So 2 years ago I started commuting to work. I’m 34, got 3 kids and was getting tubby from too much good food and an office job. Things progressed and I’m now planing to complete an olympic-distance triathlon this Australian summer.
I’ve never been big on this running stuff. I’ve found that my knees ache chronically as I’m increasing my training load, which the internet suggests may be patellofemoral pain perhaps due to overpronation or the IT band. I’m just slowly building base for running, and have been doing some interval work on the bike as I have a solid base there. Also, my shoulder has begun to ache after harder swimming sessions. These are just niggles at the moment but I want to take proactive action before they get worse. I’m doing around 5 training sessions a week at the moment, including 2x bike commute, 2x 3-4 km evening jogs and 1x evening swim.
Can anyone give their opinion/tips for injury prevention for older* (non-young) triathlon novices moving from a fairly sedentary existence into training? I have free access to a gym at work, and spending time there won’t cut much into my other available training time, if there’s worthwhile stuff to do in the gym. Are there good books which focus on this, which could include running- or swimming-specific books? Most health books for 40+ males don’t recommend taking up triathlon!
*yes, I know that 2/3 of the population doesn’t consider 34 to be “older”, but presumably there’s not that much difference between a 34 and a 44 year old when both have been fairly sedentary for a number of years. I definately consider myself “non-young”.
I think the answer to your problems is getting your priorities based around your health situation. Around 16 months ago I was completely unfit out of shape 45 year old who had spent far too many hours sat behind a desk, design work 10hrs a day for a few years working towards a masters degree, and was weighing in around 115kg I knew I had to do something positive about my health. My first session involved cycling for 15 minutes and climbing off to be sick. I now weigh 74kg and train for over 20 hours per week for long course triathlon with the aim of being competitive in my age group in the next few years.
At first all I spent my time on was getting fit in as safe a way as possible and for me this was ridding the bike building up my ‘endurance’ week on week untill my weight started to come off and importantly things such as the structures in my legs became stronger. When I first went out on my bike I would get completly blanked by the ‘serious’ local cyclists, I would struggle up every little hill, but I quietly smilled to myself within and understood I was at the start of a long journey and things would not always be like this. If you are genuinely not very fit this is nothing to be ashamed of if you want to seriously do something about it. Endurance is your weakness and as such I would swim to improve your stroke and get fitter on the bike. If you enter your next tri and have done very little or no running its not as if you will forget how to put one leg in front of the other. If your knees hurt after 10km of a race then so be it, better than letting niggles interupt training every week.
At the end of the day things will hurt a little and training will be hard at times. I look back in my training plans and can easily remember some of my first training sessions the stress and embarassment involved is etched into my braincells. The answer is consistency and building volume as well as being able to come back for more each day. Turn 2 x bike commutes into 3, then 4 then 5. After that add a bit of distance on the way home or go to the pool. Go for a brisk walk at lunch time whatever it takes but slowly get some more volume in. When I took up running I couldn’t manage 5km without having to resort to a jog walk method, yet I could bike for 150km, three months down the line I was covering half marathon distances without a break. If you do keep up steady gentle pressure your body will come to the conclusion that it is in for the long haul and it will start to adapt in positive ways to your new regime. Keep the intensity of your sessions low so you can build from it, ego has no role to play and so be careful of going into the gym at work to look like you are doing something once a week, far better to walk through your lunchtime every day of the week and develop this into a jog walk, run walk and eventually easy run.
If you really want this triathlon thing badly enough you will work it out for yourself, yes we all make mistakes but common sense prevails in the end and we learn. Be realistic about where you are at today but take time out to dream about where you might be at some point down the line. Set yourself targets which are realistic and within your capabilities and take them on one training session at a time and work towards your long term goals. I have a mantra on my computer screen saver which I got from someone on this site “someday I will not be able to do this, today is not that day”.
Just remember, no age is too old to start tris. Swimming is pretty easy on the joints. Biking too. You have to concentrate on cadence for your biking to get about 88-92 rpm or about the same cadence as your running. As for running, it does create lots of impact on the knees. There is a study that shows barefoot running reduces impact on the knees. You might want to try that out. You might want to try doing stretching too; especially on your IT band. If you have the extra, you might want to take supplements such as glucosamine to help with the knee cartilage. Oh, one more important thing during training. Do not over exert/ train to much too fast. You body needs time to get used to the ‘new workload’. And I would suggest you to try out the sprint distance triathlon for this coming summer in Australia. It’s not easy to do tris in hot summer sun and you will feel more enjoyable doing the sprint distance as many new comers are in that category. Just remember to enjoy your sports and don’t push too hard on the first few events. There is still lots more other events in future. Happy Tri’ing. Cheers
If you have gym access then maybe do your run training right now on the treadmill. It is generally much easier on the joints and will help you shed some weight and build a little muscle. Then add short outdoor runs. For me running was the hardest thing to add, but has easily become the easiest thing now.
Get a workup from either a sports doc or a good shoe fitting to see how your running form is and what might be the best shoe style for you. My issue there was buying shoes that were too small. Suddenly, one size bigger and fewer issues.
I wasn’t over weight but started running a few years back at 34 and just picked up swimming at 36. Do everything moderate paced, and take it easy on how much extra exercise you add in all at once.
