Busy Busy

I really don't have much to report today - I did work out and it was goooood :-)

I wont be working out tomorrow and this might be the last update for awhile. I'll be out of town.

Slow Days and Jet Bikes

Today was a bit more pleasant than yesterday. I don't regret yesterday but it's not something I can do everyday. My eyes clicked open at 4:06, I shut off the alarm and headed in but with a certain casualness about it.

Today is not for pushing it in the gym. I got through the total body. The gym was full, I shot the breeze a bit with MarathonMan, he was doing intervals on the treadmill. He forgot how to drive so he ran in this morning ::rolls eyes:: these distance runners are a goofy lot. Just don't turn your back on them.

bikerBabe sent me a link with the following picture:

Just $1200 Stands Between You and Death by Jet Bike

This has Ally written all over it.

The Burn

"Look we have HAD IT. That's it, no more"

"If you don't help finish this thing I SWEAR TO GOD I'm going to puke all over this monitor!"

Today's tempo workout is not going well. My pansy thighs are giving me nothing but static from the get go. Twelve minutes and forty-eight seconds from finishing and I just want to quit and vomit or vomit and quit, the order seems to be important. The music isn't helping on this one, I just can't get into it, too many systems going red line and phoning in their dissent not allowing me to get lost in the beat.

My muscles, lungs and mind all know if I can cross into single digits (9:59 will work) I'll finish this thing but I'm not there yet. Covered with sweat and sucking air through a straw I'm having doubts. Since I'm too busy at work to bike in I at least wanted to pretend, so I selected an upright, plugged in 35 minutes allowing for a five minute warm up and went.

I inched up the resistance, starting at six and going as high as thirteen when I noticed my beloved Garmin was informing me that I was in zone 3.8 to 4.0 and oh yes I was feeling it, breathing hard and grimacing in pain once I hit that mark. I began backing off the resistance as long as I maintained the HR Zone. I don't know how I got here but I wanted to see if I could hold it, my cadence fluctuated between 70 to 80 and if it dipped to 68 or so I'd groan and force it up.

Why?

I don't know!

The battle raged between muscle and mind and I wish it was an interesting fight but it was more like siblings quarreling.

"Not gonna!"

"Are too!"

"Am NOT!"

"TOO!"

"NOOOOOTTTTT!!!"

Sweat is rolling off me and gasping for breath I'm desperate for distraction but not finding any. My legs, sensing this weakness renew their whining and my lungs decide to join them in harmony - the pricks. I take a swing of water, inhale it, start coughing but manage to keep my legs moving. Not the distraction I was looking for. My eyes dart between the Garmin and the cadence but mostly I look at the floor.

Finally it's over and I'm in cool down, which I take full advantage of trying to regain my composure, while the sweat stings my eyes and I struggle to bring my breathing under control. I notice that others are now in the gym. God only knows what they witnessed.

I get off the bike, grab a few wipes and thoroughly clean it.

Well that was weird.

I feel so-so, on the bubble between an endorphin rush or a serious nap. I just want to sit, so I plop down on a bench and record some stats like calories burned (460). I averaged 74rpms throughout the thirty five minutes. For the thirty minutes I averaged 77% maxHR, for the entire forty one it was 72% maxHR.

My thighs burn and I'm still sweating but I have Bubbles' new ABS routine to get through. That was a struggle. I can't recall what a "C" Mat Crunch is precisely and awesomeGirl and goodMood don't know. I do a pelvic tilt along with a crunch hoping I'm at least close. The BOSU was not fun and the same with the stability ball. I do the stretches and as I stagger by Bubbles office I stare in myopic balefulness at her saying, "That new ABS routine BITES!"

I get back a cheery, "Good morning!"

Maybe for some... I hope you're one of them!

ghostGirl

My father's day was fantastic. I hope yours was better than that!

Of course no one believes me about ghostGirl. They think I made the whole thing up but I'm growing increasingly certain the gym is haunted, it's the only explanation that doesn't make me look like I'm losing my mind so I'm clinging to it pretty tightly.

Diablo and ponyTail are doubters and naturally the sign in thingy was down this weekend so there's no record she was ever there. Oh she was there! I saw her! You have got to believe me!!!

Maybe she's Death, you know? Like Jessica Lange in All That Jazz? I mean ghostGirl is very attractive but not Jessica Lange (in her prime) attractive, but then she wouldn't have to be would she? I mean it's me after all, not Roy Schneider, you probably have to pull out all the stops when you're collecting an A-List star, but Bill? You can hold back a bit on Bill I'm thinking, conserve some energy.

I'm going to die aren't I? You can tell me, I can take it. ghostGirl has come for Bill and these are the initial visions that it's time to get right with God! Well getting right with the Lord will take some time, I have much to do. Give me money, that will help.

AT Everest was in the gym today so the natural order of things is being restored. She had injured herself and had to take some time off but was definitely making up for it. The quest to summit Mt. Everest continues.

It was just us, working in our own little cones of routine but I was there pretty early looking for ghostGirl. I'll have to stop looking since I'm pretty certain she's Death, no reason to go looking for that, not in my book anyway.

Doubting Thomas Diablo strolled in while I was atoning on the StairClimber for ten minutes finishing up my total body except for the stretching. Then the regular crew began showing up and the clank of metal and whir of machines began filling the gym. IronMan (I know he'll believe me about ghostGirl! I need his backhoe to dig her up) is on vacation.

Maybe I can get a pic of ghostGirl? Nah, I can't afford the special camera that those ghost hunter people use and if she's corporeal (which is highly unlikely) then I get to spend quality time in HR explaining the pictures. A dilemma.

I weighed in, 206. I lost a pound :-) I wonder how many calories you chew up complaining about dieting? I'll have to check with Bubbles on that but it looks like the easy pounds are behind me. I've got a tough row to hoe with ghostGirl standing at the end of it. I had better be in shape for her, I've seen her on the StairClimber and OMG if I'm going to spend eternity on level 21 then I best prep for it.

Have a great day!

Fallen

The alarm, wait there was no alarm, my eyes clicked open at 4am and I studied the glowing green numbers while running options through my head. If I get up now I'll definitely be back home before the family's up. I decide to rest even given the debauchery that occurred last night. I don't want to think about it... the horror... the horror.

My son graduated from sailing camp yesterday. They end the camp with a potluck and a sailing regatta, the regatta can take forever due to low wind. It's mainly the time of day.

People are coming in bringing all sorts of stuff, my wife cooked some chicken dish and bought some jello. Price of admission. My son heads out with his crew while my wife went out on a boat to get some pics of the action. My daughter and I sit in the humid heat watching the boats maneuver for the start.

At first there was action but then the wind just died. Around 7pm I get up and scan the potluck. Some lady is working on a salad filled with garbanzo bean death. I watch her create some oily salad dressing.

Already suspecting the answer I ask, "Did you add holy water?"

