Hilary Cairns: Welcome back to the Aging Athletic League Podcast. I'm Hilary Cairns, and on this show I talk with athletes, coaches, experts, and everyday competitors about training, performance, resilience, and what it means to continue pushing ourselves over time. Today's guest is Nancy Peck Cook. Nancy is a lifelong endurance athlete whose resume includes many, many, many marathons, including 12 Bostons, as well as four Ironman's ultra-marathons, other triathlon races, skiing. Skating, I think too, and mountain running. She
Nancy E Cook: Yeah.
Hilary Cairns: ran a 305 marathon at Boston and competed in the Iron Man 70.3 World Championship. But Nancy's athletic story took an unexpected turn in her late 50s. After knee problems led her to use indoor rowing as a low impact form of cross-training, she discovered that she wasn't just pretty good at it, she was exceptionally good. Nancy went on to become a three-time world indoor rowing champion in the 2000 meters and has set multiple age and Multiple American and world records. She's also a longtime lymphoma survivor, coach, ski instructor, skating instructor. We'll we'll hear all these things.
Nancy E Cook: Ha ha ha.
Hilary Cairns: And she continues to find new ways to challenge herself as an athlete. I'm really interested in talking with Nancy about athletic reinvention, how we adapt when our bodies change, why it's never too late to discover something we're really good at, and how competition can continue to enrich our lives as we age. Nancy, welcome
Nancy E Cook: Yep.
Hilary Cairns: to Aging Athletically.
Nancy E Cook: Thank you, Hilary. Thanks for asking me to be here. Looking forward to our conversation.
Hilary Cairns: Yeah. Yeah. Well th there's a lot that we have to cover. And hopefully we'll get to all the things. And if not, we'll get
Nancy E Cook: Well.
Hilary Cairns: to them I think we'll just get to the most important things. So
Nancy E Cook: Okay.
Hilary Cairns: you have been an athlete for a long time. I know your focus in the last couple decades has been on endurance sport. What what was your athletic life as a young person?
Nancy E Cook: I I grew up on a farm. My dad
Hilary Cairns: Okay.
Nancy E Cook: was an athlete and he encouraged me to discover sports. My mom and dad, we had we did music, we did sports, we did church, we did we they just exposed us to everything and that was that was great because I basically got to try things and I love sports. I love being good at sports. I played basketball. That was my big thing as a youth, as well as skiing. We started skiing when I was six. But I played basketball. I went to camps and we were state champions and my junior year in high school. And I think we made it to semifinals in my senior year in high school. And then I went to Castleton State College and I played in college, so I played basketball. But I just all sports. I played field hockey. I ran cross country. I did whatever I could all the time and and it was it was a lot of fun when I was in my younger years and I was a coach. I ended up coaching at camps in the summertime and I loved coaching and I loved just being fit. And what that did for me as an athlete was, and it really enriched my life as as a kid and going into college.
Hilary Cairns: Wow, that's a lot of sports. I it just I it makes me wonder, about the specialization of sports that happens now for young people. And I I wonder if there's there's ever gonna be a look at kind of that long term impact. Cause I know we're gonna talk a lot about how you've been able to really have all of these different athletic endeavors. And I wonder if part of that is you grew up with doing a lot of different things too.
Nancy E Cook: Yeah. Right, right. I agree. I think that the specificity of sport, 'cause I had my my son Skylar and he played soccer. And in order for him to be playing soccer, he had to focus on soccer. And it has soccer camp all summer. And it was premier soccer in the fall, premier soccer in the in the spring, and and then we skied in the wintertime. But he it but that's what they do and that's what the kids in order to be really good and play, and not be sitting on the bench. You had to really focus on the one sport in order to be really good. But I don't think it was like that when I was a kid. I think we we just played whatever was there. We rode bikes, we hiked, we did, all that stuff with our parents. And I think that is why I have done, I think so many Sports is and trying to change because I think I get bored. Not that I I wanna be the best and I try and and it's just like looking at my running career and hitting all those PRs. I I'm never gonna PR in my running as I get older. Where if I try a new sport, that's a PR as soon as you start, right?
Hilary Cairns: Exactly. Yeah. well, so speaking of your running career, you you ran cross country, so it's not as if endurance sports were not part of your what you grew up doing, but when did you really shift into endurance sports?
Nancy E Cook: Well, so I played basketball in college and I I loved the jump rope. That was a thing I took up and back up in COVID was the jump rope. I bought a cross rope and I started doing the jump rope thing again and that was super cool because that's all we did when we played basketball was train our fitness on on the jump rope. But that's what I from went from basketball and it was in college And I swim too. I was a swimmer and I taught swimming and I worked for the Red American Red Cross and I taught water safety instructors. So swimming was a big thing for me at in that college time frame. But I was in a triathlon and I was the swimmer and the biker went out on the bike and our runner never showed up. So I ended
Hilary Cairns: Yeah.
Nancy E Cook: up swimming and running in this triathlon on a team when biking was my favorite thing to do. I was like, geez, I should do it all. I mean, this is crazy. Why am I on a team when I just did two legs of the triathlon and then I started doing triathlons. And I think that's what really got me into the the running was because that was my weakest of the three was my running. So I started to run all the time because I wanted to be good. And and that's when I star I think my first marathon was Montreal in nineteen eighty nine. And I've done, what did I say, thirty-five? Thirty-five. And I qualified for Boston in my first marathon. And I did Boston then. And it's hard. Boston was always hard to to run because it's in April and it's, winter in the northeast and hard to train for. but I loved it. And it was it was just fun. And I I remember running Montreal and this guy's like, Have you run a marathon before? And I'm like, No. And it was my first marathon. He's Well you're running too fast. He was like telling me he had no idea who I was and he was just saying you're running too fast. You need to pace yourself and I'm and I felt great. Yeah, anyway, yeah, it was so funny. I ran a three forty, I think, was my first marathon and I qualified to for Boston back then. Whatever. They've changed qualification standards of course throughout time, but yeah. Yeah, it was fun.
Hilary Cairns: Yeah. And so are you running still or have you really with your injuries had to cut back entirely?
Nancy E Cook: No, I just I used to do two marathons a year and or I would do a couple fifty milers as well. And it was during COVID and I ran for the Western Mass Distance Project team. It was a bunch of girls. We had a blast. We had a really great masters team. We went to the national cross country championships in Allentown, Pennsylvania as a team. Like we used to win the a lot in when I was running cross country as a masters team and it was super fun and fun to h hang out with the girls and it was great. But then during COVID, everybody s kind of stopped wanting to get together and our team sort of fell apart. And it was sad because I love being with my friends. And I still do Fridays. I do Friday runs. I get all my old my old teammates together. We run on Friday mornings and and I still run. I run the mountains. I like the mountains because the mountains are up. So you don't get that impact of the pavement all the time. so it's uphill mostly. There is a couple of the mountain races that you have to run downhill, but most of them you just run up, which I like. And that's what I've continued to do. I'll do Mount Washington every year. I did Mount Washington this year. I think it was my 12th Mount Washington. And I run the race to the top of Vermont up top of Mount Mansfield. And I've done that one quite a few times as well. And I love that. I love the people. I like being outside and I love the people. And that sport keeps me connected to the people in the community.
Hilary Cairns: Yeah, yeah. I think community is so important. And I'm I'm really glad to hear that that is still a part of of your running. We're gonna talk about the rowing a fair amount. And maybe we're gonna put that you're gonna have to tell me, do we put that in in the endurance category? I guess it depends on how long of a race it is. but before we do that, kind of of all those races you did and achievements that you had in the various endurance events, what are you most proud of?
Nancy E Cook: Well, I ran three five at Boston and it was during a nor'easter and it was the year I had met my husband, two thousand seven and I started with a umbrella and it was cold and rainy and it was I was in tights and it wasn't looking like stellar super fast run or anything and I just poo, I just felt so good. I ran I think I ran my fastest half marathon, the first half of that marathon.
Hilary Cairns: wow.
Nancy E Cook: It was insane. Well, it's downhill to the half and then it's uphill as as the last hills going back into Boston. But I finished that race and was freezing and put on a ski jacket. it was it was just this crazy thing and I I had no idea and people started coming over to me like wanting to interview me and it was it was crazy. But I ended up seventh master in my it was in my forties when I did that. So and I got interviewed and I got this Crystal trophy sent to me. I still have it downstairs. And it, yeah, that that was really super cool. And the other running one was the 50 miler I did, my very first 50 miler. And I had a year. I had survived cancer. I had my lymphoma. And 2010, 2010, I had lymphoma, and I had it was crazy. Crazy. This is crazy too is during lymphoma. And my treatment, two-thirds of the way through cancer treatment, I ran the Chicago Marathon. I ran the Chicago Marathon in a Wonder Woman outfit. And my girlfriend ran with me in a Batgirl outfit, my girlfriend Kara. And we ran, it was so awesome that I ran a 350. And I had I was in the middle of cancer treatment. I had two-thirds of the way through, and we were like waving our arms, and we had such a great time. Chicago was amazing. And I had qualified for Boston and I was gonna do Boston and after the treatment was over, Boston's in April, I ended up thinking they found more cancer in my spleen, and they took my spleen. So I got my spleen removed. I ran Boston six weeks later, and
Hilary Cairns: gosh.
Nancy E Cook: I ran a 340 Boston after having my spleen taken out, cancer survivor. Doing that, it was crazy. That was crazy. Then this is that whole year. Then there's more. in September of that year I ran my first fifty miler and it was crazy because, I I just did not want cancer to define me and to slow me down and to tell me I couldn't, and I I just was so happy to be alive and so just everything was so exciting and I trained for this 50 and I focused and I ran an 830 50 and I qualified to be in the lottery for Western States, which I put my name in, which I didn't get chosen, which I'm actually glad because I don't know if I really want to do a hundred miler.
Hilary Cairns: Yeah.
Nancy E Cook: But those are those are some of the fun stories about the athletics that I've done. That plus I qualified for and went to the world championship for the half Iron Man. with Timberman. I ran Timberman and New Hampshire, half Iron Man, and I qualified and they did worlds, the world championship for the half. So those are those are probably my tops.
Hilary Cairns: Yeah, where was the world championship for that that year? Okay. Okay.
Nancy E Cook: Clearwater, Florida. Clear water. Yeah. Yep. Yeah.
Hilary Cairns: You touched a little bit on your continuing to compete and train during cancer. how did how did that impact your kind of approach to training and competition? If at all.
Nancy E Cook: Yeah, I I guess, the thing is and people as I'm do right now I'm doing this rowing streak, right? So I'm in my l I'm in this crazy rowing streak and we're gonna talk about rowing, I know, in a bit.
Hilary Cairns: Yes.
Nancy E Cook: But I'm like today is fifteen hundred and seventy two days in a row and people will get on me because they're like, Don't you take any recovery days or don't you ever get sick or like And I work through it. I work through it. It's like my therapy is being on that rowing machine. And I have recovery days. And I think that I what cancer did for me was tell me that you do need to recover. I would have a bad week. I'd get chemo, I'd feel sick, it was horrible, I'd have a bad week, and then I'd have an okay week, and then I'd have a great week, and then I'd have a pretty good week. so it's like not every week is gonna be a great week. And there are going to be times where you're gonna get up, go out there and start to run or start to do whatever you're gonna do, and you're going to not feel like it. And you don't have to push yourself through it to the point of not liking it anymore. So you have to give yourself grace. You have to give yourself that recovery. You have to take that time and you have to be good to your body. And I think that that's the other thing that cancer did is that I was in the best shape of my life when I got cancer. It was just the weirdest thing in the world to me because I had just one my age group at the Marine Corps marathon and then I got cancer. And so I was in the best shape of my life when that happened to me. But the whole thing is you just have to focus. You have to focus on s all the things. Like you have to think about the time off your recovery, your nutrition, your plan, your And being able to incorporate different and that's the thing when we're going to talk about rowing, but you have to change things up because just we were talking about the specificity of sports. To change things up just keeps things exciting for you as an athlete. So you try something new and you're good at it. So you focus on that. And then maybe you try something new again. And being able to encourage people to keep trying different sports and keep doing new stuff. And then you don't get stagnant and you don't get stale. And you take care of your body. That's all I think.
Hilary Cairns: Yeah. What about competition? are you highly competitive? And is it against yourself or
Nancy E Cook: No.
Hilary Cairns: is it against other people? Wh where's where's the competition?
Nancy E Cook: I think it's all of that. I think it's yourself. I think it's other people. I don't like pinpoint people that I'm competitive against. I I am definitely always looking at myself and ranking myself and where am I in my continuum. But well again, you're gonna talk a little bit more about the indoor rowing thing, but I'm an endurance athlete and this rowing thing is sprinting and it's pushing me. really hard to change that aspect of what I can do and it's testing my body. So I love it. I love it. And I and there's different things like I'm doing a Hyrox. That's another change new thing. My son and I are gonna do a mixed doubles team in Boston in in October. So that's gonna be another
Hilary Cairns: Nice.
