A good day...

Friday, April 25, 2014
I must admit that I continue to be sporadic in my working out, though not my physical activity.  My birthday came and went this year without the traditional, age-based triathlon.  Though I did get in a workout that day, I also spent several hours working on the boat, eating improperly and attending a losing effort by the Indians.
I’d taken a member through a Survival Workout at the Y on Friday.  He’d been using the treadmill and weight machines at the club, but had never done anything quite like what we started doing.  He pushed himself reasonably hard and had made it through one set of everything when I introduced him to squat jumps.  This requires that you squat and touch the ground between your feet and then standing and jumping straight up, as if rebounding a missed shot.  Done successively to exhaustion, this has become the toughest thing I do in the workout.  It proved to be the same for him and after 15 repeats, he found he needed to find a seat before he fell down. 

“Wow – that was tough,” he gasped.

He looked slightly pale and when he complained of being light-headed, I told him the workout was over.  “We’ll go again next week.  You pushed yourself too hard and you’re not used to moving and lifting your own body weight.  Let’s take it slow and maybe you’ll get through the second set the next time,” I said.
He recovered in ten minutes and gladly signed up for his next workout.

I finished the workout before getting on the road for home.  Once there, I decided I needed some time on the bike with ‘Bike to Work’ day looming, and put an hour on the trainer.  Later, I walked the block with Holly.  I wouldn’t go so far as to call it a ‘triple’, but it was the cleansing workout I needed heading into a weekend that would be filled with yard work and probably not designed workouts.

Survival Workout: 60 minutes.  Bike workout: 60 minutes.
Training Heart Rate: 100-150 bpm for SW and 120 biking.

Calories Burned: 600 for SW and 850 biking.

Too much of a good thing?

Friday, April 22, 2011

I have approached the Paleo diet with some vigor…maybe too much.  I came home from work and rode the trainer for an hour and then put together a dinner of sautéed broccoli, onions and mushrooms and a spinach salad with sunflower seeds sprinkled generously on top.  While waiting for everything to be ready, I had a banana, some raw broccoli and a handful of almonds.  After eating everything, I hurried off to Good Friday services with Holly.

On the ride to the church, my stomach began to churn.  Holly noticed and asked me if I was okay.  “I’ve got a stomach ache and feel kind of gassy,” I said.  She gave me that ‘TMI’ (too much information) look and said maybe I was changing my diet too drastically.  She may be right.  I tend to do things to extremes and everything I’m eating would, on the surface, appear to be great for me…but maybe too much of a good thing – and all that.

I sat on a sofa instead of going in for the service and just tried to let things settle down.  Although Good Friday is a time for Christians to experience mild forms of discomfort in the form of skipping meals, not speaking or avoiding meat, I didn’t think anyone needed to be sharing the result of my discomfort…something they’d have trouble missing if they were sitting anywhere nearby.

We stopped at Holly’s parents and did some Easter bunny shopping after church and eventually my stomach quieted down.  Roughage can be rough, but like all my training, I’ll just keep pushing it hard until something breaks.  I don’t seem to know any other way…

Bike duration:  60 minutes.

Training Heart Rate: 130 bpm.

Calories burned during workout:  900.

May be moving to johnrolf@blogspot.com...

Friday, February 11, 2011

For the last two years, I’ve paid ten bucks to have my blog setup.  I did it through ‘Go Daddy’ when I got started and figured that was just the price…which didn’t seem to be too bad.  I’ve been getting renewal notices for the last month and I remember my buddy, Jimmy, asking me why I was paying at all?  “Blogging is free, John…are you stupid or something?”

Not only am I not stupid…I’m at least three times as smart as Jimmy…but I’m cheap, too.  If I don’t have to pay, why am I?  Having said that, I sent an email off to ‘Go Daddy’ wondering why, if blogging is free to the rest of the world…I’m paying them?  They haven’t answered.  Probably worried that if I don’t send in my $7 (I’ve been getting notices for a 30% discount if I sign up NOW!), they’ll crumble like a sand castle on the beach getting hit by a wave.

