Working it out at my age....

What you have here is a picture of the Precor EFX 5.23 Elliptical Fitness Crosstrainer -- the kind you find in the fitness rooms of gyms throughout the country. There are several in the local YMCA where I work out two or three times each week, and while on it I typically read and/or listen to my iPod. It is just part of my life.... I have a special relationship with the Ellipitcal Machines at the Y, not the least being that in February 2003 I was on one when I realized that the odd feeling in my jaw -- a feeling that I thought I could shake off by working out even harder -- was actually a heart attack. Obviously I survived that, and in a couple of months I was back on Elliptical doing my best to work myself back up to the usual 40-45 minute workouts. Even when I spent two years in Northern Ireland, I found a machine that was somewhat close to the Precor to use as often as I could, but always looked forward to remounting the machines at the Y on my visits home. Part of the ritual of working out on these machines is that you have to enter your age as well as weight. I know that entering those numbers is intended to allow the machine's built-in computer to figure out how to indicate the appropriate level measures for my pulse rate when I grasp the heart rate sensors, but of course it also acts as a reminder about just how old I am. I would be lying to say I don't really think much about that number -- I do. And I think about it even more as the time approaches to move it up a digit.... This past week I have been working out at the University of New Hampshire gym instead of the local Y. The UNH machines are a bit different -- none of them ask me to input my age. But I wasn't avoiding the Y on purpose -- it just so happens that I had to be at my university office early each morning this week. But tomorrow is Friday and I will be at home, and if I follow my normal routine I should get up in the morning and head over to the Y to mount the Precor and go through the usualy ritual. But tomorrow things will be a bit different -- I will have to put in a new number as I reach the age of 60. Maybe I'll take a couple of days off from working out.... Tags: aging, ageing, baby boomer, turning sixty, elliptical crosstrainers, accountabilitybloke, Mel Dubnick