The Masters Training Week: Recovery, Intensity and Lifting After 50

TriForward's "The Kona Standard" looked at how much slower triathletes get with age, using Ironman's age-grading factors and 25 years of race data. Its conclusion was that much of the decline is gradual until around 50 to 60, that cycling holds up better than swimming and running, and that a large part of the decline is linked to training less hard and less often. This article picks up where that one stopped: if you're over 50, how should the training week itself change?

It brings together three questions that masters triathletes ask most often. Do you really need more recovery? Should you still do hard sessions? And where does lifting fit? The evidence is thinner than for younger athletes, so this article is clear about what's been studied and what's inference.

How endurance changes with age

A 2008 review by Hirofumi Tanaka and Douglas Seals in The Journal of Physiology summarised the pattern in masters endurance athletes:

• Peak performance is maintained until about 35.
• There's a modest decline until about 50 to 60, then a steeper decline.
• The main physiological drivers are falls in VO2max and lactate threshold. Economy, the energy cost of moving at a given speed, doesn't change much with age in trained athletes.
• Declines in training intensity and volume appear to explain a large part of the fall in performance.

A 2016 review by Lepers and Stapley in Frontiers in Physiology estimated declines of roughly 8% to 15% per decade depending on the event and sex, and noted that masters athletes are getting faster over time. Inference: the decline is real but not fixed, and how you train affects how quickly it happens.

Do masters athletes recover more slowly?

This is the question most masters triathletes care about, and the answer is less clear-cut than most people assume.

Recovery from hard intervals

A 2018 study by Borges and colleagues in Experimental Aging Research compared 9 well-trained masters cyclists (average age 56) with 8 well-trained young cyclists (average age 26). Sex wasn't reported in the material read for this article.

• The session: six 30-second efforts at 175% of peak power output.
• The measures: strength, a 10-second sprint, a 30-minute time trial, creatine kinase (a blood marker of muscle damage), and ratings of motivation, fatigue and soreness, over 48 hours.

The findings:

• Physical recovery was similar. Neither group showed different recovery in strength, sprint power, time-trial performance or creatine kinase.
• Perceived recovery was slower in masters. After 48 hours, they reported lower motivation, more fatigue and more soreness, with moderate effect sizes.

The authors suggested that slower perceived recovery could affect long-term participation in training. Inference: feeling less recovered doesn't always mean performing worse, but it does affect how much hard training you're willing and able to do.

Muscle repair after hard training

A 2016 study by Doering and colleagues in Medicine and Science in Sports and Exercise looked at well-trained triathletes: 5 masters (average age 53) and 6 younger (average age 27). They did a 30-minute downhill run, followed by three 20 km cycling time trials over the next two days, with diet controlled.

• Muscle protein synthesis over three days was lower in masters: 1.49% per day compared with 1.70% per day.
• Time-trial performance 10 hours after the downhill run fell by 3.0% in masters and 1.4% in younger triathletes. This was a trend, not a statistically significant difference.

It's a tiny sample, but it's one of the few studies in masters triathletes. TriForward's "Protein for the Lifting Triathlete" covers what this means for protein intake.

Recovery after a long race

A 2010 study by Easthope and colleagues in the European Journal of Applied Physiology compared 13 masters athletes (average age 46) and 10 younger athletes (average age 31) after a 55 km trail race.

• Maximal strength fell by 40% in masters and 32% in younger athletes.
• Efficiency fell by 6.3% in masters and 4.6% in younger athletes.
• Masters showed similar fatigue and muscle damage, but their recovery over the following three days was slower.

The masters group here averaged 46, not 50-plus, and running downhill on trails is unusually damaging. Inference: if recovery is slower at 46, it's likely to be at least as slow at 56, though that isn't directly tested here.

What this adds up to

Across these small studies, masters athletes tended to recover more slowly after muscle-damaging exercise such as downhill running or trail racing, and felt less recovered after hard intervals, while their physical recovery from intervals was similar to younger athletes. Inference: the sessions that cost masters athletes the most are probably the long, eccentric-heavy ones, such as long runs and hilly runs, more than short, hard intervals on the bike.

Should masters athletes still train hard?

Tanaka and Seals' conclusion that falling training intensity explains much of the decline is the strongest argument for keeping hard sessions. Many athletes respond to slower recovery by cutting hard sessions altogether, and that may accelerate the decline they're trying to manage.

