Tag: fitness (Page 1 of 2)

The Old Man and The Scale

August 11, 2022 / DB

L went back to school yesterday. M and C started classes today. Thus our academic summer has ended. Which makes this the perfect day for a post I’ve wanted to share for quite awhile. It will be extra navel-gazey, so feel free to skip if you prefer my writings about music, sports, books, etc. to those about being a middle-aged man.

When Covid began and our gym shut down, I was still able to use our modest home equipment to workout. But when I began having my vertigo spells about 20 months ago, I had to stop doing any regular exercise. With this came a depressingly quick increase in my weight. It took just a couple months to gain 15 pounds. That was doubly frustrating because I had largely cut out drinking at the same time.[1] I had hoped the calories saved by not drinking would balance out the lack of exercise, but clearly that was not the case.

I went back to the gym after getting vaccinated in April 2021 and slowly got back into a routine. When the girls returned to school a year ago I dedicated myself to a new strength training and cardio program and was as diligent as I’ve ever been about getting to the gym. In fact, the stretch from August through November 2021 was the most, and most consistently, I had ever worked out up to that point. I hoped by the time we went to Hawaii for Thanksgiving, I would be back to my pre-vertigo weight.

A weird thing happened: no matter how much I worked out, or how much I increased my cardio sessions, my weight stayed in the same 1–3 pound range. This bugged me because my entire life, anytime I gained a few extra lbs., I was always able to shed them quickly. Hell, after L was born I lost about 30 pounds in three months.

But I never had to do it in my late 40s or early 50s, which apparently makes a big difference. Who knew???[2]

I adjusted my diet slightly, continued to drink only occasionally, and stuck with the workouts. Still no real change.

In November I found a new strength workout for older dudes and threw myself into it. I also found a new elliptical workout that promised to burn calories, the elliptical machine being the cardio workout that protects my joints the most. I got stronger, improved my cardio fitness, but my weight refused to drop.

When we got back from spring break I was still in that three pound window I had been stuck in for over a year. I did my best to reduce snacks, take smaller portions at dinner, be careful with the late evening nibbles. I kept alcohol to a few nights a week, and then generally just one drink. I also found another, more intense, elliptical workout and subbed it in once per week.

These changes all finally had an effect.

By mid April I had lost five pounds. By May 1 I was down another three pounds. By L’s last day of school in May, I was officially down 10 pounds.

Although L wanted to start working out with me, I had some worries about keeping the weight off over the summer. Summer brings more pool parties, which means more drinks and treats. I’m not a big dessert guy anymore, but I do eat ice cream fairly often in the summer. Plus L really isn’t into cardio so I figured I would go from getting an elliptical session in 2–3 times per week down to just once.

I am pleased to report that my weight loss continued through the summer. In fact, just two weeks ago I got down to within two-tenths of a pound of my lowest weight since I started tracking it on my phone, back in June 2019. I had officially lost 15.3 pounds from my highest weight in November 2020.

Pretty good!

Shorts that were tight when we went on spring break fit perfectly now. A couple pairs that had more space in them have been put away since they hang far too loose for me to wear.[3]

My routine did get upset over the summer. The strength program I was on is designed to protect older men’s joints by mostly using free weights. Since L is not old enough to get into the free weight area at our gym, I did more machines with her, which has caused more aches and pains in my sensitive joints that I had over the past year.[4] I’m looking forward to jumping back into my Old Man program on Monday.

So that’s my bragging, self improvement post. I understand my schedule allows for a lot more opportunities to workout that many of yours do. But if you are looking to improve your fitness or lose a little weight, maybe this will serve as confirmation that it is still possible in middle age if you put in the time and find the right program.

Having a few drinks when you are already dizzy kind of sucks. ↩
Narrator: “Everyone knew this.” ↩
Major pet peeve: every pair of pants or shorts that is listed as having a specific waist size should fit the same. I swear there’s a five-inch range in the actual waist sizes on my various pairs of bottoms, all of which have the exact same listed measurement. ↩
She can’t wait to turn 14 and be old enough to finally do a “real bench press.” ↩

2:21

May 8, 2011 / DB

In case you missed my recent ramblings about my training schedule, I ran 13.1 miles Saturday. It went pretty darn well, all things considered.