"What?"

Never mind, if she wants to flirt with the forces of darkness I don't need to bear witness, as far as omens go, this wasn't a good one. I started with a cheese enchilada thing, a salad and some fruit. If I stopped there all would well and I could live with myself instead of staring at this vile cup of hemlock while listening to Sarah McLachlan's Fallen

Truth be told I've tried my best
But somewhere along the way
I got caught up in all there was to offer
And the cost was so much more than I could bear

I went back you see... three pizza squares this fruit thing that was like a strawberry short cake except it had all the berries, blue, rasp, straw in some sort of gelatin and the Doritos of damnation... I, I discovered that Wendy's now offers Coke floats... and oh dear God what have I done?

To everyone I know
Oh they turned their heads embarrassed
Pretend that they don't see
But it's one missed step
You'll slip before you know it
And there doesn't seem a way to be redeemed

Though I've tried, I've fallen...
I have sunk so low
I have messed up
Better I should know
So don't come round here
And tell me I told you so...

Why is it that you ponder this madness the morning after? During the regatta I didn't give it a thought.

My son won the regatta by the way. I was so happy for him! Wanna see his trophy?

You might think I'm being my typical sarcastic self when I say, "That trophy is the coolest thing ever!" You'd be wrong. It's smaller than a shot glass and is all plastic but in my eyes takes nothing away from the accomplishment. I love the "FIRST!" it makes me smile. Even dead last my kids are numero uno around these parts.

My eyes reopen at 6:30am and I get out of bed trying not to wake my wife who really digs her sleep time. I shave, the first indication that it's time to start climbing out of the pit. Make some coffee and load the panniers. I need those because my wife gave me a 'honey do' to pick up her laptop on the way back.

I hit the road around 7:30am and it's about six ways crowded. What are these cars doing out at this time of the morning? It doesn't matter, as long as they don't hit me. I hold a pretty good cadence for me (70) and even though I hit every stupid light between me and the gym (and yes I behave) I get to the gym in about fifteen minutes.

Heading into the lockers I glance at one of the weekend ghostPeople seriously hammering it out on an upright bike. She's the same girl I crossed paths with a few month ago who gave the StairClimber a real workout.

I change into my gym shorts, set the sauna for 9, grab my iPod, Garmin and head in. ghostGirl is gone. Did I imagine her? I've mentioned her to others in the gym and no one knows who I'm talking about. I never see her except at these odd times.

Is she some angel sent to motivate me by proxy to continue with my loopy endeavor to go just seventeen more lousy pounds? Or a demon? Maybe she's a real ghost. Some chick who pushed it just a little too far on the StairClimber, croaked and is now buried under the racquetball court her soul ensnared in some byzantine corporate cover up?

I glance at the door to the racquetball court. I'll have to ask IronMan the best way to get a backhoe in there.

Today is suppose to be a low tempo day. OK. I plop down on the recombinant, set it for fifty minutes, fat burner, level seven and go, holding the cadence at 70. About five minutes into it I decide the news is boring and want some tunes. Where's the iPod? I hop off the bike and run to the lockers, not there. Feeling despondent because I know I brought it in I notice it sitting right on the seat of the upright next to the bike I was on.

Groan.

I plug in the earbuds, reset the time to 45mins and go. Overall average HR at 55% but it felt tougher. Maybe the bike ride in? I get off the bike, wipe it down and do some bench presses. I'm experimenting with those. Then I do two rack runs of biceps and one of Arnolds and then fifteen situps on the BOSU.

I'm done, reset the timer on the sauna and call my wife. All is well at home. noNeed strolls in and I say hi to her. I grab a magazine declaring the inside scoop on Emenem's drug addiction problems. Who knew? He seemed like such a nice potty mouth. I confess to an admiration of his lyrical skills and the rawness he can put into his raps. Lose Yourself is one of my all time favorites.

I walk into the sauna and oh my Lord it is hot! I lay out my towel on the upper bench, open the mag and find the article on Emenem. It's so hot that I'm not even sweating. My fingers feel like they're burning, what is up? I can no longer hold the magazine, but mainly I'm wondering why I'm not sweating. I hop off the bench and check the temperature. 225. Oh. I get out of the sauna turn it off and then fan the heat out by fanning the door. It was so hot that my body shut down the sweating to conserve water. Sheesh!

After a bit of that I hop back in and sweat just flows off me. That's better. I finish Emenem's article which was pretty much what I expected.

I shower, change and hop on the bike, pick up my wife's laptop and head home. The wind was killer. I'm on the downward side of the overpass, peddling at 70rpms in the middle ring and going 10mph. Too funny. Well except my thighs weren't laughing, they had had ENOUGH. They bitched, moaned and whined the entire ride home.

The pansies.

I mean they were on the wrong side of that conversation. Complain when we get home not on the way there. Stupid muscles.

So once again, gentle reader, I'm on the path of redemption. I think I'll be spending time on this teeter-totter before I get it right or get off.

So the soap opera is told and unfolds
I suppose it's old partner', but the beat goes on

Satan's Salad

The battle lines are drawn and the first skirmishes on The Battle for Bill's Belly have commenced. My life now consists of varying degrees of temptation. Yesterday I got a frozen yogurt and after consuming about a third of it left it with my wife.

I got up at my usual (sigh) 4:15am and since I'm feeling the burn at work managed to stay focused throughout Bubbles total body. Hmmmmm, I'm liking the heart chart more than when I kind of stroll through the thing. Nice and spiky. I ended up being glad that I only had ten minutes on the recombinant bike since I made a new discovery in pain!

Can I trust you with this revelation?

Of course not, who am I kidding.

I sit in the recombinant, input all the numbers and select 'fat burner' as the program. Here's the new thing (for me) I tried. In a fit of endorphin filled reasoning (cardio is the last thing I do on this routine) I decided to keep my RPMs (cadence) above 70. That's a pretty good pace for me.

It kicked my butt and felt a little closer to a real bike ride.

What I use to do was back off the cadence when in a lighter resistance part of the routine. By keeping it up there in the 70-75 range it didn't feel like rest really. I noticed it was 'easier' but I was still working. I'm gonna try it again for a longer time and see what that's like - make it all about the cadence.

I hopped off the bike and did my stretches like a good boy. After my shower I walked, er I dressed and then walked back into the gym telling IronMan adios. He looked surprised, "You really were done?!"

Later in the day I took a break and did five minutes of Zumba - it was fun as always but my Zumba chops have atrophied, it's not like riding a bike I guess. I hope to take a full Zumba course again soon.

Bubbles has me logging my typical day of food but I'm not doing well at the recording part yet, I'm all over the eating part though. I did log my actual salad and had a bit of an epiphany.

