Following the death in the Leadville 100 of an experienced racer age 55 – How much is too much for older endurance racers?

At 50 y/o I’ve had to realise that I haven’t either the endurance nor the recovery ability I had when I was younger – and ride accordingly.

I have found the opposite – as I’ve aged I’ve found I perform much better at endurance events than shorter (crit/XC) events. My own feeling – the risk of heart attack goes up as we age, regardless of fitness level. I personally believe that the effort I put into training and fitness in general is going to increase my lifespan, despite the associated risks.

Another way to put it – would I be better off just drinking six pints and smoking a pack of cigs every night?

Tragic as it is there are plenty of examples of people of all ages having heart attacks in sport, through undiagnosed conditions and what not.

I’m not sure to what extent you can let that threat govern what you do.

I’m not sure how much age actually has to do with it. I’m only 24 but seriously considering having my heart checked out after reading that article as I get a lot of the symptoms mentioned. However I’m about to do my second Ironman in 2 years, so does that make those things par for the course?

I’m definitely of the belief that I will live longer as an athlete than as a sedentary person, but only if I don’t collapse on the turbo, or drown in the pool trying to push out a PB for no real gain.

Cool read, thanks.

I know of a number of guys in their 50’s still racing E-123 on the road, vets and grand vets are ridiculously fast at the XC races I’ve been to this year as well, for sure you won’t be winning Elite level races but 50 seems to be very much just a number and as Njee says, unfortunately people die all the time.

I’ll take the risk and hopefully still be racing in 20 years time. I’d much rather look like the fit old racers I know and risk a heart attack than look like my old man (and his to be fair…) and, well, risk a heart attack.

njee20 – Member
…I’m not sure to what extent you can let that threat govern what you do.

I don’t think it will stop anyone, but perhaps it is wise to question where your limits really are as you get older.

Part of the problem is that there is bugger all research using a large sample for endurance sports competitors in their 60s and over.

The flog yourself until you’re almost dead, rest, and recover sequence that works nicely when you’re young looks like one of the culprits in that article.

The flog yourself until you’re almost dead, rest, and recover sequence that works nicely when you’re young

Describes my life in a nutshell! The problem is it also makes you faster quite quickly so people keep doing it- especially if they are the classic a-types who like quick results

I checked in to see a cardiologist a few years back – after picking up a 2-3 min bout of atrial fibrillation, while pushing it on the bike – probably in hindsight too soon after a cold. He told me pretty much the same things as that well-researched article. If you follow a cohort of ‘endurance athletes’ like myself through life – a good proportion will go on to develop permanent AF in later life (I’m 38 now). He also told me to limit both the intensity and duration of bike efforts.

I struggle with this personally – because much of what I enjoy about riding a bike is to do with pushing my physiological limits, fairly regularly. I should probably take greater heed of lessons from my Dad’s life. As a Vet rider in the 80s he was regularly getting under the hour for 25s – tragically he also died of a sudden heart attack age 63.

Difficult to balance some of this.. 😕

Hmmm I’m not sure I wanted to read that. I’m over 50 and have ventricular ectopics.

I’ve known about the research but I hope that reasonable rest, rationing my racing and not going OTT is enough to protect me.

57, just back from 3 weeks in BC – Trans Rockies then 2 weeks MTB more in BC. Last year Trans Portugal etc etc Trans Alps etc etc. Endurance dosent decline as much as you age, no I’m not as fast as the younger ones. But hey I do enough to enjoy and take in the scenery 😉 and interestingly over the longer rides Im way faster than most of the younger ones. Of course rest is important, this weeks rest week maybe total six to seven hours only training.

People die, but its not because its too hard. I have the same lump as that guy in the photo. I also have a pace maker. If you need one I can assure you will know 😉 When I went in to the doctors, he just picked up the phone and rang for an ambulance. I was grey apparently 😀

As the doctor points out AF is caused by something else not being right that needs to be cured or controled. If you have AF and after the tests everything is ok they will fit a pace maker because its the electrical circuits that are damaged and not controling your heart. You can then return to your fitness (my simplistic view).

