60plus and loving life

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Exercise surely does have benefits when you’re older!

I went for a 6km run this morning and when I was checking my Garmin app, I had a look at my VO2 max. Now I’m not convinced the app is entirely accurate, but even if it’s indicative at best, I am pleased with the data! My VO2 max was 41, which for a woman of 64 is pretty darned good! It also said I had the fitness age of 22. So, yeah – I’ll take that as a compliment.

Your VO2 max is how much oxygen your body can absorb and use during exercise. According to Healthline – as you breathe in oxygen, your lungs absorb it and turn it into energy. This in turn powers your cells and helps reduce carbon dioxide (CO2) when you exhale.

All of that is important as it improves your aerobic capacity to exercise. Particularly as we age, our VO2 max declines. Research indicates that high VO2 max helps you live better as you age as it maintains your health and fitness into your later years. And given I’m heading into my “later years”, I’m happy to improve my VO2 max and stay in the (according to my Garmin app) “superior” category!

Garmin V02 stat
thanks for the compliment!

 

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Running!

I love running. Outside in the fresh air and listening to music. I have bone conducting wireless headphones, so I can still hear ambient noise and traffic! I usually run 5 – 6km around 3 times/week. However, on my birthday each year, I like to run a 10km.

When I turned 64, I went for my 10km annual run. It was a beautiful day, sunny, yet crisp. I set out from my partner’s place. 3km to the river, around for another 2km and back. There are several hills on the route and a couple of really steep ones in the last couple of k’s. However, it was a glorious run. One of those runs that just felt super easy and cruisy and fun. Even the hills didn’t faze me.

I went for another 10k run a couple of weeks after and it was horrendous. It felt like running through treacle. Then at the 4.5k mark, I tripped and landed heavily on the concrete path. I grazed and bruised both hands, both elbows and my left knee.

I continued with my run, but it was tough and unpleasant and when I got home, I was shaky and sore and feeling sorry for myself. Have you tried taking a shower when covered in grazes? Stings like crazy! I do not recommend!

A couple of months prior, I also tripped and fell and grazed myself up and then limped/ran home.

I’m not entirely sure that this might be an age-related thing or just my canny ability to trip over my own feet or as I said to my daughter “my foot forgot to foot!”

Anyway, I have decided to protect my body with gym gloves, elbow, and knee support sleeves. That way if I trip again, I will be less likely to be grazed. It’ll add a little bit of time and effort in gearing up for a run, but hopefully will make a difference.

Older people never stop running, they just wear protective armour!! 😂

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