Originally Posted by _ForceD_

At 65 years old, having been doing this physical fitness/endurance/cardio stuff since I was 15 year old — running, cycling, and swimming. I’m not slowing down. Well…I’m “slowing down” due to age, but I’m still getting out there just as frequently as ever, and doing as much, or more, mileage. Whatever…I still push as hard as I always have but I’m just much slower than I was.

A couple months ago, a friend from my open water swimming group passed away from a heart attack unexpectedly while skiing. He was only 57 years old. For me, at 65, it was concerning. He was in otherwise great physical condition. No health issues that I ever knew about. But…I only knew him from open water swimming. He was ‘only’ a swimmer, but swam almost daily. In 2019 and 2020, he and I trained for, and participated in a couple of open water marathon swims events of seven miles. After that, I went back to more pedestrian swims of 2-3 miles at a time. He however, continued training for longer swims, and eventually did several swims of 15 miles. Now, whenever I’m ‘out there’…on the bike, running, or swimming…I constantly think about his passing, and what brought it on. And it makes me wonder if it’s time for me to back off. It’d be hard for sure…I love being ‘out there.’ I know it’s been beneficial to my health. But after a lifetime of pushing myself with cardio activity…I wonder if there’s a point at which I (we) should begin to back off.

Dan