaver is in his mid 40's. I know one older member of VFTT who has done 40+ mile endurance dayhikes while in his 60's. However, Sherpa John and Kevin Tilton and so on are in their early 20's. Is there a peak age for endurance related activities such as hiking? I imagine that elevation is different than distance in terms of Age as it seems to me that your body functions completely different when you're going up as opposed to when you're going straight. Does your heart have a peak period in terms of age (assuming you've maintain good fitness throughout your life) and is that separate from the rest of the muscles in your body. I imagine at some point, the limiting factor becomes ligament/cartilage/tendon problems. But the difference between 22 and 42 is HUGE in terms of physiological differences, I think -- one would assume that one of those age categories would excel more in terms of speed/endurance hikes such as the Pemi Loop and Speed Records we've seen recently. Any physiologists out there!?

-Dr. Wu

Interesting question. I have often heard that we reach our overall peak physical condition (potentially, of course) around the age of 27. However, I think its interesting that the majority of ultrathon runners are well above that age.

Artex said:

Interesting question. I have often heard that we reach our overall peak physical condition (potentially, of course) around the age of 27. However, I think its interesting that the majority of ultrathon runners are well above that age.

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Baseball Players, Maybe -- you can find convincing articles on this site about that. But I think that has a lot to do with the degradation of eye-hand coordination (slow decline after age 27) which probably does not come into play (as much) in terms of endurance related activities such as hiking.

-Dr. Wu

Very interesting subject.I don't believe there are any absolutes here as many factors can interact.Muscle development can take many years and many folks donot reach that until their fourties and fifties, while many by thirty have let them selves go.
In the High Altitude arena it is agreed that most Climbers reach their peak between 42 and 52.This may not only be due to a peak in physical condition but also Mental condition.
Experience can play a big part in Physical Peaking and for some that does not come into play until later in life.

Distance runners reach their peak in their thirties, but I know many in their 40s and 50s who are running pretty good times.

I'll be 51 next month and, while I'm no physical specimen, I have no problem with dayhiking 25 miles with elevation in the high peaks. I have been following an AT thruhiker in his 50's (Bob Slawson) who is averaging better than twenty miles a day on the trail. He has logged over 1900 miles at this point.

The point about mental toughness is a good one. Experience teaches us our limits. When I was younger, I didn't have a clue what I could do, or what I couldn't do. Sometimes it got me in trouble, sometimes it caused me to quit earlier than I needed to.

I think it is a matter of staying active and training regularly. The only differences I have noticed with age is that my foot speed and quickness have slowed a bit (ok, a lot), and my recovery times from a hard workout or injury is a bit longer. Oh yeah, and everything hurts when I wake up in the morning.

As a 49 year old avid hiker and runner I find the subject rather interesting. I believe that one peaks later in life for endurance sports than for sprinting sports. The elastic content of ligaments, tendons and muscles diminishes with aging. One's max heart rate supposedly decreases with age as well allthough I also read that if you train continuously it remains the same over the years.

Silverback mentions a key point: recovery. It takes longer for us older guys to recover after a workout or hike. Therefore, it is more difficult (for me anyway) to be in the same condition as I was 10 years ago because I have to take more days off to recover. After some bigger hikes I need 2 or even 3 days off before I can start running again. Also, if I rest for 2 full days before a hike I have a LOT more juice.
As for running, I find that speed work is very hard on my muscles and tendons.

This is an interesting topic. As a former competitive cyclist and triathlete I used to have a lot of these discussions with friends and I think the comparisons of young vs. old can only really be made at the elite level...once you dip into the recreational level there are too many variables like jobs, family and other committments that can affect the recreational athlete's ability to train, therefore destroying the level playing field for comparison purposes. If you compare the times of elite athletes by age group, you'll find that there's some pretty fast old guys out there.

That said, for endurance sports, in general, I think peak age is late 20's to early 30's. Its interesting to note that the "Best Young Rider" jersey in the Tour de France is awarded to the highest placed rider under age 26. I think this sort of recognizes the fact that endurance athletes (at least at a world class level) need to mature into their sport by developing a strong training base which can take considerable time. I know lots of marathoners that ran middle distance events in high school/college that gradually moved up to the longer distances. For recreational athletes, age is almost never a limiting factor, in my opinion. I think muscle/skeletal conditioning and motivation (lack thereof) are....I'm 57 and I know the reason I don't run 3 hour marathons isn't my age !!

there are other factors at work as well. Someone famous once said "Youth is wasted on the young". Very few of us would meet your assumption of having maintained good fitness throughout their life. Look at some of the other threads on here and what many did when they were younger. Too much partying or smoking 4 packs a day or whatever.

I'm only in my early 30's (ok, mid-30's) but I could hike circles around the me of 10 or 15 years ago. Granted my knees were better then, but my knee problems come from an unfortunate spill on a standing seam roof 4 winters ago, so that doesn't really count. Probably when I'm 40, I'll do better than now, if I stay as active as I am now. When I was 20ish, I was pretty lazy, stayed out too late, drank too much, etc. One thing I wish I still had from back then was being able to eat as much as I wanted and not exercising enough and still not gaining weight.

