Monday, October 31, 2011

The healing power of working out...

Sunday, October 30, 2011

I suppose I will never watch a Regional Cross Country meet again and not think that in 2010 I spent the morning in the hospital with Jim as he died.  I’d thought about him throughout the previous day while running around at the meet, but I never let it get a hold of me.  Not so, Sunday morning.  Facebook is a wonderful thing and I enjoy posting pictures...both on my page and the ‘Back to Basics’ page, but it can have a downside.  I went on in the morning and couldn’t help but notice the post from my niece, Jim’s daughter, about her dad.  Then my sister had one on and some pictures and before you knew it, I was in full-blown depression.  I grabbed Dakota and headed for the Metropark.  I knew a workout and time in the fresh, morning air with Dakota would do wonders for my mood...and it did. 

I returned home, took my shower and went out to rake leaves as I had done last year after he passed.  It was therapy more than anything...there were few new leaves down except in the neighbor’s yard...so I raked his.  Besides...I raked fast trying to make it like a workout...which it wasn’t...but I tried.

I found another example of the benefits of the Survival Workout when I decided it was time to climb through the small portal in Heidi’s closet to the attic space above our living room and kitchen.  I’d been meaning to get in there and see what I could do to increase the insulation around the recessed lights above the counters and kitchen sink.  Standing there, doing the dishes, I could feel the cold air pouring from the attic and it had made me crazy last winter.  I moved easily across the ceiling joists and in a crouch, something I would have been unable to do had I gone up there last fall when I was 30 pounds heavier.  I did notice quickly that no amount of working out had any impact on choking on insulation dust.  I figured out what I had to do and got out of there quickly, knowing that my return trip would include a face mask.

I scored poorly on will power later that night when Holly served up Pumpkin Spice Cake with her amazing whipped cream/pudding frosting.  My first piece was reasonable...my second was too big...but delicious.  Damn that woman.  And with holidays coming, too.

Survival Workout duration: 60 minutes.
Training Heart Rate: 100 to 150 bpm.
Calories burned during workout: 600.

Now there's something I've never seen before...

Saturday, October 29, 2011

I was heading west on Route 20 and heading for Tiffin, Ohio to see the Ohio High School Regional Cross Country Championships.   I could have taken the Ohio Turnpike to get there, but I absolutely hate paying to drive on roads my tax dollars go to maintain...at least I think they do.  Anyway, I’d exited I480 near North Ridgeville and picked up Route 20.  You could still travel around 60 mph and if it took 10 minutes longer to get there...so what.  Besides, it’s less boring, I get to travel through rural America...what’s left of it...and there is almost always something interesting happening.  Paul was riding shotgun and had noticed the miles of greenhouses out his window, but missed what I was seeing.
“Holy she..iiiiiiit...it’s a field of longhorn steer!” I exclaimed as I veered the Honda onto the shoulder, skidding to a halt about a hundred yards up the road.  Paul, still focused on the greenhouses, swung his gaze back down the road to where I was indicating. 
“I’ve seen them before.  Pretty impressive animals,” he said in that nonchalant way.  The guy has traveled the world and seen just about every kind of animal there is to see.  He’s probably ridden longhorns.
“Well...I haven’t...and I’m hiking back to take their picture,” I said as I grabbed my camera and climbed from the car.  I noticed as I walked away, he’d grabbed his and wasn’t far behind. 

They were truly magnificent animals and so totally unique.  They have absolutely amazing horns, spanning up to nine feet.  They must weigh hundreds of pounds, which could be the reason none of them were looking up from munching the grasses they were strolling through...too much work to look at a couple of geeks with cameras...again.

We took several shots before climbing back in the car.  “I don’t care if it takes an hour longer this way...seeing those monsters and getting their pictures was worth every minute,” I said.

For me, the Regional Meet always holds the greatest excitement.  If you’re here as a runner, you’re one step from the State Meet.  Top four teams and the top 15 individual runners qualify to move on.  It’s do or die...no tomorrow...and the pressure can absolutely ruin a runner...or bring out the best in them.  As a coach, I’ve found that preparation...physical and psychological...is the key to success and any runner not prepared in both areas is likely going home instead of moving on.  I was there to watch the Medina runners and Anna Boyert as well as to cheer for the Brecksville girls team since my niece, Kim, ran for them.  She wasn’t with the varsity squad and wouldn’t be running today, but she was here and could be back next season as a member of the top 7.  I called Don...he was part of the coaching staff for Medina...to get his location and have him direct me to the best viewing and picture taking points on the course.
“Hang on, John.  I’m parking in the ‘Y’ parking lot next to a sign that says...oh...’parking for members only’,” he said.
“Yeah...probably doesn’t apply to you,” I said.  “Those signs don’t apply to me, anyway.  Just stay there.”

He took Paul and I around the course and identified places to get good pictures.  We were down near the 1-mile mark where the runners would loop past on two occasions.  “Only problem is, you’ll have to run like hell after they come by the second time if you hope to get back in time to see them coming to the finish.  I’m gonna’ have to stay up around there.  I’ve got no mobility with this boot thing on,” he said.  He was wearing a walking cast on his right foot to protect his broken big toe...which he’d smashed on a table when running through his own family room.  “I’d have thrown it through a window if I wasn’t laying on the floor writhing in pain,” he’d said earlier.  Man up...it’s just a toe.

Anna was in third as she passed us on the first loop...a place she would remain throughout the race.  She finished about 30 seconds behind the leaders, but easily qualifying to the state meet...as did the Brecksville girl’s team.  Both would be running in Hebron next week...one with a shot at a state championship.  When she passed us for the second time, I indicated to Paul that we had to start running.  It was all uphill...and into the wind...and slippery.   I was in rare form with a camera slung around my neck and in my best running outfit...blue jeans and hiking shoes.  No matter...I was on a mission to have a good picture of Anna and others coming to the finish and I was GOING to get there.  I actually made it in time to catch them about 400 yards from the finish and then, by sprinting across a field they were looping...was able to take another shot about 100 yards from the finish.  Bottom line – I got in some good sprinting and took some great pictures.

Though I’d sprinted and hiked all over the three-mile course earlier, I knew it really didn’t count for much in the way of burning calories so I called Holly on the drive home and suggested she meet me in the park for a hike...which she did.  She stopped at Heinin’s on the ride home and picked up some lean steaks, which I grilled, and asparagus and salad for a truly perfect Paleo dinner.

Hike duration: 60 minutes.
Training Heart Rate: 75 bpm.
Calories burned during workout: 300.

Saturday, October 29, 2011

"Are you lookin' at me?"

Friday, October 28, 2011
You’ve heard me say it before, but today’s experience confirmed once again why I think there is no better place to work out than the North Chagrin Reservation. 

I was half way through my Survival Workout and hiking up the trail from Clear Creek to the cabins when I noticed a very strong, musky smell.  It wasn’t terribly foul though I did wonder if something had died.  It seemed to be close by, so I began scanning the woods on both sides of the trail as I walked when suddenly I noticed something through the trees staring back at me.  I’ve seen hundreds...maybe thousands...of deer in my time in these parks...but the animal standing in the woods no more than twenty feet from me was the most beautifully sculpted buck I had ever seen.  It was a big deer with a gorgeous rack and spread and it looked menacingly powerful as it peered through the fall foliage separating us trying to determine if I was something about which he should be concerned.  He was easily twice the size of the does I see so often – a truly magnificent specimen.  I stared back at him and began to speak...I’ve got it in my head that I’m kind of a ‘deer whisperer’...and told him how impressed I was and...if it wasn’t too much trouble...could he please drop his antlers somewhere I could find them next Spring.  He never took his eyes off me...they seldom do when someone is near...so after a few minutes, I moved on to allow him to continue doing whatever he was up to with the odor he was emitting.

