To see how beneficial running is for us as we age, just look at some of the old masters of the sport lined up at the start of any race. Men and women into their sixties, seventies, and beyond are training and racing—and disproving plenty of myths about aging along the way.
“Most of aging is not due to age at all but rather to disuse,” says Walter Bortz, M.D., a geriatrics specialist and professor of medicine at Stanford University for 30 years. In 2002, Dr. Bortz and his wife, Ruth Anne, made history as the oldest couple—both over the age of 70—to complete the Boston Marathon. Dr. Bortz shrugs off that accomplishment as if it were a mere warm-up, however. “My wife and I do 100-milers—it shows what the human body can do.”
In fact, the aging human body is much more resilient than once believed. Senior runners have proven that the old chestnut “use it or lose it” is not just a saying but a fact. Research shows that exercising your muscles, heart, and lungs can stave off many of the ill effects and disease that typically accompany aging.
Doctors and scientists have long known that aerobic exercise lowers mortality rates; what hasn’t been certain is whether intense exercise such as running can improve quality of life. The fear was that vigorous activity could accelerate the development of osteoarthritis, thus contributing to general disability for seniors.
A landmark 8-year study that followed hundreds of runners disproved this notion. The conclusions, reported in the mid 1990s, showed that the rate of development of disability was in fact several times lower in the runners than in a control group. The runners did not develop arthritis any faster, and they showed superior aerobic conditioning, bone density, organ functioning, and muscle strength. Over the 8 years, the runners showed a strikingly lower rate of disability—about a quarter of that of the sedentary group. They also exhibited lower body mass, experienced less joint pain and dysfunction, required fewer medications, and had fewer medical problems in general.
In short, exercise makes life better and more enjoyable for the elderly population. It makes what we ordinarily think of as the side effects of aging—muscle atrophy, aerobic declines, heavy reliance on medication, even depressed mental and emotional states—a dated concept, something that’s not at all a given.
Running can reverse many of the effects of aging, but it can’t stop time altogether. Some inexorable changes in the aging body make it more fragile and susceptible to injury. By taking commonsense precautions against common problems, older runners can lower their risk and remain healthy while training.
Dehydration. As we grow older, our ability to sweat and dissipate heat decreases. At the same time, the body’s mechanism for indicating thirst grows increasingly unreliable with age. Chronic low-level dehydration is common in the older population, and it raises the risk of heat illness and compromised organ function and tissue strength. Running, of course, increases fluid requirements and can exacerbate the dehydration issue.
What you can do. It’s very important for older runners to drink before and after exercise. While many younger runners can easily get through an hour-long workout without drinking, older runners should probably go no longer than 20 minutes to half an hour without drinking. Unlike young runners, who can safely rely on thirst as a guide to drinking, older runners should strive to consume 15 to 25 ounces of fluid per hour of exercise. A sports drink is preferable to plain water, since it replenishes electrolytes. Also, the flavor encourages you to drink more than if it were plain water.
Decreased flexibility. As we age, connective tissue loses its elasticity. This makes runners more susceptible to acute strains, pulls, and tears in muscles, tendons, and ligaments. Also, decreased range of motion results in a shorter, shuffling stride. Such biomechanical changes due to inflexibility increase the likelihood of overuse injury.
What you can do. Stretch. Inactivity only compounds tightness and loss of range of motion. Running helps to a certain degree, because it exercises the joints, but running also has an overall tightening effect on the body. That means stretching is the answer. One study of masters runners showed conclusively that 20 minutes of stretching three times a week significantly reduced inflexibility.
So even if you’ve ignored your stretching for years as a runner, now’s the time to start. Supplement your training by stretching after every run, or at least three times a week. To ensure it gets done, factor stretching in to your total workout time, leaving at least 10 to 15 minutes after your run. Don’t stretch before running, when the body is tight and inflexible. Muscles and joints are more limber after warming up on the run, which means you are less likely to strain something. Stretch all parts of your body—the legs and hips in particular. Be gentle and do not force a stretch or hold it too long. (See chapter 4 for the best stretches for runners.)
Loss of strength. Left to its own sedentary devices, the body loses muscle mass rapidly as it ages, typically by about 10 percent per decade beginning as early as our thirties or forties. (To make matters worse, muscle is generally replaced by additional adipose tissue, also known as fat.) The resulting loss in strength can be disastrous. Dr. Bortz points out that the number one predictor of whether you will require assistance as you age is leg strength. “It’s not disease, not illness, but whether you have the strength to get in and out of a chair,” he says.
What you can do. Running is one step toward battling the weakness that can come with age, but even running alone is not the best answer. To retain strength in all parts of the body, older runners should engage in a strength-training program that targets the whole body. Weight machines, available at any health club, are a great choice for an efficient, controlled workout. (Refer to chapter 5 for more on strength training.)
The amount of weight you lift needn’t be heavy. It’s more important to be consistent, working out two or three times a week and doing at least 10 to 12 repetitions of each exercise. If you want an individualized workout, your local recreational center or athletic club can help you find a trainer who specializes in geriatric conditioning. Trainers can be certified by several different organizations, the most reputable being the American College of Sports Medicine (ACSM) and the American Council on Exercise. Look for a trainer with a degree in exercise science or a health-related field, such as kinesiology. The ACSM Web site can help you find a trainer in your area with its ProFinder feature; go to www.acsm.org. Ask for references and check certifications.
Bone and joint health. Bone mass peaks when we’re in our early thirties and generally slides downhill after that—the rate of which depends on many factors, including diet, genetics, and hormone levels. Bone density declines precipitously in many postmenopausal women, due to the lack of the female hormone estrogen, which both aids in the body’s absorption of calcium and slows loss of calcium from bones.