I think the mentally issue is much more important than some people think. Mentally, I think I am better shape now than in my 20s. Though I can't say I was a big hiker/outdoors person until I was mostly in my mid 20s. I biked a lot in College, after college and mountain biked alot but I never was much into hiking, kayaking, etc. until I was in the mid to upper 20s. I don't think I had the patience to go as slow as hikers

Now, I'm happy just floating downriver in my kayak but I still enjoy the 20+ mile dayhikes too. I just mix it up with other hobbies.

Jay

I've always believed that there is a God-given gift of Oxygen-uptake and the correct mix of slow-twitch and fast twitch muscle fiber conferred on a few.
Those lucky enough can coast along and do what we mere mortals need to work at.
There are others who take that gift and really train to take it further. Those few are the ones you read about and see on Sportscenter.

I know of a guy with a resting pulse in the 30's. He used every physical labor as a training excercise. That meant mowing the lawn or shovelling snow. He also trained like a maniac. He'd never been on skis before, tried out an inexpensive pair a couple of times on a snow railroad bed, and then entered a 35 mile x-c ski race across a lake. He came in 2nd or 3rd with a thousand experienced racers. I have another friend in his mid 50's. Until his knees couldn't carry him any longer, he used to race, on little training, and run 10k to 25k races at upper 5min to lower 6min pace.
Another good friend told me he used to be on the track team in HS, but hadn't laced up his sneakers in 10 years. We made a bet whether he could still run at a competitve pace in an upcoming road race. He casually practiced 5 or 6 times in the 2 weeks before the race and came in first in front of 500 runners.

There are those who just "have it" and then there's those like the majority of us who never will, but do our best to hang in there. I do think real, long distance, non-pounding endurace favors the slightly older athletes. I'd love to see what the gift feels like for just 1 year.

i agree w peakbagger. when i was in my twenties i had a resting pulse rate of 40 and w/o any traing could run my dad's marathon training buds into the ground. Now pushing 50 (& still no training) i seem to have lost my mojo (actually lost i about 39). BUT - i have a friend who is 58 and go/run ALL DAY w/o any training just on pure god givem genes YET he is a full on diabetoic (adult onset). go figure???

Interesting thread, and one that as a coach of a competitive sport (swimming) that requires both endurance and power/speed training, I have a little understanding of the subject. I'm also someone that is still competitive and do quite a bit of "training" myself (and some competing). Here are some things I've learned.

First, there are very complex scientific answers to these (and similar) issues as it pertains to age and endurance performance. There are few absolutes and exceptions abound.

I'd say when it comes to Seever and other older Endurance based athletes mentioned, they probably have a fair bit of genetic factors that predispose them to better endurance performance than the rest of us. They also train a little harder and take advantage of those factors (see below) through increased fitness. When it comes to their peers in there age bracket, there is no comparison. With the younger athletes listed, they may have similar factors going for them, but they also have youth as well, and it's well known that it's easier to "get fit and stay fit" when your in your in your 20s than it is in your 40s".

As for a peak age, its hard to say, and it individual. Getting older does cause a general loss in the ability to work at higher physical levels (just look at a heart rate chart as it relates to age ). But that doesn't mean that you can't perform at very high-levels well into your later years. Read the boring science below for more details, Stop here if not

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{boring science stuff}

There are a -FEW FACTORS- that are primary to ANY endurance based activity and the performance of such. Probably the single most important is oxygen uptake (VO2 Max being the primary measure of it). Your VO2 max determines the point at which your body transitions from aerobic and anaerobic work. Within the aerobic (oxygen rich) systems, your body can withstand prolonged work without generating the "dreaded" Lactic acidosis, which causes eventual muscle breakdown and failure, that is the hallmark of anaerobic work. Lots of other things effects oxygen uptake (and your VO2 max value) as well.

One is muscle composition; muscle (engine) tissue is generally comprised of two types of fibers, (-slow and fast twitch-). Slow twitch fibers contain more mitochondria and myoglobin which make them more efficient at using oxygen to generate ATP (muscle's gasoline) without generating lactic acid, and that leads to higher better oxygen uptake and higher VO2 Max levels.

Generally, the population has a 50/50 split between slow & fast twitch muscle, however due to genetics, some people have higher percentages of either type that causes them to be better at activities that call upon those specific muscle types. Some of the worlds best marathon runners have been measured with up to 80% slow twitch fibers, while the exact opposite is true of world class power burst sprinters..

Other factors have to do with body composition, gender and very importantly, fitness. VO2 max can be "trained" through specific types of focused training. I used to be significantly overweight and sedentary. About 4 years ago I started running to "lose weight" and increase fitness. I've run, hiked, swam and cycled pretty religiously for the last 4 years (5-6 times a week). Because I'm curious about these things (throgh coaching), I've been using the -COOPER TEST- to measure my VO2 max every 6 months, as I've gotten in better and better shape.

