Kate

Some of my favourite moments of 2021 captured on camera 📷

7 Things This 62-Year-Old Runner Would Tell His 40-Year-Old Runner Self Slow down. Pace isn’t the goal. Heart rate isn’t even the goal. The physiological adaptations in the zone you are running in are the goal. Most runners never get fast because they never got slow. Your aerobic engine only grows when you give it the low-intensity time it needs. Your base will be the most important thing you ever build. Base building takes much longer than you think. It’s super frustrating at first, then boring, then, if you stick with it… magic. Nothing will pay you back more in your 50s and 60s than a massive aerobic floor built decades earlier. Run more often, not necessarily longer. Six shorter runs per week beat two or three longer ones. Consistency/frequency build durability, teach your tissues to tolerate load, and keep your aerobic system turned on all week long. It’s better for a longevity approach as well. Intensity. You don’t need much of it. A little bit goes a long way, especially as you age. Save the hard work for when it matters and spend most of your time building capacity, not frying your system. Manage load like your future depends on it. Because it does. Overuse injuries are preventable, but only if you respect your tendons and connective tissue. Most runners’ injuries are training errors due to poor load management. Tendons don’t care about your watch or your training plan. They care about consistency and smart progression. Tendons don’t like rest either… when a tendinopathy occurs, they want heavy resistance loads… see a therapist very early. Lift and stay powerful. If you want to keep running well in your 60s, start lifting in your 40s. Strength and power fade faster than endurance. Train strength and power…. both for living longer and performing well. Recovery is training. The adaptation occurs during the recovery phase. Recovery time is not optional. Sleep, down weeks, and truly easy days are what allow the adaptations you’re chasing to happen at all. Never let today’s workout ruin tomorrow’s.

I was interested in running fast so I became a world-class masters sprinter. Now, in my 60's I'm interested in running a fast mile - maybe in time I'll become a world-class miler, I may have to wait until I'm in my 70's to get there. There's no rush, I'm happy to progress slowly and remain fit and uninjured. I believe being a masters sprinter gave me the base speed to run a fast mile (with the appropriate training). I also believe I'm average in running terms but above average in how I have resisted age-related deterioration. This is why aging favours me; a reversal of the usual narrative that getting physically old sucks. The best decision I made was to drop competitive sprinting for building aerobic health - I still can't get the running fast bug out of me (because it feels like a super-power in older age), so I chose the mile as the vehicle for building VO2max, not a longer distance. Being aerobically fit AND still having strength, speed & power, is the best feeling in the world as an older person. Once you decide to resist the downward slope of aging, getting older means 'getting better' relative to others - this manifests simply as 'getting better' in how you view yourself. You feel good, but you also feel your physicality/prowess is rising. An unexpected, bizarre, but wonderful feeling. The REVERSE of getting old. Come and join me. You can get better as you age.

Younger coworker had never heard of The Far Side cartoon before. Sent her a few, and she didn't find them funny. I weep for our future.

The greatest bodybuilder of our generation went 80% vegan. Why? Cholesterol levels. Here's how the biggest star of the 80's rewrote the rules of nutrition: 🧵