This is the first online article of an 8-part series.
Introduction: Staying Fast As a Senior Athlete
About the time I turned 70, nearly a decade ago now, it dawned on me that there were very few books focused on senior athletes—those in their 60s and 70s. And since I had just come through the 60-69 age group I had some personal experience on what worked and didn’t, at least for me and probably for many others. I also was interested in what the research had to say on the topic of senior athletes.
So I went to my publisher with the idea for such a book that might be called “Fast After 60.” The publisher disagreed. They felt the 60-something market wasn’t big enough to warrant publishing a book. Instead, they wanted me to write “Fast After 40.” My response: No way! While the market may be bigger and more books could be sold, 40-year-old athletes just aren’t old enough to need unique guidance on how to train. They need only small tweaks from the training of their 30s. We eventually compromised and came up with the book Fast After 50 for 50-something athletes.
But I still missed the idea of “Fast After 60.” This is the age group, as well as the next level of aging athletes—those in their 70s and even beyond—that needs the most guidance. Things are changing rapidly for these folks and the sports world doesn’t quite grasp the unique aspects of their challenge. And there are many. Well, now nearly 10 years later, I have had personal experience with what one may expect in both the 60- and 70-year-old age groups. These athletes face significantly different challenges from those just turning 50.
So, what are those lessons I’ve learned by getting older? Over the next few posts I’ll touch briefly on many of them. This first part has to do with the benefits of cross-training for the 60- and 70-something athletes.
Part 1: The Benefits of Variety and Cross-Training
Variety in Terrain
In the last 30 years I’ve lived in three places that have uniquely different training terrains. I spent many of those years in Boulder, Colorado, which I consider one of the premiere places in the world to train. Pedaling right out of your garage, you can climb from 5500 feet to 7000 feet in the Rocky Mountains any time you want. Or you can ride a flat route out to the city of Longmont with nothing more than tiny little hills. Then there are the rolling terrains along the foothills. Runners can choose trails in the mountains or flat terrain. The terrain variety makes it a great place to train.
I also spent nearly 20 years in Scottsdale, Arizona, where you have to search to find a hill. “Climbing” is not a word often used there. But availability of flat rides was great for recovery day workouts. Although a bit hot in the summer, the winters were great.
Now I live in Sedona, Arizona, where there is nothing flat. You’re either climbing or descending throughout every ride. Most of the climbs are short with occasional steep hills taking only a couple of minutes at most to summit. But they are never ending—one after the other. And you’re at 4500 feet, which is just high enough to get your attention when cranking up a hill, especially if your VO2max is that of a 60- or 70-something.
These various terrains over the last 30 years have taught me several things relative to aging up.
Variety in Training
The first lesson I’ve learned is that training in a place like Boulder provides lots of opportunities for training variety, which is always good an endurance athlete. The most important takeaway here is that having flat courses is critical to 60+ and 70+ athletes. Table-top-flat courses make it possible to have truly easy workouts, which are important for building aerobic endurance and for active recovery sessions. Active recovery workouts were easy in Scottsdale. Sedona’s non-stop hills make every ride at least moderately hard, at best. Active recovery is a real challenge. The first couple of years I lived here I was always tired. I had to frequently cut back on volume to allow for recovery.
The Need for More Cross-Training
Then this past summer I got an email from a 70+ rider who told me he was thinking about getting an e-bike for his easy rides. At first I poo-pooed the idea because e-bikes have always seemed like cheating to me. But the more I thought about it, the better the idea sounded, especially for a place like Sedona. I finally broke down and bought a road e-bike (see picture). What a difference it’s made! Now easy, recovery rides are truly easy regardless of the hills. I’m recovering better, which makes my hard workout days (on a “normal” road bike) truly hard. And I’m able to do more low-intensity riding, which seems to be improving my aerobic fitness. Basically, I’m now cross-training on easy days even though I’m still, technically, riding a bike.
This is not just a promo for e-bikes for cyclists. I’ve come to realize that most 60+ athletes should probably be doing more cross-training. And the older you get the more important this becomes. You may not need it in your early 60s, but by your late 70s you need to seriously consider it.
Cross-training by modifying your primary sport
This cross-training mode could be an alteration of your primary sport, like my e-bike. For example, a 60- or 70-something runner could walk on easy days. That’s much like a cyclist riding an e-bike. The swimmer may use a pull buoy on easy days as a variation on their sport to promote rest while still swimming. By doing these alternatives, you’d still be building aerobic endurance while getting a break from the daily run, ride, or swim stress without taking yet another day off due to cumulative fatigue. With each of these optional sport modifications the easy days will certainly be easier than when doing only the primary sport, but yet with much the same movements. And the resulting low intensity exercise is better for your aerobic endurance than yet another day off.
Cross-training by doing a different sport
The more common cross-training alternative is taking up an altogether different sport. A cyclist, runner, swimmer, rower, or whatever your sport is could start doing another sport completely different from their primary sport. This is pure cross-training and can add some real variety to the monotonous workouts that you’ve probably been doing for years. Besides maintaining your aerobic fitness much better than taking a day off, the secondary sport done at a low intensity offers the added benefit of bringing you to your primary sport’s hard days fresh and ready to go. (By the way, it’s still important for you to have high intensity days, but carefully. More on that later.)
Cross-training with seasonal choices
Then there are seasonal cross-training choices. For example, if you live somewhere that gets plenty of snow you could cross-country ski or snowshoe in the winter. A running coach I’ve known for a few decades has his northern clients Nordic ski all winter. No running at all. They come to late winter in great aerobic shape, fresh, and ready to start running again. Or if you are a skier then you may do just the opposite in the summer by running or cycling.
Other cross-training options
There are other options. Swimming is a great choice as a secondary sport for the runner or cyclist who wants to cross-train. Stress on your primary sport muscles and joints is almost non-existent. While recovering you’re also maintaining, or even improving, your aerobic endurance. Cycling is also an excellent cross-training sport for runners. Another option, if you prefer not to swim or ride, is rowing on an ergometer. Just don’t get carried away with the desire to demonstrate how tough you are to others at the gym. Keep it easy. The goal is not to become a competitive rower but rather to recover from your primary sport while maintaining aerobic fitness.
Forced Variety in Training
Let’s get personal. A few months ago I had spinal surgery. My doc recommended walking for a few weeks as riding a bike would put my back at risk. I took it up reluctantly but soon came to realize that I enjoyed walking an hour or so with my wife. By the time I got back to riding I knew that my aerobic fitness was quite good. The long walks did a lot for my base-level fitness. I returned to cycling quite easily and exclusively used the e-bike for a few weeks. Now I’m back to 5 easy days and 2 hard days each week. The days after the 2 hard days are done on the e-bike. And I’ve discovered another bonus of the cross-training. My weekly volume has gradually increased from about 12 to around 15 hours per week since the easy days on the challenging Sedona terrain are now actually “easy.”
The take-home message is that all senior athletes should consider including some type of cross-training in their fitness routine regardless of their primary sport. Not only will it benefit the primary sport performance by maintaining or even boosting aerobic fitness, but it will also reduce the risk of injury while providing an enjoyable mental break from the sport you’ve been focused on for so many years.
Next week in Part 2 I’ll write about the hows, whats, and whens of strength training for senior athletes.