Yesterday's salad - 717 calories
Today' salad - 548 calories

My beloved garbanzo beans = DEATH. My two eggs for protein = DEATH. I have no idea if the calorie counts are at all valid but it's interesting. Here I was thinking that by simply eating a salad I would not have to worry about the calories. I think I was wrong. Now I have to get two normal work days and a weekend day logged and send that to Bubbles.

New ABS Routine

Um, yeah. Look it's not a cult, the tattoos are still optional... I think. There's another class tomorrow at 11AM, I'll get back to you on that cult thing.

Been a busy day for yours truly. I had intervals followed by a doctor's appointment (yearly physical) and I was bled by the Dread Doctor - we'll see what those results say but all in all good, so far.

I chose the stair climber for intervals, started at level five but ended up increasing it until I hit level nine. I'm not sure the stair climber is a good interval workout for me - check out the HR chart, not very "spikey" but I felt good coming off it.

Then I hung out with IronMan and goodMood waiting for Bubbles to introduce me to the new and improved ABS for Sissies! So I was sitting there enjoying my coffee, providing deep insight into the nature of man and dumbbells when Bubbles strolls in right on time.

She's clutching a clipboard and giving me the impression she's not in the mood for my particular brand of stalling BS (ppsssstt - I don't think Bubbles is a morning person, well at least not a four days out of the week morning person).

Wanna see it? (Bill's notes in blue)

• "C" Mat Crunches: Lift shoulders and tailbone off the floor 1X12-15
• Hold the last two for 4-8 counts
• Push lower back into mat
• BOSU Crunch - 'Sit Up/Get Ups': 1X15-20
• Um, these didn't go well, everyone in the gym thought I had gone into labor with all the groaning
• Try every fourth rep to Get Up
• SB Oblique AB Crunch: 1X12-15 each side; hold last 2 reps on each side for 4-8 counts
• This ended up bothering my lower back sigh I did better after doing some warm ups
• Warm up: Curl over yellow ball with the belly button on the ball. Roll forward until the elbows touch the floor. Then roll back to knees.
• Warm up: On ball in sit up position push back until sitting on the ball (like a chair)
• Quadruped Arm Opposite Leg Raise: 2X10 hold each rep for 2-3 counts
• These are 'supermans' on all fours
• Plank On Elbows and Feet : 2X45-60 seconds
• Get on tip-toes for last twenty seconds
• Finish off with, Child's Pose Stretch and Cat/Cow Stretch
• Child's Pose Stretch - extend arms, push hips to heels like kowtowing
• Repeat this workout 2-3 days per week.

It's a nice ABS workout! As I was leaving I glanced into the actual ABS course (Kojak thinks I'm ready) and everyone (the TOSRVS, tireTosser, myPeg, marathonMan, otherPonyTail) was in a circle each with a different implement of torture. Bubbles was standing at the feet of one position, you'd do a situp and she'd chuck an eight pound medicine ball at you, then you'd stand up. Someone else was moving dummbells from one side to the other, someone else was doing crunches on a stability ball, etc. After sixty seconds or so you'd move to the next station.

It looked kinda fun but I wasn't living it.

With A Little Help From My Friends...

Hmmmm. The Garmin is logging things like my wife's evening walk/run - I've got to keep that in mind and clear it out. It did the same thing yesterday.

There was no bike ride today since it rained and is threatening to do more of that today. Maybe tomorrow. Ally also forgo riding in today.

I mentioned that Bubbles (God bless her) has taken an interest in my diet struggles. A few days ago she sent the following:

I just read your blog so, I'm curious to see what your current body composition is. This assessment will give me a value to utilize for a complete equation and give you a better understanding on how many calories you should be consuming daily. I can then approximate what your balance of protein, carbohydrates and fat would be with that information. Let's complete this assessment at the end of the month, Okay? I see that you would like to better your diet and I could help you with this! I cannot control what you put in your mouth, but I could give you some feedback on better choices and overall understanding on balance nutrition. Why don't you keep a food log for 2 typical weekdays and 1 weekend day before the end of June and I could take a look at it. Then we could schedule another assessment.

She then followed up with two articles:

Easy Ways to Eat 5 Fruits & Veggies Each Day

and

In a salad rut? Here are some quick and easy ways to add vegetables to your diet without having salad every night.

• Add vegetables to pre-made sauces. If you're making a marinara sauce for pasta, add extra onions, mushrooms, and peppers.
• Add carrots, celery, onions, tomatoes, or potatoes to soups.
• Put spinach, cucumber, or carrots on your sandwich for a crunchy treat.
• Craving a mid-afternoon snack? Try carrots or celery with a little bit of peanut butter or hummus.

The hummus is intriguing since I have a peanut allergy and I love the stuff anyway. My wife's answer is to hand me a V8 which warms marathonMan's heart I'm sure.

Bubbles stunned me by being at work early today. She's swapping shifts with Diablo and I didn't make the connection. When she's ready she's gonna make an awesome mom. Here's why:

Bubbles stares intently into the monitor way over at her desk while Bill struggles with doing some weight on the chest machine.

"Bill! Keep your head against the head rest, you'll get more benefit that way," she causally calls out, her eyes never leaving what she's looking at.

HOW DOES SHE DO THAT?! Is it genetic? Something on the X chromosome?

I mention to her my troubles with my diet and discipline. She suggests that I have my jaw wired shut and only suck baby food through a straw until I hit my target weight (kidding! I mean it Bubbles so don't get any ideas!). On the cake thing she says to try only half portions of what I intend to eat.

I'm doubtful but OK, I'll try that. I'll be really curious on how this diet thing progresses and I'll keep you posted.

My trainer ROCKS!

IronMan came strolling in when I was about midway through my total body. He's telling me his back feels a bit 'twingie' since he and JRock moved four yards of mulch in two hours and fifteen minutes yesterday. Ya think? He lays down and starts doing back stretches, I would have taken a week off.

Today's workout requires fifteen minutes of cardio and I'm batting my eyes at the StairClimber. goodMood is already on one doing one of his marathons and I'm thinking to myself, "He looks lonely..." I haven't actually pulled the trigger on it yet but yeah, it's gonna happen.

I continue working through the routine and then shutting down my cerebral cortex I walk over to the dread StairClimber. It's been so long! I've missed you... darling.

Three minutes into it the honeymoon is over and I'm a wheezing, sweat covered wreck. I'm at level seven by that point trudging pointlessly up one stair after another. Oh yeah, NOW I remember why I was shunning this machine. Too late fool, all sorts of bad karma will happen if you stop once you've plugged in the time. I must go the distance.

Five minutes left and time slows waaaay down. I start to pray that it wont go backwards. I look at the clock and it says 5:44 remaining. An hour and a half later I glance down again, 5:18 remaining. I'm sweating all over the place and kind of digging it for some reason. HR peaks right around 74% maxHR and I averaged 67% so it was a good fifteen minutes for me.

I stumble off the machine (goodMood is still on the other one) and thoroughly wipe it down.