Thanks all for the input. I might summarise the main points if that’s OK to make sure that I’ve understood correctly
General advice:
Start with sprint-distance triathlons (and probably stick with these for the first season?)Gain aerobic fitness and lose weight via low-impact excercise (particularly cycling at around 90rpm) before embarking on serious runing training.Stretching can assist in injury preventionBuild a good strong base (i.e. training at 50-70% intensity, <150 HR) and increase volume at low intesity before attempting high-intensity training sessions. The older one gets the higher the risk of injury from high intensity sessions, particularly if the base is insufficient.Expect that it will hurt a bit! Building volume will keep causing the body to adapt, which isn’t comfortable.Specific running advice:
Run barefoot soemtimes (I’ve also hear that running on sand can help strengthen legs with reduced impact).Running on the treadmill may exert less impact on joints.When starting serious running training, invest in the appropriate style of running shoe.
I think you have done a good job here in surmising the salient points but you have missed out the main one, deeply know why you are doing this thing and have fun along the way!
Triathlon by its very nature provides a series of problems which need to be resolved in bringing three disciplines together, managing training time, nutrition, equipment etc… whilst still maintaining a balanced home and work life. Be carefull that you do not see triathlon as a means to and end but rather something you do for its own sake. I was in the gym getting changed yesterday following my long endurance swim session in the afternoon after a long run in the morning and I took a glance at myself in one of the mirrors and I looked really knackered, my body looked fit for purpose but would not be what i would call attractive in an aesthetic way. I looked at other people in the changing room and thought what good shape they looked in, they were reasonably slim and well tonned and laughing and smilling, the thought crossed my mind that if you want to simply get into shape and be healthy there are far easier and time effective ways of doing it than being a triathlete. I watch these individuals in the gym and in the pool from time to time and I am not saying at they do not work hard, but I quietly smilled to myself because I know I work really, really hard at my training and that leads to a lot of quiet inner belief and self respect.
Triathlon can be quite adictive and time consuming, by all means use the sport as a target but feel your way into training and better health, you have 10 years on me and there is a lot of time ahead for us both to hit our goals in this sport whatever they may be or become. Be patient, learn something about yourself and the sport everyday and be honest and consistent and you will not go far wrong. I can remember reading some important advice when embarking on my own triathlon journay, that is we tend to overestimate what we can achieve in the short term but underestimate what we are capable of in the long term. Good luck with your own triathlon journey.
Thanks all for the input. I might summarise the main points if that’s OK to make sure that I’ve understood correctly
General advice:
Start with sprint-distance triathlons (and probably stick with these for the first season?)Gain aerobic fitness and lose weight via low-impact excercise (particularly cycling at around 90rpm) before embarking on serious runing training.Stretching can assist in injury preventionBuild a good strong base (i.e. training at 50-70% intensity, <150 HR) and increase volume at low intesity before attempting high-intensity training sessions. The older one gets the higher the risk of injury from high intensity sessions, particularly if the base is insufficient.Expect that it will hurt a bit! Building volume will keep causing the body to adapt, which isn’t comfortable.Specific running advice:
Run barefoot soemtimes (I’ve also hear that running on sand can help strengthen legs with reduced impact).Running on the treadmill may exert less impact on joints.When starting serious running training, invest in the appropriate style of running shoe.
There is no clinical evidence that Stretching can assist in injury prevention, only anecdotal evidence.
50 to 70% intensity of what? Your HR is what it is, yours may be high, low or right in line with the popular HR charts. You need to test it and see what it is.
I started at 35 years old and I wish I would have done more intensity back then. Not every day but once a week I should have been running faster.
Good warmups before harder/intense workouts and make sure you do your stretching! Everyone once and a while a full body message is a good thing as well to relieve any knots or sore spots in the muscles.
There is no clinical evidence that Stretching can assist in injury prevention, only anecdotal evidence.
50 to 70% intensity of what? Your HR is what it is, yours may be high, low or right in line with the popular HR charts. You need to test it and see what it is.
jaretj
Looking through the literature, there are indeed some positive correlations between stretching and injury prevention (http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/10102097, http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/17261561). There are also plenty of negative correlations. One review suggests that streching can make a difference sometimes, in particular for sports involving bouncing or jumping injuries, but not for mor static, endurance activities like triathlon (http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/15233597). However, since I enjoy playing soccer at lunchtime, I think it makes sense to spend an hour a week stretching in front of the TV. Are there any compelling reasons not to do this in my situation, where I am fairly untrained, increasing my training load, and not at this stage looking for maximum performance?
The 50-70% is deliberately ambiguous. At this stage I’m not planning to get a HRM so it means “perceived exertion”. To me, 50% means “long sow distance pace - could cycle at this level for 200km”, wheras 70% means “the fastest pace at which I could still hold a conversation”. Is there a better way to express this range in a few words?
I started at 35 years old and I wish I would have done more intensity back then. Not every day but once a week I should have been running faster.
It’s great to hear from so many who have started “late”!
Note that once I’ve built a good base I’ll be all over interval training, as I consider this to be a highly effective method of training (at least for biking and running). But I’ll be building this up slowly and ensuring that I’ve warmed up plenty beforehand.
I think there is an issue it is with trying to stretch out a cold muscle. I had a false belief that it was a good idea to stretch before going out on my runs, type of thing we did at school many years ago while we waited for the slow kids to get changed. Now I simply make sure I build into the session and don’t go out hard from the gun and warm up. If there is a time to stretch it is imediatly after exercise when I might feel I am getting tight especially in my hamstrings.
If you want to do anything in front of the TV I would advise in getting a foam roller and using it for self massage. I found this quite discomforting at first as it takes a little getting use to but now I can roll backwards and forwards on the roller for a good time and it has done wonders for especially keeping my hamstrings from getting tight and causing discomfort the next day. As a result I now run 6 times a week and this is the factor which has helped me build volume and endurance.