Alameda Runners – Get After It!

Most of the things I write about here at Alameda Runners are based on my own experiences.  I usually get advice from the experts but I often take it for what it is because we are all different.  It is good to read different views and follow the advice based on your own experience.  The idea is to try things to see what works.

I say this because a friend of mine gave me some books on cycling in your geriatric years meaning over 50.  I am close enough to 50 to read the books to see what it is about.  In the first chapter of the first book I picked up, it says to give up all sports other than cycling.

That is not going to happen.  I like cross training.

As most of the regular readers know, I have been injured for the past 4 months with very little running at all.  During this time, I have been lifting weights, swimming and cycling.  I have also been doing rehabilitation work to strengthen the muscles around the injured hip flexor.  After a long 4 months of no running, I went out for a run with one the local running clubs.  We ran for about 8 miles at 8-9 minute per mile pace.  That is just a bit slower than my pace before the injury.  I feel good now.  I have to restrain myself or I will aggravate the injury by over training again.

Back to the cross training.  I was always afraid to lift weights using my legs because I was worried about injuries.  I started out very slowly with high repetitions (20-25 per set) on the various exercises.  For the first month, I did this once per week slowly increasing the weight as it got easier.

I now lift with my legs twice per week lifting 2-3 times as much weight as I did when I started.  I don’t know if the weight training will equate to increased strength and less injuries but I sure hope so.  I do think that I will incorporate leg training with weights at least once per week from now on.

In all fairness to the book, I may have taken “give up all sports, other than cycling” out of context but I am not about to read through that section of the book again because it was boring.