Wednesday, February 5, 2014

Surviving the Winter of 2014

"The Worst Winter Ever?," CNN asked in a piece the other day. For fitness-minded people in New Jersey (and throughout most of America), it seems like it. Deep, early snows and freezing temperatures in December. The Polar Vortex took over in January, with temperatures straining to get above 10 degrees for one week, and then after a short break, another hit from Artic Circle, accompanied also by heavy snow. February, besides a beautiful, spring-like Super Bowl Sunday, has been more snow, with today a "Lake Effect" like-mix of freezing rain, sleet, and snow. How do you survive it? First, shoveling is a great workout, particularly when the snow is of the wet, slushy variety that this morning brought. Oh, and you burn up a ton of calories keeping your body warm during this, as my wet, shivering bones could attest after my early-morning "driveway workout." But, as mentioned before, I'm training for the Long Branch Half-Marathon on April 27th, and shoveling alone won't do it. That's where the indoor cardio equipment really helps. This morning, I did a 10-k on the treadmill, starting at 8.1 (a 7:24 pace) for a mile, and raising it up .1 each mile, until a finishing sprint above 9.0 (6:40 mile) in the final half. In respect to a sore right hip that is especially troublesome on hills, I kept everything at grade 0. Also, because of the tender hip, I have been doing a lot of cross-training on the Concept 2 rower, probably the perfect workout machine. As hard as I pull on that, it's no impact, so the hip is fine, and I've gotten some phenomenal workouts. Like with running, I try to alternate between a distance day (usually 10-k on the rower), a tempo workout (1000 or 1600-meter workouts, with a 2:1 work/rest ratio), and short sprints (500-meter workouts, "two minutes of hell," with a one-minute gasp in-between. If I've laid off the rower awhile, my abs kill me the next day, probably from the impact of hitting my stomach with the handle repeatedly. After a couple of workouts, that goes away, but I do develop callouses or blood blisters on my hands. But other than that, I'm no worse for wear, and it combines a great upper and lower body workout, with tremendous cardio. The best thing is, my rower sprint times are almost a direct correlation to my running splits. A 6:20 1600-meters on the rower feels just about the same as a 6:20 mile on the track, with more overall benefits and less wear-and-tear on my body. However, it's nowhere near as fun, in an aesthetic sense, as getting out in the fresh air on a beautiful day. Sooner or later, we're going to get one of those in New Jersey!