Racing as you get older

Racing
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@kurt.braeckel 's post in the thread on reducing/eliminating alcohol prompted me to start this. It’s nothing to do with alcohol, but he mentioned that at 47 he decided to stop racing because of the anxiety and the potentially negative affects of training for performance, rather than health.

I’m 49 and thinking about when I might stop racing. If I had more masters events available, I might feel differently. How do you think about when/if you’ll quit racing? How would you (do you) otherwise stay motivated to train?

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You probably should stop doing what you don’t enjoy. This is a hobby that is suppose to improve life, not detract from it. Stop racing when you no longer want to race.

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For me, I had been racing on and off (mostly on) since I was 12, running first, then triathlon, then road racing (always some running events sprinkled in with the cycling and triathlon). I love the camaraderie of cycling, for sure. Triathlon and especially running were solo ventures for me - things I could do anywhere, mostly any time, and take with me when I was moving around with my time in the military. They always gave me something to feel like I was working toward, an element of control in a period of my life where I had very little. No matter what, I could control my fitness the best I could, adapt my training to suit circumstances, etc.

I found that once I retired from active duty and had all the time in the world to train and race almost as much as I wanted to, I wasn’t enjoying the process any longer. I rode 12-16hrs per week, got very fit, hit my highest W/kg and FTP ever, was achieving the things I wanted to achieve in racing, all that.

I had a string of serious injuries/crashes derail progress in 2021 - 2023, two of them “poop happens” in bike racing type things, one of them mostly my fault. They all led to extended time off from the bike, but more importantly they limited me in being able to pick up my toddler daughter, or play with my kids. As my kids got older, I was missing them when I would drive 3 hours for my road events on Saturdays; before, it was kind of a welcome break.

In short, my priorities just changed and I wasn’t enjoying the training process in the same way after 30+ years of doing it. I had known the time was coming for a few years - thinking about my exit strategy from racing for a couple of seasons.

I drove 3 hours to do a 90 min road race, then 3 hours home. The course was beautiful. I had fun racing it, I got a decent result and took my shot at a win racing aggressively as I always liked to. But I found on the drive home that I didn’t have the same buzz that I was used to in prior years, and I missed my family that day.

Ultimately, that was it for me.

It’s my coaching and physiology study that leads me to more of the overall health stuff. Chasing on-bike performance with high hours probably isn’t optimal for long term health and wellness because some of the things we do don’t support that. The position on the bike affects our core in very dramatic ways, and the older we get the harder it is to maintain that stuff without other effects.

For my athletes, I’ve discussed this with a few of them as I don’t hide the fact that I quit my own racing pursuits in March of 2024. Many of them are much earlier in their endurance sports journeys than I was (some less than 5 seasons). The flame burns brightly for them. It didn’t burn as brightly for me anymore, and between business ventures (with my wife), a family, and interest in other pursuits as well as an eye toward long-term wellness, I just pulled the plug.

I haven’t really looked back. I miss riding with my friends in the same way as I used to, but that’s always there for me when I want to get back to it regularly. I don’t have to win the group ride to get that enjoyment. I have had (very fleeting) thoughts of returning to triathlon, but ultimately I am very much enjoying my focus on strength training, overall conditioning.

I feel better now than I did when I was racing. I’m more mobile, more resilient, stronger in a whole-body sense. I don’t get sick as often from the petri dish that is my school-aged kids. And I have time for other stuff that I enjoy (like golf, family, focusing more on coaching others).

I still get the connection to the sports I love through my coaching, and that has probably helped. I wake up on big event weekends for my athletes and I love tracking their progress through marathons or Leadville or wherever and watching their progress. I love THAT process still, and I doubt I’ll ever not love helping people achieve their goals.

For me, it was just time, and it was about 2-3 years in the making where I knew the time was coming.

People think they’ll lose their identity when they stop doing this… the reality is this isn’t who you are. It’s just a part of it, often a symptom of a larger overall motivation or anxiety or whatever suits your personal description. It doesn’t define you - you should do it if you love it, and when you stop enjoying the process, you can quit and move on with your life. The sport will go on without your participation, and you can choose to be involved (or not) in other ways.

Best piece of advice would be, much like retirement, quit/retire to something. Don’t just stop; have something else you want to do. For me, that’s strength training, golf, and family (along with my coaching).

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I think you’re over thinking it. If you’re not motivated and/ or no longer enjoy it, stop. Same as any other aspect of cycling.

