tri 50 +...growing!

50-Plus Tri: An Introduction


A new column to keep a fast-growing age group ahead of the pack
Posted on December 20, 2011 byLAVA







You know you’re getting old as a triathlete when everything that works hurts, and what doesn’t hurt doesn’t work. One day you realize it’s now taking you longer to recover than it did to get tired in the first place.

Kidding aside, I’m 52 years old and feel like I have better overall endurance fitness than I did in my 30s. And apparently I’m not alone. The top 50 triathletes in my age group at Kona this year (M50-54) came in under 12 hours. The top 50! That’s not hanging around.

“But that’s the elite age-groupers,” I can hear you whimper. What about the ordinary 50-year-old Joe Blow, wheezing and cramping his way through the back half of a flat, 10-mile training run?

My very unscientific look at the competitor lists from a handful of Ironman and Ironman 70.3 events this past year shows that 10-15 percent of starters were over the age of 50. Numbers vary depending on the race and location, but they can get pretty high. For example, by my calculations, 17 percent of athletes at Ironman Florida (or about 500 athletes), and 13 percent at California Oceanside 70.3, were over 50. Worldwide, that number is constantly increasing.



And that’s just Ironman and 70.3 races. Think of how many that translates to if you include the hundreds of shorter, or more beginner-oriented triathlons around the world each year.

Thisat is precisely why this column was born. To address the many, many tens of thousands of “over 50” triathlon athletes who train and participate each year, and the even greater number who are thinking about taking the plunge or have already started training but haven’t actually undergone their first live-fire transition meltdown.

Each month I’ll be dealing with subjects common to triathlon training and triathletes, but from the 50-plus age perspective. Take nutrition. Good nutrition is good nutrition, but there are some things that need to be addressed for a 50-year-old that a 28-year-old doesn’t have to pay as much attention to, if at all. For example, why do many iron supplements say not to be taken by those over 50 years of age? Fear not, in this age of Google searching and having to sift through all the misinformation, I’ll seek out experts to shed some light.

Column topics you’ll see over the coming months range from the importance of nutrition to the need for stretching and preventing repetitive motion injuries. I’ll be covering motivation, changing your goals as you age, and the need to stop comparing your performance and training to others. I’m planning a piece on the gear you really need to participate in triathlons, the unfortunate presence of ageism, and the need for patience in rehab. Watch for gender-specific issues as well—how men and women over 50 might look at things differently.

If I know anything, it’s that there are three certainties in life. One, you’re going to get older no matter what magic elixir you take; two, serious triathletes will always complain about getting up early, and yet still get up to train first thing anyway; and three, triathletes always ask lots of questions, even if they don’t always wait around long enough to hear the answers.

So if you have any questions relating to triathlon for the over-50s, email them to me at iantriathlon@gmail.com . I will try to incorporate and answer as many of them as I can in the monthly column.

See you next month at around the same time … unless I’m out training or in rehab.

______________________

Ian Stokell holds a MA in Physical Education and has been a sports writer for more than 30 years. When he isn’t working with pro triathlete Lesley Paterson on a new film project,
http://www.slidingdownrainbows.com/
you can find him training hard to keep up with his fellow 50-54′s.


Read more: 50-Plus Tri: An Introduction : LAVA Magazine

http://lavamagazine.com/features/50-plus-tri-an-introduction/#ixzz1hIYifEUC
Don't have LAVA? Subscribe today!