The 60yo Type 1 Diabetic Athlete

  It has taken me years to do a World Loppet ski marathon since becoming an M60 and starting this blog. In 2020 I travelled to Finland to do the Finlandia-hiito but the race was cancelled for lack of snow! We had to head a long way north to Vuokatti to find good skiing. Then there were races cancelled because of Covid, and races that were on, but border closures meant I couldn't compete. Finally, I made it to the Hoppet at Falls Creek. An arthritic knee meant that I had done no running, bike riding or skiing in the 6 months before we travelled down to Victoria so my time was nowhere near a PB. 2hrs 43 mins for the 39km, shortened from the full marathon distance by lack of snow on one loop of the course. Unfortunately, there was no race photographer so I have included 2 pics from training skis in the days before the race. One shows Ana with Mt Buffalo centre far horizon. The other shows me and mid-kid on a different day near Mt Nelse with Rocky Valley pond in the background. G...

 Bouldering gyms are one of the funnest ways to be active and have become massively popular. There are now many bouldering/climbing gyms within a short drive of my house. Kids have parties there. Retired folk meet there on weekday mornings. Schools take students there for sport.  They have equipment for people with a wide range of physical abilities, including those who wish to quantify their performance over time. Enter the Moonboard.   There are no problems easier than V3 on the Moonboards near where I live. Make sure you are sufficiently trained and warmed up before trying. I delayed writing this post because I was making progress on a V5 problem, but failed on that so my best is still a V4, Pugs in a Blanket. V3s I have ticked are The Warmup Problem, Jug Rash, That Problem, Kat in the Hat and Best Ball. There are different flavours of Moonboard. If yours is not a 40 degree wall with yellow, wood and standard holds you will not be able to do the same problems, but you ...

  While my sprint results as an M60 have not matched what I did as an M55, my running performances over longer distances have suffered no such decline. In Parkrun, a 5k event, my best ever performance on handicap is as an M60. 20:24, an age grade of 78.59 at Tuggeranong on 7/11/20. Only 6 seconds behind my M55 PB. Yes, this was done in fast shoes, but I have still managed an age-grade over 78 in cheap training shoes. All my results can be found on the Parkrun website, along with an explanation of the handicapping system. My best 10k as an M60 is 42:10. Actually that is the fastest officially timed 10k in my entire life. Age grade just over 79. Results from this run around Lake Burley Griffin are at canberrarunner.com.au  We had hoped to go to NZ to continue on from the runs in my post "NZ Mountains", but  Covid restrictions meant we went to Bright, Victoria instead. After warming up on some valley trail we made 3 trips to various parts of Mt Buffalo, all great. But the hi...

  As am M55 I did many events on the World Loppet ski marathon calendar, some of which appears in my post "M55 PBs". Unfortunately race cancellations due to lack of snow, Covid and travel restrictions mean that I haven't even done the Australian loppet, let alone any overseas, since turning 60. But that doesn't mean I haven't been skiing. Soon after returning home from NZ (see posts "Orienteering" and "NZ Mountains") I headed off to Finland. The loppet at Lahti was called off due to lack of snow, so we headed north to Vuokatti. Great skiing despite the mild conditions.   Back in Australia I have been track skiing at Perisher, and toured on the Main Range. Ramsheads Lunch at Club Lake. Looking forward to the Oz and NZ loppets this year, and more touring.

  Here are my M60 track PBs so far.  Distance             Location                   Time                    Open Equivalent 60m                      AIS                          8.52                           7.04 100m                    AIS                  ...