Author: Terry L. VanderWert

How do senior triathletes rest while working to become more competitive? Or show our kids that we really are not old? How do we train efficiently when we have a much lower tolerance for training errors?

“Successful runners are those who have recovered the best.”¹

Rest – A Main Pillar of Senior Triathlete Training

The advice I repeatedly hear from senior triathletes and those who coach them is that we need to make rest an important part of our training plan. A podcast on training for endurance sports for those over age 50 listed ‘Rest’ as one of four major elements in training for those over 50.

Those committed to improving their performance ‘at all cost’ will ignore this advice or interpret it to fit their plan. Those less committed or motivated can use this advice to hit the snooze button a few more times or to take a few more days away from training.

Meanwhile, those of us somewhere in between can be left scratching our heads, wondering how to apply this all-important advice.

Where Does Rest Fit Into Training for the Senior Triathlete?

According to the Furman Institute¹, “train hard and become fatigued, then rest and recover while your body adapts to an increased workload. Repeating this cycle of overload, fatigue, recovery, and adaptation makes you fitter and faster. However, there is a limit to one’s capacity to endure and adapt. The progressive overload must be done gradually.”

We can picture this process through a circular flow diagram (below).

Overload includes the effects of training exercise. However, overload has other sources, including those that come with living, such as our physical environment (for example, altitude, humidity, temperature extremes), colds and allergies, dietary choices, travel, stress at work, and personal relationships).

As illustrated in the above flow diagram, the combined overload influences our nutrition (refueling) needs and needs for rest and recovery. Balancing the three components of the flow diagram while progressively increasing overload will lead to continuous improvement in fitness and performance.

What Is the Correct Way for the Masters Triathlete to Rest?

Triathlon coaches repeatedly write that rest should be scheduled and structured just as are the workouts. Rest and recovery must be considered part of the overall plan and treated in a disciplined way.

According to the National Sleep Foundation, the initial phase of ‘falling to sleep’ is followed by a state in which our muscles relax. During this phase, blood supply to the muscles increases, tissue growth and repair occurs, and hormones, such as growth hormone, are released. The growth hormone contributes to building muscles stressed by hard workouts.

To achieve quality sleep, these processes must occur uninterrupted. If interrupted, muscle repair, tissue repair, and the release of growth hormones is incomplete.

One way to achieve consistency is to schedule sleep. By ‘schedule’, we mean providing the time and environment for both the optimum quantity of sleep and uninterrupted, quality sleep.

Rest is Sleep and Much More

Sleep is an essential component of rest. In fact, one of the most overlooked parts of recovery is sleep. Sleep for triathletes over 50 may be the single most important factor in how well your body adapts between training sessions.

However, recovery can also involve exercising the recovered muscles used in one sport, while giving time for repair and development of specific muscles and joints used in another sport.

“Active, yet low-intensity, exercise such as non-weight-bearing swimming, kayaking, and cycling allows muscles stressed from running to recover. It is during the recovery that the adaptation from the training stimulus (the hard run) occurs. That adaptation, or improvement, helps you run faster.”¹

Proper fueling is important. There are many who report that post-exercise fueling requires protein. However, this is not necessarily true, especially for our day-in, day-out workouts. High quality carbohydrates will also be effective in replacing our glycogen stores. The human body is capable of providing the amino acids for repair of the limited muscle damage.

Advice from Dr. Jeff Sankoff is to avoid alcohol during the recovery phase of exercise. During his December 9, 2019 podcast, Dr. Sankoff reported that “the synthesis of new glycogen is often impaired in the presence of alcohol”.

How Do I Know If I Am Getting Enough Rest?

Rest must be proportional to the amount of overload. An imbalance in either direction (too much or too little rest) will lead to less than optimum results.

The major factors affecting the rate of recovery from training overload are:

• Age
• Fitness level
• Exercise background and experience
• Stress from life (work, family)
• Health level
• Diet – nutrition with respect to the body’s requirements during rest and exercise
• Sleep – quantity and quality

Imbalance in the amount of rest will be indicated by:

• mood disturbance,
• irritability,
• sleep disturbance,
• increased susceptibility to colds,
• appetite changes, and
• a struggle to maintain athletic performance.

If an imbalance of rest symptoms persists even if you have taken steps to try to get a good amount of rest, you may have an underlying condition, such as stress or anxiety. You may wish to talk to your doctor about it and they can recommend a treatment such as therapy or CBD oil. Taking care of your mental health is just as important as your physical health.

According to Joe Friel in ‘The Triathlete’s Training Bible’², the importance of a correct balance of training, nutrition, and rest becomes increasingly important with age. Younger people can get away with more impatience or carelessness in training.

However, seniors have a much lower tolerance for training errors. The price of mistakes in rest and recovery among seniors can be much greater than for the younger competitors.

Seniors have a much lower tolerance for training errors.

A Testimonial for Rest

In 2013, I met Jim Chapman at the Rocky Gap Triathon in Maryland.

After the race, Jim described how important rest had become to his training.

“One of the hardest things to learn while training for this sport is knowing when to rest. I was self coached for many years and often found myself going two or more weeks without a day off and then I would collapse.

