Snow assist for a really tough workout...

Sunday, December 30, 2012
Another three inches had fallen during the night, so I spent 30 minutes shoveling to start the day.  It served as a nice warm-up for the Survival Workout that followed.

I had to park at the sledding hill since my regular spot was covered in a foot of snow which the Honda could never handle.  There was 12-16 inches on the ground and the trails, though packed in some places from walkers and runners, was mostly covered and made passing difficult.  These are all good things when the objective is a good workout.  I plunged quickly into the off-trail snow and did a sprint…of sorts…in my boots.  Lifting legs encumbered with boots while plowing through deep snow turns the speed of the sprint to a snail’s pace, but the effort required is greater than a standard dash.  My chest was heaving as I completed 30 seconds of hard running and located my first push-up station.  I was doing my normal course in reverse, having parked at the end, and enjoyed the change of pace.  I found my rocks and logs covered in snow of course, and was delighted when it would fall from its perch and into my clothes as I lifted them overhead.  I had precarious grips on surfaces covered in snow and ice and dropped one rock shortly after hoisting it overhead, but was able to push it away as it fell.  I continued to look for opportunities to work through the deep snow and the workout eventually included 8 sprints that had me completely spent by the time I returned to the car.  It was a different workout, and maybe better.

Once home, I received a call from John.  He was at a local furniture store purchasing a reclining chair he could sleep in while recovering from the shoulder surgery he’d had on Friday.  They’d made the purchase and then discovered it wouldn’t fit in the Prius.  I wouldn’t have expected John to have noticed the car they were driving would barely hold a toaster oven, but I would have thought his wife, Teri, could have seen it.  I met them at the store with the van, devoid of seats, and loaded it in with a promise to drop it off later that evening after returning Heidi and all her belongings to Akron.

I arrived in Twinsburg with the recliner and used Teri’s son, Alex, to move the chair from the van to their bedroom upstairs.  John, arm in sling, watched and tried to direct.

“I think you need to grab it and turn it when you’re going in the door,’ he offered.

“REALLY?  Duh…okay…duh,” I said in my best ‘I’m really too dumb to figure this out on my own’ voice.

He didn’t get it and tried some more advice as we approached the stairs.

“Seriously…John…shut up.  I know how to carry a chair up a flight of stairs.  I’m not YOU, after all,” I said.

He shut up…for about 30 seconds.

I’m hoping the chair helps him sleep.  He’s goofy enough when well rested.  Sleep deprivation is doing nothing for his thought process.  I’m also hoping the surgery did the trick.  I need my training partner back in the saddle this spring to get ready for some serious summer hiking and climbing trips.

Survival Workout: 60 minutes.
Training Heart Rate: 100-150.
Calories burned:  600.