For anyone who has been reading this blog...sorry for the repetitive information.
I’ve been writing an exercise blog for three years now, though I’ve let it slip as a result of Tour Ohio and taking on the job as CEO to the Trumbull County YMCA. It’s time to stop with the excuses and get back to working out…and writing about it…every day.
Okay
– YMCA folks – I suppose you need a little history. I earned my Master’s degree in Exercise
Physiology in the early 80’s. I worked
for the Cleveland Athletic Club as their Athletic Director for a number of
years conducting fitness tests, writing training programs and generally helping
folks to get…and stay…in shape. I
believed it was really important to make sure exercise was fun, though
goal-oriented and that if you couldn’t laugh some, you wouldn’t be doing it for
long. I remain dedicated to those
principles.
Personally,
I know I’ll struggle to stay with a routine without some kind of goal or
event. I began by training and
completing the Ironman Triathlon (2.4 mile swim, 112 mile bike ride, 26.2 mile
run) twice. I figured I needed to walk
the talk and wanted to inspire people I was training. It worked.
For
many years, I was the guy running, riding and swimming long distances, and
playing any and every game in between.
As I grew older though, I found that I was getting bored. Then I discovered backpacking, kayaking,
climbing and camping. I refocused my
training to have me ready for long trips into the back country of the
Adirondack Mountains in upstate New York.
A different goal, but it kept me focused.
Now
we’re almost to the present. I needed a
new challenge and wanted to create something – a trek – that others could train
for and follow. I wanted it to be
outside, long, interesting and use multiple disciplines. Enter – Tour Ohio.
Tour
Ohio was a combination of cycling, kayaking and hiking. I laid out the trail and began the trek this
past August. I started with a 1,100 mile
bike ride on a course that circumnavigated the state as close to its perimeter
as I could find passable riding roads. I
camped along the way and made the trip in 11 days. I moved to the kayak and paddled 45 miles of
the Grand River in two days. Then I took
a break to interview for this job, but was quickly back on the trail and hiking
from Cleveland on the Ohio & Erie Canal Towpath Trail with a destination 84
miles to the south near New Philadelphia.
I was carrying a pack with camping gear and hoping to complete the
journey in four days. By the second day
I was suffering from a hip injury that has been bothering me since I’d suffered
a stress fracture two years earlier, and was forced to the sidelines when I could
no longer walk. I’ll get back to it and
the next time out, train more appropriately so that there will be no stopping
on the journey.
So…here
I am at the Trumbull County YMCA as the CEO and trying to learn the ropes of
the position while spreading the news about the mission of the Y. In so doing, I began to neglect my fitness
regimen. Totally unacceptable. I have found that writing about it forces me
to do it. Hard to write a column that
says I bagged the workout because I was too busy. Anyway, here’s what I did for yesterday’s
workout (I’ll be writing about the day before as a matter of course).
I
do something called the Survival Workout, which is a functional regimen that
normally takes place in the North Chagrin Reservation, Cleveland Metroparks,
and includes push-ups, dips, lifting heavy rocks and logs, jumping over things,
pull-ups on tree branches, climbing steep hills, sprinting, core work and other
miscellaneous moves that leave me gasping after 45 minutes. I’ve adapted it for an indoor YMCA workout for
days when I can’t get to the park before dark on my ride home…which is
basically every day in the winter. I
moved around the facility hopping and lifting and then finished with 15 minutes
on a stationary bike and rowing another 6.
I was drenched in sweat and exhausted, but felt great.
I’ll
likely report on more than the workout.
I tend to think what’s happening in my life is inordinately interesting…like
going to see the new ‘Hunger Games’ movie with Savannah and Jack – two of my
children – last night. I’ll also share
what I’ve eaten, particularly when it’s something good for me. Finally, I’ll post the amount of calories
burned during the workout with a goal of burning 7,000 calories a week with my
exercise routine. Hope you’ll find the
stories interesting to read and inspirational with regards to your own
training. I’m available at the Y for
fitness testing and program design and look forward to helping any and all who
may be looking for assistance getting started, something fresh, or a way to
stay committed. Thanks.
Survival
Workout: 60 minutes. Bike duration: 15 minutes.
Rowing: 6 minutes.
Training Heart
Rate: 100-150 bpm for SW and 120 bpm on
the bike and rowing.Calories burned during workout: 600 for SW and 300 on the bike/row.
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