Learning to use a knife.

Tuesday, October 19, 2010

I sat in a meeting yesterday with three other people. The person who had called the meeting sat and worked on his laptop computer the entire time we were together. He was mostly attentive to us, but I found it quite rude and completely inappropriate. I hope I never get so busy that I act in such a manner, though I suppose it’s more of a choice and not a necessity…or am I oversensitive? The impression it leaves is that whatever we were there to discuss was not important enough to invite his full attention. I don’t know about you, but Mama Rolf brought me up differently.

Earlier in the day, I’d been talking to a doc who works in the Cleveland Clinic’s Lifestyle 180 program. The program is a hands-on educational tool designed to teach clients the value of taking proactive steps to combat chronic illness. It addresses the foods you eat, how to shop and prepare them, how to do the physical activity you need to get and/or stay healthy and to deal with the debilitating stress in your life. It’s a six-week long program and the participants meet for 4 hours a day/ 2 days a week. There are maintenance meetings after the initial program is completed that take place over the remainder of the year and the entire process is designed to effect changes that will last a lifetime.

At one point, we were in the kitchen going over the food preparation part of the program. It is the opinion of the doctor who created the program that anyone who is to prepare and eat in a healthy fashion MUST be able to handle a knife properly. He stated that an inexperienced person would take 30 minutes to cut the vegetables necessary for a healthy meal that could be cut in 5 by someone with the proper skills and that the skills can be learned quickly and easily. I’ve never given much thought to this since I worked in a kitchen during my high school and college years and learned how to handle a knife and have always known how…but it makes sense. Eating right is a pain. If you’re going to have fresh food for meals, you’re going to be visiting the grocery store on a regular basis since it just doesn’t last long on the counter or in the frig. And it definitely takes longer to prepare. I’m guilty of coming home hungry and wanting something fast…which limits my dinner choices to less than perfect selections. I know it, but I still do it…and I’m guessing most Americans are right there with me. Take exercise out of the equation and you have raging obesity. Come to think of it…that’s what we got…and as Gomer would say...surprise…surprise…surprise!

I was more than a little sore when I began my run. I’d finished hard the day before when I’d done my pr, covering the last mile in around 7 minutes over rough terrain and including a spill. It was a recovery day and that’s what I did…slowly. I wanted to get some distance though, and ended up doing at least 5 miles. I’m slowly building back to 30 miles a week and hope to push that to 40 over the winter. That will be plenty to keep my in good shape and off the bike trainer as much as is humanly possible. I’ve really have to start thinking about when I’m going to do my triathlon madness and what I’ll have to do to be ready for it, though. That’s a little later. For now…well…I think I’ll think about something else.

Run duration: 45 minutes.
Training Heart Rate: 130 bpm.
Calories burned during workout: 675.