Ed Whitlock wows writer from Montreal Gazette (as she should be)
In a story this week in the Montreal Gazette, M80 distance god Ed Whitlock gets his latest due. Under the headlines âRunning ahead of his peers/At 80, Marathon star Ed Whitlock offers proof of what researchers call âexceptionally successful agingâ,â Jill Barker writes: âGetting slower doesnât bother Whitlock, who has no immediate plans to hang up his running shoes for good. In fact, heâs hoping to bring down his marathon time under 3:20, which he believes is possible provided that his knees donât give him trouble and he can put in the training hours. Under 3:20 at 80 years of age? Are you kidding me?â Get used to it, Jill. Wait till he goes sub-4 at 90!
Hereâs the story, in case the link goes buh-bye:
Ed Whitlockâs 3: 25.43 marathon finish this February in Rotterdam wowed the running community. His time puts him somewhere in the top nine per cent of marathoners â which in itself is pretty impressive. But the fact that Whitlock is 80 years old makes the feat downright spectacular.
Itâs not the first time Whitlock, who lives in Milton, Ont., has turned in an impressive finish. At 73 he ran a sub-three-hour marathon in 2: 54.48 â a time achieved by less than three per cent of runners of any age (4: 35.41 is the average marathon time).
After his most recent marathon finish, Runnerâs World quoted Whitlock as saying that he thinks good genes and dogged determination are the secrets to his success. And while that may help, you have to wonder if Whitlock has some kind of physiological edge. Or are we guilty of underestimating the athletic potential of older athletes?
According to Russell Hepple, an exercise physiologist from McGillâs department of kinesiology and physical education who specializes in aging, Whitlockâs accomplishments are indeed unique. He is one of a handful of older exercisers who are rewriting the book on theories of aging and exercise.
âIf I knew why, I would bottle this and make billions,â Hepple said when questioned about Whitlockâs performance. âBut the reality is we do not know what it is about the biology of people who age better than most that gives them this advantage.â
The study of active older adults is in its infancy, mainly because itâs a relatively new phenomenon. What is known is that exercise, particularly intense exercise, slows some of the physiological markers typically associated with aging.
Whitlock says he trains by putting in daily long runs. He doesnât time the runs, nor does he do any speed work. He just puts one foot in front of the other at a comfortable pace. âBefore my best marathons I ran a lot of three-hour runs, which I like to string together day after day,â Whitlock said in a telephone interview. âIn a six-week training period I usually only miss two or three days.â
Hepple says intense exercise helps some older exercisers stay healthy â maintaining good cardiac and metabolic function, lowering cancer risk, keeping bones and muscles strong and reducing the risk of dementia. Researchers have called this phenomenon âexceptionally successful aging.â
âIn my view, however, it is not the exercise regimen that makes (Whitlock) special,â Hepple said. âWhat makes Ed special is that he is still able to train this way at a much more advanced age than most. His body obviously allows him to maintain this training regimen, and he has the cognitive âdriveâ to want to continue to train hard.â
Whitlock has been at this a long time. He started out as a middle-distance runner when he was in school, where he says he had âa fair amount of success.â He was in his 40s when he ran his first 42-kilometre race, and posted his best time of 2: 31.23 at age 48. He runs, on average, one marathon a year (sometimes as many as three, and sometimes a few years will go by without a single entry in the marathon circuit). He also competes in a number of 3,000-metre events, which he says are much easier on his body than going the full 42-kilometre distance.
This brings us to the topic of injuries, which Whitlock has suffered from time to time. He has an Achilles tendon that acts up on occasion, as well as knees that have disrupted his training on and off during the past few years.
âIâm not injured often, but when I am it tends to stick around for a long time,â said Whitlock.
Yet despite a few aches and pains, he keeps at it, gently slowing but still maintaining a running regime and performance level that humbles runners half his age.
Which begs the question: What does one have to do to be like Ed?
âIt is too late,â Hepple said. âWe would have had to modify your DNA shortly after fertilization â and that assumes we know what is special about his genetic composition, which is not the case. ⌠The huge numbers of former athletes who try to train like they used to only to fail because of injury shows that Ed is special.â
Clearly, Whitlock at 80 is slower than he was in his 70s, but thatâs probably the only thing about him that is typical. Statistics obtained from several elite senior athletic events suggest that performance declines approximately 3.4 per cent per year over 35 years of competition. This decline occurs slowly from 50 to 75 years of age and dramatically after 75.
Most of the decrease in performance is related to diminished aerobic power, but itâs also likely that a decrease in joint mobility, reaction time, muscle mass, strength, and a longer time for recovery contributes to the slowing down of aging runners.
Getting slower doesnât bother Whitlock, who has no immediate plans to hang up his running shoes for good. In fact, heâs hoping to bring down his marathon time under 3: 20.00, which he believes is possible provided that his knees donât give him trouble and he can put in the training hours.
Under 3: 20.00 at 80 years of age? Are you kidding me?
âEd is a sobering reminder that we are not all created equal,â Hepple said.
3 Responses
Incredible!!!! At 80, he trains harder than most runners half his age who can’t run as fast as he.
We hope to have Ed and Earl Fee running at the same meets at the Ontario and Canadian Championships in Toronto. Unfortunately, Earl doesn’t do the 1500m anymore or we could have a match race…..maybe a 1000m would be the even-point.
I’ve run against Ed before. We were both at the 1st Worlds in Toronto in 1975. We got into it again at Orono a few years ago. I only get to see him at the start line. Once the gun goes, he goes. “Hey, Eddie, wave as you lap me.” “Gee, Tex, you come up with some funny stuff.” I know. Just tickled that the cat is Canadian.(^_^) Hi, Liz. Smartty
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