I did manage another strong workout, cracking 200 push-ups for my three set total for the second time in three workouts.  I hurried home after the final set so I could grab a quick shower, make some chow and head for Don’s.  I wanted to be there in time to catch the first pitch of the seventh and deciding game of the World Series.  I held little hope for the Rangers.  They’d been within a strike of winning their first World Series in the 51-year history of the franchise in both the ninth and tenth innings the night before and had failed to get it done both times.  Momentum had swung to the Cardinals I believed, though I decided watching the game with Don would make the best of what I was sure would be a bad situation.  And it was.

As is often the case, game seven was anti-climatic with the Cards winning their 11th World Series behind ace Chris Carpenter, who was pitching on three days’ rest.  The Rangers went down with hardly more than a whimper for the second year in a row.  What’s really sad is not their loss, but the fact that diehard fans, like me, must now wait five full months for April and opening day. 

Don and I made the best of the evening with our constant criticism of managerial moves we’d have made differently, discussion of baseball stats of the all-time greats, trying to figure out which team had the most World Series wins after the Yankees, checking out ‘The Man Song’ on You Tube and other important things of that sort.  He’s always got some game he insists I play...with volumes of hand-written stats he’s kept on every competition ever done...and this time it was darts.  I destroyed him on his home turf though he complained that his form was a little off as a result of the boot he was wearing on his right foot to protect the toe he’d broken from stubbing it on a table.   

I hustled home at the game’s conclusion.  It was late and tomorrow I’d have to be up early to pick up Paul so we could go to breakfast at Kleifeld’s before heading to Tiffin for the High School Regional Cross Country Championships.

Survival Workout duration: 60 minutes.
Training Heart Rate: 100 to 150 bpm.
Calories burned during workout:  600.

The Writer...

Thursday, October 27, 2011
A famous philosopher once said “if you want to be a writer...write.  If you want to get in shape...work out.  If you want something to write about, write about working out.”  Anyway ...that’s the way I heard it...so about two years ago...I did. 

And here I am, a little over 321,000 words later (Microsoft word adds them up for me) about to become a real writer.  I met with Marla Zwinggi, Editor of Ohio Sport & Fitness this evening and agreed to write articles for the magazine...which is what I’m calling ‘real’ writing.  I think I’ll still have to keep my day job, but writing about fitness is a passion and this is a step towards my ultimate goal...a book about getting and staying fit without a gym or expensive equipment...all done in my own particular style.  I’ll be working on an article about proper foot care for the December edition and will likely be looking more closely at the barefoot running craze.  I’m really excited about where this relationship will take me.  Good places, I’m certain.

Game six of the World Series started out with both teams playing like they were full of the jitters.  Six errors were committed through 7 innings during which the Rangers had managed to build a lead of 7 to 4.  I’d hopped on the trainer in the third and had an hour in by the time the Cards closed the score to 7 to 5 with a home run.  Though the Rangers were still up by two, my baseball radar for disasters started pinging...a sure sign that the Rangers were going to blow it and there would be a seventh game tomorrow.  I didn’t want to see them blow it, so I got off the bike and headed for a shower and bed.  If they managed to pull it out, well, I’d have that to look forward to in the morning paper...but I really doubted it.  If they didn’t win, I’d be headed for Don’s tomorrow night to watch game seven.

Bike workout:  60 minutes.
Training Heart Rate: 130 bpm.
Calories burned during workout:  750.

Thursday, October 27, 2011

Play the game!

Wednesday, October 27, 2011
I made a dinner of scrambled eggs, went into the Family Room and clicked on the TV to watch game six of the World Series while I ate.  At first I thought I’d gotten a commercial, but when the people dancing and singing carried on without mentioning any product to sell, I began to worry.  If it was a rain delay, they’d have something come across the screen to let me know…wouldn’t they?  I clicked over to PBS and watched a nature show about Burmese Pythons and how they’re invading southern Florida.  I watched one about 15 feet long swallowing an entire  alligator...which is something I used to think could kick ass on anything in a swamp.

The game never came on, but I did find out that sometimes the alligator eats the python...kind of like the World Series in that you don’t know who’s going to win on any given night.  I was disappointed to find out that it wasn’t actually raining in St. Louis...only threatening to rain and they didn’t want to start the game when the forecast for the next two days was clear skies.  Thank God the Indians aren’t in the Series this year.  If they were waiting for two days in a row when the forecast was for sunshine, they’d do better to plan building a domed stadium.  Texas was hot and wanting desperately to play the game and I feel their frustration.  Now the edge is off and key members of the St. Louis pitching staff have an extra day of rest.  The game was scheduled and the conditions at game time were well within playability.  Start the game!!   But no one was asking me.

Holly texted me from upstairs (yeah...we do that instead of getting up and walking to where the other person is) asking if I wanted her to make chocolate pudding with peanut butter in it.  Well...duh...of course I wanted her to make it and I wanted to eat it...and she knew this, but why was she tempting me?  She came down and made it and asked if I wanted to eat some and watch an episode of ‘Modern Family’ with her.  I caved.  Fortunately, I’d done a double earlier.

I did the Survival Workout and was not surprised when I was unable to match my pr totals from the last workout.  I finished the workout just in time to meet with a friend interested in trying out our fabulous running trails and took him on a scenic tour, which included my Chagrin River overlook, a loop through Squire’s Castle and up the hill behind it, and through the cabins made famous in the Survival Workout.  He never runs on the trails and was a little unprepared for the level of mud we encountered...but manned up and handled it.  He’s also used to running on level, flat terrain...something I tend to avoid...and found himself lagging by the end of the run.  He was pleased with the scenic beauty and anxious to come and try again.  “I’d never have found my way out of there if you hadn’t been with me,” he acknowledged.  “Keep that in mind whenever you’re running with me,” I told him.  I like having that control thing going for me.

Survival Workout duration: 60 minutes.  Run duration: 30 minutes.
Training Heart Rate: 100 to 150 bpm for Survival and 120 for the run.
Calories burned during workout:  600 for the Survival and 400 for the run.

Wednesday, October 26, 2011

A new kind of hurt...

Tuesday, October 25, 2011
How quickly I tend to forget that it can be some small change in the routine that leads to the newest injury.

I was doing a run in the Metropark and almost from the first step, had been noticing a tightness and pain in my left calf.  I hadn’t been running recently and knew it wasn’t an overuse issue, so I continued on.  By the halfway mark in the run...about15 minutes out, both calves were hurting with each step.  I’ve had this kind of pain before, but it usually comes the day after some really long and difficult workout...like the morning after a marathon or an all day hike up a couple of peaks in the Adirondacks.  I hadn’t done any of those things...but then it hit me.  I’d hiked in my heavy, winter boots the day before while on my picture taking excursion.  It hadn’t been particularly strenuous, though there was some hill climbing and very sloppy conditions.  The difference was, I believe, the footwear.  The boots are not really made for hiking and I don’t have them on unless there is a lot of snow and I’m moving slowly.  This hike was of an entirely different nature.  I was walking quickly on solid surfaces (part of the hike took me out on River Road) and I started thinking that this was the pain I was feeling.

