Fun & Fitness over 50

Wow, am I hurting from my last day of skiing. I was trying to beat my previous record of 12 runs in a day only that wasn't my record. The 12 was for 12 ski days in a season. Oh well.

I did 11 runs on Friday and boy am I hurting now. Stuff that doesn't usually hurt when I ski. Like my calves and neck. My neck may be from a fall I took and my head whipped back into the surface. Glad I started wearing a helmet.

So that was a good workout. I have a cold too. Maybe I got run down plus the x-treem kold may have zapped my immune system. I don't know. I didn't feel wiped at the end of the day.

On another note, I found this article on exercising for us "older" folks and I liked it cause it made sense for me. It's from Dr. Gabe Mirkin who is a nationally prominent retired doctor who cycles 200 mi/week and he's in his 70's. I won't go into the detail of it here but basically he's saying to take it easy to avoid getting injured which is what so frequently happens when older folks try to follow programs that are intended for much younger people. It has encouraged me to go back to the gym. As you may know if you've been following this blog, I don't like the gym environment but it's really a godsend in the winter or any other time when the conditions or availability of daylight make it difficult if not impossible to get enough exercise.

I want to get back in shape this winter and skiing once again has been my primary motivator. When you can downhill ski only once a week or less, you just can't put in that many runs before getting too tired to safely continue. That's why I started biking seriously 3 years ago, to stay in shape for skiing during the off season. Then I got to love cycling for it's own sake.

So now, even though my skiing is better, I want to be able to stay on the slopes longer.

Now, we usually knock off at about 2:30PM after hitting the hill at 10AM and 1 hour break for lunch. There's still plenty of daylight left and most lifts don't shutdown until 4.

The only problem to overcome as far as working out at the gym is concerned, is when to do it.

The best time is really in the morning before work but as I need to be on the job by 8 I would probably need to get up at 4:30 to get an hour in at the gym. I've gotten used to getting up at 5 and taking my time waking up and getting ready. I have come to value that time but I'm ready to take another look at it. The other alternative is to work out after I get off from work at 4 but the gym is usually crowded with kids at that time.

I guess it's just getting used to it again.

Time will tell.