Nancy E Cook: whole thing. But the whole crossfit thing and the lifting weights, like I never really was into lifting weights or doing any of that thing type things. And then I saw HyROX and all my friends are doing HyROX. This girl Lillian in Norway, she's like one of the best in the world at Hyrocks and she competes in the indoor rowing world and I was watching her. I'm like, that looks like fun. It looks like something cool to do and something cool new to try.
Hilary Cairns: Well, you'll definitely crush the rowing portion. I would say it's
Nancy E Cook: Yeah. Yeah.
Hilary Cairns: interesting I've done a lot of Hyrocks races. I've done Boston actually too.
Nancy E Cook: Okay. huh.
Hilary Cairns: And people are not very good at the herb. Like it's surprising to me. I'm like
Nancy E Cook: It they say it's their rest. They think it's the rest period. That's why I don't think they try. Yeah. Yeah.
Hilary Cairns: okay. Yeah. I mean very slow times. Yeah. So then you'll that's cool because it's like three quarters of way through. So you it's it's a great time for you to crush it. You can you can do the whole thing and your son can just watch you do that one.
Nancy E Cook: Yeah, yeah. Yeah
Hilary Cairns: all right, so let's talk about indoor rowing. I have a little bit of trauma around indoor rowing. I think that I texted
Nancy E Cook: Okay, yeah. okay.
Hilary Cairns: you this, which is which is that when I broke my foot in twenty twenty.
Nancy E Cook: six point twenty. Mm-hmm. Everything was like that. right.
Hilary Cairns: Everything was shut down. So all that we and but we ordered an erg. And so that's what I did every day for I think I did it, I wanna say nothing like what you're doing, but
Nancy E Cook: Yeah.
Hilary Cairns: I I didn't love it. I got a lot of blisters,
Nancy E Cook: Yeah.
Hilary Cairns: which I now know I was just like gripping the thing too hard. But this is not about me. I wanna hear about you and
Nancy E Cook: Yeah. Yeah.
Hilary Cairns: you I think you love it, but how did you start doing it?
Nancy E Cook: Well I bought the machine and I didn't it was before COVID that I bought the machine and I bought it for like my fiftieth birthday or something like that. Like I would buy myself a machine for a birth that's my birthday presents to myself. I bought a treadmill one year. I bought yeah,
Hilary Cairns: Awesome. I love that. Yes.
Nancy E Cook: I bought a ski erg one year. Yeah. So I have all the ergs down in my basement.
Hilary Cairns: Yes.
Nancy E Cook: I bought the bike last year, so I've got all three so I can do the whole trifecta. But Yeah, I got into it because again, it was like during COVID, my girlfriends didn't want to go rowing and I really needed something to keep me excited about doing things. And I'm really I'm an extrovert and I like people, I like talking to people, I like meeting people, I like the community. And I got into it, a friend of mine said, you should race, you should do Crash Bees, which is in Boston. You should go and try it out, my friend Amy and my friend Laura, who ha is a r on water rower, she's like, yeah, sure, I'll cocks you. I'll and I was like, I had no idea any of it, nothing, I had no idea. And I had been on the erg and I only had done just a not even a lot, but went to Crash Bees that year with Laura as my cocksin with capri tights and a T shirt And and I I mean, I'm in good shape because I'm a runner. and then I I got a little bit of coaching on the erg. Not a lot. I watched all the videos because again everything's on video and and so dark horse rowing was one and and a sensei with Eric Murray is another. Those are the two that I watch the most. But I watched them and taught myself to row just by watching their videos. And then I went to Crash Bees and I was second place. I got second place in my age group that year. And they were all amazed. I think did like a seven fifty something 2K. And no, it no, it's on a erg. No, it was a erg. Yeah, it's an indoor rowing competition. Crash Bees, they
Hilary Cairns: And sorry, that was on the water. That was actually on the water. it is. Okay. Okay. Yeah. Okay.
Nancy E Cook: yeah, longstanding like thing they do in Boston. And So it was fun, it was cool. And I was sitting there and there's all these ergs. Everybody's sitting beside each other, and they, it's like you it it's very it's kind of odd. My husband came and watched me when we did the world championships in Toronto, but you can see who's ahead of you and behind you and how close you are to them on the erg. Like the race, the race software shows on the concept two erg where you are in the in the place. E p other people can see the boats on the big screen. But you see it on the the little screen and so you've got to get faster to catch them. It's crazy. And then you're so you're doing it. And I've got my friend Laura telling me, she was she was coaching me like I was in a cross country race. We're gonna hit a hill. You gotta go. she was like, it was so cute, it was so fun, we had such a great time. And then I did so well and I was excited. And then I got back, I was I'm second. I wanna win. I was so close. And they are all looking at me like who is this girl? And I I'm not on the water. I'm like in capri tights in a t-shirt and I'm showing up as this dark horse at this, cra it was so funny. But then I got into the Facebook groups and I got into all the community and the people and the people were so nice and encouraging and it's been super fun. online experience, which is crazy, like nothing. gone to b until I did F forty five, I had never like rode in in like a studio type of atmosphere. It's always been in my basement on my own, my my erg downstairs. And
Hilary Cairns: Sorry, what's F forty five?
Nancy E Cook: F forty five is training like a CrossFit. it's 45 minute workout, it's functional training. So F is
Hilary Cairns: Okay.
Nancy E Cook: for functional, 45 is the 45 minutes. So they have functional training, and they have all the things. they have all three ergs, they have box jumps, they do, pull-ups, they do sit-ups, and then they change it up all the time. It's a super fun thing to do. It and it's community, so that was fun. I was saying that because that's the first time I actually really rode in a studio. Because I found this online company, this small owned by two guys, Steven and Justin, down in Florida. And during COVID, they pivoted to offer online rowing classes and their coaches and they were coaches. So they used to have tons of people in their studio. Well, during COVID, of course, nobody's going anywhere and not wanting to go to a studio with other people and the whole, COVID. But They had this live to row studios and they would offer classes. So I started going to their classes and I was getting coached on Zoom. They would watch me. I mean, in real life, watch me and coach me. So then when I was second place at Crash Bees, I said, I I want to get coaching. And then they started coaching me. Then they started having camps and we put together a team. And that's really, I think, what solidified me in the indoor rowing world was getting that. coaching and then take and then going to all these competitions and taking all their camps and they would have different workouts all the time. It wasn't always the same. I'd meet all kinds of people, whether they were on water rowers or whether they were, people indoor like me or CrossFit people that were just looking for this experience to be online and getting coaching from these top notch coaches. They were fantastic. And I was with them, they the Live to Row Studios closed last year. So I was with them. For most of my competitions.
Hilary Cairns: Okay, so if I'm understanding the timeline correctly, you you
Nancy E Cook: Yeah.
Hilary Cairns: pretty much figured out right away you were good at this. It it didn't take long.
Nancy E Cook: Yeah. Yeah, I know. It was fun. Yeah. So that's what that's what the addiction was. Cause I was like that close to winning right away. I'm like, wow, I could be good at this. Then I started setting all these world records. And I had all these world records in the fifty year age group. and then recently, turning sixty, I've got started getting all those eight, world records. Concept two has the database where people can submit their times for for records. So in each age group and now and in our age group they're every five years, but you you can get those world records and and I think I still have the marathon anyway. I ha I have to look again at at the fifty five to fifty nine year age group. But yeah, that was my thing. After that was like I'm gonna go for all these world records.
Hilary Cairns: Wow. So is there a certification process or you just take a picture of your your your minutes or whatever and the time? How does that work?
Nancy E Cook: Well Concept Two, so their monitor, their PM five, their performance monitor, connects to an app. So I I use Ergzone. So Ergzone is my app that I use. And when you connect it, it you connect it to your logbook. So when you get a concept two rowing machine, you have a logbook. And then all of the meters when you connect it through an app, Concept2 has their own app called Erg Data. I use Ergzone because I know the data and I know the software developers that develop Erg Zone and they've done an amazing job. And they created a a community and they have all kinds of races that they offer and this is all through Erg Zone. But it connects to your your logbook, so then on your computer on your logbook or you can find it on your phone, all of that data goes to the logbook and it's verified. So because you've connected it with the with the app. So you've got a verification code. So on your PM5, there's a verification code. So even if you're not on an app, you can get that verification code and you can upload it to your logbook. And then that shows it's connected to you. And that's how they verify it. I know Erg Zone now has actually a camera that they have that they can really verify it's you. So when they do the World Indoor Rowing Championships indoors, they have like a camera so they show and they can connect it, make sure it's you. But that's how they do it. And you verify it and then you go in there and then you claim the record. Yep, kinda cool. Yeah. Tech.
Hilary Cairns: Okay. Wow. So you've won a lot of races and you set these records. Are you still getting faster?
Nancy E Cook: Well I'm telling you, that was crazy with the world championships this year because I just beat my own marathon PR. I just did a faster marathon, a two fifty eight, two fifty nine marathon. I I did again. I just did that. So I am just slightly, but I am. I'm getting I I can get faster. I I know I can get faster. And it's more the long ones. I haven't tried the short ones because I really don't like the short ones as much, but I'm trying. But the marathon, yeah.
Hilary Cairns: Okay. To clarify, when you say the marathon, this is a marathon on the erg. Okay. So and
Nancy E Cook: Yeah. Yeah.
Hilary Cairns: you and you're saying two so two hours and fifty eight minutes on the erg.
Nancy E Cook: Yeah. Yeah on the erg. Yeah. For the record for my age group. And I've
Hilary Cairns: Okay.
Nancy E Cook: got the one in the fifties for the American record in the fifties right now too. Yeah. So and that was my PR when I set that record. Yeah. Yeah. And So my five K at the World Championships this year. The first weekend I broke my world record. The second weekend I broke that record. So I got faster the next weekend. So I did like a nineteen eleven five K. I have to look up I don't know the exact time. So right around there, low nineteen.
Hilary Cairns: Well, it's so sim it's very similar to running times. I mean, it's interesting that how
Nancy E Cook: Yeah. Yep.
Hilary Cairns: what you're yeah, that reminds me there was a race that I used to do in the DC area that was we were racing against the boats, like that that
Nancy E Cook: Yeah.
Hilary Cairns: were erging alongside. So I'd well, that's awesome. I mean, that's a long time to be on an erg. what
Nancy E Cook: Yeah.
Hilary Cairns: what makes somebody good at it? is it your leg strength, your arm strength, your endurance? what powers you?
Nancy E Cook: Yeah.
Hilary Cairns: So well.
Nancy E Cook: Yeah. Yeah. It the I know 'cause I coach too. I coach on the erg and I have ladies that I I s I erg with on Mondays and Wednesdays and I coach. And the biggest thing is the force. The force and the drive. So when you have a well connected catch, when you catch at the catch And you have a well connected catch and you drive with your legs. It's not in your arms, like the my coaches would say to me, it's using your big muscles. You use your big muscles first and then you finish. So it's all in the drive. That's why people that are tall are really good. Like the taller, bigger people are really fast and really
Hilary Cairns: Mm.
Nancy E Cook: good. I'm short, I'm five five. So I don't have a lot of leg length to be able to get a long, strong drive, I but I am strong. Super strong. Yeah. Ask me.
Hilary Cairns: And okay, so what it what's your training like for the rowing? And then are you still training for other things too? You have a lot of energy. I'm like, what don't you do?
Nancy E Cook: Yeah, well, I'm doing the race of the top. Yeah. What's the next thing? What's the next thing? I know. What's the next thing? So my next thing, well, well, first we'll talk about training. So my training. So I I have the rowing streak and I love to bike. I I've told you biking is my favorite activity. I've been doing a ton of meters on that biker downstairs in my basement, but I also ride on the road. And my next thing I'm hoping and I'm I'm working on the Ventum cycles for a gravel bike and I'm hoping to do some racing on the gravel bike. that's my next thing. I'm hoping like next summer that that will be the thing. But right now I I row I row to stay fit. I row to you know, keep, with my body and and mentally it's good for me. I love I love being fit. I love working out. I love sweating. I like I sweat on the bike, I sweat on the rowing machine. I love coaching. I have these two ladies, my girls Barb and Karin, who are regulars that come to my rowing, and they are both on a world record quest themselves. Barb turned 80 in September and Karin turned 90 in March.
Hilary Cairns: Wow.
Nancy E Cook: And I'm working with them to get world records, so that's kind of cool. So I'm coaching them. And So I coach them on Mondays and Wednesdays. I row every single day. I'll take two days probably to do like really low meters and like a two thousand meter is my minimum. So I'll do just warm-up or that sort of thing. But summertime is kind of off where in the fall is when you start building up. I I do a lot of these races that they offer on Erg Zone. So like a the Erg Power series is coming up. And I'll be doing that. I'm doing the grit series. We just did a rowing series of the grit series. And they'll do like one work out a week. And you compete against people in your age group. And it's virtual. And it's so you can again you connect it with the app and you you do the workout and then you get ranked. And that's what I've been doing to really stay motivated. And that's
Hilary Cairns: Yeah.
