Jeff getting back on track after accomplishing goal...

Tuesday, October 18, 2011
I’d been bugging my friend and elk hunter, Jeff, to join me in the park for another Survival Workout.  He’d met me in the early summer to help him begin a training program to help him lose a lot of weight and to be ready for elk hunting in the mountains of Colorado by summer’s end.  Over the next eight weeks, he’d trained religiously and lost over 20 pounds while improving his hiking and climbing conditioning significantly.  Then came the hunt and four hours of hiking over rough terrain for a week.  He’d gone with his father and uncle, who had both brought down an elk, but he had not been so lucky.  Still, field dressing the animals and carrying out the meat was tough work and he was glad for the conditioning.  Then he’d gotten back and without a purpose to train…let things slip.

“I don’t know what I weigh now and I don’t want to know until I get going again and lose some of the weight I’ve regained,” he said when we met in the park.  I know that feeling, but told him maybe he should get the bad news…which might not be as bad as he suspected…as motivation to keep working.  We started with push-ups, log lifting and dips and by the time we hit the second station, his arms were already in distress.  “I’ve got less to lift than you and I’ve been at it longer.  Don’t kill yourself to keep up on your first day back,” I recommended…while reminding him I was half his age and that he needed to get his ass back in gear.  I’m kind that way.

I decided not to try and climb the hills or jump on things where we might twist a knee or worse in the slippery conditions the continuing rains had created.  He did about half of the upper body work, but once his arms were exhausted, there was nothing left to do but hike and watch me.  I know this had to gall him, but I also believe he’s the kind of guy that it would fire up…not discourage.  If he was a weenie, he wouldn’t have been there on a chilly, rainy night.  He’ll be back.

I’d managed a run before he’d arrived and so had gotten in a decent double.  It had started raining hard when I’d gotten about 5 minutes from the car and I had thought about returning, but managed to persevere.  I was thankful that I wasn’t on a bike though.  The temps were really dropping and I wasn’t wearing much.  After completing the run and working out with Jeff, I returned home and made another Paleo dinner consisting of a spinach and mushroom salad and scrambled eggs with mushrooms and sautéed chicken breast.  Two days of healthy eating and great workouts is only the beginning though, so I have to continue to watch my intake and not cheat.  It’s a good start.
Survival Workout duration: 60 minutes.  Run workout: 32 minutes.

Training Heart Rate: 100 to 150 bpm for Survival and 140 for the run.
Calories burned during workout:  600 for the Survival and 500 for the run.