Ageless Athlete — Healthy Aging for a Strong, Capable Life

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3 Things You Must Do Differently After 40 to Stay Strong and Agile | Jason Hardrath Mar 18, 2026

Show notes

What does it take to stay capable through the years?

Jason Hardrath is one of the most creative endurance athletes in the mountains today.

An ultrarunner, climber, and mountain linkup specialist, Jason is known for massive single-push adventures that combine running, climbing, swimming, biking, and even paragliding. He has completed the Bulger List — the 100 highest peaks in Washington — in record time, along with numerous Fastest Known Times (FKTs) and ambitious multi-sport mountain projects.

But this conversation isn’t about the feats themselves.

It’s about how Jason is preparing for the long game.

At just 36 — younger than most guests on Ageless Athlete — Jason is already thinking carefully about how to train, recover, and fuel differently so he can keep exploring the mountains for decades to come.

In this episode, we explore three key shifts Jason is making now to stay strong and agile as he ages, along with the mindset that allows him to keep evolving as an athlete.

We also talk about:

• Why Jason began combining running, climbing, and flying in the mountains
• The story behind some of his most ambitious mountain linkups
• What COVID and injury taught him about identity as an athlete
• How he approaches strength training and recovery differently now
• Nutrition, inflammation, and the habits that help him stay durable
• Why every athlete should think about the long game

This conversation is ultimately about something deeper than performance.

It’s about building a relationship with your body — and your passions — that can last a lifetime.

Connect with Jason

Website:
https://www.jasonhardrath.com

Instagram:
https://www.instagram.com/jasonhardrath

Marek Health: Deeper look at your health with comprehensive bloodwork and personalized guidance. 10% off with code AGELESS at https://agelessathlete.short.gy/marek

Timeline: Support cellular renewal and mitochondrial function with Mitopure, featuring Urolithin A. Up to 20% off at timeline.com/AGELESSATHLETE

Support The Show Love the show? Here’s how to support it https://buymeacoffee.com/agelessathlete

INFORMEDISH: Real life. Artificial cohost.
Movies, parenting and life's absurdities. Jason and his AI cohost Heather take sides.

Listen on: Apple Podcasts Spotify

Ageless Athlete is a podcast about healthy aging for people who want to stay strong, active and capable for life. Conversations explore strength, endurance, mobility, recovery, VO2 max, muscle and bone health, and what it takes to keep doing the things you love as you get older.

Follow Ageless Athlete — How to Stay Strong, Curious & Capable for Life for new episodes each week.

Why Some People Stay Capable Into Their 70s — And Others Don’t | Jack Tackle, 72 Mar 11, 2026

Show notes

What happens when the thing that defines you is suddenly taken away?

For legendary American alpinist Jack Tackle, climbing wasn’t just a sport — it was identity.

For more than five decades, Jack has explored remote mountains across Alaska, the Himalaya, and the Karakoram. He spent decades guiding in the Tetons and helping shape an era of bold American alpinism built on patience, partnership, and resilience.

But in the year 2001, everything changed.

Jack was struck by Guillain-Barré syndrome, a rare autoimmune disease that attacks the nervous system. Within days he lost the ability to walk and spent 53 days in the hospital, much of that time in intensive care. Doctors later told him that if treatment had come even a day later, he likely would not have survived.

For many climbers, that moment would have marked the end.

Nine months later, Jack guided a client across the Grand Traverse in the Tetons — one of the most demanding ridge climbs in the United States.

Now in his seventies, Jack is still climbing and still reflecting on the deeper question that many athletes eventually face:

What happens when your body changes… but the thing that defines you is still calling?

In this conversation, Jack shares lessons from a lifetime in the mountains — about resilience, identity, consistency, and the quiet discipline required to keep showing up decade after decade.

This episode isn’t just about climbing.

It’s about the deeper human question of what we fight to keep in our lives — and why it matters.

Marek Health: Deeper look at your health with comprehensive bloodwork and personalized guidance. 10% off with code AGELESS at https://agelessathlete.short.gy/marek

Timeline: Support cellular renewal and mitochondrial function with Mitopure, featuring Urolithin A. Up to 20% off at timeline.com/AGELESSATHLETE

Support The Show Love the show? Here’s how to support it https://buymeacoffee.com/agelessathlete

INFORMEDISH: Real life. Artificial cohost.
Movies, parenting and life's absurdities. Jason and his AI cohost Heather take sides.