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Switch from road races / crits to time trials and have a crack at George’s times mentioned in this little obituary that the vets time trial people wrote about him

At 76 aim for a 23’25" 10 mile, a 58’33" 25 mile, a 1h11’39" 30 mile, a 2h3’12" 50 mile and a 4h31’55" 100 mile.

Then, when you get to 86, hop on a tandem with a 64 year old whipper snapper and do a 21’56" 10 mile, followed the next day by a sole bike 25’15" 10 mile.

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c3f6685ec915b8cc7da9d93e8846d1bdb31ff2f7_2_637x500637×500 114 KB

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To be fair to Jesse, it’s not a simple decision for many people and there aren’t a whole lot of conversations out there about it (having looked for them in the past). When something is as big a part of your life as endurance sports racing was a part of mine for 30+ years, it’s not quite as simple as “if you no longer enjoy it, stop”… even though it really is that simple. (Hopefully that makes sense). There’s anxiety, “what’s next” etc. that you need to sort through and have a plan, especially if you’re a “lifer”.

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I look at the 70+ guys still racing in their group think fair play - I hadn’t thought of it from the perspective of the not feeling able to stop, to be honest until this post!

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At 58, and having raced for 35+ years, I can certainly relate to the no longer enjoying the pre-race jitters. The “pit in the stomach” feeling before the race has indeed become a drain and weighs heavily on my overall experience.

That said, I still love racing once the gun goes off and the pre-race stress goes away.

I have refocused a bit in the last couple of years and worry less about my placing and focus more on the overall experience. My big races usually are now destination / marquee events, so I am just checking boxes to do the race and enjoy the experience with buddies. It has helped reduce the pre-race stress to some degree….but I am a competitive person by nature and when the flag drops, I wanna race.

I actually set some competitive goals for myself this year, so we’ll see how I deal with the stress leading up to the goal races.

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Being in the mix is still a blast, but that takes more and more work each year. The pre-race anxiety is something I thought would lessen over time, but it never has, and it takes a not insignificant toll with the rest of life stresses.

I think race choice is a good call out too. I’ve tended to favor quantity over quality.

We’ll see. Training feels like it’s headed in the right direction with TR on less hours than previous years, so if I can just keep my weight down…

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Happy belated race-age birthday everyone!

I plan to feel it out. I’m on a masters-oriented team (though we have a few riders their 30s). For men, there are a lot of masters-only categories in races around here, which seems to keep things safer and less stressful. For women, masters are always thrown in with the less experienced / younger / stronger riders, so having those categories doesn’t really add anything in terms of peace of mind. So as my male teammates get into their 50s-60s and slow down their racing (though a lot seem to be switching to racing mountain bikes?), I will likely follow suit even though I’m about a decade behind. I don’t need any more broken bones.

Motivation to train is pretty easy for me, though. I might be getting old, but I’m in no hurry to feel old. I train to be healthy.

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I will race till I don’t ride since I ride to race.

Being a competitive athlete my whole life I am unable to stop. It’s just who I am. I quit racing a few years but picked up a different sport

If I quit riding I would be prob playing tennis lite

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Yeah for me pre-race anxiety was less about any jitters or nerves and more about the stress of the travel/driving, planning, meals/fueling, logistics with all of that than anything. I long ago accepted jitters as part of the ready-to-race experience, for sure.

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Consecutive seasons with the stress and commitment of racing can take its toll. I’m the same age and after 12 years of continuous racing I switched to training for big European Gran Fondo’s with a sprinkling of club league races. I set myself a goal time in the Marmotte which meant I needed lots of roads miles and myself a few friends had a blast training for it without the stress of racing weekends.

A few years away has worked wonders for me and this year I am motivated to return to open racing.

The main buzz of racing for me was rising the racing categories with like minded racing obsessed friends. Also my father provided support at the races and it was a great shared experience.

I realise when I go back this year those same friends are no longer racing and the buzz could be absent but such is life.

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After college I went all in on a 4 year commitment to chase the Olympic marathon trials standard. I got to experience some crazy training with some of the best runners in the country, but ultimately fell short thanks to some ill timed injuries, bad luck with weather on race days (it was comical how often this happened) and if being totally honest… not enough talent (I was on the bubble and would have needed all the stars to align to make it). It was right about the end of that 4 year window that I met my wife. She supported my goals but training at that intensity was a huge commitment and combined with some injuries, I felt it was time to hang up the racing flats. That was in my 20’s so not necessarily “older.” I told a friend (who had a 28 min 10k PR which was pretty fast back in the 90s) that I was going to “retire.” He told me “guys like us don’t retire… we quit.” :joy:

Fast forward a few years and I was enjoying coaching and taking the kids out for stroller runs. I stopped tracking runs and ditched the watch and ran when I could but nothing consistent. It was tough on the ego knowing where I had been and where I was now.

