Friday fooled

Last of the work week, I weigh 206.5 pounds and my blood pressure is 129/83 with a heart rate of 37. It does seem like my blood pressure is where it should be.

Rolling, just rolling along...

I weigh 207.5 pounds today, the rain is falling and foggy conditions wait outside the door, my blood pressure is 138/94 with a heart rate of 40. I have looked at my motorcycle and will talk to it again tonight. The cold is banked and I might be ready to start exercising tonight, I certainly have lots of motivation. The women have just stopped looking me over in the Mall. The plumpness is folding over the belt and the bottom of the shirt swells with what can no longer be contained. Yep, I want to be loved by one...

Little steps, make a journey...

I weigh 207.0 pounds, blood pressure is 140/85 with a heart rate of 41 beats per minute, hopefully with a nice rhythm, irregular is the kind of fellow I want to be, not the way my heart works. I am still hiding from breaking out in muscular sweats for lots of reps and against gravity - the last of the cold lingers but it is going. I walk to the dock and notice that I can see the pathway along the road, the light has returned to my days. The trees aren't as green as this picture, the route is the same and budding has started on some of the early ones, Spring then Summer is to be looked for.

I stopped with my wife at a restaurant, and the waitress asked if I worked at McNeil Island, and I said yes. We ordered and when she brought back the drinks, she said "You're the guy that walks everyday." So easy to build a reputation, just by being a little different. There are, in good weather, other walkers, and a few in bad. Mostly everyone rides the bus, the American way. I have almost always walked down, unless I am running out of time to catch the ferry or I am ill for some reason. People think it is for my fitness that I do the walk, but for that I jog, the walk is for my mental health. The thick tree lined road, twisting with animal sign and sightings, takes me back to walking home in Pennsylvania, wondering where are the French and Indians. I use the time to daydream a bit, to wonder 'what if?' of many silly things. And then suddenly I am at the dock ready for the ferry boat ride.

Only one more time to walk, hard and fast, after arrival at the island dock the race starts to get inside the gates and get to work. I like the surge, passing the Headquarters building, to get to the entry gates, under tower guard control. Up the steps two at a time into Control and then work. My mind is ready, my spirit soared.

Another day of recovery

Weigh 206.5 pounds,119/86 blood pressure and heart rate of 42 beats per minute. Not only are you supposed to fit within the stereotype of those paying attention box you in their mind - but you aren't to climb out of that cage... Obstacles, my life has been going through them or around and over them or getting the key or enough explosive to open magically... the toughest barriers are always the ones in my own mind. If I say I can't do a pull up - then it isn't going to happen unless I get shocked.

Burned it all out...

Fevered dreams and sweaty sheets by morning the sinus, cold is gone driven away in the night. I am pleased. Tomorrow I will pick my training up again for today I need to adjust all my other stuff. My Triumph needs chain lube, and some cleaning. My bills need attention and paying, my library has two days of work to get started on and the Public Library Human Resources does deserve a return call so we can discuss my future - always good to think one has a future. I weigh 205.5 pounds, blood pressure is 130/83 with a resting heart rate of 38 bpm.

And on the Seventh Day

I weigh 205.5 pounds, blood pressure 132/73 with a heart rate of 42 beats per minute.

Thought better of it... and did it anyway

I wake before the alarms and get up and turn them off. I take my medicine and think I shouldn't go to the 15K today, my wife would agree with me. My sinus problem is there but doesn't seem that bad, still my wife would tell me not to run. About the third time I thought about not running because it was cold, I had a sinus problem and my wife would tell me not to run, I decided to go and run anyway. I weigh 206.5 pounds, blood pressure is 124/84 with a heart rate of 45 bpm. I make my gruel (oatmeal, grapenuts, chopped nuts and raisins with warm milk) and have a cup of coffee. I dress in layers and remind myself that it is only 9.3 miles to run - anyone can jog for that distance.