Nancy E Cook: what I've been doing to really get faster because My, like I told you, Live to Row Studios is no longer, so they're not having camps anymore. So that kind of training cycle. So I've been sort of staying with that same training cycle where sort of off in the summer because most people are on the water and they're not really rowing on the erg, but in the fall, people start to they start to get the endurance base down. So we'll do a lot of endurance events in the fall and get longer stuff in the fall, and then in the like winter, early winter. I did Road Rage last year, which is a group of I think there's a hundred and fifty people that are in this group on WhatsApp and they have workouts that get us ready for and this year we did a two K at the end of that. So they gave us four workouts a week. So that was a training program that I followed last year and I I'm hoping to do that again this year and do the w Road Rage group. Yeah. There's like all different things to kind of keep you motivated year round and like having these competitions. And when I win, that's the coolest part. Yeah. I have all these medals. I have all these medals and I did US nationals. I didn't do US nationals last year, but I went to Pittsburgh and actually did that in person two years ago. And doing worlds is really great. It's really fun. And they've been doing it virtual, but this year They are having the British indoors in December and they're gonna do a world championship event there too, so I'm hoping to go to that. I know, I know.
Hilary Cairns: Okay. So tell me about tell me about the rowing streak. What day you're on, what's motivating it, and is there an end to it?
Nancy E Cook: Yeah, fifteen seventy-two. I'm today is fifteen seventy-two. so it's more than four years. May eighth, twenty twenty-two. I had done a couple of streaks and I didn't realize the cliff club at Snowbird, we go to a ski vacation every year. I didn't know they had a rowing machine and I stopped my streaks when I would go up to Snowbird and I found they had a rowing machine, so then I was able to keep my streaks, so now I'm here I am four years later. And I really don't see a stop because I don't need to. some people are like, What you do don't you ever get sick, like, tired or that kind of thing. And it kind of really motivates me to get up in the morning and get it done. Just get it done. Or if I I'm on a business trip and I'm I have to look for one. Like last when we went to Asheville, I just went to Asheville, North Carolina for a business trip. And I found that the concept two org they had at the YMCA. So I went to the YMCA. And it was just really cool because it's something that I'm doing for myself and then I connect with other people and I see things I might not have seen if if I was just sitting in the hotel or just going for a run by myself out in this town. So I like it. I think it's cool. It's been fun. And I don't know anybody else that's done it. So i the road rage people like, you should You should write to the Guinness Book of World Records and, do that kind of thing. But my friend Dan, so I have there's a couple other streakers that we connect. So I'm connected to Dan. he's been streaking a lot. Like he's had a bunch of long time streak, like more than fifteen hundred and a thousand here and and then this guy in Norway, he's got MS and he's amazing. He's got the longest one so far. I'm trying to think how long his is, but he they're just super cool people and I'm just proud to be a part of that that group and connected to the indoor rowing community. It really has I post every day on my story my day. So and people will, I I end up talking to people and I end up just connecting with people on Instagram and they'll be like, hey, you know, or they'll they're just yeah, I I like it. It's been it's been really great for me. So I don't really see an end to it right now it really has shaped my shaped my training where, I I'm really squeezing in other stuff. But again, this having getting on the rowing machine for two thousand meters takes me ten minutes. So ten minutes I do a dark horse warm up when I'm on my off days and that can warm me up to go for my run or or it can be my cool down after I run or my bike or whatever other athletic endeavor. inline skating. I did an inline skating marathon in Sarasota, Florida. That was the other thing. Yeah, that was fun. Yeah. Yeah. So
Hilary Cairns: Yeah.
Nancy E Cook: rollerblade. Yeah. I've been working with rollerblade for a bunch of years doing skate to ski, doing ski training, using the inline skates. So that was another and then I got my level one with skate IA and And so I'm a coach for inline skating as well. So that's fun. Yeah.
Hilary Cairns: Wow. Yeah. Do you do any strength training?
Nancy E Cook: Things.
Hilary Cairns: Like
Nancy E Cook: So that was the F 45 thing I was telling you about. I started going,
Hilary Cairns: okay, okay.
Nancy E Cook: yeah, I started going there, and my son is a personal trainer. So my son Skylar is 24, and he he's great. He's a great trainer. He's a great coach. He's an extrovert like me. So he's he's in Boston, he lives in Watertown and he's at fitness together, I think is the name of the he just started at a new place and He's a great trainer. He was at F forty-five doing that and coaching folks. And he has been and I told you we're doing the the high rocks together as well. But he helps me focus on that because I'm not I'm a cardio girl and he doesn't like cardio and I don't like strength training and he so we kind of balance each other out and so he's been he's been really helping me thinking about that. We did the Murph together.
Hilary Cairns: Mm.
Nancy E Cook: The two of us did the MRF together, which was fun. but yeah, that it not a lot and I need to, and I know I need to, and I'm actually going to try a train for life because there's there's a studio here close. I'm gonna try their system out as well to kinda get me ready for the Hyrux. Yeah.
Hilary Cairns: Yes, yeah.
Nancy E Cook: Yeah.
Hilary Cairns: All right, let's shift and talk a little bit about aging and how that's
Nancy E Cook: yeah.
Hilary Cairns: playing into your competitiveness, what winning is like, and just if your body's changed at all. So if we could
Nancy E Cook: Yeah.
Hilary Cairns: start with like are you doing things now that you kind of never imagined that you'd be doing at age sixty? 'Cause sixty probably sounded so old. I mean, right? It's it sounded so old. And once you're there it's
Nancy E Cook: You're right? I know. I know.
Hilary Cairns: like doesn't s doesn't feel that old. But
Nancy E Cook: Yeah, I know. I yeah. It doesn't feel that old. It's crazy thinking about it, like just in what do I want to experience, and experiencing as much as I can. And I think that kinda goes through my mind, but as far as aging, I I I try to deny it. No. Gotcha? Yeah, what I mean.
Hilary Cairns: Gotcha.
Nancy E Cook: But I I that's I denied menopause, so I got through that. And then I was reading somebody was sharing all the symptoms. I was like, I can blame that on menopause. I'm like, that I was going crazy.
Hilary Cairns: Yeah.
Nancy E Cook: But I I think that it's It it is a thing. Aging is definitely a thing. And skiing, because I'm a skier, I'm a pro ski instructor too. We didn't really talk about that. But I I teach skiing at Stowe Mountain Ski Resort. I was a ski patroller for ten years and then I I changed over and became a ski instructor and I was at Killington for a ski patrol and then I was at Mount Sunepe, Mount Snow, and now Stowe. And we've been at Stowe for 14 years. And so I'm a private ski instructor up there. I'm a level three And I love the moguls. I love to ski moguls. We we go to Mount St. Ann for an international ski clinic every year, which is fantastic. and being 60 and skiing the moguls, right? And that is the thing too, I think with the indoor rowing and the running and just being fit, is I can ski top to bottom stow. I can ski the bumps. I can ski goat. I can ski all the double blacks and and not be out of breath or not be scared.
Hilary Cairns: Mm.
Nancy E Cook: And I'm strong. I'm super strong and I can still do that. And I can ski all day. And not that I do ski all day. That's the one thing that has changed. I think I do get tired.
Hilary Cairns: Okay.
Nancy E Cook: I think aging, I think that's the thing that has been the most challenging for me is is feeling tired. Like I've never I mean you you hear me now and you hear about all the things I do, but I take power naps. I'll take a power nap like in the af like middle of the afternoon. I'll like set an a set my time for like an hour and I'll just let myself just relax and and rejuvenate. Because I get up at five AM the dogs want to go out. I take them for a walk. there's all these things to do and clean you know, being the female, cleaning the house and doing those kind of chores and then I just get tired. I think that's the I think that's the biggest thing about aging. Tired and then all the years of of being an athlete and of skiing and skiing the bumps and running on pavement and my knees, and I did tear my ACL. let's see how old is it? Probably two thousand five, two thousand four, I tore my ACL. Complete reconstruction with my hamstring, came back from that, and I ran that Boston Marathon that three five after my ACL. So I was out to prove that it wasn't gonna slow me down back then. yeah, the knees, I definitely and I think that's helped me in focusing more even so on nutrition getting older because I think it's even more important to get your protein, to get the collagen
Hilary Cairns: Mm.
Nancy E Cook: for your knees, for to make sure that you stretch, make sure you have a mobility routine, make sure that you do all those things in order to continue to perform and compete. And I love to compete. I I am, I'm very, I'm very competitive. competitive with myself and I also love being out there and competing with other people and not even so much against other people, but when we, go the Fourth of July race or we go we run a not Mansfield and see all the same people and just it's just fun. Fun group energy to be around.
Hilary Cairns: Has your approach toward competition changed at all? Like winning does seem to be motivating to you. Has that pretty much just stayed the same?
Nancy E Cook: Yeah, I I mean I didn't really know how much I loved it before, I don't think. 'cause I've always been competitive, I've always been in sports and I I do get that thrill of the victory. But I also think that it's being able to dedicate that being athletic, aging athletically is for me, it's not for somebody else. It's not to prove something. It's not the be all end all. It's it really is for me, for me to to feel fit, to look fit, to be able to continue to do all the things I love to do.
Hilary Cairns: You mentioned that you feel tired, like a little bit more tired. about sort of time for recovery from harder efforts? do you do you notice that at all? Where you might not do back to back hard things or I mean, I know you just
Nancy E Cook: Yeah.
Hilary Cairns: you do so many different things. Maybe that's a little bit harder for you to pinpoint as opposed to if you were just running, you could
Nancy E Cook: Right, right. Yeah. take your slow days, take your fast days, do your speed work, yeah. Yeah, you could balance it out. And and I do that with the rowing machine too, because I have the different workouts I do on different days and I don't always go long, like I said, sometimes I just go short. but I think Do find that if I am tired, that's an indicator that yeah, you gotta take some recovery days. Or I remember having a coach, my coach, Kim, and she would be, you have got to rest. You I want you to take like a week and I want you to rest. And she would make me rest. She'd say, You're off. You have to be off and I think that is important. I think it's important to take that time and listen to your body. And I s always say that, listen to your body because You have to listen to your body. If you go down there, I go down there, I sit on that machine and I'm like, Ugh that's a it's a rest day. It's time to just stretch and yeah, just do what you need to do, keep the streak and and just, take that time and give yourself some grace.
Hilary Cairns: Okay. So maybe if I'm if I'm hearing you correctly, a little bit more flexibility around or adaptability around the workouts themselves.
Nancy E Cook: Yeah. Yeah. And be okay to ditch it. Yeah. Yeah, like Skyler, his girlfriend Sarah, she had this written on her calendar for her training day. I'm like, you don't have to do it. Don't, don't do it. It's like what's a do it tomorrow or do it when you feel like doing it. It's like you have to be able to listen to your body. If your body says I don't want to do it, it you shouldn't punish yourself and make yourself do it.
Hilary Cairns: Right, right. No, it makes sense. Is there anything that surprised you about being an athlete in your sixties? Or very early sixties, but where you are?
Nancy E Cook: Yeah. Yeah, it was funny 'cause I'm I'm also I'm on this group and it's a Facebook group, the Diamonds. It's the over sixties Erging group. And this guy in the UK, Rod, he recruited me to be on this team and we do this cross team challenge, which is this workout you do one a month and the team competes. And so you you make it in a boat, right? So we're all competing and my big goal is to be in the the the top boat. Like I wanna be the fastest female. I wanna in in the diamonds, which is the over sixties group. And I just remember before I was sixty thinking I don't I don't wanna define myself with the sixty. I don't wanna 'cause it sounds old to me you know? And it sounded old. But then I thought, once I started I was now that I'm 60, I am 60, and it's like it's like you gotta be proud of being where you are in the age you are and doing what you're doing at your age and be proud of that and don't fight it. There's no reason to be, God, I'm old. Now I'm old. Who thinks I'm old? Like looking looking for those crow's feeder, like thinking about what do I what do I look like in my sixties? Who am I in my sixties? I just want to continue to be the best that I can be for who I am at whatever age that is.
Hilary Cairns: Yeah. You've touched a little bit on the fact that you're a coach as well. are you seeing anything with and and you you're coaching people up to their nineties, which is amazing. Do you think
Nancy E Cook: Yeah. Yeah.
Hilary Cairns: are you seeing anything with the athletes as they're getting older that they're kind of getting wrong about aging? Maybe fears, preconceptions about what aging is gonna be, anything that you're noticing?