I finished the run, but the soreness remained intense throughout the rest of the evening.  Holly and I went to a screening of the new Johnny Depp movie ‘The Rum Diary’.  I had no information prior to the movie...had no idea it was based on Hunter S. Thompson’s life in Puerto Rico...and was confused about the story line throughout.  I didn’t find it particularly entertaining, actually was lost as to what the story or the point was...and don’t think I would have liked it even if I had known who it was based on.  I guess for me, it was poorly directed.  In any event, after sitting uncomfortably for two hours, my legs were really screaming when I stood to leave.  I’m planning to meet a co-worker at the park tomorrow and take him on a run showing off some of the greatest running trails in the world.  I’m hoping to feel a little better by then...

Run workout:  33 minutes.
Training Heart Rate: 140 bpm.
Calories burned during workout:  500.

"What's that song they're playing?"

Monday, October 24, 2011
I was watching the fifth game of the World Series in the family room and Jack had just come into the kitchen and was fishing around for something to eat...as he often does shortly after I’ve cleaned up from dinner.  It was the middle of the seventh inning and they were playing ‘God bless America’ as they have been doing at all Major League baseball games since the terrorist attack on 9/11.  Jack turned to listen and I could see one of ‘those’ questions formulating in his brain.

“Do they still play ‘My Country tis of thee” at the beginning of the game?”  I tried not to cry.  “Would you be referring to ‘The Star Spangled Banner’...our national anthem?” I asked.  He looked puzzled for a second and said, “yeah...that one.”  I told him they did still play it at the beginning of all sporting events...like his track meets...and explained why they’d added the song during the seventh inning.  I told him that I appreciated these conversations we were having lately as they provided me with the opportunity to share them with blog readers who might otherwise be bored hearing about my workouts.  “Remember the other night when you thought Detroit was in Texas?  Got some good comments on that one,” I said.  “I kind of blew another geography one the other day with Savannah,” he replied.  “She told my Kyle was in Toledo and I asked her what he was doing in Canada.  She said Toledo was in Ohio.  I guess I was thinking of Toronto.”  I hope none of these questions are on his college entrance exams.

I popped off 74 push-ups to start the Survival Workout...breaking the old record by 2.  When I managed 65 on my second set, I quickly computed that I’d need only 61 to reach 200.  When I returned to the car at the end of the workout where I do my final set of push-ups, I wasted no time getting started.  By the mid-50’s I knew I had it and finished with 66 and a three set total of 205.  I’d also set a three-set record for dips with 125. 

There is no good explanation for these kinds of days.  I’ve had them running, cycling and climbing, as well.  I feel super human...like I could go as fast or as far as time would allow.  I should do a pr on a day like that...what’s the big deal?  The days I should be most proud of are the ones where I feel like crap and managedto push myself to get through it anyway.  I’ve told many a runner I’ve coached over the years...you improve the most when you’re tired, want to quit...and push through it.  For me, that will probably be tomorrow.

It was a beautiful cool, sunny evening so I went home, took a quick shower, and returned to the park with my camera in hand to try and get some fall foliage pictures.  I needed my heavy winter boots since I knew the woods would be sloppy and ended up walking for over an hour and breaking another good sweat.  I wouldn’t go so far as to call it a double...but I did burn quite a few bonus calories.

Survival Workout duration: 60 minutes.  Hike duration: 60 minutes.
Training Heart Rate: 100 to 150 bpm for Survival and 75 for the hike.
Calories burned during workout:  600 for the Survival and 300 for the run.

Monday, October 24, 2011

Grandma Paula cookies can't be resisted...

Sunday, October 23, 2011
I went outside to rake leaves pleased to find that it hadn’t rained in like…30 hours.  I spent the next two hours raking leaves into piles and onto a tarp about the size of my back yard, then trying to drag them to the tree lawn…which is quite a thigh workout.  I was sweating profusely (when don’t I?) by the time I completed the raking, but I still had yard work. 

We have this crazy ornamental grasses growing all over the yard and they have to be cut down each year.  I’d decided that I’d take some of them down while they were still green this year thinking they would be easier to handle.  I knew it would be easier to bundle them if I tied them up before cutting, so I cut some twine and with it in hand, wrapped my arms around the grasses, pulled them together and tied them off.  It was then that I learned these things have offensive weapons and don’t like being cut down.  My arms and neck were sliced to ribbons and I looked like I had some kind of crazy rash, which burned with intensity.  I went inside to show Holly the damage they had done, but she had no sympathy.  “I get those things every time I work around them.  They hurt…but what’s the big deal?” she said.  She’s just a girl and she didn’t really understand.  “Look a little closer, Holly.  These aren’t the little paper cuts you get…I look like my arms got caught in a paper shredder, for God’s sake.  What I’m going through would kill a normal person,” I said.  She stared at me for a moment…and walked away.

I put the pain out of my mind and suited up for a bike ride.  I had less than two hours before I needed to be at the eye doctor’s for him to check out my recurring eye infection and wanted to get every minute on the bike that I could.  It was a cool but sunny and perfect day for riding.  Had I not needed to see the doc, I could have easily spent 3 hours on the bike.

I returned home to sweet smells from the kitchen.  Holly’s Kitchenaid was mashing some stuff that would turn into cookie dough…and then cookies.  “What kind of cookies are you making?” I asked.  “Grandma Paula chocolate chips,” she answered.  “What are you trying to do to me?  You know I can’t resist those things!”  She mentioned something about how there were other people living in the house and that we were having company and I should show some will power.  Blah…blah…blah.  Yeah…I should have will power, but not when Grandma Paula chocolate chip cookies are involved.  They’re absolutely my favorite dessert…always have been…and there’s a law somewhere that says I have to eat them with cold milk…until I’m sick.  So…Holly’s evil…you can see it…can’t you?

Bike workout:  One hour and 35 minutes.  Leaf raking: 2 hours.
Training Heart Rate: 130 bpm riding, maybe 80 raking.
Calories burned during workout:  1,300 biking and 600 for yard work.

Motivation...hard to measure.

Saturday, October 22, 2011
One day it started raining, and it didn't quit for four months. We been through every kind of rain there is. Little bitty stingin' rain... and big ol' fat rain. Rain that flew in sideways. And sometimes rain even seemed to come straight up from underneath. Shoot, it even rained at night...Forrest Gump

Okay…maybe it hasn’t been four months…then again it could be longer.  In any event, the sun was shining and there were so many different things I wanted to do…but one thing I absolutely had to do.  The leaves were soaked and the yard was, well, squishy.  Still, I had to get the leaves to the tree lawn since the rains were sure to return.  I went to the back yard where my neighbors’ trees had deposited a load and began to rake.  I’d made a small dent and a couple of piles during the first hour, but the yard was so muddy and the forecast was for continued sun that I decided to finish the project on Sunday.  ‘Why do today what you can put off to tomorrow’ I always say.  With that, I headed for the Metropark and a Survival Workout.

