LET’S GET STARTED RUNNING FOR LIFE………YOUR LIFE
Goal Setting
Training
Training Schedules
Racing the Half Marathon, 10k, or 5k
The Full Marathon
Using Age Graded Results
Tread Mill Training
Avoiding Injuries
Using Age Graded Results
AGE GRADED RESULTS
Below are 3 tables showing Age Graded Results and how one can use them for goal setting, results measurement and motivation.
Age adjusted results are now published in many races and nearly all the larger well attended ones.
They are based on curves which say a runner will peak out in performance between ages 25 and 35 years old. Before age 25 one gains speed and after we start that long decline.
In later years the decline becomes steeper and steeper. But using this measurement we can all stay motivated to compete.
Age Graded Results Typical of a Large Race:
| % WAVA | Finishers | % of Finishers | |
|---|---|---|---|
| World Class | > 90% | 1 | 0.025% |
| Near World Class | 85% to 89% | 8 | 0.20% |
| National Class | 80% to 84% | 38 | 1.00% |
| Near National Class | 75% to 79% | 82 | 2.00% |
| All Others | < 75% | 3881 | 96.725% |
My Race Results:
| Age Adj. | Age Adj. | ||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Time | Pace | ||||
| Naples | 1/2 M | Jan.-11 | 81.0% | 1:13:05 | 5:35 |
| Edison | 5K | Feb.-05 | 80.4% | 16:03 | 5:10 |
| Naples | 1/2 M | Jan.-10 | 80.3% | 1:13:44 | 5:38 |
| River | 10K | Dec.-04 | 80.0% | 33:35 | 5:24 |
| Edison | 5K | Feb.-04 | 79.8% | 16:10 | 5:12 |
| Naples 1/2 | 1/2 M | Jan.-09 | 79.4% | 1:14:34 | 5:42 |
| Run for Music | 10K | Apr.-10 | 78.9% | 34:01 | 5:28 |
| Bear Water Run | 10M | Sept.-11 | 78.7% | 56:22 | 5:38 |
| Gasparilla | 15K | Feb.-05 | 78.3% | ||
| P. F. Chang | 1/2 M | Jan.-05 | 78.2% | ||
| Gasparilla | 15K | Feb.-09 | 78.0% | ||
| TC | 10 Mile | Oct.-04 | 77.8% | ||
| Plymouth | 8K | June.-04 | 77.5% | ||
| Roseville | 10K | June.-04 | 77.4% | ||
| Hudson | 1/2 M | Aug.-04 | 76.8% | ||
| Edison | 5K | Feb.-03 | 76.8% | ||
| Lumberjack | 10 Mile | Jul.-09 | 76.5% | ||
| Naples | 1/2 M | Jan.-08 | 76.2% | ||
| Gasparilla | 15K | Jan.-03 | 76.2% | ||
| TC | 10 Mile | Oct.-03 | 75.7% | ||
| Austin | 1/2 M | Feb.-02 | 75.6% | ||
| Gasparilla | 15K | Feb.-08 | 75.1% |
Note: Class percentages are based on an actual Gasparilla 15K.
Age adjusted results reduce the time and pace to an equivalent 25 to 35 year old runner.
Peak Mileage and Age Graded Results:
| Race | 10 | 20 | 30 | 40 | 50 | 60 | 70 | Temp/ D. P. | % Age Adj. | Age | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| FL 2011 | Naples | 73.3 | 52/ 50 | 80.2% | 73 | ||||||
| FL 2010 | Naples | 71.1 | 67/ 66 | 79.6% | 72 | ||||||
| FL 2009 | Naples | 66.6 | 53/ 48 | 78.7% | 71 | ||||||
| MIN 2011 | Bear Water | 66.0 | 64/ 59 | 78.7% | 73 | ||||||
| FL 2005 | Gasp. | 55.5 | 43/39 | 78.3% | 67 | ||||||
| MIN 2004 | TC 10 | 53.7 | 42/35 | 77.8% | 66 | ||||||
| FL 2013 | Naples | 63.8 | 64/ 64 | 77.5% | 75 | ||||||
| MIN 2010 | TC 10 | 56.1 | 45/34 | 76.9% | 72 | ||||||
| MIN 2012 | Bear Water | 47.9 | 56/ 42 | 76.8% | 74 | ||||||
| FL 2003 | Gasp. | 49.8 | / 40 | 76.2% | 65 | ||||||
| FL 2008 | Naples | 48.2 | 55/ 48 | 76.2% | 70 | ||||||
| MIN 2003 | TC 10 | 42.0 | / 40 | 75.7% | 65 | ||||||
| MIN 2008 | TC 10 | 53.1 | 50/ 37 | 75.0% | 70 | ||||||
| MIN 2009 | TC 10 | 56.0 | 45/ 43 | 74.8% | 71 | ||||||
| FL 2015 | Naples | 56.2 | 59/58 | 74.6% | 77 | ||||||
| MIN 2015 | TC 10 | 45.0 | 42/ 37 | 74.1% | 77 | ||||||
| MIN 2.006 | TC 10 | 51.0 | 49/ 43 | 74.0% | 68 | ||||||
| MIN 2005 | TC 10 | 48.5 | 65/ 58 | 73.8% | 67 | ||||||
| FL 2004 | Naples | 38.0 | / 68 | 73.4% | 66 | ||||||
| MIN 2002 | TC 10 | 45.4 | 53/ | 72.9% | 64 | ||||||
| FL 2006 | Naples | 49.3 | 66/ 66 | 72.2% | 68 | ||||||
| MIN 2013 | Bear Water | 48.2 | 52 /44 | 71.8% | 75 | ||||||
| MIN 2007 | TC 10 | 50.9 | 74/68 | 71.5% | 69 | ||||||
