I’m not quite in the age bracket yet at 52 (I know, a mere whipper snapper!) but I have a sedentary job, and I mean SEDENTARY - might walk 400yds in a twelve hour day...
I do shift work on a variable shift pattern (in fact there is no pattern!) which means I lose about 1 night’s sleep a week on average. The only available food during working hours is crap, and I mean real crap.
So all, in all a recipe for disaster as I head towards retirement. I have always been fit and active though - I was a PTI in the Army for 10years and have continued with exercise of varying sorts ever since. I was a runner in the military and looking back quite an extraordinary endurance athlete yomping over hill after hill carrying half my body weight on my back as I did so!
Since then I have had to change as my body changed - I have degenerative disc disease in my lower spine (due to all that running with rucksacks on!) so running just became to painful. I did a fair bit of gym work and swam for a number of years. I then got into indoor rowing (‘erging’ being the correct term). This is a fantastic all round exercise that works out every muscle in your body. Due to this fact you can hit a higher max heart rate on a rower than on a bike - I used to push hard and hit 220 bpm when in my forties! I found a purpose in raising money for Breast Cancer as 4 friends and family suffered from it at the same time, so rowed a million metres to raise some cash. I got incredibly aerobically fit once again and strong as an ox, but not big - so much aerobic exercise!
I eventually got bored and wondered why I was going to a gym, sitting on a rowing machine doing an hour or so when the sun was shining outside. This is when I changed back to my childhood and teenage passion - cycling. And specifically road cycling.
At first, like everyone one else the shortest hill seemed like the Eiger, but the base fitness meant adaptation was quite quick and I soon started to find bigger and bigger hills no problem. So, mid forties and starting to really get into cycling once again. I have never looked back. The fact I do variable shifts means my days off can be any day of the week so I joined a club and started looking for group rides midweek.
One such group is the Chelford Vets who meet about 10 miles from where I live in Cheshire. They meet every Wednesday at 10am and most have ridden out from Manchester/ across Cheshire. The vast majority are retirees and I think there are only two of us who still work. Average age is low to mid 70s. All are club riders who still ride with their clubs at the weekend and probably average 150 miles a week come rain or shine. The Wednesday group rides have a full annual calendar with the destination cafe listed and this ranges from flat across the Cheshire Plain, some 70 - 100 miles through to hilly Peak District destinations, something like 60 - 100 miles (I kid you not, the ride to Strines Moor is epic!). On top of the regular routes the occasional ‘away days’ are dropped into the calendar during the summer, where the meet is either earlier, or at a remote location so different roads and scenery can be enjoyed.
The members of this group to a man are as fit as fleas - yes you hear the tales of declining health from prostate problems to heart problems, but you also hear how each persons doctor or consultant has told them they would be dead if it weren’t for their cycling fitness. These guys are my inspiration and I truly hope that I can still average 17mph on a group ride in my mid seventies! The signs are good - I have a full medical for work every year and the doc always comments about my resting heart rate of 42bpm and the fact that my blood pressure reading would be considered good if it were a 19 year old!
So, a bit of a long, rambling post, but the key I take from all this is;
1. Stay active. Doesn’t matter what, but stay active.
2. It is easier to get active when you are younger and keep at it rather than wait for the ‘wake up call’ of a heart attack or type 2 diabetes before deciding you’d better do some exercise.
3. Aim to do exercise regularly - I mean 3-5 times a week.
4. No point just doing 20 miles on a bike at easy pace - you need to keep challenging your body. As you age your ability to achieve a fast pace declines, but NOT to actually keep challenging your body! Aim for a mix - do some short faster (relatively) rides and some longer endurance rides.
5. As has been stated by others, cycling is fantastic for aerobic fitness and immune system and mental health etc etc, but it is pretty pathetic for increasing (maintaining) muscle loss (from your upper body) and due to being no impact it does not stave off osteoporosis. So, mix in other exercise to your weekly regime - yoga or Pilates for flexibility and core strength, swimming and weight training for the upper body and walking/ running to get a bit of impact to help bone density.
6. When you are retired you have the time on your hands to do so much more exercise and many cost little or nothing with concessions at public leisure centres etc. Make the most of them.
7. Don’t think you have got time? You could do two hours a day and that still leaves 22 hours for every thing else!
8. Rest and recovery. Another common comment I here is ‘I just can’t do long rides back to back any more’. Our ability to recover from hard exercise diminishes as we age, so planning the recovery takes on more importance - I am lucky that I can still do long days back to back, to back. I can sure feel it as I am not used to it, but it will become increasingly difficult as I age, so planning rest days is important. This doesn’t mean you have to sit on the sofa watching day time telly though - do a yoga class on your recovery day, or do some active recovery by way of a walk - nothing too taxing, just gentle.
9. Nutrition remains as important as you age. No reason not to eat healthily - I fear for my kids generation, many of whom have crap diets at such an early age - will they see the light, or even make it to retirement? Current retirees grew up during less prosperous times when much simpler food was the staple. There were not many obese kids in the 1950s.
As we age so our dietary requirements change and many eat much less than they did when they were younger. I’m not sure if this is simply an ageing thing or the fact that they are significantly less active - my in-laws now eat like church mice, but they are getting increasingly sedentary. The group of retirees I ride with still wolf down egg and beans on toast at the cafe stop!
Protein becomes more and more important - couple that with a varied exercise regime to maintain muscle health and to aid recovery after long/ hard efforts. Most of my group are a bit ‘old school’ in their thinking, and being cyclists, are as tight as a badgers wotsit! The thought of supplementing or eating ‘fancy’ doesn’t really chime with most of them. Getting enough protein from dietary sources alone can be difficult so a supplement shake post exercise can really help. It doesn’t have to cost the earth either - I buy from Bulk Powders online and wait for their 70% off deals - I know, 70% off, that means full price is a rip off - possibly. But a pint of vanilla protein shake costs me peanuts - much less than off the supermarket shelf drinks.
10. Motivation. It is easy to just not bother so try to set targets or have motivators. Being in a group builds that camaraderie and I find myself looking forward to Wednesdays as that’s when I ride with the Vets. As many of the old boys have said to me “keep riding with this group for as long as you can”. Having goals or setting challenges gives you a reason to keep going, or to improve. Why not plan a tour? Set yourself a target such as a long distance ride to train for? I did that this summer and planned to ride the Cheshire Regional Route 70 - a circular route around Cheshire that is 180 miles. I added on 20 miles at the end to make my first double century! It wasn’t that ride in isolation though, it was two months of doing numerous centuries+ to build the fitness and base.
11. Spending time with like minded individuals and chewing the cud. Don’t underestimate the benefit to mental health of meeting up with a group of similar individuals, having a great laugh, taking the mickey, exercising together, sharing experiences and having war stories about when only three of you turned up but did the 70 miles in minus 5 and sideways rain! Having a good moan has its place too!
So there you go, that’s my take and what I look forward to continue practicing well into my retirement...
PP
