One thing that stands out in my memory of the 2008 Summer Olympics, aside from Michael Phelps taking home 8 gold medals, is the story of Dara Torres. She was making a comeback after taking years off from swimming, the Olympics and having a kid. In addition to that, I believe she was the oldest swimmer in attendance. I think she only swam the 50 Free, but what I remember most is her talking about how her training had needed to change as she aged. She didn’t just bring a coach to the Olympics, she brought a masseuse and a personal stretcher and a trainer and any number of other specialized people to help her perform at her best.
I hadn’t given that much thought until recently, when I decided to train for a half marathon. Somewhere along the way, I realized that while I wasn’t old, my body was aging. It’s no longer effortless to go out and race a 5k with no training. My body can’t handle running 7 days a week anymore. Hell, my body doesn’t even like running two days in a row at this point. Somewhere along the line, cross training became not only important, but necessary.
But even the cross training has changed. I used to spend time on the elliptical instead of running, which is really stupid because 1) it’s the same motion and 2) I hate the elliptical. So this time around I’m trying to be smarter about training. And part of being smarter means realizing that I probably won’t run low 8’s anymore. Right now I’m struggling to get under 10’s consistently, but the good news is I’m healthy. I’ve added weights and yoga to my cross training. Who would have ever thought I would be doing yoga? But it actually helps, and not just with my flexibility. Yoga gives my mind a chance to recover as well. Running alone gives a person an awful lot of time to be inside your own head! I’m also trying to work on adding swimming to the mix consistently, anything to mix it up to keep me interested in the training process.
And thinking along the lines of Dara Torres, I’m also getting regular massages. Not as regular as I’d like, but regular enough to beat back the major issues that spring up when I run. I still get shin splints and my hips are still tight, but I’m nowhere needing MRI’s, cortisone shots and physical therapy. I consider that serious progress.
I’m five weeks out from the first of two planned half marathons. And for the first time in a long time, I’m more concerned with staying healthy and injury free than I am with my finish time. I’m not getting any quicker as I age, but I’m getting smarter about how I do the things I can enjoy so I can do them for a long time to come.
I hadn’t given that much thought until recently, when I decided to train for a half marathon. Somewhere along the way, I realized that while I wasn’t old, my body was aging. It’s no longer effortless to go out and race a 5k with no training. My body can’t handle running 7 days a week anymore. Hell, my body doesn’t even like running two days in a row at this point. Somewhere along the line, cross training became not only important, but necessary.
But even the cross training has changed. I used to spend time on the elliptical instead of running, which is really stupid because 1) it’s the same motion and 2) I hate the elliptical. So this time around I’m trying to be smarter about training. And part of being smarter means realizing that I probably won’t run low 8’s anymore. Right now I’m struggling to get under 10’s consistently, but the good news is I’m healthy. I’ve added weights and yoga to my cross training. Who would have ever thought I would be doing yoga? But it actually helps, and not just with my flexibility. Yoga gives my mind a chance to recover as well. Running alone gives a person an awful lot of time to be inside your own head! I’m also trying to work on adding swimming to the mix consistently, anything to mix it up to keep me interested in the training process.
And thinking along the lines of Dara Torres, I’m also getting regular massages. Not as regular as I’d like, but regular enough to beat back the major issues that spring up when I run. I still get shin splints and my hips are still tight, but I’m nowhere needing MRI’s, cortisone shots and physical therapy. I consider that serious progress.
I’m five weeks out from the first of two planned half marathons. And for the first time in a long time, I’m more concerned with staying healthy and injury free than I am with my finish time. I’m not getting any quicker as I age, but I’m getting smarter about how I do the things I can enjoy so I can do them for a long time to come.
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