| MIN 2014 | TC 10 | 35.1 | 35/ 29 | 71.0% | 76 | ||||||
| MIN 2016 | TC 10 | 41.8 | 36/ 34 | 70.4% | 78 | ||||||
| FL 2007 | Injured | Planter Fascitis | |||||||||
| FL 2012 | “ | Foot/ Leg from 20K | |||||||||
| FL 2014 | " | MCL Rt.Knee from no Warm-up | |||||||||
| FL 2016 | “ | Rt. Foot Injury | |||||||||
| Notes: | |||||||||||
| Peak Mileage is a Good Predictor of result but also of injury. | |||||||||||
| Races within 10 weeks are dameging……races within 3 weeks are death. | |||||||||||
| FL Injuries are surely from racing too much. No MN Injuries. | |||||||||||
| FL Injuries are surely from racing too much. No MN Injuries. | |||||||||||
| Walk Breaks are helpful racing at low mileage 2014 | |||||||||||
| 1/2 Mile walks at start of training runs from 2014 | |||||||||||
| Race Plan from 2014 on should be TC 10 and Naples Half with peak Mileage of ~50. | |||||||||||
More on Age Graded Results, Running in Old Age and How to Stay Motivated
Several years ago my wife and I were playing golf with an old friend who at that time was 94 years young. His hearing was nearly zero but he still played golf and actually he played quite competitively. On our #13 hole a par 5, one Sunday he hit three rather remarkable shots and reached the green in regulation. He followed that with a 30 foot putt into the hole for a sweet birdie. But….but he had a three shot (handicap) on that hole and thus scored a “hole in one”.
Golf and running share one important component which allows us to enjoy both sports very late in life. Each has a handicap system.
I have been a member of our local club, Gulf Coast Runners for about 15 years. We should be proud of our club and appreciative of all the work our BOD, members and volunteers do for us. This is without any doubt one of the great running clubs anywhere as evidenced by the growing participation in our races and the quality of runners that join us.
Our races are well run. They are safe. They are on beautiful courses. Our winter weather is largely conducive to running and racing. And maybe most importantly, our primary charity GCR Youth Scholarship Fund rewards our local runners who are entering college and will be taking one giant step to sustainably improving their financial well-being.
For obvious reasons our club and our races attract more than average portion of older runners. Typically, we will have a larger percentage of “super senior” runners compared to races across the country.
Actually, we have a beautiful distribution from the very young to very old…..boys and girls…..men and women. Gulf Coast Runners Races are the poster for Run For Life and all the benefits running provides to each of us.
What I would like to discuss in this article is competitive running as one gets older and older. How do we stay motivated? How do we avoid injury? Can we still compete with the young kids in their 60s? ! ! !
Age Graded Results:
Most races now publish age graded results and our local club has done so for a number of years. In our recent Gold Medal Race the age graded results were as follows:
Percentage of Finishers
| 90 % | 1 (Jeanie Rice) | 4 % |
| 80 to 89 % | 3 | 1.2 % |
| 75 to 79 % | 7 | 2.8 % |
| 70 to 74 % | 21 | 8.4 % |
| Total Finishers ~250 |
||
Comparing that to the Twin Cities 10 mile October 7, 2016:
Percentage of Finishers
| 90 % | 1 | 01 % |
| 80 to 89 % | 52 | 0.6 % |
| 75 to 79 % | 99 | 1.1 % |
| 70 to 74 % | 202 | 2.2 % |
| Total Finishers 9150 | ||
Now what does this mean? Simply stated it means the races at our local club are attended by a percentage of runners significantly better than most well attended races. Actually, I did the same calculations for the Gasparilla 15 k several years ago. They were slightly better than the Twin Cities probably due to course difficulty but still not near what our races will grade out.
