Hi Folks,
Cataract surgery: I am having cataract surgery done on 9/30/21 and will have to avoid any activity, lifting – or even chores for a number of days. Doctor says no Sat. October 2nd workout either; a good solid week of no exerting to avoid eye pressure which could affect healing.
Just posted the conversion from 1.5 mile Cooper Test to Max VO2 uptake below. You’ll now have an idea what your oxygen uptake number is for future use. Runners Bill Rodgers (in the 80+ range), Frank Shorter (72 ml of O2), Prefontaine (85), Greta Waitz (70+) along with a good number of cross country skiers (a bit more demanding because of additional arm use with that sport).
Saturday HR 9/25/21: So far joining in are TJ, Jill, Robert, AJ, Denise, Lisa, Chris,
Just back from a satisfying week break at Tahoe with Sandy and Sister Marion Irvine, 92 and known as the “Flying Nun” based on her many running records and being the oldest woman to make it into the Olympic Marathon Trials held back in May of 1984. She gets in 1-2 1/2 hours of walking per day with Sandy; we picked a different location each day near Lake Tahoe. I got in some daily cycling in that beautiful setting along with recovery and much reading. After the Saturday winds and some light rain, Sunday became clear of all clouds by 11 am and the day turned out crystal clear. Once the system passed through temperatures dropped during the evening; Fall has arrived!
This weekend Gerald will be tackling “The Beast” Spartan Race Championships held at Palisades (formerly Squaw Valley) ski resort area. It is a tough one covering 13 miles of steep, rocky terrain with 4800 feet of elevation gain, 30 exercise stations along the way which feature upper body demands, obstacles and all-out effort – at altitude! Every exercise station you don’t complete successfully; you have to do 30 burpees! That can really add up over the 4:30 – 5:30 hours it takes to complete the course. I miss cheering him on by a week, but we wish him all the best!
9/21/21 TUESDAY. TEMPO run, i.e., acclimating to race pace with controlled threshold runs. After the warm-up: 15′ at comfortably stressed effort; close to 10K race pace followed by 5′ easy run; then another 7′ tempo/ 3′ easy pace. Then finish the run at moderate pace.
9/22/21 WEDNESDAY. STRENGTH workout. tba. The Wed group will meet 8:15 – 9:15 am at Warren’s for a Circuit training session
9/23/22 THURSDAY. Running a field test of 1.5 miles ( 6 laps) to determine Max VO2 based on the work done by the “Father of Aerobics”, Dr. Ken Cooper of the Cooper Institute in Dallas. He’s one of the first fitness researchers to help quantify dosage for cardiovascular exercise. He came up with the field test after putting thousands of people of varying ages through a max test on the treadmill; he took that data and came up with the 1.5 mile field test – much easier and cheaper than a lab test!….remember your time for the 6 laps; I’ll update later.
You’ll go to your local track site, do your warm-up run, a few drills, 30 meter pick-ups and 2 x 100 (100). Then run your 6 laps and note the time. I’ll have a chart to post so you can translate your time to MaxVO2. It is number that measures liters of oxygen you can process per minute. When factoring in bodyweight the number is measured in ml of oxygen per kilogram bodyweight. The number varies with age, sex and declines with age. Quality running such as hill training, tempo runs, and speed-work help slow the decline.
It’s interesting to note that after years of emphasizing cardiovascular exercises, primarily running; he’s placed a solid emphasis to include resistance training. He’s noted, as many of of us in the fitness industry, that from age 30 on we all lose lean body mass ( LBM) or muscle tissue.
I can tell you that with each decade you lose LBM more rapidly! But, you can slow the decline and even gain muscle weight with resistance exercise. I encourage gradually increasing weight or other resistance training over endurance exercise. You can retain cardiovascular fitness with fairly modest amount of running, cycling, rowing and other exercise choices, but keep the resistance workouts throughout the later years! Research has shown that people in their 80’s, and 90’s can gain muscles weight – very encouraging! A good number of our over 50 group members are experiencing strength and muscle weight gains by only lifting twice per week!
9/25/21 SATURDAY. HILL REPEATS/XT/LOADED CARRIES/SPRINTS. 8 am. At Golden Gate Seminary College off Seminary Drive in Strawberry area. Drive up the entry road and park in LOT C. Arrive prior to 8 am to get in a short warm-up run if doing hill repeats; some people come to focus on the weight training and loaded carries.
those joining in: Robert, TJ, Lisa, Chris, Denise, Jill, AJ,
KeesTraining 