Being a strong old bird

Distracted by daffodils

Erik works the chain

17.03.2015
Day 336

An our working the kinetic chain with Erik. Cycling to Greenwich for a Buggy Runner debrief with Ellie. Kent AC this evening: session – 1m warm up, 4m round Ladywell Fields, 1m warm down. Pollution is bad today - feel it in the chest.

Having barely noticed the 30 miles I ran over the weekend while admiring Scottish views and digesting unwonted treats, I'm back on the bread-and-vegetables Rift Valley diet, in Lewisham,  but, sadly, unable to do that mileage. Elle and I discussed the Kenyan manner of running. They have perfect upward and outward leg action, with the heel flicks we can only achieve when we're consciously drilling them, and slowly at that. Their leanness and iron musculature has been both honed by train, eat, sleep, repeat but it's also present from childhood, before that, it's in their genetic code. We can admire, and attempt to mimic, but to attempt that mileage would be nuts.
So I train with Erik, who tells me I need to work my kinetic chain. He has me stepping back onto my heel to stretch my calf, then shows how my back leg invariably moves outward to one side.
Later, Ellie explains how hormonal upheavals (pregnancy, breastfeeding, and, later, the menopause) makes us gather fat under our arms, around our hips and stomachs. The fat is there to be used. As we age, the fat dissipates but the skin dangles. It is, though, possible still to build muscle post menopause. Getting outside, doing those reps, both Erik style circuits and reps of the running track, can still help us grannies look better in their clothes. I wish I could look better in photos. I am not too troubled by my body when it's naked, it seems ok, in that there's not too much of it. Once clothes are on though, lumps appear I wish weren't there. And why does a menopausal woman's face look big? It's probably the jowelly droop.
No need to obsess, though, about the skin deep, it's the skeleton and muscle mass that should concern me, and the fact that I could train it to move faster. Big face or no big face.