Fun Fitness After 50

Interview: Cycling Strong at Age 60

October 31, 2016 by Laura Blodgett Leave a Comment

At age 60, Lori can bicycle up challenging hills well ahead of most adult men less than half her age. You probably wouldn’t know it from looking at her. She is a bit shorter than average, with a womanly figure. You might pass her in the mall and have no clue of the powerhouse that she is, but if you look a moment longer, you will get a sense of her radiating health and strength.

I met Lori a few years ago when I was training for a triathlon. She offered to help me with my cycling skills and stamina. I accepted because she was so friendly, not knowing yet that she had so much to offer in expertise.

Lori, like most of us, enjoyed her bicycles while growing up, riding around with her brother and friends. It was not until she was about 18 years old that she and her boyfriend at the time bought bikes. Soon after that, she went on her first long ride, a memorable 113 miles from Long Beach to San Diego in one day. She couldn’t move the next day!

For a while after that, her cycling consisted mainly of riding to college every day, a 20 mile round trip. When she married a fellow she met in Long Beach, she and he would go on some bike rides, but he was not as passionate about it as she was.

She began riding with more intensity after her kids were a bit older. Mountain biking was the emphasis at first, because that was the kind of bike she had. She went mountain biking every day except Sunday for 8 years. When her uncle and cousin Andy asked her to ride the Solvang Century (in cyclist’s language, a “century” is a hundred miles) in 1998, she ended up riding a tandem bike with her cousin.

In 1999, she rode the same event by herself on an old 10 speed road bike. Because the ride was so beautiful and she had some family who rode it, she participated in this century for the next 10 years. Once she had to par down to the half-century because she had had surgery 10 weeks prior. To put it in perspective, this still involves about 5000 feet of climbing roller coaster hills. She is not saying she recommends this…

She didn’t know anyone else who rode regularly until about 2000, when she was on the side of the road with a flat tire. It happened that another lady cyclist was passing by and offered help. The new acquaintance, Nancy, turned out to be a racer of considerable experience. Lori says Nancy was the most influential person in helping her improve in riding a road bike. Another friend, Sue, who used to be the 26^th ranked woman cyclist in the nation, was most instrumental in teaching Lori hill climbing techniques … when they were both around 50 years old.

Some of Lori’s experience with hills comes from living in Lake Arrowhead, California for 3 years. Here, hills combined with altitude provided training opportunities hard to come by in many places. Later, she lived in Yucaipa for 2 years, which did not have the same elevation, but had plenty of outdoor space.

In all, Lori has ridden in about 15 century events, including the Little Red century in Utah; the Tour of Heber, also in Utah; and the Goldilocks in Idaho. In 2016, just shy of her 60^th birthday, she rode her fastest century ever at an average pace of 17.1 miles per hour, doing much of the pulling for her group of four. “Pulling” in the bicycle world is what the lead cyclist does by cutting the air first, providing less resistance for those riding behind. The others in her group were aged 38, 52, and 52.

Another type of cycling event Lori likes is the week long trip. She has participated in three, women’s only, week long tours. They typically ride 60 miles a day, then spend the night in hotels. She calls these “fun rides,” since they are not timed and emphasize the social and sight-seeing.

I asked Lori how she motivates herself to keep riding. She quickly answered “by remembering how good it feels both to be riding and to feel healthy afterward.” She also added with a smile, that new equipment or clothing help, too. Beyond that, she suggests finding activities you like and small groups you like to do things with.

In some ways it helps to be older. There are fewer responsibilities and more flexible time, which often translates into more financial freedom. Being older brings with it the wisdom of experience in many areas, such as how much training it really takes to reach goals. This can help to avoid over-training and unnecessary stress.

One doesn’t reach the age of 60 without a few set-backs, and Lori has had her share. She has had abdominal surgery, knee repair three times (skiing accident), cracked ribs (there was a loose dog involved), and dangerous harassment from drivers. Three of her cycling friends have been killed by impatient drivers since 2010.

A main goal of hers is to keep moving and to avoid physical stagnation. She says this lets her have more fun and makes her more fun to be around. Because cycling is weather dependent and is not a weight-bearing exercise, she also enjoys yoga, walking her dogs, and sometimes a bootcamp class at the gym.