In case you haven’t looked carefully Jeanie Rice is 67 years old. And btw the one person who ran above 90 % in the Twin Cities was a 63 year old female. And also btw Karen Miles ran above 90 % in this year’s Edison 5k.
Women are now making up a larger and larger percentage of race participants. As you can tell they’re very good.
Five year age groups all the way to 90:
Something new in GCR race results is age groups all the way to 90. As we age running against someone younger becomes an increasingly impossible task.
To satisfy a personal objective (which I’ll keep to myself at this point), I calculated exactly how we slow down as we age according to the age graded formulas. Here’s what I found:
For men the decline per year is as follows:
Age 69 to 70 slower by 0.9 % (per year !)
Age 74 to 75 slower by 1.7 % “
Age 79 to 80 slower by 2.3 % “
Age 84 to 85 slower by 3.4 % “
Age 89 to 90 slower by 5.1 % (and mind you that is each and every year !)
I would be happy to calculate the same information for women, but I’m thinking they would not necessarily be happy with me for doing so. Suffice it to say as we age, we get slower at an accelerating rate.
Just to carry this logic to an extreme here are the differences in results for the same 75 % age graded time for our Naples Half Marathon where the oldest male is trying to compete with the youngest in 5 year age groups:
Age Groups Time difference to achieve the same 75 % Age Graded
Age 74 vs. 70 6 minutes slower or about 30 seconds per mile pace
Age 79 vs. 75 9 minutes slower or about 45 seconds per mile pace
Age 84 vs. 80 14 minutes slower or about 1 minute per mile pace
Age 89 vs. 85 25 minutes slower or about 2 minutes per mile pace.
To compete in age groups of 5 years becomes more and more difficult as we age. Age groups such as “70 and above” should never be used. Age graded results allow us to compete with the entire field and that’s where the focus should be.
I WANT TO BE THE BEST RUNNER I CAN POSSIBLY BE:
Goal Setting
Training
Training Schedules
Racing the Half Marathon, 10k, or 5k
The Full Marathon
Using Age Graded Results
Tread Mill Training
Avoiding Injuries
Using Age Graded Results
AGE GRADED RESULTS
Below are 3 tables showing Age Graded Results and how one can use them for goal setting, results measurement and motivation.
Age adjusted results are now published in many races and nearly all the larger well attended ones.
They are based on curves which say a runner will peak out in performance between ages 25 and 35 years old. Before age 25 one gains speed and after we start that long decline.
In later years the decline becomes steeper and steeper. But using this measurement we can all stay motivated to compete.
Age Graded Results Typical of a Large Race:
| % WAVA | Finishers | % of Finishers | |
|---|---|---|---|
| World Class | > 90% | 1 | 0.025% |
| Near World Class | 85% to 89% | 8 | 0.20% |
| National Class | 80% to 84% | 38 | 1.00% |
| Near National Class | 75% to 79% | 82 | 2.00% |
| All Others | < 75% | 3881 | 96.725% |
My Race Results:
| Age Adj. | Age Adj. | ||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Time | Pace | ||||
| Naples | 1/2 M | Jan.-11 | 81.0% | 1:13:05 | 5:35 |
| Edison | 5K | Feb.-05 | 80.4% | 16:03 | 5:10 |
| Naples | 1/2 M | Jan.-10 | 80.3% | 1:13:44 | 5:38 |
| River | 10K | Dec.-04 | 80.0% | 33:35 | 5:24 |
| Edison | 5K | Feb.-04 | 79.8% | 16:10 | 5:12 |
| Naples 1/2 | 1/2 M | Jan.-09 | 79.4% | 1:14:34 | 5:42 |
| Run for Music | 10K | Apr.-10 | 78.9% | 34:01 | 5:28 |
| Bear Water Run | 10M | Sept.-11 | 78.7% | 56:22 | 5:38 |
| Gasparilla | 15K | Feb.-05 | 78.3% | ||
| P. F. Chang | 1/2 M | Jan.-05 | 78.2% | ||
| Gasparilla | 15K | Feb.-09 | 78.0% | ||
| TC | 10 Mile | Oct.-04 | 77.8% | ||
| Plymouth | 8K | June.-04 | 77.5% | ||
| Roseville | 10K | June.-04 | 77.4% | ||
| Hudson | 1/2 M | Aug.-04 | 76.8% | ||
| Edison | 5K | Feb.-03 | 76.8% | ||
| Lumberjack | 10 Mile | Jul.-09 | 76.5% | ||
| Naples | 1/2 M | Jan.-08 | 76.2% | ||
| Gasparilla | 15K | Jan.-03 | 76.2% | ||
| TC | 10 Mile | Oct.-03 | 75.7% | ||
| Austin | 1/2 M | Feb.-02 | 75.6% | ||
| Gasparilla | 15K | Feb.-08 | 75.1% |
Note: Class percentages are based on an actual Gasparilla 15K.