Nancy E Cook: Yeah, I think that's the coolest part about working out with older people is that people are putting themselves up to it, like saying they can do it, right? And I think it's a lot of these athletes that I have found in in indoor rowing have started it later, have started doing this later in their lives and And just like with Barb, like she's like, I I didn't even think about the world records and and she was all excited to turn eighty because she could start like getting some of these world records and it was just so great to see. I made her a poster of all her world records. And as far as, what other people might not be even trying. Like I even, you know, I was talking to my girlfriend, like, well, you're Your dad holds your dad and she would say, I'm like like he should he should try it, or try this or and he he's super fit and he can do that. And it's like just just continuing and and you see it. Well, I I get fetid on Instagram probably because I follow all these people, but you see these older athletes and what they're able to accomplish and and there's so many things that you can accomplish even as you get older, or even more so as you get older, because If you are a fit person and you're older, it's like it's it's there for you. That's why I'm I'm doing this gravel bike thing just to test it out and see see where, where I might land in that. Because I'm, I love cycling. I'm a good cyclist, I'm strong. That was my strongest in my triathlons and and see where does that take me. But I it's like it's like you almost have to give yourself permission. It's like you're not gonna retire. Right? what I mean? Like like is it time when's it time to retire? When's it time to stop? It's like with the rowing streak, like when are gonna stop? And I'm like, I don't know. I guess I'll know when it's time to stop. But right now I don't I don't see when it's time to stop and I don't see when it's time to stop challenging myself if there's things I want to accomplish. I do think when we again we were talking about the specificity stuff, that having different sports and trying different sports has kept me interested in sports.
Hilary Cairns: Yeah.
Nancy E Cook: Like if I was still just running, I might just be kind of bored of it or you know what I
Hilary Cairns: Yeah.
Nancy E Cook: mean? Like it's it just kinda that's why the mountain running thing is fun. And I love the people. That's why I continue to do the running because I'm connecting to those same people and it's super fun to to see them and to challenge myself and like Matt Washington. I'm like, it wasn't my fastest, but it wasn't my slowest. So yeah.
Hilary Cairns: yeah, that's amazing. All right. Is there another athletic challenge that you've set your sights on? Another totally new endeavor? Or it'll come to you when it comes to you, you'll already do it and that there's not much looking forward.
Nancy E Cook: Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Or or it's going back. it's like either going back and trying something again. We're, we're in alpine skiing and skiing has been super fun. I used to telemark ski and I haven't done that. My husband's an alpine skier, he's a he's a PSIA examiner, so we are really into the alpine skiing world. I told you about gravel biking. So I'm doing a race to the top of Vermont this weekend. And it's 4.6 miles up to the top of Mount Mansfield in Vermont. So I'm going out with my friend Don in Stowe, Vermont. So that'll be this weekend. Excited for that. And I am signed up. for. Erg Power Series. and I'm also signed up for a ski erg. competition and then I'm doing high rocks in October in Boston. I have all those coming up. So those are that's the big things. And then getting ready for world indoor world indoors in December and January and February. That'll be come competing and doing all that during that time frame. And then with my skiing in the fall that all starts up again in November. So that's a lot. And then like
Hilary Cairns: Ha.
Nancy E Cook: I said, I'm ready to I'm ready to purchase this gravel bike from Ventum. I've got it all picked out and I'm ready to do that and I'm excited to, look and see what that will look like for me next year.
Hilary Cairns: Well, that's a lot. I have a Ventum gravel bike. Highly recommend. Yeah.
Nancy E Cook: good.
Hilary Cairns: I have a GS1, I believe. Okay. Yeah. Yeah. I I like it a lot. Highly recommend. All right.
Nancy E Cook: yeah, that's exactly what I'm looking at. Excellent. Yeah. That's awesome. Good to know.
Hilary Cairns: So we're gonna shift to the the questions that I ask all the guests. and I don't know which I mean I don't know which athletic endeavor which competition this is gonna apply to. You just make you just make your own decision. But what do you normally have or like to have before, during, after races? Food wise. I should have said food or drink wise.
Nancy E Cook: Yeah. I'm a coffee drinker. We're into cold brew. we do I have a collagen. So I first form. I use first form as my supplement products, but I have a collagen, salted caramel collagen or vanilla or chocolate.
Hilary Cairns: Ooh, yum.
Nancy E Cook: And I whip it up with some half and half and I have cold brew. That's my that's my morning love, love. Highly recommend. And Then and let's see, I usually do I'm a big eggs. I do eggs and bagel, tandem bagel. I do fresh bagels from down the street. I love that. That's my f old go-to. And then I'm into sourdough. I make my own sourdough and I make my own sourdough pizza crust. so that's our our go-to for for dinner. So but before a race, I'm I'm pretty pretty minimal in And I don't like to put too much into my stomach. I it's whether it's just like a half a bagel or a little bit of bagel with peanut butter, that kind of thing. I'll do the collagen coffee but I I won't eat too too much 'cause I I don't like to have that feeling in my stomach if I'm competing.
Hilary Cairns: Okay. And what about during? Like let's use the marathon on the rowing erg. Did you consume
Nancy E Cook: Yeah.
Hilary Cairns: what did what kind of stuff did you have during that?
Nancy E Cook: Mm, that I would have something. I'd have something a little bit more substantial before in the morning. So I would eat before, I'd have a like the bagel, like I said. and then I have a pre megawatt is my favorite, pre-workout, like drink, and that's the first form megawatt. And so I'll I'll drink that and I love that. I also have a ultra format, so they have a bunch of the drinks, right? So and the hydration and so I I mix those up ahead of time so I have them. I on the erg is so hard. Running is so much easier. I I definitely consume and I'll break apart I there's a power bar that First Forum has and I'll break it apart into little pieces and carry that with me so I have little bites and I have it already so I don't have to bite and I don't have to chew. I can have the right amount and not have to overeat during the the run or the run up Mount Washington or but and I did do that for the erg. I would have that ready if I felt like I needed it. But I'm I'm like I'm a camel. So I can go. I can go. I hydrate all the time. So I'm always drinking water. I drink a lot of water, as much water as I can. And so I try to prehydrate and then I can do my thing and then I can eat afterwards. And my after is important for recovery with with the protein and the ignition and and being able to really get that in my system to to recover. I think that post workout is is very important as well.
Hilary Cairns: Yeah. All right. Do you have a mantra or phrase that you utilize when the
Nancy E Cook: Mm.
Hilary Cairns: going gets tough, either in racing or training?
Nancy E Cook: Yeah, yeah. So I I always had this mantra, I found this mantra a long time ago, back in my, early, early and it risk nothing, have nothing, are nothing. And I think I think that mantra is some of the reasons why I have changed my sports, being able to risk, am I gonna be good at it? and if I don't try, then I don't I don't have that. And then I don't become that. So it's like risk nothing, have nothing, are nothing. And I'm always, like know, dig deep. And I do write things on my hands. Like I'll write some of the mantras and on marathons and and I'll write, whether it's dig deep or whether you can do this, believe. I wrote a children's book. That was the other thing I did. We didn't talk about that, but I wrote a children's book. I did, I know. Skiing is believing is the name of the book. And believe, believe, just believe you can do it. And I think that's so huge. And I wrote this poem, I wrote a speech and I turned it into a children's book during COVID. I met I met my publisher during COVID that this beautiful children's book. And yeah, just believe, just believe you can do it. If you don't believe you can do it, or you don't try, you're never gonna do it. You're not gonna accomplish anything.
Hilary Cairns: Agreed. Okay, so normally when I ask this question, I'm gonna ask you if you could have been a professional athlete in any sport, what would you have chosen? And I want to and I'm prefacing this by saying normally when I ask a guest, I'm saying other than the one sport that you do now, what would you have been a professional athlete in? But I can't do that with you because you've listed like 50 sports that you do. So
Nancy E Cook: Right.
Hilary Cairns: of any of these sports or something else? What would you have? Like to have been a pro in.
Nancy E Cook: Yeah, I know. I was trying to think when I graduated college and I became a ski patroller at Killington and I skied with the Olympians. I skied with Donna Weinbrett and Bob Aldegary and Chuck Martin. They all competed in the Olympics and the Moguls. And I had always like, if I could be a pro mogul skier, how cool would that be? Yeah, that's what it was, I think. And I I don't I don't know. I I being a pro athlete, and now I always think like if I could be a professional coach, what what would I coach? who would I coach? What would I love to? And 'cause there's so many different things that I love to do and and I just dabble in all of it and and just try and I just I love giving back. I think that's my biggest thing too is Like whatever I c I've learned I want I would love to teach other people.
Hilary Cairns: Nice. Do you have a go to hobby unrelated to sports? Do you have time for anything? I mean, you said you make sourdough bread. I mean that takes time.
Nancy E Cook: Yeah, yeah. Yeah, yeah. I love I love cooking. my son loves chocolate chip cookies and cinnamon rolls and I love to bake. I love to cook. I love sourdough. I also and I haven't done it in a bunch of years, but I have made like seven quilts. So I made this.
Hilary Cairns: Nice.
Nancy E Cook: So I sew. I have a sewing machine and I haven't done it in a bunch of years, but that used to be a go to hobby. I do think my go to hobby probably is cooking. Cooking and baking. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah.
Hilary Cairns: Okay. All right. Anything on your bookshelf TV or podcast queue that you're excited about and want to recommend to listeners?
Nancy E Cook: Yeah, did I have any? Yeah. It's so funny because I have done 75 Hard. again, this first form, Andy Przella, the app. I I track my food with them. And 75 Hard has really gotten me into non-fiction motivational books. And I'm trying.
Hilary Cairns: Is that the name of the book, Seventy Five Hard?
Nancy E Cook: Well, 75 Hard it's a book on mental toughness. That's that's
Hilary Cairns: Okay.
Nancy E Cook: Andy's book. And I have read that book, and it's a good book. But I think what what has done for me it's really gotten me to read more the 75 Hard has. And I'm just trying to think if I had anything close by here that I have read. But I have a whole stack on the side of my bed. I'm trying to think of the guy, but go ahead and I'll I'll look for the name of it. Because there's there was this guy. Who it was one of the first books I read during my s first seventy five Hard. And he swam around the British, isle. He he did the whole thing. His name was Ross Edgerly. And the name of the book, I'm just gonna find let me see if I can find
Hilary Cairns: And can you clarify I've heard of seventy five heart, but not sure that our listeners have. Can you explain what
Nancy E Cook: Yeah.
Hilary Cairns: that is?
Nancy E Cook: seventy five hard is seventy-five days and you commit to seventy-five days and there's this whole checklist of things you need to do during 75 hard. You no alcohol and be on a diet of some sort, nutrition plan. You need to two forty-five minute workouts, which again that's why I did this F forty-five thing. But forty five minutes has to be outdoors and forty five the other forty five can be indoors. So it's two forty five minute workouts, drinking a gallon of water a day and reading,
Hilary Cairns: Okay, let's try these last two questions. Who's an who's an athlete you admire when it comes to longevity or one you simply admire?
Nancy E Cook: Longevity and somebody I admire as an athlete. I surround myself with with athletes, like lots of different athletes, and I think about as we get older and continuing to be an athlete and continuing to like push yourself and I'm married, I'm married eighteen years to my husband and he is He's been a professional ski instructor for fifty years
Hilary Cairns: Wow.
Nancy E Cook: and he continues to he lift weights, he plays golf, he has a golf he's now retired so he can play more golf and he can do more of those things. But he inline skater, he I think between him and I are so alike that I I mean, I really admire what he has done in creating healthy behaviors and really has pushed me to be the best that I can be.
Hilary Cairns: Awesome. Great partnership.
Nancy E Cook: Yeah.
Hilary Cairns: last question. What's one habit you swear by that's helping you age athletically?
Nancy E Cook: One habit that I swear by is I think it really it's the balance of just getting up early. I think is it jocko, right? The Navy SE I worked for the Navy SEAL Foundation for for for a period of time as well and I got into the Navy SEAL regimes and what they all are doing. But Jocko was always talking about, like getting up and like the whole discipline, the discipline of and and like the guy, make your bed, right? The Davy the Navy SEALs and and how I I get up. If I'm awake, I'm awake. I'm gonna get up and I'm gonna do my things. I'm gonna do that. And I think that that habit of not like giving in to the snooze alarm and getting up. and getting it done every single morning. I get up and I do I have this whole routine. I sometimes I make a list and I check it off and most times I've I do the same thing every morning anyway, but it's that whole morning routine I think that really sets the day straight and gets you on pace.
Hilary Cairns: Yeah. Yeah. All right. Well, awesome conversation, Nancy. I I am tired. just when I hear yeah,
Nancy E Cook: Yeah.
Hilary Cairns: I'm just I'm so impressed by all the things that you do and also just your enthusiasm. It's so obvious that just from your tone of voice, from your the way you're talking about all this stuff, that you have great excitement and commitment and love for all the things you're doing. And
Nancy E Cook: Yeah. Yeah. Yeah.
Hilary Cairns: That's really clear. so thank you so much for taking all the time with me today.
Nancy E Cook: Yeah. Thank you. Thanks for inviting me here too. This is great.
Hilary Cairns: Thanks for listening to Aging Athletically. If you enjoyed this episode, please follow the show, give it some stars, and share it with a friend, training partner, or anyone who might enjoy hearing stories from athletes who continue to challenge themselves as they get older, or from experts who help us train smarter. You can find Aging Athletically on Instagram and YouTube. I'd love to hear from you. Send me a message there or email agingathletically at gmail.com with feedback, guess ideas, or topics you'd like me to explore. Thanks again for joining me. Until next time, keep training, keep challenging yourself, and keep aging athletically.
