One in eight people 65 and older exercise "vigorously" at least five days a week

According to a US Department of Health and Human Services report on the
Health Behaviors of Adults: United States, 2002–04 13.8% of people 65 and older exercise vigorously at least five days a week. A breakdown of the data shows that men are more likely to engage in frequent vigorous exercise than women and young people are more likely than old:

Age	Men	Women	Both
18-24	21.6	12	16.8
25-44	14.7	10.9	12.8
45–64	12.3	9.6	10.9
65-74	10.2	7.5	8.7
>=75	7.9	3.3	5.1

The authors of the 85-page report present other interesting data. For example, they found that the rate of vigorous exercise rises with income and education (which are correlated with age). They also observed differences based on race, region of the country, marital status and whether the respondent is from a metropolitan area, central city or smaller town.

The study defines a "vigorous" activity as one lasting at least 10 minutes and causing heavy sweating or large increases in breathing or heart rate.

Beginning swimming technique

I've never had swimming lessons, so needed to learn a little form to get ready for a sprint triathlon. I searched around on the Web and found some tips that led to significant improvement by learning a bit of technique -- simple things like keeping one hand extended while the other one comes forward and rotating from side to side.

This Grant Hackett video shows what I mean, and this article on keeping your arms extended (by coach Emmett Hines) was very helpful. There is a lot of "how to" material on the Web -- here are links to some other things I have found helpful.

Experiments

Cycling coach, writer, and masters champion Arnie Baker has surveyed many controlled experiments in this article. Baker gives very short summaries of studies in many areas -- nutrition, equipment, training/racing, medicine, psychology, etc.

Sample conclusions are: pacing paid off in a 20 kilometer bike time trial, clipless pedals do not offer a physiological advantage, a fifty percent taper a week before a race is beneficial. Still, the bottom line is that the experimental differences tend to be marginal -- training is still the key.

Baker has written many other books and articles, available at his Web site.

Could we learn by each of us conducting a one-person experiments and reported our results on the Net?

Tapering off before competition

One should obviously taper off their training prior to a competition. I have entered a couple of competitions, and wish I had seen Arnie Baker's recomendations on tapering before the events. Baker advocates a week long taper.