Adventures in old age

[Cornflake]

I had coffee this morning with an old friend named Doug. He's 75. Within the last ten years, Doug and two other guys I knew did a couple of walking tours in Spain and England that, as I understand it, traced the routes of old pilgrimages. They'd walk eight or ten hours a day and then spend the night at some inn where they could drink wine and absorb a little local culture. 

Some months back Doug was getting bored, restless and a bit flabby. He asked himself what the most fun he'd had in recent years and thought of these walking tours. Before long he was doing research into another such trip. He has now planned one for June in Italy. A couple of relatives, including one son, have decided to go with him.

Doug has been in training for a couple of months now. He walks long distances. He'll soon be moving his training to our mountain preserve where he can get more elevation changes into the routine. Pandemic variables have made him wonder if he'll be able to make the trip. He figures that, at worst, he'll get into good shape.

The trek will only take eight days. Preparing for it will take months. He's fine with that. He's not sitting on his rear end and he's enjoying the preparation.

I find his plans inspiring. They make me feel a bit inadequate. As long as our health holds out, it's never too late for an adventure.

[Marshall]

Yeah. I'm in training for a hiking trip in Big Bend TX in January. I did 4 indoor loops around Woodfield Shopping Mall yesterday. Last loop I go up and down every stair I encounter in the loop.





I'm the oldest one in the group. So, I want to be sure I can keep up.

[drlj]

I wish I could do this but a bone deformity in my ankle makes walking long distances extremely painful. I wear a brace a good part of the time but that causes it’s own discomfort. I used to walk miles with no problem years ago. I wish I still could.

[Marshall]

Dec 11, 2021 12:38:29 GMT -5 drlj said:

I wish I could do this but a bone deformity in my ankle makes walking long distances extremely painful. I wear a brace a good part of the time but that causes it’s own discomfort. I used to walk miles with no problem years ago. I wish I still could.

Yeah. I see people my age dropping like flies around me. I certainly feel for those like you that have physical issues that limit what you feel you can do. All the more reason for me to push as hard as I can to do what I can while I can. We're all on borrowed time. I'm going down swinging.

[Cornflake]

There are many kinds of adventures and only some of them involve long walks. I'm on the lookout for a new one. If I find it, I don't think it'll be like Doug's.

[TKennedy]

I think the stairs are key Marshall. Intervals where you really get your heart rate up and recover and repeat are certainly one of the best ways to increase fitness rapidly. At least in my experience. Maybe two or at the most three good sessions a week.

We have a hilly hiking area near us and one three mile loop has about four steep climbs that pretty much max me out at my age. Doing that two or three times a week has really had a positive effect. You can do the same thing on a bike

I have a pacemaker that pretty much cuts me off at around 130bpm but after a season of interval work walking or on a bike I am getting a lot more out of 130. The hills are easier and I can ride a little faster although right now just maintaining where I am at is probably all I can expect. Same with guitar:)

[theevan]

I have a dear in Switzerland who did the Spain pilgrimage tour. I think he's about 10 years younger than me, in good health. By all accounts it was a wonderful experience.

A week or two after he got home he dropped dead of a heart attack.

Daniel was a special guy, loved far and wide. It hurts. But I'm glad for the way he lived.

[t-bob]

Times and old age...... I wanted to buy coffee and to see my friend and it seems like he died in the toilet. (actually he died when he was asleep and he was relaxed ..... I wish he had a little more time but he was 86.)
I’ll have to see him someplace. RIP Charlie the Tuna. I never knew his last name.

[Marshall]

Yeah, I run stairs at home. Sometimes I do them aggressively. Sometimes not so much. Today was a “not-so-much” day. Still, I just did 12 trips from basement to 2nd floor. 24 flights. After the first 2 trips, I take them 2 steps at a time, running up. It’s brutal at first, but by 8 or 10 trips I get pretty loose and it works well.

I’m also back to playing Pickleball a couple times a week. I do a lot of accelerating and decelerating during that. Huffing and puffing and working up a good sweat. - and of course a nap afterwards.

[Cornflake]

This thread inspired me to go over to a trailhead ten minutes away and hike part of the way up Shaw Butte. I could tell I hadn't done any uphill walking in a while. It was tiring but invigorating.

[TKennedy]

I think as you get into your 70’s your heart is more like a 60’s turbojet engine. It takes a while to “spool up”.

The first climb can be a gasper but after the old ticker figures out “those fookin muscles need oxygen” it gets going as best it can and it becomes easier.

If I am having a blah couch day going from the basement to the second floor 8 or 10 times like Marshall said is energizing.

[Rob Hanesworth]

People my age are doing triathlons, climbing mountains, etc.

I am delighted if I can step into my underwear without losing my balance and falling over.

[t-bob]

Dec 11, 2021 12:38:29 GMT -5 drlj said:

I wish I could do this but a bone deformity in my ankle makes walking long distances extremely painful. I wear a brace a good part of the time but that causes it’s own discomfort. I used to walk miles with no problem years ago. I wish I still could.

Sorry for your bone deformity....

I used to do get physical for almost 50 years - tennis, hiked, swimming, several sports teams, cooking - before. After the stroke, bunch of surgeries and infections, I can't do walk briskly, run, ride a bike, work.

I don't do very much all I do is reading listen music play music and walk just a little bit. (a quarter mile) I still have a few things are a lot better now so I'm positive about it.

All those things that bothers me but mostly it's hard to do anything FOOD - buy, prepare, cook, eat, clean........ I can't taste. I'd rather just go to a restaurant but it's too expensive. There really isn't a way to fix this taste

I wish could do all of my old times, items. Sigh.....

[RickW]

We have been working out a lot the last few years. I started to develop problems that were simply around lack of use, compounded by injury. I had a problem with my foot, that caused me to alter my gait, just slightly turning my foot out. This caused problems all up my right side: calf, knee, hamstring, butt, lower back. So we started to go to the gym, doing circuit training. With covid, that stopped, but we bought a bowflex. I walk about an hour a day. I have a fitbit, and aim for the 10,000 step thing, and I’ve been hitting it 5 or 6 days a week. My walk are a lot of up and down, because, that’s the way most of Vancouver is constructed. I do weights on the bowflex three times a week.

Honestly, I haven’t felt this good in 20 years. I have some mechanical problems, mostly from being a jock in my youth. But I’m much stronger and more flexible than I’ve been since my forties. I read Younger Next Year, and it really rang true to me — I’m retired, I have the dream I always had to do what I want, and damn it, I’m going to go down fighting. Exercise, music, writing. It keeps me sane and fit.

[jdd2]

Fitness/walking is one thing, but if you want to keep Alzheimer's at bay...

www.sciencealert.com/giant-study-finds-viagra-is-linked-to-almost-70-lower-risk-of-alzheimer-s

[Cornflake]

"Exercise, music, writing. It keeps me sane and fit." You could find worse recipes. But I'd add beer.

[Marshall]

Dec 11, 2021 21:15:48 GMT -5 jdd2 said:

Fitness/walking is one thing, but if you want to keep Alzheimer's at bay...

www.sciencealert.com/giant-study-finds-viagra-is-linked-to-almost-70-lower-risk-of-alzheimer-s

WOO HOO !

[RickW]

Dec 11, 2021 21:28:49 GMT -5 Cornflake said:

"Exercise, music, writing. It keeps me sane and fit." You could find worse recipes. But I'd add beer.

Oh, I do.