Up and at'em early

The last couple of years I haven't been working as much as I'd like, so I had lots of time for fitness activities. Even better, I could look at the big outside and have choices about going now, or waiting a little while to see what the weather does. Given our weather, sometimes that's a very good thing.

This year I want to work more and build up the bank account a little. Now that my contract has been extended till the end of the year, that is in hand. I want to spend more time with Linda, more time doing stuff around the house that needs doing, while still trying to stay fit. This has turned out to be a bit more of a challenge than I first thought.

Commuting works out very neatly. We park in a cheap (relatively speaking) lot near Linda's work. I actually walk through her building to get to mine. She gets off work at 4:15, and it's good to meet her there and we can go home together, thus avoiding the brutalities of the LRT. I can fairly easily zip up to Renfrew and get in a good swim once a week before work, and not impact my weekly hours. Two swims starts cutting into it a bit, meaning I have to put in a longer day on Friday, when Linda doesn't work. (Every Friday off, what a life, eh? It just means she works longer days the rest of the week.)

When I get home, if I change into workout gear, and go do it, it will get done. But often we're doing errands on the way home. Often we want to BBQ something, and that's me. Often I'm really hungry, even if I've taken extra stuff to eat with the idea of having a meal shortly before leaving. And, frankly, at the end of the day I find it difficult to get going again if I sit down for very long. Sometimes even if I don't sit down. Yeah, cue up the peanut gallery and call me a slacker.

I used to work shift work, a long time ago now, but the fallout lingers. It is very difficult for me to sleep longer than about 6 hours, unless I'm really tired, or can have enough time to fall back asleep again. However, I can't stay up late either. I'm usually ready for bed between 9 and 10pm. Meaning it's no surprise for me to be looking at the clock at 3:30 am, wondering if I can roll over and go back to sleep.

This morning, without the alarm going off, I was up, dressed for the bike (indoors, of course), water bottles filled, and pedaling, all before 5 am. Yay me!

I didn't bother with watch or heart rate monitor because I figured this would be a nice moderate workout. But once I got thoroughly warmed up my legs were ready to rock and roll. 10 minutes on the second biggest cog at 90, some fast light spin, then 4 minutes in the next harder gear at a bit over 90, some fast light spin, then 5 minutes in that same gear, trying for well over 90 rpm, 2 minutes, 1 minute standing in harder gears, then 2 minutes seated. Cool down. 1:15 minutes altogether.

It felt great! This was the first bike workout in a very long time where my lungs gave out before my legs did. I wasn't gasping, but I wouldn't have been able to chat either. That is a very nice surprise. In fact right at the end of the last hard set I was just on the point of feeling clammy and queasy. Normally I like getting a good sweat on and it feels good. But at some point I start feeling odd, as if something in my body isn't quite keeping up any more. I made sure to do a good cool down, with a couple of spin ups.

At my ART appointment yesterday the Dr said it was going really well, to keep on doing what I was doing, and I was going to have a great season. So far I haven't signed up for anything, but I hear Chinook half IM calling my name, and the Fernie half marathon in October. Maybe some short stuff in between. But remember, this is a year to be working more, not less, and I have to keep the priorities firmly in mind. Unless, of course, Linda wins the lottery, and then I can be a kept athlete like some of my buddies, and they know who they are.