Paul, John and Henry were scheduled to come to my place that evening and we were going to have a spaghetti dinner, watch some World Series, shoot the shit, and look over our pictures from the Adirondacks. I would be getting a lot of the wrong kind of calories, so I knew I needed to take some proactive measures.
I had a hike in the Metropark with John and Paul already scheduled, but knew that wouldn’t be enough. I arrived early and set off to do the Survival Workout. It was raining of course, and the trail was a mess. I slipped and slid but did every lift and exercise, adding a couple of bonus moves to burn the extra calories. I was at a dip station at the edge of the Horse Trailer parking lot and was nearing completion of the set when I felt like I was being watched. I finished my final rep and sat down on the railing I was using for the dips and looked across the lot. Two deer were standing at the edge of the woods...one munching on some vegetation while the other eye-balled me for any false moves. I got to thinking once again how cool it was to be doing a workout and instead of having chicks digging my biceps in a gym (it’s my blog...I can fantasize if I want to), I had deer watching my moves from a patch of second growth trees. Yeah...I’m diggin’ the Survival Workout environment.
I returned to the car where I’d received a text from John telling me it was wet and was I still hiking. Really? Wet? If I waited for it to be dry before exercising again, I’d weigh 300 pounds and it would be July. Anyway, he weenied out on us. I had no doubts Paul would show. I mean the guy lives in Alaska...has worked in the Arctic Circle...and no amount of bad weather would deter him. He arrived on time and, with both of us suited in rain gear, we hiked off.
After ninety minutes of some rather sloppy hiking, we returned to the cars and headed to my place for dinner. I had the fixings for a nice spinach salad, but also made some gorp (good old raisins and peanuts) as an appetizer...you know...to set the backpacking mood. Henry arrived after dinner was well under way and John, who hadn’t seen him in a long time, noticed the weight loss. “Are you following that Paleo Diet crazy man Rolf here eats?” he asked. Henry informed us he had dropped 21 pounds since beginning the diet after our meeting last month but, “it’s like emptying the ocean with a bucket. Having said that, I’m feeling so much better and the diet is easy,” he concluded.
He ate the salad, covering it in meatballs he’d fished out of the spaghetti sauce. He’s taking it all pretty seriously...as he tends to do...and I am certain that over the next 18 months, he will lose another 75 pounds and achieve his goals. He really wants to return to the Adirondacks to do some climbing with us...something he knows is out of the question at this time. He would also like to return to Wyoming and the Grand Tetons and do some elk hunting and hiking. By letting himself go, he realized he was preventing himself from doing the things he enjoyed so much as a younger man. I think his focus and determination has its roots in that. He sets goals...achievable, meaningful ones...and then goes about following the steps to make them a reality. It really simple...and it works.
Paul and I hung and talked after the others had left. In the background, the Cardinals battled to what appeared to be a 2 games to nothing lead on the Rangers...the team I wanted to see win. We were too busy to notice the comeback, which I wouldn’t discover until I opened the sports page the following morning. Go Rangers.
Survival Workout duration: 60 minutes. Hike duration: 90 minutes.
Training Heart Rate: 100 to 150 bpm for Survival and 75 for the hike.Calories burned during workout: 600 for the Survival and 450 for the run.
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