aging and feeling good while running

I can relate. The ground just doesn't seem as soft as it used to and the machine takes a lot more maintenance these days. I tell you if I had enough money I would take the testosterone and HGH and skip out on the races, so as to not be taking performance enhancing drugs (PED's), just to feel good again. I don't know if that would work, but if it did it would be worth every penny.

Foam rollers, massage, off season strength work, cross training and stretching are all things we get more familiar with. I sound more like a doctor every day, speaking of specific muscles within muscles, etc.. hoping to make it to 50 in one piece.

toivo wrote:

I probably haven't felt "good' on a run for a couple of years. I'm early 50's, been running for 37 years, and I really miss those days of feeling light and fast. (I'm not fat, but it hurts run fast.) My hips are tight, and the old stride is getting shorter and shorter. I don't stretch because my brief forays into stretching seemed like a waste of time.

Anyone out there REGAINED that youthful feeling of flying over the landscape? Is there anything we veterans can do about this, or should I resign myself to shuffling the rest of my life? (I can still manage mid-18:00s for 5k and sub-3:00 for the marathon, but it sure ain't fun!)

You are much too hard on yourself. "mid 18's" and "sub-3:00" are FLYING for a guy your age. Please remember the "your age" part. Just accept it and revel in how GOOD you are, for "your age."

I told my wife today that I'd gladly trade any "success" you might say I have in competition just to FEEL like a runner again. You know? Float over the ground, stride out, and just not hurt all of the time.

I guess I'd try stretching or something for an extended period (6-12 months?) if I knew it would really help. One theory I have is that we lose the ability to "play" as we get older and thus lose flexibility, agility, bounce, etc.

You should start training Henry Rono,Since he has lost it totally.

What worked for me was a change in scenery. I started to get much more into trail running and less on the roads. The sensation of speed is increased when the trees are blurring by. The variations in the stride pattern due to the uneven terrain and other obstacles help to keep you fresh and less injury prone. 8 minute pace in the woods on single track feels like 6 minute pace on the roads. It's a blast, sensation of speed, reduced effort, increase range of motion, prevent overuse injuries and you actually feel like you're out seeing the sights. A pretty good deal. Hopefully you don't live in Houston but there are lots of trails out there once you start seeking them out.Give it a try...

toivo wrote:

I told my wife today that I'd gladly trade any "success" you might say I have in competition just to FEEL like a runner again. You know? Float over the ground, stride out, and just not hurt all of the time.

I guess I'd try stretching or something for an extended period (6-12 months?) if I knew it would really help. One theory I have is that we lose the ability to "play" as we get older and thus lose flexibility, agility, bounce, etc.

Maybe it is a stretch to comment on something like this so soon, but the past week has been a revelation for me. I have been running and racing for 35+ years. The past 20 years I have been trying to get the feeling back. I have poor biomechanics which led to a bad back, hips, ect. I am constantly out of whack and have tried everything: chiro, ART, massage, Rolfing, Egoscue, every stretch routine, PT, yet I have imbalances that lead to all sorts of pains and muscle tightnessess. I'll get one great day of running every month or two, a few passible days, but most days are a struggle to move. For the past week I have been trying something very simple and a little different, it is a routine that is supposed to improve your joint mobility and reeducate the nervous system for proper functioning of how the joints work. It is simple routine of joint stretches that move all the joints of the body through their range of motion and reeducate them on the proper movement if they are stuck in bad patterns (my hip, knee, and ankle on one side always felt stuck and thus don't allow proper movement)or it they have lost some of their range of movement.

Anyhow I have felt absolutely great since starting. My mechanics have improved remarkably (bad rotations and twists are lessening, and in particular my muscles no longer have the chronic tightnesses all night and day(particularly the glutes, psoas, QL, and inside hamstring). They feel really light and loose and running is getting fun-I can't wait to get going each day now. I will continue working with this, but it is the best 7 days of running (ease wise as I am not in full training) and just moving through the day that I have had in many years. Besides the better alignment I notice my ankle now is pushing off the ground and extending rather than landing flat and just moving forward, also my shoulders and neck are straightening out and feel much looser like after a massage or rolfing session. I feel I am in control for the first time and not relying on a specialist to put me back in alignment and it all is so easy to do. If you are interested I found out about it here:

http://www.zhealth.net/

I couldn't find too much info online except for some interesting blog entries as it is pretty new. I bought the DVD.

As for other runners using it, this is on their site but I don't know who they are referring to. Any ideas?..."As for endurance athletes, we recently helped a world-class middle distance runner shave nearly a full minute off her 5k time in two weeks of training. (We had her doing only 1 exercise 3x’s a day so it qualifies for the 3 minute rule!) She subsequently made the US World Cross-Country team and placed very highly in international competition." If you want to experiment with something different it may be worth a shot. I would like to know if anyone else has tried Z-health exercises, but I am mightily impressed so far.

I guess to answer your question, "yes, at least for a week I have had that youthful feeling back (I'll be 50 next year)I have always had the energy and desire (I just couldn't get my alignment and stride to work anywhere near correctly. For now I don't feel like my body is fighting itself during the day at work, home, and on the run. Maybe it may work for you. But I thought I'd throw it out there for comments and consideration.

