The Paleo Diet is a slippery slope...

Monday, July 25, 2011

Jimmy was supposed to join me for a Survival Workout after blowing me off Saturday, but since he hadn’t answered his phone or a text I’d left him, I suspected it was happening again. I had to face that fact that Jimmy was afraid of the workout. He’d done it with me two summer’s ago and had blasted through the first few routines…and gassed himself. I’d had to sling him over my shoulder that day and carry him back to the car…which was alright by me since it was a good leg workout. I don’t care what kind of program you’re following or how good your conditioning is, when you do something as drastically different as the Survival Workout the first time, you need to pace yourself. I’d warned him to slow down that day…but you can’t tell Jimmy much. He’s like me…only younger.

Since I still didn’t have the bike up and running, I decided I needed a little extra from the workout and added a couple of extra hill climbs. My knee is actually feeling pretty good and I’m considering running again soon…just not yet. The climbing is always good since September and the Adirondacks are approaching rapidly. I’m hoping to fit in a couple of peaks with the girls and then John and I are planning on tackling another four. I want to go in lean and with a healthy knee.

I heard from Kim over the weekend. She had made it to Salida, Colorado and was only a couple of days from Crested Butte…home of the research institute she’d worked last summer and her primary destination for the bike ride. She’s now covered 2,100 miles in 29 days of riding…an excellent daily average when the weather conditions and the weight of a fully packed bike are taken into consideration. “We’re going over a pass tomorrow that’s 11,600 feet high. The good new is…there’s a forty mile descent on the other side,” she said. Her riding partner was suffering from some altitude sickness…not too surprising since they’re already at 7,000 feet and have had little time to acclimatize…something that takes some people over a week to do. Kim spent last summer running 40 miles a week over 10,000 feet…she knows something about it.

I must confess to some back sliding on the diet lately. I had a little bowl of ice cream last night and had eaten Jack’s ice cream cake the previous night. I also had some bread when I made a tomato sandwich. The Paleo diet takes planning to keep the right foods in the house. Regular trips to the grocery store for fresh produce are essential…and sometimes I’m just plain too lazy. I’ll remedy that tomorrow. I’ve come too far to allow and weight back on.

Survival Workout duration: 60 minutes.
Training Heart Rate: 100 to 150 bpm.
Calories burned during workout: 600