Day 73

Day 73 saw me chasing a spotted fawn down this path. 

The poor thing couldn’t quite put together that I wouldn’t follow it if it got off the path. 

I had caffeine yesterday and couldn’t fall asleep until about 2 am and I was sleepy but my legs felt good and the weather was great. 

I forgot my water bottle today so I mostly kept track at work with tic marks.

I was both thirsty and sloshing all day. 

I drank 105 oz and still feel thirsty and sloshing. 

I rode the bike in the evening and watched motorcycles travel backroads of Montana. 

My reading was split between desserts and the feuds between professional cooks and cookbook writers. 

But you must read this crazy factoid that was at the tale end of the almond pudding/tart section. 

 

Day 72

Day 72 started with chores and coffee. Man I love a weekend. I didn’t get to a workout unit around 11. It was warm and people were out. I passed 3 mountain bikers and missed the cool but found something encouraging. 

I felt the weight of the time that I was taking for that morning hike but no weight at all from the distance. 

I felt hot and some of the hills will always be an effort but what was, at the beginning, a real effort in distance is fine now. 

My foot hurts less and my distances are greater. 

I love that. 

In the afternoon we went to the gym and I benched the bar 4 times and got it in and off the bracket myself. 

Tiny but significant progress. 

I had a great time in the circuit room and in the free weight section. 

I’ve decided to use my body weight as a goal for things like leg press and bench press. I’m not sure if that’s a good metric or not but I really should be able to push and pull what is essentially myself. 

A weird thing happened in the evening. 

Because my son started to get a migraine at the gym we left earlier than expected. I therefore had a good bit of energy left as I hadn’t run in the morning. 

So while watching (so much) YouTube in the later evening I got on the bike and just rode for the pleasure of the motion. 

We did normal Sunday chores like laundry and trash but mostly took it easy for the day. 

I drank only 58 oz of water but also 2 big coffees. 

I read several recipes that were so close to looking good like apple puffs and cabbage salad and even some breast but even though they had sugar and cinnamon and ginger they also all had so much egg.

Whyyyyy

C’mon Shakespearean cooks 😵‍💫

Day 71

Day 71 started with a group run. 

We ran up in Untica park and my daughter joined us. 

I’m running slower with her but it’s so nice to have her there. I’m happy because we are doing a thing together and she’s getting fit. 

Yay. 

In the evening I did the stationary bike in front of stage 9 of the Tour.

I read about professional cooks and their movements in the Elizabethan era. Mostly they went to Europe but especially France to learn new recipes and techniques but in one case a pro cook followed his master into prison. 

Sometimes they had catering business on the side and if they were lucky they would hire themselves out when royalty was around to buff up the CV. 

Or the reputation anyway. 

I drank pretty well today. 82 oz of water plus a green tea. 

 

Day 70

Day 70 saw my semi triumphant return to mountain biking. My son and I rode down to the local trail head.

Just as we got there my poor boy got a flat. It was one of those sidewall slips that a tire pump couldn’t fix. They had a bike fix station so at least we tried to fix it.

 

He walked home and I rode around a bit trying out the beginner trails. It was muddy and I was nervous but it went really well and I got the tiniest bit of air. It was glorious. 

I ride home and caught up with him and then went to get his bike. 

That tire is full on flat. 

The evening wokout didn’t even start until 9:45 as I had Bookclub and a Diablo II lan party. 

But I rode the stationary bike and watched today’s Tour highlights.a flat sprinting day today. 

I read a good bit about bread and baking and the various legal issues that came with that he highly regulated staple. I also learned that professional cooks and bakers of Shakespearean times wore blue. 

I drank ok ish today. I did 64 for sure and then some undefined amount because we went out to eat and I drank a bit there but I don’t know how much  plus a glass of juice. 

Day 69

 Day 69 was misty and only 70 something. I walked and saw the owl again. 

I also saw this almost fairy ring. 