Listen on: Apple Podcasts Spotify

Follow Ageless Athlete — How to Stay Strong, Curious & Capable for Life for new episodes each week.

10 Rules for People Who Refuse to Decline With Age (2026 Edition) Mar 04, 2026

Show notes

It’s March.

The January energy has faded. The motivation posts are quieter. And this is where the real long game begins.

In this episode, I lay out 10 non-negotiables for athletes who plan to keep performing — not just this year, but for decades.

This isn’t about hype.
It isn’t about biohacking.
And it definitely isn’t about chasing trends.

It’s about durability.

Drawing from over 100 conversations with top athletes, as well as, coaches, and scientists on Ageless Athlete,— I unpack what actually holds up.

We cover:

Why longevity medicine is being over-marketed — and what truly scales
The role of deliberate novelty in protecting your brain
Why the current nutrition culture war is distracting athletes
Muscle as structural insurance after 35
The danger of outsourcing discipline to data
How to use the healthcare you already have (most of it covered by insurance)
Why sleep isn’t revolutionary — but foundational
Identity as a performance anchor
Community as a biological variable, not a luxury
And why you have to stop blaming your age

This episode is less about motivation and more about ownership.

You don’t stop doing things because you age.
You age because you stop doing things.

If you plan to stay strong, sharp, and capable in 2026 — this is your reset.

Marek Health: Deeper look at your health with comprehensive bloodwork and personalized guidance. 10% off with code AGELESS at https://agelessathlete.short.gy/marek

Support The Show Love the show? Here’s how to support it https://buymeacoffee.com/agelessathlete

Follow Ageless Athlete — How to Stay Strong, Curious & Capable for Life for new episodes each week.

What Happens When There’s No Escape — 271 Days Alone at Sea | Jerome Rand Feb 25, 2026

Show notes

Why do we avoid the very feelings that might help us grow?

In this conversation, Jerome Rand shares what it’s like to spend 271 days alone at sea—crossing oceans with no easy way out, no distractions, and nowhere to hide.

But this is more than just a story about sailing.

It’s about what happens when you sit with discomfort long enough for it to change you.

We talk about:

why real growth often feels like resistance, not progress
what prolonged solitude reveals about your mind
how risk sharpens your sense of what matters
and why the ratio of suffering to joy can be wildly skewed—and still worth it

Jerome also reflects on identity, aging as an adventurer, and how your relationship with challenge evolves over time.

🎧 Watch the full video version:
https://www.youtube.com/@agelessathletepodcast

🔗 Connect with Jerome Rand

Website: https://www.jeromerand.com
YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/@JeromeRand
Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/sailingintooblivion/
Jerome's Excellent Podcast: Sailing Into Oblivion

Marek Health: Deeper look at your health with comprehensive bloodwork and personalized guidance. 10% off with code AGELESS at https://agelessathlete.short.gy/marek

Timeline: Support cellular renewal and mitochondrial function with Mitopure, featuring Urolithin A. Up to 20% off at timeline.com/AGELESSATHLETE

Support The Show Love the show? Here’s how to support it https://buymeacoffee.com/agelessathlete

INFORMEDISH: Real life. Artificial cohost.
Movies, parenting and life's absurdities. Jason and his AI cohost Heather take sides.

Listen on: Apple Podcasts Spotify

Follow Ageless Athlete — How to Stay Strong, Curious & Capable for Life for new episodes each week.

Most People Don’t Know What Freedom Feels Like — Until It’s Taken Away | Johan Nylander Feb 18, 2026

Show notes

What does running feel like inside one of the most controlled countries in the world?

Johan Nylander entered North Korea shortly after it reopened—joining a small group of foreign visitors to run the Pyongyang Marathon.

At 52, he found himself on a starting line few outsiders ever experience.

But this story doesn’t start there.

After years covering geopolitics across Asia, Johan was burned out—physically depleted and struggling to run even a single kilometer. What followed was a quiet rebuild: step by step, race by race, until running became something more than fitness.

It became structure. And then, freedom.

In North Korea, that idea takes on a different meaning.

We talk about:

what it’s like to run through Pyongyang
how movement feels inside a system built on control
starting endurance sport later in life
rebuilding after burnout
and how freedom can show up in unexpected ways

Johan has spent his career reporting on power and control.

In this conversation, we explore what happens when those ideas become personal.

