returning to exercise after 5 year break

I think ambition is always great - but to return to PB's as we get older is always more of a challenge...

What motivated you to return to it with such avengeance?

Paul on Facebook writes, 'Persistence, don't do it by halves. Expect to be a bit sore, but that is natural you are starting to use muscles that have been on holiday for the last 5yrs.
The pain will subside and your exercise regime becomes more regular and soon it won't be present at all.
Good luck I hope you stick with it!'
https://www.facebook.com/photo.php?fbid=10150343053852632&set=a.139715517631.109868.6140642631&type=1&theater

Best of luck Bill!

This from Tony on Facebook - 'You're 5 years older! Start realistically and you're less likely to get injured and more likely to stick with it!'

Hi Bill, are any of your peers still exceeding PBs set 5 years ago? Were your current PBs set at the age of 50, jsut before you gave up? Its not a bad thing to aim for, but i think expecting to be back at your peak in just 3 months after a 5 year break is a bit over-ambitious. I think Tony on FB is right- start realistically and don't push yourself to do too much too fast. An injury at this stage would set you back severely, so best to take things steady.

Was 20lbs overweight and wanted rid of it

Hello,

Thanks for comments

Am using a HR monitor and sticking with a training plan and feeling pretty good. Not expecting miracles hence the original post.

I believe the old PBs were "soft" in the sense that I didnt really understand what a training plan was and how to go about training for the shorter faster distances, have read a lot over the last 12 months and now better understand the various energy systems and how they are targeted by a training program.

Was wondering if there are any other "was beens" out there currently having a go after a significant break ? Or anyone has succesfully come back after such a break ?

How did my original post get out onto facebook ? Do all forum questions automatically get posted on facebook ?

Regards

Bill

Hi Bill,
It's not automated, me or one of the site moderators post questions to Facebook - we have a page here https://www.facebook.com/pages/Peak-Performance/6140642631

There are a few thousand followers of the page and it's useful to ask them for answers to questions posed on the site.

We also feature the best of the week's questions in our weekly newsletter - this goes out every Monday.

Oh and there's Twitter too - we're at Sports_perform
https://twitter.com/sports_perform

I am 52 and have recently run a couple of 400m races after a break of many years. I have been putting in the miles for years now, but it was not until I tried sprinting again that I realised just how much strength you lose as you get older.

It felt like I was running at 50s pace, but it took 64!

The conclusion I have come to is that I need speed and strength and lots of it. The fitness is easy, the speed is the difficult part.

Most of my training is now weights and short, fast intervals.

You just have to accept that you will be slower and you will ache more and for longer after doing less training!

http://www.howto-run-faster.com