Friday, May 9, 2014

Five Friday: The Aging Athlete

After every race I do I evaluate my standing. Recently my times have gotten slower over distances like 70.3. My training doesn't feel different but the times are. So I have to ask myself, is it a trend, a result of lifestyle or simply my age. My 5 thoughts on the subject:


  1. My Lifestyle or should I say my job is holding me back. The job of Director of Running Shoes is a absolutely dream job. I get to create the future of what a running shoe should be. At the same time it's a business and the business of running shoes is time consuming and body consuming. Logging 30,000 miles in a plane this year is actually low for me but as always my flight count is very low meaning my flights are long haul which are the killer. So I'm going to continue to hack these long flights. Monday I'll talk in depth about this. 
  2. My Training is holding me back - My head says volume by available time says high intensity, my actual has been inconsistently both. So I'm going to commit to high intensity for the next 12 months. 
  3. My Age - I don't feel it. I'm not on any medication, I don't ache all day, I'm amazed when I step into transition at a race and look across at the old men I'm racing. In fact I met a guy last week who is 4 years younger than me, looks older and is on 1/2 a baby asprin each day for his heart. Luckily he knew when to call it a day on race day. 
  4. My Life - Stress holds everyone back. I have as much stress as anyone else. It's how I deal with it. My first stress breaker is meditation I've been working on this for a year it is a great helper for sure. Interesting to note our dog will take every chance she can to get my attention. When I'm meditating she knows to leave me alone. That should say something. 
  5. My Life - Stress holds everyone back. My second stress breaker is learning. I love to read but I'm a terrible reader. It takes forever to finish a book. So I'm teaching myself to speed read. My wife does it and she's the smartest in the family, our son does it so I should be able to. Once I've figured it out I'll share it. 

It's a good life….

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