Fast Talk Podcast - Staying Strong as You Age

[ptourkin]

http://www.velonews.com/2018/03/podcast/fast-talk-podcast-secrets-staying-strong-age-ned-overend_458403

Fast Talk is excellent in general. I have gotten some great advice from it. This one is good but one of the conclusions I took is that Ned is still strong because he's Ned Overend.

[jimcav]

but this past December I attempted a MTB race about 5 weeks after breaking 3ribs--(had to bail out) but afterward when I looked up the race results was surprised the course record on the pro-expert course was Tinker Jaurez and he was in his 50s when he got it. I did a ride 542 Mt Baker climb in Washington state in '07 and Ned won or got 2nd, and he was 52 then I think and beat 20- somethings going for prize money.

[MattTuck]

There was a time, maybe 5 years ago, when I wouldn't have clicked on a link like this. Now, I click on it and book mark it.

:help:

[Mzilliox]

There was a time, maybe 5 years ago, when I wouldn't have clicked on a link like this. Now, I click on it and book mark it.

:help:

Same here as i sit being angry that my ribs won't heal as fast as i used to. sun just came out, i should be on a bike, only lung expansion hurts and i dont get paid for this crap. Im all over this later, thanks for the link.

[adub]

Nothing better than a 50+++yr old dropping the young dudes!
This podcast was a great listen.

[Bonesbrigade]

This was an excellent podcast! Ned has always been one of my cycling hero's - if there is such a thing.

I have a good Ned story. 3 years ago at a gravel race called the Vermont Overland, I was lining up, and I look beside me and Ned was there! I was star-struck - and also surprised how tiny he was - I thought he was a giant!

Anyway, after about 25min. into the race, we hit the first really big climb - rutted steep jeep trail. The top guys had a gap (Jessee Anthony, Jeremy Martin, and Ansel Dicky). The next in line chasing was Me, my teammate and Ned. We were all suffering bad, and at one point Ned turns around to me and say, "this is f@cking awesome"! Totally surreal.

Anyway, we spent the next 3 hours working together in the chase group that swelled to 6 of us eventually. Ned was super positive all day and NEVER skipped a turn when we rotated on the road sections.

On the last big climb, Tim Johnson who was also in the group cramped, I cramped next, and Ned just chugged along. He ended up putting 1.5min. into me on the last section.

If that wasn't a rad enough, Ned saw me at the post race lunch and asked me if he could join our table. The conversation was pretty typical - we talked about off road gravel riding, tires, gearing... Definitely one of my most memorable cycling days.

[ceolwulf]

There was a time, maybe 5 years ago, when I wouldn't have clicked on a link like this. Now, I click on it and book mark it.

:help:

Aye yup you and me both :help:

[KarlC]

Great reminders thx

[MattTuck]

This was an excellent podcast! Ned has always been one of my cycling hero's - if there is such a thing.

I have a good Ned story. 3 years ago at a gravel race called the Vermont Overland, I was lining up, and I look beside me and Ned was there! I was star-struck - and also surprised how tiny he was - I thought he was a giant!

Anyway, after about 25min. into the race, we hit the first really big climb - rutted steep jeep trail. The top guys had a gap (Jessee Anthony, Jeremy Martin, and Ansel Dicky). The next in line chasing was Me, my teammate and Ned. We were all suffering bad, and at one point Ned turns around to me and say, "this is f@cking awesome"! Totally surreal.

Anyway, we spent the next 3 hours working together in the chase group that swelled to 6 of us eventually. Ned was super positive all day and NEVER skipped a turn when we rotated on the road sections.

On the last big climb, Tim Johnson who was also in the group cramped, I cramped next, and Ned just chugged along. He ended up putting 1.5min. into me on the last section.

If that wasn't a rad enough, Ned saw me at the post race lunch and asked me if he could join our table. The conversation was pretty typical - we talked about off road gravel riding, tires, gearing... Definitely one of my most memorable cycling days.

That is a great story. Are you local?


I finally listened to the podcast, and think one of the big take-aways is that general fitness becomes much more important as you get older. Spending 4 hours on the bike might be fun and enjoyable, but probably 2.5 hours of riding and 1.5 in the gym is better for you.

Also, doing nordic skiing in the winter probably helps immensely to maintain fitness through the cold months.

[John H.]

