Where I Find Blogging Ideas On Safe Exercise For Better Health By FitOldDog

Hi folks,

An interesting movie, American Splendor, about a guy who makes a living writing comic books on the subject of the world of regular people all around him.

People ask me from time to time where I find my blogging ideas for a daily post. The answer is pretty simple. The same place I found my research ideas for a happy and productive 40-year science career. All around and inside of me, and I don’t mean in my innards, though they provide food for thought occasionally. My approach reminds me of a movie I watched years ago, called ‘American Splendor.’ The main character decides to write a comic book series on things he sees going on around him, in the grocery store, on the street, whatever. Eventually he succeeds, and his story finally becomes this great movie. I have a similar approach to finding blogging ideas about safe exercise for better health. I just look around, see if what I observe triggers interesting memories or ideas, and weave a short story around safe exercise, Ironman training, abdominal aortic aneurysms or other health challenges.

For instance, we recently had a major plumbing problem in the house, all systems blocked. We called the Rota Rooter guy, Chad, and he promptly turned up, looked at the system, testing each drain, listening to noises, in fact, diagnosing the problem. For drains, as with training injuries, a correct diagnosis is critical. Then he said, “Do you have city sewer?” I said, “No! We have a septic tank.”

Chad from Rota Rooter diagnosed our plumbing problem, a full septic tank.

We went out back, I pointed out the region of the tank, and left him to it. Ten minutes later Chad was back, and no, he didn’t want a cup of tea. He explained that he had examined the septic tank, proclaimed it full to the brim with ‘stuff,’ and suggested that we call the septic pump guy to pump it out.  Now, I know that septic tanks are important, but all I saw was another blogging idea on safe exercise. Think about it. Don’t overfill your tank before a race! Have a backup plan (excuse the pun). On race morning make sure that you know where the remote, and thus largely ignored, Porta-Pottys are, as this can be a life-saver if you really need to go when the gun is getting close – nervous innards can play havoc with an endurance race. Then there is waste disposal by the body, such as nitrogen from proteins, and so on. No shortage of relevant ideas from a replete septic tank!

My backup plan for my favorite race, the Lake Placid Ironman, isn’t a Porta-Potty, but a hotel room that I ‘inherited’ from my triathlete son, Nigel. This room in the Adirondack Inn is only 200 yards from the swim start and the bike transition area. I book my room a year ahead each year. Now, that’s planning!

It's not what you know but who you know, which is why we got a room at the last minute in this bed and breakfast.

While the septic tank issue was going on, we decided to stay the night in a local Bed & Breakfast (B&B), The Inn at Bingham School, as the septic tank guy couldn’t come by until the next day. This B&B is owned by some friends of Deb, Christina and François, and it is a truly wonderful place to stay. So we turned a minor disaster into a mini-vacation, and everyone was happy except for Deb’s daughter, Jess, who had food poisoning induced by some pasta delivered by a friend. What is the lesson for the endurance athlete in this story? Make every race a mini-holiday, but cook your own food – I never trust the pasta parties, having attended one that turned into a minor disaster. Healthy paranoia is my approach to life.

See! Plenty of good blogging ideas related to safe exercise for better health and Ironman training in just one average day, along with several useful exercise tips. So, FitOldDog’s advice is as follows:

1. 

   We were rescued from our septic tank by these kind gentlemen (apologies due: I can't remember their names - I was rushing off to swim with Rick).

   Have a backup plan for everything you can, including major plumbing issues.

2. Don’t overfill your tank (no solids within two hours of the race start).
3. Make every race a mini-vacation, as life is brief.
4. Call in the experts when you can, which in the case of training means finding the right coaches and equipment experts.
5. Cook all of your own food on the way to any important race, which means any race for which you have trained hard for months and months.
6. Have as much fun as you can every day.

-k @FitOldDog