🚀 go-pugleaf

theisen@iowa.physics.uiowa.edu writes:
	  At what age will my body start falling apart?
	  (this is assuming i maintain a good level of fitness until i die)
 

You should read Noakes book "Lore of Running" for a good presentation on this
subject.  The standard answer is about 1% per year (or 10% per decade) loss
in performance after age 35.

However, recent research suggests that the data that led to the above rate was
flawed because the older runners seldom train as hard as younger runners, for
reasons that have more to do with getting married, having kids, having a career,
having other interests, burning out, etc., than with aging itself.  The recent
research suggests that performance at all distances (100m to ultra marathons)
falls off at less than half this rate if you train equally hard.

Another piece of data.  It is claimed that one turns in ones best performances
about 10 years after starting serious running, regardless of what age you start.
That means, if you sum the curves of increasing ability due to training, and
decreasing ability due to age, the resulting curve starts to turn downward
about 10 years after you start, whether you start training at 16 or 60.
That assumes you stay with it 10 years.

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Thomas W. Page, Jr.			email:   page@ficus.cs.ucla.edu
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