Fitness Journal - Power Mowing and All that Jazz

by Heather Long | More from this Blogger

Late yesterday, I was looking at our yard because the grass over 4 inches in some places (the amount of rain this year has really encouraged the grass growth) and my husband has a raging head cold - poor thing really sounds horrible. I'm not doing too great with the constant dental pain, but I can manage the pain with the medication. I debated the lawn mowing issue, normally I love working in my garden and the yard/garden is a very physical place to be.

My husband was just not up to the mowing. My husband's uncle said he would do it for us - but there was no guarantee it would be before the weekend. You have to understand that where we live, our homeowner's association is pretty strict about the condition of your yard. They issue warnings and fines at the drop of a hat so I wasn't comfortable with letting it wait. So, I decided to go ahead and take my medication and get the lawn mowed as fast as I could.

It was about 90 degrees outside, so I was sweating in nothing flat (despite the fact that it was 7:30 in the evening) and it took about an hour to get the full yard mowed and I had to take three breaks. I clipped on my pedometer and crossed the 2500 steps line during my hour of mowing, traveling to empty the bag and more. We have a pretty large yard. I drank 4 liters of water over the course of this hour and I think I sweated all of it out.

I checked my pulse about halfway through and discovered that it was racing at about 150 and took a moment to break for 10 minutes to cool down, drink water and slow the pulse down. It's important to recognize, especially in excess heat (and when you yourself are not running at 100%) that you need to pay attention to not only how you feel, but also your heart rate and your body temperature.

After 15 minutes, I headed back out and finished the mowing. The vibration of the mower was rattling my teeth by the time I was done and I was definitely ready to be done, but it was all mowed and the yard looks good. I also got a great workout in the process.

Learn more about Heather Long

Heather Long is 35 years old and currently lives in Wylie, Texas. She has been a freelance writer for six years. Her husband and she met while working together at America Online over ten years ago.

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