Canadian Masters Athletics - Episode #214

Meet Karla, Carrie, Carolyn, and Dala – four Canadian Masters athletes who are redefining what it means to compete with time. They're not just running; they're leading a movement that proves passion doesn't age, and every finish line is the start of a new challenge.

In this episode, we dive into the world of Masters Track, where age grading levels the playing field, allowing seasoned athletes to compete with the vigor of youth. We'll explore how the community is bouncing back post-pandemic and share insights for anyone inspired to hit the track, no matter their age.

Join us for stories of competition, camaraderie, and the life-changing power of the Masters athletics community. It's more than a race; it's about the journey, the friendships, and stepping beyond your comfort zone. Ready to see how these athletes leap over life's hurdles? This episode is your mark. Get set. Go!

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Transcript

David Stark: 0:00

Hey folks, welcome back to the 214th episode of the athletes podcast. Today we're featuring Canadian Masters Athletics, specifically four athletes who are competing. This is something that I'm passionate about, because athletes deserve to be talked about at all ages, not just professional sports NFL, nhl, mlb, nba. You know the ones that we talked to. These are the Masters athletes, the over 35 category, the individuals that have shown and showcased how they can perform at their best day and in day out throughout the tenure of their career, over the course of their lifetime 50 plus 60 plus years old, still setting records. We have Carla Dalla, kerry and Carolyn joining us for this episode today. Thank you, folks for tuning in. Let's get into it. Here we go, powered by perfect sports. Thank you, folks for tuning in. You're the most decorated racquetball player in US history, the strongest man, from childhood passion to professional athlete, eight time Ironman champion. So what was it like making your debut in the NHL? What is your biggest piece of advice for the next generation of athletes, from underdogs to national champions? This is the athletes podcast, where high performance individuals share their triumphs, defeats and life lessons to educate, entertain and inspire the next generation of athletes.

David Stark: 1:20

Here we go. Kind of crazy, this will be the kind of first episode that we've ever had five people on the same riverside. Youtube might be a little mangled, but we'll have five. Four beautiful faces, one questionable, but we'll leave that to the jury. Out there, see, I'm the one that they continue to say hey, why are you in front of the camera? But I just keep asking questions and people keep delivering incredible answers, like the four of you that we get to welcome here today on the athletes podcast Dalla, carolyn Kerry and Carla Holy Dina. That's three CKs there that could be tough at some point. A little confusing. I'm going to let you folks have the floor and allow you each to introduce yourselves, share a little bit of background on your sports history, where you're at currently today, and then we're going to dive deep into some questions around masters, athletics, health, fitness, wellness on the athletes podcast here today. Thank you, folks, for joining.

Carrie Oswald: 2:16

Well, maybe I'll start the conversation because I kind of brought everybody together. So, David, you and I know each other from social media, mostly on LinkedIn, and I've been following your podcast as well, and I thought it would be a really, really good idea for your audience to have an opportunity to understand Canadian masters athletics, which is Canadian masters track and field. So we are a group of track and field athletes all over the age of 35 and up till we can't do it anymore, and you're looking at four individuals who are responsible for the Instagram account and how we manage the Instagram account, how we post the Instagram account stories and also the Facebook page from the wraparound. So I'm Kerry Oswald and I live in Belleville, Ontario.

Carrie Oswald: 3:07

I am a track sprinter I guess we can classify it as a sprinter. I run fast sometimes and in the 60 meter events 100 meter, 200 meter, most recently, 300 meter hurdles, which I was inspired to do by the lovely and amazing Carla Del Grande, who is also in our panel today. And part of the reason that I got inspired by Carla to do the 300 meter hurdles is because I've never seen anyone do hurdles, especially at our age. You think, okay, we can't, we can't jump anymore. We can't run anymore, we can't do this anymore.

Carrie Oswald: 3:47

And there she was jumping over hurdles and I thought you know what I want to do, that I absolutely want to do that. So I had the pleasure of running against Carla what year was that? 2021, I think it was 2022, maybe where we actually ran against each other and I thought she's, she's going to kill me, she's going to kick my behind, and she did. It was great to witness and a whole lot of inspiration for for a future. I'm going to turn it over to Carla, because Carla's got a great story, way better than mine.

Karla: 4:26

We're all doing the same thing. We're all members of Canadian Masters athletics. People still confuse that, but it's track and field. We all happen to be on the track side, except for Dalla, so we'll let her explain that, but I'm a sprinter as well. I've been doing this since I was a kid and I love it and that's why we all do it. We're all masters athletes, so above the age of 35, but we're doing it because we love the sport. All of us probably did it as kids. There are many people, though, that come to masters that never had the opportunity as kids and explore a whole lot of new events. So one of the things we want to do by doing this podcast is inviting people to come back and try whatever you missed or whatever you did as a kid and you want to do it again.