There is one cyclist that Lori has never been able to pass while riding her bike. There is a man named Lou whom she last rode with in California when he was 64 years old. He is in 70’s now and is still an inspiration to her. She keeps all of these people in mind as she plans for another week long tour in 2017, this time in Colorado. She wants to continue cycling as long as she can, always getting better, maybe dazzling a few people along the way. I know she has inspired me.

How a Grandma Pulls a Kiddie Cart by Bicycle for the First Time

March 8, 2016 by Laura Blodgett Leave a Comment

I had saved the kiddie cart or wagon or whatever you want to call it for a good 20 years, but I hadn’t really thought about who would be pulling it when grandkids came along. When our kids were young, my husband had always pulled the current youngest in it, because no matter how fit I am, I am nothing compared to his stamina and strength. There was just no sense in slowing me down on a family bike ride and him chomping at the bit. So we weighed him down, and he applied himself to the job cheerfully. (click on any photo to enlarge)

I don’t know when I realized that I might actually end up pulling the kiddie cart with grandkids in it. And it wasn’t that I was necessarily opposed to it. It just seemed like it would be a Herculean feat. Opportunities came and went, because it was always just too overwhelming, I thought, on the days I contemplated it. Until last Tuesday. Finally, there was no good reason not too AND I was motivated to give it my best effort, no matter how embarrassing it might be.

My husband’s help was crucial in set up, because I am still no good at dealing with flat tires. He taught me some about it all again, and patiently helped me finish fixing it. Then, he talked me through removing the kick stand and securely attaching the kiddie cart. Okay, he did give it a shove to fit the bike frame snuggly in the notches. And he kept jiggling something so that the bolts would tighten it in the right place. But I helped, too.

The little wizard and her Lulu (my grandma name).

The kiddie cart was only going to be loaded with one grandchild for my maiden voyage. She was dressed in one of her GoPa’s sports pullovers and looked like a miniature wizard. She was quite excited about the ride, but it was not her first time in the kiddie cart. One of her 20something aunts had pulled her a few times over the summer. I hoped riding with me wouldn’t be disappointing or scary for her.

It was chilly that day, but with exercise, I knew I could get warm. The covering of the kiddie wagon can pull down to fully encase it and block the wind. Add an oversized teddy bear and a microfleece blanket, and you have the makings of a cozy den for the granddaughter.

All bundled up and quite happy about it!

There is a bike path a short way from our house. I only needed to go on a quiet country neighborhood road for a couple of minutes. Since it was 10:30 AM, I wasn’t too concerned about traffic. My mirror was helping me keep an eye on the cart and the road behind me.

Once I had pulled into a side road that connected to the bike path, I called out to ask the child how she was doing. No answer. I stopped and got off my bike to check on her. Her head was nodding like a bobble doll. Her eyes were half closed and glazed. Five minutes into the ride and she was asleep! So much for enjoying the scenery, but the ride was also for me, so I kept going.

I was going much slower than I usually ride. The kiddie cart does not have shocks, and it has hard plastic tires. I didn’t know how it would turn or ride over bumps. I was soon at ease with how well it turned, but it definitely hit bumps harder than the bike. I watched the bike path diligently and slowed down for almost everything, getting very good at judging how this four-wheeled, three-way balanced contraption would straddle various formations in the asphalt.

It didn’t take me long to figure out that dealing with the flat tire issues had adjusted my gears without me knowing. Fortunately, my husband had recently explained the gears to me to a new level of understanding, so I was able to make changes that made the slight rolling hills much more manageable.

About 20 minutes into the ride, I was desperate to remove my heavy coat. I stopped and stuffed it into the kiddie cart where the large teddy bear wasn’t. Dear granddaughter was still sleeping peacefully on the stuffed animal. I felt her nose. She was warm, but not sweaty. I got back to cycling, with more and more confidence.

The couple of times I crossed roads at crosswalks for the bike path, all the vehicles were extremely careful to stop and wait while we crossed. There were only very sporadic instances of other walkers or runners on the path, and no other bikes. I guess that is one good thing about less than perfect weather.

Finally, about 15 minutes from home, my young charge woke up. She was quite happy to find herself being pulled along and began jabbering about what she saw. It was pretty impossible to answer, but she didn’t seem to hold it against me.

Then, about 90 minutes after we had started, it was time for that last little section of road to get to the house. There still was next to no traffic, but it was mostly uphill and my legs were getting tired from the extra pulling. I geared down quite a bit and was peddling mightily over a 10 foot wide section of road mix from recent road work when a car slowed down to drive along side me.