I drive by the closed Triumph Dealership, promising myself that I will visit it when it is open, my wife wants a sissy bar on my bike for when she goes with me. The sky is clear and blue and the Olympic Mountains and Mount Rainier are brightly reflecting the Sunshine from their fresh snows. I am early but I do get my number and wander, listening and then slowly stretching and checking the heart monitor's function, I reposition the belt for better contact. I am cheating just a bit, I left my partials at home so I am lighter - not that it will make a difference.

At nine the gun (not really, must have been a horn) sounds and we move out, I am ready to start my watch as I cross the starting line, I already know I am going to be slow - I have been sick. I jog along, keeping my pace up for the first three miles, after that I kind of fall into the what ever feels good pace - the one I day dream to so well. Before I hit my turn around the fastest fifteen miler flys by - so fast and so smooth. I make the turn and the three men trying to catch the leader speed by me, too. Ah, since I know I am slow, not a real problem. Don't I wonder if I was ever fast enough - not racing fast but speedier than now, was I? Well, I make it in, cheered on by kind folks that know it takes effort to show up and start and then finish. Finishing is great! I burned 869 Kcal and 45% of it was fat (a pound of fat is 1600 Kcal) my average Heartrate is 108 bpm (so slow), in zone only 17 minutes and 2 seconds, total exercise time one hour, fifty-eight minutes and sixteen seconds. I am pleased that I have run, just not proud.

I firmly believe that I beat everyone that hasn't jogged today - because I am sure movement is very important to life, very. Still my average speed was 12.69 minutes per mile. Such a slug. I go back home and get hot soup for lunch and find out what my wife's plans are for the day. I go take a nap and will my muscles to loosen up a bit. I check my email, find I have a meeting I am supposed to be at, make it and then ride off on my motorcycle. The run has me feeling like such an old man I want the powerful feeling back, roll on that throttle.

I ride off into the last of the Sunshine and wave at the other motorcyclists, too good a day to miss. I stop at the Harley-Davidson dealership - saw something to look at one day, nothing to buy. I then get back on the road and hit the highway, long enough to feel really powerful. Then I exit to find the Triumph Dealership open and look around (they are repainting) and talk to one of the staff. He asks me when I got my America, and I realize it was exactly a year ago I rode it home in the rain, scared I was going to do something stupid (stalled it three times, dropped it at home). He then asked how many miles I had on it and I said 8400, he said I really ride. Yes, I do and I mentioned the long trip to Minnesota. I left, the Sun had gone down, and it would get colder riding. Time to call it a day, a very good day it was, too.

Work through the pain, the guy way to the grave...

Still some sinus problem, but I can hang, and I even am fool enough to think I could ride the motorcycle to work, but the weatherman is working for my wife and says there will be scattered showers by evening (NOT!). So I am saved for my 15k road race (?) tomorrow in Steilacoom. Well, I will be there, the racing is going to be for the other folks.
I weigh 207.5 pounds today, blood pressure is 131/73 and heart rate is 45 bpm. Healthier if I get more liquids and some more rest. Wearing a sweater that my wife says looks good on me, I just want the warmth - gave up looking good years ago...

Recovery is possible

I didn't go to work yesterday, I got to the parking lot and started walking towards the bus and decided I was a fool and should go home and rest. So I did, don't drive when you feel sick - it takes too much energy and concentration. At home I hit the bed for a solid six hours of sleep after submitting my sick leave request and calling the shift office at the prison to let them know I wouldn't be opening the library. I would drift in and out of sleep the remainder of the day, lots of liquids consumed and more sleep.

Today I weigh 206.0 pounds, blood pressure is 121/68 with a heart rate of 44 bpm. So I am recovering, and I had better rest again today - at work. Seems I have a fifteen K to run on Saturday and I will need to be better by then. I will still be running it slowly but for an old man that will be fine.

Ugh, why is my head so full and heavy...

I weigh 208.0 pounds this morning, blood pressure is 133/86 and heart rate is fifty-seven, I would say I am sick. So I will go to work after breakfast and devotions and take a large thermos of hot ginger tea with honey, should pick up some orange juice on the way to the boat, too. Will sleep longer tonight, I need ten hours at least.

