3 years out and musculoskeletal breakdown....

I'm rehabbing a torn subscap shoulder tendon - an injury that started with a road bike crash....then some handstand pushups......but in the last two weeks I've now developed shin splints.....was training for my first half marathon.     I"m 49....and my primary care doc just said I have to accept my age and do lower impact stuff.    I have orhtho consults for the shoulder - after 2 months of Physical Therapy and two cortisone injections it's worse........so I'm proceeding with surgical repair.

I'm very worried.  I've become a jock......and can't imagine not being able to train the way I do........but I'm beginning to wonder if I'm becoming osteoporotic already!  I haven't had a bone density evaluation.......and my blood work is fine.....calcium and Vit D levels are holding steady.........but any experience would be so helpful.   For those of you in my age range doing tri's etc......how do you train......and avoid breakdown.......Susan

MacMadame? Linn? ...

Dan - let me explain something to you about women and age ...

They are going to kick your ass!!!    lol

All three women are awesome and I was bound to get a whoopin at some point! BRING THE PAIN!!!!!

Age isn't an issue with me!  I love birthdays and am happy to share my age and experiences with anyone who cares (and even those who don't)!

Linn

Hey Suze -
Poor baby! I've got my aches & pains from too many years at too much weight, but so far have managed to remain pretty much injury-free. I train hard but haven't gone over a 5k yet, due to doc' warning that my ankles & knees might not handle it yet. I'm 55. by the way.
Just take your rehab slow & easy & come back slow & easy to jock level. It should be OK!
Keep us informed and maybe we can be of some help!
Love,
;-) Woody

My goal is to be able to do what I do (running) forever.  I want to die running in my 90's.  I have talked to people about and read articles about exercising as the age goes up.  You don't have to stop but you do have to change things up a bit.  You need much more recovery time and you can't expect the same times as you age.   You may have to take your workouts down a notch but you can still get in some high intensity workouts.  This is not the end.

Shoot, your young.  Aches come with the territory as you age.  My new life didn't even start till I turned 50.  Get a good physical therapist who works with athletes,  You should aget that bone density scan.  That gives you a benchmark to compare against.  Get that shoulder healed properly before trying too much.  Once you get healed, you can find out what you can do and still have fun.

I'm not doing tris (not a swimmer, and no interest in swimming indoors), but I did run two marathons last year, cycled several centuries, and completed a couple of duathlons.  The biggest trip is timing recovery, and not overcommiting to too many events during the year.  Cross-training keeps me in the game.   Spinning two to three times per week, and getting in at least one long run on the weekend.  I also run at least three to four times on weekdays.  Distance for those runs isn't as important as time on the street.  When the weather permits, I get in a moderate paced ride (25-30 miles). 

Above all, stay in the game!  If you notice most races, you'll notice that as you get older the competiion gets tougher and tougher, because only the truely dedicated stay involved as they get older.

For some true inspiration, check out the guy who ran over 100 marathons last year (the article is in Running World).  I ran a little bit with him at the Rehoboth marathon.  Every year he just gets younger.

Lots of luck with the upcoming surgery and the recovery.
Rob

That sounds awful!  I went through a period of not being able to exercise due to an overuse injury a few years back & it absolutely sucked.

My one thing I want to add regarding calcium & vit D . . . you can't go by those numbers alone to judge your bone health or even whether your body is actually absorbing the calcium you give it.  This is because there is a "feedback" system in which your body's calcium-sensing receptors trigger your parathryroid hormone (PTH) if these receptors are not getting filled with calcium that you give your body.  Just because you take calcium, doesn't automatically mean that your body is absorbing it.  If your body isn't absorbing sufficient calcium, your PTH literally leaches it from your bones to keep your serum/ blood calcium levels within normal range.  You MUST monitor your PTH levels to know whether this is happening.  Fortunately, it's a pretty standard lab test when you get your labs ordered, so you should be able to check back on how your PTH has trended.  You definitely dont' want it even in the high side of average, mid-average or lower is the best indicator that your serum calcium levels are actually from the calcium you take versus your bones.

There's lots of websites that have info on research on this (I googled "calcium, d, pth), here's wikipedia's take on it.  It's pretty technical, but it describes what I'm talking about. 

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Parathyroid_hormone

I would totally get the DEXA bone density test done ASAP - not only so you know where you stand now, but so that you can get another reading in a few years & then you'll know definitively whether your body's absorbing the calcium you give it because you can see how your own bones/ test trends across time.

P.S.  Magnesium citrate has been shown in multiple studies to increase calcium absorption.  I always take it along with my calcium & D.  I've become a TOTAL nerd about vitamins since having the DS because I have to be in order to be proactive in my health because my dr & nutritionist don't have a clue on what to advise me based on the high amount of malabsorption.  It's been a trial & error process along the way, but I can honestly say I have learned  A LOT about all kinds of vitamin issues - what vitamins impede other vit's absorption, what vit's aid some other's absorption, & what foods impede iron absorption (my personal nemesis!!!)

Good luck with everything!!!

Hi Susan,

My take on this from another over 40 lady (I'll be 44 next month):

Some people naturally have thicker ligaments/tendons than others.  Just a matter of genetics.  Sometimes strength training can help this, but not always.

Some people are also more prone to overuse injuries, and that doesn't improve with age.

I think I'm lucky on both counts, and I only do sprint tris and only 1 marathon (the past 2 years) and 1 half marathon a year, but this is how I train when I'm tri training:

I do all my training indoors, so that makes me a bit of a special case, but here goes
Monday - short run and possibly a swim (only do 1000-1500 yds)
Tuesday - spin class then 2-3 miles on the TM
Wednesday - usually a tempo run (3-5 miles), sometimes a swim also.
Thursday - spin class and maybe 2 miles
Friday - short run (3-5 miles)
Saturday - sometimes long run (half marathon training), sometimes rest day
Sunday - sometimes spin class then swim, sometimes rest day.

So really, I don't train as much as many do, but I'm also a full-time student in pharmacy school.  The 'sometimes' depend on the focus of the training at that particular time.  The half I do is in July, the full I like to do is in January (didn't make it this year).

I haven't had had any IT band problems or any other overuse injuries in at least 3 years and I've still done 2 marathons and 3 halfs as well as 6 tris in that same time frame.  I do think I listen to my body when it tells me it needs some rest, and that helps a lot.

Calcium levels are unlikely to change even with osteo, so that isn't a good indicator.  I would definitely get a good quality bone scan done.  The heel ones aren't the best kind for people who run.

The last thing I can tell you is that I eat.  Food is your friend, and I work hard at getting a good balance between protein and good carbs.

That's about all I have.  I consider myself pretty lucky.  I'm nearly 6 years out and still going strong.

Linn