Workout when I get home or play with the puppies?
#No Place Like Home
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R u asking if it’s time for Full Frontal? Yes. Yes it’s time.
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Funny man! 
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It’s been an, erm, dog’s age, but I’m pretty sure there are puppies.
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Well, there may be puppies in FF but I have zero intention of doing FF again….ever 
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I’m with you, brother!
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Both! FF then puppies.
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How old do you have to be to age out of FF?
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Once you age out of puppies, I think.
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Kittens too?
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If you age out of kittens you’re either done with FF or you’re doing FF too often.
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I remembered the penguins and tortoises, but I forgot about the puppies and kittens. I did remember the dog hanging out of the car windows.
My last FF was this past Friday.
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@Heretic I guess when you realize that you are well on the descent side of fitness and considerable improvement.
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Do you really feel that way?
I am certainly on the descent side, but I do feel there is room for improvement, and maintenance.
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Umm, yeah that CONSIDERABLE qualifier there… Kinda sticks in the throat of anyone on the descent side… (speaking for myself.)
But I agree with @Heretic that there is definitely room for improvement and maintenance! I just have to be more targeted about exactly what bit I want to improve and for how long.
The SLIDE in the other direction will inexorably appear soon enough, whether I consciously slack off or not.
I have to take whatever gains I can create, use them to nail down some sort of documentation of progress, and consider it “job done.”
And the documentation of gains has to be a short-term comparison; it can pretty much NEVER be compared to the “former glory” stats (what used to be!)
I was recently looking back at my Excel doc of all my rides for the last 28 years, enjoying some memories of the old bikes, the old “usual routes,” and vaguely recalling how much faster I used to get around those routes. As I looked at the data, which included my calculated MPH-average in one column, I got an honest reality check when I saw the difference between what I did then and what I can do now on the same routes.
It was obvious to me that those days are long gone! No way I’m gonna ride those speeds on these mountains and hills again, at least not under my own power! I felt better about what I once did than I expected to, but it was also sobering to know that on my very best day, with very best preparation, and very best equipment, I just can’t put out enough Watts for long enough to compete with my former self!
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Thank you for this testimonial @DouthatBiker . My reality check came a couple of years ago on two different Strava segments. The first was a KOM that I once held. It’s a short but steep climb. I held for several months then I got notification one day that I had lost it. I started putting the work into regaining it and approached it the same way that I approached it the first time that I took the KOM on that climb….out on a ride one day and as I approached the climb I just decided that today was the day that I going for it. I absolutely crushed it, giving it everything that I had, just like I did the first time that I held it. After I crested the climb, regained my composure and was able to see straight again, I was sure that I had regained the KOM. When I got got home and checked the segment, I was several, several, several seconds slower than the KOM time and several seconds slower than my best time on it. I remember thinking “Wtf? Really? I absolutely crush it.” That’s when reality hit. The second was on a flat segment. One day I just decided to go for it and again, when the segment was over, I truly felt like I had crushed it as I had given it everything I had. I was more than a minute slower that the best time. Talk about a gut punch. It was at that point that I started questioning what the point of turning myself inside out was any more. I mean, we turn ourselves inside out to accomplish something, right? If your not accomplishing the end goal, what’s the point of the pain, misery and agony anymore?
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The reality is that the decline of your potential starts in your late twenties (if not earlier), all you are doing with any exercise program is slowing that decline.
The goal for me is to be in good enough physical shape to enjoy yourself, and be able to do what you need to do in life for as long as possible.
@Eric - why did you want to turn yourself inside out in the first place?
If I was several seconds or one minute slower than I was on a ride I did some years ago, I would be overjoyed. Mental framing is everything – accept reality and go onward.
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I’m not sure I agree with the decline of potential quite as early as you mention, but it does depend on the specific type of activity, with endurance sports probably allowing for later points of decline (but probably not much later.)
But I totally agree with the goals you mention, as well as your response to @Eric about turning yourself inside out.
And I fully agree about being overjoyed at a great effort, no matter how far behind a previous personal best I happened to be.
Fact is, at least at my age of 67, the older I get, the further behind I’m going to be, even when I DO turn myself out. There’s nothing wrong with doing that, but WHY you do it and what you expect IS THE KEY. Mental framing is critical, as @Heretic says.