Sinus explosion!

I wake and read email, return comments and send a new, then my head blows up and I am coughing, all I did was take my medication. Anyway I could declare a rest day and clean up the computer cave and pay my bills. My weight is 204.5 pounds, blood pressure under coughing 152/86 and the heart rate is 47 beats per minute - I am alive working on minor miserable...

Well, my sister writes that I am a jerk and an idiot, so I slink back into the darkness and cold. It is cold outside, frost on my windshield and roof, the fog is ground bound and I decide that after my morning gruel I will go an jog my heart into better condition. Yesterday I noticed the old man jog step - short and no push from the trail leg, and everyone knows you only go faster by how much time you spend in the air between your feet touching down, so I pushed off more yesterday and I would work on that on my short jog this morning. 436 kCal and forty percent of that fat (didn't I read that before?) Average Heart Rate (Hr) 124 bpm, time in zone 38 minutes and fifty-five seconds, exercise time total 40 minutes.

I did have an angry big black dog problem, any dog barking and snapping teeth within two feet is a problem. I wondered if I should come back and shoot it, if I should hit it hard with my handweights, or just keep running backwards facing it until the dog got bored - I chose the last, and the dog lives another day and I got clean away. I have only been bitten by one dog in many years of running, and it surprised the dog as much as it did me - but the bruise was a bad one and I only need one for a story - repeating the mistake makes me that idiot my sister thinks I am. I should always disappoint my sister's lower expectations.

Walked for thirty-four minutes down to the dock, stood on my feet all day working in the library playing catch up, come nightfall I am tired and my sinus problem needs more liquid and sleep.

Survival is important to the living...

As I get older and older and really older I often think about quality of life - being old isn't great if you feel that you are truly falling apart faster than you can heal and recover. Watching Bob Woodruff covering the recovering vets from IEDs in Iraq and knowing there are real people inside those minds and bodies that are struggling to regain funciton, full function -- and there are some fat clerks telling them that medical, mental and financial support isn't authorized in the quantity or quality needed. Well, I like to think that many will recover and get better because they are young and struggling, something like that happening to me or someone elder might just close us down, our lives have been lived and it is over, thank God.

Breda covers another dead woman, attacked & destroyed by something ugly and probably predatory male. Wondering if we will ever learn and telling women to fight back, although the PC crowd says stay inside, travel in groups and carry a whistle. I like to think you should carry a boot knife, pointed, double edged, one piece (not a folder nor switch blade, butterfly type), blade between three and a half inches to five depending on your body size. And one would hope you know where to stick it - don't slash, stick it in many times making many holes to bleed from. The Roman Legions won battles sticking their slashing enemies. They lost an empire when they decided to allow someone else to protect them and fight their wars (government inaction and lack of personal responsibility). I also recommended a .45 cal derringer they really come in various calibers and sizes, and again must be practiced with and then used in time of danger, like immediately-- there isn't any talking ugly out of bad behavior, shoot the cur. The pistol becomes a problem of current anti-gun legislation but then they don't really care if you live or die - just that you obey their laws (government in action & inaction, a 2fer!).

Martial arts are good, for physical fitness and sport, and if you get real serious about it to kill or disable the ugly fool... but that is a lot of serious and lots of work and most will never get that far. I am at the age that I want to start my Aikido training, but haven't found the time, place nor instructor to lead me - in other words I am not really serious, yet.

Weight this morning 205.0 pounds, blood pressure 122/75 with a heart rate of 49 bpm. My friend asked if I hurt after running on Saturday, and I said 'No', and he said I hadn't worked out hard enough - but I don't think one has to hurt to progress; maybe do more, do it faster, do it unbalanced and different - but I don't think pain is important as a gage of progress, only in one's limits. I do knock out fifty reps of the basic three, bent leg situps, push ups, and squats - the minimum every human should do daily. So little to ask. Speaking of asking, honey-do's need done. Done, and now do I ride the motorcycle or jog for my heart - responsibility again rules - I jog. The Sunshine is great, fifty-four degrees, I watch the motorcycles throb past me, sigh. I am on a mission: 626 kcal and forty percent of that fat burned, average Heart rate 119 bpm, in zone 54 min 11 seconds, exercise time total one hour and fifty-seven seconds. I passed a heart walker, he said he hasn't seen me in awhile, I told him I was old and lying to myself about it being too wet, too cold and just too awful to go jog in...