Nancy E Cook: Yeah.
Hilary Cairns: ran a 305 marathon at Boston and competed in the Iron Man 70.3 World Championship. But Nancy's athletic story took an unexpected turn in her late 50s. After knee problems led her to use indoor rowing as a low impact form of cross-training, she discovered that she wasn't just pretty good at it, she was exceptionally good. Nancy went on to become a three-time world indoor rowing champion in the 2000 meters and has set multiple age and Multiple American and world records. She's also a longtime lymphoma survivor, coach, ski instructor, skating instructor. We'll we'll hear all these things.
Nancy E Cook: Ha ha ha.
Hilary Cairns: And she continues to find new ways to challenge herself as an athlete. I'm really interested in talking with Nancy about athletic reinvention, how we adapt when our bodies change, why it's never too late to discover something we're really good at, and how competition can continue to enrich our lives as we age. Nancy, welcome
Nancy E Cook: Yep.
Hilary Cairns: to Aging Athletically.
Nancy E Cook: Thank you, Hilary. Thanks for asking me to be here. Looking forward to our conversation.
Hilary Cairns: Yeah. Yeah. Well th there's a lot that we have to cover. And hopefully we'll get to all the things. And if not, we'll get
Nancy E Cook: Well.
Hilary Cairns: to them I think we'll just get to the most important things. So
Nancy E Cook: Okay.
Hilary Cairns: you have been an athlete for a long time. I know your focus in the last couple decades has been on endurance sport. What what was your athletic life as a young person?
Nancy E Cook: I I grew up on a farm. My dad
Hilary Cairns: Okay.
Nancy E Cook: was an athlete and he encouraged me to discover sports. My mom and dad, we had we did music, we did sports, we did church, we did we they just exposed us to everything and that was that was great because I basically got to try things and I love sports. I love being good at sports. I played basketball. That was my big thing as a youth, as well as skiing. We started skiing when I was six. But I played basketball. I went to camps and we were state champions and my junior year in high school. And I think we made it to semifinals in my senior year in high school. And then I went to Castleton State College and I played in college, so I played basketball. But I just all sports. I played field hockey. I ran cross country. I did whatever I could all the time and and it was it was a lot of fun when I was in my younger years and I was a coach. I ended up coaching at camps in the summertime and I loved coaching and I loved just being fit. And what that did for me as an athlete was, and it really enriched my life as as a kid and going into college.
Hilary Cairns: Wow, that's a lot of sports. I it just I it makes me wonder, about the specialization of sports that happens now for young people. And I I wonder if there's there's ever gonna be a look at kind of that long term impact. Cause I know we're gonna talk a lot about how you've been able to really have all of these different athletic endeavors. And I wonder if part of that is you grew up with doing a lot of different things too.
Nancy E Cook: Yeah. Right, right. I agree. I think that the specificity of sport, 'cause I had my my son Skylar and he played soccer. And in order for him to be playing soccer, he had to focus on soccer. And it has soccer camp all summer. And it was premier soccer in the fall, premier soccer in the in the spring, and and then we skied in the wintertime. But he it but that's what they do and that's what the kids in order to be really good and play, and not be sitting on the bench. You had to really focus on the one sport in order to be really good. But I don't think it was like that when I was a kid. I think we we just played whatever was there. We rode bikes, we hiked, we did, all that stuff with our parents. And I think that is why I have done, I think so many Sports is and trying to change because I think I get bored. Not that I I wanna be the best and I try and and it's just like looking at my running career and hitting all those PRs. I I'm never gonna PR in my running as I get older. Where if I try a new sport, that's a PR as soon as you start, right?
Hilary Cairns: Exactly. Yeah. well, so speaking of your running career, you you ran cross country, so it's not as if endurance sports were not part of your what you grew up doing, but when did you really shift into endurance sports?
Nancy E Cook: Well, so I played basketball in college and I I loved the jump rope. That was a thing I took up and back up in COVID was the jump rope. I bought a cross rope and I started doing the jump rope thing again and that was super cool because that's all we did when we played basketball was train our fitness on on the jump rope. But that's what I from went from basketball and it was in college And I swim too. I was a swimmer and I taught swimming and I worked for the Red American Red Cross and I taught water safety instructors. So swimming was a big thing for me at in that college time frame. But I was in a triathlon and I was the swimmer and the biker went out on the bike and our runner never showed up. So I ended
Hilary Cairns: Yeah.
Nancy E Cook: up swimming and running in this triathlon on a team when biking was my favorite thing to do. I was like, geez, I should do it all. I mean, this is crazy. Why am I on a team when I just did two legs of the triathlon and then I started doing triathlons. And I think that's what really got me into the the running was because that was my weakest of the three was my running. So I started to run all the time because I wanted to be good. And and that's when I star I think my first marathon was Montreal in nineteen eighty nine. And I've done, what did I say, thirty-five? Thirty-five. And I qualified for Boston in my first marathon. And I did Boston then. And it's hard. Boston was always hard to to run because it's in April and it's, winter in the northeast and hard to train for. but I loved it. And it was it was just fun. And I I remember running Montreal and this guy's like, Have you run a marathon before? And I'm like, No. And it was my first marathon. He's Well you're running too fast. He was like telling me he had no idea who I was and he was just saying you're running too fast. You need to pace yourself and I'm and I felt great. Yeah, anyway, yeah, it was so funny. I ran a three forty, I think, was my first marathon and I qualified to for Boston back then. Whatever. They've changed qualification standards of course throughout time, but yeah. Yeah, it was fun.
Hilary Cairns: Yeah. And so are you running still or have you really with your injuries had to cut back entirely?
Nancy E Cook: No, I just I used to do two marathons a year and or I would do a couple fifty milers as well. And it was during COVID and I ran for the Western Mass Distance Project team. It was a bunch of girls. We had a blast. We had a really great masters team. We went to the national cross country championships in Allentown, Pennsylvania as a team. Like we used to win the a lot in when I was running cross country as a masters team and it was super fun and fun to h hang out with the girls and it was great. But then during COVID, everybody s kind of stopped wanting to get together and our team sort of fell apart. And it was sad because I love being with my friends. And I still do Fridays. I do Friday runs. I get all my old my old teammates together. We run on Friday mornings and and I still run. I run the mountains. I like the mountains because the mountains are up. So you don't get that impact of the pavement all the time. so it's uphill mostly. There is a couple of the mountain races that you have to run downhill, but most of them you just run up, which I like. And that's what I've continued to do. I'll do Mount Washington every year. I did Mount Washington this year. I think it was my 12th Mount Washington. And I run the race to the top of Vermont up top of Mount Mansfield. And I've done that one quite a few times as well. And I love that. I love the people. I like being outside and I love the people. And that sport keeps me connected to the people in the community.
Hilary Cairns: Yeah, yeah. I think community is so important. And I'm I'm really glad to hear that that is still a part of of your running. We're gonna talk about the rowing a fair amount. And maybe we're gonna put that you're gonna have to tell me, do we put that in in the endurance category? I guess it depends on how long of a race it is. but before we do that, kind of of all those races you did and achievements that you had in the various endurance events, what are you most proud of?
Nancy E Cook: Well, I ran three five at Boston and it was during a nor'easter and it was the year I had met my husband, two thousand seven and I started with a umbrella and it was cold and rainy and it was I was in tights and it wasn't looking like stellar super fast run or anything and I just poo, I just felt so good. I ran I think I ran my fastest half marathon, the first half of that marathon.
Hilary Cairns: wow.
Nancy E Cook: It was insane. Well, it's downhill to the half and then it's uphill as as the last hills going back into Boston. But I finished that race and was freezing and put on a ski jacket. it was it was just this crazy thing and I I had no idea and people started coming over to me like wanting to interview me and it was it was crazy. But I ended up seventh master in my it was in my forties when I did that. So and I got interviewed and I got this Crystal trophy sent to me. I still have it downstairs. And it, yeah, that that was really super cool. And the other running one was the 50 miler I did, my very first 50 miler. And I had a year. I had survived cancer. I had my lymphoma. And 2010, 2010, I had lymphoma, and I had it was crazy. Crazy. This is crazy too is during lymphoma. And my treatment, two-thirds of the way through cancer treatment, I ran the Chicago Marathon. I ran the Chicago Marathon in a Wonder Woman outfit. And my girlfriend ran with me in a Batgirl outfit, my girlfriend Kara. And we ran, it was so awesome that I ran a 350. And I had I was in the middle of cancer treatment. I had two-thirds of the way through, and we were like waving our arms, and we had such a great time. Chicago was amazing. And I had qualified for Boston and I was gonna do Boston and after the treatment was over, Boston's in April, I ended up thinking they found more cancer in my spleen, and they took my spleen. So I got my spleen removed. I ran Boston six weeks later, and
Hilary Cairns: gosh.
Nancy E Cook: I ran a 340 Boston after having my spleen taken out, cancer survivor. Doing that, it was crazy. That was crazy. Then this is that whole year. Then there's more. in September of that year I ran my first fifty miler and it was crazy because, I I just did not want cancer to define me and to slow me down and to tell me I couldn't, and I I just was so happy to be alive and so just everything was so exciting and I trained for this 50 and I focused and I ran an 830 50 and I qualified to be in the lottery for Western States, which I put my name in, which I didn't get chosen, which I'm actually glad because I don't know if I really want to do a hundred miler.
Hilary Cairns: Yeah.
Nancy E Cook: But those are those are some of the fun stories about the athletics that I've done. That plus I qualified for and went to the world championship for the half Iron Man. with Timberman. I ran Timberman and New Hampshire, half Iron Man, and I qualified and they did worlds, the world championship for the half. So those are those are probably my tops.
Hilary Cairns: Yeah, where was the world championship for that that year? Okay. Okay.
Nancy E Cook: Clearwater, Florida. Clear water. Yeah. Yep. Yeah.
Hilary Cairns: You touched a little bit on your continuing to compete and train during cancer. how did how did that impact your kind of approach to training and competition? If at all.
Nancy E Cook: Yeah, I I guess, the thing is and people as I'm do right now I'm doing this rowing streak, right? So I'm in my l I'm in this crazy rowing streak and we're gonna talk about rowing, I know, in a bit.
Hilary Cairns: Yes.
Nancy E Cook: But I'm like today is fifteen hundred and seventy two days in a row and people will get on me because they're like, Don't you take any recovery days or don't you ever get sick or like And I work through it. I work through it. It's like my therapy is being on that rowing machine. And I have recovery days. And I think that I what cancer did for me was tell me that you do need to recover. I would have a bad week. I'd get chemo, I'd feel sick, it was horrible, I'd have a bad week, and then I'd have an okay week, and then I'd have a great week, and then I'd have a pretty good week. so it's like not every week is gonna be a great week. And there are going to be times where you're gonna get up, go out there and start to run or start to do whatever you're gonna do, and you're going to not feel like it. And you don't have to push yourself through it to the point of not liking it anymore. So you have to give yourself grace. You have to give yourself that recovery. You have to take that time and you have to be good to your body. And I think that that's the other thing that cancer did is that I was in the best shape of my life when I got cancer. It was just the weirdest thing in the world to me because I had just one my age group at the Marine Corps marathon and then I got cancer. And so I was in the best shape of my life when that happened to me. But the whole thing is you just have to focus. You have to focus on s all the things. Like you have to think about the time off your recovery, your nutrition, your plan, your And being able to incorporate different and that's the thing when we're going to talk about rowing, but you have to change things up because just we were talking about the specificity of sports. To change things up just keeps things exciting for you as an athlete. So you try something new and you're good at it. So you focus on that. And then maybe you try something new again. And being able to encourage people to keep trying different sports and keep doing new stuff. And then you don't get stagnant and you don't get stale. And you take care of your body. That's all I think.
Hilary Cairns: Yeah. What about competition? are you highly competitive? And is it against yourself or
Nancy E Cook: No.
Hilary Cairns: is it against other people? Wh where's where's the competition?
Nancy E Cook: I think it's all of that. I think it's yourself. I think it's other people. I don't like pinpoint people that I'm competitive against. I I am definitely always looking at myself and ranking myself and where am I in my continuum. But well again, you're gonna talk a little bit more about the indoor rowing thing, but I'm an endurance athlete and this rowing thing is sprinting and it's pushing me. really hard to change that aspect of what I can do and it's testing my body. So I love it. I love it. And I and there's different things like I'm doing a Hyrox. That's another change new thing. My son and I are gonna do a mixed doubles team in Boston in in October. So that's gonna be another
Hilary Cairns: Nice.
Nancy E Cook: whole thing. But the whole crossfit thing and the lifting weights, like I never really was into lifting weights or doing any of that thing type things. And then I saw HyROX and all my friends are doing HyROX. This girl Lillian in Norway, she's like one of the best in the world at Hyrocks and she competes in the indoor rowing world and I was watching her. I'm like, that looks like fun. It looks like something cool to do and something cool new to try.