First, the important thing. Not only did I finish but I did so in 2:21. So I was slow, but that was expected. I was pleased to break 2:30, although it was another sobering reminder of my age. When I ran a half-marathon 11 years ago with a sore hamstring in pouring rain in hilly Kansas City, I got in in 2:05. The good thing about my time Saturday is I feel like I could have gone a little faster. It’s always better to feel like you could have gone faster than go too fast and limp to the finish.

It was a perfect day for running. Mid-50s when the race began, with a little bit of sun but lots of clouds on the western horizon. The clouds moved in quickly and we were running in rather dreary conditions. At roughly the halfway point it began to drizzle, which turned into a light rain that continued until I finished. If you have to run in rain, this was the kind of rain to run in. No downpours, no gusts of winds. Just a steady rain that kept you cool.

Much like my experience in the Chicago Marathon in 2001, a lot of the Mini Marathon was about dealing with the congestion on the course. With 35,000+ people running, there was never a time when you could just run flat out in a straight line. The first 2-3 miles were especially tough, with lots of people who started before me walking in groups. I had to pass one group of seven people who were walking, stretched across the street. Come on, people!

Perhaps the coolest thing about the Mini is that you get to run a lap at the Indianapolis Motor Speedway. You start downtown, run almost six miles to Speedway, cross into the infield, then work your way out to the main track. I have to say, it’s pretty cool. And I was struck, again, by the vastness of the speedway and the narrowness of the racing surface. It’s hard to believe three Indy cars can race side-by-side at 220 MPH on a space that narrow. The other cool thing about the track is, once you exit, you’ve knocked out about 2.5 miles.
I was struggling a little when I got to the track. I had some tightness in the back of one knee and pain in the other knee. But but the time I got through the tunnel and onto the track, everything loosened up and I felt great. I didn’t wear a watch to do splits, but I would imagine I had a few 12 minute miles in the first five and was closer to 10 minute miles from 6-11.

My big worry, of course, was how my training would carry me through race day. Would my muscles and joints rebel at being pushed well past the eight miles I completed on my longest training run? Would I run out of energy? None of that happened. In fact, I felt great in the second half of the race. Lots of energy, legs felt good, and really cruised along. I wanted to run faster but didn’t push it because of the rain, which made the roads slippery, and some slight barks from my hamstrings that I shouldn’t go much faster if I wanted them to cooperate for the rest of the race.

I kicked it in for the last quarter mile, got my medal and bag of food and had my picture taken, then suddenly the sun burst out. It turned into a gorgeous day. S. and two of her sisters came in about half an hour behind me. No injuries in our group. Just some sore muscles and maybe a blister or two. We spent most of the rest of the day on the couch and went to bed early. Sunday I felt better than I felt after my previous two long running events. I remember not being able to walk down stairs after running a full marathon because my quads were so sore. This time, it just felt like I had run hard the day before.

So another entry for the back of my lifetime baseball card. That’s two half marathons, one marathon, two triathlons. What’s next? I thought about running a very nice fall half marathon here in Indy, and in fact this year there are two different ones to choose from. But when I looked at how a training program would line up, I’d pretty much be starting up again right after we get back from our family vacation next month. Suddenly doing a second long race this year didn’t seem nearly as tempting.

Rather than train for a specific event, I think I’m going to begin a 5K training program in early June. I won’t aim for a particular race, but will go through a 12-week program and hope to see some improvements in my speed over shorter distances. I’m not sure what a realistic goal is since I haven’t run a 5K in a few years. Really it’s more about committing to a program so I’m always thinking about what my next run is, instead of just telling myself “OK, I need to run three times this week.” If I’ve learned anything from the past six months, it’s that I need to stick to some kind of cardio program and can’t just rely on going to the gym to burn calories.

❖

Starting Line

February 15, 2011 / DB

This is it. I officially begin my training for May’s Indianapolis Mini Marathon today. Technically I began yesterday, with a strength and stretch day.¹ And I’ve been on the treadmill consistently for three months now, although never pushing the distance since running on treadmills sucks.