I had to move quickly through the workout, though I managed to get in a couple of extra sets.  I had to make it to Strongsville by 2:45 p.m. if I was going to see the District Cross Country Championships…the first step on the road to the state meet for high school runners.  Once home, I showered quickly, made a huge smoothie, grabbed a chicken breast and jumped in the car.  I made it to the course with 6 minutes to spare and found it, like all courses across greater Cleveland that day, to be a quagmire.  Anna, Medina’s star runner, had an off day but qualified to the regional meet with a 5th place finish.  Don Alexander has been working with her for two years and was perplexed by her finish.  “She’s been killing the 1,000 workouts…running them faster than ever.  She should be killing these girls…and she’s fifth?  I don’t get it,” he said.    “Motivation,” I said.  “She’s healthy…her workouts confirm it…she’s talented…one of the best in the state and we know that from past performances so what’s left?”  Though he may not want to accept it, Don has to come to grips with ‘motivation’.  How important is it for any runner to win every time?  The top 15 runners advance to the Regional Championships in a week and regardless of your place in that group, you all start in the same place at Regionals.  Anna took fifth.  She qualified.  End of story.  I don’t know her mind, but maybe she went out looking for a win…she was in first…but the fatigue of the workouts and the horrible conditions on the course got her to thinking ‘I just need to qualify…why kill myself?’  “If you win the state meet, no one asks you how you ran at the districts,” I reminded Don.  His concern was that she wasn’t sending a message to other runners…that she was in killer shape and not still sick.  No one knows her psyche but her…yes she has the talent and her coaches will have her ready, but only she knows how badly she wants it.  We’ll find out over the next two weeks.

Mimi took Holly and me out for dinner at Kirtland Country Club…a place where no one has ever heard of the Paleo Diet.  We made our way into the Lounge and the pre-dinner hors devours where few, if any, would satisfy the Paleo palate, but all looked wonderful.  I stuck to the veggies.  I ordered the Swordfish for dinner, which was served with the most delicious broccoli I’ve ever had though it tasted more like butter than any broccoli I’ve ever eaten before.  Holly and Mimi split an order of tiramisu while I continued to munch on the vegetable appetizer.  Had it been a hunk of apple pie or some warm chocolate chip cookies, I might have been tempted…but it looked way to fancy and upscale for my palate.

Survival Workout duration: 60 minutes.
Training Heart Rate: 100 to 150 bpm.
Calories burned during workout:  600.

Saturday, October 22, 2011

Could it get any wetter?

Friday, October 21, 2011
The rains continued unabated getting the trails in the Metropark to the point where, with the exception of the bridles, were becoming unmanageable.  Don’t get me wrong, I like to get dirty during my workouts, but trails this sloppy and covered in standing water are just sprained ankles...and worse...waiting to happen.  As I drove to the park, I played in my head my knowledge of all the trails and what course I might be able to run without SCUBA.

I ran along the course I used for the Survival Workout and had to scoot into the woods on a couple of occasions to avoid stretches of mud.  Actually, running off trail in this fashion is a fantastic change of pace and a great conditioner and trainer.  Instead of placing one foot in front of the other as on the bridle trail, heading into the woods provides the opportunity to do agility drills...jumping downed trees, dodging between the ones still standing, and dealing a constantly changing terrain ...which creates a total body experience like no other. 

I’d placed socks on my hands at the start of the run...my hands are sensitive to the cold and I’m a freeze baby.  It was not a good sign for the kind of winter we’re likely to have.  It turned out to be a challenging run and a good workout and in some ways, I was glad it was so sloppy since it got me doing things I hadn’t done in some time.

Dinner was a smoothie and a chicken breast.  I’m trying to stick as close as I can to the Paleo lately.  Tomorrow may be challenge when Holly and I join Mimi for a dinner at Kirtland Country Club. 

Run workout:  43 minutes.
Training Heart Rate: 140 bpm.
Calories burned during workout:  650.

Friday, October 21, 2011

A night with the boys...

Thursday, October 20, 2011
Paul, John and Henry were scheduled to come to my place that evening and we were going to have a spaghetti dinner, watch some World Series, shoot the shit, and look over our pictures from the Adirondacks.  I would be getting a lot of the wrong kind of calories, so I knew I needed to take some proactive measures. 

I had a hike in the Metropark with John and Paul already scheduled, but knew that wouldn’t be enough.  I arrived early and set off to do the Survival Workout.  It was raining of course, and the trail was a mess.  I slipped and slid but did every lift and exercise, adding a couple of bonus moves to burn the extra calories.  I was at a dip station at the edge of the Horse Trailer parking lot and was nearing completion of the set when I felt like I was being watched.  I finished my final rep and sat down on the railing I was using for the dips and looked across the lot.  Two deer were standing at the edge of the woods...one munching on some vegetation while the other eye-balled me for any false moves.  I got to thinking once again how cool it was to be doing a workout and instead of having chicks digging my biceps in a gym (it’s my blog...I can fantasize if I want to), I had deer watching my moves from a patch of second growth trees.  Yeah...I’m diggin’ the Survival Workout environment.

I returned to the car where I’d received a text from John telling me it was wet and was I still hiking.  Really?  Wet?  If I waited for it to be dry before exercising again, I’d weigh 300 pounds and it would be July.  Anyway, he weenied out on us.  I had no doubts Paul would show.  I mean the guy lives in Alaska...has worked in the Arctic Circle...and no amount of bad weather would deter him.  He arrived on time and, with both of us suited in rain gear, we hiked off.

After ninety minutes of some rather sloppy hiking, we returned to the cars and headed to my place for dinner.  I had the fixings for a nice spinach salad, but also made some gorp (good old raisins and peanuts) as an appetizer...you know...to set the backpacking mood.  Henry arrived after dinner was well under way and John, who hadn’t seen him in a long time, noticed the weight loss.  “Are you following that Paleo Diet crazy man Rolf here eats?” he asked.  Henry informed us he had dropped 21 pounds since beginning the diet after our meeting last month but, “it’s like emptying the ocean with a bucket.  Having said that, I’m feeling so much better and the diet is easy,” he concluded.

He ate the salad, covering it in meatballs he’d fished out of the spaghetti sauce.  He’s taking it all pretty seriously...as he tends to do...and I am certain that over the next 18 months, he will lose another 75 pounds and achieve his goals.  He really wants to return to the Adirondacks to do some climbing with us...something he knows is out of the question at this time.  He would also like to return to Wyoming and the Grand Tetons and do some elk hunting and hiking.  By letting himself go, he realized he was preventing himself from doing the things he enjoyed so much as a younger man.  I think his focus and determination has its roots in that.  He sets goals...achievable, meaningful ones...and then goes about following the steps to make them a reality.  It really simple...and it works.

Paul and I hung and talked after the others had left.  In the background, the Cardinals battled to what appeared to be a 2 games to nothing lead on the Rangers...the team I wanted to see win.  We were too busy to notice the comeback, which I wouldn’t discover until I opened the sports page the following morning.  Go Rangers.

Survival Workout duration: 60 minutes.  Hike duration: 90 minutes.
Training Heart Rate: 100 to 150 bpm for Survival and 75 for the hike.
Calories burned during workout:  600 for the Survival and 450 for the run.

So pleased that we've broken the rainfall record...