Ned is awesome- some of the things he does (weight training and high intensity) can be of benefit to others- But mostly he is an outlier.

He has been a high level endurance athlete since he was young- Lots of miles under his belt, also has a highly tuned sense of RPE and highly tuned sense of need for recovery.

Following Ned's plan of chasing Strava segments and doing group rides may not have the same effect on you-

[Bonesbrigade]

That is a great story. Are you local?


I finally listened to the podcast, and think one of the big take-aways is that general fitness becomes much more important as you get older. Spending 4 hours on the bike might be fun and enjoyable, but probably 2.5 hours of riding and 1.5 in the gym is better for you.

Also, doing nordic skiing in the winter probably helps immensely to maintain fitness through the cold months.

No, I'm Canadian!

What I got from Ned from my brief, but insightful time with him, is that he still loves to race. That dude has a lot of passion and he's having a good time doing it.

It was so refreshing and fun seeing a rider with his history and accomplishments bombing down class 4 roads together and listening to his "whoo hoos" on the exciting bits. You can tell he's super competitive, but it's heavily tempered with enjoyment.

I'd like to think I have a similar approach to my riding - I don't stick to one discipline - I race road, gravel and cx, most of my training is on gravel and trails with my fat tired road bike, and single track with my mtn bike. I also fatbike all winter and rarely go on the trainer. I mix in skate skiing and snowshoe running as well.

I don't do structured training or intervals, and rely mainly on hard group rides and hammering trails with my buddies for fitness. I plan to introduce weights into my routine, but I just haven't got there yet.

I try not to take racing too seriously, because I just find it makes the whole thing too stressful.

The big takeaways for me to staying fit as we age (I'm 43), is consistency, variety of sports and fun types of riding.

[Mikej]

So what were some of the points? Just keeping motivated? I’d much rather read an article, is it available in written form?

[ptourkin]

No, I'm Canadian!

What I got from Ned from my brief, but insightful time with him, is that he still loves to race. That dude has a lot of passion and he's having a good time doing it.

It was so refreshing and fun seeing a rider with his history and accomplishments bombing down class 4 roads together and listening to his "whoo hoos" on the exciting bits. You can tell he's super competitive, but it's heavily tempered with enjoyment.

I'd like to think I have a similar approach to my riding - I don't stick to one discipline - I race road, gravel and cx, most of my training is on gravel and trails with my fat tired road bike, and single track with my mtn bike. I also fatbike all winter and rarely go on the trainer. I mix in skate skiing and snowshoe running as well.

I don't do structured training or intervals, and rely mainly on hard group rides and hammering trails with my buddies for fitness. I plan to introduce weights into my routine, but I just haven't got there yet.

I try not to take racing too seriously, because I just find it makes the whole thing too stressful.

The big takeaways for me to staying fit as we age (I'm 43), is consistency, variety of sports and fun types of riding.

Great story and I agree with your takeaways. I suffered some burnout last year with too much structure and not enough fun and it didn't work at all for me. With his physical gifts that we don't share, that aspect really said a lot to me.

[glepore]

1) don't get hurt
2) don't do so much volume that you end up with afib
3) do something other than bike (weights, or whatever, but weights are good)
4)you probably have an endurance base, so h.i.t.
5) it is very helpful to be a genetic outlier

[C40_guy]

1) don't get hurt
2) don't do so much volume that you end up with afib
3) do something other than bike (weights, or whatever, but weights are good)
4)you probably have an endurance base, so h.i.t.
5) it is very helpful to be a genetic outlier

The Running Rogue podcast recently covered the same issue. Recommendations:

- Get quality sleep
- Pay attention to quality of diet
- Extend time between hard workouts (rather than take one day off, take two)
- Cross train
- Weight train

And the big one...start doing this before you need to...

[pasadena]

A big takeaway is that Ned trains on feel. He attributes his longevity to this.
He doesn't use a powermeter, hr, or anything- never has. Doesn't use a coach.

The reason this is important, is the mental state needs to be factored in.
Enjoy it, every day. Those little moments add up to either getting burned out, or continuing on- year after year, decade after decade.
Figure out what works for you- not what you think should work, or what everyone else does.

Rest is very important, especially for hobby cyclists. We have a lot of other factors that take our energy.
Train hard, rest harder.

My buddy uses a coach, powermeter, hr and gets a lot of enjoyment out of it.
I ride clean :p and get the same highs
We both love cycling and it's an integral part of our lives.

