Masters racing is pointless if you've trained hard in your youth

Just ask Bernard Lagat who actually ran many of his PRs after age 35 and a 13.06 5000m after turning 40. Heck the 50-54 masters record for the 5000 is sub 15 so unless someone was truly elite in their 20s with the proper training they can definitely set PRs later in life and even if they were elite as Lagat shows they can still improve their PRs for certain distances and stay competitive.

I was an okay runner in HS but nothing special I did it for fun and didn't really train that much. I ran sub 5 minute miles on the track and did a lot of 10Ks in the mid-30s not slow but not super fast; I really just enjoyed being outside and getting fresh air.

After turning 40 and finding myself out of shape I got back into running and after two years have started to set PRs for the 5K and 10K and have been loving it. I find I'm more dedicated to training and more motivated to push myself than I was at 17. I'm competitive in my age group and that is fun and a great way to meet new friends. I haven't tried to do shorter distances and I may not be able to run a 4:50 mile anymore but that's besides the point.

Or Al Oerter who threw the discus farther in his 40s and 50s than he did setting a PR when he won the Olympic Gold Medal at age 32.

I'm not going to question anyone who keeps running competitively as long as they're still very close to PR shape.

If you're 40 and run a 5:00 mile, it's worth it if your lifetime PR is 4:56. But if you're at an age where you can only manage a 5:00 mile despite hard training when your lifetime PR is 4:10, why bother?

There is a difference between you not understanding the point and the activity being pointless. If it doesn't make sense to you, that's fine. But others may like the challenge, may benefit from the motivation that the race validation gives to remain active as they age.

And some of us really like training hard in multiple sports. I train pretty hard in running, cycling, skiing and XC skiing. I compete in none of them except for a rare (approx once a year) road race.

If you still enjoy training and racing, then why not? Granted you will never hit the times that you hit 20 or 30 years ago, but it is still relative. I'm 53, seldom race, but still enjoy training and enjoy using strava. I like to stay fit, and challenge myself, even if it is just to improve my times on strava segments. Every day that I get a run in, is a win for me!

SeattleSilver wrote:

There is a difference between you not understanding the point and the activity being pointless. If it doesn't make sense to you, that's fine. But others may like the challenge, may benefit from the motivation that the race validation gives to remain active as they age.

And some of us really like training hard in multiple sports. I train pretty hard in running, cycling, skiing and XC skiing. I compete in none of them except for a rare (approx once a year) road race.

Yes, this is it, isn't it? For prove me wrong training and competing as a masters runner may not be fun at all, so there's no point. For someone else it might be fun. prove me wrong might prefer painting for all we know.

It is not depressing if you recognize that you become very different when older, almost like a different person. It is not different if you can stop comparing yourself to some other person (that you formerly were).

It is not depressing if you view running as and end in itself, and not simply a means to an end where the end is a fast time.

I have been running fairly seriously for 50 years and can say that the challenge, focus and effort required to run your best in any given year feels very similar now than when I was much younger and faster. I enjoy that challenge, and the process of effort just as much now as ever.

It is not depressing if you plan plans, not results.

It is not depressing if you meet the current person that you are today (whomever. wherever that may be) and try to challenge that person to improve.

Why do you run in high school? Older runners would bury you.

Why do you run in college? You likely suck compared to those guys in Africa who aren't competing in the NCAA.

you're right, whats your bank account so i can wire you my money, living as an old person is pointless.

How can I PROVE you wrong on an opinion about what some people enjoy doing? If they enjoy it that's the point. There's nothing to prove.

Is aging the enemy?

I've learned so much from navigating these changes, rising to meet them, mustering the fortitude to negotiate them with finesse, understanding, and resolve.

Is that not worthwhile in its own right?

I wouldn't say so.

It's made me what I am.

it's all about the AGE GRADE wrote:

prove me wrong wrote:

But if a no talent guy trains his ass off to run his 23:00 5K PR, good for him! He's achieving his lifetime potential. But a 60 year old training his ass off now to run a 23:00 5K when his PR is sub 17 from 1985? That's a depressing waste of time.

