CRASH-Bs '17 65+HWTs

[Edward4492]

Couldn't agree more, Herculean effort for Lindsay to accomplish what he did. And then to go out and RACE!.....pushing the first 1000m at an unsustainable 1:40 pace and still finishing within a second or two of his PR for a hard-earned silver medal. Extremely well done! As I tell the kids I coach....sometimes the other guy is just faster. Nothing you can do but go on the attack, stay on the attack, and bare your soul.

Nice job Lindsay!

[lindsayh]

thanks guys a real blast and no regrets and thanks for all your help and support along the way - I genuinely believe that it would have been much harder without all the good vibes. Jack I quite like the hobo/boho look that we present to the outside world.
Back to training next week

[Cyclingman1]

The logistical complications of travel, personal expense and loss of income, potential for contracting respiratory and intestinal bugs, cumulative stress of upset sleep and diet are major pre-comp hurdles faced by the more mature set of trans-continental, trans-oceanic, and globe-circumnavigating competitors at Boston. No sugardaddy sponsorships or shepherding national teams for them. What they may lack in unis and form is compensated by conditioning, stamina, and guts! Here's to the remarkable victory tour of Mr. LIndsay Hay!

I couldn't agree more. I don't have what it takes to travel from Atlanta, let alone Australia. And then to row within a second of a PB. Wow!

Wish I'll still have the will and power to do that by the time I hit 65, although I'm silently hoping I wont
be crazy enough .

Jack, I quite like the hobo/boho look that we present to the outside world.

I turn 71 next week. God knows what look I present to the outside world. How about broken down ex-athlete, or something. Maybe I am crazy for doing eleven 2Ks in the last three months or so and only the first worth a damn. Perhaps it is best to fade away and not let ego drive something ugly.

[Edward4492]

Fade away? Never Jim! You set a very high standard for yourself which is to be applauded. You still hold several impressive WR's. Your times at age 71 would smoke 90% of the athletes of any age in the average crossfit box or on the average masters team. I mean, it's not even up for discussion. Always fight the good fight! You're probably like me, when I go to a birthday party or an affair and hear the people my age talking; and the discussion revolves around doctor visits, ailments, aches and pains (okay, I guess I do that to), and the high point of their week is a new jeopardy episode I think "I'm glad this isn't my world". I have a woman, Janet, on our Masters Team who's 68 yrs old. She has more energy than the average 25 yr old. All she can talk about is getting faster, fitter, and beating so and so. How cool is that? I compete in several local erg events. It's interesting how we think. A couple of weeks ago I had a decent event, 7:17. Now we both know that is well off the standard I set for myself and I'm only pleased in the context that it's the best number I can put up at the moment. I've spent the past week analyzing my training log and plotting for next year and knocking 10s (or more!) off of that number. But the locals.....they think that's a phenomenal time! And I accept their congratualtions with a smile. I learned a long time ago that when you beat someone by 30s, you don't go on about how you should be going faster. You keep it to yourself,smile and say thank you very much. My goal is always the same, keep working it and tweaking and seeing where I can improve. It's the process that's the reward.

And as a side not, regarding appearance? I diet like a fashion model and drop from a post-holiday weight of around 170lb to 161-162 (weighed in at 161.8 at "B"s). For a few weeks each year I'm totally ripped, and I'm wearin' a nice tight racin' uni.

[Cyclingman1]

Ed, thanks for the boost. Yeah, I totally agree that poormouthing about times is ill-advised. Think back to Tiger Woods stomping on a field by 10 shots and then saying he did it with his B game. That rankled. Now, he can't beat a decent club pro.

I have an entire Spring, Summer, & Fall to come out the other end regarding rowing, cycling, etc. I'll just have to see where I end up. I now live in a large, private retirement community. Most are retired. Maybe this has been a mistake. I'm almost a freak around here. How this is going to turn out is another unknown. But moving is a bitch. Took me six months to sell old house with lots of anxiety. All of this is to say that getting old [70+] has complications that one may not have thought of 20 yrs earlier.

