Your writing often catches me at an intersection. 50+ year old me looked forward to training 10-15+ hours. The majority of time I found The Flow. As previously stated, I live for The Flow. It is my drug of choice.
60+ year old me has settled in to 8-10 hours of training. I’m still able to find Flow most sessions. 8-10 hours weekly of SBR is sustainable at this point. 70.3 racing at this age and training volume is ideal.
Back to your post…
I’m constantly tempted to throw an Ironman, marathon, or Ultraman in there.
As I'm currently injured, this line really hit me: "If your mental health depends on being able to do a lot of exercise then never, ever, ever take any action that might jeopardize your ability to train."
Staying healthy is the priority above everything else. There's rarely anything worth jeopardizing your long-term health for. The goal is really to be able to keep doing what you love for as many years as possible.
Injuries are no fun - something that has helped me tremendously is looking backwards six weeks from the first indication of trouble. Then I set a ceiling below that level for the follow year. My January 2025 injury was a great example of using this to take myself to a new level, 18 months later, by capping my weekly volume for a long time.
Thanks, Gordo. There's always a lesson to be learned from an injury. In my case, it was probably the accumulation of stress - not just from training, but from work and life as well. Hopefully that's the lesson that lets me come back stronger.
Your writing often catches me at an intersection. 50+ year old me looked forward to training 10-15+ hours. The majority of time I found The Flow. As previously stated, I live for The Flow. It is my drug of choice.
60+ year old me has settled in to 8-10 hours of training. I’m still able to find Flow most sessions. 8-10 hours weekly of SBR is sustainable at this point. 70.3 racing at this age and training volume is ideal.
Back to your post…
I’m constantly tempted to throw an Ironman, marathon, or Ultraman in there.
The downsize is just to great.
The daily struggle…
BTW this is poking you to write the flow article.
The reminder to write the flow article is on a post-it note in front of my keyboard!
Wrapping up How To Train. Two chapters to go!
As I'm currently injured, this line really hit me: "If your mental health depends on being able to do a lot of exercise then never, ever, ever take any action that might jeopardize your ability to train."
Staying healthy is the priority above everything else. There's rarely anything worth jeopardizing your long-term health for. The goal is really to be able to keep doing what you love for as many years as possible.
Injuries are no fun - something that has helped me tremendously is looking backwards six weeks from the first indication of trouble. Then I set a ceiling below that level for the follow year. My January 2025 injury was a great example of using this to take myself to a new level, 18 months later, by capping my weekly volume for a long time.
Thanks, Gordo. There's always a lesson to be learned from an injury. In my case, it was probably the accumulation of stress - not just from training, but from work and life as well. Hopefully that's the lesson that lets me come back stronger.
Another great article! Where can we find the checklist you mentioned?
Looks like my photo didn’t attach, I made a screen shot. It’s the section that starts… “Just before your health…”
Thanks, you will find it in this section of the article.