I'm officially an old man

[FitBeforeFifty]

I turned 50 a couple of weeks ago. Truthfully, it wasn't really that big of a deal for me. No mid-life crisis, no desire to really change things up etc...

So, here I am on vacation in Panama City, FL. As I usually do on a vacation, I run without a shirt to try to slowly get some sun. Today I was running and passed 2 kids on bikes heading in the opposite direction. After I passed by, I heard the older kid say "I've never seen an old man that buff."

This really sums up my current life situation. I'm doing my best to have a body of a 20 year old but it still can't hide that I'm an "old man."

[shipo]

I feel your pain; I'm turning 60 next Spring.  I have to admit, last night as I was passing all of those teenagers and 20 and 30 somethings in the 5K race I ran, it did this old man's heart good. 🙂

[A_Lurker]

I turned 50 in January, it's just another day.  If I knew in my 20s what I know now I would have been lighter decades ago.  Ah well, you can't change the past, only the future.

[USAF-Larry]

You young whippersnappers!    I'm in my 70's already, and wondering where time went!  But, I am in better health now than I was in my 50's.  When I was in my 50's, I was overweight, had Type 2 Diabetes, had my second heart attack, and was told by my doctor that if I didn't change my ways I would not live another 10 years. So, I changed my lifestyle - lost weight, started exercising, and eliminated all the "junk" food that got me where I was. Today, I am no longer Diabetic, and the Thallium Stress test and echocardiogram I had done in January showed that my heart is very strong in spite of the muscle damage done by the 2nd heart attack. I am officially an old man, but I don't feel it!  I'm a happy camper!

[JohnRi]

Man you guys are old..  I mean, I'm still 40 something...  49..  For 8 more months... 

Yeah it takes great pleasure when I'm at the most popular walking/running trail in Houston, TX, and I'm passing kids in their 20's.  They are walking as fast as they can, and I just cruise right by them..  I walked past a jogger the other day, and the look on their face as I past them, me walking, them jogging, was priceless...

I think we are only as old as our joints, bones, and minds tell us... 

[GershonSurge]

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@A_Lurker wrote:

I turned 50 in January, it's just another day.  If I knew in my 20s what I know now I would have been lighter decades ago.  Ah well, you can't change the past, only the future.

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Wait until you get a little older. Then the past can be whatever you want it to be.

[Dominique]

Welcome to the club!

[USAF-Larry]

You know you're old when...

[USAF-Larry]

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@JohnRi wrote:

Man you guys are old.. 

I think we are only as old as our joints, bones, and minds tell us... 

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If I had known I was going to live this long, I would have taken a lot better care of myself, John! 

[USAF-Larry]

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@GershonSurge wrote:

Wait until you get a little older. Then the past can be whatever you want it to be.

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You are right!  The Older I get, the Better I was! 

[shipo]

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@USAF-Larry wrote:

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@JohnRi wrote:

Man you guys are old.. 

I think we are only as old as our joints, bones, and minds tell us... 

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If I had known I was going to live this long, I would have taken a lot better care of myself, John! 

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My wife and I both have ancestors who've lived well beyond 90, many into the hundreds.  True story, I remember sitting on my great-great-grandfather's knee back in the 1960s and having him tell me stories of when he was a boy during the Civil War and watching the soldiers marching off to the war.

Since we know we both come from family lines where seeing the north side of 100 is possible, we've been doing our best to stay in reasonably good shape as possible given various injuries and other issues we've had to overcome.  Nobody ever really knows how long they're going to live, but in my gut I feel 100+ is on my horizon.  🙂

[mommo77]

John, does the heat truly not slow you down?  I can go about 3 miles, very early in the morning, but once the sun is up it's like I hit a wall, that's all I've got.  I want to keep going, I feel like I could, if it didn't feel like I was wrapped in hot wet towels from head to toe.  I'm hoping as the weather cools (soon, please) I can increase my time and endurance, maybe even speed. Everything seems to have to topped out for this old lady.  sigh.

[shipo]

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@mommo77 wrote:

John, does the heat truly not slow you down?  I can go about 3 miles, very early in the morning, but once the sun is up it's like I hit a wall, that's all I've got.  I want to keep going, I feel like I could, if it didn't feel like I was wrapped in hot wet towels from head to toe.  I'm hoping as the weather cools (soon, please) I can increase my time and endurance, maybe even speed. Everything seems to have to topped out for this old lady.  sigh.

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Training in the heat is just like anything else; you need to work at it.  As I understand the process, when one trains in the heat the body gradually adapts to the training by developing more capillaries near the surface of the skin through which plasma is pumped to aid in cooling.  The adaptation doesn't happen overnight, but it does happen.