[Edward4492]

Totally understand your point of view Jim. May be that now we're looking at the "final chapter". Turning 60 smacked me in the face pretty hard. If you want to look at someone very interesting, check out Clarence Bass at cbass.com; pretty amazing individual. And some more advice? Hang out around young people when it's appropriate. Feed off of their energy. Most of the master's grumble when the high school crew kids take over the boat house, I love it! I spend a lot of time in crossfit boxes; slightly older crowd (lot's of 20 to 40 somethings) but high energy stuff. And every once in a while you have one of those "YES" moments. Like when I sat down at a local erg race and was the only master lumped in with several kids; I asked the kid next to me "You ready?" His response " We're all scared to death you're gonna kick our ass!". It's those moments I think about when I'm suffering through a hard work out (for the record, I did not kick their ass).

Keep fightin'! Be "that guy". the old guy that keeps kickin' ass!

[Kafka]

This vid of 65-9HWT is mostly Jack until 5:50 in, at which time my wife sensed the roar of the greasepaint and smell of the crowd and panned to Cooper/Hay/Kurmakov for roughly 1:45. Jean had a serendipitous pov just fwd of their beam which clearly captures the windup and sprint. [Jack carries on for a couple more leisurely minutes but get a load of the Andy Benko no thumbs grip and the water bottle "clean" afterwards!]

https://youtu.be/-D4Os2Q8FZQ

I keep going back and watching this video.

Inspriational.

For someone knocking on the door of 60 and struggling with the realisation of that, seeing you guys putting your all into it like that gives me something.
Linsay to do all that travelling and training - I'm in awe.

Jim and Ed's last few posts in this thread are also inspirational in a way about dealing with the body getting older(but not necessarily the mind).
There's nothing I can do about getting older - I've tried walking backwards everywhere, that doesn't work - but I'll be buggered if I'm going to comply with what society says I should be or do or look like.

I only just started this erging and nowhere near even contemplating doing a race, but you guys have inspired me to work towards it - if they have much in the UK.

May I ask you Jack and Lindsay, how long have you all been erging? I've just started and got a lot to do.

Sorry, I'm rambling - just to say bloody good show you guys and long may you continue.

And thanks.

[jackarabit]

Kafka writes:

only just started this erging and nowhere near even contemplating doing a race, but you guys have inspired me to work towards it - if they have much in the UK.

Think you're in clover on opportunities to race at home, Graham! You should contact your countrymen on the Forum Flyers who did their maiden racing this year (Piers Newman and John Adcock), or track the competitive experience of the many Brits who have migrated to the training and comp threads since the demise of the ISS(UK) forum.

[Cyclist2]

I only just started this erging and nowhere near even contemplating doing a race, but you guys have inspired me to work towards it - if they have much in the UK.May I ask you Jack and Lindsay, how long have you all been erging? I've just started and got a lot to do.

Old? Not me! I stayed with my mother-in-law at CRASH-B last weekend. She is 91 and was getting real antsy because the snow was preventing her from attending her exercise classes.

I've been running/rowing/cycling, in races, since my 20s (I'm 66 now). Now that I'm on the downhill side of improvement, THAT has become the motivator to keep doing it. How can you go to these competitions, with people from 13 to 95 and NOT feel young and invigorated? Even if you are just starting, you'll soon be in the company of like-minded people and you'll notice the effect. So, stay inspired, take it slow so you don't get injured or burned out, and it won't be long....

[lindsayh]

I only just started this erging and nowhere near even contemplating doing a race, but you guys have inspired me to work towards it - if they have much in the UK. May I ask you Jack and Lindsay, how long have you all been erging? I've just started and got a lot to do.

Thanks Graham - the great thing about the erg is that it allows everyone to have a go and right up to the 90s - the oldest competitor I have seen was 95 and still pretty good and my erg buddy Vincent is 92 and still around 9:20 I suspect and still doing 10k pieces and attending race days (he is blind as well). My "nemesis" Chris Cooper has an 87y mum who has won at Boston twice I think in recent years! Now that is inspirational.
There are quite good race days small and large both in UK and on the continent as well - lots of them. Race days are a lot of fun and the erg community is very friendly and supportive - highly recommended.
I started at 57 after 30y in the gym but no competitive sport really so pretty new at it in relative terms but there are a lot of guys and ladies too taking it up later in life. My knees are not good at all so it is quite friendly for that as well