Last night I got an email from bikerBabe. I wanted to share it with you because of the joy that radiates through it at doing something successfully for the first time. I've experienced that a few times in the gym, this is the same sort of feeling just a different context:

I changed clothes for the ride home, got my panniers on my bike, started out the door, put my leg over, got on the saddle and no, it just wasn't right. Rear tire was completely flat.

BikerHunk is in Vegas schmoozing. Drinking til all hours with his buddy from Milwaukee. They probably have Hooters girls hanging around. Who knows.

With a front coming in, and never having done it before, I wasn't sure I wanted to try changing the tube. I could call Bill or goFast for help to do it quickly. But what a girl thing to do.

Called noNeed for a ride home, but she was staying another hour.

So, I batted my eyes at a friend who had his 10 year old daughter with him. He offered to take me home. I know, another girl thing to do, but less chance of getting rained on. At home, I cut a few roses for his daughter, and she was happy. Girls are like that.

Called bikerHunk for the first of about 5 times. Established that he was ok with me calling. Reviewed the process.

I found a gash in the tire. Called bikerHunk again to find out if I could see light through the tire, if that was bad enough to change the tire. Got advice on which tires to use.

Started in on changing the tire, powdered the tube, and so on. All was going well until the last 10 inches of tire. I couldn't get that MF on. Called bikerHunk again for advice. Didn't get "you can do this" from him, just "yeah, it can be hard", so now I'm worried.

Tried and tried, surprisingly little swearing. Convinced myself that single women do this, I can do this. And I did! I got the tire completely on! Called bikerHunk to tell him I did it!

Checked the beading. Inflated the tires to 60 lbs, checked beading again. Leaned on the pump with all my weight to get up to 110 lbs. Checked beading.

Do you know how hard it is to get a rear tire back on? Well, that took another 5 minutes but no phone call.

My first time changing a tire! Dirty fingers, but who cares! I did it. Yippeee!

Discipline

I have much to tell but work got in the way so I'm writing this in the evening, relying on oxygen deprived neurons to fire with the facts for once. I'm doomed.

So let's start by Joe Friday-ing this with just the facts ma'am.

Got up at 4:15 feeling sorta into it. Made the coffee, spoiled my wife some by prepping hers, loaded the bike and was on the road at 4:55am and starting the workout at 5:09am. I figure I'd be at work by 6:30am latest.

Today was Tempo Tuesday so I wanted to hold an average HR somewhere in the 150 range. That didn't happen ::sigh:: I only average 146 or 72% maxHR. The fifteen minute bike ride in seems to help. Anyhoo I wasn't into the music playing in the gym so I plugged in the iPod and went to work.

Me and My Bobby McGee got me going but around the midpoint Tom Petty's American Girl lashed me into an elliptical frenzy with its Rickenbacker rhythm and I felt it coming on... that kind of dream state I can get into when I'm doing cardio work. I close my eyes and I'm just... gone. I start tossing my head around and mumble (I hope!) the lyrics, if the song is 'right for the moment' I'm engulfed. Minutes tick by. Sometimes when I open my eyes I'll see someone grinning at me, I try not to care. I finish up with Emenem's Lose It and Dylan's Spirit on the Water for the cool down.

It would be insane for me to EVER wear an iPod on the bike.

It was only thirty minutes but it felt great. I'm totally covered in sweat. I stagger around a bit saying hi to Bubbles and IronMan. IronMan is doing some sort of floor work with sit ups and stuff. Being the helper man I am I ask if he wants the BOSU.

No?

Someone is cranky this morning.

Bubbles is pinching some FNG for the body assessment and so doesn't have time for my endorphin hindered brain. Might as well drink a cup of joe! I do that while staggering around feeling good about my workout then I do the ABS routine.

Bubbles will be changing my ABS routine this Thursday, the busy bee is also gonna help me with my diet. Awesome.

Right now the diet isn't going to well. Too much temptation and I don't seem to have the will to resist. I'm doomed. Doomed fat Bill. Today someone had their fiftieth birthday, did I have cake?

Two pieces and lets not forget the cobbler at lunch.

GROAN.

Do I want this or is 207 good enough? It comes down to looking that cake or ice cream or whatever over and walking away from it so that I can make my next goal of 190. When I started down this path it was easier to walk away, now cracks are showing on the food front. I'm hungry, working out hard and feel that I deserve it. I don't, not yet.

Bubbles can help but just like when she lays out a new routine and hands it to me it's then on me. She can't make me do anything I don't want to and now that I'm feeling like an angst filled teenager I'm wondering if I can dig deep for it and like Nike says, "Just Do It!"

Enough. This little passion play isn't over but I need to think of ways to avoid the kitchen until I push the weight down and drop into maintenance.

God is punishing me for my lack of discipline. I deserve His scorn. When suiting up to ride home I noticed I forgot to pack an extra t-shirt and sullenly put on the pannier fermented, wet one from the morning, my heart rate monitor showing through it like a black bra strap. That didn't occur to me until I was well on the road my thoughts turning from someone who looks like he's coming off a serious workout to a cross dressing-phreak on a bike further eroding the American Dream.

I don't have anything against cross-dressing phreaks, I just don't want to be one.

Not out in public anyway.

Miserable Monday Weigh in Still at 207 :-(

I rode the bike in, hammered through the total body and got into work at 7am - sigh.

It's kinda funny, I'm half wondering if I show up at 6:55am can I get the complete workout in and be at my desk by 7am? Maybe this temporal vortex thing can work in my favor.

I stood before the scale, presetting it to 210 and got on it. No movement, good, good. When I hit 207 the arm slid up to the midpoint.

DARN IT!

Given the amount of work I did this week and particularly on Saturday I was hoping for some weight loss. Second week in a row at 207. Now I feel like I have three options

• Heroin
• Increase Workout Intensity
• Change Diet

I'm not ready to seriously entertain the heroin option yet, too much work, finding a dealer, getting needles, etc. I spent a lot of last week exhausted so I'm a little shy about increasing the intensity of my workouts, in fact I'm wondering if I need some recuperation time.

So it's change the diet, meaning I'm going to have to go back to a total discipline type of model until I hit the next goal (190). So no treats (ice cream, cookies, etc) for Bill for awhile.

The only highlight on this miserable Monday was when I was filling my bottle for the cardio work awesomeGirl was headed into the ladies locker room. As she passed by I mutter to Kingsley, "Well all I have left is three hours on the elliptical."

There was a heartbeat of a pause and then she laughed on her way in.

I walk back to the elliptical machines and chose a lesser one, that is NOT awesomeGirl's, which is also mine and also AT Everest's. As I'm hammering through 'Calorie Burner' awesomeGirl comes around the corner with such hope in her eyes that it would break your heart. She grins when she sees the machine is free.

Maybe her Monday is a bit less miserable :-)

Have a great day!

