Just got a letter from my Dr. I finally went in for a physical. Last one was sometime in high school. I’m now 37, with a 22mo old and another on the way. I figured it was time.
Specs:
6’
170lb and holding
BP 116/74
Total Cholesterol 158; HDL 62, LDL 91
The Doc’s only suggestion, and I quote: “continue your regular exercise program and to wear a reflective vest if you were to run after dark”
Now if my shoulder and knee would stop acting up!
Seriously, I’m thrilled to have confirmation of what my body has been telling me over the 6 years I’ve been doing tri.
Live on.
T
Last time I went to the doctor, he told me to be careful when swimming and to try not to hit my head on the wall.
dude you never cease to fire off great sarcastic remarks…
watch out for bulkheads on your flip turns amigo
I’ve been thinking about this a lot lately, only I have come to the opposite conclusion. Later this month I’ll be competing in my 3rd IM race in 4 years. I’m hooked. I’d like to do at least 1 per year but I have other things I need to focus on for next year, maybe do another in '07.
Specifically, I’ve been considering the question that when a person is regularly (3 times per week) subjecting themself to training sessions in excess of 3 hours and a few events per year that last 5 to 12 hours, are you trading your health for fitness? There’s a difference between health and fitness. People who shoot up with EPO are much more interested in fitness than health. For recreational athletes, events longer than marathons are a recent phenomenon. I doubt there’s enough data to determine if long term exposure to IM racing is hazardous to your health. ANd I mean that in regards to age-groupers, not Dave Scott and Mark Allen. Intuitively, it seems like too much of anything just isn’t healthy. We’ll see.
. . to a certain extent. I’ve never raced longer than 1/2IM, with no plans to do the full monty. I’ve never had a ride longer than 72 miles, nor a run (outside of a standalone marathon) longer than 15 miles.
I’m constantly writing and re-writing in my head an essay on why Triathlon is the perfect framework for my lifestyle. In short, it’s because my life goal is what I call Practical Fitness.
To me, being practically fit is the most important thing of all. Being able to decide on Friday to run a 10k on Saturday. Being able to play 2 hours of pickup hoops in the park. Being able to ride my bike to work every day that I can. One of my arbitrary goals is being able to compete with my kids athletically until they are in high school. We’ll see.
So, no IM’s for me. Instead, cross training, all the time, week after glorious week!
(I love the heat of summer, it gets me all weepy. Or is that my eyes sweating?)
T
I’ve lurked around here and never posted for longer than I can remember. This topic actually made me register and post. I’ve never really thought about whether doing IM’s as an age-grouper could actually be unhealthy. But, I can tell you that I have absolutely no interest in doing an IM. For doing sprints and an occasional Olympic distance is an excuse to train/exercise on a regular basis. I’m not looking to conquer any great accomplishments. Just merely looking for something to entertain/motivate/drive me during my middle ages. Like someone mentioned this keeps me physically fit as well as healthy and affords me the luxury of participating in most reasonable events on a moments notice. In fact, I signed up for a tandem adventure race yesterdaythat’s this Sunday. And last but not least it’s also a good way to feed the competitve drive that we all have.
p.s. I’m in no way knocking those that do IM’s and enjoy them. More power to you. They’re just not for me.