Creative workouts

It was my first serious week of training for endurance, and it was a very good week. I trained 5 out of 7 days, with one 90 minute workout and one 3 1/2 hour workout.

The 90 minute workout was with my trainer Darnell. He put me through my paces with treadmill, elliptical, weight, and balance work.

Then I worked out two evenings on my own. First, I spent 40 minutes on the treadmill with the Alpine Pass preset with a maximum incline of 12 and a maximum speed of 3.5, and then did some squats with weights. Then I took a night off, because my thighs muscles were very sore - but the next night I was much better and worked on the treadmill for one-hour using the Alpine Pass preset, with a maximum incline of 15 and a maximum speed of 4.

Next, on Saturday morning, I met Anda at the gym for a one-hour, 1-minute body sculpt class. It's a mix of weight work and cardio. It was a good class and helped me learn some new stretches.

And then Sunday, Anda, Paul, and I took a 3.5 hour hike through Turkey Run State Park on the rugged trails. We didn't track it closely, but I believe we hiked over 6 miles and were up and down out of dry sandstone river beds several times, and took one trail that included approximately 170 stairs and a climb up a waterfall over sandstone. It was slow going because fall leaves made parts of it pretty slippery, but it was a great workout that didn't feel so much like a workout. Although, I'm feeling it a little bit today. Both Darnell and Susan suggested that endurance training is not so much about being able to complete one intense physical challenge, but it's more about reducing recovery time so that I'll be able to complete the physical challenge again the following day and perhaps with a little more intensity. So, now I'm asking myself...Could I do this again today? I think so. Could I go further, last longer, go faster next time? Yes, probably. Am I physically ready to climb that mountain? Not by a long shot!

All in all it was a great week with around 8 hours of training jam-packed into a busy work schedule of 60 hours. The fund raising letter that will be sent to local businesses by the end of this week is close to completion, and I have a jam-packed plan for next week...Life is good and the training and fund raising continue...