Karla: 5:25

I ran and did a few sports as kid as a kid and dabbled here and there and different things, and took out road racing when I was in my 40s because that's what I thought adults do when you get older, you go to the road because there's lots of road races around, and then somebody told me that I was saying I really like the speed workouts on the track and they were hating them and I was just in my glory and they said well, why aren't you competing in sprints?

Karla: 5:59

Oh, didn't know, didn't know. So it was something that we always struggle with to get people off the road and back onto the track. And came back to the track when I was about 50 and love it. So I do indoors 50, 60, 200 and 400. And outdoors I do 100, 200 and 400. And, as Kerry says, the hurdles and I've turned 70 last March, so now the hurdles go to 200 meters, so a little bit shorter, and the height is about 27 inches. So it's a little bit. Kerry makes it sound like you're going over big obstacles, but you know you're kind of body size now, of what I can manage.

Karla: 6:55

It's an amazing sport. Training for everybody jumps, throws, race walking, pole vault, distance running, cross country, trail running. There's so much and I've done it. I've dabbled in a few of those things as I've gone through and settled on sprints, but there's always all those things available. So that's one of the beauties of our sport.

David Stark: 7:24

I love the call to action early on in the podcast for people to get out and try new things. It's automatic, that's perfect.

Karla: 7:30

We're shameless.

Carolyn: 7:32

Yes, no, this is great.

David Stark: 7:33

I think that's one of the things that I've learned maybe over the past four years in doing this show, is that you know you recognize that as you continue to do good things and you impact people positively, that you can be shameless and you can plug those things and hey, like you're going to feel better if you get out and you move your body and you are active and you're competing, because some people probably haven't flexed that competitive muscle in decades, I'm assuming. Anyway sorry, Carolyn, go ahead.

Carolyn: 8:03

Hi, I'm Carolyn and I am 46 years old, so I represent more of the road runner that Karla was talking about, sort of that classic road runner, but lately I've been starting to dabble a little bit on the track as well. So I grew up playing all kinds of sports, but not running. I guess running is involved in many sports, but I was more of a gymnast. I liked volleyball, racket sports like squash and tennis predominantly, and I hated running. And I think part of why I hated it was because I had this brother that was an amazing runner right out of the block. So I thought, okay, he's good at running, I'll do other things. And so I sort of watched him excel at running but didn't really take it up myself until I actually asked him for some advice in my 30s. So in my 30s I realized, oh okay, I guess I'm all right at running and started to really love it and then sort of took up the track.

Carolyn: 9:05

I didn't realize that I could compete on the track as a quote older person, and so I entered my first track race in.

Carolyn: 9:13

I was probably close to 40 years old and I ran a 3,000 meters, which to me would have been short and to some other people on the call. That is basically like a marathon and I realized again that it's fun and people do this and people are active for their entire lives doing all sorts of things running, jumping, throwing, race walking, trail running. There's just an endless amount of ways that we can use our bodies and have fun and meet other people and develop friendships. So, yeah, I got involved with Canadian Masters Athletics and these lovely ladies and we help sort of recruit people and retain them as well and provide value for them for their membership. Yeah, currently I am. I'm more of a 1500 meter to the marathon kind of person and my main aspiration is to really master the marathon. I've given it four or five cracks and it's just a. It's a real beast and I've done okay at it, but I know I can do better and I think that keeps me hungry and wanting to come back for more.

David Stark: 10:17

Love that. Look forward to seeing that in the future. Where you've you put it out there now and people are gonna hold you Accountable here on this block.

Carolyn: 10:23

I need that, I need that Absolutely.

David Stark: 10:26

I guess, last but not least, the, the non-runner, will say what is that? The?

Dala: 10:32

Well, I'm Dalla. I am 55 like Carrie. I am Historically, I suppose, as a masters sprinter. I started out in sprints, short sprints Don't talk to you about anything longer than a hundred, because I really don't like it but I was always. I was getting injured a lot and so I needed to kind of supplement what I was doing with my sprint. So I decided to start throwing. So my coach had me just do shot, put javelin discus, and then he just out of the blue told me I was gonna do a throws pentathlon. I thought he was nuts. I didn't know until three years ago what a hammer even was or that, what a weight throw was. I didn't know there was a sport, what they look like, certainly not how to do it, but I somehow became a thrower. So that's what I mostly compete now is the throws, and it's a lot of fun.

Dala: 11:23

Growing up I I never, really, like all you guys, did stuff like organized sports and we're good at it. I didn't really do that. I just, you know, I hung out with my friends, played baseball in the park and kicked around a soccer ball, and the Zed teachers would pull me out of soccer and in track and field and had me compete, but I was not like an athlete and I only got back into track and field like as a masters. In 2016 I did my first race. So I was in like my mid 40s and I did my first race and I was bitten by the bug and I was addicted and that was it. So that's so, that's you know. I've stuck with it.

