Who says you have to slow down as you age up? These athletes in their 50s and 60s share 10 real tips that helped them set PRs in long-course triathlon – even after decades of racing.

After over three decades of racing, with 15 Ironmans, 45 70.3s, and dozens of Olympic and sprint races under her belt, Heidi Schmitt finished Ironman Maryland last September in 11:23:07 – her fastest time ever. And she did it at 54 years old.

“When I turned 50, I thought everything was going to be downhill,” Schmitt says. “But so far, it hasn’t. I’ve seen more PRs than I did in my 40s.”

While data clearly shows we slow down with age, some 50-plus-year-old triathletes are bucking that trend, racing iron-distance and half-iron events faster than they did in their younger years. How are they doing this? We talked with age groupers about their secrets to achieving an Ironman or 70.3 PR after 50.

The “getting faster after 50” PR plan:

1. Reassess your nutrition

Schmitt, who lives in Waialua, Hawaii, reassessed her nutrition around 50 when she began listening to the podcast Hit Play Not Pause, aimed at helping athletic women navigate menopause.

“A light bulb went off,” Schmitt says. Per the advice of nutritionists on the show, and after reading Dr. Stacy Simms’ book Roar, which also discusses the unique nutritional needs of female athletes, Schmitt upped her daily protein intake and gradually incorporated more carbohydrates, which she previously eschewed outside of training. During bike rides, she doubled her calorie intake.

“I saw a huge change,” Schmitt says. Off the bike, she ran better and more consistently than ever. A year after adjusting her diet, she placed second in her age group Oceanside 70.3 and ran her fastest half marathon off the bike in 2021.

Now a coach herself, she observes many female triathletes who under-fuel their training and racing, just as she once did. She hopes to set an example. “I am a faster runner off the bike now in my 50s than I was in my 30s and 40s, and that’s because I learned how to fuel.”

2. Pay more attention to recovery

Jeff Thompson, 57, a USA Triathlon and USA Track & Field Level 1 coach who lives in Milledgeville, Georgia, says he’s paid more attention to recovery since turning 50. Two years ago, he won his age group at Ironman Chattanooga and set a new PR in 10:08:01.

Thompson used to rise at 4 a.m. to work out. Now, he sleeps until 5:30 a.m. If he’s feeling tired, he doesn’t hesitate to turn a high-intensity workout into an easy one. Occasionally, when he senses he’s run down, he’ll skip a workout altogether — previously unthinkable to his younger self.

“Doing a high-intensity workout when you’re tired is a waste of time,” he says.

For Thompson, recovery is also about reducing stress. (He says now that his two kids are off to college that helps.) Still, he’s implemented another change. During Zone 1 or Zone 2 workouts, he no longer listens to music. “I get in my mind, and I can think about things. That helps me de-stress.”

3. Lift weights (even if you only have 20 minutes)

Schmitt and Thompson both point to another crucial pillar of their triathlon success – lifting weights. For Thompson, it’s helped him remain injury-free, enabling him to train consistently. Without consistency, he says, “you’re not going to make gains.”

Research shows that muscle mass begins a steady decline after 30 and a more precipitous drop after 60. Thompson combats that by doing three-to-four strength training sessions per week (and he enjoys it). He’ll lift heavy weights during his base season, aiming for four-to-six reps per set. Closer to race time, as his training volume increases, he’ll do one or two sessions a week with lighter weights, aiming for 12-15 reps per set.

Inevitably, there are days he’s short on time. “Sometimes, people get in that mindset that if I only have 20 minutes, why even bother?” But Thompson emphasizes it’s still worth it. “Don’t let perfection prevent good enough.”

4. Get out of your comfort zone

Race results across all sports show that speed invariably decreases with age. That’s partly due to a natural decline in the body’s cardiorespiratory function.

Thompson set out to offset this. In the lead-up to his Ironman PR, he followed a new training plan that insisted on a more polarized approach than he’d done in the past. That entailed doing “hard training hard and easy training easy.”

It’s a style he continues to use. Long, slow distance is not enough: “You’ve got to keep up that VO2 max,” he stresses. For him, that means two high-intensity training sessions a week, with at least two-to-three days of easy workouts (or rest) in between. Since he subscribes to running less often (see training tip number six, below), he prefers to do high-intensity workouts while biking or swimming, given their low impact.

On the bike, a session will include hard sets that range from 30 seconds to 3 minutes, with 1 to 6 minutes of recovery in between. On the swim, a session might consist of 10 x 50 yards with 20 seconds in between.

5. Focus on structured bike training and use a power meter throughout the winter

Thomas Risse, 54, recalls moving from Hawaii to Utah, where he started riding an indoor bike trainer and using a power meter. He says he remembers sweating and gasping during his first functional threshold power test, where he managed 240 watts. Fast-forward through six winters of structured indoor bike rides. Earlier this year, Risse peaked at 330 watts. He went on to race Challenge Roth in July in 10:37:06, his fastest iron-distance race time yet.

Risse, a past president of the Seattle triathlon club, attributes the majority of his performance gains to improved bike strength, which he built over multiple years by following a training plan and riding an indoor smart trainer. Zwift’s game-like interface that rewards users with stars helped, too; he concedes that the risk of losing out on a gold star makes him push even harder.

Throughout the winter, Risse relies on a six-month training plan that he buys for $100. The plan includes four rides a week (one endurance, one recovery and two high-intensity sessions). For two of those rides, he organizes a group meetup on Zwift, where a dozen people usually join him. “We chat and we suffer together,” he says. “You show up, you do the workout and you will get stronger.”

