"Faster?" Part 4

1) Why am I doing this?
2) What trips me up?
3) Is it even possible to do better?
4) Am I capable of doing more, faster?
5) What makes me stop?
6) What's next?
7) Do I give up this crazy dream?

Continuing to explore these questions in reference to my pursuit of stair climbing:
 
Sixty years old, no background in fitness or athletic activities, diagnosed five years ago with a degenerative arthritis called Facet Joint Disease, as well as ten years ago with holes in my bronchial tubes causing Irreversible Airways Disease, I ask the question, "Am I capable of climbing faster?"
 
I do not need expert medical opinion, professional fitness advice, or age-related possibility studies in order to answer this question.
 
I need only one thing.  Honesty.
 
If I'm honest,  I recognize my body fat percentage is way too high. 
 

Biggest bottom line,

all else aside...

when I lose fifteen pounds, there is no doubt whatsoever,

I will be faster on the stairs.

 

********

 
Now for the "asides" --
 
1)  Five years ago I awoke in pain every morning, had great difficulty reaching down to step into a pair of pants.  I walked through airports after a flight, very slowly, all bent over.  At baggage claim, I had to sit waiting, while someone else retrieved my luggage.  Advil, muscle relaxers and pain medication were staples.

Research on my diagnosis said it would get worse over time, and the only thing available for it would be pain control once the pain became unbearable (like a shot directly into your spine!)

No.

For four years I worked to strengthen everything around the middle and lower spine problem areas. I lost 50 pounds.  My self-prescribed treatment plan was training in the gym, private Pilates sessions, regular chiropractic adjustments and deep tissue massage, rounded out by believing I would get better and better.  To make it happen, I set goals I'd never even contemplated when I was much younger, and I met them.
 
Today I go to bed and wake up the next day, pain free. I travel alone when necessary, walking briskly and confidently through airports, easily retrieving my own luggage! 

I climb stairs in 90+ floor towers.  I feel fantastic afterward!

Advil? Only on a rare occasion.  Now, the only time I'm aware the problem exists, is when I do not use my core and other muscles optimally in specific types of twisting motions, or on elevation.  Period.

So much for degenerative! 

2)  The Irreversible Airways Disease is a little trickier.
Currently I haven't worked up to running one mile yet without stopping. I am finally able to keep running for 8 -10 minutes at a time though.  That's huge for me!  When I'm discouraged, Jesse simply says, "You have to learn to crawl before you can walk," and we keep plugging away.

Also, currently I stop every 15 to 20 floors on a stair climb, double over and quickly use self-hypnosis techniques to calm my desperate gasps for air.  This slows me down. This year we are working on moving to a place where I do not have to stop. 

3)  Age...irrelevant.  Too many examples out there of men and women in their sixties and older, performing at incredible levels.  In Born to Run, Christopher McDougall explains that long distance runners reach their peak at age 64!

4) A lifetime of unhealthy patterns in the areas of diet and exercise must all be shifted.  I progress, I regress.  My biggest frontier is in the area of diet.   A work in progress.  When it's conquered, the 15 pounds will be gone, and  I will be faster.

Next question please.

With Jesse
June 2012