Super seniors: “I run six times a week, do three gym session and have done 15 City2Surfs”
Over60 community member, Heather Waters, 62, shares her story of how she went from someone who could barely run to fitness enthusiast who hits the pavement six times a week.
“When I was at school I loved to run, but back in those days I was a sprinter and didn’t keep it up. Then later in life my daughter was a long distance runner so I decided to get healthy.
It was 1991 and I was 39 years old when I started to run. I could barely run a lap of the oval – which is 400 meters. Fast-forward to 1991 and after I did my first City2Surf I was hooked. In total I have done 15 City2Surfs now and I just love it! Everyone should either run it or at least walk it once in a lifetime. The atmosphere is magic.
Back then I didn’t have much of a training program and only ran three kilometers at a time and thought that was pretty good. I now have more of an idea of how much training to do. There are also a lot of training programs online today which help you get ready for an event you enter.
When I began training for the half marathon in 2004 I found that tough, as we didn’t do near enough training. We started in February of that year and the run was in May. At that time I didn’t push myself enough in training and I really wish I had done a marathon when I was younger. Since then I have learnt to push it a bit – you see it was necessary to do some hill runs and sprints every week in preparation as these make you stronger and more able to push yourself.
For the City2Surf this year I put in a lot of work with training and it paid off. I did my best time that I have done for a good few years. My fitness program I have been maintaining is three gym sessions per week, which includes weights and cardio). On top of this I run about five to six times a week. The distance varies depending whether I have a run on the weekend or if I am training for a longer run.
There’s nothing like the feeling of achievement at the end of a long run. If you run for 30 minutes to one hour nothing else matters except that run. As well as enjoying the feeling of being healthy, I just love to exercise as it makes daily chores easier and it’s also very good for clearing the mind. Furthermore I have found that this type of exercise keeps my weight stable, my blood pressure, cholesterol and diabetes.
My advice to other over-60s who have never exercised is to start small! Just walk around the block and do that for a week or so till it feels easier then increase the distance. If you are able to, find a gym that does classes for older people as this might help ease you into some kind of regime. And if you want to start to run just run between the guideposts then walk the next set. You will soon get better. I am quite lucky, as I don’t have any trouble with motivation. I also have very good knees and hips, which can sometimes be a problem when one gets into the 60-plus age group. The hardest part of any sort of exercise is getting out of bed or getting off the couch. Once you have mastered that hurdle you will be half way there.”