Fast After 50 Quotes

“Stop when you know you can do only one more interval. The last interval is the one to be most wary of, so simply don’t do it.”
― Joe Friel, Fast After 50: How to Race Strong for the Rest of Your Life

“Continuing to train with high intensity results in roughly half as much decline as training with long, slow distance only.”
― Joe Friel, Fast After 50: How to Race Strong for the Rest of Your Life

“Aerobic capacity (VO2max) declines. •​Maximal heart rate is reduced. •​The volume of blood pumped with each heartbeat decreases. •​Muscle fibers are lost, resulting in decreased muscle mass and less strength. •​Aerobic enzymes in the muscles become less effective and abundant. •​Blood volume is reduced.”
― Joe Friel, Fast After 50: How to Race Strong for the Rest of Your Life

“You aren’t old until age becomes your excuse. If you continue to remind yourself of your age and use it as a crutch, no matter what that number is, you’ll come to believe that high achievement is impossible. That”
― Joe Friel, Fast After 50: How to Race Strong for the Rest of Your Life

“Age is whatever you think it is. You are as old as you think you are. —MUHAMMAD ALI”
― Friel Joe, Fast After 50: How to Race Strong for the Rest of Your Life

“Rather than comparing ourselves with normal people, we’ll gain more insight into our needs by seeing what active, fit, and highly motivated older humans are capable of doing. There aren’t as many of these people—after all, they aren’t normal—but they often reveal what is possible at the highest levels of athletic performance.”
― Friel Joe, Fast After 50: How to Race Strong for the Rest of Your Life

“I recommend that veteran athletes partner with their doctors on two fronts. First, you should visit your doctor periodically for a heart-focused checkup and for ongoing assessments of your risk of CAD. You should monitor your risk factors and modify those that can be changed for the better. Additional testing such as a stress test makes sense for those at moderate risk. Second, you should take warning signs seriously. Problems such as chest pain or discomfort, unusual shortness of breath, light-headedness or blacking out, palpitations, and unusual fatigue should be investigated promptly.”
― Friel Joe, Fast After 50: How to Race Strong for the Rest of Your Life

“In the Tel Aviv study, a group of formerly sedentary rats of varying ages ran on a treadmill for 20 minutes daily for 13 weeks. Another pack of rats was the control group. The control group was allowed to remain sedentary—that is, those rats’ muscles were mainly not used. As you might expect from everything you’ve read so far, the exercisers increased their number of stem muscle cells, with the total increase dependent on age—but not in the way you would expect. The younger rat runners saw an increase of 20 to 35 percent in their stem repair cells. The older rats, however, experienced an even greater proliferation—a 33 to 47 percent increase. That’s right: The percentage increase in stem muscle cells was greater in the older subjects than in the younger ones. On the other hand, the nonexercising rats lost stem cells by lying around, eating and sleeping as they aged.”
― Friel Joe, Fast After 50: How to Race Strong for the Rest of Your Life