The thighs have it
This guy seems to be made of different stuff than other mere humans:
He’s 18 years old.
The New Neo
A blog about political change, among other things
This guy seems to be made of different stuff than other mere humans:
He’s 18 years old.
Sigh. I just posted about Stolz on the open thread, including a Radio-Canada Sports broadcast in French for huxley. I’m waiting for hell to break loose among the usual suspects because Stolz (whose last name means “proud” in German, BTW) wraps an American flag around his shoulders at the end.
Amazing. And the other skater did great too.
I remember seeing the thighs on the Olympic bicyclist. Huge.
Wow. He won the 500, 1000, and 1500 on Friday, Saturday, and Sunday. And he’s only 18 years old. No surprise that he’s from Wisconsin and trains at the elite ice rink in West Allis.
PA Cat, it’s very common for athletes who win international medals to carry their national flags on a victory lap, so I’m not expecting much uproar.
Kate–
I think a lot of lefties make an exception for the Stars and Stripes. It’s fine with them for athletes from other nations to carry their nation’s flag on a victory lap, but God forbid an American does it.
You just sent me down the Stolz rabbit hole. A very impressive athlete, and hearty Midwest stock to boot.
I recall reading an opponent–possibly–saying something like “he stays on the right longer….”; a comment on technique. That crossover step on the turns must have put him on his nose a few times learning it. No room for an instant’s fatigue there.
Not to be a buzzkiller, but I wonder how he’ll be moving at that age of fifty. Any excessive wear in the hips? Although, from the experience of a couple of friends, hip replacement is practically an office call with current procedures.
On the Stolz family: The two kids are home-schooled 4.5 hours per day, then Mom delivers them to the West Allis training center. She works an evening shift as a dental hygienist. Dad, a deputy sheriff with a set schedule, picks them up and gets them home again.
I think skating would be less stressful on the hips than running track.
Kate:
“Track” has a bit of variety regarding biomechanics: sprints vs distance vs hurdles vs jumping. Then again these are young atheletes with max cartidlege thickness and synovial fluid (lubricant). How much impact versus “abby normal” (speed skating) motions?
If you want to see really abnormal biomechanucs watch the Olympic race walking.
Talent, determination, parenting, good genes?
Kate, I think you’re right about the stresses, at least for long-distance speed skating. Much less stress and less overall motion, and less pounding than track too. Now, hockey on the other hand…..
But geez what a talent. He’ll be setting records for the next few years, just like that pole vaulter.
Rufus T Firefly:
I really wonder if Kate, or Aggie for that matter, ever ran track when they were young. “Pounding on the track …..” In track and cross country there are stress fractures in lower legs, shin splints, pulled muscles, but hips? Not so much. Injuries from older age transplanted into young athletes IMO.
om, I recently ended up in PT (age 73) for hip bursitis which I got from walking, as far as I can tell. Age does have something to do with this, I think.
On the other hand, and it’s only one data point, a male friend, a retired Marine who ran for exercise every day into his late forties, ended up with two hip replacements in his fifties.
Katre
Doing route marches in the Army, sort of a tradition from when that’s how armies got from one location to another, not tactical, we were forbidden from walking on the pavement if using a paved road. Only the shoulder. Point was to differentiate the impact by sightly different angles each step as the ground was not even.
But it depends. I had a hard time ,post-Army, distance running when facing traffic. That put me on the shoulder, slanting down slightly from the right. My right leg is slightly longer than my left–lots of folks have uneven lengths–by maybe an eighth of an inch. So that put the long leg on the short–higher–part of the ground. Gave me hip trouble. Changed to a country road with little traffic, ran along the other side, slanted down to favor the right leg, went for years that way.
Trauma will accumulate.
Kate:
Anecdotes, I know many non-runners who have had hip replacements. Old age, biomechanics. and confirmation bias, I’ve known many runners who have been running well past their 40s, many since their teen age year, with their originally issued hips.
Hernia injuries did more to screw up my running than miles put in; messes up your core, messes up your gait. Bad judgement (a guy thing) took a far greater toll than miles on the road.
Richard,
“My right leg is slightly longer than my left–lots of folks have uneven lengths–by maybe an eighth of an inch.”
I lot of people are told that when in reality their legs are the same length but their hips are not level.
A good PT can fix that. Ended 30 years of pain for one guy I know.
om,
Regarding track, I agree that hip injuries don’t seem to be an occupational hazard. I will also add that most coaches take measures to avoid repetitive stress injuries and injuries due to hard impact by mixing up training; track, road, grass…
One big advantage with track; humans literally evolved to walk, jog and run. Our bodies are designed for it, engineered for it.
@om: I didn’t mention ‘hips’, and I was referring to the leg joints in general when I mentioned ‘pounding’. Not old age projection either, I don’t have any of those problems now. I’ve had both shin and wrist splints when I was young, very painful, the former from soccer and endurance hiking, the latter from gymnastics.
I have had an orthopedic surgeon tell me that repeated running on a hard surface at any age, young or old, is a pretty sure recipe for eventual hip replacement though – FWIW. And my B.I.L., who played college ball, is clicking around on 2 knees and 1 ankle that he wasn’t born with – so far. Also from the experience of acquaintances, I’ll tell you one category that gets the severe hip wear: Body-building weight lifters.
Aggie:
There have been scientific studies about running for prolonged durations (years of running, not durations of specific runs) and degenerative skeletal/joint damage. They didn’t find the association.
Generally it sucks to get old, but not getting old is worse.
Hey Blade runner, why you so fast? “God made me fast and I felt his good pleasure out there today.”