Results 176 to 200 of 1556
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08-04-2019, 11:08 AM #176
But you were damn buff, right?
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08-04-2019, 11:35 AM #177Registered User
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just to be clear as opposed to just swimming ^^ this was water polo ?
Lee Lau - xxx-er is the laziest Asian canuck I know
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08-04-2019, 11:39 AM #178
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08-04-2019, 02:31 PM #179
Swimmers are fucked people.
watch out for snakes
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08-04-2019, 03:15 PM #180
Agree, but much easier said than done in a lot of cases. Throw in a serious injury, illness, disease, raising a family, caring for your parents, and the list goes on. And for women, throw in carrying around and extra 30-40 lbs for 9 months that wreaks havoc on your body, dropping a kid out and then caring for it 24/7. Fuck! They have it way worse.
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08-04-2019, 04:11 PM #181Go that way really REALLY fast. If something gets in your way, TURN!
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08-04-2019, 04:28 PM #182Funky But Chic
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In the end it's probably healthier to be thin and full of chemicals than it is to be fat and clean. Certainly more fun. YMMV.
I mean smoking cigarettes has to go but nicotine? nah. Some weed, some nicotine, some caffeine, some carefully administered alcohol, and repeat.
Along with the actual positive shit of course.
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08-04-2019, 04:34 PM #183User
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08-04-2019, 05:06 PM #184
Mid-40s, just got my ass handed to me trying to kiteboard today. Been snowkiting for years, first time out on water. Lasted for 2 hrs, a decade ago I would give'er for 5. Still plenty strong, but tire out a bit faster and am a bit more cautious than i used to be.
Was going to do a 31 mile trail run next week, but my IT band has a different opinion. Only part of me that has really changed is that these days I listen to the pain instead of push through it - much more important to be able to keep doing things than to do any specific activity. Also helps that my spouse is in better shape, so I keep in shape simply to keep up with her.
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08-04-2019, 05:07 PM #185
Somehow I stayed thin
while the other guys got fat.
21 yrs nicotine free.Move upside and let the man go through...
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08-04-2019, 05:16 PM #186
I like naps.
watch out for snakes
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08-04-2019, 05:22 PM #187Funky But Chic
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In a weird way I think it helped me that I got pretty hurt skiing in 7th grade. I was never a particularly skinny kid, and then after I got hurt I basically ate Sara Lee cakes out of the freezer and watched TV for about 5 months and I got pretty fat. Once I realized it (thanks Dad!), and lost the weight, I was always conscious of it from then on out. It's just never been completely out of my mind.
so many skinny kids just get fatter and more out of shape every year until they die, never believing they -they!- could be nasty tubs of lard and that they need to do something.
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08-04-2019, 05:43 PM #188
I fell off a train at 18, landing on my coccyx and broke both wrists. The back injury wasn’t evident and didn’t show itself until my mid 20’s. Looking back at the last 35 years of skiing; it has never been pain free. Looking beyond the 35 years, it still wasn’t pain free. Your feet were frozen or your boots hurt or hands were cold, your ass and hams were wet, under/overdressed. You just lived with it. It wasn’t as easy to get dialed as it is today.
Not much different than the last 180+ posts - focusing on what ails you, cardio (anaerobic & aerobic); musculature; skeletal… whatever is currently in the way. If nothing ails you then you’re probably focused on what you consider to be your weaknesses.
For those of you not in the know, there is not much of me that is still in its original form. I have had a long time to measure how to overcome everything that has gotten in my way. There are no short cuts around fitness and nutrition.
At 61, I don’t feel that my skiing has diminished in the least. It’s actually gotten better because my maintenance routines are more skier specific than they were in the past and experience is a great teacher.
I’ve lost 2.625” in height and 20lbs of mass to age. After the adjustment period (15 years or so), it’s like working with a completely different set of parameters. A more compact package that is easier to develop angles. I’m lighter on my feet, there is less mass to move, my balance has improved – it’s more finite. I have lost no reaction time -> directly related to nutrition.
Loss of some vision at 38 and it’s dynamic, but nothing that a prescription lens doesn’t fix. Some night vision has been lost. It’s more about glare than penetration.
Some elasticity loss – the pain to gain is greater.
The one element that’s been glaringly obvious is adaptation to elevation. I’ve never had a permanent address more than 1200’amsl. In my twenties, thirties and forties, I would just go hard until I spit up some blood or pass out and then put in a rest day. So, good conditioning and 72hrs at AGL and I would be at least at 85%. Not anymore and I haven’t figured a way around it yet. Well, other than moving.
To motivation and allowing down time; not to much that getting back at it is a big push either.
It’s about what gets in your way again (Kids/house/job/family/friends). It’s mostly about time management. It doesn’t take a whole 90min to burn an extra 300 calories a day. I’m that much more proficient throughout my day that makes for the time I took away and the ache at the end of the day is nowhere near as personally debilitating. Just because you can endure it doesn’t mean you should.
