Return of the snow shoveling workout...

Wednesday, December 26, 2012
The morning’s paper announced the impending arrival of the year’s first serious snow storm…and this time I felt they knew what they were talking about.  I drove to Kim’s and picked her up to join me in a Survival Workout.  She’s always game for a tough one and I was feeling the need after too many days of too many calories and not enough exercise. 

I was hoping to break 100 reverse push-ups for the first time with Kim as my witness, but fizzled at 85.  I’m on one of those lifting plateau’s and expect to push past it in the next two weeks, but today just wasn’t the day.  There was still two inches of snow on the ground and the trails were icy causing me to avoid certain lower body exercises that might have me twisting a knee already sore.  I decided to make up for it with an extra effort on all upper body exercises. 

I set a huge pr for a second set of push ups when I did 80.  My four set pr was in sight and that gave me further reason to push.  We had to wrestle with rocks frozen to the ground and slippery slopes, but Kim did everything, including a non-stop trip up the karaoke hill…something I normally break into two, shorter bouts with a 30-second break in between.  She was heaving at the top, though.

I took her to see the deer carcass, which fascinated her.  I was surprised to see how much of it remains, thinking that the animals and insects of the park would have consumed every fiber by now.  I suppose some of the creatures that might feast on it won’t be returning until the spring, which may explain it.
We completed the workout in about 70 minutes…it always seems to take us a little longer since I tend to gab a lot when she’s with me.  I'd knocked off 60 more push-ups on each of my final two sets for a new 4-set pr of 285, which told me that I'd pushed hard throughout and that maybe I'd be moving from that plateau soon.

I arrived back home and went straight to the trainer where I logged an hour before showering.  The snow was falling in earnest by the time I finished, so I went out to push my first three inches.  Before the day was through, I would have moved about 11 inches in my drive and helped my neighbor pushing his.  I’d gotten cheated on last winter’s snowfall and wanted to maximise the exercise effect on this blizzard.  From how sore my back was when I completed my final push around midnight, I think I accomplished that task.

Survival Workout: 60 minutes. Bike duration: 60 minutes.  Shoveling: 90 minutes.
Training Heart Rate: 100-150 for SW and 120 bpm biking and 100-120 shoveling.
Calories burned during workout: 600 for SW and 850 biking and 900 shoveling.