Dala: 12:01

And then my joint Canadian masters a few years ago and that's a lot of fun meet amazing people, do really fun things to try to expand the sport and bring people in, because it is a lot of fun and for me, from coming from a sprinting Background, if you will, going into throws, it's just really fun to try something else. I didn't know I would like the throws, but I actually love the throws. I never thought I could do it. They're so technical and there's so much to learn so I can keep improving and that's really fun. I.

David Stark: 12:37

Message to that one the fun. Hey, sorry, kerry, you're gonna say something.

Carrie Oswald: 12:40

Yeah, I well, I'm just gonna piggyback on what Dalla had said. I think there are a couple of different camps of people who get into masters track and field those that are looking for Something new to try, who've never tried anything like this before. I'm kind of a recreational thing. And then those who are really wanting to improve on skills that they already have and Sort of learn from the skills that they already have. There's tons of people that I've met that have had lots of Exposure to how to spread properly and how to spread technically and how to really improve on their frontside mechanics and, you know, on their strength and and their ability to run really well. And then there are individuals like me who I haven't run since I was 18 and I decided to run for the first time again when I was 50 and found out that I actually didn't run very well at all. But it was in finding out that I lacked the technical side that helped me to improve.

Carrie Oswald: 13:37

And one of the things that Carla had said to me was you might be surprised at how much faster you get the older you get. That came as a surprise. So my goal became really Started out, being injury-free. I wanted to stay really injury-free. And now it's more about how can I get from here to here within an age bracket of five years, so 50 to 55. I gave it a shot, it was really just exposure. I did stay injury-free till this year. Now it's okay. How can I improve on the mechanics that I've worked on for the next five years so I can actually get faster, not slower, by the time I'm 60, which is a very cool goal to have. Most of the people that I know are looking at me like You're gonna be 60. You're gonna be want to be 60 and still running. Yes, I want to be 60 and improving. And everyone's nodding because we all know what that means. Oh yeah, it's not impossible. Yeah, not at all.

Dala: 14:38

Well, for me it's not even like I know I'm not gonna get faster, I'm getting slower. Thank you, menopause, but it's, it's true. But it's not all just about getting faster. For me it's also just about just staying in the sport, staying active in it. Like my body can still do all these things. It's amazing and with the throws I can do new things, I can learn new things and my body will actually let me do them, and it's just, it's just amazing what your body can do. If you have like an interest and if you just step a little bit out of your comfort zone and try something new, you'll really surprise yourself what you might like and what you'll like love to keep doing.

Karla: 15:17

One of the cool things in Master's Track is age grading and it's how you can compare. It's not a statistics person, but it's how you compare your performance compared to supposedly what you would have done at age 21. So it's a percentage. So there are a lot of people that try to keep their age-graded percentage high as they move up an age category and then into the next category. So when we go to our record keeping, it's called mastersrankingcom. When we go to that database, all the performances are age-graded. So you can see somebody coming new into the category may really not be as highly ranked age-graded as somebody that's at the high end of the category, like age 69 or whatever.

Karla: 16:15

So it's kind of interesting to compare that and it goes across too. So it's all from the data. There has to be a lot more data, which we need a lot more people participating to get that data, but you can compare like so what's a performance in 100 meters if you're comparing your best events? So you might say, well, my age-grading in 100 meters is 90%, but my age-grading in running 1500 meters or 3000 meters is pretty low. So you might as well stick to the 100 meters. So you know that that's sort of where your sweet spot is. So it's another use of age-grading. It's kind of a neat thing in masters.

David Stark: 17:01

It seems like the only sport that I can think of that does that is a golf handicap system, for instance, that is similar. That makes it think so much more interesting because you could realistically be out there all together the four of you realistically, myself included at that matter, I mean you have to get to that 35-point. I'm not quite there yet, but sometimes it feels like I am either way. Where things are at today is the fact that that's something that you can all compete within the same kind of respective event and realistically see where you're ranking. That's awesome.

Karla: 17:37

I love that there are some needs in the states that do that. They will give the awards to age-grading.

David Stark: 17:46

Okay, where should we be driving people to? Is it a case where you have to upload your data from specific events, or is that something that you can be doing, tracking some just of your training as well?

Karla: 17:58

It's from events and it's done mostly automatically through all the events that we compete in. But we do get the opportunity let's say we run in an open event where the results wouldn't automatically be sent to master's ranking. You can go and submit the result from that race.