As my fitness has increased and my ability to run steady state (within the aerobic systems) for increased periods of time, my VO2 has likewise gone up. I started at around 39 mls/kg/min (at aged 33) to around 52.4 mls/kg/min (last year at age 37). You can see that despite my increasing age, I'm still able to "train" my VO2 Max to a higher level, which in turn allows me to perform at WAAAAAAAAAAAAY higher endurance levels then I could when I was sedentary (and younger).

So, if you accept this thumbnail science, it's pretty easy to see why some individuals (Frodo, Seever, Stinkyfeet, et al) can still perform above the "less genetically predisposed" many years younger.

Sorry if this TOO long and boring.

Age

I hae read in the past that you cannot increase your muscle mass after 35-40...you can strengthen what you have, but you cannot do what you could have at 20. I have also read that the serious mountaineers reach there peaks around 40-45 and are not as strong after that.
Like others have said...a lot of us are in real good shape now and can do more that we could when we were younger and lazier.

I can once again go back to my cycling background on this one. Endurance athletes tend to reach their "peak" years from around 28-33.
Now the thing that I have noticed as a racer is that the guys who have raced for the past 10+ years seem to have an easier time getting "up to speed" at the beginning of each new season. We attribute this to the fact that perhaps while a 20 year old is young and can get fit, he may only have 10-20,000 miles in his legs if he started in his mid teens as a serious cyclist.
While the 38 year old has closer to 150,000 miles in their legs. It is just a theory that a few of us have. The muscles "remember" easier how to get going.
It might also have to do with them staying in better shape over the winter, while the younger guys goof off more, knowing that they have youth on their side.
But I do know to answer your question, that between the ages or 28-33 (approximately) you're in your peak endurace sport years.

On last thing

In support of what onrhodes just posted.

-HERE- is a published study of "the effects of aging on physiological functional capacity in humans to analyze the peak exercise performance of highly trained athletes with increasing age". It deal with "physiological functional" (both endurance and speed) but the results indicate ~25-40 (men) and 30-35 (women) as endurance age peaks.

Keep in mind, everyone's different..... www.xbigman.com

results indicate ~25-40 (men)

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yup, knew it, that's exactly when i lost me mojo! (40) it's all downhill from here (except for those d-mn false summits...)

It's all relative, I'll be hitting 60 in two weeks, I can't hike as fast as I used to 20 years ago, but I have as much stamina, it's just used in a slower way. And the older I get, the more I appreciate my trips to the woods!

Walk softly and carry hiking poles, or a big stick.

In terms of physiology: in HS (12 years ago now) I achieved very modest success in track & cross coutry. Had my team not been filled with elite runners (on the national level) perhaps I would have been one of the better athletes on the team. However, I did benefit from the ability to observe the difference between me, a "B-" athlete and several "A+" athletes...

1) Training vs. Natural Ability: To attain the limited successes I achieved I had to train train train and then balance that with burnout on top of it. The elite athletes with minimal (or sometimes zero) training could beat me. With training on the level I trained they could slaughter me. I assume this is genetics or maybe I just have a crappy, tin-can heart that doesn't work all that great.

2) Confidence: I was very good at psyching myself out on the mental level. My collegues were not. Enough said.

3) Pain Threshold: I suspect that mine was lower than the elite runners. I'd reach a point in a race where I simply couldn't take it anymore and would just give up. The other runners in question simply never reached this level or cut-off zone if you might.

Twelve years later I'm back in fairly good shape, going to the gym every day, running in addition, hiking every weekend etc. I find that of the above, 1) is a factor but not so much so long as I really train. I could never reach an elite level but I can do a 20, 25, maybe even 30 mile hike if need be. 3) It seems like these days if I don't regulate my breathing and bloodpressure I get screwed on steep uphills. I wonder if my problems with "pain threshold" in the past stemmed from poor breathing technique. I don't know. And lastly, 2) confidence: well, this is difficult -- generally if I'm confident I can do something I'll just do it. When I hike alone I'm more likely to psyche myself out than when I go with other people. I also tend to get overexcited and post really bizarre hikes in Trip&Events that I can't do. I don't think it's the confidence that gets me with those, just over enthusiasm! Maybe if I had SherpaJohn's confidence though I'd be able to do more of my overenthusiastic hikes.

In terms of Age, well at 30 I feel a little older than 18, obviously. I gained a lot of weight and was pretty unhealthy in my early to mid 20's but since then I've gotten into pretty good shape and I'm pushing myself even harder these days. Hopefully harder = harder and more intelligently as well. In terms of endurance, I hope that I have many years ahead and at least it seems encouraging that there's a prospect that with proper training I could actually improve from the level I was in 12 years ago, in HS.

-Dr. Wu