"Why Do You Treat Your 90-Year-Old Body That Way?"
Friends ask Charlie why he punishes his 90-year-old body so much. He replies with a smile that it's because he'd like to see 91... Even as a nonagenarian, Charlie trains daily. Although he doesn't compete at the full Ironman® distance of 140.6 miles anymore, he maintains his fitness and regularly enters the shorter triathlon distances of Olympic and Sprint races, mostly around Florida. In the 90+ age group, most of the competition has faded away, so Charlie almost always places 1st in his age group!
Monday-Wednesday-Friday
Charlie maintains a regular activity schedule, with exceptions for church, vacations, Senior Games, and selected race events. He varies his workouts to provide variety and maintain interest.
His Mo-We-Fr pattern is as follows:
Mornings:
• 1-mile run (warm-up)
• 10-mile bike ride (various routes around his home)
• Another 3-mile run (various routes, often including several laps of The Villages Polo fields)
Afternoons:
• 40-minute workout on fitness machines (moving amongst most of the machine types to work on certain muscle groups)
• 45-minute bike spinning class (Charlie loves spinning!)
Tuesday-Thursday-Saturday
His Tu-Th-Sa pattern is usually a combination of running and swimming:
Mornings:
• 1-mile run (warm-up)
• 50-100 yard swim (non-stop, in a 50 yard outdoor sports pool)
Afternoons:
• 1250 yard swim (2/3 of a mile)
Sunday: Day of Rest
Sunday is for church, and some time to let his body rest, although Charlie rarely sits still very long. He is active around the house maintaining his vigorously growing landscape. Originally from North Carolina, he is a "man of the earth".
Prior to scheduled race events, Charlie will also take a day of rest, so he is charged up and ready to go on race day.
Nutrition
Food is the body's fuel, so Charlie is careful about what he feeds himself. Fresh fruits and vegetables ("eat all the colors") abound in his diet, with meats, pastas, and breads for energy. Plenty of hydration also - he drinks LOTS of water. He really doesn't "diet", but rather makes good eating habits a part of his life. He balances his intake of calories with his energy output.
Before races, carbo-loading is a favorite way for triathletes to get the extra fuel they will need for an extended effort. Often, the meal is a really big plate of spaghetti!!