David Stark: 18:25

Sorry, I didn't mean to cut you off there, carla. I was going to do some snooping and realize you guys have over 3,000 individuals in your Canadian master's Facebook group. I'm curious how active is this community right now? Are we going to get a ton of subscribers here on the Athletes podcast from this episode going live here ahead of what will be the national event, correct?

Karla: 18:49

Yeah, let's hope so. That's right, there we go.

David Stark: 18:52

What's been the biggest upbringing or insight maybe, kerry, from your perspective or anyone else who wants to touch on it that you've seen? The recent uptick in people's interests Was this post-COVID. Has there been a strong desire? Is it from any other particular reasons?

Carrie Oswald: 19:08

I think if I were to say there's been more of an interest, there's been definitely an interest in getting involved in master's. The questions that we see on the Facebook page are pretty consistent how do I get involved? Who do I need to talk to? That doesn't necessarily translate to people participating. I think that there's a little bit of a fear, that I think I want to try it, but I'm not really sure how.

Carrie Oswald: 19:36

In my personal experience, that took a couple of tries. I wanted to do it, I was afraid to do it and then when I tried it I realized how incredibly silly it was to be afraid to try it and the experience was a really good one and I think what this podcast could help us do is to try to reinforce that message that come on out and give it a try. It's actually super, super easy to get involved and there's nothing to fear. We're all out there just trying our best and we're not out there to say, well, we're here to break records. Some of us are breaking records, absolutely. Carla is a record breaker, so there is that element of competitiveness if you want that. But if you want to just do it because it's fun, this is a great opportunity to do that as well, at any age.

Carolyn: 20:26

And maybe I'll jump in here too, because, yeah, I'm in Winnipeg, manitoba, and what we notice here is that there's people running on the roads in droves, like we have a road running association.

Carolyn: 20:37

There's hundreds of people that belong to that and yet there's only I don't have the exact numbers on my hands here, but I think there's like 40 some people that compete in track in the master's age category.

Carolyn: 20:50

So we're all kind of looking at that data, going like oh weird, like why will people feel comfortable to compete on the track or on the roads and not have that translate over into the track? And so we've created some opportunities, almost geared at those road runners, people who are comfortable over on the roads, to say, here's a fun little track meet and we'll, you know, we'll do an age grade at 800. And so, you know, it's kind of fun if we all just run an 800 on the track in a fun, friendly environment. And, oh, interesting that the person who crossed the line first, who's maybe 36 years old, isn't actually the winner, because that 63 year old, who's practically national, world level, is kicking his butt, you know, even though he doesn't cross till, you know, second, third, fourth or something like that. I can't remember the exact results of that meet, but we're so we're trying to create some opportunities for people to be exposed, to track in a more, in just a really friendly welcoming environment.

David Stark: 21:52

And I suppose this slightly more mild winter is allowed for more running on the road.

Carolyn: 21:56

put it that way in Manitoba yeah, yeah, we're very much enjoying this winter, that's for sure.

David Stark: 22:03

What does a typical training I mean? I guess it is sport dependent, but I guess something that I'd love to share or have you folks touch on is the training that you expose yourself to, any modalities from a recovery standpoint, as well as how you are pushing your body to your point, making sure that you actually are getting faster, even despite as you age, which is again against typical norms where people are in society just accepting the fact that, as the age they're going to be maybe not as fast and not get up as quickly out of bed. But that doesn't need to be the case, right?

Carrie Oswald: 22:41

I think it's important for for people to stay realistic with their training and you don't want to find that out the hard way. I think the best way to continue to to push your body outside of its comfort zone is to really be mindful of the fact that you want to stay injury free. So lots of recovery time in between training opportunities, lots of mix of training. So I work with a strength training coach. I do mobility work, I do plyometrics, probably once, maybe once or twice a week if I can, because the goal for me is to be able to stay powerful, so I want to be able to be powerful over hurdles. That's plyometrics for me.

Carrie Oswald: 23:22

I do track opportunities, but I don't have an indoor track available at my disposal. So in the winter time I'm one of those road runners crazy person running down my street really fast, getting chased by dogs, which is a whole other thing. But if I can get to an indoor track in the winter time, I would love to do that. Those resources aren't necessarily available to everybody, but in the summertime I've got a great rubberized track right down the street for me which I utilize as much as I possibly can, and I'll probably consider running on the track, maybe twice a week, three times a week, when I'm available to do it on the outdoor side. I'll augment that with treadmill work if I need to during the winter time and that keeps me, keeps me limber and keeps me running and keeps me informed and all of that sort of stuff. Carla's got some great training tips, because I think most of the training tips I got work from her.

David Stark: 24:23

That's Carla's cocktail. Sorry, that's Carrie's cocktail. Let's hear from Carla now, I guess and we'll go around the table and then also, maybe, if you're taking any supplement.

