"Tired - from that workout?"

Wednesday, March 10, 2010

I picked Jack up from school after track practice. He looked exhausted and complained about how difficult the workout had been and how happy he was that I was there to pick him up – he could never had made it all the way home walking, which is a little over a mile. I was thinking this all had something to do with his off-season conditioning program, which was pretty much exclusively sitting on the couch and playing Xbox 360. “What was the workout?” I asked.

“We had to run 35 minutes and then did some core work.”

I thought, but didn’t say “are you kiddin’ me?” I suppose he hasn’t been reading my blog, but hey, that’s little more than a warm-up…

Now…when I was in high school and running track, I used to run to school in the morning, about four miles, and have my brother bring my change of clothes. I did this because I had a job after school and couldn’t always make practice. I rode my bike to work - about 15 miles - all summer, just because I like to work out. I wasn’t too sympathetic about him having to walk sometimes or how hard he was working. He’s skinny at least and should get into shape in a couple of weeks and I’m not too worried about him. I drove him home, carried him inside, propped him up in front of the Xbox and taped his fingers to the controller. He’d be good for awhile.

Now my workout began. It was another reasonably sunny day. Rain had been threatening for most of the afternoon, but I figured I should be able to get in a pretty dry ride with a little luck. I was wearing a long-sleeved t-shirt and riding gloves, but made no other concession to the weather – about 50 degrees.

I was taking on a lot of snow melt in the roads, which I detest for what it does to my bike, but other than that, I was flying along. I headed into the valley and up the east side of Old Mill Road. It’s not as steep as ‘the Lung’ but it’s longer. I was up in 8 minutes – not a bad time. I was coming towards the end of the ride, close to two hours, when the rains first started to fall. No big deal though, and I was happy to have logged another 34 miles.

I walked back in the house and called to Jack. I wanted to brag on my workout, but he wasn’t answering. I saw the TV was on and the Xbox loaded, but nothing was happening. He had slumped over and rolled onto the floor, controller still taped to his hands and ready to play, should he ever come to. I don’t think the old man should be in better shape than his 16-year old son. I’ve fomenting an idea to bring more attention to the obesity epidemic being reported in the papers and present in alarmingly high numbers among the youth of our country. It will be an event - some version of a triathlon, which I’ll be doing and others can join. It’ll be a little crazy. More later…

Bike duration: 2 hours.

Training Heart Rate: 135 bpm for bike.

Calories burned during workout: 1,800.