By Joel Roberts
Exercise is excellent for the body, from a physical to a mental health point of view. A recent study in Australia showed that running could extend your life.
Data has suggested that running, even a little, can reduce the chance of heart disease by 30% and the risk of cancer by 23%; this can be done by running 50 minutes per week.
The World Health Organisation states that heart disease is the world’s biggest killer. Heart disease is responsible for 16% of the world’s total deaths.
The researchers looked at the results from 14 studies that included more than 232,000 people whose health was tracked for between 5.5 and 35 years. During the study period, nearly 26,000 participants died.
What is the best age to run an ultramarathon?
Age is an interesting factor with ultrarunning, whilst typically in some sports, such as football, when you are past 30, you are beginning to reach the twilight phase of your career; in ultrarunning, you are only just beginning.
Typically, the best marathon times usually come from people approximately the age of 30, but in ultrarunning, this increases up to 35. However, this is another aspect of the sport that is changing but is different from the way you may think.
It has been shown by the theory that most participants in an ultra-marathon have completed half-marathons, then full marathons and have built up to ultra-marathons gradually over time. A marathon is 26.2 miles; once athletes have conquered that, they are determined to take on the following challenges.
The age of the best performance in ultra-marathons has increased in recent decades, especially in the 100+ mile ultra-marathons and in those runners who had finished regularly took part in ultra-marathons.
An ultra-marathon is a fantastic achievement at any age. It is a phenomenal feat; of course, the distance is staggering, but the terrain and weather conditions make it incredible. But at what age can you feasibly take up ultra running?
Most race directors tend to set a minimum age requirement for their races due to the unlikeliness that a younger person can finish the race as well as safety and consent reasons. However, there are exceptions, Lucy Bartholomew applied to many races across Australia at the age of 15, and only one race director allowed her to compete.
Is it true that women run as fast as men in ultramarathons?
There also is a difference between males and women in the sport. Only about one-fifth of people who finish an ultramarathon is female, typically the average finisher being a well-educated, married male between the ages of 35 and 50.
But what does the science say?
A study in 2011 showed that motivation is a significant factor; other studies have shown that women tend to be more intrinsically motivated by the health side of ultrarunning rather than the competitive nature of men.
The same study showed that men “have a competitive nature in which they want to compete with opponents and win a race”.
Another contrasting aspect between the two sexes is the strategy used in an ultramarathon. In a typical 100km during the Master’s World Championships, it was shown that women were relatively slower than men at the start of the race, but at the end of the race, they had a higher running speed than men.
In addition, over the past decade, it has been evident that the gap between the two genders finishing times is closing by between 14% and 17%.
In an article by John Davis for Runners connect, it was stated that “In both men and women, the average time per age group followed a gradual U-shaped curve. Finish times improved significantly when moving from the 18-24 age group to the 28-29 group, and again when moving up to the 30-34 group.”
This was also backed up by saying that most peak performances in ultra-marathons come at 35.
Do you get more injuries as an ultramarathoner?
Injury is part of any sport; it can happen at any time, and some injuries can be career-ending. However, a study showed that a majority of 77% of ultrarunners had reported suffering an injury. Still, the runners who had been doing +26 miles for the past two years had not endured any injuries. The science shows that 35-40 is the best bracket for ultrarunners, but this could change with younger runners taking up the sport.
Trainright.com stated that “it is known that young athletes can improve muscular strength, anaerobic power, and aerobic fitness with exercise training, but not necessarily to the same degree that similar training would lead to in an adult.”
“Any form of running requires good aerobic fitness but ultrarunning also requires good muscle tendon, ligament and bone health due to the terrain some races occur in. Endurance training is cumulative over years and decades.
“We get stronger by building on all the training we’ve previously done, not just the most recent training block. There is no evidence I have seen that says young athletes, even prepubescent athletes, should not run ultramarathons.
However, it is tough for a young athlete to accumulate the long-term physiological and anatomic adaptations that help sustain the training required to prepare for ultradistance events.
“It would seem that age itself is less of a limiting factor, but that the time required to progress gradually and sustainably means not many children and teens are physically ready to train for ultramarathons. Most research shows that the most successful adult athletes were involved in various sports and that the risk of injury is higher in athletes who specialise early in one sport.”
It is clear that ultramarathons require years upon years of training, and that when running for several years, the human body conditions itself to cope with the distance. Many factors go towards being successful as an ultrarunner, but it comes down to determination, spirit and having fun.
References Cited
Davis, J. (2014, April 28). Do You Get better at the Ultra Marathon Distance as You Get Older? Runners Connect. https://runnersconnect.net/does-age-matter-in-ultramarathon/ Knechtle, B., & Nikolaidis, P. T. (n.d.). Physiology and pathophysiology in ultra-marathon running. Frontiers in Physiology, 9. https://doi.org/10.3389/fphys.2018.00634 Magazine, U. (2014, January 30). 2013 UltraRunning participation by the numbers. Ultra Running Magazine. https://ultrarunning.com/featured/2013-ultrarunning-participation-by-the-numbers/ Magazine, U. (2014, January 30). 2013 UltraRunning participation by the numbers. Ultra Running Magazine. https://ultrarunning.com/featured/2013-ultrarunning-participation-by-the-numbers/ Rutberg, J. (2018, May 15). How Young is Too Young To Run an Ultramarathon? CTS. https://trainright.com/how-young-is-too-young-to-run-an