But today is my first official run. A modest three-miler, but the first three miles of many that will make up my training for the 13.1 miles I plan to run on May 7.

I’m very excited to be starting. I’ve taken a couple other half-assed cracks at training programs since I ran a marathon in 2001, but always began them half-heartedly and quickly gave up. This time, I’m excited about the process and looking forward to, once again, becoming a true runner.

I also begin my training with the sober understanding that I’m getting older. I knew I had put on a few pounds over the past couple years, but when I visited my doctor for a physical over the holidays, I was a little shocked by what the scales said. I had felt my jeans tighten up and saw more flab than I was used to when I took a shower. But still, to hear that I weighed more than I had ever weighed, by a good 10 lbs., hit home pretty hard. At my doctor they weigh you on the way back to the exam room, and only ask you to remove your shoes. When he read off the weight the nurse had put into my chart, I almost demanded that we go back and do it again with all my clothes off. ²

We had already signed up for the Mini before my visit, and I viewed it as a standard get back into shape project. It remains that, but now has the added element of helping me drop some pounds.

I know to some of you that sounds easy. “You’re going to be running 3-4 times a week, working out on a couple of those other days. Surely the pounds will melt off, right?”

I wish it was that easy. Ten years ago, during my six-month training for the Chicago Marathon, I managed to hold the exact same weight from beginning to end. I ate a lot to begin with, and whatever extra calories I was burning were apparently off-set by the additional food I was shoveling in after long runs, the endless energy bars and gels that kept me going, and lots of Gatorade. Now, a decade later, when my metabolism has obviously slowed down, it will take extra discipline to get closer to the weight I’d like to be at.

But that’s all secondary. The important thing is I want to be in great running shape on May 7 and enjoy the run. Oh, and I get to buy some new gear along with way, which is always a fun side-benefit to training.³

❖

If you’ve never run before and are thinking about it, I can’t recommend Hal Higdon’s site enough. He offers many levels of training for all distances that will help you train smartly, stay healthy, and be ready for race day. ↩
Well, most of them. My physician is a Med-Peds doc, and sees more kids than adults, based on the décor of his exam rooms. No need to scare the kids. ↩
New shoes are a must. Some new running shirts and shorts. I already got a new iPod Nano because my old iPod Shuffle couldn’t track time and held either podcasts or music but not both. Essentials. ↩

Run, Forest, Run

June 24, 2010 / DB

I forgot to mention that I ran my first 5K in over three years last Saturday. I had been “training”, and by training I mean running approximately once every 5-10 days, and was finally finding some fun in running again. It helped that L., unlike both of her sisters, loves to go for runs in the jogging stroller. In fact, if I time it right, she’ll often fall asleep along the way.

Anyway, I’m proud to to report that I finished fourth in my age group, and 26th overall!

Of course I must also admit that only 100 or so people ran the race, and I was over eight minutes slower than the guy who won our age group.

Oh well. Baby steps.

I bought some new shoes today, so if the temperature ever drops below 85 again, I might try to run twice every 5-10 days.

❖

Famous Sports Achievements

May 11, 2010 / DB

One of my (many) sisters-in-law completed her first half-marathon last weekend, running the Indianapolis Mini Marathon in atrocious conditions. Her accomplishment got me reminiscing about my own running milestones over the years. Completing the Chicago Marathon in 2001, a half-marathon in 2000, and my first triathlon in 1999. But my favorite was much further back than that.

In the spring of my first-grade year, my parents separated for the first time. This happened a couple more times and by the time they divorced two years later, I was an old pro at handling parental break ups. But I’ll admit I was a bit messed up in the spring of 1978, mostly because my mom and I abruptly moved and I had to start in a new school in April.

It was a struggle to fit in, especially when I didn’t really understand what was going on with my parents. All the kids knew each other and had forged friendships over the course of the year. I was the new kid at an age when no one is really sure what to do with the new kid.

