I am really fortunate to belong to my local YMCA. It is a great organization. The hombre at the helm is unbelievably encouraging, supportive, friendly, and present. I think the latter is the most important. He is often found at the front desk with his staff, meeting, greeting and talking with members, getting to know them, their health concerns and fitness goals. That attitude trickles down the line from everyone to his administrative staff, support staff, cleaning crew, and members. I should also tell you that my wife and I really value the atmosphere of the YMCA as compared to other options that we have investigated. As a faculty member at a university, I enjoy a membership at our sports facilities for a fraction of what it might cost for my family membership at the YMCA, but I also receive a lot less. First of all, there is no child care at the university. A family membership there means I could bring my children to the weight room and to the pool once they turn sixteen. With fourteen years left to go until my youngest turns sixteen, I think we will continue to be YMCA members. More importantly, I have managed to forge great relationships with folks that I have met at the YMCA. With the exception of Adam, all my training partners—and crankskin.com team members—were guys that I first met at the Y while training. We all chose the YMCA for similar reasons: member programs, child care, youth sports, fellowship.
With that said, there are a lot of families in my community that are just not able to afford the services and programs that the YMCA provides. This is really unfortunate. Four of my children have taken part in YMCA youth sports programs, as well as swim lessons. Luca and Julian have participated in multiple sports programs. The experiences from their perspective have always been overwhelmingly positive.
It was at our local YMCA, that my son Luca, first developed his passion for sports, and had some really great coaching to encourage a positive attitude concerning competition. Because I believe—as does the YMCA—that all children should be able to participate and enjoy the programs and services the YMCA provides, regardless of their economic circumstance, I have decided to race Ironman to raising money for the YMCA's Invest In Youth Campaign. I am placing a widget on my page permanently that looks like this:
If clicking the widget does not work, you can go to: https://www.rochesterymca.org/giving/Transaction/EmailDonation/134
I know we are all strapped for dough these days—okay, speaking for myself right now—but even if you could donate one dollar, that would be awesome!
Training has gone amazingly well this week. I have hit all three weekly swim workouts for the first time in over a month. I have managed to fit in strength and cardiovascular training in every day as well. Yesterday I hit chest:
4x12 reps of bench press
4x10 reps of incline bench press
4x10 reps of dumbbell flys
Then I got in the pool for my workout:
Warm Up: 8x (50 swim 25 kick)
Main Set: 24x50 w/ 10 sec rest
Cool Down: 5x100 (middle choice)
= 2300 yards
This morning's swim workout:
600 S
2 sets of 4x50 w/10 sec rest
Main Set: 12x100@75% straight into:
5x100@85%
Cool Down: 300 S
=3000 yards
I feel pretty good. I am eating like a horse... a small horse. I am really making a concerted effort to take in a lot of more protein after my workouts lately by means of supplements.
Cousin Matthew came up on Sunday evening. He came in at 251 pounds and is already making some serious progress, losing 3 pounds in 3 days. His first visit with us was two summers ago, and my wife and I helped him take off 72 pounds during one summer stay. The anecdote? Eat less, eat decent foods, exercise more, drink plenty of water. No mystery to me. His only transportation this summer—aside from the rides he takes with me on errands—will be his bike and his own two feet. I plan on having him use plenty of those two this summer. I am trying something new that I hope to blog about in the next few weeks and months while he is here. We are taking a picture of him every day that he is here, as well as documenting every meal he eats by taking pictures. It is really hard to do. I don't always remember to bring my camera everywhere we go. With our crazy lives, it is just one more thing to have to think about. Feel super great about kicking his butt this week. He is a bit sore after day three, but he'll thank me at the end of the summer. More updates to follow.
Other super Duper Cool News: RunnerDude over at RunnerDude's Blog is going to feature me as his runner of the week in an upcoming post. Me! For those of you who have not checked out his blog yet, do so. This guy is the real deal. Good information, insight, encouraging, inclusive, and has a running resume vitae as long as the American Constitution. I am in the process of fielding some questions. I will post a link to the post once I am on there. Pretty nifty, eh?
More soon, Happy Training!
3 comments:
Sounds like a wonderfully eventful week. I will think of some names and get back to you. I too an waiting on my bike - and am thinking of a name as well. Cant wait.
Despite my pool woes over the winter months at the Y, I do love the place for what they bring to the community. Ours has a fund raiser that helps send the kids to summer camp who would otherwise not be able to afford it. Good stuff! I love the new ride you bought. 3 cheers for getting in lots of quality workouts this week.
I should point out that my ride did NOT come with the HED wheel set, but a kick-butt set of American Classic 420's. Although if they somehow make a mistake at the factory and put the HED's on, I will not say a word!
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