Over my nearly 30 years of aerobic activities, starting with cross country in high school thru road bike riding today, I have been relatively injury free. I haven’t had any major injuries at all and up until a couple of years ago I had no minor injuries either. But it seemed that once I turned 40 my body decided to make up for lost time 
In the last few years I’ve had recurring plantar fasciitis and ankle tendinitis as well as “pop-up” saddle sores and most recently, tennis elbow.
All of these injuries could be classified as “overuse” related. I didn’t have an issue with these when I was younger but now that I am getting older, the repetitive nature of cycling, and running to a lesser extent, caused a breakdown in my body’s ability to deal with the work. I’m sure it is related to the fact that as we age our bodies become less resilient and flexible. I know for sure that my lack of flexibility was a major contributor to my injuries. I also know that my refusal to admit that I’m getting old has contributed to the injuries. I honestly think of myself as an 18-20 year old in terms of physical performance. It is very hard for me to believe that I am going to be 44 in a month. I still think that I can go out and pound my body day in and day out without any consequences. Obviously I can’t and I have to admit this and do my best to keep my body in good shape.
I have done a few things to help me deal with my increasing age:
- I try to build in a couple of easy/off days into my workout schedule as well as alternate hard and easy weeks.
- Make an honest effort to become more flexible. It’s hard but I am making improvement.
- Bring in outside “experts” to help me. For me this is a Certified Massage Therapist that I see every few weeks to help me deal with my tendinitis. It has worked wonders!
Since I have done these things my “nagging” injuries have nagged me less and less, except for the tennis elbow in my right arm. That has popped up over the last month or two and I think it is caused by my use of a mouse on the computer pretty much all day during the week at work. It is aggravated by my riding. I have made some changes to my work station, including purchasing an ergonomic mouse, that I hope will be effective.
Hopefully you don’t have to deal with injuries very often. But, if you do get injured, take some time to make an honest evaluation of what the cause might be then implement the appropriate changes in your life to help eliminate the chance of future injury. It has worked for me so far and it will probably work for you as well.
Ride On.
