Saturday, June 30, 2012

There are no beginnings but humble beginnings

7 minutes.

It was the amount of time we had to run a circuit at the beginning of the year in my wrestling class in high school.  The circuit meant jogging through the wrestling room, the football locker room and down two flights of stairs before sprinting the length of the basketball court and then jogging back up the stairs to the wrestling room.  It was hell.  And the coach gradually increased the distance to ensure that it always was. 

7 Minutes.

That was the time I decided to run back in the week between Christmas and New Year's Eve.  Run for seven minutes.  No matter the distance.  Ended up being a little less than half a mile.  It was hell.  I thought my lungs and head would explode and my legs would just quit.

Today was the biggest workout before the Tough Mudder.  I work tomorrow, am off the next day.  I will probably do a moderate intensity workout on that day because it seems silly to kill myself the day before two consecutive 12 hour shifts in the ED which, due to the holiday are likely to be pretty busy. 

Today's workout totals were this:

7 sets totaling 110 pushups.
6 sets totaling 35 pull ups
6 sets totaling 6 minutes in the plank position
3 sets totaling 10 diamond pushups
3 sets totaling 15 chin ups.

4 sets of running totaling 10 miles in 1 hour and 42 minutes.  It was a personal best distance so that automatically makes it a personal best time.  I could have done it faster, but apparently Satchel has about a 7.5 mile limit.  I had to drag him a ways.  He still ran, just wasn't going to go fast.  At all.  I will leave him at home on the longer runs from now on. 

All of it started with 7 minutes.  There are no beginnings but humble beginnings.  Yet they can lead to really great things. 

Friday, June 29, 2012

6/29/12

I thought I would get more done today.  Another resounding chorus of 'oh well' rang through the hall.

I did get a few things fixed.  I did not get in the workout that I wanted.  My energy and motivation levels are crap right now and I don't really know why.  So instead of working out I worked on IRV.  Last year on the trip to Vancouver we drove through some really high winds in Wyoming.  The winds were high enough that when we stopped driving because it was too windy and sheltered in the RV, the pneumatic shock that holds the door ripped off.  The plate that holds the bracket to the door pulled free and broke the pop rivets out.  Well, I bought a pop rivet gun and fixed it.  Then I caulked around the top of it to keep water out of the cracks around the holes drilled for the rivets.  Hope it works.  It has to be better than the duct tape covering the holes and the bungee cord holding the door open though. 

And when I took the RV to Ventrura to get it fixed, the tight turns near there forced me into a curb check over an apparently frequently curb checked curb.  Curb.  Anyway, that caused a plant in the bathroom to fall and break the toilet paper holder off of the wall.  I attempted a fix of that today too.  We will see how it works. 

Helped Sarah with the laundry, goofed off online for a while.  The AFO forums are doing much better than I thought they would when I started this.  I only hope they can continue.  IT is amazing how much it helps me to have a group like that around.  I finally finished the rough draft of the first chapter of a book I am writing today.  It will be my first crappy novel if I can finish it.  The challenge ends tomorrow and I can't wait.  I want someone else to set the challenge.  It is more fun to write that way I think.

Then we went to the Avila Beach Farmer's Market for fish tacos and fresh fruit.  While we were sitting at the beach eating our food we were joined by a nice younger couple we are expecting their first child.  He is a helicopter pilot from Washington state and she works and lives here locally.  They were cool and it was a lot of fun to talk to interesting adults and adults without children no less.  And yet the conversation still revolved in large part around kids.  It was good.  I hope they do well.  They really sounded as though they had their stuff together and will do wonderfully. 

Then home for the nightly routine.  Tomorrow, back to working out.  The Tough Mudder is drawing closer. 

Thursday, June 28, 2012

6/28/12

It's been a few days.  Three days at work and then today.  Work days eat so much of my time that I don't post often when I am in a stretch.  Can't talk about the patients much anyhow.  I will mention one thing though.

The RV backs up to a grassy dune here.  The full sand dunes are on the other side of the park.  The kids have been playing hide and seek out in the grassy area, the dog goes potty out there.  It has been a general use area. 

When I am was at work the other day Sarah calls and tells me she sees a mountain lion outside the back window.  It was walking across Michael's secret hiding place.  The kids don't play hide and seek out there anymore. 

Worked out today.  The same 7.5 mile run with two workouts at the park.  Got the start time and race day information from Tough Mudder.  It is very real and very soon.  Nothing to it really.  Just go. 

Ned was outgrowing his house.  He is supposed to get to 18 inches or so and was living in a 10 gallon terrarium.  We decided to get him a 20 gallon version and were planning a trip.  Michael volunteered to kick in all the paper money from his birthdays and whatnot that he has saved.  $23.  "It is my lizard after all."  So proud of the kid. 

We went to the birthday party of a girl Michael and Max met a week or two ago at a park. It was great.  Old school with a magician and party games.  Low key and fun.  At the end the kids went to play on an above ground trampoline and my heart jumped.  I've seen too many injuries from those things.  Still, I let them jump for a while.  After the second time Max started crying because he bounced his head off the trampoline or pinched his leg in a spring, we called it a day.  I still don't know why everyone doesn't dig a hole and make the trampoline ground level.  Grannie was ahead of her time. 


Sunday, June 24, 2012

6/24/12

I talk about working out a lot lately.  So, if you are bored with the details of today's exercise, skip the next paragraph. 

I am tired.  I put in some good work today.  It was the usual run to the park followed by the usual circuit.  This time, instead of going home, I ran further.  Made it all the way out to Highway 101.  This took me over a hill which I then had to turn and re-climb.  Total of 450 feet of elevation gain.  Then, on the way home, I stopped at the park for a slightly less strenuous version of the usual circuit.  I did 10 pushups instead of 20.  To make up for it I did 4 sets of pushups instead of 3 and added a set of box jumps to finish it off before heading home.  Total workout time was around an hour and forty five minutes.  Distance of the run was 7.5 miles and the running parts were done in a little over one hour and ten minutes. 

I came home and cleaned up.  Got something fixed on the truck that had been bothering me.  Then I remembered I had to go in to the hospital to get a TB test read.  So we decided to stop afterward and take the kids to see Brave.  It was OK.  A little more intense than the kids probably needed, but fun. 

Whoever made the decision to put commercials up on the screen while you are waiting for the movie to start is an asshole who should be beaten.  Also, thirty minutes worth of trailers is a bit excessive don't you think?  Thirty full minutes.  Prices are bad enough as it is.  It's like they don't want us to go anymore. 

Then we went and got mediocre Thai food and came home.  Max has been out of sorts all day.  I don't know why.  Sometimes the little rugrats are just like that I guess.

Back to work tomorrow with three days in a row coming up.