Getting old's a bitch

Tuesday, February 23, 2010

Holy shit, was I ever sore today from yesterday’s run. Old? You bet I am. I was particularly sore after writing yesterday’s blog and standing up from my desk. Things tend to stiffen up after a couple of hours sitting and my first steps sent pain radiating from the groin area in all directions. The muscles that lift the legs while running tie in nicely through the groin and into the abdomen. Stop using them for a period of time or build up your running miles too quickly and you’ll know what I mean. I’ve been building running programs for athletes for over twenty-five years and I never increase mileage more than 10% a week. That’s just smart coaching. That keeps people from getting injured. That’s damned good advice and - that’s why I don’t seem to follow it!

I can whine with the best of them.

So today would be a biking day, but that would come later. My son, a freshman in high school and with designs on the track team, asked me if I would take him to the park for a run. “Sure I’ll take you, but I’m not running,” I assured him.

“But I don’t know the trails. I could get lost,” he said.

“So you get lost and run a few extra miles. I’ve done it. No big deal. Just keep running until you see something you recognize. As crappy as it is out here tonight, that’ll probably be me and then you’ll be found again,” I comforted.

“How ‘bout we do ‘the workout’?” he asked.

He was referring to the ‘Back to Basics – Survivor Workout’, which was something I had created to be done in the woods using mostly what can be found out there to do a total body workout. I’ll get into the details of that workout when I actually start doing it again. I obliged him and we headed for the Park. We did a little hike back into an area where I prefer to do the workout, which, because of the snow was a little bit of a workout for me. He was really out of shape – Xbox 360 has been doing nothing for his conditioning – and staggered through. By the time I said ‘I think you’ve had enough’ – he was unconscious. I carried him back to the car.

Anyway, we headed back home with a stop at the Library so I could pick up some movies to watch while riding the trainer. Have I mentioned I hate riding on the trainer? I picked up “We Are Marshall” and a couple of others. The weather is supposed to stay lousy for a few days and I’m planning ahead.

I don’t know if I’ve mentioned this, but I hate riding on the trainer. I brought the bike in from the garage and spent twenty minutes getting it into the trainer correctly. On the commercial for the thing, the bike rolls up and snaps in, lickity split. I probably should have read the directions or watched that commercial more closely. Oh well – directions are typically overrated and things are never as easy as they appear in commercials. That, and I’m challenged by simple, mechanical things.

“We Are Marshall” is a terrific story. I vaguely remember the tragic crashing of the airliner carrying the entire Marshall University football team, coaches, some family and friends. Seventy-five people died in the crash that November evening in 1970 – I was a sophomore in high school at the time. The movie definitely inspired me to keep riding. I managed to get in a 1-hour ride, which also worked out all the soreness I had been feeling all day. Cardiovascular exercise can be very soothing to sore muscles – warming them and carrying away the waste that makes them sore in the first place. Day Five of the training was in the books and I was happy it was over.

Duration: 60:00

Training heart rate: 125 beats per minute

Calories burned during workout: 900