https://journals.physiology.org/doi/full/10.1152/japplphysiol.00974.2024
According to the case study of her (second link), she has a VO2max of 47.9 mL/kg/min, HRmax of 180 beats/min, body fat percentage of 13.7%. Her VO2max would be in the 90th percentile of 20-29 year old females and much higher than typical 70-79 year old females (~17.5-27.4 ml/kg/min).
She is amazing.
My running idol!
It’s amazing to see someone crushing it in the 75-79 age group with a time like that. Age is a number.
I’ve mentioned this elsewhere, but the competition gets very thin in the 40-50+ age groups. I’ll be competing soon (powerlifting) locally and it looks like I’ll be the oldest competing.
Not in distance running. Women over 50 are one of the fastest growing groups. There are some amazing runners in this age category.
Like Paula Radcliff! She was sub 3 on Monday, though she was at 2:15 in her prime… I saw where she mentioned her calf got injured at mile 9.
Back in the day, when I was running distances in my forties, even in obscure races my age group was well represented. I was nowhere near record speeds of course.
Of course, both can be true.
Women over 50 may be the fastest growing group amongst runners, but the competitive ranks do thin out as we get older. And those running in the over 50 group may be the same runners who were in the younger age groups, but have gotten older.
In terms of lifting weights, I’ve competed in several meets and there’s only been one woman and she was 80+ years old at the time. And she only deadlifted.
Jeannie Rice’s record time was 3:33. Average marathon finish time ( all ages/genders) is 4:29.
Even if she was the only one on her age group, she is killing it!
Through 2019, a 3:33 would have qualified for Boston at any age for a woman let alone 76…
I just read another article about her. It had a picture of her running on a treadmill. Her legs are unbelievably muscular.
At 77, she’s as fit as a 25-year-old. What her body tells us about aging.
