“You should try wearing this to see how high your heart rate goes during the workout,” I suggested while holding up the heart rate monitor to her. She strapped it on as I instructed and I handed her my wrist watch, the receiver.
“Wow…its 90 already. Is that my resting heart rate?” she asked.
“For your sake, I hope not. You’re already walking around and thinking about the workout. Your body knows that and starts to get ready by raising your heart rate and body temperature,” I explained.
We went over maximum heart rate, which for her was about 200 and what it would take to get it there. She jumped into her push-ups and dips quickly while keeping an eye on the monitor, announcing she’d he 140 for the first two sets.
It stayed in that range until we hit our first hill climb. She’d had something to eat before we’d left and decided to keep from puking, she should just walk up the hill. Just walking though, it hit 170. She asked me about my exercise and resting heart rate.
“I got to 127 on that hill the last time I wore it and my resting heart rate is in the 40’s. Of course, I’m older and my maximum heart rate is supposed to be 163 (220 minus my age), though I’ve had it over 180 during a recent workout,” I said.
She was impressed with my numbers, but puzzled why hers was so high even though she didn’t feel extreme discomfort.
“You’re closing in on your aerobic threshold. That’s the number you can sustain and still be exercising aerobically, which is technically for a very long time…like more than two hours. Get it about 10 beats higher and I think you’ll feel like you need to slow down to keep going. We’ll find out when we climb the hill behind the pavilion that’s so tough,” I said.
The hill behind the pavilion was the toughest part of our workout. You couldn’t run up it, it was too steep for that and it drove your heart rate exceedingly high in the two minutes it took to reach the top. I’d managed a high 170’s on it and as Savannah puffed up the final feet and looked at the watch, she gasped, “190.”
As we descended through the woods back to the trail, she got to test out the new and improved gripping power of her new hiking shoes. I explained how the 190 heart rate was clearly above her aerobic threshold since she’d never be able to maintain that kind of effort for over two minutes, meaning it was anaerobic or ‘without oxygen’. She was getting it and had a new appreciation for the monitor and how it could be a good training tool to keep her working harder than she might otherwise…the whole idea.
We were having an early family dinner…Savannah’s last before heading back to Ohio State for her senior year…and Holly had made flat dumplings and chicken. It’s everyone’s favorite meal and loaded with fat and calories. Knowing this, I made a large smoothie and drank it with the meal, thus keeping myself to one medium-sized helping.
Once Savannah was on the road, I boarded my bike for the ride to Dan’s to pick up the Jeep he’d been working on. I took the long way out…a thirty mile ride that was predominantly up hill. By the time I pulled in his driveway, I was exhausted. I’d started to experience those wonderful leg cramps at the one-hour mark, and with all I’d been doing over the past several days, was feeling the strain. I knew I had work to do back home, but when Dan offered me some watermelon, I quickly agreed and we spent the next half hour slurping and talking. I’d needed that break…and I was done for the day.
Survival Workout: 70 minutes. Bike Duration: One hour and 45 minutes.
Training Heart Rate: 100-150 for SW and 120 biking.
Calories burned during workout: 650 for SW and 1450 biking.
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