Logs, Charts, Plans, Advice: 14 Months And Counting

The National Senior Games are scheduled for May, 2022. I think it’s too soon to worry and panic, as I’ve said before. But not too soon to train, plan, and seek good advice.

I have a monthly workout chart up on the wall, a 26-week training plan next to it. There is such a thing as a 52-week training planner, but I was mentally boggled by the size and complexity of the workouts, O2 levels, heart rates, exertion percentages and all the other bits of technical flotsam included in the charts. I wasn’t looking for a workout plan designed for a mathematician or engineer. I wanted something I could actually read and follow.

I also culled some sensible food advice, such as a list of good plant-based protein sources, and how much of each constitutes a serving. Some of them on the list are things I already like, such as beans, peanut butter, broccoli, and edamame. Quinoa is on the list, and I am getting used to it. Kale is on the list, and…just no. The problem with kale is that it tastes like kale, and no matter how small the amount of it in any given dish, it makes everything taste like kale. There isn’t even enough chocolate to hide kale.

The training may not be the hardest part of all this. Giving myself a rest day, getting enough sleep and keeping my stress levels down may be the greater challenges. Curiously, staying healthy in these pandemic times appears to be something I’m good at; no colds for the last year, since I left an office environment to work from home. But I credit that success to being without the two “essential” employees from my office, both of whom constantly came to work sick. Both of them thought the place would collapse without them. Both of them paid the price with chronic colds, never getting better from one before one of their sick kids gave them another. Of course, both of them believed if they sat in their offices with their doors closed, no one else would get sick. Because their germs didn’t live on surfaces or travel through the A/C ducts, of course.

I have a plan in place for training, no travel in the near future (at least until I am vaccinated) and as the competition schedule returns to semi-normal, tossing in a few races here and there to stay sharp. I hope to keep reading all of your blogs and advice as I go forward; my plan always has space for stories from the “been there, done that” crowd.