Monday, March 12, 2012

I'm not old, I'm well marinated. Derby for the older skater.

I love being the age I am.  I know that sounds a little new age-y but I really do accept that I've been walking around this planet for a certain number of years.  I remember listening to Men Without Hats, I was there when Michael Jackson looked like a human being, and I briefly and unironically had a mullet hair style when I was in the tenth grade.  Don't judge!

Were you expecting a picture?  Hell no!

Every once in a while, I get surprised looks when tell people my age; I am in great shape for an older lady, and I can outrun and out endure women who are almost half my age.  Do I take some pleasure in out-skating the younger folk?  Most definitely! Do I try and talk older, athletic women into starting derby? Hell yes I do!

1. First of all, older athletes generally tend to be better endurance performers because we naturally have more slow twitch muscle mass.  The slow muscles are more efficient at using oxygen to generate more fuel (known as ATP) for continuous, extended muscle contractions over a long time. They fire more slowly than fast twitch fibers and can go for a long time before they fatigue. Therefore, slow twitch fibers are great at helping athletes run marathons and bicycle for hours.  Derby is an endurance sport.  Win!

2.  Older athletes are more susceptible to chronic and overuse injuries than their younger counterparts.  We lose muscle and bone mass as we age, which can be helped by exercise, but we also lose flexibility in our tendons and ligaments.  That's kind of a bummer, but fear not my older derby players!  Low impact and higher endurance sports are better for our age group!  Gee, does that sound like a sport we all share?  Hell yes!

3.  Older athletes tend to have more shoulder injury issues; this is mostly due to having been active since a young age.  The awesome thing about derby is that shoulder hits are slowly going the way of the dinosaurs and everyone is focusing on hip hits!   Derby beats the hell out of tennis for shoulder issues...yea derby!

4.  Having problems with your memory and mental skills? Exercise can fix that, and learning something as complicated as derby can improve your mental fitness  That's right, we have a physical and mental fitness that we need to take care of, so we need to keep ourselves challenged in both of these areas.

5.  Older athletes have a more realistic approach.  Let's face it, we have wisdom and experience on our side.  Most of us have busy lives, and have learned what our limits our and how to reach our goals efficiently.  I know through my own experience that I have a lot less social drama than younger skaters do, and I tend to experience "butt hurt" far less often than my younger counterparts do.   Am I more settled than younger skaters?  Heck yes!  Am I SETTLING for lower performance than younger skaters?  OH HELL NO!

Yeah, you're younger than I am, but I just got around you.  Photo by Joshua R. Craig Photography


Now I know that I'm never going to be an energetic and bouncy person after a night of only three hours or less of sleep, which is the realm of the young.  But to be honest, I'm not really going to put myself in that situation if I can help it, which is the realm of the well marinated!  Three cheers for being a well marinated derby skater!

Some of my favorite skaters are well marinated.  Photo by A Boy Named Tsunami



13 comments:

  1. Love it! Can especially relate to #5. Saw your link on Derby Over 40 and am glad to have found your blog. Skate hard, sister!
    xx
    Fury

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  2. Thank you for posting this blog. It's right on the money for me(36 almost 37). Now I'm going to check out the Derby Over 40!
    Shoves and hugs,
    CC Roller

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    1. I started derby when I was 39, and I'm still here!

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  3. LOVE!!! My parents keep freaking out, bc I'm 37, going to be 38.. they keep saying things like.. "you're going to HURT yourself really bad since you're OLDER and skating against girls in college" well, yeah, if I'm not intelligent!! This, I find inspiring!! THANK YOU SO MUCH!! I plan on derb-ing until I can't tie my skates anymore!!

    Myxd Sygnls

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  4. Love your blog and this was an article I needed to read as I am 47 and trying out for the CFRG. Have always loved this sport but did not have the confidence until now. Having a ball and so glad I finally did it!

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  5. I started at 41. There were no full contact sports available to women when I was younger and little encouragement to participate in sport at all. I was NOT going to let the opportunity to play derby pass me by just because I had passed the big 4-0. My observation about older players, they skate smarter, they tend to be more ruthless and they are better at suffering which helps in difficult endurance drills, long, physical jams and those painful last 10 minutes of a close game.

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  6. I'm 43 and rediscovering my inner athlete -- and this post was so great for me to read! Took my daughter to the got to be NC tourney this weekend (that was me posting pics on Facebook today) and skating all I can, learning more about the sport (including reading lots of blogs, like this one!) -- seriously considering coming out to open practice later this summer and giving it a real shot. I had wondered if maybe 43 was going to be a major obstacle -- your post gave me the encouragement to keep working hard!

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    1. I played three games, every other jam and kicked ass. TRY OUT!

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  7. Thanks for the encouragement -- I think I will! I have been running and losing weight, but have a ways to go fitness-wise. I've been skating every week at Wheels, too (I used to figure skate in middle school...but it's been a while!). Would it be better to keep getting in shape and then come to an open practice when I'm a little bit fitter and have been skating a little longer, or just come on out and figure I'll learn while I train? Thanks again for any advice. (And I noticed that you kicked ass out there!)

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    1. We have open practices at Thursday night 8:30- 10:30. Check it out on our page.

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  8. Thanks -- my next couple of Thursdays are booked, but I'll see if I can come out in June.

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  9. I am starting (fresh and meaty) at almost 31. It makes me SO happy to read this! Your whole blog is inspiring and encourages me! Not to mention I feel less clueless!

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