Wednesday, October 19, 2011
I was so pleased to see that Cleveland is now ranking with the wettest cities in the country and is 20 inches of rain above the average.  Even better, we now own the all-time annual rainfall total...at least for the 144 years that nayone has bothered to track that kind of useful information. What’s even better is we did it in 10 months and have two left to obliviate it.  Got that going for us.

Since it was raining…again…and I knew I couldn’t ride and I needed to pick up Heidi from Akron, I elected to head there after work with the hope it would stop at some point and maybe I could get something in when I returned.  We drove back to Cleveland in a driving rain and it just never stopped. 

I must admit that I was simply depressed.  I’m letting the constant rain get to me.  I could have ridden the trainer, but I just said ‘to hell with it’ and did nothing...or almost nothing.  The first game of the World Series was on and so I flopped on the couch in the family room and dialed it in.  I had the same Paleo dinner as yesterday while I watched and felt hardly any guilt at all over not exercising.  Look...we broke the damn record...so let’s just call a halt to the wet stuff until 2012. 

Thursday, October 20, 2011

Jeff getting back on track after accomplishing goal...

Tuesday, October 18, 2011
I’d been bugging my friend and elk hunter, Jeff, to join me in the park for another Survival Workout.  He’d met me in the early summer to help him begin a training program to help him lose a lot of weight and to be ready for elk hunting in the mountains of Colorado by summer’s end.  Over the next eight weeks, he’d trained religiously and lost over 20 pounds while improving his hiking and climbing conditioning significantly.  Then came the hunt and four hours of hiking over rough terrain for a week.  He’d gone with his father and uncle, who had both brought down an elk, but he had not been so lucky.  Still, field dressing the animals and carrying out the meat was tough work and he was glad for the conditioning.  Then he’d gotten back and without a purpose to train…let things slip.

“I don’t know what I weigh now and I don’t want to know until I get going again and lose some of the weight I’ve regained,” he said when we met in the park.  I know that feeling, but told him maybe he should get the bad news…which might not be as bad as he suspected…as motivation to keep working.  We started with push-ups, log lifting and dips and by the time we hit the second station, his arms were already in distress.  “I’ve got less to lift than you and I’ve been at it longer.  Don’t kill yourself to keep up on your first day back,” I recommended…while reminding him I was half his age and that he needed to get his ass back in gear.  I’m kind that way.

I decided not to try and climb the hills or jump on things where we might twist a knee or worse in the slippery conditions the continuing rains had created.  He did about half of the upper body work, but once his arms were exhausted, there was nothing left to do but hike and watch me.  I know this had to gall him, but I also believe he’s the kind of guy that it would fire up…not discourage.  If he was a weenie, he wouldn’t have been there on a chilly, rainy night.  He’ll be back.

I’d managed a run before he’d arrived and so had gotten in a decent double.  It had started raining hard when I’d gotten about 5 minutes from the car and I had thought about returning, but managed to persevere.  I was thankful that I wasn’t on a bike though.  The temps were really dropping and I wasn’t wearing much.  After completing the run and working out with Jeff, I returned home and made another Paleo dinner consisting of a spinach and mushroom salad and scrambled eggs with mushrooms and sautéed chicken breast.  Two days of healthy eating and great workouts is only the beginning though, so I have to continue to watch my intake and not cheat.  It’s a good start.
Survival Workout duration: 60 minutes.  Run workout: 32 minutes.
Training Heart Rate: 100 to 150 bpm for Survival and 140 for the run.
Calories burned during workout:  600 for the Survival and 500 for the run.

Tuesday, October 18, 2011

Long, cold bike ride...

Monday, October 17, 2011
I read a great story in the PD about Mr. Fauja Singh, a 100-year old man who completed a marathon in Toronto in a little over 8 hours.  He became the oldest person to have completed a marathon – a distance of 26.2 miles and one that has brought me to my knees every time I’ve tried.  He didn’t run his first marathon until age 89, taking up the sport when his wifed passed away.  He runs 10 miles a day and owns the fastest time ever recorded by a 90-year old at 5:40.   Mr Singh, who was a torchbearer at the 2004 Olympics in Athens, now hopes to participate in the 2012 London Games torch relay.   He attributes his extraordinary stamina to ginger curry, cups of tea and ‘being happy’, adding: ‘The secret to a long and healthy life is to be stress-free.   Be grateful for everything you have, stay away from people who are negative, stay smiling and keep running.’”  I’ve read worse advice.  This guy doesn’t need to read ‘Younger Next Year’, he’s the poster child for the book.

Though a little cold, it was sunny afternoon and the roads were dry…and when would this happen again?  My gut…and the Weather Channel…said it would be awhile.  I HAD to ride and it needed to be long.  I headed out on Pekin Road with the intent of swinging through Chardon and Dan’s place to see if he was up for a trip to check out the condition of the Jeep I had stored with my nephew.  I figured with the way things had been going recently with my vehicles, it might be time to get it ready to run.  I was out there about two hours and the sun was setting.  It was getting colder and so was I.  It occurred to me that I might need to borrow a long-sleeved t-shirt and some socks from Dan when I reached his place for the remaining hour’s ride home.  I had my head down and was riding on Bass Lake Road when I noticed something red, white and blue in the storm ditch to my immediate right.    Those colors belonged to a United States flag and they should not have been in that ditch.  I didn’t know what I was going to do with the flag, but I knew I wouldn’t be leaving it there.  I  swung around, dropped into the ditch with my bike soaking my shoes and already cold feet, and pulled it out.  I’m not a military man and don’t know how to correctly fold a flag…and it was a big one.  I tried compacting it so that I could fit it in the bag I carry under the seat of my bike…but that wasn’t happening.  I saw no other option, so I bundled it up and stuck it under my shirt, climbed out of the ditch with my bike and rode away.  It was a little uncomfortable against my chest and stomach but over the next couple of miles I began to notice that I was no longer cold.

I arrived at Dan’s to find that he wasn’t home…which was no big deal since I really just wanted someplace to ride that wasn’t the same old ride.  I called him and told him about the flag, which I deposited in the front seat of his Jeep so that I could pick it up later.  I’d had a strong tail wind on my way to Chardon, but now, with the temperature in the low fifties, I found myself riding into a very strong head wind and heading downhill.  When I reached the hill on Wilson Mills that drops to River Road and where I often get the bike over 50mph, I wished instead of going down I would be climbing instead…that would have warmed me up. 

I made it home in the dark and walked back in the house on frozen feet.  It was time to consider serious gear for cold rides if I was to continue my pursuit of riding until the snow begins to fly.  The hot shower helped, but I was still cold after dressing.  I needed to work harder on the Paleo Diet and had baked some chicken breasts to put on a good spinach salad, which I washed down with a large smoothie.  A long bike ride and a good Paleo dinner was the right move for me to jumpstart my quest to getting back on track.

Bike workout:  Three hours.
Training Heart Rate: 130 bpm.
Calories burned during workout:  2,500.

Good day to blow off the workout...

Sunday, October 16, 2011
Normally, I’d head for the Metropark first thing in the morning to do the Survival Workout, but it was still raining that cold, miserable way that it can and I was in no hurry to splash through it again.  Instead,  I went into my office and began a process of gutting it so I could more easily work on converting some slides I’d found to digital.  I also needed more space for the bike and trainer…which I would likely be spending time on very soon.

