An article in Running Times magazine (March 2011) titled "The Masters Mental Adjustment" by Joe Wojtas talks about training hard as one gets older:

"Whether it's a 5:00 pace, 6:00 pace or 7:00 pace, the effort level feels the same. There's a comfort with that," says David Olds, a 49-year-old high school administrator and coach from Santa Monica, Calif., whose 2:13 marathon best came in 1987.

"That's how I judge myself. Am I still able to put myself into the same intensity level that I used to? I like to test myself and know that the answer is still, 'Yes, I can,'" says Olds, who's a long-time cross-country and track coach at his school. "I can still dig down and go to that dark place."

And as friend Caren Jew recently noted, re the results of hard training, "It doesn't get easier. It gets faster."

(cf. Cave of Pain, Don't Wish It Were Easier, ...) - ^z - 2011-05-27