Last November I bought an elliptical so I could put a fire under my growing laziness and wage war against my burgeoning flab. Things were shaping up until mid-December when my back went out (again) after climbing in and out of a 40 inch high crate about two dozen times while packing parts in it. My days on the elliptical came to a halt. It took two or three tries to get out of bed in the morning. I am no stranger to having a bad back. Every year or so, it goes out for little or no reason. After a week or two of pain ranging from nagging to agonizing, it goes away. Well, this time it has lingered for more than four months. Being the prudent soul that I am, I finally decided to go to the doctor (in this case, since I don't have a doctor [I fired her], I saw a nurse practitioner). After admonishing me for procrastinating, she examined me and decided my problem was muscle related and ordered physical therapy. Oh, the clunking I feel and hear in my lower back is arthritis, according to her, so I guess that is good news. I feared it was disintegrating discs or something equally horrible.
So, armed with this good news, I decided I wasn't going to let a little pain keep me off the elliptical. I started doing one mile runs and worked my time down. I started at eight minutes and went to seven, six and a half and then hit the six minute mile. I was just about to my limit, and decided I could shave it down. My goal was five minutes thirty seconds. After hitting five, forty-five, I knew there was hope. The next time I tried, I gave it everything I had. I pounded on that thing like a madman. I pushed until there was nothing left to give, I hit five minutes thirty-four seconds. Just four seconds away, they might as well have been hours. I saw no hope of going faster. I panted like a dog for an hour. Cindy was afraid I was going to have a heart-attack.
After assessing my failure, I decided I needed to do some conditioning to increase my endurance before giving it another go. I broke the mile down into quarters and figured out how long it should take at the five minute thirty second pace to do one quarter mile, a half mile and three-quarters of a mile. I am going to spend a week or two on each stage of the mile, then go for the record once again. All this work to gain four seconds, but I will not be denied. For my goal, I need to do the quarter mile in one minute and twenty-two seconds. I hit it easily, I shaved a few seconds off, then some more. I wondered how fast I could do the quarter mile. Now I had a new goal. I did it in a minute fifteen seconds, then a minute eleven, then a minute five seconds! Could I hit one minute? I pushed with every ounce of my strength. I was doing 137 rpms on the elliptical. I couldn't sustain that pace, I was completely spent and slowed. I did the quarter mile in one minute and one second. Are you kidding? One lousy second way from my goal. I tried again, but at a slightly slower pace (125 rpms), one minute three seconds. I tried a little slower with a burst at the end, one minute five seconds.....hmmmm....that didn't work either. Tonight, I ran a slow quarter mile at two minutes, then followed it with a brisk one minute thirty second quarter, after resting a few minutes, I hammered that poor elliptical and nailed the quarter mile in fifty-nine seconds! I can die a happy man now, oh, wait, I start the half mile runs next week. I wonder what my goal will be.
So, armed with this good news, I decided I wasn't going to let a little pain keep me off the elliptical. I started doing one mile runs and worked my time down. I started at eight minutes and went to seven, six and a half and then hit the six minute mile. I was just about to my limit, and decided I could shave it down. My goal was five minutes thirty seconds. After hitting five, forty-five, I knew there was hope. The next time I tried, I gave it everything I had. I pounded on that thing like a madman. I pushed until there was nothing left to give, I hit five minutes thirty-four seconds. Just four seconds away, they might as well have been hours. I saw no hope of going faster. I panted like a dog for an hour. Cindy was afraid I was going to have a heart-attack.
After assessing my failure, I decided I needed to do some conditioning to increase my endurance before giving it another go. I broke the mile down into quarters and figured out how long it should take at the five minute thirty second pace to do one quarter mile, a half mile and three-quarters of a mile. I am going to spend a week or two on each stage of the mile, then go for the record once again. All this work to gain four seconds, but I will not be denied. For my goal, I need to do the quarter mile in one minute and twenty-two seconds. I hit it easily, I shaved a few seconds off, then some more. I wondered how fast I could do the quarter mile. Now I had a new goal. I did it in a minute fifteen seconds, then a minute eleven, then a minute five seconds! Could I hit one minute? I pushed with every ounce of my strength. I was doing 137 rpms on the elliptical. I couldn't sustain that pace, I was completely spent and slowed. I did the quarter mile in one minute and one second. Are you kidding? One lousy second way from my goal. I tried again, but at a slightly slower pace (125 rpms), one minute three seconds. I tried a little slower with a burst at the end, one minute five seconds.....hmmmm....that didn't work either. Tonight, I ran a slow quarter mile at two minutes, then followed it with a brisk one minute thirty second quarter, after resting a few minutes, I hammered that poor elliptical and nailed the quarter mile in fifty-nine seconds! I can die a happy man now, oh, wait, I start the half mile runs next week. I wonder what my goal will be.