Fortunately it was spring, though, and that meant gym class was outside and involved running around, playing kickball, etc. The other kids in my class spoke reverently of a kid in my class named Kyle and his super-human speed. They talked about how he ran away from everyone last fall during football games, how he beat everyone in races, and so on. I figured they know the deal, so I too learned to be in awe of Kyle.¹

When early May rolled around, our gym teacher lined us up and explained that the school’s field day was coming up, and we would spend the next few weeks practicing for the big day and picking class representatives for the races. ² I wasn’t really sure what he was talking about, but it sounded fun. I liked competitions, and the lucky winners in our class races would get to compete against the winners from the other first grade classes on the high school football field in front of the entire elementary school.

So we lined up for our first 50 yard dash practice. I remember the day clearly. It was morning, so the grass was still heavy with dew, the sun shining brightly in our eyes as it crested the trees across the field. Kyle was located just a couple lanes to my left. I figured if I kept him in my sights, I’d have a solid shot of making the first grade finals. The teacher put us on our marks, raised his arm, and shouted “Go!” I took off, pumping my arms, raising my knees high, all the stuff that OJ Simpson did when he ran the ball. I focused on the finish line but also monitored my left peripheral vision, waiting for Kyle to appear. I could feel my blood pumping in my ear drums, my throat burned, and I gasped for breaths. I crossed the finish line and pulled to a stop, looking anxiously to the teacher to see where I finished. Turns out, I won.

“This must be a mistake,” I thought.

I found Kyle and asked if he slipped in the wet grass at the start.

“No,” he replied, he ran fine. I just beat him.

I could sense a murmur amongst our classmates. The new kid had just beat Kyle in a race. Was it a fluke? Had the world as they knew it just been shattered into a million pieces?

Over the next couple weeks we continued our practice for Field Day. Kyle won a few races. Most days, though, I beat him. It was obvious we would be the two runners representing Mrs. Alexander’s class.

When the big day rolled around, we filed into the football stadium and sat in the concrete stands, nervously watching the other races as we waited our turn to take the field. When they called for the first grade 50 yard dashers, Kyle and I made our way to the field, our classmates wishing us luck along the way.

We lined up on the field, and as I looked down to the finish line, 50 yards sure seemed a lot longer than it had been in gym class. We took our marks, a teacher raised a real starter pistol, and shot a round to send us on our way.

This was a fairly small school, I think there were four first grade classes, but I had no scouting report on the other classes. I didn’t know if Kyle had been the class of the entire school before my arrival, or if perhaps another class featured a budding Olympian. Fortunately, when you’re not-yet seven, you don’t think of these things. I just knew Kyle was fast, I had beat him a few times, and one of us would win this race. Still, there were a lot of strangers on the field with me.

I ran hard. I pumped my fists and raised my knees high. I felt my blood in my ear drums, felt the burn in my throat, and gasped for breaths. I crossed the finish line and looked around. Had I won? Or did I finish last? I had no idea until the teacher holding the blue ribbon ran over and grabbed me so they could line people up for awards. I finished first, Kyle right behind me. Mrs. Alexander had a future track team in her class!

I’m pretty sure that was the first time I ever won anything official. I remember how sweet the rest of that day was, walking around at the post-race picnic with my blue ribbon pinned to my shirt.³ My speed held until high school, when there were far better sprinters around. I could usually win the mile warm-up runs in gym class, but I dumbly thought that cross country and distance racing in track were for freaks, and never tried out for either one.

Now accomplishment is more about getting off the couch and doing something than being the first one across the finish line. The prize is the t-shirt or finisher’s medal that everyone receives. While those are nice, that blue ribbon in May of 1978 will never be topped.

I will say this, Kyle was a nice kid. He didn’t let all this adulation go to his young head. He and I became fast friends over the next few years before my family moved to Kansas City. ↩
Remember, this was the 70s. There was no “everybody wins” mentality yet. It was a cold, brutal, efficient contest to determine a winner. ↩
I’m pretty sure I ran around a little too much after lunch and deposited most of my meal in the grass somewhere. ↩

Gym Wrap Up

July 22, 2009 / DB

If I’m not mistaken, I never shared how our final sessions with our trainer went. I believe the last time I offered an update was in May. So we have some ground to cover.

