Age Grading and New Goals

Let me start this post by saying I’m not sure what I’ve had going on over the past couple weeks, but I wish I could bottle it because I’ve been feeling like I somehow turned the clock back about 10 years. I’ve felt better on a daily basis, my runs have been smoother, and my focus and interest in training hard has been renewed. It’s weird, because go back a month or so, and to be honest I was considering whether or not I should give up training hard and the competitive side of the sport altogether in favor of simply running for fun and fitness. I just hope this latest trend lasts and isn’t another part of what’s been a long roller coaster ride I’ve been on since my mid-30’s.

At any rate, I turn 41 today, and I feel like I basically wasted my first year as a Masters runner. I only raced five times as a 40 year old, with one of those not really even counting, and my performances were all disappointing. As I said in another post not long ago, in August of last year I decided I didn’t want to race any more if I couldn’t do so at a certain level, and since I haven’t gotten the indication in training that I was anywhere near where I wanted to be, my forays into competition have been few and far between. Furthermore, as a result, a lot of the bigger races I had planned such as USATF Masters Nationals went out the window because I didn’t want to take part in something like that if I didn’t feel my fitness justified me being there.

That said, one of the things I’ve struggled with lately is determining what constitutes a “good” level for me. At one time it was easy to define. I wanted to run at the front of races and/or set personal best times. However, as I’ve grown older, those things have become increasingly difficult, if not downright impossible, to do. So, since I’m wired to be a goal-setting, results-oriented person, I have to find different targets. That’s when I decided to take a look at age grading.

Now, let me preface this by saying I’ve always been a little skeptical of age grading, but there’s been a lot of math/science that’s gone into building the calculators and all in all it’s probably pretty solid. Regardless, it’s about the only way an “old man” like me can compare himself to his younger counterpart, so I’ll take it. Below is a list of some of my more popular distance PR’s, what age I was when I ran those times, what the age percentage for those times calculates out to be, and what time I would need to run at age 41 to hit the equivalent:

Upon first observation, I see I ran all my PRs squarely in my mid-20’s, in other words a LONG time ago! I also see that my PRs are pretty consistent across the board, with only my 4-mile and half marathon times lagging a little behind (and I never really took a good shot at a half marathon when I was at my fittest). Then, when I move over to what I need to run as a 41 year old to equal those times, I see times I believe I can still hit. Granted I’ve got a long way to go based on what I’ve run over the past few years, but with the right training and focus, I believe most of those are attainable. For a quick reference point, my bests since turning 40 are 16:55 for 5k and 35:17 for 10k, which age grade to 80.69% (15:59 equivalent) and 80.52% (33:21 equivalent) respectively.

So, there it is, my new goal. I still haven't given up on the goal I set a year ago of running faster times in my 40’s than I did in my 30’s, but the times required for this new goal are all pretty similar, albeit a little easier to attain for the most part, plus this is something I can carry on for quite a while. In other words, I could run a higher age graded percentage in an event as a 50 year old than I did as a 25 year old and therefore, at least in some sense (maybe just my mind – ha), be “faster.” At the very least, it will be fun to see how I stack up over time. Here’s to being faster as a Master!