6. Run less often

Declining VO2 max and muscle mass contribute to age-related slowdowns, but Vinnie Santana, a former pro and head triathlon coach at Ironguides, points to a bigger culprit. Prolonged time away from training, often due to health issues or injuries, leads athletes to slow down even more.

“At age 50, the body is generally worn out,” he says. The high impact of running, where each heel strike produces a force equivalent to four times a runner’s body weight, presents new risks.

It’s why Santana advises older athletes to run less often. “The running volume has to be adequate with the athlete’s goal, but on the lowest range possible,” Santana says.

He also encourages older athletes to implement the run-walk protocol, allowing “for better technique and reduced recovery time.” What does that look like? During long training runs, run for 10 minutes and walk for 1 minute. During races, walk the aid stations and “time it,” he says, so in the early miles, you don’t forget.

“I’ve had athletes walk every aid station and still run a 3:30 marathon off the bike.”

7. Go slow to go fast

Three years ago, Steve Mayberry nearly gave up triathlon. He’d done over two dozen Ironmans and 70.3s, but as he approached 60, he found himself gasping for air on the run. At one sprint triathlon in his hometown, Ames, Iowa, he exited the swim feeling exhausted. “It was miserable,” he says.

Mayberry contacted triathlon coach Jess Smith of Hardcoeur Coaching. “I’ll turn you into a diesel engine,” she told him. Mayberry shed his old habits and embraced her guidance. Instead of doing most workouts at or above 80% of his maximum heart rate, he dialed back the intensity, aiming for easy to moderate efforts.

“I had to slow down to go faster,” he says.

It worked. This year, Mayberry placed fifth in his age group at Ironman Chattanooga, notching a bike split PR and qualifying for the 2025 Ironman World Championship in Nice, France. At 63, he says, “I am 99% confident that my best races are still in front of me.”

8. Train for an Olympic-distance race

Sinda Mein did her first triathlon in 1987. This year, the 55-year-old from the Bay Area delivered three outstanding performances. First, she competed at the USAT Age Group National Championships Olympic-distance event, where to her delight, in her third attempt, she qualified for next year’s age-group world championships. Next, she notched a PR at Ironman California in 11:37:53. Then, in early December, she scored a PR at Ironman 70.3 Indian Wells-La Quinta in 5:35:08.

While Mein did a few 70-mile-plus bike rides in the lead-up to the Ironman, she believes the shorter, high-intensity Olympic-specific training sessions contributed to her success, especially the once-a-week “chase” rides she did with her triathlon team throughout the summer. In those rides, Mein took off on a predetermined 18-mile route, trying to catch the rider who started just before and not get caught by the rider who started just after.

The thrill of the chase compelled her to ride harder and more aggressively than she otherwise would have, she says. “When I’m trying to catch someone, it just takes my brain to a different place.”

Thanks to her new approach to training and racing, Mein says, “I feel like I’m in better shape than ever.”

9. “The secret ingredient is body maintenance.”

Shangrila Rendon, founder of Feisty Fox Coaching, specializes in coaching triathletes over 40 (her oldest athlete is 74). The “secret ingredient” to staying fit and strong after 50, she says, is not more swimming, biking, and running sessions. It’s the overlooked, frequently skipped and often boring routines Rendon calls body maintenance — including dynamic stretching, strength training (with extra focus on the glutes, core, and stabilizer muscles), soft tissue massage such as foam rolling and active recovery. She prescribes unique routines that target her athletes’ weak areas. Sessions take five to 20 minutes a few times a week.

“Most athletes focus on body maintenance when something becomes painful,” Rendon says. But that’s the wrong approach. She compares it to changing the oil in your car or brushing your teeth. “If you want to take care of something, you have to do it regularly. Don’t wait until it’s broken.”

To start, she suggests a lacrosse ball and resistance band, which are small enough to pack in a suitcase. Use the lacrosse ball to massage muscles, especially trigger points, and the resistance band to do exercises such as squats, the crabwalk, and glute bridge abductions.

10. Pay attention to technique

Pain and injury limit everyone, but especially athletes over 50, Rendon says. Often, this is because triathletes jump into the sport and focus entirely on cardio sessions at the expense of technique. While a younger body can get away with this, older athletes usually can’t.

Bob Woodruff, who lives in Clifton, Virginia, started doing triathlons in 1984, back when youth was on his side, and the prevailing training philosophy insisted “the more you do, the better you get,” he says. He took a 15-year break, returned to the sport in his late 50s, and raced Ironman Maine 70.3 in 5:03, setting a new PR at 60.

A year later, he injured his knee. Despite stretching, icing, and massage, the pain wouldn’t go away. That’s when he approached Coach Rendon, who introduced him to body maintenance, which he faithfully embraced. She also revamped his pedaling technique, adding one-legged drills to his workouts, and had him ride at a higher cadence, reducing pressure on his quads and knees. Now 63, Woodruff is racing strong and often. This past year, he did three 70.3s and a standalone half marathon in 1:40:44, his fastest since turning 50. “I start thinking about what this will look like when I’m 70.”

Yes, you can get faster at 50 (and beyond)!

None of us are immune from the body’s natural physiological decline over time. Indeed, we will all slow down at some point. But at what age and by how much? The success stories of the athletes above should not only raise our collective notion of what’s possible in life’s second half but also offer proof that when it comes to endurance events such as Ironmans and 70.3s: Some of us — with proper training and the right mindset — can still get faster after 50.