How athletes can stay fast after 50

IronMikeIronMike Northern VirginiaCharter Member

Article from WSJ for us oldies...

We're all just carbon, water, starlight, oxygen and dreams

dpm50

Comments

  • Kate_AlexanderKate_Alexander Spring Lake, MichiganSenior Member

    Thanks for posting this

    dpm50
  • NoelFigartNoelFigart Lebanon, NHSenior Member

    growl snarl The whole POINT of being a distance swimmer was to be able to enjoy the LSD.

    mutteringStupid intervals...

    dpm50
  • Kate_AlexanderKate_Alexander Spring Lake, MichiganSenior Member

    NoelFigart said:
    growl snarl The whole POINT of being a distance swimmer was to be able to enjoy the LSD.

    mutteringStupid intervals...

    LOL! Do indeed love the LSD. Hopefully the intervals and weights will help me go even longer.

  • wendyv34wendyv34 Vashon, WASenior Member

    The great thing about swimming is that due to the correlation between technique and speed, you (well, most of us), can continue to improve throughout your life by refining your stroke. Obviously if you were an NCAA All American, you probably are already about as technically perfect as you can get, so this won't apply to everyone. I spend several hours every day lifeguarding lap swims and in my expert opinion, about 98% of the swimmers I see would get faster if they improved their technique.

    I'm approaching 50 (big party in April!) and I've definitely felt it the last few years. It takes longer to recover after hard workouts, so I keep those to a couple times a week. I notice my fitness declines through the race season because I stop doing intervals during the summer, due to the time required to recover from racing every weekend.

    Weight training is a huge benefit, although I find it boring and mostly hate doing it. I have a hard time keeping a consistent schedule because when I feel sore and tired, weights are the first thing I bail out on. I keep telling myself that " this is going to be the off-season when I build up those huge guns again!" with 50 coming up, hopefully that will motivate me to be more consistent with my strength training program.

    Too bad DN was mentioned in the sidebar to that article.

    dc_in_sfdpm50IronMike

    It's always a bad hair day when you work at a pool.

  • Leonard_JansenLeonard_Jansen Charter Member

    He is correct as far as it goes, but given the amount of time a marathon swimmer spends in the water during a race, the volume of the intervals has to go up as well. As I have mentioned before, I strongly urge people to look at the training theories of Renato Canova - these would fit fairly well with this. Note that Canova training is NOT for the newbies/inexperienced, however.

    -LBJ

    “Moderation is a fatal thing. Nothing succeeds like excess.” - Oscar Wilde

  • DanSimonelliDanSimonelli San Diego CASenior Member
    edited October 2015

    Thanks Mike.
    Good article...especially since I just turned 50 yesterday!

    However:
    The graph titled "Speed Limits" inexplicably included DN slow event...?!?
    :-/
    =))

    IronMike
  • IronMikeIronMike Northern VirginiaCharter Member

    wendyv34 said:
    I'm approaching 50 (big party in April!) and I've definitely felt it the last few years. It takes longer to recover after hard workouts, so I keep those to a couple times a week. I notice my fitness declines through the race season because I stop doing intervals during the summer, due to the time required to recover from racing every weekend.

    When in April? April's my birth month as well (21st), but 2017 will be 50 for me.

    We're all just carbon, water, starlight, oxygen and dreams

  • wendyv34wendyv34 Vashon, WASenior Member

    4/15. There will be some kind of celebratory swim, of course! It definitely won't be 50x100s, everyone does that! 50 minutes at 50F would be more appropriate. :-O

    IronMikeAnthonyMcCarleydpm50

    It's always a bad hair day when you work at a pool.

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