One More Mile - Cape Cod Athletic Club

Cape Cod Athletic Club - July/Oct 2007
A Game Plan for Aging
Lucy Duffy
T
he Sprint Triathlon--swimming, biking and running
--is a great way to grow old, to maintain one’s body
and to experience the sheer joy of existence. The
rewards are a finely tuned body, a spring in one’s step,
good health, the camaraderie of athletes of all ages and
even medals!
Never an athlete in my youth, I find myself thriving on
the physical benefits of triathlon training, the mental challenges
of learning something new, and, at age 74, winning
a gold medal in the July 2007 Humana-sponsored National
Senior Olympics in Louisville, Kentucky. I had a
game plan. It got results and what fun! The National Senior
Olympics with competition in 18 sports for athletes 50
and over are held every other year with the alternate year
being a qualifying year in each of the states.
Confidence in myself as an athlete in my 60’s and now
my 70’s has been a surprise and delight. Growing up in the
40’s and 50’s with no Title 9 to encourage girls’ participation
in sports, I had never been an athlete. We watched the
boys play ball. It never occurred to me that there was
something amiss about that. At most I was the marble
champion of the schoolyard.
I began running in my forties to alleviate the stress of
trying to do it all: raising a family, teaching, and organizing
and operating a household. My first marathon at age 48
was followed by 13 others and countless shorter races.
Now, at 74, I say with pride that I am a triathlete and recommend
cross training and the sprint triathlon as a good
way to grow old. I loved the exhilaration of the marathon.
I combined and still do combine my athletic endeavors
with my other passion, raising money for the Leukemia
and Lymphoma Society. (My husband died of leukemia in
1986.) However, after my last marathon, the Boston marathon
at age 70, I needed another goal, one less stressful on
the whole body and less time consuming.
I responded to a notice in the Cape Codder by Andy
Scherding for the formation of a Cape Cod Triathlon
Team. With the encouragement of Andy and many triathlete
friends I began training and signed up for my first
competition at Craigville Beach in Hyannis sponsored by
Rich Havens and Time Out! Productions in June of 2005.
I could run and bike well enough but when I went to a pool
I found I was sputtering and worn out after 25 yards. I
learned to swim all over again. I took workshops in Total
Immersion and went to a triathlon Camp where I practiced
swimming, biking and running. (www.tritekcamps.com)
My first triathlon I did on sheer innocence. It is a formidable
phenomenon to see 800 or more athletes in wetsuits
on Craigville Beach in Hyannis, Massachusetts at 7 am
plunging into the cold, choppy waters of Nantucket Sound,
trying not to get walloped by other swimmers. I survived
the swim, doing side stroke, back stroke, whatever it took
just to survive out there scared to death. I could bike on
my trusty but old hybrid Bianci; I could run well enough to
finish but lost time on the transitions from one sport to the
next. Nevertheless it was fun and besides I got a great big
neck-bending medal since I was the only one in my age
group.
I was hooked. The completion time was manageable.
The sprint distances (1/4 to 1/2 mile swim, 10 to 14 mile
bike ride, 3 1/2 to 4 1/2 mile run), while still challenging,
are a cinch compared to the marathon. Instead of what had
become a six plus hour ordeal of the marathon, the triathlon
was all over in at most one hour and forty minutes.
The fast folks do it in less than an hour.
The best part of the preparation for a sprint triathlon is the
cross training for three sports which balances out the body,
demanding the strengthening of different muscle groups
without straining any one. The cross training has worked
like a dream. I train mostly alone. I followed a training
schedule beginning in January for a June tri. Now in my
third season as a triathlete I am comfortable with the training.
I have a zippy, new, fast, red bike and begin to see
results.
Having a game plan is a lesson in consistency. I permit
myself no excuses. Training is as important as brushing
one’s teeth. No matter how busy one is there is time if you
are determined. The rewards for the discipline are incredible:
the sense of well being, the sense of being in control
of oneself even if everything else goes wrong, the feeling
of being altogether, doing everything in one’s life with
confidence, meeting each day with a purpose. I feel more
fit than when I was a young woman. I add to my schedule
weight training two times a week and a yoga class. I begin
the day with 15-20 minutes yoga stretching and strengthening
exercises. I train swimming, biking and running five
days a week with mostly one sport each day but when getting
towards a competition I do what triathletes call bricks,
that is to say doing two of the sports consecutively. My
goal this year was the Sprint triathlon in the National Senior
Olympics on July 1st. I followed a schedule made for
me by Katherine Schwab of Big Dreams Fitness.
(katherine@bigdreamsfitness.com)
And whoopee! I went to the National Senior Olympics in
Louisville in July. I had a great time participating in this
phenomenon with 15,000 senior athletes and I had the
thrill of stepping up to the podium for the gold medal. Best
of all I feel wonderful and want to spread the word about a
game plan for aging. The trials for the Humana Sponsored
2009 National Senior Games in 2009 in San Francisco will
be in June of 2008 in Springfield, Massachusetts. Join me
there and hopefully in San Francisco or in the Humana
sponsored games in Houston, Texas in 2011.
(www.maseniorgames.org/) (www.nsga.com) ,
Copyright Lucy DeVries Duffy July 16, 2007
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