My wife & I are both long time runners, me a marathoner and Holly the half, mostly. At 64 years old we are looking for ways to keep from getting any slower (and slower). We are really enthused about a couple of recent changes we have made to our training, and will try to keep you updated on how this works. Out of this we are expecting to become leaner, lighter, stronger and faster. The two changes are:
1. We started CrossFit training three days a week. I did it because I seem to feel used up at about mile 16, and that didn’t happen even a few years ago. Holly did it just because it seemed to make sense to her. CrossFit is a one-hour intense workout that combines weight training, body weight tactics, running, rope climbing, stretching and a lot of other things to try to strengthen your core. The coaches are intent upon you getting the most out of your workouts, so they tailor the reps and weights “on the fly” for each person to that the workout is really hard to do, but not too hard to complete. We started this in February. You get really, really sore and maybe tired for the first three weeks or so, but as your body adapts to this different type of training (than running) and you get stronger, everything gets better. In our case, we just want to get stronger, but there are many people who are in it to lose weight. I am still testing to see if this is worth the effort for runners, but I think on a preliminary basis I can say “yes”. I have run two marathons since we started this and in neither one did the 16 mile mark become a “wall” as before. We can keep you updated if interested.\
2. We just recently went to a “paleo” diet! Wow! I never thought I would do anything like that, but it works nicely with what the CrossFit workouts are trying to do, and the food is great. Basically paleo means that if you cannot kill it, grow it or pick it, then you should not eat it. There is more to it than that, but that does get you maybe 80% of the way. In our version dairy products are included. Benefits are supposed to be significant weight loss, better sleep, better digestion, increased testosterone/estrogen ratio, lower triglycerides, higher HDL, and other things. They also encourage you to get your calories from fat instead of so many carbs, so we get to eat a lot of bacon & eggs, quality hamburger and steak, whole milk, vegetables and fruits, and a lot of nuts. It seems that cave men actually ate pretty good. We are one week into a 30 day trial commitment and will up date more in the future!
Bill Smith is one of the ambassadors for the track club. Bill and his wife Holly travel around the country running 10-to-12 marathons a year, and love “talking shop” with anyone.