Our final three or four sessions were focused on strength and then power. The strength weeks were pretty straight forward: heavy weights for low reps, generally 4-5 sets of only five reps. I have to admit the testosterone kicked in during these weeks as I started throwing some heavy weights around (or more correctly struggling to gently move them from a resting position) and I was feeling pretty good about myself. Until the next morning when all the stiffness set in. There were some especially brutal dead-lifts that nearly wrecked both my back and S.’s.

The power week was a mess. S. wasn’t able to make our session, so I was on my own. I had no idea what a power workout was going in. Turns out it’s a lot of jumping and leaping and squatting and whatnot. Then you throw medicine balls around for awhile. It nearly made me puke. We began with several series of jumps: first jumping onto progressively higher benches; then doing a lunge, jumping into the air, and landing in a lunge position with the opposite leg forward; squat-thrusts that ended with a vertical jump; and finally what I’ll call jump rope jumping in which you take a small hop, jump as high as you can while bringing your knees to your chest, and repeating. By the time we got to the first set of that final exercise, I was already sweating like crazy, struggling to catch my breath, and seeing spots. After that set my legs were like rubber and I started looking for a trashcan. I avoided purging, but did have to walk out the lactic acid on the treadmill. I chose to skip repeating any of those workouts the rest of that week.

So we wrapped up our work with the trainer the week before we went to Mexico. After a week or so off, I’ve started the workouts from the beginning, adding weight or more difficult apparatuses as needed. It’s pretty amazing to be doing squats on a Bosu with relative ease now compared to back in February when I could barely stay upright on one. I don’t think I’ve made dramatic, visible changes to my body, but I am definitely in better shape than I was when we started. Of course, I feel like I’m back to a fairly base level of fitness now and what I do from here on out will be the real benefit. I knew I was out of shape but it’s humbling to see how all the work I’ve done over six months just got me back to a point where I think I should have been to begin with.

I think I’ve said this in each of my summaries, but I really enjoyed our trainer’s approach. Regardless of phase or what kinds of workout tools we were using, we stuck to these basics: two lower body exercises, a chest exercise, a back exercise, a shoulder exercise, then a series of total body exercises and ending with ab work and yoga for stretching. We never did biceps curls or triceps extensions or any other exercises that focused on a single, secondary muscle group. At first I was a little confused by this, but as my fitness improved I could feel the total body portion of our workouts hitting all those groups in ways that were a lot more interesting than standing around and curling dumbbells.

By far my favorite total body exercise is what our trainer called grannies: you hold a medicine ball in front of you with your arms extended, squat down letting the weight drop between your legs, then explode up lifting the weight up over your head. He recommended thinking of trying to throw the weight as high, straight above your head as you could. Without actually throwing it, of course. When we started these in week three, they just about knocked me out. Not unlike the power workout, I would be sweating, struggling to breath, and trying not to pass out when we got to set three. By May, though, when I had firmed up my core strength and my knees weren’t creaking quite as much, I started to really dig them. I was still gassed at the end of set three, but now it was like how I feel after a good, hard run. We did a few variations on these, sometimes going from left foot to right shoulder and vice versa for example. If you want to do a basic exercise that hits everything, I highly recommend these.

So yeah, I’m in better shape than I was back in February. There’s still room for improvement. I didn’t do a lot of cardio work in conjunction with our weight work, so my goal for this second time through is to run at least a couple times a week. I do notice strength that I didn’t used to have, especially in my core muscle groups, and some of the little aches and pains I used to have in my knees and back are not nearly as noticeable as they used to be. I think that’s a sign that this routine was a success.

Rounding Into Shape

March 19, 2009 / DB

We’re six weeks into our workout sessions with our trainer. Seems like a good time for an update, no?

Up until this week, we were meeting with our trainer once each week. He’d come with a plan put together for the week, guide us through the workout, selecting settings on machines that were appropriate for our sizes and weights that fit our abilities. At the end of the workout, we got a sheet with all the exercises and related info on it to use until our next session. Pretty simple, right?