Then I got a mountain bike a few years ago and here I am racing again (though a different sport). It’s different this time around though. I enjoy pushing myself and still get some nerves but am ultimately out there to have fun ripping the local trails. I stick to local races only so no traveling to anything I can drive to.

Don’t know how much longer I’ll race for… I guess til it’s not fun anymore. My biggest motivator being personal health and getting to eat whatever the heck I want.

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Daily meditation/mindfulness helps this.

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Is there a particular source of anxiety - safety, performance, suffering, something else? I’ve had all 3 of those (and various combos of them) at various times. Combo of safety and performance anxiety was the worst - technical courses with strong fields where I wasn’t strong enough to stay safe by being consistently in the front few wheels, but the fear of being dropped early was forcing me to feel I had to mix it up in the middle of the pack going elbow to elbow through tight corners. Possibly also the easiest to solve though - I just don’t do those kind of races any more! Don’t mind technical courses where I’m one of the stronger riders and can stay near the front or simply let an extra bike length or two open up to stay safe knowing I can close it when I need to. And don’t mind racing strong fields on less technical courses where hanging on is about going physically deep not taking risks. Just not both!

Anxiety of suffering is actually what has kept me doing road and crit racing instead of switching to mostly TTs as a lot of cycling friends my age have. I do the occasional TT but I just don’t enjoy the anticipation of those inevitable long, all in efforts even though I’m actually quite good at them and am not shy of getting up the road early solo or in a small break. I guess it’s the inevitability of the suffering in a TT that is key - in a crit or road race at least I can sit on the back and take it relatively easy if I want or need to, in a TT you’re on the limit for the whole thing.

Performance anxiety I’ve mainly solved by only racing with team mates which alleviates the pressure. Nearly always something I can contribute to helping a team mate do well on the days when I don’t get a good result myself. And being one of the older racers alleviates the pressure as well - I have less to prove. Plus warming up with and hanging out with team mates before the start makes the whole thing more fun and less anxious. Though ironically the races I feel the most pressure to perform are masters races where everybody is my age and I’m more often racing solo as a lot of my team mates are younger (or in different AGs).

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Yeah, when I was still doing road races and crits, I would eagerly help a teammate out as it would alleviate the pressure on me for a result.

Don’t really get that opportunity much in gravel, though. :crazy_face:

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Performance anxiety is real. I place/placed a lot of expectations on myself in all of my racing. Starting my coaching back in 2018 certainly didn’t help that - I always thought I had to really perform well to validate my coaching. I got over that part, but never really got over feeling I needed to produce results regardless of sport. I was fortunate enough that I was successful pretty often relative to my own expectations, but it definitely took a toll on my enjoyment of the sports. Mind you I was always a sub-elite, so it’s not like I was getting paid or anything… the “worst” expectations are the ones we set for ourselves.

Part of the reason I re-ignited my passion for golf after 20 years off is that I have zero expectations of being any good at it. :laughing: It’s something I can do purely for the enjoyment. I have never cracked the code of “just participating” in endurance sports. As @Jolyzara’s friend said, people like me “quit”. :slight_smile:

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Yeah I’ve not really dived into gravel racing for that reason either! Other thing being I think when you do those big A race events that you peak for and spend quite a lot of money doing (and often sacrifice a weekend traveling to) then inevitably there is a lot of pressure to have a good day. And a lot of soul searching if you don’t. Have done Ironman and marathons in the past and really didn’t enjoy having so much riding on one day. Much prefer maintaining a high fitness level for a period of time and racing regularly with it. Will likely try some gravel racing at some point but ideally with a mindset of just rocking up and treating it like a big hard group ride /adventure and not a race.

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I’ve found over the years, that in many different arenas, sporting or otherwise, the solution (for me) to overcoming any type of anxiety about ‘performance’ or achievement of desired outcomes, has been to focus on process goals (in particular, preparation and visualisation or mental rehearsal of scenarios has been a game changer) and then whilst keeping the bigger outcome goal somewhat in mind, let it look after itself, as a result of executing well.

Associated with this, detaching myself (and my ego or self worth) from the outcome, is a parallel handy way to alleviate self imposed pressure.

I’m sure others have different successful approaches and indeed, may have approaches that directly contradict these, however they work for me. :+1:t2:

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