Since I had a goal last year to compete at the National Championship race in Vermont, I hired a coach, a nationally ranked professional triathlete who lives in the area. She has been adamant in making me take more rest days. It is not uncommon for me to take two rest days in a week now. And as you can see, I am racing better and faster.”

For this 70+ year triathlete, more frequent rest had become part of a strategy for improving his race performance.

Rest for the Senior Triathlete

Senior Triathletes should take advantage of the wisdom that comes with age in their training.

Increase overload slowly. Remember that overload is the sum of training and other stresses. Refuel properly. Rest through sleep and cross-training.

Remember, life is more like a marathon than a sprint. Plan to finish strong.

How Well Do You Recover After Training?

Share with us in the Comments below any successes or struggles you have found with your recovery plan.

Comments: Join the conversation below — Click on “Subscribe” (located above the Comment box) if you’d like to be alerted to replies to your Comment. Even if you do not submit a comment, you may subscribe to be notified when a new comment is published. Please note that I review all comments before they are posted.

References

1. Pierce, Bill, et al., “Runner’s World Run Less, Run Faster: Become a Faster, Stronger Runner with the Revolutionary FIRST Training Program”, 2007.
2. Friel, Joel, “The Triathlete’s Training Bible, 3^rd Edition”, 2009.

This post was first published on April 19, 2016, updated on July 26, 2023, and updated again on April 28, 2026.

Sleep for triathletes over 50 is not just about rest—it’s the foundation of recovery and performance.

Training for triathlon after 50 is more than swimming, biking, and running. It’s about how well your body recovers between sessions—and nothing influences recovery more than sleep.

For many of us, sleep becomes more elusive with age. At the same time, it becomes more important.

This creates a simple but powerful reality: if you want to improve your performance after 50, you need to take sleep seriously.

Why Sleep for Triathletes Over 50 Matters More

When you were younger, you could get away with less sleep. You might have trained hard, slept poorly, and still performed reasonably well the next day.

That margin shrinks as we age.

After 50:

• Muscle repair takes longer
• Hormonal recovery is slower
• Fatigue accumulates more quickly
• Injury risk increases when recovery is incomplete

Sleep is the foundation that supports all of this.

As sleep expert Dr. Matthew Walker, professor of neuroscience and psychology at UC Berkeley, puts it:

“Sleep is probably the very best legal performance-enhancing drug we know of that not enough athletes are abusing.”

For triathletes over 50, that’s not just a clever quote—it’s a practical truth.

What Happens When Sleep Is Not Enough

You don’t need a sleep tracker to know when things are off. Poor sleep shows up quickly in your training.

You may notice:

• Workouts feel harder than they should
• Your heart rate stays elevated
• Recovery between sessions slows
• Motivation drops
• Small aches linger longer

Over time, this compounds.

What looks like a training problem is often a sleep problem.

Even the Pros Prioritize Sleep

This isn’t just advice for older athletes.

Professional triathlete Kat Matthews has spoken openly about prioritizing sleep above training. In a sport built on discipline and volume, she treats sleep as non-negotiable.

That should get our attention.

If a world-class athlete in her 30s prioritizes sleep, how much more important is it for those of us over 50?

In our own community, we’re hearing the same thing: Sleep becomes more important—not less—as we age.

A Simple Way to Improve Sleep (That Most People Ignore)

Many athletes focus on what they do at night to improve sleep.

But one of the most effective changes happens in the morning.

Getting natural light exposure early in the day helps regulate your circadian rhythm—the internal clock that tells your body when to be alert and when to sleep.

Even a short walk outside in the morning can:

• Improve sleep quality
• Increase daytime energy
• Help you fall asleep more easily at night

It’s simple, but it’s powerful—and it’s often overlooked.

How Much Sleep Do You Really Need?

There’s no single number that works for everyone, but most triathletes over 50 will benefit from 7–8 hours of quality sleep per night

More importantly:

• Do you wake up feeling reasonably refreshed?
• Can you complete your workouts without excessive fatigue?
• Are you recovering between sessions?

If not, sleep is the first place to look—not your training plan.

Practical Ways to Improve Sleep

You don’t need a perfect routine. Start with a few simple adjustments:

• Get morning light exposure
• Keep a consistent sleep schedule
• Reduce screen time before bed
• Avoid late-night heavy meals or alcohol
• Pay attention to how training timing affects your sleep

Small changes, applied consistently, can make a meaningful difference.

Build Sleep Into Your Training Plan

Sleep is not separate from training—it is part of your training.

If you’re already training, this guide on how to improve triathlon performance after 50 will help you apply these recovery principles within a complete approach.

You’ll also find more on how recovery fits into your overall training strategy in your Recovery page.

The Bottom Line

You can’t out-train poor sleep.

But you can improve your performance—often significantly—by improving your sleep.

For triathletes over 50, this may be the most underused advantage available.

How Are You Sleeping?

What have you found to be the most important for a great sleep? Share your experience in the Comments below.

Comments: Join the conversation below — Click on “Subscribe” (located above the Comment box) if you’d like to be alerted to replies to your Comment. Even if you do not submit a comment, you may subscribe to be notified when a new comment is published. Please note that I review all comments before they are posted.