Blonyx Research Update: The Peak Age for Ultra Runners, Supporting Function With Age, and When Decline Speeds Up

What Actually Predicts a Good 24-Hour Ultramarathon

This review pulled together the existing research specifically on 24-hour ultra-marathons, a format that hadn't had a dedicated comprehensive review before. Runners in these events typically cover 150 to 160 kilometers, with the best performers passing 200 kilometers. Training history, nutrition strategy, prior race experience, and pacing were the strongest predictors of how far someone gets, while body type had no predictive value at all. Peak performance in this event happens around age 40–50, notably later than in shorter running events. The physiological toll includes body mass loss, GI distress, changes in immune function, and oxidative stress, all relevant to how someone should plan their recovery.

My thoughts: The 40-to-50 peak for 24-hour racing is the standout fact here, it's a rare endurance format where masters athletes aren't just hanging on, they're at their best. Worth a callout for anyone who thinks ultra running is a young person's game.

Taking Creatine and HMB Helps Older Adults Move Better

This study tested whether six weeks of combined creatine and HMB supplementation layered onto a supervised exercise program could improve physical function in older adults. Using a crossover design where each of the 30 participants (aged 60 and up) underwent both supplement and placebo phases. Creatine and HMB significantly improved gait speed, sit-to-stand time, the timed up-and-go test, and 400-meter walk time compared to placebo, with large effect sizes. Resting metabolic rate also increased, and visceral fat trended in a favorable direction. Women saw a small drop in diastolic blood pressure and stronger breathing muscles; men saw a temporary, harmless rise in a blood vessel health marker that stayed within an expected range.

My thoughts: Small trial, but exactly the kind of study our masters audience should care about. Creatine and HMB together, layered on real structured training, doing what we'd hope: protecting function as it gets harder to translate training into gains with age. This is basically the case for our HMB+ Creatine in a nutshell.

Why 50, Not 35, Is the Real Turning Point for Athletes

This review looked at how physical performance changes with age, using decades of research on both the general population and lifelong master athletes as two different models. In the general population, performance peaks around 30 to 35, declines modestly and gradually through age 50, then becomes much more pronounced after 50 and sharply steeper after 70. Master athletes follow a different curve. Their peak performance holds stable until about age 50, then declines in a much more gradual, roughly linear way from there. The decline is driven by muscle loss, disproportionate strength loss, loss of motor units, and chronic low-grade inflammation. The performance gap between men and women narrows with age, especially in endurance events, where it's roughly 9 to 10% compared to 30 to 50% in power and strength events.

My thoughts: The most useful number here is 50, that's when the real cliff starts for the general population, not 35 like a lot of people assume. What's more interesting is that master athletes push that cliff back further still, their peak holds until around 50 too, but the decline after that is much gentler than in sedentary people. If you're training smart through your 40s and 50s, you're not just maintaining, you're banking a meaningfully flatter decline curve.

— That's all for now, train hard!