I snagged another sucker...

Tuesday, September 14, 2010

I’ve taken on a new client. She’s 25, tall and thin and appears to be in good shape, but she knows she’s not. I gave her a body fat assessment, which came out pretty well since she was in the top end of the good range. Still, she knew she needed to do some exercise and had been motivated to run since we’d been to Marie’s cross country meet this past Saturday.

“I used to run some, so I’m going to run a mile today,” she told me. Later the day she sent me a text message that said ‘just went for a one mile jog and pretty much walked the whole thing’. I wrote back to her that she needed a coach and I was just the man. Tonight…we’re going to approach it a little differently. I’ll start her out with a step test to check the aerobic fitness and then we’ll talk about some goals. I know she can run and maybe I’ll encourage her to target something like the Turkey Trot 5-miler on Thanksgiving day. That will allow her enough time to get ready and something that will keep her focused. Tonight though, she’ll join me at the Mayfield track where I’ll have her doing a little work in the bleachers (sine that’s what I’m stuck doing) and mix in a quarter mile jog every so often. Visually and mentally, one lap around the track seems so doable. Everyone gets through it, giving them the positive first step to the rest of the program. Get ready, Ash.

Ever since I tried to slice my finger off last week, I’ve been on a roll…not missing an aerobic workout for seven straight days. Last night was my fourth biking day in a row…something I haven’t done in a while. My neck and shoulders would normally be giving me heartburn after three straight days, but they didn’t feel too bad as I started the ride. I only had about 90 minutes, so I knew the Rogers Road ride would be out, but I did the course without Rogers, which still has three climbs in it. After the hard ride yesterday, I was thinking I’d need to go easier, but my legs seemed to be reasonably fresh so I picked it up. I managed to keep it around 18 mph for the ride…a good pace for me and finished in and hour and 25 minutes, which is close to as fast as I’ve ever ridden it. I want to go into the mountains feeling fresh so I’m planning on the bleachers tonight, a ride tomorrow and Friday off…driving to the Adirondacks. Actually there are a couple of lower peaks I could get up if we get there by 5 p.m. and I don’t want to miss any chance to climb while I’m there. We’ll see how it goes...

Bike duration: One hour and 25 minutes.
Training Heart Rate: 120.
Calories burned during workout: 900.