The only pain I really worry over is that big one waiting, in the left arm or center of my chest - Dad said it felt like a mule kicked him when he had his, and he was farm boy enough to know how that would have felt. It's in the genes, and my jeans, ya know? I get more like that picture every day in every way.

Motivation, perseverance, denial and deceit...

Long time jogger, starting for building wind for three minute Karate rounds like a boxer, I ran twenty quarter mile laps on the track. At first difficult to stay positive, I found counting up to twenty a real drag, so I started counting down to one and fooled myself into thinking there was a difference. Same distance and the same time, but felt rewarded when each lap slipped away and I had less to go. Still lap running is boring, great for being coached, great for competing but without those two it is just boring. I moved to road work for the change in scenery, the Dogwood Marathon in North Carolina had the most beautiful gardens and homes to pass and lose oneself running through.

I weigh 204.0 pounds today, blood pressure is 107/81 with a heart rate of 43 beats per minute, if one were to believe the machines, they will be consistant and then the being measured is the variation (not the position of the planets, moon or season). Good start for today as I try to regain my fitness and better health.

When asked what made the real difference during these last few years of weight loss and better numbers on the blood pressure I have to answer that my doctor's prescriptions and a book titled Younger Next Year: A Guide to Living Like 50 Until You're 80 and Beyond, by Chris Crowley & Henry S. Lodge, M. D. And I add that what I paid attention to was what the young doctor kept telling me about human males from our evolution on the Savannah tuning our biology to respond to season, nutrition and activity levels. The doctor spoke to what I kind of knew about me, and so I could jump on his program easily. The old guy, that can't keep promises and relationships with women (three marriages?), I discounted except for his enthusiasm and testimony of change.

So I bought a Polar heartrate monitoring unit, with a chest strap to catch my beating breast rhythm. And once you run in the zone for fat burning and heart thumping combined with a little ragged breathing - the pounds of fat melt away. Well, remember not to eat cooked potatoes, white rice and white flour and stay away from refined carbohydrates - sugar, alcohol, and corn syrup... so easy, huh? Well, try shopping in common stores and not buying Chinese. Add a basic fifty repetitions of bent leg sit ups, push ups and squats done daily (if you can find the time - your mind will wiggle out of it if you allow it).

The Sunshine calls to me, for my motorcycling and for my heart rate run - which is only a jog but much better than nothing at all. Average heart rate 118 bpm, time in zone (140 to 110 bpm) 33 minutes 09 seconds, exercise time total 38 minutes 28 seconds. Fat burning 40% of 383 kcal. which doesn't sound like much but everyday and it works it off, remembering that I am building muscle to increase the calorie burn. Or so one says as he lies to himself, at least my mind didn't talk me out of doing. Now to move the chin up bar into place.

Why this way

My family doctor told me when first meeting me that I had to stop running, which meant that I stopped listening to him immediately. I should have walked out, but didn't. I took his medications, kept jogging and wore a heart monitor for over a day so he could see just how slow my heart rate would get while I rested or slept. It wasn't going to stop entirely he decided and he told me I could start running again. Today I weigh too much, 208.5 pounds, I should be about one hundred and eighty and would be very pleased at 185, which I haven't seen for awhile. My blood pressure seated is 130/84 with a heart rate of 43, so I am still out of good condition and will have to work on that among other things. I did go out to jog with 3.5 pounds of hand weights, I was out for fifty-seven minutes and twenty-two seconds coming back just in time to wave at a neighbor with an oxygen mask on being put into an ambulance. He must have had some chest pains, he walks daily and smokes while he does that. I smoked for eight years, 16 to 24, starting because of a government program and stopping from selfish self interest.