Lessons on ageing well, from a 105-year-old French cyclist

Robert Marchand has set a global benchmark for cyclists aged 105 and older

AT THE age of 105, the French amateur cyclist and world-record holder Robert Marchand is more aerobically fit than most 50-year-olds — andappearstobegettingevenfitterasheages, according to a revelatory new study of his physiology.

The study, which appeared in December in the Journal of Applied Physiology, may help to rewrite scientific expectations of how our bodies age and what is possible for any of us athletically, no matter how old we are.

Many people first heard of Marchand last month, when he set a world record in onehourcycling,aneventinwhichsomeonerides as many miles as possible on an indoor track in 60 minutes.

Marchand pedalled more than 14 miles, settingaglobalbenchmarkforcyclistsage105 and older. That classification had to be created specifically to accommodate him. No one his age previously had attempted the record.

Marchand, who was born in 1911, already owned the one-hour record for riders age 100 and older, which he had set in 2012.

It was as he prepared for that ride that he cametotheattentionofveroniquebillat,aprofessor of exercise science at the University of Evry-val d’essonne in France. At her lab, Dr Billat and her colleagues study and train many professional and recreational athletes.

She was particularly interested in Marchand’s workout programme and whether altering it might augment his endurance and increase his speed.

Conventional wisdom in exercise science suggests that it is very difficult to significantly add to aerobic fitness after middle age. In general,vo2max,ameasureofhowwellourbodies can use oxygen and the most widely accepted scientific indicator of fitness, begins to decline after about age 50, even if we frequently exercise. But Billat had found that if older athletes exercised intensely, they could increase their VO2 max. She had never tested this method on a centenarian, however.

But Marchand was amenable. A diminutive 5 feet in height and weighing about 115 pounds, he said he had not exercised regularly duringmostofhisworkinglifeasatruckdriver, gardener,firefighterandlumberjack.butsince hisretirement,hehadbeguncyclingmostdays of the week, either on an indoortrainerortheroads near his home in suburban Paris.

Almost all of this mileagewascompletedat a relatively leisurely pace.

Billat upended that routine. But first, she and her colleagues brought Marchandintotheuniversity’s human performance lab.

They tested his VO2 max, heart rate and other aspects of cardiorespiratory fitness. All werehealthyandwellaboveaverageforsomeoneofhisage.healsorequirednomedications.

He then went out and set the one-hour world record for people 100 years and older, covering about 14 miles.

Afterward, Billat had him begin a new training regimen. Under this programme, about80percentofhisweeklyworkoutswere performed at an easy intensity, the equivalent of a 12 or less on a scale of 1 to 20, with 20 being almost unbearably strenuous according to Marchand’s judgment. He did not use a heart ratemonitor.theother20percentofhisworkouts were performed at a difficult intensity of 15 or above on the same scale. For these, he was instructed to increase his pedalling frequency to between 70 and 90 revolutions per minute, compared to about 60 r.p.m. during the easy rides. Few of the rides were lengthy, rarely lasting more than an hour.

Marchand followed this programme for two years. Then he attempted to best his own one-hour track world record.

First, however, Billat andhercolleaguesremeasured all of the physiolog- ical markers they had tested two years before. Marchand’s VO2 max was now about 13 per cent higher than it had beenbefore,shefound,andcomparabletothe aerobic capacity of a healthy, average 50-yearold. He also had added to his pedalling power, increasing that measure by nearly 40 per cent. Unsurprisingly,hiscyclingperformancesubsequently also improved considerably. During hisensuingworldrecordattempt,hepedalled for almost 17 miles, about three miles farther than he had covered during his first, recordsetting ride. He was 103 years old.

These data strongly suggest that “we can improve VO2 max and performance at every age,” Billat says.

There are caveats, though. Marchand may besuigeneris,withsomeluckyconstellationof genes that have allowed him to live past 100 without debilities and to respond to training as robustly he does.

Lifestyle may also matter. Marchand is “veryoptimisticandsociable,”billatsays,“with many friends,” and numerous studies suggest that strong social ties are linked to a longer life. Hisdietisalsosimple,focusingonyogurt,soup, cheese, chicken and a glass of red wine at dinner.butforthoseofuswhohopetoagewell,his example is inspiring and, Billat says, still incomplete. Disappointed with last month’s record-settingride,hebelievesthathecanimprove his mileage, she says, and may try again, perhaps when he is 106.

Since his retirement, he had begun cycling most days of the week, either on an indoor trainer or the roads near his home in suburban Paris

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