As many of you know, I’m a frustrated Cleveland Indians fan. I’ve lived through some of the worst baseball in major league history for roughly 25 years with them and then, out of nowhere, came the teams of the mid-90’s that looked like winning teams should and did so for at least ten years. What made the difference? There’s an old expression used in management with origins in the kitchen which goes “the fish starts smelling at the head” and referring to the fact that actions from the top cause what’s happening in the trenches. I think Dick Jacobs and his philosophy of ownership and key personnel decision making had every effect on the product the Indians put on the field over those years. We had names like Albert Belle, Jim Thome, Carlos Baerga, Kenny Lofton, Manny Ramirez, Omar Vizquel, Robby and Sandy Alomar, Charles Nagy, Jose Mesa, and Eddie Murray to name a few. I don’t know the particulars about how each of these ended up in an Indians uniform, but they did...and at the same time, thankfully. Now, you look at the current crop of ‘talent’ and think about how it arrived. So many are the result of three trades that involved our losing two Cy Young award winning pitchers and one of the game’s best hitters. As the season’s tailspin continues, someone at the top...the very top...needs to do something significant. I don’t think the owner will fire his son, who supposedly runs the team, so maybe he just needs to fire himself and, like the Browns, let someone else give it a try.
I met with a friend last night who, two years ago, asked me to design a program that would allow her to run her first 5K. She had spent most of her adult life completely out of shape and had packed on the pounds that come with a life of eating poorly and no physical activity. She’d gotten religion though, and had changed her diet significantly and lost a lot of weight. I wrote her a walk/jog program that had her running and completing that 5K in 30 minutes some months later. After the run though, she had no other goals set and let some of the weight return. She was eating a sandwich from Subway that was loaded with all the wrong calories and something she wouldn’t have eaten two years ago.
“I need to get started again, but I don’t have enough time to train for the 5K I did two years ago. It’s in October,” she said as a way of justifying doing nothing at this time.
“That’s easy. I’ll write you a program for a race on Thanksgiving Day. There are plenty of races around here on that day so I’m sure you have them in Virginia,” I offered.
She knew that was doable and agreed. Like so many people...me included...she needed a specific goal on a particular date to stay focused. Though I’m able to maintain my workout year round, I always do better when I know I’ve got something I need to be ready for, like the Adirondacks or my birthday triathlon. She’ll be on track again soon and I hope she’s figured out that when the Thanksgiving Day run is done, she’ll need another goal right behind it.
John called forewarning me that he’s unsure about the Adirondacks. He’s still sore as hell with both his ribs and shoulder causing serious pain. It’s still ten days off and he may feel immensely better by then, but I suspect his biggest problem will be sleeping on the ground. He struggled with neck and back issues in the back country before the bike accident and I doubt the crash will have improved anything. I’d hate to lose him as a hiking/climbing partner, but I know how miserable it can be to go without sleep over several nights. The backcountry has its rewards, but they come with a price. I hope he’ll make it.
Survival Workout: 60 minutes.
Training Heart Rate: 100-150.
Calories burned: 600.
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