Slow Tempo Saturday

My wife and I did a nice, slow bike ride through a local park today. It was 13 miles round trip on a beautiful day with lots of dawdling and poking about.

I even took my coffee thermos and saw many interesting things like a doggie drinking fountain.

It was fun, but a doggie drinking fountain? ::rolls eyes::

Then I mowed the lawn and napped - I had a rough night sleeping on Friday. A neighbor stopped by with a Kevin Costner movie called American Flyers, I hope to watch it Sunday evening. He suggested that we go do the same course my wife and I did this morning later in the evening but at a more challenging pace.

I'm apprehensive and trying not to show it - this would be the first time I ever rode with someone at (for me) a workout pace. I don't want him bored and begin babbling my stats, how I'm trying to figure out how to hold 18mph longer than two minutes all the while thinking there are curves on this course I have yet to attempt at such a speed. In effect trying to let him know that I might blow at this.

He shows up around 7pm and we're off after I get my Garmin, I'm curious about the length of the loop (it's 2.25 miles) in case I want to work up my distance on it before trying one of goFast's horrendous 25 milers. I'm thinking first distance, then speed but I'm boxed in by age - if I'm too cautious I'll never know what I could have done.

Periodically my neighbor would say, "Wanna take it up a notch?" making me smile in remembrance of that Nazi spin class teacher (Turn it UP!).

Sure.

We'd hang in the 18mph range for a bit but this course has some fairly serious curves and occasional pedestrians so it's hard to maintain. He likes to spot deer along the path but we didn't see any on this ride.

I nearly caused us to wreck on the way back. That was fun. We're going through a neighborhood and pass a zero-turn lawnmower up on some trailer. I begin rambling about how I could cut my lawn in four minutes... just gab gab gabbing away...

"BILL!"

My neighbor who could care less about my hypothetical lawn cutting time on a zero-turn had started a right hand turn in front of me because he wanted to get home or something. He's right next to me, like we'd done time in prison or something. I lean hard to the right away from him already screaming, "Sorry, sorry, my bad!" while he goes left.

He kept his distance after that. Zero turns will be the death of me I bet.

The overall route had me working at about 64% maxHR for about fifty minutes, the long straight away had me at 68% maxHR for about ten minutes.

All in all not a bad workout for me.

He wants to do a 18 miler Sunday but I'm not so sure. I might have to defer to next weekend since I have a date in the gym on Monday and I'm suppose to take a day off for recovery.

I'm noticing my hands don't hurt so much and my lower back isn't as sore as it once was - hey, maybe I'm getting better!

Not a Bad Start to the Day

My son suggested I should start doing pod casts so you can hear my suffering, singing and delusional, oxygen deprived musings as they happen real time.

I'll give you a moment to digest the implications.

OK, so last night I stoically packed the panniers and had all in preparation except for the one lousy cable I need to transfer the Garmin data, I'll update this post when I get home so that you'll believe my lies story that exercise actually occurred. Had my latte ready to go the whole nine yards.

Then I couldn't fall asleep - then I fell asleep hard until the stupid cardiac infarction alarm clock went off at 4:15 destroying the harmonic 'wa' I was enjoying at that time with dream land. I get up from bed, I have a plan (uncleared with my wife so most likely a bad one) and I plan to implement it. It's simple, get to work EARLY! I stumble around the bathroom managing to shave (I think, I haven't checked since I've started scaring myself when I look in the mirror) without getting one of those gosh darned "you're a bleeder" nicks. Make the coffee, leave it in shape for my wife to just turn it on when she gets up later, load the bike and GO!

I'm glad I was wearing my "It's not MY fault you hit me" windbreaker since it was a cool morning, quiet and beautiful. I get to the gym at 5am...

What the heck???

Already I'm way behind schedule, where did those 45 minutes go?

I suit up and start the total body routine somewhere around 5:10am. It's just me and AT Everest in the quiet gym, the only sound coming from the elliptical she's using on her endless quest to summit Mt. Everest. The kinder part of me hopes she never makes it, she seems to derive so much pleasure in the ongoing attempt that it would probably kill her if she actually made the summit much like those folk you occasionally read about who retire and commit suicide two days later. Now that's a waste in my book but I've always been about naps, hanging out and annoying people. I work a lifetime and NOW when I have nothing but time I'm gonna check out? Gosh I hope not but those folk I've been annoying might have other ideas.

I'd just finished the first exercise of side lunge medial somethings when IronMan shows up, takes me by the arm and profusely thanks me for my help with JRock and mentions that if I continue 'helping' one of us will DIE! He goes off doing IronMan things while I chuck a eight pound medicine ball as high up the wall as I can and catch it on the way down.

I ponder IronMan's meaning, trying to decide if I can help enough that JRock gets him before he gets me or not. I haven't made up my mind yet.

I'm pretty much through the routine, goodMood has shown up so I go and grab my thermos and talk to him while he's on the StairClimber and IronMan pretends to be on the StairClimber. I was told later he was 'stretching' mmhmm.

I do my stretches, I'm not a fan of them because it doesn't 'feel' like a workout so is wasting my time (unlike gabbing with darn near anyone, that's not wasting time!) but I'm starting to see little hints of benefit (like being able to look over my shoulder and not pull seven major muscle groups), so I'll do them when scheduled, no worries.

I pop in the sauna for as long as I can take it and then the shower. Reload all the panniers and head to work.

When? 7am - GROAN.

How was your morning? Mine was pretty fine!

UPDATE: Pretty cool heart chart! Apparently I DIED (now that I think about it, yep, I remember) or entered a zen state reserved only for zen masters. That's a Bubbles' routine for ya, not for the faint of heart!

It Just Doesn't Matter

Of course it didn't rain yesterday ::glares at local weathermen:: I think I'll try and be far less trusting in the future. These guys have been wrong three days straight so why should I believe them when when they tell me the world is going to be an overheated wreck in 100 years? I'm giving strong consideration to not riding my bike in until the farmers pay me to, ending the drought. Nah, the farmers have enough to worry about without that additional 'tax.'

Hmmmmmm.

I seem to have woken up in a bit of a mood. I got up at 4:15 and drove in determined to get a head start on work - I've got paperwork piling up. Banged through my intervals (still haaaattteee them, still dooooooooo them) on the upright bike. I was wrapping that up when IronMan strolls in looking well rested and grinning ear to ear. Even though I thought I was clear with his adoring wife JRock, apparently she didn't deliver on her end of the bargain. IronMan was NOT served an unlimited supply of cold beer in a frosted mug. IronMan was NOT served a bag of his beloved Oreo Double Stuffs arranged on a silver platter in a smiley face pattern. IronMan did NOT receive a back rub and IronMan did NOT get the remote (maybe, I'm unclear on the remote thing).

JRock did mention a glass of ice water but IronMan did NOT even receive that!

