Crossing the Line - Bring the pain- I'm almost 30

[fiddler]

I'm 56 and it wasn't until last season that my knees starting hurting. This year my days are shorter and it's the first time I feel like I've slowed down. It kind of sucks. Just takes a little more maintainance than before. Ahh, ibuprofen.

hmmm, o.g. wonder what that is.

[Jiehkevarri]

I wonder if any of you guys over 30 still ski some park stuff?

I'm 32 (33 this fall), and I'm serioysly debating with myself about quitting that stuff. I'm not sure if its worth the risk in the end? In addition, I had a whiplash type neck/back injury few years ago, which isn't actually helping the situation...all the hard impacts will make me ache (a lot) for a few days, sometimes even a week or so. Kind of hard to be so calculated all the time that you never case / overshoot.

Sure you can always hit some really small stuff on slushy days but the "real" stuff like this is different: (this was my biggest booter ever, hit it twice last spring, 1 straight air, one 360): http://www.freeheellife.com/media/me...roRepo/tr3.gif (The guy in the picture takes it as a hip/corner jump,there was two take offs. I opted for the mellower straight air, landing in the right side of the pic, clearing ~60 feet) I was very stoked to clear that. But still, I guess all the 14 years old park rats are doing that kind of stuff like it ain't no thang, not to mention the crazy rails...

The other thing is that I'm kind of stuck to the flats, and park skiing has give me the kicks between the trips to the real mountains / bigger ski resorts. I tried ice climbing the other day, and was thinking that might work as well. And actually serve as a somekind of substitute to steeps/pow skiing? (as it is scary as hell too if you start doing it more serioysly...top roping a very small icefall was just like a fun exercise though...)

But it is hard to just quit when you still feel you can somehow get better. And also know that your skills are not fading, it just the age and older injuries taking their toll. Keeping the shape gets harder and harder too, having a desk job and family not helping at that either...

Ps. haven't said it earlier but here we go: huge props for Tyrone & co. That shit is just insprirational (eventhough my neck hurts just by looking at those pictures!)

[Hook]

this guy (not my pic) says you've got another 50 years before you can start bitching. If you get 1/100th the summits, turns or women he did, you are doing well (every PNW climber has a guidebook or 3 of his)

CJ, is that Fred Becky in the pic? When I lived in Seattle, I never went anywhere in the Northern Cascades without one of his green cover books.

I haven't seen a photo of him in years.

[Big E]

I think staying active and in shape is key. Before the first time I tore an ACL (24), I didn't realize how out of shape I had become simply by finishing college and working full time. Instead of walking between classes and all over campus every day, I was sitting at a computer all day. Then I tore the ACL and had to start rehabbing and realized that I had gotten way out of shape. Once I started hitting the gym consistently, I gained 10 lbs but lost an inch or so on the waist, and suddenly my t-shirts were snug in the shoulders and loose at the stomach. I have continued to work out religiously and stay active since then (6 years later) and really haven't noticed much in the way of taking longer to heal up, or even getting injured more. The only thing that ever bothers me now are my knees (now both with new ACLs), but even that is mostly minor stuff, and I never pop any Advil, etc. for it.

[vinzclortho]

I bet I can find some oxycontin if I put my wifebeater on and walk 2 blocks and wave my arms a bunch.

So you are in Southie right now? I'll meet ya at The Quiet Man on broadway for liquid lunch guy!


seriously though, I wiped out HARD my first day out this season, banana'd the hell out of one ski and my shoulder still friggin causes me pain. Not like, enough to stop being a reckless idiot, more just enough that it's annoying. Sucks getting old! Oh well, I'm sure by the time I REALLY fuck myself up, medical science will be able to just replace my limbs with robotic ones.

[Meathelmet]

I can ski forever, right? But this body hurting stuff sucks.

Pain is apparently a essential part of this sport, i guess. Well, any high activity sport for that.

I am personally on the dry-dock for the third month now. And preparing to go and get needled in the spinal column in next couple of hours, so yeah, i know what you are talking about..

For me (climbing,skiing and riding DH) pain has been a usuall visitor in the last decade. The pain has usally been, well managable?
Wrecked ankles,torn shoulders,ruptured kidneys and spleens kind of stuff.
Things that you suffer and rehabilitate from kind-of-stuff.

And that kind of stuff used to be ok in my mind (dont ask...), all that seemed to make some kind of sense,and you could see yourself pulling though that and be as good after the incident that you were before it.
Almost at least.

When i wrecked my back 3 years ago (when i was 27) things started to change a bit.
I started to know the difference between pain and pain.
Completely debiliating pain for few weeks,no running for 6 months and the next season of skiing was...well...weak and carefull.
But,luckily i got close to 80% of the former me in the next winter and started to look eagerly forward.

Then. BANG!

Fucking again!

Realisation that my "high-level-aggro" skiing days might be over for good is creeping slowly in and i have to say, fuck, it is hard to bear.
Skiing even at 50% level of former might be over..
What the fuck is left? Skiing some DeerValley corduroy? Fuck no.
I just dont know. And that is the harders part with the back injuries.
You just fucking dont know.
I have seen people that a mental/physical wrecks and addicted to painkillers that are only same age/few years older than me.
Bloody depressing.