David Stark: 24:33

I'd love to hear if there's anything that I respect as well as sleep hygiene morning routine, nighttime routine. If you could each such, I'd just love to hear what each of you are doing in that sense as well. Team, are you guys getting tired before your workouts? After the workday, do you need a little bit of energy to be able to make sure you get the best pump and workout possible? I gotta tell you, altered state is here for you. It is the best on the market. You want to know why. Not only does it have an incredible amount of caffeine three different types of caffeine to give you that energy, sustained pump L-cytraline but it also has acetyl L-carnaetine, which is an incredibly powerful neutral bit. Nothing to sniff at. This is insane. It'll give you the insane pump, the insane energy and drive to be able to get the best workouts possible. Use the code AP20 at checkout at perfectsportscom to see if 20% can. Let me know what you think. Back to the episode.

Karla: 25:26

Well, I'm very fortunate with my training that I have an indoor facility at Variety Village in Scarborough and so I have a. It's a state of the art indoor track, 200 meter track. So that's where I go to train and I'm on the track three, maybe four days a week, but it, as Kerry says, it's got to be alternating. You have to allow for rest in between, and I'm very lucky to have a pool there and have a weight room there. So I do weights there a couple of times a week.

Karla: 26:00

I do pool running once a week and in my view, that's one of the best cross training things that sprinters, runners, anybody actually can do as a cross training event, because it just saves the lake, saves the impact, and I do all my drills. All the drills that I do on the track before a workout, I do in the pool first and then I go to the deep end. I wear a flotation belt, I'm hooked onto the side with a bungee cord and I run. It's one of the greatest things that I do for running form plus saving my legs, and I can do the same interval. So I've had a period of injury over this past fall and early winter and I can do the same workout that is prescribed, would be prescribed for me on the track.

Karla: 26:58

I can do it in the pool. I have a little bit of a guideline. I do double the time and half the rest, and actually I even put the rest even lower. So like, just as an example, let's say I was doing 100 meters, I'll do it for one minute. Or even I did 10 this morning. I did 10 times 100 meters and I did one minute, which is far more than double the time. But it's just. I'm just trying to get some kind of get the heart rate up, get that form going, and my rest was 15 seconds.

David Stark: 27:42

So we don't normally make our guests do public math, so it's okay. Well, we'll give you the pass on that one. And no, I love the resistance training, the fact that both of you have mentioned that. I love that. I'm sure the next both of you are going to say that as well. But all that and as well, like inside the pool, I think that's something that I've seen athletes use in the past and I think it's something that obviously there's tons of research surrounding it as well. So, carolyn Dalla, who's next?

Carolyn: 28:11

I can go, yeah, I think. I think kind of a major theme of what we're talking about here is making sure that we stay injury free. It's always going to be a huge interruption for anyone, but especially when we're older, to be taking time off because we're injured, then having to build back as we come back. So anything that we can do to stay to prevent those injuries before they happen is huge. And so you mentioned sleep, david. That's our number one recovery tool and I think, like it's it's quote free, so we don't tend to always respect it enough. But the rest and recovery in between our sessions has got to be reprioritized or like put to the top of the priority list. The older that we get and that could even be taking extra time between sessions, right, maybe you used to do a harder session every two or three days. Well, maybe it's every three or four days now and making sure that that recovery happens. So the sleep is going to be huge in that respect, same with the fueling and strength.

Carolyn: 29:12

And so who can we get on our team? I'm a big fan of assembling your support team before you need them, because it's always like a big panic to get. You know, find a physiotherapist or a massage therapist or a sports medicine person on your team after you're injured. But can we kind of have those people lined up and in our corner before we actually need them? So there's your strength and conditioning person, your sports dietitian, your massage therapist. Let's get those people surrounding us. And and I think this is a good plug for coaches too Like, I can't imagine taking up I'm not a sprinter and I don't want to be, and I'm not a thrower, but if I was going to take up one of those sports as a master's athlete, I would want somebody guiding me, who's, who knows what they're doing and who can be a sounding bore that we can ask advice from. So I think rehab professionals, coaches, health professionals they are like the lifeline for us to be able to do what we love.

David Stark: 30:17

I think sorry, go ahead Dala.

Dala: 30:19

Sorry I can just jump in here. I guess I kind of forget the original question. But, like for me, I train twice a week with my coach. I'm lucky that I have a coach. My coach is also a competitor too in track and field, so that's pretty awesome. I don't have an indoor facility either, like Cary, but I don't have an indoor track. I do have an indoor facility. I train on a soccer field indoors in the winter and in the summer I train either on an outdoor soccer field or sometimes at the track, once I'm able to use it, once kids are out of school. But for me I can only train two days a week. I've learned. I've tried other like tried three times a week with my coach, and I can't do that. My body doesn't let me and I end up getting injured. So I know for me I need X number of days in between with my coach. So for me it's Tuesday, friday mornings and that gives me enough break in between.