Maybe he'll get that delivered to his lap tonight after she reads this?

Look IronMan I'm doing the best I can here! I'm new to this negotiation thing.

After intervals I did Bubbles' ABS workout and left at about 6:35 - SIGH - No matter how early I get in I can't seem to get out earlier :-)

Have a great day!

Ghost Town

Yeah so I stayed up too late last night, WANNA MAKE SOMETHING OF IT??!!

The alarm went off at 4:34 or something and I made, MADE myself get out of bed because that's the sort of dedication IronMan demands. Big biceps that I hope one day to fill!

Since I'm God's gift to pansies I opted to not ride the bike in today and most likely wont tomorrow because of the threat of "afternoon thunderstorms." So it better rain and hail and bring down true wrath of God stuff is all I have to say on that matter.

I get up, brew my coffee and head to the gym. Already I have issues but the fact that AT Everest and IronMan are already there hard at work kept me to my grim resolve. I'm already running fairly late for me with all my dawdling so I actually see awesomeGirl heading into the gym ahead of me.

I cram my stuff into my locker, put my game face on and head into the gym about the same time awesomeGirl does. Kingsley comes running up looking thoroughly spooked, "Thank God you're hear, I've been ALL ALONE! I mean even AT Everest isn't here and I was expecting to see her!"

awesomeGirl is aware of AT Everest's reasons for not suffering today and informs Kingsley. I'm looking around for absent IronMan.

I start my routine, the total body workout completely and totally unmotivated. I make a mental note that Bill can not stay up late and expect to perform at the gym. I'm going through some of that when Diablo shows up in the best mood ever! He's joking around and having fun torturing quietGuy making him stand against the wall like he's being held up and other bizarre trainer things. Slowly wearing him down.

I'm over by goodMood who's killing himself with his aerobic routine today. I'm watching in unmotivated awe and ask him about it and he says, "Well some days you're more into it than others, for me today is one of those days," while threatening to decapitate anyone stupid enough to get sucked into the vacuum he's creating with his jump rope.

Both of us are wondering where IronMan is and hoping he's OK.

I'm doing these tricep lunges that Bubbles devised to break my will when Diablo strolls by on his way to the dumbbell rack looking for some additional means of motivating quietGuy. He makes a series of funny faces and poses and I lose my count but pretend not to.

Diablo, having selected the appropriate instrument of quietGuy's destruction grins as he's walking back, "Nothing can effect your mojo can it Bill?"

"Nope" I say mentally deciding I was at 15 and starting from there.

When I'm working on the other leg, Diablo having reduced quietGuy to a sobbing (OK complaining) wreck, looks at me sadly saying, "Your mojo is no longer risin' is it Bill?"

I grin ear to ear while the rest of the gym bursts out into giggles, "Nope, it stopped in 1971." I have no idea what I meant by that, once again restarting the count at 15.

All that's left is 15 minutes of cardio. A huge war rages in my head over whether to do it or not but I finally plop down on a recombinant and hammer it out at a pretty low HR tempo. I end up sweating pretty well but nothing like J-TOSRV who must be working on her book, One Step Closer to Thee My Lord on the StairClimber.

Will IronMan return to the gym??? Let's find out tomorrow on the next edition of Exercise in Futility!

Who's the girl here?

I'm still seething with quiet rage over the Sunday gym thing. I'm mildly surprised at my passion about it. I guess respect for the facility and it's cleanliness means more to me than I would have thought.

I rode my bike into work today :-) It's exhausting and not the riding part, the preparation for the ride. I need to work on that, lighten the load, get the routine down, blah, blah blah. Here's my prep for those interested:

Yesterday evening

• Pump the tires up to full pressure. CHECK
• Pack for Workout (shorts, socks, towel) - CHECK
• Pack for Work (pants, socks, shoes, shirt, wallet, undies, blah blah blah) - CHECK
• Pack for Ride home (shorts, new shirt, the workout one will be too sweaty (yuck!)) - CHECK
• Pack Gear (laptop, power cord, USB cable for Garmin, Garmin, HR strap, workout routine, blah blah) - CHECK

It's A LOT of crap to support Bill through his busy day isn't it?

I then start shoving the stuff into the two panniers I have, I'm holding the trunk in reserve for the bright yellow 'please don't hit me' wind breaker I wear in in the morning. It's an art of sorts, packing the panniers since you want the weight in each fairly balanced or the bike gets overly tipsy. I then get to remember what pannier holds what. Good mental exercise ::rueful smile::

I attach the Garmin to the bike, check the fleas which still have plenty of power for being so tiny and call it a night.

The alarm goes off at 4:26am and I just kinda lay there and think about it. I'm also listening for rain but mostly deciding if I'm going to ride in or not. Heck, I did all this work so I groan (quietly!), get up, shave, dress, fill the water bottle and brew a latte for my nifty new bike thermos. I'm dying to see how that works!

I load the panniers on the bike, the water bottle and thermos, turn on the Garmin, bring in the paper, turn on all three blinkies, and close the garage door.

AT THIS moment in time, after all the above Bill is finally riding into work.

I don't push it, my average cadence was 59rpm with an average speed of around 13mph. It's a beautiful morning, the sun still hasn't risen but the east is growing ever brighter and the birds are singing all about it. I'm mostly alone, just a few cars are about. Fifteen minutes later I'm at the gym.

I bring the bike in, unhook the panniers, place the bike behind the desk and head into the locker rooms. I rummage around in the panniers looking for Bubbles ABS routine and changing into my gym shorts. Today is 30mins of tempo followed by core and I'm kinda in the mood, ya know?

I pick 'my' elliptical, set if for 30 minutes at level 13 and go. I get my heart rate up there pretty quickly (the bike ride in is a nice warm up) but I'm looking at my average HR and it's around 115. What's up with that? I work a little harder, shoving my HR up above 150 before I realize the average HR is for the entire workout, including my sauntering bike ride in. I decide to keep it around there and thirty didn't seem too bad to me. It also chewed up about 400 calories :-)

While I'm banging it out on the elliptical awesomeGirl comes in and glares at me with open hostility. I smile and call out to her, "Twenty minutes." She storms off to the treadmill after her temptress ways of mentioning Bob Evans failed her. She joins IronMan who's on the middle machine. I'm in some weird funk just kinda glancing around the gym noting the two wipes left by one of the machines. Is that my fate? To become the Felix Ungar of the gym? I decide to let it go glancing up at the TV where I'm treated to some man with fake boobs wearing a green woman's bathing suit being tugged into jail by two cops for booking.

Well that has to be embarrassing, caught by the fashion police and drug past the local news cameras, but he deserved it I figure, green is so NOT his color! It's times like that I wish I could hear the news. Then the usual real horrors begin and I avert my eyes.

