Back to the Survival Workout

Friday, September 12, 2013

I headed to the Metropark early Thursday morning with Dakota in tow for my first Survival Workout in almost two months.  I’d shelved this ritual when I’d gone into serious ‘Tour Ohio’ training mode with every intention of returning to the workout when I returned.  Well…time to stop putting it off.

I began in the usual fashion with inverted push-ups.  My goal was to do three sets of my normal exercises (normally I’ll do four) and to go at it with a little less intensity hitting maybe 90% of my maximum.  I was beginning to struggle as I approached 60 and though I could have squeezed out another 10, decided to hold it there.  I continued with this pattern throughout the workout and by the time I returned to my final lift station and grabbed my fifty-pound rock for my overheads, found that hoisting it once was all I could muster.  My arms were shaking and I was exhausted.  I knew the pain I’d be feeling the next day, so I dropped it and called it a day.

I’d only done 14 sets, well below the 22-24 I like to do but a reasonable number for a sensible exercise-aholic.  I returned home sweaty but pleased that I’d begun my foundation work again.

Alaska Paul and I had made plans for a Friday morning kayak, so after cutting the grass, I dragged both kayaks from the shed out back to the front yard.  I’d told him to come early so we could see the morning mist rising off the water and catch wildlife before it disappeared from view for the day.  I didn’t like the forecast – temperatures in the fifties and heavy rain (could it have really been 102 degrees on Tuesday?), but Northeast Ohio weather is too unpredictable to plan anything on a 24-hour window.  I’d wait until morning and see what was happening.

I want to move into my standard routine quickly, but as always, I struggle without goals.  I need something to do…someplace to go…to motivate me in a particular direction.  Heidi wants to take a trip to the Adirondacks mid-October (we may be hiking in snow) so I suppose my next objective should be to get the hips healthy and begin hiking with a light pack over longer distances and slowly adding weight.  Since that is only four weeks away, I suppose that means right now. 

Survival Workout:  50 minutes.

Training Heart Rate:  100-150 bpm.

Calories burned:  500.