Although I’m still hurting all the time from recovery. It’s better than having the aches, quakes, twitches, popcorn, joint slips, acute burns, numbness, twitches and whatnot that goes with swimming in your injuries. Bouts with bursitis are harder to get through than arthritis and diet has an impact on being able to dictate at will through these obstacles.
We all fall into patterns. I’m at the bottom of my annual wave path. Much more consistent in the last 15 years than years prior - not as intense either.
BFRT is in my future – nice drop kidsI am not in your hurry
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08-04-2019, 06:13 PM #189Funky But Chic
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08-04-2019, 06:16 PM #190Funky But Chic
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08-04-2019, 06:22 PM #191Funky But Chic
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I'm always sore. My whole life I'm sore. Part of it is how fucked my hips are but a lot of it is, if you're gonna work it, it's gonna hurt tomorrow.
I stay off the vitamin I and just deal with it but Splat's cream definitely helps. I don't know what the magic in it is, but it works. Not 100% and some times better than others, but I'm a fan.
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08-04-2019, 06:31 PM #192
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08-04-2019, 06:39 PM #193Funky But Chic
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haha okay good. Didn't want to piss the puppet master off.
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08-04-2019, 06:45 PM #194
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08-04-2019, 06:47 PM #195
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08-04-2019, 07:00 PM #196Funky But Chic
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just playing keep moving man.
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08-04-2019, 07:03 PM #197Funky But Chic
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I put the splat cream on my hips, I forget about them for a day or two. I'll take that.
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08-04-2019, 07:15 PM #198
I woke up this morning and fucking cramped my left calf muscle just by rolling the wrong way. Jezuz. It was sore until about 9am, a little. God's way of punishing me for not hydrating enough in the hot summer after a 180 mile week or so, but still. Injured before my feet hit the floor.
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08-04-2019, 11:38 PM #199
As of this week I am 39.3 years old or thereabouts. Also in this week I am 2 years and 2 months into a solid reinvestment in my health and endurance sport ambitions. Age 40 is looming near. In June of 2017 I was inspired to get off the couch and start exercising with purpose for the first time in over a decade. I heard about this new mountain race that was coming to town in 10 weeks on a rad route and I was stoked to have reason to get after it.
Every day after working construction I would make the 2 minute detour to the ski hill parking lot and do a lap. 5 days a week no matter what. A basic lap is 2000 ft over 5 miles up and down. It would usually take 1:05 to 1:10. I weighed 230 at 6’ 1” and soon dropped 20 pounds over a month or so and now am around 195-205. All hiking stride, no real running.
On a Saturday about a week out from the race I was cruising down the mountain and I saw all of these people slogging up the hill in full zombie status. “They must be in that AlaskaMan race I heard about this morning?” I thought. The people looked dead.
This was maybe 3pm and they had already swam 2.7 miles in Seward then biked 115 miles to Girdwood then ran 20 miles and now last 7 miles of marathon run was double lap up Alyeska. I couldn’t believe it. Where can I sign up?!
I did the mountain run a week later on mushrooms and it was pretty fun as far as drug augmented extreme cardio work goes. My legs were in half decent shape but I could tell that they did not like what I was doing to them. I was 19th with time of 1:30, winners were 1:05. Don’t call it a comeback.
Now I had to up my game. For the next year I squeezed in anywhere from 5-15 hours a week of swim/bike/run training on top of 50 hour work weeks with my eyes on the prize. I had always previously thought spandex was gay and road biking in general was gay and I was indifferent to swimming though I appreciated being in warm water. But this race was more then ‘triathlon’ to me. I was an epic adventure right in my backyard that I had to partake in and I really just wanted to survive it, let alone compete.
I scratched the ski season of 17-18 and moved the family to Kona for the winter under the guise of ‘spending time with the family’ but my wife knew what was up. Every moment of every day I was somewhat preoccupied with my ‘training’. I was now wearing spandex on a daily basis. I thought about FTP and HR and cadence and nutrition and vert and miles and hours. What had my life become?
I was more tanned and fit then ever before including my far gone youth when I sure usetocould. But at what cost? Back to Alaska in the spring and epic 60-70 hour work scene with me trying to max out training hours and then taper to big dumb race. I told myself long work hours mimicked the long game mindset needed to survive a IronMan + distance race. Over training probably in effect. In the last 2 years I have had so many haggard days at work because I did some 10 mile run and 2 hour Zwift combo the night before. Why, oh God, must I endure?
I survived the race and even did half decent with 20th place out of 200. It was the longest most horrible thing I had ever done on the hottest day of the year no less. 15.5 hours of self propelled motion half way across the state it felt like. For about a week after I swore I would never do that again. But then the little voice spoke up again and thought I could probably break 14 hours next year, maybe get top 10…?
