Masters Sprinting

Is it possible to still run fast in your late 30s and beyond?

I haven't blogged in a while and I thought Id get back to it with my favourite of all athletic pursuits: SPRINTING - with a focus on those in the masters age groups.

I have been involved in sprinting my whole life... Competing as a 400m runner and coaching athletes on the track and in team sports both over multiple decades.

Sprinting is one of the ultimate athletic challenges in my opinion...The requirement to produce high forces at high speeds. The ability to orientate your body in space to be able to produce those forces effectively and efficiently in the right direction. Not forgetting the task of staying injury free amongst all those high forces and rapid loading rates. The related qualities of acceleration and speed endurance are equally as fascinating and massive challenges that only a few can do really well.

I stopped racing at 34. The combination of some injuries and prioritising time for work and kids. I have continued to train daily in much the same way as when I was competing but without the track work.

Now into my 40s sprinting still excites me. I am coaching some masters athletes and finding some effective strategies to run fast and stay injury free. Last year I also raced a 400m myself in the masters (V40) off very little specific training. My achilles didn't like sprinting in spikes after not wearing them for many years! You would have thought I'd know better at least some lessons learnt! Nevertheless it was fun and rewarding being out there again.

So onto the article... how should you approach sprint training in the masters? What is different? What are the key physiological factors to consider? Do the old routines still work? How fast can people run in the masters categories?

I will do my best to put some thoughts down. I hope you find the article useful.

Key differences in physiology

A good place to start is breaking down the key physiological differences for masters athletes compared to those younger. These differences can probably be split into those that are physiological vs lifestyle based.

Diving into the literature, some key physiological differences are as follows:

• Muscle: A reduction in fast twitch fibres and reduced muscle contractile properties.

• Nervous system: Fewer, smaller and slower firing motor neurons and a weaker nerve to muscle signal transmission.

• Energy Systems: Reduced alactic fuel stores and lactic system capacity

• Hormonal: Declining anabolic hormones

• Bone: Progressive bone loss from age 50 in men, 30 in women (increased risk for stress fractures). Negative changes in bone can lead to reduction in muscle performance and vice-versa.

• Connective Tissue: Reduced collagen production (affects tendon spring quality)

• Injury:  An increase year on year on the number of previous injuries (each previous injury typically increases the risk of a subsequent injury)

Looking at the physiological factors in greater detail; the decline in each factor above is not jsolely due to biological aging but a product of the reduction and change in training that has likely occurred across the years.

There is research out there that shows that this de-training effect accounts for the vast majority of the variance in physical decline. If this is the case that is certainly good news, meaning that there can be a reversal of physiological decrements or at least an attempted maintenance of many qualities with the right training.

To illustrate this, in my case I didn't really sprint on the track between 34-40 years old and I replaced a good part of that speed work with longer efforts road running and on a bike. That change in training stimulus will obviously have had an effect on speed at the muscle, nervous system etc.

For others who perhaps moved away from sport and exercise earlier in life, perhaps after university; they will have a different de-training effect, that is less to do with a shift in training type, but more to do with a reduction in total training load. This would also have an obvious effect at the various physiological factors related to speed that presents as ageing but is really de-training.

It is undeniable however that some factors are simply the product of ageing. For example the change in one's hormonal profile which of course will have an effect on speed related adaptations.

Now looking at lifestyle factors:

• Changes in training and recovery time: Increased work and family commitments eat into time you previously committed to training (most relevant to early masters categories). Though for older masters athletes; as kids leave home and work slows down greater time will be available.

• Psychology: Different motivations with regards to the sport will have an effect on training and performance. For example a shift from performance to participation may occur for some as you age. Furthermore changes in the cognitive and emotional load outside the sport will impact how much is left for training. For example a challenging day at work or with the young kids will have an impact on psychological factors related to performance that are different to those experienced at early stages of a professional career or those without kids.

  
  

There may be some advantages too, examples may be:

• Acquired knowledge Knowledge is power! Hopefully all your life and training experience help you make better training decisions.

• Psychology In your 20s perhaps you wanted to race every session. In your 40s you probably pick your battles better. Or perhaps not! If you do it will help balance training load. For some competing in the masters may have a special meaning which drives motivation.

• Greater disposable income Potentially compared to your 20s you have more available resource to put towards training support, coaching and physiotherapy etc

• Years of training history OR less miles in the tank For those who had full athletic careers you will be able to draw on your training history while those who are taking up the sport late in life will have less miles in tank and therefore less wear and tear of the body.

How should speed training change in the masters?

So there are some physiological changes and some lifestyle changes. Some challenges and some advantages listed above. Now what to do you with all that!

When it comes to training I came across a great 2023 review paper titled "Masters Sprinting: Less is More" published in the Scientific Journal of Sports Performance. Their conclusion, summed up nicely in the title, says a lot. The recommendation is to train smarter, with lower volume, managed intensity and greater recovery. That philosophy maps with what feels right to me in my own training as well as those I am coaching right now. A summary of my main thoughts would be:

• Train less, but with more purpose. Cut total volume and give greater recovery between sessions. Have a high technical focus and cut sessions short if technique breaks down. Similarly cut the session short if a quality performance has been achieved that you are unlikely to better. It is probably better to leave the session in one piece than have the greatest workout of all time. This may be true for the open category too.

