Life seems to go in fits and starts. Sometimes it ticks away seemingly endless. Then occasionally it spurts ahead about 10 years and you're left feeling dazed. I think because I fight the good fight to keep my body in shape it tends to generate a sense of invincibility. Keep the muscles strong, and the blood pumping, and the veins clear, and you're bound to live forever! Right?
Wrong! Ageing is inevitable. While the veins are indeed clear and the major muscles relatively strong there are a myriad of other components that are simply wearing out. Things like tendons, and glands, and sphincters, and joints, and of course the all important nerves. And while you may be able to make a case for some specific methods to slow down this deterioration, I suggest to you that most of them are contentious at best, and that none of them will stop it entirely!
And the curve is different for everyone because on top of the lifestyle factor, there is the unchangeable genetic factor. If your DNA calls for hair loss, that's probably what's gonna happen. The funny thing is that I was always pretty attached to my hair which genetically I'm gonna get to keep, but recently I have begun thinking I may be prepared to trade if off for a few other things.
Yesterday I went to the doctor and I found myself having a senior citizen kind of discussion with him. And it was right as I was leaving his office walking across the parking lot that the 10 year spurt happened.
But it needn't have happened at all if I was paying attention. For the last few years when people who didn't know me would ask if I was retired my immediate reaction was usually that they must think I'm independently wealthy to be retired at such a young age. It's only recently that it occurred to me that maybe they ask the question because I look old enough to be retired. As soon as it dawned on me I knew it for the truth.
So now that I've lost 10 years in a single day I need to get over it, and get on with it, and I will. I need about another half day to wallow and then I'll get back to the program. And I guess the best way to start may be to consider the idea that for the last 10 years I have been living the life of a much younger man.
On the training front this is an easy week. All my bike workouts have been totally casual, in preparation for Saturdays test routine. I hope to hit at least 190 watts average for my 30 min test. I swam 1500 metres in my wetsuit this morning and while it wasn't fast it was effortless. That's a good thing. I continue to hang in with my running and next Tuesday I start massage therapy for my injured calf. (professional help!!!!) If that doesn't work he wants me to try some new voodoo he just learned about, where they apply extreme pressure to the affected area of the muscle and then release it suddenly. Since that sounds a lot like pain I'm gonna give massage a good long try first.
Life goes on......
Love
Peter
Wrong! Ageing is inevitable. While the veins are indeed clear and the major muscles relatively strong there are a myriad of other components that are simply wearing out. Things like tendons, and glands, and sphincters, and joints, and of course the all important nerves. And while you may be able to make a case for some specific methods to slow down this deterioration, I suggest to you that most of them are contentious at best, and that none of them will stop it entirely!
And the curve is different for everyone because on top of the lifestyle factor, there is the unchangeable genetic factor. If your DNA calls for hair loss, that's probably what's gonna happen. The funny thing is that I was always pretty attached to my hair which genetically I'm gonna get to keep, but recently I have begun thinking I may be prepared to trade if off for a few other things.
Yesterday I went to the doctor and I found myself having a senior citizen kind of discussion with him. And it was right as I was leaving his office walking across the parking lot that the 10 year spurt happened.
But it needn't have happened at all if I was paying attention. For the last few years when people who didn't know me would ask if I was retired my immediate reaction was usually that they must think I'm independently wealthy to be retired at such a young age. It's only recently that it occurred to me that maybe they ask the question because I look old enough to be retired. As soon as it dawned on me I knew it for the truth.
So now that I've lost 10 years in a single day I need to get over it, and get on with it, and I will. I need about another half day to wallow and then I'll get back to the program. And I guess the best way to start may be to consider the idea that for the last 10 years I have been living the life of a much younger man.
On the training front this is an easy week. All my bike workouts have been totally casual, in preparation for Saturdays test routine. I hope to hit at least 190 watts average for my 30 min test. I swam 1500 metres in my wetsuit this morning and while it wasn't fast it was effortless. That's a good thing. I continue to hang in with my running and next Tuesday I start massage therapy for my injured calf. (professional help!!!!) If that doesn't work he wants me to try some new voodoo he just learned about, where they apply extreme pressure to the affected area of the muscle and then release it suddenly. Since that sounds a lot like pain I'm gonna give massage a good long try first.
Life goes on......
Love
Peter
I guess the only thing you can really do is come to terms with it, and it sounds like you have. On the other hand, another way to look at those last ten years is that you could physically out-do most of the people half your age even if you "look" old! To me, how old you feel is the only important thing. How you look is everyone else's problem unless you are looking in the mirror. I am about to turn 50, and I feel younger than I ever have, thanks in part to your example. The people I care about don't care how I look, and they are the only one's I care to look good for.
ReplyDeleteLove Old John