Well, i guess the thing is that after all that shit, it is just to sit down and evauate if your sport is worth continuing.
If it has been stripped of the things that you love the most, does it have anything more left then?
Is it time to move forward and try to find the next love in your life?
Try to get that flame burning again, be it flying aeroplanes, gardening or sniffing glue?

Dont know.

Maybe when the pain has subsided, the skis have been in the corner for few more months and the summer heat is making to think about cold and ice, i have some answeres.

Just dont know.


[/end of self pity-rant]

[mookie blaylock]

Ok, many things hurt. . I need someone to hold my hand (not iceman, though).

fuuuuuck you----- try this shit at 40 and have your lower back hurt so much after each storm that this season may be the last and chronic pain is is in the house to stay---you got years

[Cono Este]

I am 34. i trashed my knee 4 yrs ago and had a couple of tough yrs getting back into it. I spent last winte rin Tahoe and skied about 75 days without incident. The key for me was to precondition the knee and to ease into the first 10 or so days. I wear a little knee support and I never ski icy or hard snow. That shit wrecks my knee and back.

When i am spent I go home.

[lemon boy]

roll-

The switch to orthos and molded liners + stopping stretching before exercise has taken me from constantly nursing injuries and pulls (eg: back, hammy and quad) to basically never (back still bothers a bit, I need casual shoe orthos).

Coupled with an intensified commitment to hiking for turns and this year 31 now I feel better physically than in a long time (and have basically destroyed my beer belly). Sadly, as a few can attest: this has not really improved my skiing I got some bad upper body flailering issues

In all seriousness, the orthos changed my life.

[Buster Highmen]

Now now I'm methuselan, I put geritol in my bong and do yoga with a Depends for a turban. Snorting a few lines of Viagra seems to improve my skiing and improves turgidity everywhere, contributing to my reputation as an all around stand up guy. What's really a pain is slathering myself with Grecian Formula 16 before my godlike appearances in the bar (and the damn walker keeps getting tangled in the bar stools) where my nurse has to fight off the cougars for me. If you're worried about your appearance, spend a lot of time in howling graupel storms. It does wonders for your skins emollients. You learn to focus on the important things, like impressing the chicks and ignoring the pending underwear stains. The body is just another institution which starts off full and proud and slowly decays into a disjointed collection of corruption, greed and avarice which has to be managed with a high art.

The key is tone, balance and rigor, the latter of hopefully the un mortis type. Work out constantly. Rehab becomes a way of life. Stretch a lot. Choices become more acute: do you really want to lob that cliff or ski pow the rest of the day? Let stuff happen, pay attention and find your groove.

In a lot of regards, I'm having the best time ever, but I don't huck cliffs anymore

[bklyn]

by the numbers:
63: number of days in this season (including today)
37: my age
29: too young to be bitching about getting old.
18: number of days skied out of the last 20 (both down days for travel)
03: weight of the brain that keeps you going - it's all about attitude

[PassTheDutchie]

I'm 35 and what I started to notice at 30 was that things take a much longer time to heal and that some tweaks you're stuck with forever (like herpes)--e.g. I've got a bum hip that flares up whenever a storm rolls in; I originally screwed it up about 8 years ago. My advice: total body conditioning, taking a day off here and there, stretching, ibuprofin before and after.

[nutcase]

by the numbers:
63: number of days in this season (including today)

63 days while living in brooklyn?? Wow that's impressive.

[skiski]

I like this post. I turned 30 a few months ago and have noticed some nagging injuries, tightness in certain muscles, and a little more snap crackle and pop in the knees. Nothing really bad, but it has really bummed me out to be honest. I've had nagging thoughts of "if I'm feeling this much of a decline between 25 and 30, how will I ever be pushing it at 40 or 50".

I credit a lot of it to taking a desk job a few years ago. I still exercise regularly, but am only getting in 45 minutes to an hour a day whereas i used to get 2-3 hours a day.


Maybe I should try more ibuprofen, and move back to the mountains where I'll be more inspired to make the time for the longer workouts. In the end, I'm glad to know I'm not alone in feeling like I'm falling apart at 30.

[Particle]

My grandparents skied into their early 80's. I can only hope to do the same.

I just turned 31 and like LB and others have said, I'm feeling about as good as I ever have...even with a desk job and limited ski days this year. Sure my busted-ass body (from the tree incident 3 years ago) gives me aches and pains sometimes, but I'm just happy to be doing the things I do. And on the right days with the right conditions, I can still push my limits pretty hard...but do it smart.