And the reason this is CRITICAL is exactly what @Heretic said about his goal:
I’ve told lots of my riding peers and others I’ve worked with or associated with in a fitness center setting, most of them much younger than I, that the KEY to continuing to stay healthy as you age is to ENJOY THE ACTIVITY you do, whether that is cycling, running, swimming, lifting weights, hiking, or whatever.
IF YOU DON’T ENJOY IT, YOU’LL STOP DOING IT!
And right on the heels of that advice, I’ve often said something, especially to competitive cyclists, that YOU MUST HAVE REALISTIC EXPECTATIONS OF YOURSELF!
If you’re not realistically able to be a KOM contender, stop fretting about the fact that you don’t have any KOMs. (And to myself, that included having to stop fretting as I saw MY OWN KOMs getting depleted when a friend 20 years younger started hammering my list! I still have about 30 of them, but that’s mostly because I’m in a rural area and most of those don’t get that many attempts. That Strava segment game is a racket anyway. The eBike angle has changed it forever, and you’ll never see an honest list again. BIG DEAL!)
@Eric I totally understand the feelings of having absolutely crushed an effort only to find out I was well behind what I once did on that segment. Often felt like I put in far MORE effort than I did when I set my PR, and still wasn’t close to matching it.
There are lots of reasons for that, even discounting age; wind makes a serious difference and it is always hard to account for how much a tailwind assisted, and just your given ability on a certain day varies significantly with sleep history, training load, mental readiness, life distractions, and so much more.
I’m as COMPETITIVE AS ANYONE when I CHOOSE TO BE, but frankly, I’m much less DRIVEN than many are. If you cannot be happy with having given your best and come up short of what SOMEONE ELSE has done, you haven’t learned an important secret yet!
And you will find it easier to live with yourself and others will find it easier to live with you when you are content to give your best and take joy in the effort, even if your buddy happens to stomp you on that same day. Rejoice with him, and rejoice with yourself!
One more thing, @Eric you mentioned turning yourself inside out, and what’s the point?
There really IS a POINT TO IT! (But it’s definitely not something to do EVERY TIME.)
The point is that you ARE STILL COMPETING!
Competing is a GOOD THING! It brings us to a higher level of effort than we otherwise give, and in the process, we often find we ARE STILL CAPABLE of doing more than we thought. But when you STOP COMPETING AT ALL, you will stop growing. We only top out our previous best by pushing our limits occasionally.
I recently started adding push-ups to my routine again, not having done them for more years than I can remember, decades really, other than an occasional whim.
Months ago, I tried them on a whim, I maxed out with 20, then 13, then 10, but with about 3 mins rest and I had to hold and rest till I could squeeze out another and another.
(It wasn’t anything like I remembered I could do when I was young!)
So I didn’t stick with it, but realized I didn’t have the strength I ought to have. Time went by without my having done any more, and then about 3 months ago, I tried to get it back into a frequent addition to my meager strength training.
I started with 3 sets of 10, trying and succeeding but with a bit of strain and rest-holds to complete the 2nd and 3rd sets.
I didn’t do it daily, but slowly got more days per week done, and increased my sets to 12 each. Stayed with that level and gained some frequency per week but still not a daily thing. Got more snap in my effort, felt stronger, knew I was making gains, finished all sets without struggling much anymore.
Finally, one day last week after doing a 20 minute strength work (without any push-ups) and then a 35 minute moderate ride in SYSTM, just before getting into the shower, I decided to try a single set of push-ups max reps to fail. I managed 25! I was happy!
I have a cycling buddy whose daughter is in the Army, training hard for a lofty goal that almost no woman has succeeded in achieving, and I saw her training with peers the other day (male peers) and they did a long run that included 20 push-ups on EVERY CORNER and they did many laps, not sure of total.
She’s busting out 20 at a clip, many times over, PLUS other kinds of strength reps with all those efforts…
Am I discouraged that I only did 25? Nah. I’m HAPPY that I’m doing any at all! And that’s why I will keep doing them. I see results. I feel better. I may do max reps of 30 sometime soon. If you do 100, I’ll cheer for you. Just be sure that whatever you do, you stay with it and enjoy the results and the process!
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Isn’t that what you are supposed to do when you are in it to win it?
I honestly don’t anymore BUT it depends on the situation, how I am feeling, etc, etc. I just put in the effort based on how I feel now. Also, I’ve accepted the fact that I’ll never be where I used to be.
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