An observation on speed

Good morning Tom and all Hipsters,

I haven’t posted in a while. Just passed my one year anniversary and have nothing but good things to reflect on. As I’ve previously reported, I seldom notice my hip at this point. I’ve skied powder in CO, backcountry skied in VT, mountain biked, speed-skated, etc.

I used to run a lot. 70-90 miles a week. Decent marathons – 2:40-ish – and lots of shorter races. Also raced bicycles for years. I’m older now (68) and don’t care much about competition. But to the point:

Now that spring is sort of here (I’m in VT with 3 feet of snow in front of the house and 3 feet of mud on the roads), I’m running 20-30 miles per week. I’ve not had any hip pain or difficulty of any kind. However, as I eased back into running, I often felt a very slight difference in my new hip. Not pain, but a slight tug, or twinge. It usually went away after a mile or two.

As you older folks know, flexibility and natural speed take more work with age. But two weeks ago I started doing strides, 100-200 yard pick-ups, in the middle of a run, several times a week. Immediately the tug/twinge phenomenon went away. While I don’t feel 30 (or 40 0r 50) again, adding speed was clearly good for the hip, or so it seems. I imagine it has increased range of motion and/or broken up any residual scar tissue.

I write this because I’ve always felt that plodding was harder on the body than naturally striding out at a good pace. I suspect many of us are actually too careful, jogging very slowly. I don’t think I’ll do any very hard training, but adding some zest to my weekly routine appears to be very good for the hip (and for me). Just a little food for thought.

Steve