It is amazing how fast her run times are at her age:
At 76 years old, Jeannie Rice is still setting age group world records and altering what we thought we knew about aging and running. She currently owns the world record for every distance between the 1500 meters and the marathon. It’s not just that Rice is fast for her age—and just plain speedy, full stop. She’s also not seeing the decline in speed you’d typically expect for a septuagenarian runner. That’s why, when UK-based researchers learned that Rice would be racing the London Marathon last April, they pounced on the opportunity to study what biomarkers and physical characteristics set her apart from her peers.
Six days after she set a new age-group world record in the marathon, running a time of 3:33:27 (averaging 8:08 miles), Rice agreed to visit an exercise lab in England where she underwent body fat measuring, treadmill testing, and other running and jumping assessments. In the resulting case report, which was published last month in the Journal of Applied Physiology, the authors shared that Rice has the highest V02 max (47.8) ever recorded for a woman aged 75 years or older, and a surprisingly high max heart rate of 180.
You can read more at the link, but even more amazing is that she started running at age 35 to lose weight after a visit to her native South Korea. Since then she progressed to being able to run 50 miles a week to maintain her current fitness level.
The Army Times has a great article by a certified fitness trainer who points out everything that is wrong about Army fitness with ideas to fix it. I have copy and pasted the whole article below since it is behind the Army Times pay wall. Unfortunately I do not see much changing until the Army does away with maximum Army Physical Fitness Test (APFT) scores. As long as leaders are partly judged by APFT scores they will continue to have their troops conduct exercises that promote injury. If troops reach the minimum score on a APFT and pass height and weight why should they be pushed further to do exercises that cause long term injuries? They instead should be taught better all-around fitness which prevents long-term injuries and a healthy lifestyle which is what the author of this article promotes:
Never have I seen so many young adults with musculoskeletal injuries until I joined the United States Army. And I’m not referring to basic training where some injuries are expected; I’m speaking of the active Army. Specifically, the airborne infantry is my point of reference, the part of the Army most of my experience is in. Many of these injuries are preventable.
Some of the blame can be placed on the individual solider from this new “inside” generation; however, much of the blame must be placed on the Army. I was even more surprised at the amount of injuries I saw in basic training considering the moderate (dare I say low) intensity of the training regimen, but that was not so much the fault of the Army.
I enlisted in the Army with a bachelor of science degree, having been a certified personal trainer and martial arts instructor prior to joining. In basic training, I was taught PRT (Physical Readiness Training), the Army’s exercise program. It had many great exercises that are usually only seen from exercise professionals (surprise, it was designed by them). Most soldiers do not think very highly of PRT because it will not take one to a high level of fitness. What it is designed to do is to create proper movement and muscle balance in a soldier’s body. [Army Times]
I have no issues with this craze though I wonder if the plastic surgeons will find ways to make women look fit:
Yoo Seung-ok
Today, Korean woman are seeking more of a “healthy and sexy” image. A sharp increase in fitness centers in what seems to be every building in Seoul has brought about a “fitness syndrome.” Moreover, a number of fitness gurus, such as the 46-year-old Jung Da-yeon, are now as popular as celebrities.
It used to be all about the so-called “S-line,” which refers to the curve of a woman’s waist to hip. Korean women would take pictures from the front to show off their “wasp” waist and big hips, but the current trend is to take pictures from the side, to show their “apple hips” they worked on in the gym.
Current representatives of this new beauty standard include Yoo Seung-ok, Yeh Jeong-hwaand Nancy Lang. Their muscular bodies are more distinct compared to those of traditional Korean beauty models.
Yoo Seung-ok became popular immediately after photos of herself in an international fitness contest went viral. She came in fifth at Fitness Universe Weekend, the first Asian woman to place in the top five. [KoreAm Journal]