IronMan is by the weights with goodMood and they're discussing some routine IronMan has pulled out of mothballs. I look to my left and awesomeGirl is standing there tapping a dumbbell in her hand looking at me speculatively. I glance down at the clock, "Two minutes and a five minute cool down." I figure I need the cool down, I'm totally covered in sweat.

She's good with that and wanders off.

I wrap up, wipe the machine down, dodge awesomeGirl scrambling up onto the elliptical and head to the lockers. Time for a coffee break! It's between hot and warm and tastes really yummy. I stroll out to the gym where IronMan is still doing his thing. It's some sort of routine called The Five Minute Workout and is broken down into Monday, Wednesday, Friday with each day holding three sets of five workouts (like curls) that you're suppose to do for one minute each. I note that unlike MY workout there is no "Annoy awesomeGirl" and I begin to lose interest.

IronMan finally catches a wiff of the coffee and laughs, "You really are drinking coffee?!"

mmhmm. I'm really enjoying it - I haven't tried it before a thirty minute tempo workout but intuition tells me that might not be a good idea. For the ABS I don't think it will bother me and it didn't. I'm gonna have to do that again!

I take my shower, dress for work, reload the panniers being careful to pack the wet towel on top so I can dry it in my work locker and ride slowly over to work. It's even prettier - sigh. This time of year at this time of day is my favorite methinks.

I notice Ally's bike as I'm taking the panniers off. I have GOT to get a photo of that thing! Just a little purplish bike with a helmet on the seat - sigh. I'm going to have to talk to Ally about her Spartan existence. I have so much junk! Who's the girl here?

Have a great day.

207 & Holding

I've bitten the bullet and have set the Garmin to Bubbles unholy maxHR of 203.

Above is exactly what I want written on my tombstone, word for word.

What it means for your poor narrator is that I now have to push myself harder to get into the upper zones which means I'll complain more, gosh I'm a major whiner, who knew?

I'm starting to think about my next set of goals. What to do, what to do? I don't feel done yet.

Did the total body workout thing today, pointed out my blog entry to Diablo because this gym disrespect has got to end if possible and focused more on what needs to be done next goal wise. I feel like I'm floating at the moment.

I'll Tickle Your Catastrophe!

An open letter:

Dearest Good-for-Nothing Slob,

I had a most wondrous weekend filled with friends, joy and awesome food! On Saturday I even went to the bike store on a quest for a new inner tube for my wife's bicycle and a thing called a '4th hand cable puller' so that I could securely fasten the myriad zip ties for my Garmin 305. Having restored my wife's faith that I'm not a total Loser and can replace a inner tube and reattaching my Garmin's cadence monitor I was very excited to take my beloved bike into the gym today for my morning workout having missed yesterday's. My wife decided to drive in but I simply had to ride the bike.

I get to the gym and note my wife already hard at work on the elliptical. I decide to lift some weights and as I'm admiring the nifty new dumbbell rack I notice a sign from Diablo and Bubbles asking politely that when we're done with the dumbbells, medicine balls, exercise mats and what not it sure would be swell if you picked up after yourself, you know, like a well raised adult with manners.

Thou wimpled weather-bitten codpiece!

Oh, pardon, I was merely recalling the joy I felt when I gazed across our fair gym lit by the early morning Sunday sun, noting the various dumbbells left idly about the floor for others to trip upon, the two medicine balls casually left by the barbells and the two exercise mats laying on the floor. For a brief moment I wondered if I had mistakenly wandered into your filthy home you pribbling whoreson haggard, so indifferently had you left the gym.

And yes, yes, I know allllll about the big install this weekend, short of a death in the family or a coronary event brought upon from your labors in our gym I don't expect that I'll have much sympathy for your slovenly ways you contemptible huge hill of flesh.

So I picked up after you, maggot. I particularly enjoyed cleaning up the seven or so wipes you offhandedly left laying about various parts of our gym. Why it almost gave me hope that you actually wiped down the machines you nonchalantly used... almost. I found the used tissue over by the stability balls in the age of swine flu a particularly nice indicator of your total indolence.

So rest assured that I cleaned up your garbage you feckless misbegotten crook-pated clack-dish! Unlike you, you unexceptional bore I respect the others using our gym and I wish to keep it neat and PARTICULARLY clean now that I know hedonistic, unconcerned halfwits such as yourself exist in it.

I so hope we meet! Maybe that can be arranged if Bubbles and Diablo play back the security tape over the weekend! Even better would be if we NEVER meet, and you lose your gym access since you seem so indifferent about it anyway.

Thanks for opening my eyes you bleating sanguine coward. Yeah I'll keep picking up after your slovenly butt, you jerk because nice things are growing increasingly rare in this ugly world. I'll mind this tiny portion of it and try to keep it clean and enjoyable just to spite you, you wretched piece of half-chewed lard.

Heartfelt love,
Bill

BillStock Six Hours of Food, Music & Gab

Well first and foremost, thanks to all who took the time to drop by on Friday! I hope you had at least as much fun as I did!!!

I took a half-day on Friday to make sure all was in preparation. My guests are a peculiar sort and if anything was amiss then they would break out the boot camp cards and put me through my paces. Finally I could power wash no more and all was ready. I run with a hard crew and they're fun as hell.

I had a fair idea of who was coming but nothing is for certain. I hoped I had purchased enough meat.

The first to arrive was JRock, IronMan and their evil daughter dookLover. That's why she's evil, she has acquired an unnatural affinity for Duke and their Blue Devil ways. I spent time spritzing her with holy water but it was too late, she bore the mark of Krzyzewski. Other than that she is a fine young woman and I wish her nothing but well.

They brought a bean dip to die for and tasty chocolate covered strawberries! I made a mental note to kiss my recently attained weight goodbye. IronMan and I, knowing what was to come started with diet Mountain Dew, stimulants would be needed or we'd both nod off at 9PM.

Our house's backyard faces west and the 5PM sun was already showing signs of brutality. We have a shaded area but no one felt like going over to it. I honestly can't remember the order of the arrivals but after JRock, IronMan and dookLover I think it was Kojak and buddy, Ally and hubby, bikerGirl and bikerBoy.

Ally came in with some sort of police/EMT escort. Her usual entourage when she gets involved with our local golf tournament. She and her hubby PLAY HARD! She's dropped off a strawberry pie in the fridge and brought a nice bottle of wine. She introduces her husband saying he really doesn't want to be named in the blog.

Um, OK, Lord Voldemort it is, He-Who-Must-Not-Be-Named!

BikerGirl is advocating for a new name, I'm in the mood so OK. BikerGirl is now bikerBabe and keeping with the theme her hubby is now bikerHunk.

Others are engaged in talk and what not and I'm just running around trying to make sure everyone is comfortable and hydrated. I'm not exactly sure when but somewhere in this time frame I became Kajak's bitch. My former king still holds sway over me and just to be clear I enjoy keeping things going so when I'd ask him if he needed anything he'd say, "Sure!"

