Gosh - it was a tough race over the weekend, but I smashed it, setting a record time in Nelson's iconic Coppermine Epic Mountain Bike Race for the 60+ age group that the Race Director described as "unbelievable"! However, I was not in the least bit surprised because I had done the preparation and it would have been a faster time if only I was more familiar with the course, often having no idea what was coming up around the corner.
This time last year I was lying prostrate for 8 weeks after suffering a severe and potentially career ending ankle injury, so the last 12 months have been a delightful exercise in rehabilitation of the most challenging order.
It has also been the latest chapter in the quest to identify what are the controllable factors in ageing and doing something about them, including reversal. This has been an ongoing exercise since I was about 50 years old (I'm now 62). My slow decline in health and fitness began from about 30 years of age and, by age 45 I was pretty much a typical burned out ex-athlete to the extent of consulting a cardiologist. You can read more about that here. The good news is that the trend has been remarkably in the opposite direction of decline with some quite astounding athletic performances of late as proof and these are on the tail of a very, very bad start to 2015.
In the Convict 100 in Australia I finished one hour ahead of the next 60 year old. In the Highland Fling in Australia, I did not have such a good day; but still finished around 40 minutes ahead of the next 60 year old. Similar results have been had in New Zealand, including last weekend's burner.
That works out to being around 20% faster than other 60 year olds in New Zealand and Australia. By the way, the prize-giving at the Fling was a little uncomfortable because the organisers and lesser placegetters gave the impression I may have cheated. Of course I did not. Clean as a whistle and stuck to the course.
A good, durable athlete must - first and foremost - be a healthy person. That is what I have been working on - and getting more and more right - over the last 10 or so years.
What I like about working with athletes is the stopwatch does not lie: the athlete either goes faster or is slowing. There's no denying that, so we have excellent feedback about how effective any interventions are and often within a few months of starting. With sedentary people, being able to gauge progress can be a little more diffifult at times - gains in health can be very subtle - and may not be obvious until several months have passed. Some testing, such as the Hair Tiisue Mineral Analysis can be invaluable for measuring progress.
The message is this, folks: Most of what we once considered to be the inevitable decline due to getting old is, in fact, within our control and it is be possible to halt and even reverse most of them.
For a time anyway.
In case you are wondering, I'm not talking about the use of drugs (including hormones) and surgery (My job is to help you avoid these): I'm talking about clean nutrition and lifestyle, guided carefully by scientific testing and years of study and experience.