So, I'm over 50 and was sucked into a challenge by my 23 year old daughter over the holidays to run a 5K race in the Spring of 2011. Now remember it was the Holiday season and I do have a propensity to drink a little more beer than I should at this time of year, so it seemed like a pretty good idea at the time. I'm not in real bad shape, I go to the gym 6 days a week, have lost over 40 pounds over the last 2 years, walk regularly and watch my diet (except the beer thing, referred to above).
So New Years Day, we put the above mentioned daughter on a plane at 0530 in the morning for her return to Germany where she works as a teacher. Returned home and promptly went back to sleep for 5 or 6 hours. Getting up refreshed and rested, it occurred to me that the race I had picked was only 72 days away and I had probably at least go for a mile walk to start my training. Better than nothing, right.
Day 2, off to the gym for an hour and a half of crazed cross training and weights.
Day 3, more of the same.
Day 4, Crash, I was sore in places I didn't know had muscles, dizzy from depleted electrolytes, Generally dazed and confused. Well after a short trip to the Doctor, nice fellow only laughed at me for a minute or so, I had replenished the electrolytes and was ready for day 4 training. 5 minutes on the cross trainer and gave up on the weights after about 20 minutes or so. Sort of ran out of gas!!! Home for a beer and dinner and off to bed before 9:30.
Today is day 5 of what appears to be a hellish 72 day adventure to run a 5K race. Muscles seem to have recovered somewhat this morning, not dazed or confused and believe I can actually continue my training this afternoon. I've decided the race may be the easy part of this adventure, the training could be fatal however.
Will advise tomorrow of the progress in training and give some additional thoughts on why men over 50 do stupid stuff. Not all the stupid stuff, just this kind of stupid stuff. I'm thinking it may have something to do with reduced testosterone levels???
Nice blog! So you already lost 40lbs before you started and have a 32 inch waste??? Wow! That would be my secondary goal. This over fifty and not feeling comfortable in 38 pants got me mad so I started working out again in January. I am at 230 lbs and I also intend to run a 10K but not until I approach 200. That is not as big a deal as it sounds. I can still ride a bike over 30 miles etc. and I ran a lot a long time ago. I see you also like working your abs. What are they again??? The only six pack I see in the mirror is when I pass the mirror after going to the liquor store. I will be watching you to make sure you cheer you on. My advice is to do a lot of streatching and get some running in ASAP. You are already pretty slim so if you have a soft surface like the bark trail you talk about, it should be okay. Find a group to run with through your local athletic shoe store. Keep working out at the gym on the elipticals to reduce the soreness due to the initial lactic acid buildup from running and work on keeping a cadence of 80 to 90 strides per minute without thinking about speed. The speed will come over time. Shoot for twenty miles a week and throw in some five mile runs. You will be fine. I will do the same soon but I have a lot of weight to loose before I am comfortable with 20 miles a week. I will see you at the finish line.
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