Is it possible for a 35 year old man to become an elite long distance runner?
It is not possible for the vast majority of humans to become elite distance runners. Most serious runners, and I mean the good college runners will never be elite distance runners. A middle age man without a back ground in serious distance running can not become an elite runner. He might become a good runner for his age group in masters track, but that is going to be very difficult. There have only been a couple of elite distance runners in their late 30s and early 40s, and they were elite runners since their teens. They did not become elite in later life.
I think it can be done for the Ultramarathon distances of 50 miles and above. It also depends on what your genetic capabilities are and if you have an athletic background. Many elite ultrarunners started relatively late, and “blossomed” in their 40’s. Even if you don’t attain elite status, you could get pretty darn good with enough training. The Ultra Marathon forum on Runnersworld.com is a great place to start, and this site has a lot of good information for ultrarunners: http://www.ultrunr.com/ Another good book to read is “Born to Run”, if you haven’t already read it that is. Good luck, whatever you choose.
While there are 35 year olds who are world record breakers or gold medal Olympians, they have been training for many years and are reachng the upper age range where they can achieve such performances. The problem for a 35 year old is that by the time they achieve a capacity to do elite training, that is, build up to doing elite training, their physical abilities would have begun a decline. This is assuming that they are an elite caliber athlete to begin with and the person you describe is normal (normal BMR, not elite BMR). Becoming an elite athlete is more a question of genes than the amount of training they can dedicate to training. It isn’t like a university degree that all you have to do is apply yourself and you can get one. Imagine all the athletes training for a marathon, for example, in all the world. Well over a million people compete in them. Maybe 100 or 200 are elite, 1/2 a percent of 1/2 a percent. It isn’t because the others aren’t trying.
