Coach Jack’s Notes before reading: Science is science so don’t think that as we age we are going to fall off the edge of the earth in our swim,bike and run times because we are getting OLDER. With hard/smart training and experimenting with what works best for you we can many times over TRICK our bodies into thinking we are much younger then what it says on our birth certificate. Just look at some of the pro athletes that are pushing the age of forty in many disciplines and they are still World Class.
With age there is a decline in maximal oxygen consumption. Research shows a decrease with age in ventilatory attributes of the following: increase work of breathing (pulmonary function), and gas exchange at the lung. The purpose of this study is to investigate the ventilatory parameters and the effect on maximal oxygen consumption in a cross section of aging, competitive cyclists.
METHODS: 27 male subjects were categorized by age: 20-29 (n=4), 30-39 (n=6), 40-49 (n=6, 50-59 (n=5), 60-69 (n=3), 70-79 (n=3).Subjects performed maximal testing with their bicycle set up on an ergometer (Velodyne) to a Volitional fatigue. (Volitional exhaustion is the point atwhich a person cannot perform a muscular contraction and voluntarily terminates the contraction) (Pitcher & Miles, 1997) Ventilatory and gas measures were collected continuously and analyzed every 20 seconds. They include: VOs max, expired minute ventilation (VE), Volume of CO2, breathing rate per minute, percent O2 rxpired, and percent CO2 expired.
RESULTS: Subject VO2 by age groups
20-29= 69.5
30-39= 64.2
40-49=65.0
50-59=62.7
60-69=43.6
70-79=36.8
Decline across age groups occurred in the following: VO2, VCO2, RR per minute, %CO2 expired, and VE. However, subgroups analyses revealed the decline in VO2 max and VCO2 was only significant after 59 years old. In addition, VE, RR per minute and %CO2 declined only after age 69 years.
Paul Ayres and M.D. Becque: Department of Physical Education, Southern Illinois University, Carbondale, Illinois
OK now that you have read the science make a mental note where your VO2 max based on your age is located and then forget it.
Now think about it from a non-scientific view that average competing athletes didn’t start in their early teens but got the bug much later in life. Now married, raising children, job security, wanting to get fit, involved in a fun raising event, etc. So what’s to say that if you were 42 years of age (VO2 max 65.0) when you started a serious exercise routine: does that mean that your times are going to decline every time you compete. Of course not, because you have just started tapping into your potential abilities to become a star athlete in your own right. So from the beginning of training/racing you can only lower your times as you become more fit and THAT’S more important than all the science in the world. It’s been my personal experience that my PR’s kept coming well into my late 50′s and it wasn’t until age 64 that I noticed a decline in my run times but my bike was still very strong. Each week I will post ideas that may or may not pertain to your ultimate goals but with a little “tweaking” you might find them very helpful.