We’ve officially been in the “Acclimation and Stability” part of our 12 week program. It is designed to ease us into a program without injuries, and to focus on developing core strength along the way. Thus, we’ve been using lots of accessories – such as stability, medicine, and Bosu* balls – and odd positions – like standing on one leg while doing shoulder presses – to ensure the core muscles are always being used.

I’ve enjoyed this approach. The exercises are difficult, even with light weights, so it’s easy to see both improvement and ways to mix up workouts down the road. Working the core has generally been an afterthought when I have been a regular visitor to the gym. Like most guys, I’ve been far more worried about doing bench presses or curls or triceps exercises than spending 20 minutes hitting the abs and other core muscles in different ways. But since we started our current program, I almost always feel that pleasant soreness / tightness in my abs, back muscles, etc. that is a sign that something in there is getting stronger.

In fact, as I told our trainer Wednesday, I knew we were making progress on Monday after I had been sick all night. I’ve always been sore after having the flu, food poisoning, etc. But I’ve never been as sore as I was this week. I told him that had to be because there was muscle in there that didn’t exist six weeks ago.

A back-handed compliment, but a compliment nonetheless.

The only downside to our routine has been that a lot of the exercises look silly. Or rather, we look silly when performing them. It’s one thing to do them with a trainer around. It’s another to be doing them alone and not be self-consious about how you look. I don’t have the best balance in the world, and when I’m standing on one leg, doing shoulder presses, and teetering around, or desperately attempting to keep a Bosu ball from tipping over while I do squats on it, I imagine it looks a little strange.

But we’re making progress. I hope. We moved into phase two Wednesday, which is more a financial move than anything else. We now only meet with our trainer every other week for the next two months. He added a few more traditional exercises today, although with a twist or two, but we still spent most of the hour focusing on the core until our arms and legs and stomachs were shaking.

I feel good. I’ve not been as diligent about the cardio side of the plan, but I hope to pick that up some as it gets warmer and I can start running outside. I have adjusted my eating habits a bit, too. Taking all of that into account, I have dropped a pound or two, although weight loss wasn’t my main goal. So far, it’s been worth the money and effort. We just have to stick with the plan to make sure that remains the case.

Let The Training Begin

February 12, 2009 / DB

I better write this now, because tomorrow I expect to be in great pain.

S. and I bit the bullet and signed up for a personal trainer at our gym. We thought what better way to ensure we’re consistent in getting to the gym, are meeting our goals, and throw some more money to them each month?

Our first session was today. The pain is already kicking in.

I should have expected it to be different. I think my image of a trainer was someone who put a plan together for you that wasn’t terribly different than what you could get from doing a little research on your own, then pushing you to stick to the plan while making sure you were using proper form, etc.

Our experience was different, though. We barely touched any weights. We spent lots of time using fitness tools we’d never used before. He had us doing exercises that seemed way too easy at first glance but then had us grunting and sweating and shaking by the third set.

We did squats, but without weights. First, against a stability ball that rolled up and down the wall with our motion. Then on our own without either the support or any weights. This was to check our core strength apparently. This was a real treat for my poor sense of balance. I only tipped over twice.

Then we did some push ups. Makes sense. Good, solid, traditional exercise. But after the first set, he threw us a curve. He got one of those things that looks like a stability ball cut in half, with a flat base one one side. He placed it curvy side down and had us assume push up positions. We then had to support our weight for 30 seconds. I kept that thing steady for about 10 seconds but after that was all over the place. I felt muscles firing I’m pretty sure I had never touched, even back when I was in the best shape of my life. The second set of these was brutal. Back screaming, hamstrings quivering, arms struggling to keep the half-ball from rocking too much.

We did three more exercises at Flex Motion (I think that’s what they’re called) machines. They’re weight machines, but with cables and long arms that allow you to pull them from dozens of different angles. Again the goal was to put our bodies into unexpected positions while working with light weights to develop the core muscles. Judging from the way I’m already tightening up, I think it did the trick. And this was after working out for a month. The workout floor is on the second floor of the building, and it was tough to walk down the stairs to get back to the locker room. At least I didn’t drop a kid on the way to the van.