[MattTuck]

Funny to hear this, and then see that Seattle has resigned Ichiro.

[93KgBike]

Thank you for this link. Love it.

"Staying healthy by not crashing can make a HUGE difference in maintaining your fitness." -Ned Overend

Sage advice, indeed!

[zennmotion]

Good podcast- my only negative feedback would be that Glenn Swan should have had more time, and wasn't even acknowledged at the end. No disrespect to Ned as an incredible athlete who clearly has it figured out pretty well, but Glenn is more of an "everyman" who's worn multiple national and even rainbow jerseys- and kept a demanding job (Machinist-technician at Cornell engineering school), has a great bike shop in his barn, has been a cycling coach, mentor, race organizer (including an annual CX race on his property, the "Swandrome"-- the epicenter of a very active cycling community in central NY. I was lucky to be on the receiving end of his advice in my own early racing as a teen in the late 70s, even driving me to a few races and letting me couch surf at his parent's place in the Adirondacks during a big race weekend...

Pulling me back by my jersey as I'm "proving myself" on a 2 hr group training ride on a snowy March Saturday "not too hard, not yet, stay on a wheel!"

Encouraging me as I got blown off the back in the first 5 mins of my first road race "you kept the group in sight the whole race, you were working harder than the leaders"

"Don't ride the B group if you want to learn, ride with the fast guys as long as you can until you're dropped, then think about what happened before you got dropped, learn to follow a wheel- if you don't train at 30mph, you'll never be able to race at 30mph"

His approach to training-- never intervals, always fun, Tuesday rides hard as hell, Time trial every thursday, recovery recovery recovery has been consistent, and works long term to keep it fresh and fun. MTB and XC skiing in winter, little road bike off-season. While I could definitely benefit from a power meter, I hate power meters, and I don't care, that attitude probably came from Glenn.

He's a great athlete, an incredible mentor to many, and even an occasional frame builder for a lucky few.

[pasadena]

I love to hear stories like this
Very cool stuff thanks!

Good podcast- my only negative feedback would be that Glenn Swan should have had more time, and wasn't even acknowledged at the end. No disrespect to Ned as an incredible athlete who clearly has it figured out pretty well, but Glenn is more of an "everyman" who's worn multiple national and even rainbow jerseys- and kept a demanding job (Machinist-technician at Cornell engineering school), has a great bike shop in his barn, has been a cycling coach, mentor, race organizer (including an annual CX race on his property, the "Swandrome"-- the epicenter of a very active cycling community in central NY. I was lucky to be on the receiving end of his advice in my own early racing as a teen in the late 70s, even driving me to a few races and letting me couch surf at his parent's place in the Adirondacks during a big race weekend...

Pulling me back by my jersey as I'm "proving myself" on a 2 hr group training ride on a snowy March Saturday "not too hard, not yet, stay on a wheel!"

Encouraging me as I got blown off the back in the first 5 mins of my first road race "you kept the group in sight the whole race, you were working harder than the leaders"

"Don't ride the B group if you want to learn, ride with the fast guys as long as you can until you're dropped, then think about what happened before you got dropped, learn to follow a wheel- if you don't train at 30mph, you'll never be able to race at 30mph"

His approach to training-- never intervals, always fun, Tuesday rides hard as hell, Time trial every thursday, recovery recovery recovery has been consistent, and works long term to keep it fresh and fun. MTB and XC skiing in winter, little road bike off-season. While I could definitely benefit from a power meter, I hate power meters, and I don't care, that attitude probably came from Glenn.

He's a great athlete, an incredible mentor to many, and even an occasional frame builder for a lucky few.

[dogrange]

Agreed. Enjoy this podcast in general and the aging/overend/swann edition was particularly interesting as I Sm fast approaching the unsexy side of 50.


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[MattTuck]

Also, apparently riding is good for your immune system as you age.


http://www.bbc.com/news/health-43308729

[zennmotion]

Also, apparently riding is good for your immune system as you age.


http://www.bbc.com/news/health-43308729

Yes, this ^. And in all honesty, noticeable effects on brain function and depression are my primary motivation these days, especially when I don't feel like it, thus my PL moniker
https://www.health.harvard.edu/mind-and-mood/get-your-heart-pumping-in-the-fight-against-forgetfulness