Actually I started running at 16 not 18, back in 1963, as a way to beat the discomfort of asthma which I'd had virtually since I was born. My theory was that I should be able improve my cardiovascular system to a point where, when I got an asthma attack, it wouldn't "cause me grief" because my superior cardio system would be efficiently dealing with the lower oxygen supply--much as people train their cardio system to adapt to living at high altitudes. Well it worked, as I've had no asthma attack that I can recall since that year. Below is a photo of the males in our club (Thompson Estate) members 1965 (click to enlarge):
I don't know which one was me! But I do have a copy of the membership register to confirm I (Paul Chippendale) was a member in 1964/65 (click to enlarge):
Now with modern technology, the Nike + system, etc., the task of improving one's cardio system is so much easier that it was 48 years ago. Why bother? Well in 2009 I had a health scare. I was diagnosed with a melanoma which had to be removed. Then in 2010 another melanoma was found and had to be removed. My younger brother died from a melanoma when he was 43. So you can imagine I'm keen to do anything, in particular running, to keep boosting my immune system and generally improve my health.
Apart from keeping fit, in 2011, I received a gold medal (age 60 to 64 category) in the Queensland Masters Athletics Half-Marathon Championships. My time was atrocious. Had the Australian record holder been there, I would have been trounced. When you look at the Australian records for the half marathon the times are enlightening:
- Male 60-64: 1 hr 17 min 03 sec
- Male 65-69: 1 hr 17 min 17 sec
- Male 70-74: 1 hr 21 min 41 sec
- Male 75-79: 1 hr 33 min 51 sec
- Male 80-84: 1 hr 48 min 00 sec
- Male 85-89: 2 hr 05 min 11 sec
- Male 90-95: 2 hr 38 min 56 sec (world record, no Australian record exists)
What's fascinating for me is that my best time ever for a half marathon is 1 hr 56 mins. That was back in 1984. Looking at the above table, it follows that there's the potential that by age 80 I should, with heaps of training, be able to run a half-marathon in say 1 hr 50 mins (six minutes faster than my best ever) and that wouldn't even break the record for that age!
Clearly, the potential is there for me to keep training to the point where I'm fitter at 80 than I was at 16. It gives new meaning to the saying, "Life's journey is not to arrive at the grave safely in a well preserved body, but rather to skid in sideways, totally worn out, shouting, 'WOW . . . What a ride!' "
So it's back to cardio training. I'm starting out with the treadmill interval training outlined at the Complexity Path to Fitness page of this Blog, with the first goal being to run 8 km non-stop on the local bike track with a max pulse rate of 150. I tested this circuit and whenever my pulse got to 150 bpm I walked until it went down to 130 bpm then jogged again until it reached 150. So when I can do it without regular recoveries to keep the bpm less than 150 I will have reached the goal. I wonder how long it will take? For reference, below is my Nike + cardio profile from the test workout:
Note: The goal here is to develop cardiovascular fitness by setting a max and min bpm and sticking to them until it's possible to run the distance without ever reaching the max bpm. At the moment, I'm saving speed goals for races.
And here's a good role model for us 'oldies'...
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