So onward I trained with many shorter races sprinkled through out. Six 5ks, three 10ks, four Half marathon and a trail marathon or so later and I feel like the drug of ‘improvement’ has given away to ‘law diminishing returns’.
5k at 17:30, 10k at 37 and half at 1:19. How much harder do I have to train to get a 1:15 half… ?! What is the point?
I did the big AlaskaMan race again this summer, about a month ago. I felt strong. I had another year of solid training under my belt. I would crack top 10. I had a few tricks up my sleeve. First, home court advantage is worth a lot especially on this course. There is a section of the run that was endless and horrible so I focused on hitting that section tired over and over this spring and summer.
I was cranking out 15 mile runs easy now with no residual soreness the next day. Getting the volume up took way longer then I thought it would. The weeks leading up to race day were hotter then shit. Global warming I guess but Girdwood has never seen a month straight of 85 deg ever. The week of the race temps bumped up to 90 on race day. And then the smoke… huge forest fires raged down on the peninsula and all of south central was affected.
The morning of the race in Seward the smoke sat thick on the water. I struggled through the swim each breath tasting the smoke. I was 20th or so out of the water but with quick transition hit the road and bumped my way to 10th. I felt like I could not get my heart rate down below 160 and I was aiming for 140ish. Legs felt leaden.
By Moose Pass 40 miles in I have runny nose and itchy eyes and head ache that wont go away. My ego is driving me. I want to stop because it is so counter intuitive of activity to be doing so whole heartedly.
Up in Summit Pass the sky clears a bit and I feel optimistic. Descent to Hope Junction, climb to top of Turnagain. Head ache still there. Time to break out secret weapon. Similar mushroom treat that I had back in mountain race 2 years earlier with positive results. It was such good results that I swore to not use it again lest I come to rely on mushrooms for peak performance, placebo effect or otherwise.
This was a special case. I was 75 miles into 115 mile ride with only the most horrible to to come. I actually planned on taking the mushrooms about 15 miles into run section but things changed. I choked down the fudge chocolate jalepeno hot brownie thing. The air was hot, my water was hot my mouth was now hot. Fun times.
I dropped into the Turnagain Pass descent with renewed vigor. Bombing 50 mph plus along side endless stream of big rigs and motor home towing 30 ft boats. Who has the time and money for something so frivolous as fishing I often wonder. This feels dangerous but my headache is gone for the first time in 4 hours. My legs were strong again and I passed a couple of guys when we got to the flats.
Oh, but then the mushrooms actually kicked in around the Portage Road turn off. The little voice in my head that had been saying Go! Go! For over two years straight began to get quiet. My legs began to get heavy. I was tired and I knew what pain was to come. That was the difference from last year when I was just proving to myself that I could do it. Last year when I almost actually cried with joy upon finishing the swim section as humble adult onset swimmer.
Now this year I knew I could do it but I just didn’t want to anymore. Top 10, what does that mean? It was hot as shit out. I could see Girdwood Valley about 10 miles up shrouded in brown veil of thick smoke. I had to cross multiple highway bridges with no shoulder and big rigs and construction and WTF was I doing out here? I started to notice the reflections in the nice ponds along the highway and instead of thinking of swimming a few laps in there I thought about how I should make time to take my kids fishing. Make time to go camping. Make time to just be there for them instead of cramming every moment with Train! Train! Train! “But that is the part of me that keeps me sane,” I tell myself. Is it really?! What about art, what about writing, what about home improvements. What about maintaining composure when the kids are being annoying as heck and you don’t want to be there at that moment, kind of like this race. Am I building more character or tearing things down at this point?
Girdwood is at mile 90 of the course. My house is a couple hundred yards off course at Mile 90. At mile 85 I knew I was done. I just had to get home and off this highway. It felt overwhelming and dangerous and I felt out of place and I could not comprehend my motivations for having come this far.
After 5 hours of biking I pulled into my driveway and called it a day. A beer never tasted so good as it was like a veil or a curse had been lifted from my brain that day. My competitive spirit had been crushed and I was elated.
Epilogue: a month later I did the 3rd annual mountain run that had so inspired me three years ago to get off the couch. I got 42nd out of 500 with time of 1:26 and was nonplussed. My competitive spirit managed to climb out of the shallow grave I had thrown it in along the ditch of that hot highway but then I squashed it under my boot in the race as I was trying to make conversation with people and realized that I did not not want to ‘get after it that hard.’
So this last week I have taken a break which is weird because I don’t feel over trained. I feel peppy and strong and was planning on doing this 5k race on Saturday (2 days ago). But when the alarm went off at 7am I didn’t want to get up so I didn’t. Evidence of an attitude which is antithetical to being competitive.
But I don’t want to get fat, what should I do?
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08-05-2019, 01:21 AM #200
Athletic performance in your 40's = TRT. Has that joke been made yet? Natural decline is the unsolvable problem, TRT is the answer.
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