Now we get to repeat the workout on our own twice before we meet with him again next week. Hopefully I’ll be able to move again by Sunday and can keep to our schedule.

Bring The Pain

January 5, 2009 / DB

The B’s have joined a gym.

Since we’re allegedly done procreating, both S. and I thought it would be a good time to drop some of the weight we’ve added during her three pregnancies* and try to find some of the muscle we both had when we started dating eight years ago. So, we joined a gym.

(For the record, I gained ten pounds during this pregnancy. A lot of that actually came after L.’s birth, so I guess I can’t blame the pregnancy itself. It’s a bitch having a new kid that keeps you from doing anything active, followed by people constantly bringing you food, and then getting nailed by the Halloween, Thanksgiving, Christmas, New Year’s gourgefests. Yes, ladies, I know that’s small potatoes compared to what you go through during pregnancy. I’m just pointing out where my lbs. came from.)

We have another reason for joining, though. We’re tentatively planning on joining some friends for a Mexican vacation in June. Neither of us was interested in getting on a beach in our current physical states. So while general health and fitness are of course important, so is not embarassing yourself in the company of others.

We joined one of those big, super gyms that have everything: a million cardio machines so you “never have to wait,” or so they membership guy we worked with told us; basketball courts; raquetball; indoor and outdoor pools; areas for specific workout programs; and so on. The big bonus is that they have free child care. We thought we had to join a gym that offered this, otherwise we’d always use the kids as an excuse not to go.

This posed a dilemma, though, as we’ve only let a total stranger watch our kids once. And that was only M. when she was one and we were visiting friends in Michigan. We made sure M. was asleep before we left for dinner, so she never actually saw the sitter. But we are serious about things, so this morning we loaded up the family truckster and headed to the gym. We weren’t terribly nervous about M. and C.. They can hold their own after being in preschool. Plus, we figured they’d probably just play together. We were worried about L., though. They separate the infants and adjust the ratio of caregivers when infants are present, but still, she’s just a baby.

Sure enough, when we walked in, M. and C. took off and started playing. We got L. settled, everyone there seemed to act like they knew what they were doing, and we left to start our work outs. As soon as we hit the floor, S. ran into a friend from medical school. Turns out he and his wife had their six month old in the child care center, too. We decided things would be ok if they were cool with the set-up.

We worked out for about an hour, never got a call over the PA to come rescue our kids (or the caregivers) and went to pick them up. M. and C. were running around having a great time. One of the guys working the room was holding L., and she had a big smile on her face. I guess everything worked out ok.

As I walked in to get the girls, the young lady working the entry door told me L. was a sweetheart and added, “She smells so good!” I think that’s a good thing, although I wonder why she was smelling her so much.

The big sisters can not wait to get into the indoor pool later this week. We bought L. her first bathing suit so she can join in the fun as well.

So trip one to the gym with the kids worked out ok. Despite using very light weights* I fully expect to feel awful tomorrow. But, you know, it’s a process and it’s a lot of hard work and blood, sweat, and tears and whatnot. Hopefully my pants will fit a little more comfortably soon.

(I was trying to be careful and not overdo it since it’s been about four years since I’ve been in a gym. But I did feel a little self-conscious when a 12-year-old who looked a lot like me at the same age (i.e. about 60% of his total body weight was in his head, arms and legs like pipe cleaners) walked by and gave a derisive chuckle when he saw how little I was pushing and pulling.)

A Day At The Races

May 19, 2007 / DB

It was a, how shall I put this, fast paced Saturday for us. First, I ran my second 5K of the year in the morning. The last race I ran was longer than 3.1 miles, and this one might have been shorter because I came in at less than 27 minutes, and I wasn’t running hard enough to clock that good of a time. Oh, and I’ve been running like once a week, so it’s not like I’m on some great training regimen that cut my time down. It was a fundraiser for a local middle school, so I think there were more kids running than adults, which ended up being mildly annoying. I had at least three kids stop right in front of me and turn around to see where their friends were. One girl did it four times, and if she hadn’t been like 4’4”, I thought about plowing her over to teach her a lesson the fourth time.

