williamhathaway.com

To partially answer a big question I’ve had over the last year “How much of my reduced speed compared to high-school is a product of an aging body versus a lack of conditioning?” I checked out some information on age-graded performances. The quick answer is that in their mid-30s, most people have the potential (assuming sufficient training) to turn in performances that are pretty close to what they ran in their teens. Now, I’m certainly at an age that is starting on the down-slope for performance potential, but as time goes on, it will be interesting to see the intersection of cumulative training effects versus aging.  I’m guessing that my overall performances, especially at the longer distances, will likely increase for the next 3-5 years if I keep the training up. It was also neat to check out the age-graded performances of my high-school times. Trying to beat my previous performances from an age-graded perspective is a goal I can go after for decades, even if I never match the actual times.

I was really inspired to see some of the records set by people in the 80 years and up categories. Certainly the times weren’t blazing, but if at 80 or 90 years of age you are capable of hauling your butt to a track meet and competing, that is living life!

The NY Times had an interesting article But First, Doctor, What Was Your Marathon Time? about whether to pick a doctor who is also an athlete.

LA Fitness has been super-crowded for the last two nights with all the people kicking off an exercise plan as part of their new year’s resolutions. While I sincerely wish every individual luck in their goals, the more selfish side of me will be happier once the crowding reduces over the next few weeks . The air conditioning was definitely struggling to cool down the upper floor with all the people working out on the aerobic equipment. Running was a miserable experience tonight. I’m really looking forward to Spring when we will have sufficient post-work daylight and nicer weather.

I used to read the forums at coolrunning.com, but since their take over by Active.com, it seems like there has been a fairly large exodus of people and I don’t like the new forum software nearly as much. I have started frequenting the forums at runningahead.com.

I’m doing a very non-FIRST easy 10 miler with a friend on Saturday morning, and then if I’m not feeling too tired on Sunday afternoon, I’ll likely drive to Spring Valley Park and enter the 5k that starts at 2pm. If you are going to be at the race, let me know.

It sounds like most of my friends that have been injured lately are starting to recover. Take it easy guys and welcome back!

This entry was posted on Friday, January 4th, 2008 at 2:41 am and is filed under running. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.