I called Jason in the early afternoon and asked him to join me for the workout before dinner thinking this would inspire me to get there.  When he hadn’t made it by 4 p.m., I called to find that he wouldn’t arrive in time…and now I had the perfcct excuse to blow it off.  But I didn’t.  I arrived at the park and exited the car in a light, cold drizzle.  Before I had time to think about how lousy the conditions were, I started doing push-ups.  When I moved to my log lift, I found that it was too slippery to grasp and moved down the trail in search of drier things to heave.  I didn’t find any. 

I hit my second station and wondered again just what the hell I was doing in all this cold rain and mud.  My shoes were soaked through and I was cold and miserable.  I thought ‘quit…what’s one day?’ and almost did.  Maybe I’d go to one more station.

I reached Clear Creek thinking if I couldn’t cross, I’d turn around and call it a day.  The rocks were above the water just enough for a toe hold, so I crossed and finished the workout.  When I returned to the car with only a set of push-ups remaining, I almost blew them off…but didn’t and managed another 50.

I proved to myself again that I can make myself work out even when I don’t want to and the conditions are wretched.  Things will get worse before they get better and I have to make myself get out there and get through it.  It would have only been a day, but it would have also been a chink that could have led me back to unwanted pounds.  I wish it were easy and always fun…but it isn’t.  A warm family room in a recliner with football on the tube would have been much more comfortable.  I drove home happy with myself.  I had done something all my instincts were telling me to avoid and it had been so tempting.  Looking back…if I can make it through slop like that…I can work out in anything.

Survival Workout duration: 60 minutes.
Training Heart Rate: 100 to 150 bpm.
Calories burned during workout:  600.

Monday, October 17, 2011

Invisible Fence invisible again...

Saturday, October 15, 2011
Clearly, it was going to be a rainy day.  I drove to Mimi’s with the goal of fixing the Invisible Fence I’d dug up the week before.  They wanted $99 to come out and spice it together, and at that price, I figured I could handle it.  They actually have quite a nice repair kit complete with a couple of water-proofed casings to house the repaired ends to be reburied.  After splicing them together and placing them in the casings, I took the added precaution of wrapping them in a heavy duty garbage bag and sealing them with electrical tape before retrenching and burying them.  Mimi plugged the line back in and the green light, indicating we were back in business, came on.

I couldn’t do any of the outside jobs I had planned for my own yard…it was just too wet.  Instead, I headed for the Metropark and an unscheduled, short run.  I was going to a cross country meet to see Anna Boyart of Medina run.  Don has been working with her for the past two years and since I’ve got no one to cheer at this point, I figured she’d do.  I was a little nervous about running only two days after my last one, but planned to hold it to 4 miles of easy running.  Planned.  I did okay for the first 3, but felt like coming home hard and did the last mile under 7 minutes in the slop of what used to be a trail.  I went into a deep squat at the car…something that would trigger pain in the past…but nothing.  So far, so good.

The cross country meet was held at Garfield Park in Mentor where, like every cross country course in Northeast Ohio, the mud and standing water covered the course.  Some rerouting was necessary…it was that bad.  I imagine the local high school football fields are even worse.  It was a very competitive conference race with three of the top ranked teams in the state doing  battle on the boys side.  It came to an all-out kick for the boy’s championship with three runners leaning for the win.  Their time…a hair over 17 minutes and at least 45 seconds slower than their capabilities…was a testament to the condition of course.  No one was running fast in this soup. 

Anna, recovering from a severe and debilitating bout with anemia, was rounding into shape.  She needed to be since the competition featured three of the top runners in the state.  She duked it out to the finish, but lost by a whisker.  Don lamented but I reminded him that when she won the state meet, no one would ask her how she’d done at the Conference Championships.

I had another off-eating day, choosing to order a pizza from Jack’s place.  Holly was working on client stuff and didn’t have time for cooking.  I really must get a handle on the eating, though.  I don’t want to return to my winter weight and without being able to do the long rides outside, I know I’ll have to eat more conservatively.  This winter will be a good test of my fortitude. 

Run workout:  32 minutes.
Training Heart Rate: 150 bpm.
Calories burned during workout:  500.

Saturday, October 15, 2011

The Postman joins me for a Survival Workout

Friday, October 14, 2011
I received a text from my old high school classmate and leading commenter of the blog.  He informed me he was in town and looking for a workout and a Slyman’s experience…and not necessarily in that order.  We’d hooked up last year about this time when he’d come to town and looked me up so he could have a chance to experience the world’s best corned beef sandwich, the Survival Workout and the most amazing running trails anywhere.  I called and invited him to meet me for the new and improved Survival Workout. 

Randy is almost as unusual as me when it comes to working out.  He is a fanatical gym rat and loves the iron.  He’s also training to run a sub-21 minute 5K sometime soon and has my 8-week training program to accomplish the feat.  I knew he’d keep up on anything I could do…and he did.  He seemed to enjoy the nuances of the workout.  When I’d taken him through a year ago, I was still using the TRX bands and doing more power moves…bounding, hopping, and sprinting…things I’d put on hold when I’d torn the meniscus.  He was suffering a similar injury and so my emphasis on muscular endurance and lifting didn’t bother him at all. 

We started with push-ups and as I worked my way to 60, I wondered if I could break my single set pr.  Having Randy there inspired me as I squeezed out the final reps and hit 72…breaking my two-day old mark by 1.  Every stop was like that…trying to do more than I usually do because I was with someone.  I don’t know why it is…but most folks work out better and harder with a good workout partner.  We arrived at the Girl Scout cabins and dropped to the ground for more push-ups and abdominal work.  While crunching on our abs, Randy asked me if  I’d ever tried Yoga.  “Yeah…and it was okay…but it was indoors and a routine and structured.  I guess I just like being out here…working in the fresh air with leaves falling all around.  Heard a couple of Barred Owls calling to each other on my last run.  You just can’t get that stuff in a Yoga studio,” I said.  He thought about that and said, “so…this is like a crowd for you today.”  And that’s not it.  I love taking folks through the workout.  The more I can introduce to the Survival Workout, the better.  It’s got so much going for it that I feel it’s my responsibility to get folks involved. 

Randy did everything I did and then some.  He seemed to really enjoy the workout and the changes I’d made and I suspect that if he was living up here, we’d be doing it together all the time.  He asked me to take him on a 9-minute per mile run before he left and we agreed that a trip to Slyman’s was a must.   “How does a corned beef sandwich fit in the cave man’s diet?” he wanted to know.  “It fits in the category of 80/20.  Twenty percent of the time I eat whatever I want…opportunistic…like Paleolithic men were.  If they’d come upon a Slyman’s…they’d have eaten the corned beef sandwich,” I said.  Besides…I didn’t get my sandwich on Jim’s birthday this year so I owe myself one…right, bro?

Survival Workout duration: 60 minutes.
Training Heart Rate: 100 to 150 bpm.
Calories burned during workout:  600.

Friday, October 14, 2011

Maybe I'll just do a run...

Thursday, October 13, 2011
So I’m talking to Holly and telling her all about Jack and not knowing what state Detroit is in and we get on the subject of her trip to Charlottesville, South Carolina next summer.  “Too bad the convention isn’t in Savannah at the other end of the state.  You could be right on the ocean,” I said.  She looked at me with a puzzled look.  “Umm…John…I believe Savannah is in Georgia?”  Okay, okay…the apple doesn’t fall too far from the tree.

