Older, Faster, Stronger
What Women Runners Can Teach Us All About Living Younger, Longer
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5.0 • 2 Ratings
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- $11.99
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- $11.99
Publisher Description
One part personal quest to discover running greatness after age 50, one part investigation into what the women's running boom can teach athletes about becoming fitter, stronger, and faster as we age, Older, Faster, Stronger is an engrossing narrative sure to inspire women of all ages. A former overweight smoker turned marathoner, Margaret Webb runs with elite older women, follows a high-performance training plan devised by experts, and examines research that shows how endurance training can stall aging. She then tests herself against the world's best older runners at the world masters games in Torino, Italy.
Millions of women have taken up running in recent decades—the first generation of women to train in great numbers. Women are qualifying for the Olympic marathon in their 50s, running 100-mile ultra marathons in their 60s, completing Ironmans in their 80s, competing for world masters records in their 90s. What are the secrets of these ageless wonders? How do they get stronger and faster long after their "athletic prime"? Is there an evolutionary reason women can maintain endurance into advanced years? Webb immerses herself in these questions as she as she trains to see just how fast she can get after 50.
PUBLISHERS WEEKLY
Webb begins this stirring fitness memoir by telling the reader that she had an epiphany when she turned 50: "I wanted to enter the second act of my life in the best shape of my life, even fitter than I was as a 20-year-old varsity athlete." Immersing herself in research, she soon discovered that many obstacles await an older female runner: reduced lung capacity, bone density, estrogen levels, and muscle mass and a heightened risk of injury. Webb soldiered on, hitting her age group's qualifying standard for the Boston Marathon on her second try. Encouraged, she began training in earnest, despite entering the early stages of menopause in the meantime. She learned many lessons in the process particularly that there are more ways to measure fitness than running times. Webb, inspired by many of the people she met (especially Olga Kotelko, a 94-year-old who took up running at age 77 and has since won over 700 gold medals), finished her journey with the World Masters Games in Turin, Italy. Those who may have put off exercise thinking they're too old or out of shape will likely find themselves lacing up their running shoes after reading this informative and inspiring tale.