• Within strength training find smart modifications. Developing your ability to produce and absorb force is important as a sprinter and along with potential age related decrements at the musculoskeletal system as listed above, strength training is a priority. However you may need to move away from the lifting you used to do. Accumulated injuries over the years, available energy for training, less available recovery time, fitting in sessions between work etc may mean you are not optimally ready to do the optimal programme. Modifications such using more machines compared to free weights, as well as isometrics and heavy sled pushes could take less toll on the body than traditional heavy olympic and power lifts. All of this may free you up to have greater dynamic effort on the track whilst maintain high force capabilities.

• Drills. I am playing around with doing more drills than I used to do as a counter to doing less running volume. I think this could be an effective strategy to reduce overall training load while maximising some elastic and technical qualities.

• Readiness to train. Knowing how to modify training based on your readiness to train is critical for all athletes. Perhaps more so for the masters athlete. Do you wake up super early when you are already super fatigued to try and sprint? Do you squeeze in a quick speed session at lunch when you don't have time to warm up properly? What if that is the only time you have? How do you modify? What if you don't feel recovered from your previous session, should you still sprint? Again these are relevant to the open category too.

• Find cross training alternatives. If the mantra as a master sprinter is that less is more. Can a bike or elliptical replace a running session. Can sled work replace acceleration work. Can plyos in the pool replace bounding? I think any way to reduce the stress and load on the muscle and connective tissue whilst still getting a big dose of adaptation is likely a good strategy.

• Coaching and physiotherapy. With so many factors to consider. The challenge is knowing where to prioritise your training time. How hard to push. When to recover. What exercises to select in the gym. As both a coach and an athlete I know the type of person involved in competitive sport is usually highly motivated and that is both an advantage and a risk. Motivation can lead to waking up early to train and completing hard sessions but it can also lead to over-training and poor exercise selection. Perhaps the biggest competitive advantage any athlete can have is a better set of decision making around their training. Particularly when it comes to injury management. Given the unique challenges of the masters category good coaching and medical support are huge competitive advantages.

Performance Ceiling: How good can you be at each age group?

Below are the world records at each age group and the performance decrement they represent. Do these numbers represent something close to the ceiling for each event and age group?

Whilst its probably fair to say the absolute world records are likely pretty close to the ceiling of human performance. ie maybe we will see these times come down by fractions over our lifetimes but big drops seem unlikely. Especially given how long some of these records have lasted despite advances in shoe tech. As we go up the age groups I think its a different story.

Firstly it is unlikely that every athlete with the potential to break the masters world records has continued to compete. Almost all truly elite athletes retire before 40. Most before 35. A few race into their 40s but next to none over 45.

Some of the performances above are posted by world class sprinters (Kim Collins, Merlene Ottey in particular) but there probably isn't the depth of participants to say these numbers are the ceiling. Wouldn't it be cool if all athletes just kept racing forever and we could run that study! Ultimately if I had to guess I would say the ceiling isn't close to have been reached.

But perhaps this is assuming too much of the greatest <35 year old athletes' ability to break sprint world records masters category. Maybe there is a particular talent for those who slow down the least with time. With the fastest masters athletes not necessarily being those who were fastest <35... Should we call that "biological ageing talent"?

It seems obvious that some athletes will have a greater potential to delay biological aging. If those athletes can match the best type of age specific training to their current biological age perhaps we are looking at a set of performances closer to the ceiling. I think this interplay is really important. A particular masters athlete may have the genetic gift of eternal youth but poor decision making in training will lead to sub standard performance.

Perhaps masters athletic performance can be summed up as:

Summary

In summary, the specific challenges with masters sprinting are extreme high forces, high loading rates, and the technical positions that needs to be achieved and tolerated to train and compete. Given the challenges associated with biological ageing, the de-training effect, and lifestyle factors these are not easy things to overcome.

As with the any training the injury risks associated with training and competition can be significantly reduced with smart systemised training. Quality coaching and physiotherapy are competitive advantages here.

A reduction in training volume, along with modifications that reduce total load on muscle and connective tissue whilst still getting high adaptation is likely a smart strategy. Similarly taking advantage of your own experiences, knowledge and calmness acquired over the years to inform the training decisions you make are useful assets.

Its exciting and motivating to see that masters sprint performances are probably not close to the ceiling of human performance and that you can play a personal part in lifting these up. Furthermore given that much of ageing is a de-training effect rather than ageing itself it may be motivating to think about how much you can reverse your own expected decline in sprint performance with the right training. Even beating what you achieved in younger years.

I hope you enjoyed reading and best of luck with your training. Feel free to connect to let me know you enjoyed the article or to add something you think I missed.

Daniel Lavipour is a strength and conditioning coach and athletics coach. He has prepared athletes for 4 Olympic Games and multiple world championships. He has worked in track and field as well as other speed, endurance and team sports. He has also rehabbed many elite sprinters and runners as the national lead rehabilitation coach for Team GB as well as working with hundreds of amateur and youth athletes.

If you are an athlete and want to learn more about how training with Daniel can improve your performance feel to get in contact today for a free friendly chat. You can do this by filling in the form that you will find by clicking here or alternatively directly through email or whatsapp. You can also read more about the services we offer to runners by clicking here.

This article draws on: Eizaga Rebollar, R., & García Palacios, M. V. (2023). Masters sprinters: Less is more. Scientific Journal of Sport and Performance, 2(3), 272-288.