In training the ratio is 80/20. 80% of your efforts should be in the easy zone. The 20% is another story. Those are very effortful. Those are also easy to skip. But some of the research shows that it is the intense efforts which counteract the toll that age can take.
I feel blessed to discover the Brattleboro ski jump. When I saw the jump it did not take long for me to see the stairs. Each step is like a mini-squat. That should develop leg strength. And running up these stairs taxes heart and lungs – so there is the interval training, my 20%.
I started slow – just walking up once to break in the legs. Took four days for the soreness to subside. After 10 weeks of this I run some and walk/run some. Still takes a few days for the soreness to subside.
I shall remember doing these halfway up Washington as in, “you did not do all those stairs in the cold for nothing… no quitting.”
But here is the interesting part. In the middle of that work-out I am fine. Sure – gasping for air, exhausted and all that, but fine. It is the anticipation of the effort which is the rough part. I just have to get there. And all will be well.
It is akin to biking outside in the winter – thinking about it is terrible. But once you go 100 yards, all is fine. I used to bike commute in my old life.
Where ever you are – start. Stop thinking. Just go. We can be our own roadblock. Have to get that negative voice in our heads out of your way. Yes, you can.