Each spring when I run on my first warm day, say above 70°F, I wonder how I will possibly be able to run on a day where the thermometer is over 95°F, and yet, by the time the really hot weather rolls in, my body seems to be ready for it.  Funny thing, back in 2014, when I was a "young" 57, Sunday and Monday of that week were cool(ish) and I logged a 10-miler and a 12-miler on Sunday, and a 16-miler on Monday.  Thinking I had a good shot at my first 100 mile week in my life, I ran another 16-miles on Tuesday and 10-miles on Wednesday, both days where the OAT was 97°F, 21-miles on Thursday where the weather had cooled into the high 80s, and 10 and 7-miles on Friday and Saturday.  Total was 102 miles in that nasty heat.

The thing is, if one stays out of the heat until mid-August and tries to acclimatize to it, things can get dangerous.  Best stay the course until next year and then go with the weather as it warms.  The same thing holds true for winter; if one stays out of the cold and then goes out for a long workout on a single digit or colder day, their body won't be ready for it and the damage to lungs, skin, fingers, and toes can be significant.

[FitBeforeFifty]

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@mommo77 wrote:

John, does the heat truly not slow you down? 

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I run in the Texas weather year round. I can't stand a treadmill, so I'll run in the rain, 100 degree heat or snow (just not lightning). You do have to slow down your pace a little but as @shipo says you can get acclimated if you take it slow. On the bright side, when it cools down I speed up considerably and everything seems so much easier.

[shipo]

@FitBeforeFifty, the folks I run with refer to it as the, "Dreadmill".  😛

[mommo77]

If I take it much slower I'll be backing up.  I've been walking, first every day, then every other day so I can strength train on alternate days, since March, when the temps were, not cool, but more tolerable.  It has gradually gotten hotter, and I've gone as much as 4, a few days close to 5 miles, but not in this humidity. I'll be going back to work soon and will have to figure out some way to get it done regardless.

[JohnRi]

I've lived in Houston, Texas.  AKA Hell since I was round 3 or 4 years old.  As a kid I remember in the 70's it was the low 100's during the summer.  I was outside ALL DAY LONG.  I remember eating before I left, and eating after I got home.  I don't remember eating or drinking during the day, but I must have.

The heat never bothered me.  Every summer I'd go over to the pool and BURN my skin about 3 times before I got tan enough I didn't burn.  Yeah, that's probably going to come back and haunt me....

I really don't think the  heat ever bothered me.  That is until I was around 11 or so, I had a heat stroke and almost died.  I ran out of sodium in my system, and stopped sweating in August.  I got a temp of like 106.  My dad put me in small room, and ran the AC non stop until I cooled off. 

I never much cared for the heat after that.  I've had heat exhaustion several times, but never another stroke.  I learned the first time. 

My dad had a hard time storing sodium. So he ate a lot of it.  Even took salt tablets daily.  I guess I developed some of that from him.  I've always eaten a ton of salt, ever since the stroke.  It was only until recently that I cut back when my blood pressure was bad.

Now that I'm out in the this heat, walking, I'm keeping a careful eye on my sweat, and how I feel.  I'm still eating about twice the recommended amount of sodium...

When it first got hot, ie 92, 93 this year, I had issues with speed, and endurance.  At 83, I could walk 6 miles.   At 93, I could maybe get 4 miles.  It really impacted me.

But after a few weeks, I noticed the impact was minor.  Granted my clothes are soaked with sweat after mile 1 or 2.  Sweat just dripping off of me, and my clothes.  After I walk in this 99-101 degree heat, once I dry off, I'll have salt on my arms, and in/on my clothes.  You can see the white powder.  So I'm not too concerned about my sodium intake, not with the amount I sweat.

Too be honest, after the first week or so, it's mostly not an issue for me.  EXCEPT I can't walk well during the mid afternoon.  When that sun is beating down on you, just draining your energy.  i get about 3/4 speed on those walks.  So I avoid walking during that time. 

I prefer first thing in the morning, or after 7 or 8.  But I usually walk after 5:30 during the week.

It's hard, but you get used to it...

[A_Lurker]

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@GershonSurge wrote:

Wait until you get a little older. Then the past can be whatever you want it to be.

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Uggh, I feel dead tonight.  Agreed to go into work to build parts and run trials. On my feet and moving I'm not bad, but partway through I spent too much time standing in one place (had too, tried moving some, but couldn't go too far).  I should probably ice my knees, but don't feel like moving.  Although I think the plants out front need watering.

4195 cals to just a few minutes ago:

[USAF-Larry]

[shipo]