Of course if your like the guy in the article who admits he was burning the candle at both ends then clearly the stress, lack of sleep etc will have an effect over time. Clearly there is a balance to be struck.

For the record my AF moment happened at my desk at work not in the saddle. In fact in my case they happen when Im resting as your heart rate drops and it isnt masked by a higher heart rate when your working hard. So dont go assuming it will only show up under hard physical exercise.

http://www.medscape.com/viewarticle/586379_1

Atrial and general heart issues are becoming more of a known issue in riders doing hrs of higher intensity training a week for many years, seems to have a higher risk.

Google a-fib and endurance and there’s loads out there. I only came across this after getting a longer-term occasional murmur checked out and ending up having tests and scans done. Makes you re-think what you ride for.

Several guys in our local road race scene are knocking on 50. They were very good in their youth.

There was a guy doing the 3 peaks last year who was 79 I think?

I did a ride from London to Newcastle in June. 300 miles in one go. I think I was the youngest at 32. Oldest was 50. I feel endurance wise I am still getting stronger every year.

I’m more worried about the hill climb races. I’m good at them and can get on the podiums in my local ones and have been the club champ numerous times. However, unlike endurance which I find a steady ride to exhaustion, hill climbs are pushing as hard as you can past the point where it is comfortable. It is not uncommon for me to taste blood at the end, feel/be sick or notice that I lose a bit of peripheral vision. Pretty sure this is not good long term…

It’s a depressing scenario. One I was actually thinking about when I was out on a long training ride Last night in the back of beyond, thrashing my way up a hill and whilst loving the buzz, suddenly thought ‘What if….?’

I watch my heart rate on my rides and haven’t noticed anything untoward, but when these thoughts come into my head, although I push them out again, I’m left wondering if I’m being responsible. I’m 54 btw and do 2 high intensity turbo sessions a week, maybe 2 or 3 rides of 2h and longer ones at the weekend (6h+). I do the occasional endurance race , but never more than 8hours in the saddle so far, so not in the same league as resl endurance racers – which makes me worry maybe I’m at risk because I’m not training enough! 😕

At the end of the day, I tell myself just to get on with it, you could go out at any time and something will get you sooner or later. I wonder if I’m kidding myself though as like any addiction, we don’t want to believe that something we love could be bad for us.

One day I will slow down, just not yet though.

I have personally known three people who, for want of a better phrase have “dropped down dead” from heart problems. One was in his sixties, one in his fifties and one was in his teens (having a classmate drop dead isn’t a nice experience). In the case of the fifty year old, the paramedics (who were there within five minutes) reckoned that even if they had been standing by him when the heart attack struck they couldn’t have saved him it was that severe.

I think heart problems ares one of those things that if you are prone to them then you need to take care. Unfortunately even closely monitored sports men and women can suffer from it – Fabrice Muamba for example from a couple of years ago and the Keighley rugby league player who died recently. So the problem really isn’t so much “taking care” as knowing that you have a potential risk in the first place. In the case of Fabrice Muamba he’d had ECGs which hadn’t shown anything untoward.

I’m in my mid fifties and will still really push it on the hills, it’s my lungs that are the limiting factor not my heart. I had an ECG prior to an operation a couple of years ago and apart from “the machine thinks you’re dead!” due to my low resting heart rate it was “normal”.

Sudden deaths are generally more traumatic to those around the individual whereas long term illness gives them time to adjust to the inevitable.

never been a racer, but I have found that I can ride further but slower as I have got older.
also I can ride days back to back without suffering too much.

I think there is plenty of evidence to say that ‘Elite’ levels of fitness are not healthy as they place such a high demand on the body. Thats not to say exercise isn’t good for you, but it probably needs to be the lower intensity, long duration stuff.

Also worth noting that most of the people in the OPs linked article are living and/or racing at altitude e.g. Rockies and we know altitude can have downsides to health and can put more stress on the heart.