IronMan has had enough of the sun and lays down in the marsh created by the power washing in order to cool off while doing crunches.

I'm picking up conversation, most of it unblogable as I dart around or sit in a chair for a few gabbing, but I did learn some neat things. I learned how Ally and Lord Voldemort met and the nefarious means He-Who-Must-Not-Be-Named! used to dispatch his rival Alf in order to win the fair Ally's hand. I'd tell you more except they made me sign an NDA, twice.

I learned about bikerBabe and bikerHunk's upcoming fifth (sixth?) century they were taking since the start of the nice weather. BikerHunk didn't seem to count it as a century (100 miles on a bike) since it was sixty-five miles and then you slept before biking sixty-five miles back. One day, maybe, I'll bike thirty miles in one sitting and brag about it like no tomorrow so I'm impressed.

I ask if anyone's hungry and my wife informs me that she's leaving me. She has to go across town to pick up our daughter from some Girl Scout activity and good luck and all with the cooking thing. As If I'd let her anywhere near the grill!

I'm on my second beer and recently returned from North Carolina so I'm having difficulty counting above two but I'm game.

How many want burgers and how many want brats?

One... two... screw it. I fire up the grill, a Smokey Joe dumping in about a third of a bag of charcoal and dousing it with lighter fluid. Once it goes out it starts smoking so much that I move it out into the yard. I then plop down next to dookLover and shoot the breeze for a bit waiting for the grill to heat up. I suggest she go into medicine the way she was dissecting the three layer bean dip carefully extracting all the best parts. I get s shrug, she doesn't think she can handle the blood.

I grab six of the eight hamburgers and the beer brats hoping it would be enough for starters and start grilling. Bubbles and hubby haven't arrived yet and I'm trying to hold something back for them. My athletic guests fall on the food like super models with a month off before the next shoot. We had plenty to eat.

Kojak had brought chips and bikerBabe's coleslaw was excellent. I managed to feed my son something and right about then my wife showed back up. I was having fun trying to manage everything but I can't tell you if I was from my guests perspective.

Then it was desert time and sadly I had discovered the chocolate covered strawberries and then the strawberry cake my wife made and then Ally's strawberry pie. All were too good!

Either bikerBabe and bikerHunk or Ally and Lord Voldemort were the first to go - they had another day of suffering on the golf course ahead of them. I'm not a golf guy, I've tried it and don't have the temperment required even with the aid of alchohol but that's just me. I followed their enthusiasm though. If you get into a sport enough you can derive quite a bit of pleasure watching the pros go at it. I never thought I'd be into watching a bunch of mutants hump bicycles through France, but I am, big time.

The biker's had to get up at the crack of dawn and ride bikes.

Bubbles and her hubby sciFi came around the corner of the house a bit after nine. Bubbles was lugging God's gift to pasta salad in a monstrous wooden salad thingy and I scooped some up.

YUM! Even though I'm certain I put on twenty pounds by that point I had a bowl or two and it was good!

I managed to rewarm a burger and a couple of brats for them and they sat down and started gabbing. I had brought out my expensive whiskey but figured it would be construed as innappropriate if I started hammering out this blog entry at that time and anyway I wanted to talk. sciFi partook of the whiskey experience along with Kojak's pal. As Kojak was leaving he mentioned we should do this again.

I agree and would be happy to host.

I learned how Bubbles and sciFi met and of sciFi's interest in science fiction. I mentioned Zumba but Bubbles gave me this "I'm off the clock dude" stare and I immediately backed down. I worry about Bubbles and her working three jobs. I hope she and hubby make all their goals.

Most everyone had left by that point, it was getting late. Bubbles and sciFi hung out by the firepit and we talked and then they helped carry stuff into the house. I loaned two books to sciFi, I'll be curious what he makes of them.

My wife and I had a sincerely nice time and hope you did too.

Thanks for coming!

Phone it in Friday

OK I've moved the party information over to the right (->) see it?

Look I'm no RAT so I won't tell you who WASN'T in the gym today but opted to remain all snuggled in their cozy beds dreaming Oreo dreams but I can tell you who was there, me, AT Everest and awesomeGirl - that's it, do the math. We're hardcore athletes with hardcore attitudes, or we just missed the memo - probably the latter.

I'm finding that dialing it back on my end is helping with this constant fatigue. I seem to want to constantly 'push it' particularly with the aerobics and that's not such a good idea I'm starting to think. Though my thighs still burn for you, maybe not as much as they once did.

I did the total body thing with stretches since I'm hosting the potluck thing tonight. I can't wait for that!!! I'll be updating the sidebar in a minute with what I know (not a lot) and I'm taking a half day to finish preparations. I plan to power-wash the backyard. Lawn furniture, trees, the back of the house as high as I can reach, the mulch, the hose... I sort of lose myself in it. It should be a nice squishy marsh by the time the party starts. Look, it's my only weakness.

I hope you can make it!

Working Through It

OK I've moved the party information over to the right (->) see it?

Sometimes you just have to press on. For the last few days I've been trying to find cycles to write about our awesome NC work detail and I'll get to it but not yet.

I suffered mightily in the gym today. Well OK that's not true but there was whimpering involved. When I woke up I was thinking I really need a day off but I'm terrified to take it - I took a few days off in NC but I don't seemed to have recovered. I'm TIRED.

I've managed to hold my weight at 207 which given the cooking down there is something of a miracle but let's deal with the now, I'll get to the 'ago' when I can because the NC foray is worth blogging, along with the few days that followed it.

Both IronMan and I are struggling a bit today, me more so - dreams of sleep and rest - anyway I might be projecting but he didn't seem into it. I have I Don't Wanna Intervals today and decide to practice my walking instead of killing myself on the bike (which I would do, I just can't help it). I set the treadmill for thirty minutes 3mph 3% incline at rest and 4mph 6% incline for work. 4mph is just on the slow side of jog for me.

Yes, I mostly held the stupid hand rails but less than other times - I noticed the more tired I got the more I needed them. Still I gamely trudged on.

IronMan and goodMood were over by the assisted Smith doing something painful judging by the grunting and aerobic breathing. It was a shoulder kind of gig for them so all sorts of Arnolds and what not was going on.

Finishing up on the treadmill I decide to play with those two instead of doing some sort of lonely ABS routine. It turns out the assisted Smith thing is "How many shoulder presses can you do in a minute while sitting on a bench?" Which for me (with no weight on the bar) turned into "I can't count, just keep going until a minute is up" routine.

goodMood seems to like these things. All I can say is I felt it, particularly when I was told to sit in this chair thing and do Arnolds. Then we did some other shoulder work and I did about fifteen BOSU ball type situps along with messing with the bench press.

After work today I go home and mow the lawn and figure out how much stuff to buy for tomorrow's get together. Piece of cake.

I hope to see you tomorrow evening! :-)