But if that 'guy' is actually a 'gal', then her 23min 5k on the roads at age 60 is NATIONAL CLASS, which takes some talent.

That system is a joke. 80% is defined as "national class", which means that a 25 year old guy running an 11.97 100 would be considered national class (Bolt's 9.58 / 11.97 = 0.8003 = 80%).

In reality, that 11.97 won't let you walk on to a D1 college, let alone be considered as national class. It might get you a spot on your HS 4x1 team, though, so maybe "neighborhood class" would be more accurate?

Why are you reading this forum? I guarantee you that nothing you read on letsrun.com will even come remotely close to the best thing you have ever read in your life. Get some other hobby, like bowling or something.

So much to learn, Grasshopper wrote:

Why do you run in high school?

Why do you run in college?

Because getting faster from year to year is awesome, while getting slower from year to year just sucks.

The beauty of amateur running is that when you lace up your shoes, you decided when, why, how far, how fast or if to head out the door at all. You can decide to run 1 mile per week, 10, 20 or 120, or not at all. It's up to each individual runner to decide what type and amount of running has a point, or doesn't, because it doesn't make a damn bit of difference to anyone else. If you think doing so is pointless, then you shouldn't do it. But if you think there's a point, do it. No one gets to decide that for anyone else.

I personally love running. Getting out in the sun on a nice day. Running easy pace to some great music. Feeling the breeze on me as I speed up and run faster, or at least what feels fast to me. That warm glow I often feel at the end of a long, long run. The sense of accomplishment when I run a workout I know 99.9% of people I know, couldn't do. Running a new trail in the sun, or a stretch of road I've never run before. The feeling that my body is injury free and able to run.

PRs are a worthy goal. But they're not the only goal. The process is the goal. It makes no difference if I'm beating Kiphchogei, my younger self, older self, or no one at all. It makes me feel good and I enjoy it. I enjoyed it when I ran track in 8th grade, before I even knew of the concept of a "personal record." I enjoy it now decades later. Every day that I'm healthy enough to run 1 mile, 10 miles or 26.2, fast or slow, is a good day. Whether or not the other 7 billion people on Earth think it has a point or not, doesn't change that.

prove me wrong wrote:

Because getting faster from year to year is awesome, while getting slower from year to year just sucks.

I'm 27, male.

10 years ago at ages 17/18 I ran my personal bests in the mile(4:28) and 5k (16:55)

Right now at 27 I'm running 4:51 for the mile and 17:45 for the 5k and feel like Billy Badass. Prove me wrong.

prove me wrong wrote:

So much to learn, Grasshopper wrote:

Why do you run in high school?

Why do you run in college?

Because getting faster from year to year is awesome, while getting slower from year to year just sucks.

You feel old and you're getting slower from year to year. That does suck and your running has not point. But that's good, because I can easily solve your problem. Quit running. Then you won't have to worry about it or keep doing something that sucks and "has no point." You can go on like that, happy you're not wasting your time on pointless running.

In the process of not running, you'll degenerate to the point of a washed up, aged, former runner that can barely shuffle a 12 min mile. Which could be great for you. Because, you'll be so bad at running, and so out of shape, you can resume running and certainly be able to "get faster from year to year." That might be fun. If it's not fun, because you realize your running is pointless since you still have unattainable younger years PRs, you can revert to your non-running ways, and laugh at all the masters runners and their pointless running. The non-running world is your oyster.

But there's only one condition. You have to stay off this forum, stop changing screen names and stop starting "Masters running is pointless" threads, and stop telling people their running is pointless. Because this forum is for runners. Get the point?

Stephen B Smiff wrote:

you're right, whats your bank account so i can wire you my money, living as an old person is pointless.

So life without competitive running is pointless?

If you run a 16:30 5K in your 20s, you'll be known as that stud who won the Turkey Trot.

If you run a 24:30 5K in your 70s, you'll be known as that hobby jogger who awkwardly shuffled through the race.

So which result do you want to appear when friends, family, co-workers, etc. Google your name? That 16:30 guy featured in the local paper, or a back-of-the pack jogger who barely finished? They may not know or care what a 17:00 or a 20:00 5K means, but your place in the field will be obvious.