I naturally assumed it was just passing carefully, but then the woman rolled down her window and began to lecture me about how dangerous what I was doing was. From her tone of voice, it is safe to assume she thought she was talking to someone much younger. I waved her on on with a grimace, and she sped away in a huff. She was the most dangerous thing I had run into, distracting me like that from watching the road and keeping my balance! She obviously cared less about our safety than she was pretending, as she sent a few bits of gravel spinning in her disgust.

However, we arrived home in good order and refreshed from the exercise. Well, I was refreshed from the exercise. Dear granddaughter was refreshed from napping and didn’t need her usual afternoon siesta. Oh, well.

Now, I am making plans to visit other grandchildren and drive them around their own neighborhoods for fun. I think I will wait until it is warmer, though. I’m glad I got over the hump of being intimidated by the kiddie cart, because I think a whole new way to have fun with grandkids is now available to me!

This is just as we were leaving the driveway to begin the ride. I don't know why my legs look so extended. My seat height is pretty perfect and my legs never felt strained due to poor body mechanics. In fact, my legs were not taxed until the very last hills. — This is just as we were leaving the driveway to begin the ride. I don’t know why my legs look so extended. My seat height is pretty perfect and my legs never felt strained due to poor body mechanics. In fact, my legs were not taxed until the very last hills.

7 Misconceptions About Aging and Fitness

January 22, 2016 by Laura Blodgett 1 Comment

Have you ever seen how powerfully and beautifully a turtle can swim?

While we all age, if we live long enough, there are a few assumptions about aging and our ability to enjoy a high level of fitness that are best questioned. Both studies and anecdotes give us good reason to suspect that these assumptions are based more on people’s choices as they age, than their real limitations. There are 7 basic misconceptions that I regularly hear from people when they see me enjoying a lot of activity.

1. No energy – This is a vague and misleading description. What is really meant is “no stamina.” There is a way to get stamina. It is not something people have or don’t. If you use your body aerobically, it sends signals to the systems used to get ready to produce more “energy” next time around. It’s like having your own perpetual motion machine! Start it moving and it becomes more capable of moving. Even the best race horse will not race well if it never goes around the track.

Nutrition is crucial to stamina, too. It doesn’t need to be complicated (It is Not Rocket Science), and I don’t think there are any magic ingredients that have been kept secret for thousands of years. I think most people have a pretty good idea of what are good foods. Eat well, and you will feel more capable of moving.

2. Prone to injury – There are two main reasons for this. One is past injuries. The ones from younger days. This means that such injuries are not directly because of current age, so much as because of youthful escapades.

The second reason is trying too hard. Whether it be trying too hard after long periods of relative inactivity or trying too hard because of not wanting to feel old, the result is the same. Something gives way. However, even a younger person will injury themselves when they push themselves too hard. (See reason #1)

It may be harder on us mentally to deal with injury. It may even take a little longer to heal than, say, it would for a 6 year old. Still, the degree of injury and the healing process are quite possibly more affected by other factors, including proper rest and supportive measures to the area involved.

3. Too stiff – Have you ever seen bedridden patients? They don’t use their joints enough and mobility is often lost. The way to help avoid that is to have them or someone else very regularly move their joints. The average adult does not engage in the same natural play and joy of movement that children do, which is one important factor in decreased flexibility.

Now, I am well aware of the different bone growth phases and proportions that make a difference in flexibility. Plus, some people’s bone construction is tighter at the joints than others, their whole lives. But what we are talking about is the flexibility of one person over his or her own life span. That flexibility can be maintained or regained by using those joints in the fullest range of motion possible. Anything from dancing to gardening can gradually increase a person’s flexibility, even after the age of 50. Don’t make the mistake of accommodating feelings of stiffness that can come and go.

This concept is demonstrated by the physical therapy that usually follows orthopedic surgery. It is well established that moving the affected joint very soon after surgery is of great importance. One of the most notable times I went through this is when I broke my cheekbone. I wouldn’t be able to open my mouth more than a fraction of an inch if I hadn’t daily persisted with the stretching exercises to gain back full jaw extension.

4. Decreased muscle mass – Muscle mass grows because it is used. If you don’t use it, it atrophies. As we age, we might not have the ability to get as strong a the youngest, strongest person can, but not very many young people get that strong either.