Marek Health: Deeper look at your health with comprehensive bloodwork and personalized guidance. 10% off with code AGELESS at https://agelessathlete.short.gy/marek

Timeline: Support cellular renewal and mitochondrial function with Mitopure, featuring Urolithin A. Up to 20% off at timeline.com/AGELESSATHLETE

Support The Show Love the show? Here’s how to support it https://buymeacoffee.com/agelessathlete

INFORMEDISH: Real life. Artificial cohost.
Movies, parenting and life's absurdities. Jason and his AI cohost Heather take sides.

Listen on: Apple Podcasts Spotify

Follow Ageless Athlete — How to Stay Strong, Curious & Capable for Life for new episodes each week.

How People Learn to Keep Going: Best of Ageless Athlete 2025 (Part II) Feb 11, 2026

Show notes

This episode brings together moments from conversations recorded throughout 2025 with athletes who have spent decades working inside uncertainty — in the mountains, on open water, on the road, and in daily training.

What connects these excerpts is more than accomplishment or outcome. It’s how each person has learned to operate when conditions narrow, when simplicity, judgment, and restraint matter more than force.

Every clip comes from a full-length episode in the Ageless Athlete back catalog. Below is a guide to the original conversations featured in this collection.

Episodes Featured

Sonnie Trotter

Breaking large, intimidating goals into something workable through structure, patience, and preparation.
👉 Full episode: Going All In — Reverse-Engineer the Goals You Will Risk Everything For
📅 September 17, 2025

Judi Oyama

Continuing to show up into her sixties, carrying identity, history, and independence into a sport that never made space easily.
👉 Full episode: From Teenage Skate Rebel to World Champion at 65 — How Judi Oyama Keeps Winning
📅 August 12, 2025

Andy Donaldson

Staying present in open water when progress disappears and plans dissolve.
👉 Full episode: The Deep End: Cold Oceans, the Edge of the Map, and the Mind’s Breaking Point
📅 July 24, 2025

Kitty Calhoun

Voluntary simplicity, living out of a car, and learning how focus and endurance feed each other in the mountains.
👉 Full episode: From the Deep South to the Himalaya — How Discipline Shapes a Life
📅 October 21, 2025

Jamie Whitmore

Rebuilding life and identity through cancer, recovery, and service — choosing who to be again and again.
👉 Full episode: When a World Champion’s Body Betrayed Her — And What Came Next
📅 July 4, 2025

Andy McVittie

Understanding the body, rebuilding trust, and why longevity starts with clarity rather than intensity.
👉 Full episode: The Movement Optimist Returns: Strong Hips, Stable Ankles, Happy Feet — Extending Performance and Moving Without Fear
📅 August 6, 2025

Susan Marie Conrad

Extended solitude, judgment, and patience while paddling alone through remote Alaska.
👉 Full episode: Whales, Bears, and the Will to Return — Lessons in Survival From Two Solo Voyages Through Alaska
📅 August 20, 2025

Jim Donini

Decades of perspective on partnership, restraint, and why coming home matters more than summits.
👉 Full episode: Survival Is Not Assured: An 82-Year-Old Alpinist Who Chooses The Hardest Lines
📅 August 27, 2025

Joan Beyerlein & Doug Beyerlein

Curiosity, consistency, and staying engaged into their seventies without chasing youth.
👉 Full episode: Out of the Box at 75 — Doug and Joan Changed Their Story And Kept Winning Races
📅 September 23, 2025

If a particular excerpt stays with you, the complete conversations are available in the Ageless Athlete back catalog. Each episode above offers a deeper look into the choices, tradeoffs, and lived experience behind the moments you heard here.

Marek Health: Deeper look at your health with comprehensive bloodwork and personalized guidance. 10% off with code AGELESS at https://agelessathlete.short.gy/marek

Timeline: Support cellular renewal and mitochondrial function with Mitopure, featuring Urolithin A. Up to 20% off at timeline.com/AGELESSATHLETE

Support The Show Love the show? Here’s how to support it https://buymeacoffee.com/agelessathlete

INFORMEDISH: Real life. Artificial cohost.
Movies, parenting and life's absurdities. Jason and his AI cohost Heather take sides.

Listen on: Apple Podcasts Spotify

Follow Ageless Athlete — How to Stay Strong, Curious & Capable for Life for new episodes each week.

Your Knees, Ankles, and Hips Are Ready for a Second Act — How Modern Science Can Help You Feb 04, 2026

Show notes

What if the story you’ve been told about aging joints isn’t the whole story?

