Well, that’s interesting. So, you may have seen an empty post there. Tabbing in your browser can have hazards.
About the Cross Fit Evengelist... a friend of mine who is about ten years younger than me manages to go to Cross Fit regularly. He was trying to sell me on Cross Fit not too long ago and I had to admit I looked at him a little askance.
Not because I am against exercise, if anything I should be exercising more but the truth of it is as an orthopedist told me, I need to be a little more careful.
Round about this time 2009, I dropped my Vespa. I went down, it was stupid, it was my fault and I was angry at myself for a whole host of reasons.
First I had just finished up a three month stint back at that client I would work with for the next six years on and off and I really needed to keep the momentum going and line up more work quickly. Second, I had just finished paying off the damn Vespa so it was mine free and clear. Third, I had only gone out that day (a Saturday) to go and pick up the mail down in Tarrytown and then had stopped off at a hot dog place (So Damn Hot, no longer around) and read the paper while having lunch at a small park that has a little lake. I had taken the Vespa out because it was such a beautiful day and since I only intended to run the short errand didn’t do what I normally would when riding... namely I DIDN’T WEAR MY GEAR!
This meant I was wearing jeans, no leathers, no pads, a loose shirt and not my normal padded motorcycle boots.
I went down and while I wasn’t going super fast getting caught between the immovable object (the pavement) and the unstoppable force (a 350 lb Vespa) didn’t work out so well for me overall.
I broke my ankle, broke a rib, got popped really well in the side of the head where my open face helmet twisted when I banged my noggin on the pavement and received some really wonderful road rash on my arm and my leg.
I’ve been lucky in life. I think aside from tonsils and another event when I was my late teens, I can’t really say I’ve wound up especially banged up. Well, I mean I did fracture my wrist once playing ball on concrete in a schoolyard in my late teens and there were a few others things including getting hit by a car and sailing about 20 or 30 feet but overall I’ve not been especially hurt.
This was a different matter and it really set me back.
A few months later... I had put on weight and was starting to toy with the idea of running. Being the genius that I am, I thought I might wear those strap on weights (which I conveniently have) on my legs to get them stronger. I did it and then a few weeks later managed to pop one of the tendons in my legs!
Great.
And then not too much time later I popped a tendon in the other leg!
Super terrific.
So, the orthopedist a very nice Greek man asked me pointedly when i went up the stairs how did I do it? Did I run up the stairs and the truth was I often did going two at a time and he looked at me and said, “I like people like you. I see plenty of patients, I have patients of mine who are in their thirties and they come in and act like they’re old people. Then I have people like you.”
“It’s not bad that you have energy but you have to remember you are not a kid anymore. It’s better to be like you than to be like those people in their thirties who act like they’re old but you need to be more careful.”
And he was right because truthfully the body is breaking down and I’m not doing the best job taking care of myself. I do a better job of looking after other people than I do taking care of me. Why that is I don’t know but it’s easier for some reason.
So when my friend was advocating Cross Fit, i kept thinking about the words of my orthopedist.
Mind you this same friend has run several NY Marathons and other marathons. He will run until his nipples bleed (which apparently is something that happens to runners even though it sounds disgusting). He has pushed himself to the point where he pees blood. I’ve said to him on more than one occasion while I think the exercise is a great thing you need to listen to your body and know when to stop.
A few years ago... before the Vespa thing, I was going out with this very wonderful woman. She was studying to be a yoga teacher and would regularly go to Yoga. It seemed the first few dates we went on were all tests of stamina and strength. I went to one of her Yoga classes (let me tell you, YOGA IS HARD!- It’s good for you but don’t think it is in any way easy to just walk in and do), we went on a hike up a mountainside (which was fun but I stopped not knowing how close we were to the top for a break), then we spent a day in the city walking.
You can see the approximate route here http://www.gmap-pedometer.com/?r=7104926
By the time the day was over, where I had been the one winded in Yoga and on our hike it was my partner who lacked the endurance over the several hours of walking around. She was the one who was wiped out and I was fine (and could’ve walked even more - all the way back up to Grand Central)
Walking is good, I can manage walking and should really be doing more of it. I would semi-regularly go out with my friend Marilyn when she was alive and walk about five or six miles feeling really good about it.
The other day, I woke up an my leg was sore... it was sore in a very specific spot. Right behind the knee, in the crease between the thigh and the lower leg on the inner side. One very specific point was what I felt and now a week later it looks like I might be having another problem with tendons.