I’m not talking about bulky muslces here, because that is a slightly different subject that does appear to be connected to male hormones. However, we have all seen very skinny people of any age that have no muscles to speak of. Some of them may have physical conditions or genetic profiles that lead to this. For most people, this is the result of not using their muscles. If someone doesn’t care, fine. I’m not judging that. What I am saying is that someone over “a certain age” does not just have an unavoidable “condition” that keeps them from enjoying an active life. Aging muscles still have a lot of potential to be strong, and often stronger than young people who are inactive.

5. No balance – This could be related to a few things. One could be muscle development, as mentioned in #4. Muscles help keep balance by sheer power and by supporting joints.

Another component could very well be shoes. You may be tired of hearing me say it, but it is true. Footwear has a great impact on balance. That is why gymnasts are always barefoot. If a body is denied the sensory input and the use of ground level muscles, balance is going to suffer. Ask any ankle.

And then, we get back to motion. Certain movements develop both the mental and physical patterns to enhance the ability to balance. Consider me playing my flute. My fingers don’t look any different than anyone else’s. I also don’t know any more notes and fingerings than most high school flutists. But there are connections in my nervous system after so many years of playing. Sometimes my fingers just play a sequence without me having to think much about it. But only if I keep playing on a regular basis. If I can’t play for a while, it may take a couple of weeks to get back to the same level of dexterity. It is a mystery that is not totally understood.

6. Can’t compete – Let us first ask, “With whom?” There is only room at the top of the heap for a very few number of elites. The rest of us, by physical design or different life choices, move at a different speed. It makes no sense to get too hung up on who is in first place, no matter how fun it is on a day it might happen.

But then, again, maybe you can compete. There are several examples of older athletes surprising people even in high level competitions. That probably won’t happen to most of us. Still, you can compete with yourself, you can compete within your age and gender, and you can also compete with all those younger folks who haven’t yet found their own full potential. It doesn’t need to be dog-eat-dog competition. It can be motivating to everyone involved. If competition is something you enjoy, find the right goals and do it.

7. Need more sleep – It may be that more sleep is necessary as a body ages. It is also possible that you needed more sleep all along and now you have time for it. It may simply be that adjusting to increased activity levels is requiring more sleep restorative time. If you read the biographies of elite athletes, the amount of time they get to sleep is amazing. Once again, we find there are so many variables in a given person’s life, plus so many variations across a given age group, that it doesn’t make much sense to claim this as a hinderance to fitness inducing activity.

If motion and fitness are not something you enjoy, that is your choice. Recognize it as a decision and don’t make excuses. However, if you find yourself wishing you “had as much energy” as that other person your age out there on the dance floor, running a foot race, or spending hours in the garden, there are things you can do about it.

Reasons and Strategies for Exercise Even if You Have a Physical Job

November 19, 2015 by Laura Blodgett 2 Comments

My job responsibilities involve a lot of physical labor. In some ways, I count this as exercise. Exercise is, after all, a process of using the physical body in a way that builds strength and stamina. Yard work to care for my acre or vacuuming a 3800 square foot home is going to do that.

The trouble is that the physical labor of a job tends to be

irregular in terms of exertion or schedule; or
repetitive and unbalanced in type of motion, often predisposing a person to injury.

For instance, someone who works in construction will probably use the dominant arm in a particular direction most of the time. This might be due to utilizing specific tools. Specialization of jobs is more time efficient and leads to individual expertise, but is also likely to lead to strain in particular body parts. Someone who works as a nurse may never know when she will be asked to help lift a larger patient from bed to gurney.

A regular, non-job exercise routine can do a few important things. I will list some, and expound on them afterward:

1. Strengthen specific areas to counter balance overuse and potential injury.

2. Provide a consistent base of strength that can be more readily relied upon.

3. Help relieve job related stress by allowing a more thorough out pouring of energy.

4. Be more fun, as you can choose activities based on personal preference.

5. Prepare you to enjoy vacation and free time more, because you have to specific strength to do the things you want to.

6. Be more flexible to help you stay active in spite of injury, strains of individual body parts, or weather issues.

7. Keep you in the mode of maintaining physical capabilities even when the job activities vary.

8. Be more social, since it is not limited to who you work with or what you need to be doing.

Working to strengthen an area that is used repeatedly in a job may seem counter intuitive. However, what it often involved is targeting the muscles of the opposite direction of the repetitive motion. When I was carrying toddlers around all the time, I usually carried them on my left hip to leave my right hand free for tasks. This resulted in a lingering strain in my right wrist. I was able to remedy this and prevent further injury by following the advice of my husband: do regular full range of motion wrist exercises with light weights.