Guess I just figure that when it hurts too much, I'll slow down. I just know too many people who are 5, 10, 15 years older than me and are still charging hard, so early 30's doesn't feel like an age I should be worried about losing something. :shrug:

[Cirquerider]

Now now I'm methuselan, I put geritol in my bong and do yoga with a Depends for a turban. Snorting a few lines of Viagra seems to improve my skiing and improves turgidity everywhere, contributing to my reputation as an all around stand up guy. What's really a pain is slathering myself with Grecian Formula 16 before my godlike appearances in the bar (and the damn walker keeps getting tangled in the bar stools) where my nurse has to fight off the cougars for me. If you're worried about your appearance, spend a lot of time in howling graupel storms. It does wonders for your skins emollients. You learn to focus on the important things, like impressing the chicks and ignoring the pending underwear stains. The body is just another institution which starts off full and proud and slowly decays into a disjointed collection of corruption, greed and avarice which has to be managed with a high art.

I can relate to this
I just thought it bore repeating.

[Tyrone Shoelaces]

Guess I just figure that when it hurts too much, I'll slow down. I just know too many people who are 5, 10, 15 years older than me and are still charging hard, so early 30's doesn't feel like an age I should be worried about losing something. :shrug:

Agreed. In addition to skiing, I play a lot of soccer, and there are guys in my leagues who are ten years older than me (I'm 30) who just kill it. They're faster, stronger, etc. etc....and don't seem to be slowing down. Just trying to keep up with them gives me motivation.

But yeah...I'm starting to feel the injuries a bit too. But I have to say....blowing out my ACL last summer and going through the rehab was probably the best thing that I could do to really get in shape. Seriously. This event was really a catalyst for me that spurned me to get stronger all around...not just in rehabbing the knee...but in endurance, upper body strength, etc. I made a promise to myself to keep up my rigorous workouts even after my knee was healed....and it's paid off in a big way and I'm having one of my most "progressive" seasons I've had in a long time.

So we'll see how long I can keep this up....just found out the other day that I have a few subluxed ribs that need to get put back in place, but at least this doesn't cause any pain (christ, i dropped hospital air with these guys out of place)....but really there's no pain in my rehabbed knee, my bruised kidney from a rock impact in January has healed nicely, and I can notice that I can take the "hits" much better than I used to so long as keep up the weight & working routine. Next year I'm planning on entering the season even stronger than this year so I can keep improving and pushing myself.

Not hucking cliffs anymore has probably helped me stay healed as well

[Alek]

Hey, look! he is wearing first generation Dynafit AT boots, the same ones I bought in '95! I wonder how recent this picture is, because my boots have been in a museum since 2003

[irul&ublo]

Ok, many things hurt. I went this week for some orthotics. They feel great.
However, they made me realize how many other parts of my body hurt.

I just came to realize that I am a mess. I am no longer the little kid with the broken goggles who felt no pain despite double vision.

I could tell you what hurts, but I won't. It's a nice list.

I'm struggling with more of the psychological thing. I can ski forever, right? But this body hurting stuff sucks. How did you guys and girls dealing with crossing the line from unlimited rebound to constant pain? I'm standing on it. I need someone to hold my hand (not iceman, though).

waaahhhh....I'm almost 30!!!!!!....waaaahhhhh.....

Sorry my man, I can't generate too much sympathy for you. My advice is to have as many adventures as your circumstances allow; don't drink cheap wine; make friends with Vitamin I; eat your vegetables and realize that a car is only transportation (sorry Roo).

[Mr. Altagirl]

Age doesn't matter anymore, what kind of shape you are in does. A lot of people don't know how old I am and it really doesn’t matter (I’ll be 40 in a few months; they do know how heavy I am though, that's my typical issue). I'm planning on dropping quite a bit of weight for this year's riding / racing season and plan on pushing the young 30 year olds over the place. Bottom line, don't worry about; take care of yourself and have fun instead.

[Arty50]

I just hang out with people way older than me.

What's really hard to swallow is that there's some 40 and 50 year olds around here who can school me on skiing or biking. I try to use them as inspiration to live to see 40.

I know what you're saying. Except I try to use them as inspiration to not live to see 40.

"Dude, you went into that wayyyyy tooo fast."

"Funny, I thought I was going too slow."

[freshies]

I am 37 and feel, for the most part, just as strong as I did at 30 (on skis and bikes: road and mtb). no serious injuries (serious knock on wood) so that may accout for this, but i don't know, i plan to keep on keepin' on right through my 40s and 50s baby! suck it up.

[Tippster]

Red wine is packed with antioxydants. Just sayin'.

[sea2ski]

I agree with the comments about maintaining your fitness level, stretching and hot tub soaking for avoiding pain. I think I would also add that there are many different root causes to pain. I used to attribute much of my original joint pains to just getting a little older. However, after constant doctor visits and little reduction of pain I went to see a rhueumatologist. Turns out I actually had a genetic type of arthritis which was treatable with medication. Just a little food for thought.

[train07]

Yeah fluid workouts....time for some now.

Seriously if you don't keep yourself in shape, you'll be drag and pullin everyone down around you.
It's no fun to hear your buddies, who claim to have a passion for skiing say this aches, that aches......yeah, well what the fuck did ya do to stay ready for the season???!!........maybe you wouldn't have twisted that if your legs were stronger!!!!....twat!


Bike riding...very high on list.