Dala: 31:11

I do other stuff on the days that I'm not with my coach, do stuff at home. I have an elliptical that I use. I have a lot of exercise like resistance bands and weights at home and I'm in physio now for like a glute thing. So it's a lot of today. It's two hour workout session to. It's a lot, but I have to do it. I need to do it to be strong. So you do it. And I and I have Two or three physios on the go. Depending on what the issue is, I'll see a different physio. I have a massage therapist that I go to two or three times a year it's usually before big competitions to get me feeling like all loosey-goosey so that I can perform as well as I want to, ideally. And I don't do supplements or anything like that me. I just I try to eat well. Yeah, I'm not a protein powder person, a supplement person, not at all. I am.

Carrie Oswald: 32:07

I am. I I'm a big fan of protein, protein, everything. I'm a big fan of magnesium at night To sleep really well, and especially for restless legs. Big, big, big plus for me BCAAs are in my water when I work out because I lose so much by sweating and that's just because the workouts are hard, right, but. But I know that I've got the right mix for me, being able to replenish what I lose. But I think that came with trial and error Dalla. It was just like I didn't intend to. The supplements weren't something that you know. I said, oh, I'm gonna just give all these supplements and I need them. It just became part of the routine. As I went along, I felt like I needed this, so I added this. I tried it. It worked. I said no to some other stuff that didn't work for me and just kind of found my mix. It.

Dala: 33:00

Is a lot of trial and error, though, with with all this stuff in terms of what you need to do to, you know, to recover, what you need to fuel, with how different exercises you can do and when to stop. It is. It's a lot of trial and error and sometimes you learn the hard way. Yeah, we've all been there, but you know, we're all kind of stubborn too, so we just Get better and then we keep going stubborn. Come on, I know, I know.

David Stark: 33:26

I Think the dedicated the trial and error thing for me. I have the least amount of experience of anyone on this call, but I think it relates to life and you know, every single person has a unique food routine, schedule, training modality that helps them in their own unique way that allows them to get to be the best potential that they can achieve. For some people that's, you know, waking up at 5 am, cold plunging and son of therapy and Magnesium supplements, yin yang, whatever. Some people it's just eating healthy, not tracking anything, and Having great mental health, because they don't have to worry about any of that stuff, right, and it's interesting.

David Stark: 34:10

You know, over the course of 200 plus episodes you start to realize that everyone's got something different that makes them tick, and I'd love to have you each share a little bit, maybe about Something that makes you tick or something that has impacted you in a pivotal way, transformed you along your career, whether it was growing up, playing sports with friends, siblings, etc. Or whether it was, you know, something recently that occurred in training or Competing at an event that you'd like to highlight, showcase. I Always like to give a little bit of space during these episodes because I think it's important for people to to showcase those memories so that people, when they're going through them maybe as a child or as a young adult that you realize those are the really good times too, and it's important to remember that and realize that you could be Experiencing one of the best moments of your life. So don't take it for granted.

Dala: 35:05

Can I? Can I jump in here with one? Because it's just just as you were talking, I thought right away of what was like a pivotal moment for me with Canadian Masters athletics and I think I've told Carla this story before. It was the first. It was my second, third ever competition. In 2016 it was at the Canadian Championships in Toronto and I was. I had competed in my first race of that event, and and and me.

Dala: 35:31

When I started out in Masters, I was like all about the competition. I looked up on Masters rankings who was going to be competing, what their times were, how fast they were, because I wanted to win. Like I wanted to win that race, and and. I was leaving the track that day and there were a group of women a bit older than me who were just chatting, leaving social, and they're like, yeah, I just come to these events for the social.

Dala: 35:53

Are you wacko? Like you come here for the social? No, you come here to win. What's matter with you? And stupid me, because, honestly, it's been the social that's kept me in it. It is so much fun when you go to these meets and you see other people like you who understand why you're doing this. Because the general world thinks we're just nutty, they're not really wrong but whatever. So that social part of Masters athletics is key for me. It's like a whole group of really awesome people and I get to see all these people whenever I go compete and it's to me that was like that moment when they're like come here for the social and I'm like, no, but yeah, that's why that's what it's all about.

Carolyn: 36:37

Yeah, and maybe I'll just piggyback on that, because that's exactly what I was going to say, dalla. So I have a podcast myself and we interview roadrunners and trail runners and track runners and everybody, and no matter what level somebody's competing at they could be setting records or they could just be back middle to back of the pack they always, always say I've done 175 episodes and everybody says the same thing about the community and the people that you find. And I can say for sure I'm a were, a military family, so my husband's in the military, so we move quite a bit and I know that all I have to do is find my runners and all have found my tribe, you know. So it really is like we can pursue the outcome and the achievements and the accomplishments, and that's great, and some people are really driven by that, but I think even they would say that it is the people that I've met along the way that makes this such a worthwhile pursuit.

