Watched this yesterday
Some really interesting points for me as I enter my 60s this year.
A measure of worth
I was interested in @SimpleEnduranceCoach personal question about his FTP declining. I think this is tied to your identity and self worth being tied to these numbers. You just have to see them as training numbers and nothing to do with worth within your chosen sport.
I take part in non competitive long distance events, audax / brevets. The challenge is the distance, duration, lack of enough time for proper rest and recovery. You are not competing against other entrants. Just the time limits. It is very much a cycling discipline you can try as you age. A very supportive community and enough challenge to keep you honest in your training.
Comparing against your younger self is a fools errand. If you can’t help doing that then pick a new discipline within the sports you love, or try a new sport.
Resistance training and protein intake
I think this is the hardest one for endurance athletes. We love our running or cycling or rowing etc. We are not so good at the resustance training or optimising diet. But a necessary for healthy ageing as much as performance. With the former being perhaps a greater focus to enable us to keep doing what we love as we age.
Keep Intensity
Another important point, but not too much. Keep majority Z1/Z2 with small amounts of intensity once or twice a week.
Afib in older athletes
I was interested in the comments briefly touching on too much intensity or too much volume. It would be interesting to have another podcast in detail on this subject. How much is too much of each? Does the intensity of the volume matter, can you do too much Z1/2? How important is down time from training each year? What are the early signs, perhaps years before it fully manifests? How many training years are we looking at for those diagnosed and what does thst training history look like?
I think for many of us older athletes this is always a concern. But should also concern younger athletes, so they can get their training right now to balance performance with healthy ageing.
a simple CT scan for a calcium score found more than I bargained for! I also learned about some differences male -v- female hearts. I ended up going to a cardiac physiologist who is fab. I wonder if I can persuade her to give us her time. She works with a Professor Daniel Augustine, Consultant Sports Cardiologist who ended up writing my report. Happy to say all the results were normal (apart from the electrical adaptations due to endurance training) which is classed as “athlete normal".”