It’s Groundhog Day and Phil did not see his shadow. But as I look forward to the end of winter, I am just at the beginning of my heart health commitment for American Heart Month.
Day Two started a little faster than day one, with some morning interviews set up at Memorial Medical Center. I set the alarm early enough, I thought, to either deal with a predicted coating of ice or get in a quick trip to the gym. By the time I determined the ice was, again, a non-factor, it would have been pushing it to get to the gym. Besides I was dealing with some technology ignorance and going through steps to get this blog linked to The Tribune-Democrat website, www.tribdem.com.
To make a long story short (if that is still possible at this point) I made it just in time for my 10 a.m. meeting with Dr. Daniel Wehner, chairman of emergency medicine, and Storm Nagle, pre-hospital operations manager. Breakfast was a perfectly gold-speckled, healthy banana in the car.
Still feeling the effects of yesterday’s stairs workout, I wasn’t too worried about getting the full aerobics in today. Even Dr. Charles Oschwald, Memorial’s director of cardiac prevention and rehabilitation program, told me yesterday the recommendation is for at least three days of heart-rate-elevating activity each week.
I did get some walking. From the emergency department with Nagle and Wehner, I walked to the Good Samaritan building and met with Michelle George, cardiovascular disease prevention coordinator. After that I trudged back to the main building and up two flights for an interview with Tonya Spada-Dixon, clinical nutrition manager. All the time, I was lugging my long leather coat and mojo (mobile journalist) bag – about 20 pounds of additional weight.
I heard somewhere that you should park as far from your work as you can comfortably walk as a stress reliever and fitness bonus. That’s why I’ve been parking in the Haynes Street area for years. And it’s a lot cheaper. I was lugging the same load today and yesterday for the one-third mile hike to the newspaper’s 450 Franklin Street office. I had second thoughts about the walk yesterday because it was raining a little and because I had already been through the stairs workout at home (see yesterday’s entry).
Many times, when I’ve had a voluntary strenuous workout before work, a breaking news story requires another walk or run. Yesterday it was a half-mile jaunt, with all my gear to a Robb Avenue fire.
So the exercise is coming along. Diet is another story.
Spada-Dixon said the biggest mistake people make is portion control.
“Overeating healthy can become unhealthy,” she said.
Where have I heard that before? Oh yes. “Portion control” was all my wife Becky said last night when I was taking some homemade noodles and soup with the last of the turkey pot pie.
If she weren’t such a good cook.