Karla: 37:36

People at so many different levels. It's the people that support you when you're at the track. When I'm training at Variety Village, I'm training with people who may have had strokes, may have had doing rehab from car accidents, all kinds of things, and they support me. I do weight training with people who may be getting up out of a walker to do their weights. I'm in the pool with somebody that's missing a limb. All that kind of support and the friendships from that are really, really important to me.

Karla: 38:15

The friendships of these women right here on our organization, because we work together on the organization, and the friendships when you compete around the world, as I have. I've done about I think it's about 12 or 13 international meets because we get to do that too. That's a whole other thing we haven't talked about. I'm meeting people that are doing the same thing around the world that I'm doing, where I'm kind of an anomaly at my track I'm the only 70 year old woman running around there and somewhere on, you know, somewhere else in Germany, england, in the States, there's other 70 year old women training at their tracks doing the same thing that I'm doing, and we reach out on Facebook and Instagram and keep those connections going. That's really really cool to do.

Carrie Oswald: 39:13

So I'm going to close that conversation out. I started doing this because I thought maybe it'd be fun to try. What I actually found out is how incredibly inspiring many of these individuals are. What we haven't said about Karla is that, yes, she is an absolute gem and a record holder. So Karla has some incredible times in her events that are no joke for even people that are 40 years younger than her. So I've been inspired just by seeing that myself with my own eyes, thinking, okay, well, if she can do this, absolutely I can do this.

Carrie Oswald: 39:55

I had an opportunity to go to Regina for Canadian Masters two years ago not this last year, but two years ago where I met Carol Lafayette Boyd, who is an 80 year old, who has also some incredible records in the 100 as well as a few other races that she ran, and I got to watch that and I thought to myself, wow, I'm super inspired by these women that are 30 years and 20 years older than me. And then I go to my own track and I run with people who are like, wow, you're so inspiring, I can't believe that I'm watching you do this, and how old are you? And it's kind of neat the other way around. I'm not a record holder, but it is very cool for people who are in their 20s and their 30s to watch me, at 56, run past them. So that's that's kind of a neat feeling and that I wasn't expecting. So that's the reason that I keep doing it, because I'm inspired to keep doing it and I'm hoping to inspire other people to keep doing it.

David Stark: 40:59

Okay. When you keep your inspirational stuff at the end of your YouTube's, they perform better, and you keep your fun stuff at the beginning to hook them in. So this has been perfect. Ladies, you mentioned community and I would be remiss if I didn't mention this. Past weekend we went over to Victoria. We were there for supplement Kings 100th store opening and hanging out with World's Strongest man, and you talked about sleep. I didn't get enough over the weekend, but we were there learning a bit about kind of what was going on. A thousand plus people came to this event. It was absolutely insane. People started lining up at three in the morning to be able to get there for their pictures.

David Stark: 41:40

When you talk about community, I think people in the health, fitness and wellness space you mentioned it running, whether it's Strongman, whether it's CrossFit. There are communities that are out there now that are impacting people so positively, and I'm grateful to have been able to highlight the Masters community today, specifically Canadian Masters athletics. I do want to wrap up by, first off, saying thank you to each of you for coming on the show sharing a bit about your stories. As you know, you've listened to some episodes in the past we wrap up by asking our guests their biggest piece of advice for the next generation of athletes and this episode you get four biggest pieces of advice because we got four amazing, incredible athletes here. We're gonna start off by whoever wants to kick this off. I will let whoever take the lead.

Dala: 42:31

Okay, I'll go. My only piece of advice is this find something that peaks your interest and go with that and even if it's like, hmm, might be fun to try that, take that small step. Just take one little step outside of your comfort zone toward doing that, and it just critiques you. You will not regret it, but it takes that one little step. But really follow what your interest is, whatever peaks you. Someone with a podcast that Carla did recently or an interview she did. I saw these people dancing. It's like so much fun, these older people dancing. I thought one day I'm gonna dance. So just find that little thing that sparks an interest, go with it and follow it and just keep at it and just have fun.

Carolyn: 43:16

I love that. I'll go next. I'm again. I'm a long distance runner, and so I like to look at what the elites are doing sometimes, and when I hear them tell their stories of growing up, a lot of them have played a lot of different sports growing up. They didn't become elite runners like at eight years old, and it actually reminds me. I was listening or I saw something on on social media recently and the guy said his name was Wayne Goldsmith. I think he trains people in, I think he's Australian, but he said there's no such thing as an elite eight year old, a high performance 10 year old or a professional 11 year old. It just doesn't happen.

