The First Snow

I have a home gym, a big, wonderful room in my basement with a treadmill, elliptical machine, rower, spin bike, trainer for my road bike, ski machine, complex weight machine, roman chair, leg-lift machine, stretching mats, five-foot mirrors and clocks.

I’d rather be sailing! Actually I’d rather be sailing my Laser or riding my road bike.

A few days ago I switched my head from finding days that were warm enough to ride outside, to the flexibility of a ready-when-I-am exercise schedule inside. The impetuous that made me switch was the first significant New England snow of the winter season. I don’t look forward to the next few months full of hours of staring at pale green walls while I rack up minutes and miles, add increments of weight, encourage my stiff muscles to stretch a bit further and celebrate the accumulation of calories burned.

I won’t get myself down to the gym often enough unless I have a clear goal in mind; I had to abandon the “Looking really buff” goal because of the mirrors in our gym. A week before the snow fall I sat down to work my schedule backwards from the first regatta I plan to attend next spring, our QYC May Madness on May 8^th 2010.

There it was; the sharp reality that where I was, wasn’t where I wanted to be, and the only way to get there was to begin the rebuilding process. Now that I’m over 60, the process takes months and if I’ve counted correctly I only have six months. That’s enough time to do it right this year without any corners cut or recovery weeks skipped.

So I’m back at the routine and finding ways to distract myself as I push pedals, pull rowing handles, lift weights and contort muscles and joints. I may be exercising inside, but my head is full of images of starts and perfectly executed roll tacks. Yesterday as I rowed past the 20 minute mark, I recognized a ten degree wind shift and crossed the whole fleet of aerobic machines

Jay Livingston