Other than that all the other things I have tried have left me feeling good for short time before they wore off. I think that is because my mechanics never changed and I went back to the same patterns of movement and running (one femur turned in along with a knocked knee but the same foot was everted out and the foot would roll in on itself. Of course my hips would be all out of whack too). Again I am enthusiastic after only a week but I have seen changes that nothing else was doing and I created the changes. So I'll throw it out there in case anyone else has been trying everything else to no satisfaction.

Short and Sweet

At 51 I still feel like a young buck.

Just replace ez runs with either rest or ez cross training.

Reason is with age you suffer more micro trama muscle damage and your body takes longer to do the repairs.So the ez runs interfere with recovery.So you will chronically feel flat/tired.I know this one fur sure.

I'm 50. Going to a chiropractor for adjustments and ART every 3 weeks has helped. I also stretch religiously, sometimes 4 or 5 times a day. It took about 6 months of this consistent behavior to see a difference. Please give stretching another try, however "brief forays" aren't going to cut it. Dedicate yourself to it for at least six months and see how you feel. I spend about 10 minutes on each stretching session and like I said I do 4 or 5 of them a day.

It is worth it.

TDF gave you the best advice. It really isn't stretching but joint mobility and range of motion that you want to work on. It will help in a huge way. We don't get tighter as we age, we lose ROM, from not working on it. Take the time to learn some of the moves, sure it will be time consuming at first, but worth it in the long run. I am almost 51, and as flexible as I ever was....but I work on it daily. Try it and I bet your running will feel much easier again. Just be patient, you didn't lose ROM overnight, so don't expect results in a week or so, but it can come back.

TDF -

Which DVD did you buy - there are a load of them?

Thanks,

An old-feeling 38

Geez, I'd like to read TDF's post but I was going blind after the 5th line.

Next time use some paragraphs....please

that's because we all need the larger print version at our age...

Man, wish I could run a sub 3 hour marathon again!

I'm 56, have been running for 33 years and have run in the 2:40's for a marathon and mid 16's for 5K. I took a break from road racing in my late 40's and got into trail running and ultra trail running for about 10 years. I jumped into a 5K last year to see if I still had it....I couldn't even break 20 minutes! Then I jumped in a marathon last fall to see what would happen....and I barely qualified for Boston with a 3:45:53! Those were both personal worsts.

I don't know if this is because I stopped the speed training for 10 years or I've aged or possibly it's both. Another possibility is the 20 years of hard road racing took something away that I won't get back.

I'm trying to get it back or to see how much I can get back and am running about 60 mpw with hill repeats and a tempo day. I am tired and sore all the time, but that just reminds me of my earlier self when I ran many more miles and was tired and sore all the time.

I will say though, that I still enjoy running even though 9mpm now feels what 6 mpm used to feel like. I'm hoping I can get that 9mpm back down to at least 8...and I just can't get myself to do what someone suggested about cross training or resting. I still like to run every day and feel like if I miss a day, I am falling backwards in fitness.

Good luck with it!

Also in my 50's. Sometimes easy runs suck. But I

try to keep in mind that the older I get, the better

I used to be.

I second that request for the DVD in question.

The ones on that site are not cheap.

Signed,

An older feeling 55

Check out Todd Durkin's website.....he is a trainer out in San Diego and has some excellent stuff. Look in the Sports Performance section, I especially like the joint stability DVD, I have used others and they are all excellent.

There is also a book called Framework that is an interesting read with lots of great suggestions as well. And of course there is always the Egoscue training that is fun and challenging.

I am glad someone else has heard about this too!

I thought I might go down in flames, but I am impressed with this (new to me) work.

I got bold because I was intrigued and bought the package deal for the R phase and the Neural Warm up. The R phase has all the exercises, the Neural warm up was shorter but had a few extra exercises involving the eyes. The R phase doesn't take that long: are quick (less than 1/2 hour) and involve no real effort or sweat. I enjoy the routine. I have also used it before a run. He goes quickly through the exercises and the manual says to try them slower, but I haven't tried that yet, although it is a good suggestion as I guess doing them correctly is the point!

Egoscue was time consuming for me. I went to one session and it was very expensive to find out I was doing the exercises correctly anyhow. I didn't like that the young trainer told me he got into it because his friend was doing it and it was good money. I would rather have a trainer who has been there with the aches and pains. I get the concept: use your muscles to put you bones back into alignment. I would recommend the exercises (from the books) but I think they were more interested in my money that anything else.

I have that book "Frameworks" and will take another look at it. In fact I have tons of books from trying to figure things out on my own. Most have not been helpful. I just got 3 new books from Amazon this week and haven't even looked at them yet as I started the Z=Health stuff and it is doing what nothing else would do! so I am not even interested in them at this point.

a trainer...

Are the Todd Durkin dvd's more balancing work or are they similar to the joint exercises like the z-health stuff?

This is one of the blog articles that mentions z-health and seems a bit provocative but discussion is good. I don't understand all that they are talking about but I like new ideas and discussions. I have used up many foam rollers myself and have moved on to baseballs and large plumbing pipes trying to "loosen" up my muscles. Before I ordered the Z-health I almost ordered this

http://www.dragondoor.com/dv048.html

to learn more about foam rollers. The author is one of the people commenting in the discussion on the blog. I got these newer ideas from learning about kettlebells which I started a couple of months ago and do enjoy. I am never been a strength person or lifted weights so this is all new to me but I had exhausted all the ideas I could find from the running community so I have been exploring other ideas from other sports.