30 Things Women Should Know - General running

09/04/2003 at 20:10

What about item 31? How about some help and consolation for those of us reaching "that age".

It's not easy when brain says "I'm still young" but body says "Think again!"

I know that Nature thinks it's a good idea to add a layer of fat to my waistline and stomach but I don't.

Is it possible to exercise it away or am I stuck with it for ever? Can I keep some tone to my muscles (eg upper arms)or am I fighting a losing battle?

I want to keep on running into and through my 50s but at the moment it's a big struggle.

I know there are many articles in RW about motivation and I have read them. Perhaps they are all written by men who just don't realise the hold that hormones have over a body.

There must be many women who have struggled - please pass on some help, advice, encouragement!!

Bionic Ironwolf pirate

pirate

09/04/2003 at 20:21

Freda love - I'm 53 and running FLM for the 6th time on Sunday, which will incidentally also be my 30th marathon all told. Age is only a number, you can't do much about your genetic inheritance but you can stay fit - it's all in your outlook. You just need to stay positive, sure, you don't look like you did 30 years ago, nor can you run as fast maybe as you did when a kid. But there are compensations - I'm a lot more confident now than when younger, and a damn sight stronger! I moved into triathlon at age 42 and did my first Ironman at age 50. Looking at moving into Ultras now.Believe in yourself and the power of the mind - there's nothing you can't do!

Post whenever you feel like, I'm here for you as much as possible. But not between Friday and Monday, o.k.? Just till I get back from FLM.

Vets rule o.k.!

09/04/2003 at 20:32

Thanks for that and have a great day on Sunday.

Flatfeet

09/04/2003 at 20:56

Ironwolf - never a truer word said!

Freda, I'm in my early forties and although there are some things I'll never be able to recapture (i.e. no wrinkles) I do feel stronger, more confident (as Ironwolf has already said) and more positive than any time in my life. I'm sure taking up running has something to do with it which I only started 3 or 4 years ago at the age of 39. I also don't think that 20 or even 10 years ago I would have had the guts to go out running public, entering races etc....(with the full knowledge of being at the back of the pack).

I also, like you, still feel really young in my head and a couple of years ago started doing things that I'd stopped doing when I had my kids....like going to gigs and playing the piano again after a break of 20 years. I'm sure a lot of the 'aging factor' is psychological...

Please don't get too disheartened. I'm sure you'll get lots of encouragement from this Forum.

Barbara

09/04/2003 at 21:10

Freda, like you I still think I am only twenty,just a bit of a shock when I see a photo and realise I am 48! I have been running for over 20 years, now I have more time and am running faster and more consistently than ever! Just believe what your mind tells you, doesn't matter what you look like, but you will stay fitter and healthier if you keep running!!

LynneW

09/04/2003 at 21:41

I'm 50 this year and I've never been fitter and stronger since I took up running 5 years ago.

This has had a powerful effect on all areas of my life, so I can truthfully say I've never been happier, either.

However, a word of caution.....ageing is inevitable and I now find that I cannot get away with being unkind to my body like I did from my teens to my thirties - I mean xs alcohol, junk food, all-night partying, workaholism etc. In fact, to meet the running challenges I set for myself (and stay in the same waist-size jeans) I have to lead a very balanced, and some might say boring, life.

I don't think it's boring - I'm doing my first fell race on Easter Saturday! Me! A middle-aged lady! A lorry drver half my age leaned out of his cab and wolf-whistled as I ran past yesterday - then looked gobsmacked when he saw my smiling, wrinkly face!

PS - an upper body weights program twice per week keeps the arms from developing those underarm flabby "bingo wings".

LFV

09/04/2003 at 23:12

I'm fifty as well on the 28th of this month.I also sag on the tum (courtesy of an unkind surgeon's knife a few years back), which is a source of great annoyance as hitherto I had a flat stomach you could bounce a brick off. Underneath the muscles are still well hard, but the fat accumulates.

Due to compartment syndrome and chronic hip disorder, I can't run and can only walk briskly for about 30 minutes without hurting, and I now have to wear permanent orthotics in all my shoes. Try fitting your Manolos with these!

However...........

You're as young as the man you feel!!!!

Try Canadian Airforce exercises but sloooooowwwwwwly (writhing around on the floor).

Get an allotment and grow your own food. Soon gets the weight off and tones you up.

Have wild unabandoned sox with or without the above man.

A Chimp Writes

10/04/2003 at 08:05

Unabandoned sox!!??

Do you need a foot for that??!!

Respect Steady!

Helen T

10/04/2003 at 08:36

Mrs Steady: are the young as the man you feel and Canadian airforce comments that are connected?

Am telling steady!

Ironwolf, you inspire me. I sometimes (for eg now at end of term) feel ancient and drained at 33. But it's great to know that I've elected a sport where age isn't a barrier to progress.

Wicked Witch

10/04/2003 at 09:11

Hey Mrs Steady way to go girl, wild abandoned sox with Canadian Airforce, sounds interesting.

Freda just keep doing it, you know you want to.

And after all 50 is the new 40.

Flatfeet

10/04/2003 at 09:28

Sorry, bit confused, do you:

- wear the sox while your doing the Canadian?

- have the sox whilst doing the Canadian Airforce Exercises, or,

- grow your own vegetables, whilst both having and wearing sox, with a Canadian young man....?

All versions sound good enough to keep you young in mind and body!

Helen T

10/04/2003 at 11:14

'doing the canadian'

A new euphemism is born.

Wicked Witch

10/04/2003 at 11:21

Most of the Canadians I've seen have been well over six foot and played ice hockey, can I have first pick of any volunteers that may come our way to try out the exercises with sox or otherwise.

Flatfeet

10/04/2003 at 12:08

..apart, WW, that is from the small, tubby, Canadian I met some years ago on my travels who was disappointed that I didn't want to do Airforce exercises with him without our sox on....(but that's another story).

Wicked Witch

10/04/2003 at 12:15

I read somewhere that if you have lines and wrinkles it shows you've been there and done that and had a life.

Flatfeet

10/04/2003 at 12:48

I get really fed up with the cult of youth.

There are some fantastic looking older men and women nowadays and the wrinkles are all part of that. (Helen Mirren, Sting, etc etc). In my opion, all those celebrities who have had face lifts to look younger have taken away their expressiveness.

This goes back to Freda's original posting (sorry we've all gone off on a tangent about Canadians and sox) that we shouldn't get depressed about the ageing process. There's nothing we can do about it other than to keep fit and happy. We should also celebrate our experience and maturity - which also allows us to be extremely silly without getting too hung up about it.

Lestrade

10/04/2003 at 14:27

Exactly!

10/04/2003 at 14:50

Oooooh! I love this thread! I'm 42 and um, more cuddly than I was at 22. But then, I couldn't run 100 yards then! Hah. Now I can run a coupla miles! Slowly, but surely. With my guru John Bingham in my head, and the hundred or so RAF chaps* who keep whipping past me in their 'my bun's are tighter than your buns' shorts (OH yes) reflecting in my wraparound shades, I just enjoy being out there and being fitter.

And when it comes to fantastic older men, I would happily puff and pant for half an hour with Alan Rickman, thank you. And he's 57.

*(I live near a big RAF station)

Helen T

10/04/2003 at 17:41

How about Lulu, she's pretty amazing, and looks better than she ever did when she was v young. And she got to work with Take That, so an all round role model.

Helegant back in training

10/04/2003 at 17:51

Lulu uses botox!

I flush and wrinkle... And she's older than me.

But I m running (and walking)first (and last) FLM on Sunday, and trying hard to act my age.