Track and bobsled Lolo Jones is proud that at 41 she is still out there running and competing—and she wants to inspire other women to do the same. Jones shared a video of herself wearing a blue tracksuit, her hair braided with a bandana on. “I looked at all the younger athletes getting their legs worked on before the race and I told the trainer ‘forget my legs my back feels like a toddler has been stomping on it 😂😂😭’ In that moment I was like girl. You old. 😵💫 But we out here. Fighting. If I can go out there and race pro athletes some younger than me by ten years, please challenge yourself to do great things in your 40, 50s, and on. You got this 😤,” she captioned the post. Here’s how Jones is living her best life in her 40s.
Jones’ exercise consists of a combination of weight training, cardio, and hill training. “Nobody’s happy to work out,” she told Red Bull. “You’re happy when you finish. I’m just like everybody else. There are days when I don’t wanna get out of bed and other times when I wanna work out.”
Jones makes protein shakes with strawberries, banana, spinach, protein powder, ice, and honey. “To kind of make ends meet while I trained, I worked at a gym, making protein shakes,” she told TODAY. “And little did I know … it’s key for an athlete to have a protein shake within 15 to 20 minutes after a workout… The key about spinach is, they say you can add it to any protein shake and you won’t tell the difference. You can taste it a little bit. They lied, but it’s really healthy for you.”
Jones has her own method of getting through injuries. “Injuries are tough because you’re physically hurt and out of the game, it actually starts to take a toll on you mentally,” she told Red Bull. “So even when you are healed, you still have a mental blockage that you have to repair as well. I do a lot of visualizations during the time that I’m injured so if I can’t hurdle, I’m visualizing that I can hurdle. I feel that it gives you just enough sharpness so that when you do return, you don’t have those re-injury fears as much.”
Jones has one food she swears she will never eat again. “The thing I probably will never have again after I’m done with the Olympics is hard boiled eggs,” she told TODAY. “For the last I don’t know how many years, hard boiled eggs (have) been in my breakfast. I take the yolk out. And I never want another hard boiled egg again in my life ever. I don’t even care if it’s Easter. No hard boiled eggs.”
Jones is all about making healthy substitutions over denying herself treats. “I have a really big sweet tooth so what I’ve done is moved into healthier options,” she told Red Bull. “I love chocolate so I moved to dark chocolate with almonds because both of those have health benefits. I didn’t like the dark chocolate at first but as I’ve gotten used to it, now I love it. Just work on the little things.”