Hi everyone,
I need your opinions on whether I am past it or not to start doing Tri's. Next season I will hit the big 60.
At the moment I run between 20-30k per week (5k- 26.35. 10k- 55.11)
average about 35k on the bike ( 1 ride per week)
Swim at the moment twice a week, could only do 25mts fc three months ago without gasping for breath at the end, can now do 400mts in one go and feel ok. (been doing 10x50mts with 30 secs rest )
Did the BUPA 10k in May and Survival of the fittest (12k with obstacles every 1k) this month.
Would like to do a couple of sprints to start with then go on to oly's and halfs.
Look forward to your comments and hopefully next tri season.
Razor
Comments
there's a local sprint tri I've done the last 2 years and the oldest competitors are both in their 70's and only been doing tri for the last couple of years - they aren't quick but they enjoy it
the nice thing about tri is the 5 year age grouping so you can see how you are doing against your peers and beating the youngsters is always good!
age is a number not a barrier
go for it
Completely second what FB says!
You're certainly doing enough of each discipline anyway for a sprint, so stick 'em all together and give it a bash.
cheers M-eldy &TST
and distance isn't a barrier either - you'll find quite a few Ironman competitors in their 60's and 70s as well. the oldest at the IM world champs a few weeks ago was Lew Hollander aged 80
if you want some a/g inspiration - check out Sister Madonna Buder
And of course, there's no need to stop at a sprint
As this thread will reveal, you could always aim for something a little longer...
Thanks everyone for your comments. Your right FB, age is just a number, I don't think i'm old enough to be nearly 60.
Ridgeback; endurance is a mental thing. I ran a few marathons in the late 80s so I know what you mean, just got to get back into the long runs again. I'm up to 20k at present.
Thanks again Razor
That's a very dangerous question around here!
I'm 61, my OH is 62, we have no intentions of ever giving up.
just pick a holiday destination you fancy and then find the nearest Ironman
Simples
Razor51 - my uncle stopped walking up 3 munros in a day at age 69 because his feet started to hurt. At 70 he took up mountain-biking instead and regularly goes away for weekends/weeks and is a demon on the downhills.
Go for it Razor!
IW......I've seen the pack surrounding the newbies on this site
Plum....... cheers sounds like a plan.....
Park.........well good for him... so there's years ahead of me yet then...
Man up and sign up for something truly stupid before you come to your sense and regret it
IW what sort of training hrs do you and your OH put in in a typical week, as I am near your ages it would be interesting to see where I need to up my game.
Kanga.......I can be truly stupid sometimes so who knows???
Right now, we've just started into our tri club's winter swim training regime a couple of times a week, so that's 3 hours right there. We average about 10 hours a week at present, that will start to increase soon. By Easter I'll be up to 15/16 hours and by May around 18. If your RW mail is enabled I'll message you.
OH is going to be concentrating on swimming as his main race in 2011 is the 12km open water swim in Cologne, did it this year in 4hrs 9 secs and has already entered next year. He bikes home from work almost every weekday evening, that takes an hour and 20 mins. By Easter he will be up to swimming 8 to 9kms in a session. He doesn't race IM any more, or run marathons, his knees are bad, but he does race about 6 or 7 Olympic triathlons each summer and several swim/run events.