"We join spokes together in a wheel, but it is the center hole that makes the wagon move. We shape clay into a pot, but it is the emptiness inside that holds whatever we want. We hammer wood for a house, but it is the inner space that makes it livable. We work with being, but non-being is what we use." Tao te Ching by Lao-tzu, translation by S. Mitchell Hi folks! Thanks for stopping by! Most ... Read more
FitOldDog Is Not A Great Athlete But A Persistent One So Attitude Is More Important Than Genes For His Marathons
Hi folks! Thanks for stopping by! As you age you need to become increasingly aware of what is going on within and around your body if you want to stay in the game of life for as long as you can. This post was prompted by an article forwarded to me by my sister in Spain, and it's interesting in the nature of its implied underlying assumptions about what motivates most people to undertake marathons. I often ... Read more
A Running Cadence Lesson From My Dogs
Hi folks! Thanks for stopping by! Non-human animals are natural athletes, whilst we are burdened (and gifted) with an over active neocortex (that big lump of brain that causes us to solve problems, but worry about them too much). Non-human animals just seem to do what they do without really thinking about it, as far as one can tell. Though I'm sure they are having many more great thoughts and emotions than ... Read more
Don’t Be Blindsided By Lack Of Body Awareness As You Age Or You’ll Beat Up The Only Body You Have
Hi folks! Thanks for stopping by! I suspect that improved body awareness applied to safe exercise for better health can open the road to enjoyable endurance racing and an active old age. In my last Ironman race a few days ago I had the opportunity to watch the runners, because I missed the bike cutoff (thank goodness, but that's another story). There was a consistent feature of these runners that caught my ... Read more
To Fix Sports Injuries You Have To Understand Them And Plantar Fasciitis Is A Great Example
"No Consensus on a Common Cause [plantar fasciitis] of Foot Pain" Gretchen Reynolds, The New York Times, Health/Science. “Short cuts make long delays.” Pippen, character in the book, Lord of the Rings, by JRR Tolkein. "Fascia, like posture, is dynamic." Rebecca Amis Lawson, FitOldDog's Dance and Continuum Instructor. Hi folks! Thanks for stopping by! As an aging Ironman distance triathlete, I ... Read more
Born To Run So Don’t Give Up On Barefoot Running
Hi folks! Thanks for stopping by! Remember the Barefoot Running craze? I hear people scoff at it all the time, saying that the podiatrists and chiropractors love the business it brings. You have to do it right for you! I tried barefoot running for over a year and had lots of problems with strained tendons in my feet, even though I went slowly and carefully. I suspect that my particular problems were ... Read more
Make Sure Your Perception Fits Reality Especially When Running Trails
Hi folks! Thanks for stopping by! We look at the world, but we don't always see what is actually there. This is because, for efficiency's sake, the brain fills in a great deal of information to make things fit. If it collected and processed all the visual data you'd get nowhere. For instance, when you see a house, your mind creates a 3D image in your mind of the house as a box, even though you can ... Read more
Bill Is Now Off His Diabetes Medications Due To A Change In His Perception Of Reality With Thoughts On Run Cadence And Sweeteners
Hi folks! Thanks for stopping by! I was visiting with friends the other day when Bill turned up, who I hadn't seen for several months. Now, Bill has had a weight problem, but this time he looked pretty trim for a guy in his late fifties. He announced loudly that he had lost 100 lbs. and his doctor had taken him off of his diabetes (type II) medicine. Type II diabetes can be reversed if you don't ... Read more
Recent Comments