In this episode of Ageless Athlete, I speak with orthopedic surgeon and researcher Dr. Kevin Stone about what’s recently changed in orthopedics — especially for athletes over 40 who’ve been told to slow down, live with pain, or prepare for joint replacement.

Dr. Stone shares how modern approaches are shifting from simply removing damaged tissue to repairing, replacing, or regenerating it, and why many people referred for total knee replacement may actually have other options. We talk about cartilage, arthritis, biologic repair, precision surgery, and what long-term outcomes really look like when patients are tracked over decades.

This is not a conversation about miracle cures. It’s about understanding what’s possible today, how to ask better questions, and how athletes can make clearer decisions about longevity, movement, and return to sport.

In this episode:

Why arthritis and “wear and tear” isn’t always the end of the story
When cartilage can be repaired or regrown
Biologic repair vs. partial and total joint replacement
How precision and robotics are changing return-to-sport expectations
How one athlete was able to run across America on repaired knees

Resources:

Play Forever by Dr. Kevin Stone
Stone Clinic & Stone Research — clinical care and long-term outcomes research discussed in the episode

This episode is about expanding the conversation — so aging athletes can keep playing the long game.

Marek Health: Deeper look at your health with comprehensive bloodwork and personalized guidance. 10% off with code AGELESS at https://agelessathlete.short.gy/marek

Timeline: Support cellular renewal and mitochondrial function with Mitopure, featuring Urolithin A. Up to 20% off at timeline.com/AGELESSATHLETE

Support The Show Love the show? Here’s how to support it https://buymeacoffee.com/agelessathlete

INFORMEDISH: Real life. Artificial cohost.
Movies, parenting and life's absurdities. Jason and his AI cohost Heather take sides.

Listen on: Apple Podcasts Spotify

Follow Ageless Athlete — How to Stay Strong, Curious & Capable for Life for new episodes each week.

He Stopped Taking Supplements at 62 — And Got Fitter | David Green (Ran Across Europe) Jan 28, 2026

Show notes

At 62, David Green did something most endurance athletes wouldn’t.

He stopped taking supplements.

Not as a statement—but as an experiment.

What followed wasn’t a drop in performance. It was the opposite.

More clarity. Better training. And eventually, the fitness to run across Europe.

In this conversation, David shares what changed when he stopped outsourcing decisions and started paying closer attention to his body.

We talk about simplicity. About trust. About what happens when you remove noise instead of adding more.

This isn’t anti-supplement.

It’s about agency—knowing what you’re doing, why you’re doing it, and when it might be time to step back and listen.

Marek Health: Deeper look at your health with comprehensive bloodwork and personalized guidance. 10% off with code AGELESS at https://agelessathlete.short.gy/marek

Timeline: Support cellular renewal and mitochondrial function with Mitopure, featuring Urolithin A. Up to 20% off at timeline.com/AGELESSATHLETE

Support The Show Love the show? Here’s how to support it https://buymeacoffee.com/agelessathlete

INFORMEDISH: Real life. Artificial cohost.
Movies, parenting and life's absurdities. Jason and his AI cohost Heather take sides.

Listen on: Apple Podcasts Spotify

Follow Ageless Athlete — How to Stay Strong, Curious & Capable for Life for new episodes each week.

How Athletes Adapt Over Time: Best of Ageless Athlete 2025 (Part I) Jan 21, 2026

Show notes

This episode brings together moments from conversations recorded across the first half of 2025 — voices from different sports, environments, and stages of life, each describing how they continue to train, move, and stay engaged as conditions change.

These clips span endurance running, climbing, paddling, cycling, swimming, and exploration. What connects them is more than performance level or accomplishment, but also the way each athlete thinks about adaptation — physically, psychologically, and over long stretches of time.

If a particular segment resonates, the full conversations are available in the Ageless Athlete back catalog. Below is a guide to the original episodes featured in this compilation.

Episodes Featured in This Collection

Ray Zahab (Episode Name and Release Date)

👉 Full episode: Impossible To Possible: Build That Toughness That Can Help You Overcome Even Cancer

📅 Jan 7, 2025

Chris Bertish

👉 Full episode: 93 Days Alone On The Ocean - When There’s Nowhere Else to Go

📅 Feb 18, 2025

Travis Macy

👉 Full episode: One Mile at a Time: The Healing Power of Movement and How You Can Fight Mental Decline

📅 Feb 25, 2025

Ned Overend

👉 Full episode: Chasing Momentum: How To Train To Win In Your 70s From A World Champio

📅 Mar 25, 2025

Andy

👉 Full episode: The Movement Optimist: Knees, Shoulders, Elbows, Hips, Bulletproof Yourself! Never Late to Get Strong!