An overall, balanced strengthening of the body likewise guards against injury. Having basic core strength will make it less likely that one or two specific regions will be stressed by a load or motion. For instance, if attention is given to strengthening the whole leg, then all of those muscles will engage more readily even when the knee is the main joint being used, giving much more support to the joint. In another example, if the foot muscles are used regularly, the ankles aren’t being asked to be a point of balance that they are not designed for.

Job related exertion is often associated with deadlines and, ironically, restrictions of how much energy is approved because of what is deemed appropriate for the environment or the task. The tension means that breathing is probably not as free and stress hormones inhibit relaxation. Range of motion is usually not fully used, nor is a person free to enjoy a final spurt of exertion. Exercise that you are free to follow through to complete desire and capability relaxes both body and mind.

Even if you like some parts of your job, chances are that a lot of your time is dictated by necessary tasks that would not be your choice of fun. There are many types of fun exercise to choose from and there is no need for non-job related exercise to be just another drudgery. If you don’t like some of the old standbys like running or swimming, try something like dancing or racquetball.

Vacation and yearly seasons provide opportunities for fun activities that cannot be safely or fully enjoyed if the body is weak and vulnerable. If you want to go surfing on your vacation, but live 500 miles inland, you will be wise to find an exercise that uses some of the same muscles and skills, as well as work on overall strength and safety skills (i.e. swimming) so that the experience will not be fraught with exhaustion and peril. Or at least, less of those. If you want to go hiking in the summer, some sort of regular walking or running schedule during the other seasons is to your advantage.

Inconveniences such as inclement weather or unexpected injury happen to everyone. Stamina and overall strength can be maintained if you have more than one type of exercise to enjoy and keep you basically fit. This same variety can also help avoid injury since you give specific body parts turns to rest.

Most jobs vary in daily and even seasonal requirements. A habit of regular, non-job related exercise will not only help you be ready for the more active times on the job, but will keep you strong during those lulls, for your own enjoyment and well-being. You may need to take your job related efforts into account when making your exercise choices, in order to keep a balanced and more useful exercise regimen, but a little creativity will always yield insight into options for concurrent non-job related exercise. If your job is mostly walking, you may want to make sure to get some strength training and more intensive aerobic exercise done. If you job is mostly lifting heaving items, aerobic exercise will be good.

There are social aspects on the job, but there will always be limitations of how much personal conversation and relationship building can go on. On the job conversation has to center around the tasks for the business’s survival, if everyone wants to keep receiving a paycheck. You might share details about how to perform the physical tasks better, but then you need to get busy and concentrate so mistakes aren’t made. However, while running, you can chat, while playing tennis you can yell jovially over the net. Sure, swimming might be limited, but there are plenty of exercise choices that lend themselves to more friendly interaction.

Don’t be discouraged by the limited hours in the day or what you think other people are doing with their exercise. Find exercise options that suit your schedule, compliment your job and ideas of fun, and allow you to feel refreshed and strengthened. It doesn’t have to be every day and it doesn’t have to be for a long time each day. Over time, you will find your overall energy level increases and allows you to do both more exercise in shorter amounts of time, as well as enjoy your non-exercise time more.

Learning How to Eat and Run

October 27, 2015 by Laura Blodgett Leave a Comment

I used to be much more limited by when I ate compared to when I would run. I would need a solid 2 hours, and hopefully 3, after eating before I could comfortably go for a run. I got around this much of the time by running first thing in the morning, before breakfast. I also was not running more than about 5 miles regularly. However, once I began to sign up for a few races, my lack of flexibility in this area was troublesome. Shorter races commonly began later in the morning, and I didn’t like to wait that long to eat. Longer races started earlier, but usually involved some morning prep and travel time in which I would be unacceptably hungry. Even for running longer distances during training time, it’s not that I would run out of energy on the runs, so much as that my very hungry tummy was often very distracting.

Discussing this inconvenience with my husband, a more experienced runner, he told me that he thought I might be able to train myself to eat both closer in time to any of my fitness activities, as well as learn to eat during long events. He was well aware of the fact that I have a much more sensitive digestive system than he does, but he said he used to get more side aches and such while running and it was rarely a problem any more. He suggested I incrementally change my eating habits and see if my gut was trainable.