Hilary Cairns: Well, you'll definitely crush the rowing portion. I would say it's
Nancy E Cook: Yeah. Yeah.
Hilary Cairns: interesting I've done a lot of Hyrocks races. I've done Boston actually too.
Nancy E Cook: Okay. huh.
Hilary Cairns: And people are not very good at the herb. Like it's surprising to me. I'm like
Nancy E Cook: It they say it's their rest. They think it's the rest period. That's why I don't think they try. Yeah. Yeah.
Hilary Cairns: okay. Yeah. I mean very slow times. Yeah. So then you'll that's cool because it's like three quarters of way through. So you it's it's a great time for you to crush it. You can you can do the whole thing and your son can just watch you do that one.
Nancy E Cook: Yeah, yeah. Yeah
Hilary Cairns: all right, so let's talk about indoor rowing. I have a little bit of trauma around indoor rowing. I think that I texted
Nancy E Cook: Okay, yeah. okay.
Hilary Cairns: you this, which is which is that when I broke my foot in twenty twenty.
Nancy E Cook: six point twenty. Mm-hmm. Everything was like that. right.
Hilary Cairns: Everything was shut down. So all that we and but we ordered an erg. And so that's what I did every day for I think I did it, I wanna say nothing like what you're doing, but
Nancy E Cook: Yeah.
Hilary Cairns: I I didn't love it. I got a lot of blisters,
Nancy E Cook: Yeah.
Hilary Cairns: which I now know I was just like gripping the thing too hard. But this is not about me. I wanna hear about you and
Nancy E Cook: Yeah. Yeah.
Hilary Cairns: you I think you love it, but how did you start doing it?
Nancy E Cook: Well I bought the machine and I didn't it was before COVID that I bought the machine and I bought it for like my fiftieth birthday or something like that. Like I would buy myself a machine for a birth that's my birthday presents to myself. I bought a treadmill one year. I bought yeah,
Hilary Cairns: Awesome. I love that. Yes.
Nancy E Cook: I bought a ski erg one year. Yeah. So I have all the ergs down in my basement.
Hilary Cairns: Yes.
Nancy E Cook: I bought the bike last year, so I've got all three so I can do the whole trifecta. But Yeah, I got into it because again, it was like during COVID, my girlfriends didn't want to go rowing and I really needed something to keep me excited about doing things. And I'm really I'm an extrovert and I like people, I like talking to people, I like meeting people, I like the community. And I got into it, a friend of mine said, you should race, you should do Crash Bees, which is in Boston. You should go and try it out, my friend Amy and my friend Laura, who ha is a r on water rower, she's like, yeah, sure, I'll cocks you. I'll and I was like, I had no idea any of it, nothing, I had no idea. And I had been on the erg and I only had done just a not even a lot, but went to Crash Bees that year with Laura as my cocksin with capri tights and a T shirt And and I I mean, I'm in good shape because I'm a runner. and then I I got a little bit of coaching on the erg. Not a lot. I watched all the videos because again everything's on video and and so dark horse rowing was one and and a sensei with Eric Murray is another. Those are the two that I watch the most. But I watched them and taught myself to row just by watching their videos. And then I went to Crash Bees and I was second place. I got second place in my age group that year. And they were all amazed. I think did like a seven fifty something 2K. And no, it no, it's on a erg. No, it was a erg. Yeah, it's an indoor rowing competition. Crash Bees, they
Hilary Cairns: And sorry, that was on the water. That was actually on the water. it is. Okay. Okay. Yeah. Okay.
Nancy E Cook: yeah, longstanding like thing they do in Boston. And So it was fun, it was cool. And I was sitting there and there's all these ergs. Everybody's sitting beside each other, and they, it's like you it it's very it's kind of odd. My husband came and watched me when we did the world championships in Toronto, but you can see who's ahead of you and behind you and how close you are to them on the erg. Like the race, the race software shows on the concept two erg where you are in the in the place. E p other people can see the boats on the big screen. But you see it on the the little screen and so you've got to get faster to catch them. It's crazy. And then you're so you're doing it. And I've got my friend Laura telling me, she was she was coaching me like I was in a cross country race. We're gonna hit a hill. You gotta go. she was like, it was so cute, it was so fun, we had such a great time. And then I did so well and I was excited. And then I got back, I was I'm second. I wanna win. I was so close. And they are all looking at me like who is this girl? And I I'm not on the water. I'm like in capri tights in a t-shirt and I'm showing up as this dark horse at this, cra it was so funny. But then I got into the Facebook groups and I got into all the community and the people and the people were so nice and encouraging and it's been super fun. online experience, which is crazy, like nothing. gone to b until I did F forty five, I had never like rode in in like a studio type of atmosphere. It's always been in my basement on my own, my my erg downstairs. And
Hilary Cairns: Sorry, what's F forty five?
Nancy E Cook: F forty five is training like a CrossFit. it's 45 minute workout, it's functional training. So F is
Hilary Cairns: Okay.
Nancy E Cook: for functional, 45 is the 45 minutes. So they have functional training, and they have all the things. they have all three ergs, they have box jumps, they do, pull-ups, they do sit-ups, and then they change it up all the time. It's a super fun thing to do. It and it's community, so that was fun. I was saying that because that's the first time I actually really rode in a studio. Because I found this online company, this small owned by two guys, Steven and Justin, down in Florida. And during COVID, they pivoted to offer online rowing classes and their coaches and they were coaches. So they used to have tons of people in their studio. Well, during COVID, of course, nobody's going anywhere and not wanting to go to a studio with other people and the whole, COVID. But They had this live to row studios and they would offer classes. So I started going to their classes and I was getting coached on Zoom. They would watch me. I mean, in real life, watch me and coach me. So then when I was second place at Crash Bees, I said, I I want to get coaching. And then they started coaching me. Then they started having camps and we put together a team. And that's really, I think, what solidified me in the indoor rowing world was getting that. coaching and then take and then going to all these competitions and taking all their camps and they would have different workouts all the time. It wasn't always the same. I'd meet all kinds of people, whether they were on water rowers or whether they were, people indoor like me or CrossFit people that were just looking for this experience to be online and getting coaching from these top notch coaches. They were fantastic. And I was with them, they the Live to Row Studios closed last year. So I was with them. For most of my competitions.
Hilary Cairns: Okay, so if I'm understanding the timeline correctly, you you
Nancy E Cook: Yeah.
Hilary Cairns: pretty much figured out right away you were good at this. It it didn't take long.
Nancy E Cook: Yeah. Yeah, I know. It was fun. Yeah. So that's what that's what the addiction was. Cause I was like that close to winning right away. I'm like, wow, I could be good at this. Then I started setting all these world records. And I had all these world records in the fifty year age group. and then recently, turning sixty, I've got started getting all those eight, world records. Concept two has the database where people can submit their times for for records. So in each age group and now and in our age group they're every five years, but you you can get those world records and and I think I still have the marathon anyway. I ha I have to look again at at the fifty five to fifty nine year age group. But yeah, that was my thing. After that was like I'm gonna go for all these world records.
Hilary Cairns: Wow. So is there a certification process or you just take a picture of your your your minutes or whatever and the time? How does that work?
Nancy E Cook: Well Concept Two, so their monitor, their PM five, their performance monitor, connects to an app. So I I use Ergzone. So Ergzone is my app that I use. And when you connect it, it you connect it to your logbook. So when you get a concept two rowing machine, you have a logbook. And then all of the meters when you connect it through an app, Concept2 has their own app called Erg Data. I use Ergzone because I know the data and I know the software developers that develop Erg Zone and they've done an amazing job. And they created a a community and they have all kinds of races that they offer and this is all through Erg Zone. But it connects to your your logbook, so then on your computer on your logbook or you can find it on your phone, all of that data goes to the logbook and it's verified. So because you've connected it with the with the app. So you've got a verification code. So on your PM5, there's a verification code. So even if you're not on an app, you can get that verification code and you can upload it to your logbook. And then that shows it's connected to you. And that's how they verify it. I know Erg Zone now has actually a camera that they have that they can really verify it's you. So when they do the World Indoor Rowing Championships indoors, they have like a camera so they show and they can connect it, make sure it's you. But that's how they do it. And you verify it and then you go in there and then you claim the record. Yep, kinda cool. Yeah. Tech.
Hilary Cairns: Okay. Wow. So you've won a lot of races and you set these records. Are you still getting faster?
Nancy E Cook: Well I'm telling you, that was crazy with the world championships this year because I just beat my own marathon PR. I just did a faster marathon, a two fifty eight, two fifty nine marathon. I I did again. I just did that. So I am just slightly, but I am. I'm getting I I can get faster. I I know I can get faster. And it's more the long ones. I haven't tried the short ones because I really don't like the short ones as much, but I'm trying. But the marathon, yeah.
Hilary Cairns: Okay. To clarify, when you say the marathon, this is a marathon on the erg. Okay. So and
Nancy E Cook: Yeah. Yeah.
Hilary Cairns: you and you're saying two so two hours and fifty eight minutes on the erg.
Nancy E Cook: Yeah. Yeah on the erg. Yeah. For the record for my age group. And I've
Hilary Cairns: Okay.
Nancy E Cook: got the one in the fifties for the American record in the fifties right now too. Yeah. So and that was my PR when I set that record. Yeah. Yeah. And So my five K at the World Championships this year. The first weekend I broke my world record. The second weekend I broke that record. So I got faster the next weekend. So I did like a nineteen eleven five K. I have to look up I don't know the exact time. So right around there, low nineteen.
Hilary Cairns: Well, it's so sim it's very similar to running times. I mean, it's interesting that how
Nancy E Cook: Yeah. Yep.
Hilary Cairns: what you're yeah, that reminds me there was a race that I used to do in the DC area that was we were racing against the boats, like that that
Nancy E Cook: Yeah.
Hilary Cairns: were erging alongside. So I'd well, that's awesome. I mean, that's a long time to be on an erg. what
Nancy E Cook: Yeah.
Hilary Cairns: what makes somebody good at it? is it your leg strength, your arm strength, your endurance? what powers you?
Nancy E Cook: Yeah.
Hilary Cairns: So well.
Nancy E Cook: Yeah. Yeah. It the I know 'cause I coach too. I coach on the erg and I have ladies that I I s I erg with on Mondays and Wednesdays and I coach. And the biggest thing is the force. The force and the drive. So when you have a well connected catch, when you catch at the catch And you have a well connected catch and you drive with your legs. It's not in your arms, like the my coaches would say to me, it's using your big muscles. You use your big muscles first and then you finish. So it's all in the drive. That's why people that are tall are really good. Like the taller, bigger people are really fast and really
Hilary Cairns: Mm.
Nancy E Cook: good. I'm short, I'm five five. So I don't have a lot of leg length to be able to get a long, strong drive, I but I am strong. Super strong. Yeah. Ask me.
Hilary Cairns: And okay, so what it what's your training like for the rowing? And then are you still training for other things too? You have a lot of energy. I'm like, what don't you do?
Nancy E Cook: Yeah, well, I'm doing the race of the top. Yeah. What's the next thing? What's the next thing? I know. What's the next thing? So my next thing, well, well, first we'll talk about training. So my training. So I I have the rowing streak and I love to bike. I I've told you biking is my favorite activity. I've been doing a ton of meters on that biker downstairs in my basement, but I also ride on the road. And my next thing I'm hoping and I'm I'm working on the Ventum cycles for a gravel bike and I'm hoping to do some racing on the gravel bike. that's my next thing. I'm hoping like next summer that that will be the thing. But right now I I row I row to stay fit. I row to you know, keep, with my body and and mentally it's good for me. I love I love being fit. I love working out. I love sweating. I like I sweat on the bike, I sweat on the rowing machine. I love coaching. I have these two ladies, my girls Barb and Karin, who are regulars that come to my rowing, and they are both on a world record quest themselves. Barb turned 80 in September and Karin turned 90 in March.
Hilary Cairns: Wow.
Nancy E Cook: And I'm working with them to get world records, so that's kind of cool. So I'm coaching them. And So I coach them on Mondays and Wednesdays. I row every single day. I'll take two days probably to do like really low meters and like a two thousand meter is my minimum. So I'll do just warm-up or that sort of thing. But summertime is kind of off where in the fall is when you start building up. I I do a lot of these races that they offer on Erg Zone. So like a the Erg Power series is coming up. And I'll be doing that. I'm doing the grit series. We just did a rowing series of the grit series. And they'll do like one work out a week. And you compete against people in your age group. And it's virtual. And it's so you can again you connect it with the app and you you do the workout and then you get ranked. And that's what I've been doing to really stay motivated. And that's
Hilary Cairns: Yeah.