Inference from the studies above:

• Keep high-intensity work, such as threshold and VO2max intervals, every week.
• Space it further apart. Two hard sessions a week with more easy days between them may suit many masters athletes better than three crowded together.
• Protect the quality of hard sessions by making easy days genuinely easy.
• Watch perceived recovery. The Borges study suggests masters athletes may feel less recovered even when they perform similarly. Feeling tired isn't always a reason to skip a session, but persistent fatigue, falling motivation and poor sleep together are worth acting on.

TriForward's "Reading the Trend, Not the Number" covers how heart rate variability can help with this.

Where lifting fits

Strength and power both decline with age, and TriForward's "Strength Training After 50" explains why power, the ability to produce force quickly, declines fastest. Lifting is one of the few interventions that directly slows that.

Strength training and cycling efficiency

A 2012 study by Louis and colleagues in the European Journal of Applied Physiology involved 17 endurance-trained athletes who competed in cycling and triathlon: 9 masters (average age 52) and 8 young (average age 26). None had done regular strength training in the previous year. Sex wasn't stated in the material read for this article.

• Training: 3 weeks of knee-extension training, 3 times a week, 10 sets of 10 repetitions at 70% of one-repetition maximum, alongside normal endurance training.
• Before training, masters had lower strength and lower cycling efficiency than the young athletes.
• Strength rose by 17.8% in masters and 5.9% in young athletes.
• Cycling efficiency improved significantly in masters, from 19.7% to 22.9%, but only showed a trend in young athletes.

This was a short, single-exercise programme in a small group. But it suggests masters endurance athletes may have more to gain from strength training than younger ones, because they start from a lower base.

Starting lifting without wrecking the week

Masters athletes who start lifting worry, reasonably, about soreness on top of slower recovery. A 2013 study by Chen and colleagues in the European Journal of Applied Physiology offers a useful strategy. 26 healthy older men (average age 66) did a maximal eccentric knee-extensor session. Half had done a light eccentric session at 10% of their maximal strength a week earlier.

• The light session caused no measurable damage or soreness.
• After the maximal session, the group that had done the light one lost less strength and range of motion and recovered faster.

Inference: a deliberately light first week of any new exercise appears to protect against the soreness of later, heavier sessions. TriForward's "Sore From the Gym, Flat on the Bike" covers this repeated-bout effect in more detail.

Which sessions cost the most?

Not every session places the same demand on recovery. Putting the studies above together, inference suggests a rough order for masters triathletes:

• Most costly: long runs, hilly or downhill runs, races and new lifting exercises. These involve eccentric loading, which caused the slow recovery seen in the downhill-running and trail-race studies.
• Moderately costly: hard bike and run intervals. The Borges study found physical recovery from short, hard bike efforts was similar to younger athletes, even if masters felt more tired.
• Least costly: easy swimming and easy cycling, which involve little impact or eccentric loading.

This suggests that the bike and the pool are where a masters athlete can carry the most training, while running volume and intensity need the most careful spacing. It also fits "The Kona Standard", which found cycling performance declines least with age.

Signs the week isn't working

A training week that suits you at 50 may not suit you at 58, so it's worth checking it regularly. Signs that recovery isn't keeping up include:

• Hard sessions repeatedly falling short of what you managed a few weeks earlier.
• Persistent soreness after familiar sessions, not just new ones.
• Falling motivation, poorer sleep and a sense of heaviness lasting more than a few days.
• Niggles that don't settle between sessions.

Inference: any one of these on its own may mean little. Several together suggest adding an easy day, spacing hard sessions further apart, or taking a lighter week.

Racing and recovery across the season

The same principles apply to races. TriForward's "After the Finish Line" found that markers of muscle damage and inflammation stayed raised for days after an Ironman, and the Easthope trail-race study suggests masters athletes recover from long races more slowly. Inference: masters athletes may need a longer return to hard training after a long race, and may race fewer long events per season. "Tapering for an Ironman" covers the run-in to a race.

A sample masters week

The following is an illustrative structure based on the evidence above, not a tested programme. It assumes around 8 to 12 hours a week.

