Hi all have been reading your posts with interest....i am 45 and for me i am running the best i have ever ran......on the cooper test i score excellant in the 17-19 year old cat and that was wearing a 8kg ruc-sac.

i was in the infantry from 16 to 26 and was fit then,but not as fit as i am now

plus my times for 13/15 milers has got better than when i was 25!
i believe the older you get (obviously there is a cut off) your 'inner strength and mental attitude is greater

my resting pulse rate is 46..so i take on board what you say about performance declines at a certain age,but for me i feel great and the running makes me feel even better

Our club champs are easily being won by vets in both male and female categories. In fact the lady would be winning even if it were a straight first past the post basis championship rather than age graded.

I think you will find that 35/40 is still the case in many races although national bodies have decreed that it should be standardised at 35. I recently attended a national champs and the mens cats still started at 40 when I quizzed the org he said it was his race!!

As many have said, (including in topics from the past) age doesn't necessarily mean performance decreases at all... I think it would be true to say performance/results would decline if you were at your body's absolute peak of performance, or if the level of training were to remain the same. However I think with age comes a certain wisdom - vets (and upwards) often have a greater level of dedication and more idea how to get the best out of themselves while running, and we clearly have multiple examples of that on this forum alone!

I'd liken it to a ladder - the rungs represents your ability, the higher you are from the ground, the better your performances, now imagine that ladder being stood in quicksand (or slow sand if there is such a thing!), if you stayed on the same rung of the ladder (i.e. maintained the same level of training), the ladder would sink and your performances slowly worsen, yet with age comes your dedication and know-how to climb further up the ladder. Annoyingly though, should you ever be lucky enough to reach the top of the ladder, there's nowhere for you to go but down.

...At 23 though the Vets category is quite a way off for me (as is any chance of prize money!), but i'll keep at it Mucho respect to all the vets still at it (and usually finishin well ahead of me too!)

I hear the body's better able to withstand pain when you reach late 20's - 30's onwards. Can't really speak from experience though...