That was a bitch...

We got absolutely POUNDED with snow this weekend.  Blizzard "Nemo" as they have called it, smashed us every which way and wound up knocking my power out for the better part of 48 hours.  The town dealt with it sloppily, and I was stuck in a cold house trying to keep my dog warm as the inside temps hit close to 30 degrees.  The only good part was that my folks were able to get to the safety of the neighbors, with warm beds, warm showers, and plenty of booze and food (of which I must admit I enjoyed as well!)

Anyway, PRE-storm, I got in a great trainer workout on Friday night.  I guess that's actually DURING the storm technically, but I'll just call it my "pre" storm workout.  Basically I did a workout I used to do, mixing some endurance in with some short intervals-1 minute of work followed by 1 minute of "spinning" rest.  All in all it was only about an hour and a few minutes in the saddle, but damnit if it didn't hurt.  I'd forgotten how much a short time on the trainer could totally wreck you, provided you're working hard.  For a much as I'd rather be outside on the bike, I have to admit I was happy with the work done Friday night.

The next day, Saturday, exercise was dictated completely on how much shoveling there was to be done.  After getting 33 inches of snowfall, shoveling was ALL I did.  Admittedly, I LOVE shoveling.  I love the workout I get from it and I love the fact that you can really see the result of what you're doing as you're doing it.  A lot of my personal training philosophy lies in the idea that you should be "practicing" in the gym for real life.  In other words, what we do in the gym (i.e. lifting weights, swinging kettle bells, hoisting your body around) is preparation for what we may NEED to get done in the real world.  If you go to the gym and work out, but can't shovel your driveway without your back giving out, you need to readjust your thinking.  What are you doing?  And more importantly, is what you're doing going to help you when you're back is against the wall and you've got no other choice but to get out the shovel and move through a couple of feet of snow so you're family can get to someplace safe and warm.  In my eyes, I've got no respect for the people who just work out so they can look good in a bikini when they're on vacation.  They're wasting their time.

So, off my soap box, I was happy that I was able to get done some "real" work this weekend and not just practice.  Yeah, this weekend was hard.  I don't enjoy sleeping INSIDE and being able to see my breath, but in the end it's not that bad.  You get through it.  What matters now is that the power is back, my family is warm, and I can go to bed knowing that we made it through together and everyone did the jobs they needed to in order to get here.

Tomorrow will more than likely be another indoor ride on the trainer.  With the weather forecast we've got and the amount of snow that's fallen, I think it's going to be a bit before I'm riding outdoors again.