• Monday: rest or easy swim.
• Tuesday: hard bike intervals, then lifting later in the day.
• Wednesday: easy run and technique swim.
• Thursday: easy bike or rest.
• Friday: hard run or swim session, then a short lifting session.
• Saturday: long ride, mostly easy.
• Sunday: long run, mostly easy, or a shorter run if recovery is poor.

The principles behind it:

• Two hard sessions, not three, with at least one easy day between them.
• Lifting on hard days, so easy days stay easy.
• The long run, probably the most damaging session, isn't followed by another hard session.

Some masters athletes use a 9- or 10-day cycle rather than 7 days, so hard sessions can be spaced further apart. There are no trials comparing these, but it's a practical option if the 7-day week feels crowded.

Men and women

Women are poorly represented in this research. The Borges and Louis studies didn't report sex in the material read, and most of the masters research reviewed in "The Kona Standard" involves men. The steepest decline in Lepers and Stapley's review, around 15% per decade, was in female Ironman athletes, and menopause brings changes in muscle, bone and sleep, covered in TriForward's "Menopause and the Triathlete". Inference: the principles above probably apply to women, but the details, such as how much recovery is needed, aren't known.

A triathlon scenario

The following example is illustrative, not drawn from a study. A 57-year-old man has raced Olympic-distance triathlons for 20 years. He's noticed that three hard sessions a week leave him flat, so he has cut back to easy training only, and his times have slipped more over two seasons than in the previous five years.

Based on the evidence above, he might:

• Reintroduce two hard sessions a week, spaced with easy days between them.
• Start lifting twice a week, beginning with a light first week.
• Make the long run easier and avoid following it with another hard session.
• Track how he feels, using perceived fatigue and motivation alongside performance.

Common mistakes

• Dropping all intensity in response to slower recovery.
• Keeping a younger athlete's schedule with three hard sessions crowded into a week.
• Starting heavy lifting without a light introduction.
• Ignoring how you feel. Perceived fatigue may be the first sign recovery isn't keeping up.
• Under-eating protein, given lower muscle protein synthesis in masters athletes.

What we don't know

• Whether these recovery patterns hold for athletes in their 60s and 70s. Most studies compared athletes in their 50s with athletes in their 20s.
• How women differ, given the sparse data.
• Whether a 9- or 10-day cycle performs better than a 7-day week.
• The ideal balance of hard sessions and lifting for masters triathletes, which hasn't been tested in whole training weeks.

References

• Tanaka H, Seals DR. Endurance exercise performance in Masters athletes: age-associated changes and underlying physiological mechanisms. The Journal of Physiology, 2008;586(1):55–63. doi:10.1113/jphysiol.2007.141879
• Lepers R, Stapley PJ. Master athletes are extending the limits of human endurance. Frontiers in Physiology, 2016;7:613. doi:10.3389/fphys.2016.00613
• Borges NR, Reaburn PR, Doering TM, Argus CK, Driller MW. Age-related changes in physical and perceptual markers of recovery following high-intensity interval cycle exercise. Experimental Aging Research, 2018;44(4):338–349. doi:10.1080/0361073X.2018.1477361
• Doering TM, Jenkins DG, Reaburn PR, Borges NR, Hohmann E, Phillips SM. Lower integrated muscle protein synthesis in masters compared with younger athletes. Medicine and Science in Sports and Exercise, 2016;48(8):1613–1618. doi:10.1249/MSS.0000000000000935
• Easthope CS, Hausswirth C, Louis J, Lepers R, Vercruyssen F, Brisswalter J. Effects of a trail running competition on muscular performance and efficiency in well-trained young and master athletes. European Journal of Applied Physiology, 2010;110(6):1107–1116. doi:10.1007/s00421-010-1597-1
• Louis J, Hausswirth C, Easthope C, Brisswalter J. Strength training improves cycling efficiency in master endurance athletes. European Journal of Applied Physiology, 2012;112(2):631–640. doi:10.1007/s00421-011-2013-1
• Chen TC, Tseng WC, Huang GL, Chen HL, Tseng KW, Nosaka K. Low-intensity eccentric contractions attenuate muscle damage induced by subsequent maximal eccentric exercise of the knee extensors in the elderly. European Journal of Applied Physiology, 2013;113(4):1005–1015. doi:10.1007/s00421-012-2517-3