Weak bones are more vulnerable to fractures. Compounding matters, broken bones are more serious for the elderly than for the young. Healing takes longer, and the resulting inactivity can take a toll in other areas, setting off a chain of disabilities. As we age, cartilage also tends to deteriorate. This makes joints vulnerable to injury and places them at greater risk of osteoarthritis.
It’s a falsehood, long since disproved, that running damages bones or joints or hastens osteoarthritis. In fact, running protects against the decline of bone mass, fending off osteoporosis. And it’s now believed that running might have a protective effect on the joints, as well.
What you can do. Weight-bearing exercise such as running is one of the best ways to maintain bone strength. That’s because bone—just like muscle—responds to the demands you place on it with a conditioning response, toughening and hardening in reaction to stress. If you’re a longtime runner, chances are your bones are now healthier for it. And if you’re adhering to a strength-training program, it will pay double dividends since it also counts as a weight-bearing activity, thus providing a protective effect on bone density.
Beyond exercise, the most important way to protect bones is to eat a diet of healthy foods that are high in calcium. Milk, cheese, yogurt, and other dairy products are the best sources. Tofu, dark leafy vegetables, and canned salmon and sardines are also excellent choices. For extra insurance, you can drink juice that is fortified with calcium and take a daily supplement that contains calcium.
Balance problems. Balance is one thing that young runners never think about—it comes naturally. But for older runners, balance often becomes a concern. “Like everything else, with age it gets worse,” Dr. Bortz says. Loss of balance is due to a combination of factors, among them decreased sensory perception (hearing and vision), decreased tactile sensation (sense of touch), diminishing strength, and increased reaction time. Since falls are a primary cause of injury in older runners, loss of balance isn’t just an inconvenience but can result in serious sprains and broken bones.
On the subject of falling, Dr. Bortz points out a caveat. Just because older runners are more likely to fall doesn’t mean they should stop running. “I say you need to fall, or you’re staying in bed too much,” he jokes. In other words, the benefits of activity far outweigh the risk of injury. The 8-year study of runners mentioned earlier confirms Dr. Bortz’s position: While runners did indeed suffer more fractures and short-term disability than the sedentary group, their overall rate of disability was only a quarter of that of the control group.
What you can do. Balance exercises can help retain your sense of proprioception—knowing where your body is and what it is doing. Simple exercises can maintain your sense of balance and build strength in the tiny muscles that help to control it. A doctor, physical therapist, or athletic trainer can recommend balance exercises appropriate for your age and condition. These might involve the use of a wobble board or exercise ball, or they could be as simple as standing on one leg with your eyes closed.
Dr. Bortz also recommends regular hearing and vision examinations. Poor sensory perception contributes to balance problems but is also an issue in itself, since hearing and vision problems make you vulnerable to external factors. A dog rounding a corner, for example, or a car coming down the street is more dangerous when you can’t see or hear it in time to react.
You can still run—and run hard—as you age. There’s no reason to stop training seriously or racing at any age. And the principles of training remain the same. In fact, they’re more important than ever. As we age, listening to our bodies becomes the overriding secret to preventing training-related injury.
You will need to make a few adjustments for your aging body. The primary difference as we age is that it takes our bodies longer to recover. This effect is noticeable as early as our thirties but becomes more pronounced with each passing decade.
Here are some guidelines for healthy training.
Maintain intensity. A weekly dose of speedwork or tempo runs obviously will help you retain your speed. Working near the limit of your aerobic capacity also prevents age-related declines. Studies have shown that runners who do regular speed training can largely maintain their capacity to use oxygen, whereas less strenuous exercise (easy jogging, for example) does not have the same beneficial effect.
Take extra recovery if you need it. Particularly after harder runs, you might notice you’re not bouncing back as quickly as you used to. You might need 2 or 3 easy days between hard runs, instead of the 1 day you used to take. Let your legs be your guide. If they still feel soggy and listless, run easy until they regain their pep. If this means doing just one hard workout a week instead of two, that’s fine. In fact, some runners switch to a 10-day cycle (rather than planning training in terms of 7-day weeks)—this allows them to fit in a long run, a track workout, and a tempo run without skimping on rest.
Consider lowering overall mileage. As we age, reduced strength and range of motion result in a shorter stride length. That means older runners generally must take more steps to cover the same amount of miles. The total number of steps we take is one of the predictors of overuse injury. So it’s a fair safety precaution to cut your mileage slightly. This shouldn’t hurt your racing ability; as mentioned above, your body responds largely to faster workouts when it comes to maintaining your speed.
Cross-train. The goal here is to reduce impact and repetitive pounding. Engaging in a variety of activities helps your body maintain fitness while minimizing your risk of injury. This principle is the same for runners of all ages; it just becomes even more important as we age and our joints and resiliency deteriorate. Swimming and cycling are both good cross-training supplements to running, since they do not deliver any impact to the joints. (See chapter 6 for more on cross-training options.)
Stretch and strengthen. As discussed in the previous section, muscle deterioration and loss of flexibility are two side effects of aging when your body is sedentary. Both can contribute to injury, but luckily, both can be countered to a great degree with strength and flexibility programs. (See chapters 4 and 5 for more on stretching and strength training.)
Wear proper shoes. It’s more important than ever to be sure you’re wearing the right shoes, since your joints are more susceptible to pounding. Be aware that as you age, your footwear needs might change. A reduction in stride length from tight joints, decreased muscle support, or even a change in posture can reconfigure your gait, resulting in a need for greater cushioning or support. Plan to buy new shoes at least once every year.