Age adjusted results reduce the time and pace to an equivalent 25 to 35 year old runner.
Peak Mileage and Age Graded Results:
| Race | 10 | 20 | 30 | 40 | 50 | 60 | 70 | Temp/ D. P. | % Age Adj. | Age | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| FL 2011 | Naples | 73.3 | 52/ 50 | 80.2% | 73 | ||||||
| FL 2010 | Naples | 71.1 | 67/ 66 | 79.6% | 72 | ||||||
| FL 2009 | Naples | 66.6 | 53/ 48 | 78.7% | 71 | ||||||
| MIN 2011 | Bear Water | 66.0 | 64/ 59 | 78.7% | 73 | ||||||
| FL 2005 | Gasp. | 55.5 | 43/39 | 78.3% | 67 | ||||||
| MIN 2004 | TC 10 | 53.7 | 42/35 | 77.8% | 66 | ||||||
| FL 2013 | Naples | 63.8 | 64/ 64 | 77.5% | 75 | ||||||
| MIN 2010 | TC 10 | 56.1 | 45/34 | 76.9% | 72 | ||||||
| MIN 2012 | Bear Water | 47.9 | 56/ 42 | 76.8% | 74 | ||||||
| FL 2003 | Gasp. | 49.8 | / 40 | 76.2% | 65 | ||||||
| FL 2008 | Naples | 48.2 | 55/ 48 | 76.2% | 70 | ||||||
| MIN 2003 | TC 10 | 42.0 | / 40 | 75.7% | 65 | ||||||
| MIN 2008 | TC 10 | 53.1 | 50/ 37 | 75.0% | 70 | ||||||
| MIN 2009 | TC 10 | 56.0 | 45/ 43 | 74.8% | 71 | ||||||
| FL 2015 | Naples | 56.2 | 59/58 | 74.6% | 77 | ||||||
| MIN 2015 | TC 10 | 45.0 | 42/ 37 | 74.1% | 77 | ||||||
| MIN 2.006 | TC 10 | 51.0 | 49/ 43 | 74.0% | 68 | ||||||
| MIN 2005 | TC 10 | 48.5 | 65/ 58 | 73.8% | 67 | ||||||
| FL 2004 | Naples | 38.0 | / 68 | 73.4% | 66 | ||||||
| MIN 2002 | TC 10 | 45.4 | 53/ | 72.9% | 64 | ||||||
| FL 2006 | Naples | 49.3 | 66/ 66 | 72.2% | 68 | ||||||
| MIN 2013 | Bear Water | 48.2 | 52 /44 | 71.8% | 75 | ||||||
| MIN 2007 | TC 10 | 50.9 | 74/68 | 71.5% | 69 | ||||||
| MIN 2014 | TC 10 | 35.1 | 35/ 29 | 71.0% | 76 | ||||||
| MIN 2016 | TC 10 | 41.8 | 36/ 34 | 70.4% | 78 | ||||||
| FL 2007 | Injured | Planter Fascitis | |||||||||
| FL 2012 | “ | Foot/ Leg from 20K | |||||||||
| FL 2014 | " | MCL Rt.Knee from no Warm-up | |||||||||
| FL 2016 | “ | Rt. Foot Injury | |||||||||
| Notes: | |||||||||||
| Peak Mileage is a Good Predictor of result but also of injury. | |||||||||||
| Races within 10 weeks are dameging……races within 3 weeks are death. | |||||||||||
| FL Injuries are surely from racing too much. No MN Injuries. | |||||||||||
| FL Injuries are surely from racing too much. No MN Injuries. | |||||||||||
| Walk Breaks are helpful racing at low mileage 2014 | |||||||||||
| 1/2 Mile walks at start of training runs from 2014 | |||||||||||
| Race Plan from 2014 on should be TC 10 and Naples Half with peak Mileage of ~50. | |||||||||||
More on Age Graded Results, Running in Old Age and How to Stay Motivated
Several years ago my wife and I were playing golf with an old friend who at that time was 94 years young. His hearing was nearly zero but he still played golf and actually he played quite competitively. On our #13 hole a par 5, one Sunday he hit three rather remarkable shots and reached the green in regulation. He followed that with a 30 foot putt into the hole for a sweet birdie. But….but he had a three shot (handicap) on that hole and thus scored a “hole in one”.
