Originally Posted by
gif4445
Interesting thread. And wondering if any of it fits in my situation. I was 61 yo when I raced the Trans Am. 4200+ miles in a little over 28 days, with mileage days ranging from 70 (mechanical problem) to 220. In the month(s) afterwards I was notably weaker, which is no surprise. What has been concerning to me is how my body has kinda broke down since the race in June of 2019 Neck and knee surgery, Sciatic/back pain, which has been the worst. Always something. Could, and probably is, more of an age issue than anything, but maybe it goes beyond that. Just thought I would throw that out there.
Yes, of course it's an age thing, meaning the body's response to exercise changes as we age. The immediate question is what did you do about it? This is not really an LD topic, it's more appropriately addressed in the 50+ forum. 60+ y.o. riders who complete the TransAm probably don't comprise a large enough group on which to do a statistical analysis that would tell anyone anything.
I suffered notable drop-offs in my response to exercise at about 63 and 70, no idea why those sharp drops seem to happen instead of a steady slope. There's nothing remarkable in my training record. So far, whenever I've encountered a new issue, I've posted it and my fix in the 50+ forum. So far, I've had success fixing stuff. Seems to me there might be a training or supplement fix for everything short of organ failure. Not a complete fix, but good enough to keep on keeping on.
For the sciatica of course you do the special sciatic stretches every morning. I found the best therapy was to go for long vigorous walks while working on rolling each hip in a circular path. The first mile was hell, but then it kept getting better. All gone now. It seemed to me that not riding enough was what caused the sciatica - just a a back weakened from inadequate stress. I had a saddle sore. Once a body part gets weak, it's open to all sorts of damage. My first response to any kind of weakness or weak feeling is to train it out while experimenting with diet to see if that might have anything to do with it.