So…just in case…I’ve developed a back up plan to not paying.  I’ve started another blog site where I’m posting the same story each day and its johnrolf@blogspot.com.  I know…clever name…but a hell of a lot easier to remember.  If they can shut me down at johnrolf@healthnutslol.blogspot.com, I’m prepared to move on…without paying the $7 protection/extortion fee.  Anyway…you millions of readers…be prepared to look for me on a different…free…site.

I went to the Metropark on what could be the last cold day for a while.  I figured maybe another 40 minute run and then home for some time on the bike.  Savannah was on her way from Columbus for a weekend visit and the chance to see Jack going out to his first formal dance and she had requested mega-calories for the weekend.  We were scheduled for Annie Ann hot dogs for dinner, waffles with whipped cream and strawberries for Saturday’s breakfast and chicken and dumplings for Sunday’s dinner.  I’d gain 5 pounds if I didn’t do some proactive exercising.

I decided to stay on the bridle trails…the only consistently, well-packed running surface in the park at the time.  I was cruising along quite easily and decided maybe 50 minutes would be in order.  I hit the turnaround and was feeling great until I hit minute 46, where I felt a sudden twinge in my right hamstring just below the buttocks.  I slowed quickly and slogged the remaining 5 minutes back to the car without incident.  Close.  When I retuned home, I straddled the bike and put in 30 minutes more and felt ready for the major calories on the horizon.

Bike duration: 30 minutes.  Run duration:  51 minutes.

Training Heart Rate: 130 biking.  140 running.

Calories burned during workout:  450 biking.   870 running.

Visiting the beavers...

Thursday, February 10, 2011

There will be a new addition to the Lorain/Carnegie Bridge in 2012. ODOT announced that it will be adding a dedicated, multiuse path for pedestrians and cyclists to cross the Cuyahoga River. It will be six feet wide and have a barrier separating vehicular traffic from users. I suppose this is a good thing, though maybe I’m missing something. Sure…it will be good to cross the bridge on a bike protected by a barrier from vehicles, but as soon as you get to either end of the bridge, you’re right back into traffic and so I’m not so sure why this matters so much. I’ve done a lot of downtown riding, having spent 18 years with the Cleveland Athletic Club and often riding from my home in Willowick to the Club. I must admit that I never had to cross the Lorain/Carnegie Bridge, though I know there is a dedicated bike lane across it now…without a barrier. I spent many very careful miles making my commute in those days knowing that if I didn’t…I’d get hit. Thankfully, I never did and if I was working downtown now and had a place to shower…I’d still be riding to work.

The cost of the dedicated path over the bridge will be $6 million…which is another thing that gives me pause. I’m sure the construction numbers add up, but wow…$6 million for a stretch of road about a half mile long? What I absolutely applaud though, is anything that makes biking, walking or running to work easier. The more people we get out of cars and self-propelled, the better for them and the environment.

It was the coldest walk of the year for Dakota and me. We made our way down to the marsh and proceeded to walk out on it and all the way over to the beaver lodge. John was supposed to have joined me, but I suppose he could have seen yesterday’s posting and was worried about being used as a guinea pig to test the strength of the ice. No matter…it held. I did kick my toe through the snow to find some water seeping up, but that was it. Dakota was quite interested in the lodge…sniffing like something was there. The beaver were probably just inside and laughing their beaver butts off at us for being out in such frigid temperatures. They were right to laugh. It was the first time in a long time that I’ve actually felt like I could have used some face protection from the biting cold wind that was freezing my nose and cheeks. I decided to give up the marsh and get back inside the tree line where there was protection from the wind and a sub-zero chill factor.

We returned to our car in a little over an hour and found the parking lot practically empty. I suppose the sensible folks were inside, which is okay with me…I like having the entire park to myself.

Hike duration: 65 minutes.

Training Heart Rate: 90 bpm.

Calories burned during workout: 325.