📅 April 8, 2025

Jerry Moffatt

👉 Full episode: Jerry Moffatt’s Revelations: The Power of Obsession, and His Surprising Key to Success

📅 May 8, 2025

Dean Karnazes

👉 Full episode: Fighting Fit in Your 60s — Dean Karnazes Keeps Running While Everyone Else Slows Down

📅 April 15, 2025

Bob Becker

👉 Full episode: Unstoppable: The 80-Year-Old Who Runs 100+ Mile Ultramarathons—and Reminds Us Why Showing Up Still Matters

📅 May 8, 2025

Bill Ramsey

👉 Full episode: The Thinking Climber: What a Philosopher’s Double Life Reveals About Curiosity, Reinvention, and the Long Arc of Mastery

📅 May 21, 2025

Lisa Smith Batchen

👉 Full episode: Reversing Time: Aging Is Your Superpower To Break Through Limits

📅 Feb 11, 2025

Bob Babbitt

👉 Full episode: Racing Strong at 73: Daily Rituals For Recovery, Energy, and Clarity

📅 Jun 4, 2025

Sarah Thomas

👉 Full episode: Four Times Across the English Channel: What One Impossible Swim Can Teach You About Identity, Grit, and Starting Over

📅 May 28, 2025

Marek Health: Deeper look at your health with comprehensive bloodwork and personalized guidance. 10% off with code AGELESS at https://agelessathlete.short.gy/marek

Timeline: Support cellular renewal and mitochondrial function with Mitopure, featuring Urolithin A. Up to 20% off at timeline.com/AGELESSATHLETE

Support The Show Love the show? Here’s how to support it https://buymeacoffee.com/agelessathlete

INFORMEDISH: Real life. Artificial cohost.
Movies, parenting and life's absurdities. Jason and his AI cohost Heather take sides.

Listen on: Apple Podcasts Spotify

Follow Ageless Athlete — How to Stay Strong, Curious & Capable for Life for new episodes each week.

Why Stopping Is More Dangerous Than Slowing Down | Buzz Burrell at 70+ Jan 14, 2026

Show notes

What does “use it or lose it” actually mean after 60 — when recovery slows, strength is harder to regain, and stopping even briefly can change what’s possible?

Buzz Burrell is one of the quiet architects of modern mountain and trail culture, to talk about consistency — not as motivation, but as survival.

Buzz ran his first ultramarathon nearly six decades ago, long before endurance sports had language, infrastructure, or spectators. Since then, he’s lived a migratory life shaped by mountains, deserts, canyons, and long routes where commitment matters more than speed. Today, he’s slower than he once was — and more relevant than ever.

We talk about:

Why “use it or lose it” becomes literal with age
How consistency replaces intensity as the real long-game skill
Canyoneering and environments where commitment is irreversible
Why aging athletes can’t afford long layoffs — physically or psychologically
Staying engaged with movement even when progress slows
What it means to keep going without pretending you’re improving

Consistency isn’t glamorous. But it’s what survives.

Buzz Burrell
Mountain runner, outdoor industry veteran, co-founder of the Fastest Known Time (FKT) movement, and lifelong explorer of wild places.

Recommended:
🎙 Podcast — The Buzz (Buzz’s long-form conversations on trail and mountain culture)
🌐 Website — fastestknowntime.com
📸 Instagram - https://www.instagram.com/bbolder/

Marek Health: Deeper look at your health with comprehensive bloodwork and personalized guidance. 10% off with code AGELESS at https://agelessathlete.short.gy/marek

Timeline: Support cellular renewal and mitochondrial function with Mitopure, featuring Urolithin A. Up to 20% off at timeline.com/AGELESSATHLETE

Support The Show Love the show? Here’s how to support it https://buymeacoffee.com/agelessathlete

INFORMEDISH: Real life. Artificial cohost.
Movies, parenting and life's absurdities. Jason and his AI cohost Heather take sides.

Listen on: Apple Podcasts Spotify

Follow Ageless Athlete — How to Stay Strong, Curious & Capable for Life for new episodes each week.

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