Golf and running share one important component which allows us to enjoy both sports very late in life. Each has a handicap system.
I have been a member of our local club, Gulf Coast Runners for about 15 years. We should be proud of our club and appreciative of all the work our BOD, members and volunteers do for us. This is without any doubt one of the great running clubs anywhere as evidenced by the growing participation in our races and the quality of runners that join us.
Our races are well run. They are safe. They are on beautiful courses. Our winter weather is largely conducive to running and racing. And maybe most importantly, our primary charity GCR Youth Scholarship Fund rewards our local runners who are entering college and will be taking one giant step to sustainably improving their financial well-being.
For obvious reasons our club and our races attract more than average portion of older runners. Typically, we will have a larger percentage of “super senior” runners compared to races across the country.
Actually, we have a beautiful distribution from the very young to very old…..boys and girls…..men and women. Gulf Coast Runners Races are the poster for Run For Life and all the benefits running provides to each of us.
What I would like to discuss in this article is competitive running as one gets older and older. How do we stay motivated? How do we avoid injury? Can we still compete with the young kids in their 60s? ! ! !
Age Graded Results:
Most races now publish age graded results and our local club has done so for a number of years. In our recent Gold Medal Race the age graded results were as follows:
Percentage of Finishers
| 90 % | 1 (Jeanie Rice) | 4 % |
| 80 to 89 % | 3 | 1.2 % |
| 75 to 79 % | 7 | 2.8 % |
| 70 to 74 % | 21 | 8.4 % |
| Total Finishers ~250 |
||
Comparing that to the Twin Cities 10 mile October 7, 2016:
Percentage of Finishers
| 90 % | 1 | 01 % |
| 80 to 89 % | 52 | 0.6 % |
| 75 to 79 % | 99 | 1.1 % |
| 70 to 74 % | 202 | 2.2 % |
| Total Finishers 9150 | ||
Now what does this mean? Simply stated it means the races at our local club are attended by a percentage of runners significantly better than most well attended races. Actually, I did the same calculations for the Gasparilla 15 k several years ago. They were slightly better than the Twin Cities probably due to course difficulty but still not near what our races will grade out.
In case you haven’t looked carefully Jeanie Rice is 67 years old. And btw the one person who ran above 90 % in the Twin Cities was a 63 year old female. And also btw Karen Miles ran above 90 % in this year’s Edison 5k.
Women are now making up a larger and larger percentage of race participants. As you can tell they’re very good.
Five year age groups all the way to 90:
Something new in GCR race results is age groups all the way to 90. As we age running against someone younger becomes an increasingly impossible task.
To satisfy a personal objective (which I’ll keep to myself at this point), I calculated exactly how we slow down as we age according to the age graded formulas. Here’s what I found:
For men the decline per year is as follows:
Age 69 to 70 slower by 0.9 % (per year !)
Age 74 to 75 slower by 1.7 % “
Age 79 to 80 slower by 2.3 % “
Age 84 to 85 slower by 3.4 % “
Age 89 to 90 slower by 5.1 % (and mind you that is each and every year !)
I would be happy to calculate the same information for women, but I’m thinking they would not necessarily be happy with me for doing so. Suffice it to say as we age, we get slower at an accelerating rate.
Just to carry this logic to an extreme here are the differences in results for the same 75 % age graded time for our Naples Half Marathon where the oldest male is trying to compete with the youngest in 5 year age groups:
Age Groups Time difference to achieve the same 75 % Age Graded
Age 74 vs. 70 6 minutes slower or about 30 seconds per mile pace
Age 79 vs. 75 9 minutes slower or about 45 seconds per mile pace
Age 84 vs. 80 14 minutes slower or about 1 minute per mile pace
Age 89 vs. 85 25 minutes slower or about 2 minutes per mile pace.
To compete in age groups of 5 years becomes more and more difficult as we age. Age groups such as “70 and above” should never be used. Age graded results allow us to compete with the entire field and that’s where the focus should be.