Not achieving your best times any more? Why that’s probably a good thing

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When Susie Chan began running 15 years ago as a 35-year-old, she wasn’t especially fast, but still found it thrilling. Chan was hitting personal bests (PBs) and continuously getting fitter, faster and stronger.

The rewards went beyond the PBs.

Starting daily physical activity of any sort changes body composition. Then that newly muscled body gets flooded with endorphins, dopamine, and hormones such as serotonin, which can help to reduce symptoms of depression and anxiety.

Regular physical activity can also lead to an 80 per cent reduction in cardiovascular disease risk, a 90 per cent reduction in type 2 diabetes risk, and a 33 per cent reduction in cancer risk.

But we all peak eventually, and even the dose-response benefits of exercise eventually plateau. The evidence is that the health benefits are significant up to about 7500 steps a day; after that, they become marginal.

And with age, there is an inevitable time when we are no longer improving, and our performance no longer compares to that of our former, fitter selves. Trying to chase the same old goals just leads to Strava-induced depression or injury.

“I went through a phase where I wasn’t getting faster, and it was frustrating me,” says Chan, 50, who has now run more than 50 marathons and whose running journey led her from working in the British Museum to a role as a Peloton running instructor four years ago. “You have to adjust where you get your enjoyment and what keeps you motivated. You can only achieve a PB a certain number of times, and then it’s done.”

When we can no longer chase a PB or hit the same heights of our youth, how can we recalibrate our goals?

The age of mental wins

Eliud Kipchoge’s last major marathon win was the Berlin Marathon in 2023.

Kipchoge thanks fans at the steps of the Opera House during the 2025 Sydney Marathon.

The 40-year-old Kenyan athlete, widely regarded as the greatest marathoner of all time, ran an incredible two hours and eight minutes to finish ninth in the Sydney marathon in August.

Still, it was nearly 10 minutes off his best in 2019, when he became the first (and only) person to run the marathon in under two hours.

At a press briefing, the day after his race in Sydney, he said age has made him more consistent with his training, and that there are still plenty of opportunities to grow.

“Running is like a road where there are bumps along the way,” he said. “When the road is smooth, you don’t learn anything, but when you hit the bumps, you learn more than anything.”

Running has taught him patience, consistency, respect, and discipline: all qualities we can continue to improve and refine with age and experience. Physical body be damned, getting older is the age of mental goals.

“I can still push every minute, every year and find ways to show people longevity is the way to enjoy the sport,” Kipchoge said. “Being old is not a disadvantage. It’s an advantage.”

Change the goal posts

One approach to recalibrating our goals is to shift the scoreboard, not the sport, says Dr Paddy Dempsey, a NHMRC Research Fellow at the Institute for Physical Activity and Nutrition (IPAN) and the Baker Heart & Diabetes Institute.

Age-graded PBs, for example, involve measuring how we perform relative to others of the same age.

“Others set process goals, like two gym sessions a week, or durability goals, like finishing a season injury-free,” Dempsey says. “A 65-year-old marathoner might not beat their 40-year-old self, but running every Parkrun this year without missing a week is still a powerful achievement.”

It is reframing the goal from peak performance to peak participation:

“Most people report better mental health, function and quality of life when they stay active into later life, so preserving consistency becomes a ‘win’ in itself.”

Do what you’ve never done

If you can’t beat it, change it.

When former Olympic middle-distance runner Jeff Risley retired four years ago, he needed a break from the sport that had occupied 15 years of his life, so he tried on the gym, strength training and protein powder for size.

When he eventually returned to running, he quickly realised there was no going back.

“My internal expectations have blown up so many of my sessions,” says the 38-year-old Nike run coach. “I remember what I used to be able to do, and then I go out there, and it’s not quite the same.”

Jeff Risley has adjusted his goals as he has aged. They’re not lesser, just different.

So, he opted for a different challenge.

Having never run one, the marathon didn’t carry the baggage of comparison: “I had to go and learn, which was an exciting experience.”

Age can be an advantage for endurance running (or cycling), explains Dempsey: “Speed and power tend to peak earlier (more fast-twitch fibre, faster recovery), whereas endurance and tactical or skill-heavy sports tend to peak later.”

Endurance racing is one activity that is increasingly popular among older adults, but it is not the only trend. There is also walking soccer, walking netball, pickleball, golf, dancing, swimming and croquet.

Change the way you train (and your shoes)

Risley no longer trains the way he once did. Now, it involves less sprinting and overall mileage, and more threshold sessions where “you’re working but not killing yourself”.

“It feels like it doesn’t bang my body up too much, and I still get really good aerobic benefits,” he says, adding that his threshold speed is slower than the three-minute, 10-second pace he maintained as a younger athlete. For reference, Risley’s “slower” pace is still a blistering three minutes, 45 seconds.

Triathlete Michael Osten, 49, has also changed the way he trains.

Now, he does hard sessions on the bike or in the pool, where his body (and knees) don’t bear the brunt of the impact. And he limits how fast he allows himself to run.

“I know if I chase my old self, I’m going to get injured,” says. Osten, a Nike EKIN (a title assigned to product specialists). “I love running too much to want to get injured. So it’s recalibrating your goals. What’s more important to me is to know I can still do two or three runs a week.”

He’s also changed his training footwear from minimal lightweight shoes to maximum-cushioned shoes (he favours the new Vomero Plus): “They give the extra protection … that my knees appreciate.”

Fit through the ages

In our 30s and 40s, we can still progress through periodisation, where training volume, load, intensity, and recovery are varied to optimise our performance in competition. By our 50s and 60s, however, the wiser goals are consistency, strength, and preserving skills, says Dempsey.

“By the 70s, showing up healthy, maintaining balance, and enjoying the community are wins in themselves.”

Dempsey emphasises the importance of endurance as we age, but says the biggest shift is that strength/functional/balance training becomes non-negotiable.

“Masters athletes who do resistance training regularly retain muscle, bone and tendon resilience,” he says. “A runner in their 30s might get away with only running; in their 60s, they’ll benefit from resistance activities (e.g., squats and calf raises, etc) to protect joints and avoid injury, maintain balance and stabilisers.”

With age, recovery and listening to your body also become a bigger part of the puzzle.

“I think many ageing athletes can still chase ambitious goals, but they also need to be a bit more aware.”

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