Carolyn: 43:54

But I promise you that special specializing them too early is a road to doom, and so what we really want to focus on because I know we're speaking to a younger audience is that through sport, we want to build you as a person. We want to develop your character, your values, your virtue, your discipline, your ability to just keep showing up and showing up and being with your friends and being with people, and I think we don't. We don't know what you're going to be when you're eight years old. Like you may, you could go in one of any number of directions with your sports. But you want to try a lot of different things. You want to follow your, your like Dalla said like your interests and your passions, and develop like a high level of physical literacy where you know how to move in all directions and be competent, and that will take you very, very far.

David Stark: 44:48

Folks saw me snap in there. If you're watching the YouTube. Some wiser words. I don't know if they've ever been uttered on this, this platform. But yeah, carla or Carrie, take it away. I don't know how you're gonna top it, but I have no doubt you will absolutely definitely echo those comments.

Karla: 45:08

For sure, for sure, and and Keep doing it. Like, find that passion and keep doing it, like, like, why should I stop? I'm 70 and I've got role models ahead of me Across Canada and around the world that are doing this same thing, that are in their 80s and 90s and they keep doing it. So why can't I? And that it's a part of it's a part of my life, so I keep consistent at it too. So when you find that passion, make, make it part of your routine, make it part of your daily life.

Karla: 45:45

So I have people at the gym that expect to see me there every Monday In the weight room and then in the pool, and so there there's sort of a habit. I have people say to me oh, you're so inspirational, but then they don't follow that up. But if they established a routine for themselves, your routine then becomes your motivation, because then I've got to keep. I gotta keep doing it, because I want to keep fit, I want to keep active, I want to keep happy doing this. So I Keep going and then there is my inspiration and my motivation for the next week to keep on doing it. I follow Brad Stilberg and and Steve Magnus a lot and do hard things and, and you know they're their books about Establishing the consistency and establishing the habits. So important, so important.

David Stark: 46:41

You did it, I knew you would.

Carrie Oswald: 46:46

No pressure, gary yeah, back to back three in a row well, I think the only thing I'd add is that If we're trying to inspire younger people, then we want them to understand that they can do anything. You can do anything, and if it's hard, do it. Because it's hard, don't just do it. Don't just say to yourself, well, I can't, because really you would never have known whether you could have if you didn't try.

Carrie Oswald: 47:16

And I think that if you look use the hurdle analogy there's hurdle, it's just a piece of material. Jump over it, jump over it. You can do that, anyone can do it. If I can do it, you can do it. It's not that hard, it's just a little bit frightening. But sometimes that fear, that fear is exactly what you need to be able to say to yourself Okay, well, what do I need to do to jump over that hurdle? Learn how. Once you learn how you, you won't be afraid. But I think if your fear is what stops you, then you've got to just be able to say to yourself it's only fear, it goes away, it'll be.

Dala: 47:54

It'll be so proud of yourself. Yeah, I'm taking on, but it'll be like it'll just push you to want to do even more next time. You're absolutely right, carrie. Just take that step out of your comfort zone and face that gear. Yeah, yeah.

David Stark: 48:09

I can't. I can't help from Feeling similar thoughts Building this platform. You know, I feel thrilled to be able to provide this, you know, to Canadian Masters athletics and now, hopefully, in turn, we can get more people joining your community and, in turn, getting more people healthy, active, living those lifestyles that they need to be and, frankly, the way we should be Living our best high-performance lifestyles possible, whatever that looks like, whether it's getting outside for a walk every morning, getting in the gym or weight training in the water, dealing with resistance bands. So many nuggets of gold in this episode. I can't thank you to view enough again for coming on the show. If there is Maybe one place where we should be directing people for this conversation or to learn more about Canadian Masters athletics, where should we be driving them?

Carolyn: 49:03

Carolyn, that's over to you All right? Well, you can visit us over at Canadian mastersca. That's our website, so that's where you're gonna find all kinds of information there. But we're like you mentioned at the beginning of this. We have a very active Facebook group and you can just search Canadian Masters athletics on Facebook and our Instagram handle is Canadian Masters athletics 35 Amazing.

David Stark: 49:29

Thank you so much again, each of you Honored to be able to feature you on the show and can't wait to keep in touch. We'll be at some events in the future here and we'll make sure to continue highlighting Canadian Masters athletics.

Carrie Oswald: 49:43

Montreal, on the 16th of February 16th.

David Stark: 49:46

There we go, there we go Canadian championships. This episode will go live. People start driving once you hear it, we, we.

Carolyn: 49:54

I get to meet these ladies in person for the first time.