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This is incorrect or at least incorrectly stated with respect to the word "you". I didn't start running regularly until my late 40's and I loathed nearly every step for the first year but my fitness and enjoyment levels slowly improved especially after discovering trail running. I started participating in ultra trail races after a couple years and found a wonderful community of people enjoying an activity all around…
If you had followed the exact same fitness regimen when you were 25, you would have seen better results: higher speeds, more endurance, shorter recovery times, etc. That’s why I mentioned sports: even people who have worked out their whole lives, at the top of their sports, see declines in physical performance as they age. Congrats on getting in shape. Relative improvements in physical fitness are beneficial and poss…
Recovery times are shortest in children - and become very significantly longer even at ages where maintaining muscle mass isn't too much of an issue. Maximum speed peaks with strength in your mid/late 20s & declines from there. Endurance seems to carry on increasing in to the late 30s & declines very slowly, plenty of ultrarunners, Audax cyclists and triathletes in their 40s/50s.