I was going to do a long ride when I saw the weather clearing late afternoon and was driving home with that intention when Holly called.  She reminded me she was going to a meeting at the church…which I’d forgotten about.  “I’m totally fine with going myself,” she said and I know she meant it, but I got to thinking that maybe it would be a good idea for me to go along and with that, my long bike ride turned into a run.

I had no particular course in mind, but wanted to do one where I didn’t have time check marks along the course because whenever I do, I’m always pushing myself.  My hip had been bothering me since the 53-minute run I’d done a week ago…when I’d pushed hard and tried to beat my course record…so I was looking to take it easier.  I just wanted to do a relaxing run in the park while trying to enjoy the changing colors and avoid the roots covered in the leaves that had fallen already.  And that’s what I did for the next 40 minutes. 

As I approached the car, the rain began to fall and it got me thinking that if I had ridden, I’d likely be hitting the halfway point and would have been coming home in a cold, downpour.  Now and again, I do the right thing…and it actually pays off.  

Run workout:  40 minutes.
Training Heart Rate: 140 bpm.
Calories burned during workout:  600.

Thursday, October 13, 2011

"So...Detroit is in Texas...right?"

Wednesday, October 12, 2011

Thank God for Fox Sports and Channel 8. We’re way too cheap to pay$60-70 a month for cable service, but I do miss it when October rolls around and playoff baseball is on the air. Fox has been covering the American League Playoff Series between the Detroit Tigers and the Texas Rangers and I’ve been watching every inning. Jack stopped down yesterday to watch with me and was full of questions about the game, stats of players present and past and all kinds of things. “Does it bother you if I ask questions?” Actually…it doesn’t and I love the company. Then…like Jack tends to do…he came up with this jewel. “Kind of neat that teams are playing from the same state,” he said. I looked from the TV to the place where the sound had just come. By the look on my face, Jack knew he’d said something wrong. “Aren’t the Rangers from Texas?” he asked. At least he had part of it right. “Yeah…and where do you think the Tigers are from?” I asked him. He thought a moment, concerned that he’d blow it. “Detroit?” I smiled and said yes. “So…I was right. They’re both from Texas,” he said. Okay…now I was worried. I thought I’d give him a couple of hints. “Jack…Detroit…the ‘Motor City’…the capital of the automobile industry…the industrial heartland…the rustbelt…any of these things a clue to where Detroit is?” I asked. “Alabama?” he guessed. I stopped him there. “You really need to get back to school,” I said…since he’d been home sick for two days. I thought a moment…trying to put my head where Jack’s might be…and it hit me. “Dallas?” I said. “Yeah…that’s it! I was thinking of Dallas!” Okay…I can see that…kind of.

It was raining when I climbed from my car in the Metropark for the Survival Workout. Since it was in the 60’s, it felt kind of refreshing and the thought of getting muddy appealed to me. I dropped into a puddle in the grass near my car and began to count off my push-ups. As I hit 60 and felt some strength left, I steeled myself for a shot at my pr of 70. I made it there and on trembling arms, squeezed out 71 before collapsing into the mud. Nice start, though. When I returned to the car for my final set, I needed only 49 to break my three-set record. I blew past that on my way to another 61 and a three-set total of 194. I keep pushing myself to do more because it gives me a sense of my overall improvement in strength and muscular endurance. I remember being very pleased at the beginning of the summer when I topped 120 for a three-set total, so I’ve come a long way from there. I like to have something to measure and gauge progress…and this is a good one for me.

I’ve been corresponding with someone about the Paleo Diet, and she wrote that following it would be difficult because she lives with her parents and they load the house with junk food. Of course I blew through that statement admonishing her to take control of the situation. “No one is cramming food and beverage down your throat. If you don’t take responsibility for your actions, you have no chance,” or words to that effect. I’ll give her that it’s tougher when temptation is all around…but if it was easy, everyone would do it. Either you’re committed or you’re not. Until you are…you’ve got no chance. Suck it up, Tiff…I know you can handle the truth.

Survival Workout duration: 60 minutes.
Training Heart Rate: 100 to 150 bpm.
Calories burned during workout: 600.

Wednesday, October 12, 2011

Last ride before the rains return...

Tuesday, October 11, 2011

I was scheduled for a Survival Workout, but the weather forecast for the next 40 days and 40 nights was rain…and that would mean less riding. The skies were overcast, but it wasn’t raining yet and so I opted for a ride figuring I could do the Survival Workout tomorrow…even if it was raining.

I didn’t plan to ride hard…just long. I took my Gates Mills course and hit the top of the hill on Sperry in 54 minutes or about 3 minutes faster than I’d ever gotten there before. From there, I just tried to hold it and did. I pr’d the course…riding 2 minutes faster than I ever had before. I know the rains are coming and this really may be the last ride after work I can get in for awhile. The leaves are changing and the days are getting shorter and so is the time to ride. Ah well…I really do have to go longer into the fall and winter riding outside. I CANNOT spend three months on that trainer!

I attempted to get back to a solid Paleo dinner. I grabbed a couple of chicken breasts from the freezer and placed them in the toaster oven for a 45-minute bake while watching the Tigers/Rangers game. I suppose it would have been a better meal if I’d tried seasoning them in some way. I didn’t and just ate them straight from the oven. They were pretty bland, but I had some yogurt with raisins and nuts to give me something with a little taste.

Bike workout: One hour and 42 minutes.
Training Heart Rate: 130 bpm.
Calories burned during workout: 1,450.

Burning calories long after the workout ends...

Monday, October 10, 2011

The headline read “Vigorous exercise burns calories for 14 hours after exercise”. Okay…I’d never use the same noun twice in a title…but let’s forget that for a second see what the story’s all about. Mimi had given me the article from USA Today and when I went on American College of Sports Medicine’s site, I found the original research article. The original research was conducted using 10 healthy male participants living and exercising in a metabolic chamber for two 24-hour periods and comparing their caloric burns in the two situations. In one, they simply did their every day tasks…eating, sleeping and moving around inside the chamber…which is nothing more than an enclosed room designed to measure caloric expenditure. On the second day, they followed the same routine, except they also did a vigorous 45-minute bike ride on a stationary bike. On the second day, they burned an additional 190 calories AFTER they stopped exercising and over the next 14 hours.

The good news is that you can burn more calories than just what you’ve burned while working out when exercising vigorously (defined as at least 70% of your age predicted maximum). What surprises me though is that this research was treated as a new revelation. I can remember learning this same information when working on my graduate degree…which was about 30 years ago. And as so many who exercise and check their pulses regularly know, your resting heart rate does not return to its pre-exercise level for a long time after finishing. I was surprised to learn that the metabolism did stay higher into the 14th hour following the exercise and maybe that’s the new revelation. In any event…just one more reason to exercise vigorously as often as you can.

Which I didn’t. Holly and I went to the park together and just did a casual 50-minute walk. My back was still smarting and I wasn’t anxious to push it in this condition. It’s a good chance to catch up and still get something done, but there was surely no 14-hour calorie burning benefit to this excursion.