Then, in the big excitement of the day, I finally made it to the Indianapolis Motor Speedway. S.’s hospital had an event that they gave us tickets to, so we got a sitter and headed out to the track. I’ve been by the Speedway once or twice, but never actually in it. When we drove under the track and into the infield, I was amazed at how big the facility is. From watching the race, you know it’s about a mile from one end to the other, but when you’re actually in the middle of it and can sense the space, it’s pretty amazing. We got to the track just as it was opening for practice and qualifying, so right away we could hear a car zooming around us, taking 40-odd seconds to travel the same distance it took me about 20 minutes to run earlier in the morning.

When we got over to the pit area, this year’s Flavor of the Month, <a href=”http://www.sports-wired.com/women/Milka_Dunno.html”>Milka Dunno</a>, had just emerged to talk to the press after her qualifying run. She was all smiles and waved to everyone. We were probably 30 feet away from her, but behind two rails that kept the riff-raff out, and about 30 media people who were crowded around her. I got a couple poor pictures of her. A sister-in-law had gone to Friday’s practice session and said Milka was hugging people and taking pictures. I was really hoping for a hug.

We repaired to the suite were the hospital crew was set up, ate some lunch, and kept an eye on the TV to see when full practice, and a track full of cars, would start. Our suite was at track level, and behind pit row, so we couldn’t actually see any action from where we were. When 11 cars hit the track, we raced out (get it, raced out?!?!?) and grabbed some seats to watch. I’m no fan of auto racing, but I have to say it was very impressive both seeing and hearing the cars shoot by at 220 miles per hour. We were sitting just past the start-finish line, and from the time the cars got about one-third of the way down the front stretch, you couldn’t hear the person next to you. I can’t imagine how loud it is when NASCAR racing is going on. I tried to take some pics, but the cars are just too fast to capture with a basic Canon digital camera. Luckily, I got a few vids, low resolution which look pretty crappy when funneled through YouTube. But here’s one.

We watched for about 20 minutes, went back to the suite, then used our garage passes to wander around all the team garages. We timed it wrong, and hardly saw any cars out of the garages or drivers wandering around. There was a constant crowd around Danica Patrick’s garage, but no signs of her. I once heard a woman ask one of the crew members who was hanging around, in a whiny tone, “Is she in there?” And there was Danica gear everywhere. It’s pretty impressive how popular she’s become without ever winning a single IRL race. All day I kept thinking of last week’s The Office and wanting to put Kevin to work on a Danica vs. Milka list. Now there’s a productive use of time!

We headed back to our seats one more time to watch Al Unser Jr. wrap-up his qualifying run. The old timers are very popular, and he got a huge ovation when he qualified. On our way out we went down to track level, just behind pit row to watch from there. With all the people who have pit access, and the flat sight lines, you literally only see the cars for an instant as the shoot by.

It should go without saying that there was excellent people watching. Lots of silicone-filled racing groupies. Lots of women who were dressed like groupies but really should not have exposed any skin. Lots of folks who, well, just come from a different world than a suburban boy like me. Not saying they’re bad people, just very, very different. And everyone was very nice, regardless of how they looked or where they came from.

It was very cool, I will admit. However, I can’t imagine watching that for three hours. You can only see a portion of the track from your seats. I’m sure if you do it enough, you develop a system for figuring out what’s going on, but if something important happens on the half of the track you can’t see (and that’s if you have good seats), you have to rely on the TV screens to figure it out. It’s like only being able to see half the field in a football game. “What? There was a fumble?” Just a strange sensation. And on race day, with 33 cars spread out over the length of the track, I don’t think you could talk to anyone for the entire race, which would be maddening. I would like to go to a NASCAR practice, I’ve always said that, just to experience the sounds of that kind of racing. And I will happily accept if the hospital does this again next year. But I don’t see me sitting at the Speedway for an entire race. But another notch in my famous places in Indiana visited list.