So, even though the evangelist wants to convert me, I’m staying away from that religion and trying to find one that works for me.
About the Cross Fit Evengelist... a friend of mine who is about ten years younger than me manages to go to Cross Fit regularly. He was trying to sell me on Cross Fit not too long ago and I had to admit I looked at him a little askance.
Not because I am against exercise, if anything I should be exercising more but the truth of it is as an orthopedist told me, I need to be a little more careful.
Round about this time 2009, I dropped my Vespa. I went down, it was stupid, it was my fault and I was angry at myself for a whole host of reasons.
First I had just finished up a three month stint back at that client I would work with for the next six years on and off and I really needed to keep the momentum going and line up more work quickly. Second, I had just finished paying off the damn Vespa so it was mine free and clear. Third, I had only gone out that day (a Saturday) to go and pick up the mail down in Tarrytown and then had stopped off at a hot dog place (So Damn Hot, no longer around) and read the paper while having lunch at a small park that has a little lake. I had taken the Vespa out because it was such a beautiful day and since I only intended to run the short errand didn’t do what I normally would when riding... namely I DIDN’T WEAR MY GEAR!
This meant I was wearing jeans, no leathers, no pads, a loose shirt and not my normal padded motorcycle boots.
I went down and while I wasn’t going super fast getting caught between the immovable object (the pavement) and the unstoppable force (a 350 lb Vespa) didn’t work out so well for me overall.
I broke my ankle, broke a rib, got popped really well in the side of the head where my open face helmet twisted when I banged my noggin on the pavement and received some really wonderful road rash on my arm and my leg.
I’ve been lucky in life. I think aside from tonsils and another event when I was my late teens, I can’t really say I’ve wound up especially banged up. Well, I mean I did fracture my wrist once playing ball on concrete in a schoolyard in my late teens and there were a few others things including getting hit by a car and sailing about 20 or 30 feet but overall I’ve not been especially hurt.
This was a different matter and it really set me back.
A few months later... I had put on weight and was starting to toy with the idea of running. Being the genius that I am, I thought I might wear those strap on weights (which I conveniently have) on my legs to get them stronger. I did it and then a few weeks later managed to pop one of the tendons in my legs!
Great.
And then not too much time later I popped a tendon in the other leg!
Super terrific.
So, the orthopedist a very nice Greek man asked me pointedly when i went up the stairs how did I do it? Did I run up the stairs and the truth was I often did going two at a time and he looked at me and said, “I like people like you. I see plenty of patients, I have patients of mine who are in their thirties and they come in and act like they’re old people. Then I have people like you.”
“It’s not bad that you have energy but you have to remember you are not a kid anymore. It’s better to be like you than to be like those people in their thirties who act like they’re old but you need to be more careful.”
And he was right because truthfully the body is breaking down and I’m not doing the best job taking care of myself. I do a better job of looking after other people than I do taking care of me. Why that is I don’t know but it’s easier for some reason.
So when my friend was advocating Cross Fit, i kept thinking about the words of my orthopedist.
Mind you this same friend has run several NY Marathons and other marathons. He will run until his nipples bleed (which apparently is something that happens to runners even though it sounds disgusting). He has pushed himself to the point where he pees blood. I’ve said to him on more than one occasion while I think the exercise is a great thing you need to listen to your body and know when to stop.
A few years ago... before the Vespa thing, I was going out with this very wonderful woman. She was studying to be a yoga teacher and would regularly go to Yoga. It seemed the first few dates we went on were all tests of stamina and strength. I went to one of her Yoga classes (let me tell you, YOGA IS HARD!- It’s good for you but don’t think it is in any way easy to just walk in and do), we went on a hike up a mountainside (which was fun but I stopped not knowing how close we were to the top for a break), then we spent a day in the city walking.
You can see the approximate route here http://www.gmap-pedometer.com/?r=7104926
By the time the day was over, where I had been the one winded in Yoga and on our hike it was my partner who lacked the endurance over the several hours of walking around. She was the one who was wiped out and I was fine (and could’ve walked even more - all the way back up to Grand Central)
Walking is good, I can manage walking and should really be doing more of it. I would semi-regularly go out with my friend Marilyn when she was alive and walk about five or six miles feeling really good about it.
The other day, I woke up an my leg was sore... it was sore in a very specific spot. Right behind the knee, in the crease between the thigh and the lower leg on the inner side. One very specific point was what I felt and now a week later it looks like I might be having another problem with tendons.
So, even though the evangelist wants to convert me, I’m staying away from that religion and trying to find one that works for me.
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