I was expecting to feel pain in my hip when I got up in the morning and though I had some, it was minimal. I figured I’d go through the day and decide a course of action based on how I felt. By the end of the work day, my discomfort was minimal and so I decided on a run because I needed to do weight-bearing exercise and if I had trouble, I wouldn’t be too far from the car…like I might be if I was twenty miles out on the bike and hit a snag.
I went to my favorite trail and laced up the minimalist shoes. My feet were still a little sore from my previous run…they don’t seem to favor the minimalist shoe, but I’d decided to keep using them in hopes that they’d gain the necessary conditioning. Anyway, I hit the trail at a slow jog and what little pain I had been feeling while walking, dissipated immediately. This was strange. My hip hurt less as I increased the pounding. Well…that’s what was happening and I chose to go with it. I did a loop that would normally take 30 minutes in 32, running slower throughout as a concession to the hip…which never hurt. I got back into the car feeling strong and headed for home.
One of my favorite ways to get in shape for climbing is to strap on a heavy pack and do sets in the bleachers at Mayfield High School. They’d torn down the stadium and ripped out the track and field over the summer and were in the process of replacing it all. I hadn’t been by in some time and didn’t know the completion rate, but decided I’d swing by on my way home and maybe do some bleacher work…without the pack...if the stands were together.
I parked and crossed the soccer field to find the stadium ready to go. I climbed my first set counting the steps as I went up and found that there were 43…three more than the previous stadium held. There were seven aisles in all and I used each one once over the next several minutes before exiting for the playing field to check the new, artificial surface. It was some kind of synthetic, similar if not the same as those I’ve seen in other high school stadiums, with some kind of fake dirt between the blades of fake grass. It’s a very forgiving surface…plenty of cushion…and probably good to run and fall on. I thought I’d try the running and save the falling for the ‘Friday Night Lights’ crowd. I did a 100-yard acceleration and felt like I was running on a thickly padded crushed carpet. It felt good and I could see it would likely become part of a training routine for me somewhere down the line. For now, I wanted to test it…and my hip…out, and I’d done that.
I returned home and saw Savannah approaching the car holding her wrist as she walked.
“It’s yours, Jack’s and mom’s fault that I broke the window,” she said in her usual rat-a-tat-tat, rapid fire speech pattern. My first thought was that she was alone and had sliced her wrist on some broken glass and that I’d need to rush her to the hospital. My brain said she must have one hell of a grip on the severed vein in her wrist since it didn’t notice any blood.
“Umm…what?” I said.
“Well…you’ve been making me do those workouts and now I’m really strong. Jack was doing something annoying in the driveway and I needed to yell at him, and mom said that you must have painted the window shut and if I was having trouble getting it up to yell at Jack, I should just bang on it. I think she meant the frame, but she didn’t say the frame…so I banged on the window and put my hand through it,” she said in a microburst. “But…I didn’t cut myself.”
Well…that was a relief, though frankly I don’t know how she managed it. She’d put her hand through the storm pane and shattered it rather cleanly. Her logic for blame was rather faultless and I was wondering if maybe she shouldn’t be pursuing a legal career instead of engineering. Engineers, I thought, were logical enough to know that you don’t bang on glass with your hand in an attempt to free up a window that may be stuck. I elected not to share this point of view with her as I removed the window and cleaned up the glass. Maybe she’ll read it here once she returns to Columbus and decide to change her major. Maybe.
Run/Bleacher Duration: 40 minutes. Hike Duration: 65 minutes.
Training Heart Rate: 155 running and 80 hiking.
Calories burned during workout: 700 running and 350 hiking.
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