9.20.2005
fitness and the life
The most amazing thing has happened: my back has healed. Granted, it's not perfect, and the shoulder and thoracic spine still need some serious adjustment. But, for the first time in over a decade, I am cleared to swim. Already I'm feeling more like my self, having only been in the pool for laps once. So after pausing and being filled with gratitude for the folks at Crossings who have worked on me for over a year to make this happen, I'm moving on to articulating my long-term fitness goals. My body is chomping at the bit for exercise, and I'm reminded that underneath all the jammed up joints and twisted around muscles, I still have a pretty solid foundation for the endurance events that I like the best.
Being laid up at home with the Toddler Flu (tm) for the past three days may not seem like the best time to set workout goals, but I haven't had anything better to do than sniffle and think about what I'd rather be doing. Along those lines, I keep coming back to the following:
cycling: Ever since my Bike Hounds team leader did the Montreal to Boston AIDS ride [that's her in the third photo down], I've been wanting to be in solid enough shape to do it myself. It's a 5 day ride over difficult terrain, with minimal (although solid) road support. I'd need a road bike, not to mention needing to learn to ride with clips. But completing this ride would make my day.
running: I have no true desire to learn to run per se, but I am itching to complete a triathlon. Given that my knees are never going to be marathon-class joints no matter how long and hard I train, I'm thinking a nice little 'sprint' triathlon, where I only have to run 5k or so, is what I'm shooting for. It's nice to look at the distance listings for those and be able to say now, even in the shape I'm in, that I could do the swimming and biking part, cake. Of course, I realize that doing the swimming and biking parts back to back, as fast I can, and then running at all, let alone 5k, is, well, a bit harder. But still, there's something about 15 miles being less than the distance between pit stops on a distance ride that makes the whole thing more doable. Plus, there's a triathlon club in the area, so whenever I'm fit enough to not embarass myself completely, I'll give them a call. And again, I only have to think back on my first group training ride two years ago to remember that it only gets easier after that. At the very least I now know to bring water everywhere I go!
swimming: My main goal with swimming is to get strong enough to surf again. Being in the pool feels like home, so it's easy for me to build in regular laps as part of a training program. Truly, though, I don't see myself on a master's team or anything like that. It's fun, and it's a means to an end. Since I have to travel to surf no matter what, I'm thinking the Costa Rica camp is the way to go. I'm thinking I could twist an arm and get my college buddy, the multi-sport outdoor diva, on board for this trip as well.
So there you have it. Step 1 is starting the workouts, and the JCC around the corner from us is where it's happening. In addition to being the most convenient, the JCC is my kind of gym: small, sparsely populated, big on basics, with as few hardbodies as it's possible for a gym to have. Over the next few years I hope to be able to say I did all of this. In the meantime, biking and swimming updates will keep coming.
Being laid up at home with the Toddler Flu (tm) for the past three days may not seem like the best time to set workout goals, but I haven't had anything better to do than sniffle and think about what I'd rather be doing. Along those lines, I keep coming back to the following:
cycling: Ever since my Bike Hounds team leader did the Montreal to Boston AIDS ride [that's her in the third photo down], I've been wanting to be in solid enough shape to do it myself. It's a 5 day ride over difficult terrain, with minimal (although solid) road support. I'd need a road bike, not to mention needing to learn to ride with clips. But completing this ride would make my day.
running: I have no true desire to learn to run per se, but I am itching to complete a triathlon. Given that my knees are never going to be marathon-class joints no matter how long and hard I train, I'm thinking a nice little 'sprint' triathlon, where I only have to run 5k or so, is what I'm shooting for. It's nice to look at the distance listings for those and be able to say now, even in the shape I'm in, that I could do the swimming and biking part, cake. Of course, I realize that doing the swimming and biking parts back to back, as fast I can, and then running at all, let alone 5k, is, well, a bit harder. But still, there's something about 15 miles being less than the distance between pit stops on a distance ride that makes the whole thing more doable. Plus, there's a triathlon club in the area, so whenever I'm fit enough to not embarass myself completely, I'll give them a call. And again, I only have to think back on my first group training ride two years ago to remember that it only gets easier after that. At the very least I now know to bring water everywhere I go!
swimming: My main goal with swimming is to get strong enough to surf again. Being in the pool feels like home, so it's easy for me to build in regular laps as part of a training program. Truly, though, I don't see myself on a master's team or anything like that. It's fun, and it's a means to an end. Since I have to travel to surf no matter what, I'm thinking the Costa Rica camp is the way to go. I'm thinking I could twist an arm and get my college buddy, the multi-sport outdoor diva, on board for this trip as well.
So there you have it. Step 1 is starting the workouts, and the JCC around the corner from us is where it's happening. In addition to being the most convenient, the JCC is my kind of gym: small, sparsely populated, big on basics, with as few hardbodies as it's possible for a gym to have. Over the next few years I hope to be able to say I did all of this. In the meantime, biking and swimming updates will keep coming.
