Episode 5-514 – Lee on Improving after 50

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Episode 5-514 – Lee – Coach for the Older Runner

Hello my running friends.  And welcome to episode 5-514 of the RunRunLive Podcast.  Today we have a chat with Lee who is a coach that focuses on the older ‘serious athlete.

We talk about something that I’m trying to puzzle out myself as I graduate into codgerhood.  We talk about a specific cohort of runners who are fairly serious about their pursuit, but struggling with how to keep their performance high without breaking themselves as they get older.

It’s an eye opening conversation which makes me wonder if I’ve been asking the right questions.

In section one I’m going to muse on the ‘one percent rule’.

In section two I’m going to talk about the state of podcasting.

I know it’s been about a month since I released a show.  Part of it is that I’ve been busy and part of it is that I’m just not feeling it.

We’ll leave it at that for now.  I’ll talk about my mediocre training in the outro.

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It is the ‘dog days’ of summer now.  Deep into July and emerging into august.  Two calendar months named after Roman tyrants.  Sic Sempre and all that.

I’ve got a busy calendar coming up.  My oldest daughter is getting married and my youngest is having a baby.  So, even though I’m not directly involved in either event, I’m guessing I should schedule accordingly.

It’s an interesting season of life.  On the one hand it feels like you’ve accomplished something and maybe can take a rest.  On the other it feels like this may be your last opportunity for reinvention.

I had a really happy bike ride this morning.  I through my bike on top of the bags of coffee grounds I’ve been accumulating from Starbucks in the back of my truck.  Why?  My wife seems to think she can use them to keep the voles out of her flowers.  Who am I to argue.

I go to Starbucks most mornings, not so much for a cup of coffee but to get out of my home office and get some fresh air and human interaction.  It’s very important for the mental health of we seniors to get human interaction.

Anyhow, I threw my bike, the old 29er Motobecane mountain bike that I really should clean and grease but haven’t, because as my friend Frank says “I’m the master of avoiding preventative maintenance”, in the back of my truck, which really needs to be washed and vacuumed, ibid, op cit.

The same bike I kitted out with small-block tires and clip on aerobars for my bike across Massachusetts a couple years ago.  I recently added a front fender to keep the mud out of my eyes.

To be honest, I saw what they were charging for those clip on plastic fenders and DIYed my own out of a plastic water bottle that I cut in half and zip-tied to the fork arch.

So, yeah, that bike, in the truck, on top of the coffee, and drove over to the old north bridge in Concord.  Yeah, that Concord.  That bridge.  Shot heard ‘round the world and all that.

My mission was not to go to the bridge.  They actually frown on you biking in there, but I believe we’ve downsized all the park rangers so I could probably get away with it.

Those who ignore history are doomed to repeat it, I’ve heard.

Not the bridge per se, but the building next to it that they call “The Old Manse” that has a nice parking lot I can park in for free.

Because I felt like riding the old rail trail that starts just down the street from there called “The Reformatory Branch Trail” which I used to use when I rode into that job I had in Burlington, you remember that?  I actually ran to work a couple times back in the day.  What was I thinking?  17 miles in both directions.  What a maniac I was.  I do remember having a near-religious experience deep into that run when Sweet Jane came on my headphones, not the Nine Inch Nails version, the original Lou Reed version when being a subversive artist actually meant something.

That trail.  I woke up and felt like riding my bike on that trail.

So I did.

After I took the dog for a long walk over in the Audubon property that sits next to the route I die to get to the coffee shop every morning, by the way.

It was magical.  I had so much to do on my to do list, and still do, (this show being one of them), but I came to the realization that it was a sunny day and I needed to go for a ride anyhow I might as well enjoy it.

I had an audio book on my headphones.  A book of short stories written by Tom Hanks and read by Tom Hanks that were very Tom Hanksy indeed.  The perfect companion on a sunny day on the trail in the best part of the world.

Just magical.  A real smell the roses session.

I stopped for a bagel on the way back to the house at that little bagel place in Acton that still makes fresh bagels every morning.  It was after lunch so they were out of my favorite Sunflower Bagel, which I understand is a difficult bagel to make, and I opted for the Energy Bagel, which has a plethora of nuts and berries folded artfully into its brown crevices.

And an Ice tea.

And that, my friends is my story.  Because I heard you like stories.

They’re not all about soul searching and daring do.

Sometimes they are about a long walk with the dog and a nice relaxing ride in the sun listening to Tom Hanks muse on the magical nature of old typewriters.

On with the show,

Section One – Th eOne Percent Rule

Featured Interview – Lee

Lee Boniface – https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCsb0ZK-vFMWnUR8q7hg463Q

I guide more than 50 endurance runners to arrive on race day ready and confident without following training plans that don’t deliver predictable results.

I am a 59-year-old endurance runner and running coach. That has loved running from 13 years old.

I am fascinated with how running can help with our mental well-being and how it can assist with our health span too.

I have run 20-plus marathons and participated in 2012 in the Brathay 10 in 10, which is 10 marathons in 10 days.

Section Two: The Current State of Podcasting.

Outro

Ok my friends, you have run by feel, according to perceived effort, to the end of another RunRunLive Podcast, Episode 5-514, completely pickled.

Let’s talk about my training.

The good news is that my training has been consistent.  I’m doing the work.

The not-so-good news is that I’m hitting some headwinds.

The first complaint is the heat.  Boy oh boy I am struggling with the heat.  It just seems to suck the energy out of me.  I get out early in the morning to avoid the heat but that just has the double whammy of having those tired morning legs.

Second, I don’t feel like I’m recovering well at all.  In the old days I’d do two hard weeks followed by one recovery week.  Now it seems reversed.  One hard week takes two weeks to recover from.

And third, I just don’t feel like I care enough about hitting those efforts.  Maybe I’m falling out of love with the training.

The biggest fear that I have, the existential fear, is that I have come to a point in my life where I could have time to really enjoy some running adventures and I may no longer have the ability to do so.  That’s what keeps me awake at night.

But I keep plugging away.

I run 3 to 4 times a week.  Typically, 2 of those are tempo-runs and one is a longer effort.  I’ve also been biking once a week.

But, honestly, I feel like I’m fighting it.  Like I’m not getting anywhere.

I struggle to hold those tempo paces.  I run 16 mile long runs and feel like it takes a week to recover.

I’ll still run this race in September, but I’m going to try to hit a stellar time. I’m going to try to get it in under 4 hours.  That’s enough.

My knee is taking the training fairly well.  It still has some pain in there.  I think that is probably just arthritis at this point and I have to live with it.

Life doesn’t slow down, even when you do.  Life events keep happening and you need to rise up each day, shake them off and move ahead.  Until you can’t anymore.

But, I’m not there yet.  I’m healthy, I’m happy and I’m living with purpose.  Not porpoises, but purpose.  You need to have purpose.

You can live with porpoises as well, but bring some fish.  They like fish.

I’ve got a lot of personal stuff going on this fall.  I’m at a life inflection point.

So, unfortunately for you all I’m going to take a pause in producing RunRunLive for a while.  I’ll check back in after my target race.

And, if for some reason my voice is reaching you, hang in there, stay with it, take care of yourself.  Be the best version of yourself you can be.

Help others without expectation of reward.

Be kind.

And I’ll see you out there.

Buy a book -> https://booklocker.com/books/13731.html

Amazon -> https://www.amazon.com/After-Apocalypse-Story-Pandemic-Survival/dp/0977234207

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