I have often joked with my wife, that the best way for me to qualify for Kona, is to stay healthy longer than anyone else and get in, when I’m the only one in my age group. 

Of course, I am only half joking, because it would be really cool to stay fit and healthy long enough to an Ironman, when I am really old.  With this logic, I couldn’t resist reading a book by Chris Crowley and Henry Lodge, MD.  It’s called ‘Younger Next Year – A guide to living like 50 until you’re 80 and beyond’.

It’s a great book and I highly recommend it to us older athletes.  Their seven rules to becoming ‘younger next year’ are all fairly obvious.  For example Rule #1 is … ‘Exercise Six Days A Week For The Rest Of Your Life’.  What is fascinating about this book however, is the ‘Why’ behind each rule.  It mostly comes down to millions of years of evolution and the chemistry in our bodies.  That chemistry can  either promote growth or decay in our bodies and it’s possible to promote growth over decay by the things you do every day.

There’s also an emotional part to it too.  To quote the book …  “We evolved as social pack animals, like wolves and dolphins.  It’s not a choice; our survival depends on being part of a group.  No one has ever gone into the Amazon jungle and found an isolated person; it’s always a tribe.  There is no such thing as a solitary human in nature, because isolation is fatal.”

Triathlon, especially the training, can be an isolating sport.  A few years back, when I first started in the sport, it was isolating for me.  I had fun for a while because I was improving quickly, but eventually it became tougher.  I then found a community through my coach and the C26 Triathlon team.  I can honestly say it was a game changer.  Check out their website at C26Triathlon.com.   If you dig around a little you will see me on there; I’m the one with the ‘different accent’ …

P.S.  This particular book was written for men.  The authors also have a version for women; but I haven’t read that one 🙂