Walk duration: 50 minutes
Training Heart Rate: 75 bpm.
Calories burned during workout: 250.

Monday, October 10, 2011

Paleo Diet is working for Henry...

Sunday, October 09, 2011

I hadn’t checked in on Henry since meeting with him three weeks ago and discussing the value of the Paleo diet and decided it was time to make that call. I also wanted to coax him out on the kayaks in the coming days…some of the best kayaking weather of the year if it stayed sunny. “John…it’s going well, but you know it’s like emptying the ocean with a bucket,” he said. And it might seem like that when you’ve got a lot to lose, but just start bailing because the alternative sucks. “It’s a two-year plan, Henry. Just stick with it and you’ll get there,” I said. He told me he’d already lost 15 pounds and was feeling much better. His legs were no longer hurting in the morning and he wasn’t missing anything from his old diet. “For me…it’s the smoothie. I love them and it kills my sweet tooth,” I said. Apparently he’s been drinking them with the same results. He’s always traveling for work and might find himself at a trial this weekend, but if not, he promised to join me at either Mogador Reservoir or the Upper Cuyahoga for some quality paddling.

Dan called to let me know the Honda was ready. He’d had to replace all the brake and fuel lines to the rear of the car as they had disintegrated as soon as he’d handled them. I suppose a 14-year old car is going to have these kinds of issues, but I sure love the gas mileage I get from my Civic. I suited up for the bike ride to his place and headed out.

I’ve complained a lot about the weather over the past…well…year…so I have to give credit where credit is due. It was another absolutely perfect day to ride and I took the long course to Dan’s, heading out Pekin Road. The skies were a deep blue and beautifully accented the fall colors of the trees all along this country road. It was one of those days you just wish would never end and I was feeling wonderful on the bike with no signs of cramping. The direct route on Wilson Mills is only 16 miles, but I was able to make it closer to 30 by taking Pekin.

Dan was talking to a neighbor when I arrived on my sleek road bike, and he wanted to know whether and why my bike was faster than his mountain bike. “I’m a little afraid of those thin tires,” he said. “I could ride your bike and get the exact same workout riding 25% slower. The only difference is that it’ll take a little longer to get where I’m going,” I explained. Which is true. I would burn a few more calories since I’d be on the bike longer, but minute for minute…it would be the same. I loaded the bike in the car and thanked Dan while hoping I wouldn’t need his services for some time. I like riding to his place, but its never for a good reason.

Bike workout: One hour and 45 minutes.
Training Heart Rate: 130 bpm.
Calories burned during workout: 1,450.

Rugby is one tough sport...

Saturday, October 8, 2011

“John…could you have cut the invisible fence line where you’re digging?” Mimi asked as I brought a wheelbarrow load of dirt from her woods to fill in the holes I’d made over the summer when digging up three trees. Well now…that would be colossally stupid since there are these little white flags, even through the woods, to let Edgar know how far he could run before getting zapped…and to alert potential hole diggers that they should stay clear. I noticed the flags and distinctly remember thinking that I should dig just beyond them so that Edgar wouldn’t stumble in the hole I’d leave. Distinctly. Of course it never occurred to my pea-brain that by so doing, I’d dig right into the cable buried two inches below the surface. “You know…it could have been me. I’ll check to see if anyone else is digging anywhere in your woods right not…because maybe it was them and not me,” I said. Okay…I said some of it.

I did do some good things while there and managed to break a decent sweat for a few hours. I left there after cutting the wire and headed for Jason’s rugby match. His club was playing the Cleveland Rovers, the team that received a nice write-up in the PD last week, which had infuriated Jason. “They used to be the best, but we’ve beaten them like a drum for the past several years,” he’d declared after reading the article. In fact, the streak was at seven and soon became eight…East side dominance continues over West side Rugbyiers. Jason had been limping or a week with a painful groin injury and I advised him not to play as it would only get worse. “Like you’d never do anything when you’re hurt…right, dad?” Okay…do as I say applies here…but he wasn’t listening. He played about 20 minutes, but when he needed to accelerate quickly to make a tackle, the injury prevailed and he was out of the game.

And what a tough game it is. I don’t understand most of what’s happening, but I know hard hits without pads when I see them. This is a total contact sport with the contestants wearing cotton rugby jerseys for protection…which is to say nothing at all. I saw no debilitating contact injuries the entire time I was there and can only attribute this to superior conditioning or blatant drunkenness. Actually, they do socialize quite heavily…but it’s after the game. In fact, Jason arrived at our house at 3 a.m. in the morning and proceeded to the bathroom where he spent the next 30 minutes with his arms wrapped around the porcelain god. I was annoyed to think that he’d been out drinking and had left his dogs home alone. When he got up at 9 a.m., the told me how they’d gotten a party bus and that he’d secured a ‘dog sitter’ just in case he celebrated too long after winning the big game. Okay…I’m not crazy about any drinking to excess, but I give him credit for being responsible if he does.

Survival Workout duration: 60 minutes.
Training Heart Rate: 100 to 150 bpm.
Calories burned during workout: 600.

Painful cramps...

Friday, October 7, 2011

You’d think if you got painful leg cramps while riding that kept you from completing your rides and had figured out why those cramps were happening…you’d be able to remember not to do it again. Well…Holly would say “not if you’re a man” and she’d probably be right. I’d been having cramping experiences during the early riding season and had concluded that they only came when I put long rides back-to-back when I really didn’t have the conditioning. As my training mileage increased, the cramps went away and I haven’t been visited by them since. Until today.

I’d ridden hard the day before, going almost two hours after doing the Survival Workout. I really haven’t ridden much over the previous four weeks due to rain and hiking in the Adirondacks. So maybe my ‘man’ brain should have signaled me that if I went out again today, I’d likely get into trouble around the hour mark. It didn’t.

I took a slightly different route and found myself climbing a particularly steep hill on Booth Road just below the Holden Arboretum. I was climbing without issue, but placing plenty of torque on the pedals to make the ascent. When I crested the hill, I felt the first twinge and prayed it would be the last. Well…it wasn’t. I continued on but found quickly that I needed to reduce gears if I was going to stay on the bike. Both quadriceps were going through spasms that were both painful and debilitating…my legs tend to not want to go around when I’m going through it. It’s rather unpleasant…and again you’d think I would have remembered. I guess it’s like blocking out delivery pains. Anyway, I simply slowed down and used easier gears for the second half of the ride and made it home without undue discomfort.

Jack and I were scheduled to have dinner with his grandparents and so he was surprised to see me making a large smoothie as we were getting ready to leave. “Won’t that ruin your appetite, dad?” Well actually…almost nothing ‘ruins’ my appetite, but it will take the edge off. “Grandpa is going to make something entirely ‘un-Paleo’ and it’s going to taste great, Jack. If I don’t drink this, I’m going to eat a ton of something really, really bad,” I said. He thinks I’m weird and this explanation makes little sense to him, but I’m sticking with it. And like I expected, his grandpa had made dumplings in a heavy gravy sauce…which I love…but because of the smoothie, managed to keep myself to one helping. He had cherry turnovers for dessert, which I was also able to pass on…and he ate to keep me from feeling bad. Thank God for smoothies.

Bike workout: Two hours and 5 minutes.
Training Heart Rate: 130 bpm.
Calories burned during workout: 1,600.