Fast Masters Runner shares his secrets

I’m 68 and things seem to fall apart at an exponential rate.

During a 23 month social separation time during COVID, I did 27 weeks over 50 a week. The 24th month I was awaiting my 3rd knee surgery ( 2nd on this knee)

Back in the late 70’s, early 80’s, physical decline as evidenced in my workouts were so slow that it took 4 or 5 years to even notice.

Now, the decline is just unbelievable. Maybe even measured by months instead of years.

A 50 mile week now was as tough as a 70 -80 mile week in the 80’s. My legs freeze up and refuse to move after 10 miles… but I’ve not had a break since 1977. ( only two major injuries befire age 52)

Other than one day a week of maybe a 4 mile walk/jog combo, I can't run anymore because of post-traumatic OA & chronic injuries. My last race was probably 4 yrs ago at the same time I quit the masters running club that I belonged to for over 30 yrs. The last time I ran a marathon was in 2017. Lol.

So, now the fitness menu is weight training & non-weightbearing cardio (I was a competitive bodybuilder & powerlifter for about 10 yrs after college before transitioning to running). Those were the good old days when I was at peak T levels & I was able to easily put on lean muscle mass & had plenty of motivation & energy to train day in & day out.

Try being in early your 60s with low-T - trying to put on muscle mass & reduce bodyfat. With low-T the protein synthesis just isn't there nor the good metabolism to reduce BF. Motivation & enthusiasm to train is at an all-time low.

I'm a sad sight for sore eyes at the gym. A hypogonadal beat-up old man. Lol.

Enjoy your running while you can - I really miss it.

That sounds absolutely painful! How do you find the motivation & enthusiasm to keep running?

Everything you do for training and racing is performance enhancing.
sleep more, improves recovery. Whey protein, improves recovery. Caffeine improves performance. Beets/nitric oxide performance enhancing.
you do things to improve your performance, you wouldn’t do something to make your performance worse…

Agreed about exponential. At 79, former World Masters Champ as a 1983, 1985 and 1989 winner and I have to race walk to be able to keep up with an ordinary couple out on a scenic walk. They see me coming, move to the side to let me by, so I really speed up and it still takes me another 200 meters to pass them. My jog is even slower. Your post was a good one.

I ran against this guy years ago. He was nowhere near me. Now he's leaps and bounds ahead of me. Something doesn't add up

Rideout in Tokyo racing Tokyo Marathon on Sunday. His IG post yesterday says he’s still fighting glute/ham issues. What’s the prediction?

Rideout was good in triathlon, but was never going to top of his age group. In triathlon you really need to be elite in two of the three events to be in the top, and running was clearly his best event, followed by bike.

Test

I noticed that in pictures from his triathlon days several years ago, nothing seems out of the ordinary and this is consistent with his running performances. It's really easy to figure out when things started to change, both from photos and race results.

slowtwitch.com

From Triathlete to Ace Runner

@slowtwitch

Ken Rideout actually boxed before he became a triathlete, but these days he is mostly hunting the Marathon Majors and he is quite good at it.

Link:www.slowtwitch.com/Interview/From_Tria...

"I'm on TRT! I'm dynamite!

I'm on TRT! And I used to fight!

Now I run the roads!

After injecting my loads!"