Tuesday, March 17, 2020

On being older and an athlete


Hi guys,

Last week I got back from the Base Performance Camp.  It's four days of training and I loved it.  Here's the link for the camp in case you're curious.  The schedule pushes you as hard as you want to push.

BASE PERFORMANCE CAMP
Thursday  Short run, 3000-meter swim, 12 mi bike ride easy
Friday 3000 meter swim, Ride to Sugar Loaf for hill repeats Bike/Run short tough bricks and ride back.  (toughest day)
Saturday Choice on Bike ride 2, 3, 4 hours
Sunday Run clay trails up to 10 miles and swim 3000 meters

It's at the end of February and I've done it three times.  Love the NTC swimming pool and the bike rides around Clermont are pretty traffic-free, mostly on good trails.

FATIGUE
I did well for the first two days.  I kept up and pushed myself hard.  However, this year I couldn't take time off from work so I ended up working late at night to keep up with my telecommuting job.  By Sunday I was pretty fried.  I decided I had to step back.  Sadly I let myself sleep in a bit and then ran 3 miles and swam a mile in the pool at the park where my house is located.

While that was less than the planned workout, it was also still a lot of training in four days.  I had a lot of travel the next few days and by the following Friday, I was pretty done and needing to sleep extra.

This is what an older athlete deals with.  While the heart may be willing and the mind is all excited about the training plan, the body just can't keep up with the demands any longer.

A NATURAL CYCLE TO TRAINING: PRESSURE THEN REST
In my 20s, I was in Tae Kwon Do.  That was before we knew about periodizing training.  I would train 7 days per week, 2 hours each night after a full day of work.  I could usually keep this up for about a month before I just couldn't do it for a whole week.  I noticed back then that I was a LOT BETTER the week I returned after a good amount of rest.  While my TKD career ended with an injury at work, I did learn something about training that stayed with me.  Rest can allow the body to do a lot of repairs and actually jump-start your ability if you return after a short break.

Now at 62, I find I need to rest about 2 days per week.  I can sometimes get a yoga class or light weights in for one of those days but normally I'm needing about 2 days rest for each week of training.  For the Base Camp, I rested about 3 days in a row.

I won't say I was easy in my mind about that.  It doesn't make me happy to have to skip training even though I know my body is doing a lot of repair and building work...it still feels like doing nothing and skipping out.

THE DEAL  15 minute check out
Later I became a bodybuilder and I made this deal with myself:
On days when I just don't feel like training, I'll get up and go anyway but my deal is that I can leave after 15 minutes if I'm not feeling it.  Usually, I feel better as the endorphins kick in and I begin to enjoy the workout.  However, on the days when the 15 mins feel too hard to go on, I let myself leave and get the rest I need.

OVERTRAINING SYMPTOMS
So I guess what I want you to think about is how do you feel in your training?  Classic signs of overtraining are
1. Loss of emotional control
2. Fatigue
3. Loss of interest in training...feels more like work than fun
4. Minor injuries, clumsiness, falls, tripping, bumping into things
5. Loss of appetite
6. Insomnia (which makes everything else worse)

Eventually leading to major injuries.  On those days when you just don't feel like it, try my 15 min deal with yourself.  I think you'll find you learn to avoid injury and your training stays on a positive upward trend rather than cycling between extreme fatigue and exhilaration.

For an older adult, these symptoms can be compounded by the other physical issues we experience.  Less mobility, tendency to pull muscles or cramps, Less balance, and Inflammation.  It's important to know when to give yourself a break as you age.  Sure there are the older athletes that appear to be superhuman, but for the normal human, rest is important.  Get a good healthy meal, enjoy a good book and sleep a full 8 hours on those days.  I like to go walking the dog and bird hiking.  That way, I'm still outside and moving, just not with the same intensity as my triathlon training demands.

LOVE EVERY WORKOUT WHEN YOU GET SUFFICIENT REST
In a perfect world, you'll enjoy all the workouts and know you've accomplished something, but your body is also dealing with stress from mental and external sources and that can affect your ability to deal with the training stress.

So be kind to yourself.  Do a mental check and see if you are still feeling happy to train or if it's become overwhelming and like a dreadmill of one more chore to do.  Find that balance so that you can keep your training mojo and age and race gracefully.

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