Goodbye to 200!

Friday, February 26, 2010

Last night as we drove to the park through a light snow for our run, Jack asked for the twentieth time this winter “do you think we’ll have a snow day tomorrow?”

I consider snow shoveling just another outdoor cardiovascular workout. Always have. I tend to race against neighbors with snow blowers to add to the workout and to show off that I’m faster than the machine. When I do this, which is pretty much every time it snows, I typically end up stripped down to my t-shirt because I’m sweating so profusely. I’ve been blessed with the unusual ability to perspire at a rate that, during a summer workout, will have me losing as much as ten pounds an hour.

The snow continued to fall and I pushed about 3 inches before going to bed. If tomorrow was going to be a snow day, I wanted a head start on the removal.

The phone startled me awake at 5:45 a.m. It was a recording from the school telling me that, in fact, Jack did have a snow day. Well, it actually would be a snow day for the entire school, not just Jack. Anyway, it also alerted me that I’d be starting the day with a 1-hour workout. I put on the boots and grabbed my shovel.

It continued snowing heavily throughout the day and by the time I arrived back home, the driveway needed shoveling again. I live on a sharp curve in the road and what that means is the snow plow deposits an inordinate amount of snow at the bottom of my driveway. No big deal – just adds to the workout. I spent another hour shoveling and then headed inside to fetch Dakota for a trip to the park and a snow hike.

We arrived there just before dark to find the trails had accumulated about ten inches since yesterday’s run. I planned to do the off-trail hike down to the marsh – the same loop I had done two days ago in 45 minutes. With about twelve inches of snow on the ground now, it was definitely going to take longer and be more difficult. Dakota, a 50-pound Norwegian Elkhound mix, has only about ten inches between her belly and the ground and found it easier to move by staying in my tracks. My heart rate was running around 90 beats, which is high for hiking and would burn up considerably more calories. The walk took an hour to complete and I was really starting to feel the accumulated affect of all the shoveling and everything I had been doing over the last seven days. I mean I was pretty bushed – but from a hike?

Once back home, I climbed aboard the bike and plugged in “Man verses Wild”. I’d never seen the show, but heard enough about it to give it a shot. Bear something or other (yeah - Bear’s his name) was crossing a part of the Sahara desert and would be demonstrating survival techniques. He began by tearing up a black t-shirt, peeing on it and wrapping it around his head – telling the audience about the benefits of the cooling effect this would have on his head for the desert crossing. Cooling affect? Seriously?

No – I have not done and desert crossings, but I do know a little bit about physiology and heat injuries. He claimed it was 130 degrees. He was in a desert, which would make it dry – right? How long do you suppose it would be before the pee evaporated in these conditions – 5 minutes? I’ll be generous and give him ten, but he was hiking for, like, the whole day so what was that really all about? And a black t-shirt? Dark materials absorb heat and light ones reflect. I’m missing something.

I won’t go into the myriad of inconsistencies I noticed throughout the show, but it did get me through a 45-minute ride. Since I was already whipped when I’d climbed aboard, I was pleased with my efforts.

I grabbed another handful of baby carrots, something I’d taken to eating over the last few days in an effort to curb my appetite, and headed for the weigh-in and shower. I stripped down and stepped on the scale. ‘199’ flashed across the screen. Holy crap – could that be right? I let it reset and climbed on again and again it read ‘199’.

I was surprised, but pretty happy. When I’d weighed in ten days earlier at 206, I figured it would be three weeks or so before I dipped below 200. In retrospect though, I’d made significant changes in my eating habits and was burning calories during workouts at an average of 1,100 per day. You know what? I’ll take it.

Shovel duration: 60 minutes. Hike duration: 60 minutes. Bike duration: 45 minutes.

Training Heart Rate: 100 bpm for shoveling. 90 bpm for hike. 125 bpm for bike.

Calories burned during workout: 600 shoveling. 600 hiking. 675 biking.