I turn 58 in a few weeks, and I’ve decided to give myself two years to take a shot at something I’ve never accomplished. I'm going to attempt to qualify for the IRONMAN 70.3 World Championship when I move into the 60–64 age group in 2028. Here's the thing: I’ve never qualified before! The closest I’ve come was three years ago at 70.3 New York, where I finished 19th in my age group. And right now? I’m not even in that kind of shape. So I’ve got some work to do. I’ll need to rebuild my swim, bike and run, get stronger, improve my body composition, recover well, stay healthy, and most importantly, be consistent. Basically, I’m going to have to see if I can become a better athlete at 60 than I am at 58. Will I qualify? I have no idea. There’s a very real chance I won’t. That’s part of what makes me want to try. I’m going to document the journey here; the training, testing, strength work, races, good decisions, bad decisions, setbacks and hopefully a few breakthroughs. I’ll also be putting the Endurance Strength System to the test on myself and sharing what I learn along the way. Two years. No guarantee of a successful ending. Let’s see if anything really is possible. Project 60 starts now! And since I’m putting mine out there… What’s something you haven’t accomplished yet that you’d still like to take a shot at?

Can getting stronger actually make you a better endurance athlete? The research says yes. A 2024 review looked at strength training in nearly 900 middle- and long-distance runners, from moderately trained to highly trained athletes. The big finding? High-load strength training improved running performance. As did Submaximal strength and plyometric training. Interestingly, it did this without significantly improving VO₂max. That's an important distinction. Strength training isn't replacing your endurance training or trying to build a bigger aerobic engine. It's another tool that can help you perform better with the engine you've built. That's why strength belongs in an endurance training program. Not instead of swim, bike and run, alongside them. Research linked below. https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/38627351/

“Does all that endurance training kill your strength gains?” There’s actually some science behind where that idea came from. It’s called the interference effect. The concern: endurance training and strength training create different demands on the body, so doing both might limit your results. But newer research gives us a better picture. A review of 43 studies found that combining endurance + strength training did not significantly compromise maximal strength or overall muscle growth compared with strength training alone. Where can interference become more of an issue? Explosive strength, especially when endurance and strength are done in the same session. The takeaway for endurance athletes is pretty simple: You don't have to choose between being strong and having endurance. You just have to be smart about how you combine them. And that's where when you strength train becomes just as important as what you do. More on that next. Research: Schumann et al. — Compatibility of Concurrent Aerobic and Strength Training for Skeletal Muscle Size and Function Read the peer-reviewed study in Sports Medicine