Howdy y’all –
Been trying to keep busy with work and real life, and haven’t had much time to keep up with everyone. Will likely be touch and go for the rest of the month – good things are afoot at the Circle K. Huge congrats to Deene and the rest of the RBF Marathoners in Vegas, though.
Decided to give in to the flu shot last week and was a slug Wed-Sunday. But, lots of sleep later I feel great. Plus, I managed to get the garage cleaned and organized, and the wife’s car now has a warm home for the winter.
This week has been great so far regarding sticking to fitness. Weigh-in Monday was 170, weigh in today was 169, which means that 171 may have been a post-Thanksgiving, post-marathon plateau, and I might be getting my weight headed in the right direction. Jack’s eating my lunch, weight-wise. Well, I wish he were eating my lunch – maybe then I’d be 7 down instead of 2 up. But, I can’t really complain – I’m headed back in the right direction, and managed ot check the slide I usually take after a big fitness milestone. It’s all about making it a lifestyle instead of an accomplishment.
Today was 30 minutes on the stationary bike at the base gym over lunch, and a set of 30 sit-ups and 20 push-ups. Did the heart rate program, 30 minutes at 150. Nothing fancy, ‘cept the sauna that I was hoping to try turned out not to be a sauna.
Monday was probably the most enjoyable run I’ve had in a long while. Lunchtime again, from the base gym, out for the 3.4 mile loop. HRM, trying to stay under 150 again, and doing a much better job of it this time.
The weather was insanely beautiful. Blue skies, unlimited visibility, gentle breeze, temps pushing 40. Great day to be out for a run. Came to the steep part of the course at the same time as a woman running in shorts and a t-shirt, and sprinted up the hill. Pegged my heart rate somewhere around 180 for 45 seconds, and completely loved the burning in my throat, the pounding in my chest, and the feeling of my lungs being pulled into my bloodstream as the red blood cells tried to unload CO2 and suck in O2 as they flew by the alveoli.
The woman caught me again coming up to the bridge to cross back over to the gym, and it was all I could do to bite my pride and let her pass so I could keep my heart rate near zone. Every fibre of my body wanted to kick it up and finish strong back to the gym. But, I would have looked like a complete jerk for passing her twice. So, I kept plodding along, heart rate in zone, and ended up at the corner at exactly 30 minutes. 30 seconds slower since the last time I ran this route (Kind of can’t believe that that was over 2 weeks ago…). But overall, I felt better.
Pushups and situps before and after the run.