When a 38-year-old runs faster in a 1500 in training (4:50) than she did in college (4:58)
or when
a 67-year-old, having declared herself as a "never runner", runs 100% of her first 5K
or when
a 63-year-old reflects on three one-mile open water swims, having started swimming at 60 (her first year of swimming being a challenge to swim
a full lap without panicking)
or when
a 51-year old, a competitive runner when she joined MOVE! at 48 years old, improves her 2.85 mile training time from 19:22 to 18:33 under similar conditions.....
....I think the obvious and the less obvious. The obvious: they're getting better as they age. The less obvious (not apparent, actually): they're training with all the extra "bears" of the normal challenges of adult life: everything from surgeries to moves to worries with children and parents to uncertainties about work.
Thumbs up for them and for deliberate practice. It's never too late to be our best - whether in terms of absolute time or age-grading. Challenges we don't expect will always be there.
Deliberate practice (DP) is a focus of MOVE!. As research (especially that of Dr. K. Anders Ericsson) shows, DP is a key to excellence in athletics, work, anything. Consistency, practice and attention to detail matter. There's a big difference between practice and deliberate practice, as shown, simply in this illustration.
This video tells deliberate practice best. For original Ericsson's original research, see http://projects.ict.usc.edu/itw/gel/EricssonDeliberatePracticePR93.pdf.
- c.u.
or when
a 67-year-old, having declared herself as a "never runner", runs 100% of her first 5K
or when
a 63-year-old reflects on three one-mile open water swims, having started swimming at 60 (her first year of swimming being a challenge to swim
a full lap without panicking)
or when
a 51-year old, a competitive runner when she joined MOVE! at 48 years old, improves her 2.85 mile training time from 19:22 to 18:33 under similar conditions.....
....I think the obvious and the less obvious. The obvious: they're getting better as they age. The less obvious (not apparent, actually): they're training with all the extra "bears" of the normal challenges of adult life: everything from surgeries to moves to worries with children and parents to uncertainties about work.
Thumbs up for them and for deliberate practice. It's never too late to be our best - whether in terms of absolute time or age-grading. Challenges we don't expect will always be there.
Deliberate practice (DP) is a focus of MOVE!. As research (especially that of Dr. K. Anders Ericsson) shows, DP is a key to excellence in athletics, work, anything. Consistency, practice and attention to detail matter. There's a big difference between practice and deliberate practice, as shown, simply in this illustration.
This video tells deliberate practice best. For original Ericsson's original research, see http://projects.ict.usc.edu/itw/gel/EricssonDeliberatePracticePR93.pdf.
- c.u.