Nancy E Cook: what I've been doing to really get faster because My, like I told you, Live to Row Studios is no longer, so they're not having camps anymore. So that kind of training cycle. So I've been sort of staying with that same training cycle where sort of off in the summer because most people are on the water and they're not really rowing on the erg, but in the fall, people start to they start to get the endurance base down. So we'll do a lot of endurance events in the fall and get longer stuff in the fall, and then in the like winter, early winter. I did Road Rage last year, which is a group of I think there's a hundred and fifty people that are in this group on WhatsApp and they have workouts that get us ready for and this year we did a two K at the end of that. So they gave us four workouts a week. So that was a training program that I followed last year and I I'm hoping to do that again this year and do the w Road Rage group. Yeah. There's like all different things to kind of keep you motivated year round and like having these competitions. And when I win, that's the coolest part. Yeah. I have all these medals. I have all these medals and I did US nationals. I didn't do US nationals last year, but I went to Pittsburgh and actually did that in person two years ago. And doing worlds is really great. It's really fun. And they've been doing it virtual, but this year They are having the British indoors in December and they're gonna do a world championship event there too, so I'm hoping to go to that. I know, I know.
Hilary Cairns: Okay. So tell me about tell me about the rowing streak. What day you're on, what's motivating it, and is there an end to it?
Nancy E Cook: Yeah, fifteen seventy-two. I'm today is fifteen seventy-two. so it's more than four years. May eighth, twenty twenty-two. I had done a couple of streaks and I didn't realize the cliff club at Snowbird, we go to a ski vacation every year. I didn't know they had a rowing machine and I stopped my streaks when I would go up to Snowbird and I found they had a rowing machine, so then I was able to keep my streaks, so now I'm here I am four years later. And I really don't see a stop because I don't need to. some people are like, What you do don't you ever get sick, like, tired or that kind of thing. And it kind of really motivates me to get up in the morning and get it done. Just get it done. Or if I I'm on a business trip and I'm I have to look for one. Like last when we went to Asheville, I just went to Asheville, North Carolina for a business trip. And I found that the concept two org they had at the YMCA. So I went to the YMCA. And it was just really cool because it's something that I'm doing for myself and then I connect with other people and I see things I might not have seen if if I was just sitting in the hotel or just going for a run by myself out in this town. So I like it. I think it's cool. It's been fun. And I don't know anybody else that's done it. So i the road rage people like, you should You should write to the Guinness Book of World Records and, do that kind of thing. But my friend Dan, so I have there's a couple other streakers that we connect. So I'm connected to Dan. he's been streaking a lot. Like he's had a bunch of long time streak, like more than fifteen hundred and a thousand here and and then this guy in Norway, he's got MS and he's amazing. He's got the longest one so far. I'm trying to think how long his is, but he they're just super cool people and I'm just proud to be a part of that that group and connected to the indoor rowing community. It really has I post every day on my story my day. So and people will, I I end up talking to people and I end up just connecting with people on Instagram and they'll be like, hey, you know, or they'll they're just yeah, I I like it. It's been it's been really great for me. So I don't really see an end to it right now it really has shaped my shaped my training where, I I'm really squeezing in other stuff. But again, this having getting on the rowing machine for two thousand meters takes me ten minutes. So ten minutes I do a dark horse warm up when I'm on my off days and that can warm me up to go for my run or or it can be my cool down after I run or my bike or whatever other athletic endeavor. inline skating. I did an inline skating marathon in Sarasota, Florida. That was the other thing. Yeah, that was fun. Yeah. Yeah. So
Hilary Cairns: Yeah.
Nancy E Cook: rollerblade. Yeah. I've been working with rollerblade for a bunch of years doing skate to ski, doing ski training, using the inline skates. So that was another and then I got my level one with skate IA and And so I'm a coach for inline skating as well. So that's fun. Yeah.
Hilary Cairns: Wow. Yeah. Do you do any strength training?
Nancy E Cook: Things.
Hilary Cairns: Like
Nancy E Cook: So that was the F 45 thing I was telling you about. I started going,
Hilary Cairns: okay, okay.
Nancy E Cook: yeah, I started going there, and my son is a personal trainer. So my son Skylar is 24, and he he's great. He's a great trainer. He's a great coach. He's an extrovert like me. So he's he's in Boston, he lives in Watertown and he's at fitness together, I think is the name of the he just started at a new place and He's a great trainer. He was at F forty-five doing that and coaching folks. And he has been and I told you we're doing the the high rocks together as well. But he helps me focus on that because I'm not I'm a cardio girl and he doesn't like cardio and I don't like strength training and he so we kind of balance each other out and so he's been he's been really helping me thinking about that. We did the Murph together.
Hilary Cairns: Mm.
Nancy E Cook: The two of us did the MRF together, which was fun. but yeah, that it not a lot and I need to, and I know I need to, and I'm actually going to try a train for life because there's there's a studio here close. I'm gonna try their system out as well to kinda get me ready for the Hyrux. Yeah.
Hilary Cairns: Yes, yeah.
Nancy E Cook: Yeah.
Hilary Cairns: All right, let's shift and talk a little bit about aging and how that's
Nancy E Cook: yeah.
Hilary Cairns: playing into your competitiveness, what winning is like, and just if your body's changed at all. So if we could
Nancy E Cook: Yeah.
Hilary Cairns: start with like are you doing things now that you kind of never imagined that you'd be doing at age sixty? 'Cause sixty probably sounded so old. I mean, right? It's it sounded so old. And once you're there it's
Nancy E Cook: You're right? I know. I know.
Hilary Cairns: like doesn't s doesn't feel that old. But
Nancy E Cook: Yeah, I know. I yeah. It doesn't feel that old. It's crazy thinking about it, like just in what do I want to experience, and experiencing as much as I can. And I think that kinda goes through my mind, but as far as aging, I I I try to deny it. No. Gotcha? Yeah, what I mean.
Hilary Cairns: Gotcha.
Nancy E Cook: But I I that's I denied menopause, so I got through that. And then I was reading somebody was sharing all the symptoms. I was like, I can blame that on menopause. I'm like, that I was going crazy.
Hilary Cairns: Yeah.
Nancy E Cook: But I I think that it's It it is a thing. Aging is definitely a thing. And skiing, because I'm a skier, I'm a pro ski instructor too. We didn't really talk about that. But I I teach skiing at Stowe Mountain Ski Resort. I was a ski patroller for ten years and then I I changed over and became a ski instructor and I was at Killington for a ski patrol and then I was at Mount Sunepe, Mount Snow, and now Stowe. And we've been at Stowe for 14 years. And so I'm a private ski instructor up there. I'm a level three And I love the moguls. I love to ski moguls. We we go to Mount St. Ann for an international ski clinic every year, which is fantastic. and being 60 and skiing the moguls, right? And that is the thing too, I think with the indoor rowing and the running and just being fit, is I can ski top to bottom stow. I can ski the bumps. I can ski goat. I can ski all the double blacks and and not be out of breath or not be scared.
Hilary Cairns: Mm.
Nancy E Cook: And I'm strong. I'm super strong and I can still do that. And I can ski all day. And not that I do ski all day. That's the one thing that has changed. I think I do get tired.
Hilary Cairns: Okay.
Nancy E Cook: I think aging, I think that's the thing that has been the most challenging for me is is feeling tired. Like I've never I mean you you hear me now and you hear about all the things I do, but I take power naps. I'll take a power nap like in the af like middle of the afternoon. I'll like set an a set my time for like an hour and I'll just let myself just relax and and rejuvenate. Because I get up at five AM the dogs want to go out. I take them for a walk. there's all these things to do and clean you know, being the female, cleaning the house and doing those kind of chores and then I just get tired. I think that's the I think that's the biggest thing about aging. Tired and then all the years of of being an athlete and of skiing and skiing the bumps and running on pavement and my knees, and I did tear my ACL. let's see how old is it? Probably two thousand five, two thousand four, I tore my ACL. Complete reconstruction with my hamstring, came back from that, and I ran that Boston Marathon that three five after my ACL. So I was out to prove that it wasn't gonna slow me down back then. yeah, the knees, I definitely and I think that's helped me in focusing more even so on nutrition getting older because I think it's even more important to get your protein, to get the collagen
Hilary Cairns: Mm.
Nancy E Cook: for your knees, for to make sure that you stretch, make sure you have a mobility routine, make sure that you do all those things in order to continue to perform and compete. And I love to compete. I I am, I'm very, I'm very competitive. competitive with myself and I also love being out there and competing with other people and not even so much against other people, but when we, go the Fourth of July race or we go we run a not Mansfield and see all the same people and just it's just fun. Fun group energy to be around.
Hilary Cairns: Has your approach toward competition changed at all? Like winning does seem to be motivating to you. Has that pretty much just stayed the same?
Nancy E Cook: Yeah, I I mean I didn't really know how much I loved it before, I don't think. 'cause I've always been competitive, I've always been in sports and I I do get that thrill of the victory. But I also think that it's being able to dedicate that being athletic, aging athletically is for me, it's not for somebody else. It's not to prove something. It's not the be all end all. It's it really is for me, for me to to feel fit, to look fit, to be able to continue to do all the things I love to do.
Hilary Cairns: You mentioned that you feel tired, like a little bit more tired. about sort of time for recovery from harder efforts? do you do you notice that at all? Where you might not do back to back hard things or I mean, I know you just
Nancy E Cook: Yeah.
Hilary Cairns: you do so many different things. Maybe that's a little bit harder for you to pinpoint as opposed to if you were just running, you could
Nancy E Cook: Right, right. Yeah. take your slow days, take your fast days, do your speed work, yeah. Yeah, you could balance it out. And and I do that with the rowing machine too, because I have the different workouts I do on different days and I don't always go long, like I said, sometimes I just go short. but I think Do find that if I am tired, that's an indicator that yeah, you gotta take some recovery days. Or I remember having a coach, my coach, Kim, and she would be, you have got to rest. You I want you to take like a week and I want you to rest. And she would make me rest. She'd say, You're off. You have to be off and I think that is important. I think it's important to take that time and listen to your body. And I s always say that, listen to your body because You have to listen to your body. If you go down there, I go down there, I sit on that machine and I'm like, Ugh that's a it's a rest day. It's time to just stretch and yeah, just do what you need to do, keep the streak and and just, take that time and give yourself some grace.
Hilary Cairns: Okay. So maybe if I'm if I'm hearing you correctly, a little bit more flexibility around or adaptability around the workouts themselves.
Nancy E Cook: Yeah. Yeah. And be okay to ditch it. Yeah. Yeah, like Skyler, his girlfriend Sarah, she had this written on her calendar for her training day. I'm like, you don't have to do it. Don't, don't do it. It's like what's a do it tomorrow or do it when you feel like doing it. It's like you have to be able to listen to your body. If your body says I don't want to do it, it you shouldn't punish yourself and make yourself do it.
Hilary Cairns: Right, right. No, it makes sense. Is there anything that surprised you about being an athlete in your sixties? Or very early sixties, but where you are?
Nancy E Cook: Yeah. Yeah, it was funny 'cause I'm I'm also I'm on this group and it's a Facebook group, the Diamonds. It's the over sixties Erging group. And this guy in the UK, Rod, he recruited me to be on this team and we do this cross team challenge, which is this workout you do one a month and the team competes. And so you you make it in a boat, right? So we're all competing and my big goal is to be in the the the top boat. Like I wanna be the fastest female. I wanna in in the diamonds, which is the over sixties group. And I just remember before I was sixty thinking I don't I don't wanna define myself with the sixty. I don't wanna 'cause it sounds old to me you know? And it sounded old. But then I thought, once I started I was now that I'm 60, I am 60, and it's like it's like you gotta be proud of being where you are in the age you are and doing what you're doing at your age and be proud of that and don't fight it. There's no reason to be, God, I'm old. Now I'm old. Who thinks I'm old? Like looking looking for those crow's feeder, like thinking about what do I what do I look like in my sixties? Who am I in my sixties? I just want to continue to be the best that I can be for who I am at whatever age that is.
Hilary Cairns: Yeah. You've touched a little bit on the fact that you're a coach as well. are you seeing anything with and and you you're coaching people up to their nineties, which is amazing. Do you think
Nancy E Cook: Yeah. Yeah.
Hilary Cairns: are you seeing anything with the athletes as they're getting older that they're kind of getting wrong about aging? Maybe fears, preconceptions about what aging is gonna be, anything that you're noticing?
