About a month from now I’ll participate in the Old Codger Olympics, in reality the Wisconsin Senior Olympics. Barring injury, the plan is to throw the shotput and run the 800.
“You’re nuts,” you might say. Probably so. People have called me that more than once. But the desire to test myself at something new has gnawed at me over the past year. After exploring physical challenges, and rejecting several as too time-consuming and injury-producing to take on, I settled on these two events.
With all three of our kids running track over years, both at the high school and collegiately at the D-III level, their journeys motivated me. Through hard work, consistent training, they all achieved some major milestones, ones that generate tremendous pride in me. And in some ways, it brought be me back to younger days. “What if I decided to compete in a track and field event?”
It’s not like I haven’t done races before. I ran three marathons in my 30s, biked across North America in my 20s, and have run multiple 10k and 5k races over the years. Each held challenges. Typically I wanted to finish or set a time I wanted to accomplish. Now I want to arrive at Homestead High School north of Milwaukee uninjured. That’s my first goal.
That might make you chuckle or smile, but it’s a legitimate concern. Since beginning a very slow buildup of training, I’ve experienced a significant hamstring pull that kept me from running for three weeks. This is a big challenge for the older runner: How to avoid injury. You want to push yourself. You heart, mind and body want to sprint the 800. But you cannot do that. Your body rejects it.
Instead, you must figure out how to push yourself, run within limits, without over-extending. Run hard, run smart, know your body, don’t overdo it. That’s hard. Much harder than being 18 and taking off full blast and smokin’ it.
When I first broached the idea of entering the over-60 age bracket, our son Kirby told me not to run the 800. I had bone heel surgery in October 2017, and he said I would be coming back from that too soon and would hurt myself. I said to him, “By the time the Olympics roll around, it will be close to two years from the surgery. I can do it.” He suggested I throw the shotput. I agreed. But also added the 800.
It’s been an interesting psychological period prepping for the events. That first step is your mental commitment. You have to talk yourself into it. Sounds easy, but you have to get over that hump of thinking you can do it, and “it sounds like fun,” to tackling the task, which includes a full commitment to get your body in shape for the events.
You can just go out there and run. You can’t just go out there and throw the metal ball. Well, I guess you could, but you’d suck and get injured. So, stay with me on this. Next week, we’ll take up the training regime, the mental and physical rigors. Hope you enjoy the ride with me.
(Editor’s note: This column is the first in a series that will continue to run up through the 2019 Wisconsin Senior Olympics August 18. Next week: Training starts.)
“You’re nuts,” you might say. Probably so. People have called me that more than once. But the desire to test myself at something new has gnawed at me over the past year. After exploring physical challenges, and rejecting several as too time-consuming and injury-producing to take on, I settled on these two events.
With all three of our kids running track over years, both at the high school and collegiately at the D-III level, their journeys motivated me. Through hard work, consistent training, they all achieved some major milestones, ones that generate tremendous pride in me. And in some ways, it brought be me back to younger days. “What if I decided to compete in a track and field event?”
It’s not like I haven’t done races before. I ran three marathons in my 30s, biked across North America in my 20s, and have run multiple 10k and 5k races over the years. Each held challenges. Typically I wanted to finish or set a time I wanted to accomplish. Now I want to arrive at Homestead High School north of Milwaukee uninjured. That’s my first goal.
That might make you chuckle or smile, but it’s a legitimate concern. Since beginning a very slow buildup of training, I’ve experienced a significant hamstring pull that kept me from running for three weeks. This is a big challenge for the older runner: How to avoid injury. You want to push yourself. You heart, mind and body want to sprint the 800. But you cannot do that. Your body rejects it.
Instead, you must figure out how to push yourself, run within limits, without over-extending. Run hard, run smart, know your body, don’t overdo it. That’s hard. Much harder than being 18 and taking off full blast and smokin’ it.
When I first broached the idea of entering the over-60 age bracket, our son Kirby told me not to run the 800. I had bone heel surgery in October 2017, and he said I would be coming back from that too soon and would hurt myself. I said to him, “By the time the Olympics roll around, it will be close to two years from the surgery. I can do it.” He suggested I throw the shotput. I agreed. But also added the 800.
It’s been an interesting psychological period prepping for the events. That first step is your mental commitment. You have to talk yourself into it. Sounds easy, but you have to get over that hump of thinking you can do it, and “it sounds like fun,” to tackling the task, which includes a full commitment to get your body in shape for the events.
You can just go out there and run. You can’t just go out there and throw the metal ball. Well, I guess you could, but you’d suck and get injured. So, stay with me on this. Next week, we’ll take up the training regime, the mental and physical rigors. Hope you enjoy the ride with me.
(Editor’s note: This column is the first in a series that will continue to run up through the 2019 Wisconsin Senior Olympics August 18. Next week: Training starts.)