I reviewed what I had learned about the digestive system as a nurse. Some things would work against me:

Movement stimulates the gastrointestinal track
Eating also stimulates it.
Adrenaline can send it signals to “unload” before a stressor is faced.

I knew a couple of things I might be able to take advantage of:

Relaxing can make elimination more likely than feeling the pressure of being timed.
Having a more regular morning routine is often remembered by the body.

Over the next few months, I made progress. I could gradually eat and then run within an hour without feeling inhibited by what was working its way through my stomach. This was partly helped by finding what sorts of foods seemed easier for me to digest. My favorite hot cereal, Malt-O-Meal, with butter, sugar, and a few chocolate chips, always sat well. Another good option was toast with butter and honey. A banana and some real fruit juice could be part of the meal, too. Home made French toast worked, but in general, fried or meaty courses caused gastric rebellion if running soon followed. Foods such as nuts or a lot of fresh fruit, were to be avoided at all cost. So, complex carbohydrates with a bit of fat and a touch of sugar was my optimum formula.

All of this was more important the longer the run or fitness activity was. Since the exercising body has to divert blood supply TO the muscles, AWAY from the digestive system, it seemed the longer digestion was interrupted, the more belligerent the bowels became about processing fried foods or meats and related fats. A 30 minute run didn’t stretch the resources too far, but more than 10 miles running or a brick workout required more care.

It didn’t take me long to discover that it also made a difference what I ate the afternoon and night before a long run the next day. I had to make sure to eat a solid number of calories, but I also had to make sure it was very healthy and did not include a lot of “roughage.” No large bowls of popcorn or big green salads.

The morning routine developed spontaneously. As I knew I needed to wait for at least ___ amount of time, depending on how I was adapting at the time, I would sit and engage in a relaxing activity while eating. I would read or crochet or chat with my girls. I found that this unintentional relaxing worked to my advantage. While it may be difficult to relax by simply telling yourself to, it can be accomplished by adequately distracting yourself. This had the added benefit of helping my body to adopt a more regular routine of when I would “need facilities” in the morning.

Some mornings, it seemed that no matter what else I did “right,” I would feel the need to relieve myself again as soon as I headed out the door. Sometimes more than once. I learned that it was smartest to just turn around and deal with it. Some things cannot be safely ignored. At that point, feeling like I was on a schedule to get through my workout did not seem to help send inhibitory signals. This occasional problem became a good reason to make sure I timed my running or biking or whatever with a buffer of time in which to leave.

When feeling vulnerable or unpredictable about my digestive status for a training run, it helped a lot to have a route that gave me ready access to some sort of facilities or private wayside. I would frequently carry a small stash of toilet paper in a baggy in my hip bag.

Once in a while, I would get a side ache. I used to be inclined to give up on a run if I got a significant side ache. I admit, I was wimpy. Now, however, feeling more determined, I found I could just slow down and try to breath more fully. Almost always the side ache went away within a few minutes. It never affected the overall quality of the run or workout. The only complication with this was last year when it was actually pleurisy, but I learned to tell the difference pretty fast.

Besides making it easier to fit running into my schedule, I was now able to eat a light lunch while riding the spin bike, because that was sometimes how things worked out. It did make a difference, I am sure, that most of my workouts were of moderate intensity. It may be easy to sip a smoothie or munch crackers while riding at a comfortable pace. It is harder and unappealing if doing an interval repetition set.

Swimming was also positively affected by all of this, as I found I could eat important things right before a swim and it would help ward off motion sickness. That is not the only thing done to help, but it is an important factor, especially as I have been having some aging hormones cause me some nausea on a regular basis.

Ironically, I have also been learning how to run, etc, farther without food supplementation during the effort. Currently, I only drink a diluted lemonade for extended running or outdoor biking. I have read various possible explanations of the body chemistry involved in such adaptations. All I know for sure is that particularly when I am running, I dislike trying to eat or chew. So far, up to marathon distance, I have been able to do this. I know of some runners who try longer distances with this basic approach, but most seem to benefit from taking in nutrition for extra long runs. Still, how long “long” is does seem adjustable.

After a long run or extensive outdoor biking, I find I need to eat something easily digestible soon. For shorter activities, my normal eating schedule works. But, I am also a regular snacker, so don’t think me overly disciplined with my meal times.

The gist of it is that I am now much less limited by when I eat compared to when I run. Experimenting gradually with my schedule and running-related food tolerances, as well as patiently training my body to deal with nutrition while active has yielded good results.

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