Nancy E Cook: Yeah, I think that's the coolest part about working out with older people is that people are putting themselves up to it, like saying they can do it, right? And I think it's a lot of these athletes that I have found in in indoor rowing have started it later, have started doing this later in their lives and And just like with Barb, like she's like, I I didn't even think about the world records and and she was all excited to turn eighty because she could start like getting some of these world records and it was just so great to see. I made her a poster of all her world records. And as far as, what other people might not be even trying. Like I even, you know, I was talking to my girlfriend, like, well, you're Your dad holds your dad and she would say, I'm like like he should he should try it, or try this or and he he's super fit and he can do that. And it's like just just continuing and and you see it. Well, I I get fetid on Instagram probably because I follow all these people, but you see these older athletes and what they're able to accomplish and and there's so many things that you can accomplish even as you get older, or even more so as you get older, because If you are a fit person and you're older, it's like it's it's there for you. That's why I'm I'm doing this gravel bike thing just to test it out and see see where, where I might land in that. Because I'm, I love cycling. I'm a good cyclist, I'm strong. That was my strongest in my triathlons and and see where does that take me. But I it's like it's like you almost have to give yourself permission. It's like you're not gonna retire. Right? what I mean? Like like is it time when's it time to retire? When's it time to stop? It's like with the rowing streak, like when are gonna stop? And I'm like, I don't know. I guess I'll know when it's time to stop. But right now I don't I don't see when it's time to stop and I don't see when it's time to stop challenging myself if there's things I want to accomplish. I do think when we again we were talking about the specificity stuff, that having different sports and trying different sports has kept me interested in sports.
Hilary Cairns: Yeah.
Nancy E Cook: Like if I was still just running, I might just be kind of bored of it or you know what I
Hilary Cairns: Yeah.
Nancy E Cook: mean? Like it's it just kinda that's why the mountain running thing is fun. And I love the people. That's why I continue to do the running because I'm connecting to those same people and it's super fun to to see them and to challenge myself and like Matt Washington. I'm like, it wasn't my fastest, but it wasn't my slowest. So yeah.
Hilary Cairns: yeah, that's amazing. All right. Is there another athletic challenge that you've set your sights on? Another totally new endeavor? Or it'll come to you when it comes to you, you'll already do it and that there's not much looking forward.
Nancy E Cook: Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Or or it's going back. it's like either going back and trying something again. We're, we're in alpine skiing and skiing has been super fun. I used to telemark ski and I haven't done that. My husband's an alpine skier, he's a he's a PSIA examiner, so we are really into the alpine skiing world. I told you about gravel biking. So I'm doing a race to the top of Vermont this weekend. And it's 4.6 miles up to the top of Mount Mansfield in Vermont. So I'm going out with my friend Don in Stowe, Vermont. So that'll be this weekend. Excited for that. And I am signed up. for. Erg Power Series. and I'm also signed up for a ski erg. competition and then I'm doing high rocks in October in Boston. I have all those coming up. So those are that's the big things. And then getting ready for world indoor world indoors in December and January and February. That'll be come competing and doing all that during that time frame. And then with my skiing in the fall that all starts up again in November. So that's a lot. And then like
Hilary Cairns: Ha.
Nancy E Cook: I said, I'm ready to I'm ready to purchase this gravel bike from Ventum. I've got it all picked out and I'm ready to do that and I'm excited to, look and see what that will look like for me next year.
Hilary Cairns: Well, that's a lot. I have a Ventum gravel bike. Highly recommend. Yeah.
Nancy E Cook: good.
Hilary Cairns: I have a GS1, I believe. Okay. Yeah. Yeah. I I like it a lot. Highly recommend. All right.
Nancy E Cook: yeah, that's exactly what I'm looking at. Excellent. Yeah. That's awesome. Good to know.
Hilary Cairns: So we're gonna shift to the the questions that I ask all the guests. and I don't know which I mean I don't know which athletic endeavor which competition this is gonna apply to. You just make you just make your own decision. But what do you normally have or like to have before, during, after races? Food wise. I should have said food or drink wise.
Nancy E Cook: Yeah. I'm a coffee drinker. We're into cold brew. we do I have a collagen. So I first form. I use first form as my supplement products, but I have a collagen, salted caramel collagen or vanilla or chocolate.
Hilary Cairns: Ooh, yum.
Nancy E Cook: And I whip it up with some half and half and I have cold brew. That's my that's my morning love, love. Highly recommend. And Then and let's see, I usually do I'm a big eggs. I do eggs and bagel, tandem bagel. I do fresh bagels from down the street. I love that. That's my f old go-to. And then I'm into sourdough. I make my own sourdough and I make my own sourdough pizza crust. so that's our our go-to for for dinner. So but before a race, I'm I'm pretty pretty minimal in And I don't like to put too much into my stomach. I it's whether it's just like a half a bagel or a little bit of bagel with peanut butter, that kind of thing. I'll do the collagen coffee but I I won't eat too too much 'cause I I don't like to have that feeling in my stomach if I'm competing.
Hilary Cairns: Okay. And what about during? Like let's use the marathon on the rowing erg. Did you consume
Nancy E Cook: Yeah.
Hilary Cairns: what did what kind of stuff did you have during that?
Nancy E Cook: Mm, that I would have something. I'd have something a little bit more substantial before in the morning. So I would eat before, I'd have a like the bagel, like I said. and then I have a pre megawatt is my favorite, pre-workout, like drink, and that's the first form megawatt. And so I'll I'll drink that and I love that. I also have a ultra format, so they have a bunch of the drinks, right? So and the hydration and so I I mix those up ahead of time so I have them. I on the erg is so hard. Running is so much easier. I I definitely consume and I'll break apart I there's a power bar that First Forum has and I'll break it apart into little pieces and carry that with me so I have little bites and I have it already so I don't have to bite and I don't have to chew. I can have the right amount and not have to overeat during the the run or the run up Mount Washington or but and I did do that for the erg. I would have that ready if I felt like I needed it. But I'm I'm like I'm a camel. So I can go. I can go. I hydrate all the time. So I'm always drinking water. I drink a lot of water, as much water as I can. And so I try to prehydrate and then I can do my thing and then I can eat afterwards. And my after is important for recovery with with the protein and the ignition and and being able to really get that in my system to to recover. I think that post workout is is very important as well.
Hilary Cairns: Yeah. All right. Do you have a mantra or phrase that you utilize when the
Nancy E Cook: Mm.
Hilary Cairns: going gets tough, either in racing or training?
Nancy E Cook: Yeah, yeah. So I I always had this mantra, I found this mantra a long time ago, back in my, early, early and it risk nothing, have nothing, are nothing. And I think I think that mantra is some of the reasons why I have changed my sports, being able to risk, am I gonna be good at it? and if I don't try, then I don't I don't have that. And then I don't become that. So it's like risk nothing, have nothing, are nothing. And I'm always, like know, dig deep. And I do write things on my hands. Like I'll write some of the mantras and on marathons and and I'll write, whether it's dig deep or whether you can do this, believe. I wrote a children's book. That was the other thing I did. We didn't talk about that, but I wrote a children's book. I did, I know. Skiing is believing is the name of the book. And believe, believe, just believe you can do it. And I think that's so huge. And I wrote this poem, I wrote a speech and I turned it into a children's book during COVID. I met I met my publisher during COVID that this beautiful children's book. And yeah, just believe, just believe you can do it. If you don't believe you can do it, or you don't try, you're never gonna do it. You're not gonna accomplish anything.
Hilary Cairns: Agreed. Okay, so normally when I ask this question, I'm gonna ask you if you could have been a professional athlete in any sport, what would you have chosen? And I want to and I'm prefacing this by saying normally when I ask a guest, I'm saying other than the one sport that you do now, what would you have been a professional athlete in? But I can't do that with you because you've listed like 50 sports that you do. So
Nancy E Cook: Right.
Hilary Cairns: of any of these sports or something else? What would you have? Like to have been a pro in.
Nancy E Cook: Yeah, I know. I was trying to think when I graduated college and I became a ski patroller at Killington and I skied with the Olympians. I skied with Donna Weinbrett and Bob Aldegary and Chuck Martin. They all competed in the Olympics and the Moguls. And I had always like, if I could be a pro mogul skier, how cool would that be? Yeah, that's what it was, I think. And I I don't I don't know. I I being a pro athlete, and now I always think like if I could be a professional coach, what what would I coach? who would I coach? What would I love to? And 'cause there's so many different things that I love to do and and I just dabble in all of it and and just try and I just I love giving back. I think that's my biggest thing too is Like whatever I c I've learned I want I would love to teach other people.
Hilary Cairns: Nice. Do you have a go to hobby unrelated to sports? Do you have time for anything? I mean, you said you make sourdough bread. I mean that takes time.
Nancy E Cook: Yeah, yeah. Yeah, yeah. I love I love cooking. my son loves chocolate chip cookies and cinnamon rolls and I love to bake. I love to cook. I love sourdough. I also and I haven't done it in a bunch of years, but I have made like seven quilts. So I made this.
Hilary Cairns: Nice.
Nancy E Cook: So I sew. I have a sewing machine and I haven't done it in a bunch of years, but that used to be a go to hobby. I do think my go to hobby probably is cooking. Cooking and baking. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah.
Hilary Cairns: Okay. All right. Anything on your bookshelf TV or podcast queue that you're excited about and want to recommend to listeners?
Nancy E Cook: Yeah, did I have any? Yeah. It's so funny because I have done 75 Hard. again, this first form, Andy Przella, the app. I I track my food with them. And 75 Hard has really gotten me into non-fiction motivational books. And I'm trying.
Hilary Cairns: Is that the name of the book, Seventy Five Hard?
Nancy E Cook: Well, 75 Hard it's a book on mental toughness. That's that's
Hilary Cairns: Okay.
Nancy E Cook: Andy's book. And I have read that book, and it's a good book. But I think what what has done for me it's really gotten me to read more the 75 Hard has. And I'm just trying to think if I had anything close by here that I have read. But I have a whole stack on the side of my bed. I'm trying to think of the guy, but go ahead and I'll I'll look for the name of it. Because there's there was this guy. Who it was one of the first books I read during my s first seventy five Hard. And he swam around the British, isle. He he did the whole thing. His name was Ross Edgerly. And the name of the book, I'm just gonna find let me see if I can find
Hilary Cairns: And can you clarify I've heard of seventy five heart, but not sure that our listeners have. Can you explain what
Nancy E Cook: Yeah.
Hilary Cairns: that is?
Nancy E Cook: seventy five hard is seventy-five days and you commit to seventy-five days and there's this whole checklist of things you need to do during 75 hard. You no alcohol and be on a diet of some sort, nutrition plan. You need to two forty-five minute workouts, which again that's why I did this F forty-five thing. But forty five minutes has to be outdoors and forty five the other forty five can be indoors. So it's two forty five minute workouts, drinking a gallon of water a day and reading,
Hilary Cairns: Okay, let's try these last two questions. Who's an who's an athlete you admire when it comes to longevity or one you simply admire?
Nancy E Cook: Longevity and somebody I admire as an athlete. I surround myself with with athletes, like lots of different athletes, and I think about as we get older and continuing to be an athlete and continuing to like push yourself and I'm married, I'm married eighteen years to my husband and he is He's been a professional ski instructor for fifty years
Hilary Cairns: Wow.
Nancy E Cook: and he continues to he lift weights, he plays golf, he has a golf he's now retired so he can play more golf and he can do more of those things. But he inline skater, he I think between him and I are so alike that I I mean, I really admire what he has done in creating healthy behaviors and really has pushed me to be the best that I can be.
Hilary Cairns: Awesome. Great partnership.
Nancy E Cook: Yeah.
Hilary Cairns: last question. What's one habit you swear by that's helping you age athletically?
Nancy E Cook: One habit that I swear by is I think it really it's the balance of just getting up early. I think is it jocko, right? The Navy SE I worked for the Navy SEAL Foundation for for for a period of time as well and I got into the Navy SEAL regimes and what they all are doing. But Jocko was always talking about, like getting up and like the whole discipline, the discipline of and and like the guy, make your bed, right? The Davy the Navy SEALs and and how I I get up. If I'm awake, I'm awake. I'm gonna get up and I'm gonna do my things. I'm gonna do that. And I think that that habit of not like giving in to the snooze alarm and getting up. and getting it done every single morning. I get up and I do I have this whole routine. I sometimes I make a list and I check it off and most times I've I do the same thing every morning anyway, but it's that whole morning routine I think that really sets the day straight and gets you on pace.
Hilary Cairns: Yeah. Yeah. All right. Well, awesome conversation, Nancy. I I am tired. just when I hear yeah,
Nancy E Cook: Yeah.
Hilary Cairns: I'm just I'm so impressed by all the things that you do and also just your enthusiasm. It's so obvious that just from your tone of voice, from your the way you're talking about all this stuff, that you have great excitement and commitment and love for all the things you're doing. And
Nancy E Cook: Yeah. Yeah. Yeah.
Hilary Cairns: That's really clear. so thank you so much for taking all the time with me today.
Nancy E Cook: Yeah. Thank you. Thanks for inviting me here too. This is great.
Hilary Cairns: Thanks for listening to Aging Athletically. If you enjoyed this episode, please follow the show, give it some stars, and share it with a friend, training partner, or anyone who might enjoy hearing stories from athletes who continue to challenge themselves as they get older, or from experts who help us train smarter. You can find Aging Athletically on Instagram and YouTube. I'd love to hear from you. Send me a message there or email agingathletically at gmail.com with feedback, guess ideas, or topics you'd like me to explore. Thanks again for joining me. Until next time, keep training, keep challenging yourself, and keep aging athletically.