I was planning to go try mountain biking for the first time in decades but it started raining just before noon and never really let up. So after dinner I pulled the stationary bike into the office and watched one of my favorite YouTube runnings go through Arizona. 

I read about Oysters and carp and chickens and almost a salad I could make but then as the last second it pulled defeat from the jaws of victory and added hard boiled eggs. 

Curse you Jacobean cooking. 

I drank better today.  72 oz plus a coffee. 

Day 68

 This morning I went swimming. I managed one lap of crawl. The breathing still isn’t right so mostly I did strokes where my head was out of the water. 

I shared a lane with a woman who was a super aggressive water walker. She was moving!

The group evening run was today. My daughter made her triumphant return. 

She’s decided that she vastly prefers running at the gym in the AC. 

It was pretty darn hot. 

I read about non holiday private feasts. 

A story is told that the king (James) was going to visit a gentleman for a stay. And the gentleman, in order to avoid the expense of hosting royalty, just burned his own house down. 

Apparently his how’s did in actuality burn down but the story is considered apocryphal. 

Popular in its time though. 

I drank not enough today. 64 is oz plus a coffee. 

Day 67

One of the 75 hard videos I like to watch has a guy who was really flagging at the end. He was down about it but then realized that his self discipline was keeping him going through the disappointment in a way that was improved over his pre 75 hard self. 

Today I looked out at the rain (not a very heavy rain) and shrugged and grabbed my rain jacket. 

I think I am having that same moment. 

My get up and go is stronger now and my willingness to be uncomfortable. 

So far so good. 

For the evening workout we went to the gym. 

I got to wear my colorful pants a you can see and I did a circuit plus upper body stuff. 

I also bench pressed the bar once. 

Massive improvement. 

I am clearly a professional. 

 I read more about fast day meals and saw some appalling eggy prune recipes plus onions and apples. No thank you. 

I drank 89 oz today plus a coffee. 

Day 66

Day 66 started with a run. 

I did not want to run this morning. 

It was a pretty foggy morning but I still feel tired from that 5k. 

This week has 5 minute runs. This is actually where I was when I stopped my other couch to 5k program. I can’t tell yet if it’s much harder or just I’m tired. 

But I got it done. 

In the evening I ride the bike and watched the US Belgium game. 

This whole red card political intervention has robbed me of the joy in this team. I know it’s not their fault but I’m not cheering on the home with as much enthusiasm for sure.

I read about fasting day menues and about a late day meal they called evening drinks that had eggs and fish pie.

“Drinks” lol  

I drank 81 oz today  

Day 65

I had a tragic revelation today. I can’t even lift the bar on the bench press. Like not even off the resting rack. 

Oh gracious. Well now I have a very specific goal of getting to 50lbs on the machine before I go try that again. 

I did a few shoulder stability things and played 10 minutes of a bike game in which you are a dog running around a park. 

I also did bench press machine stuff and felt like a noodle. 

After a fairly relaxed day full of chores like laundry and room cleaning amd getting the trash up the hill I rode the bike and watched YouTube. 

I read about lent feasts and found this great template for a piece of crust shaped like a fish. 

Today I drank a coffee and two teas and 68 oz of water but possibly 92 because I can’t remember how many times I emptied my bottle today. 

 

Day 64

This morning was group run morning. They did not cancel for the heat. In fact the had a 5k scheduled. 

Our training group ran with them. 

I only saw about a dozen of the group. 

I had no idea it was going to be a race but I registered at the table and pinned on my bib. 

I found my group B coach. She said she’d been planning on walking but as I had my timer out we went together. 

It was incredibly hot. 

We wound up doing 7.5 intervals instead of 5 and finished at just before 42 minutes. 

If you’d like to see the finish here it is. 

At the end they gave us cold towels and watermelon and snack mix. 

I sat by my car in the shade and felt a heat headache turning into a migraine. 

I got home and sat in the cold plunge and took lots of pills and went to bed. 

In the evening we went to a 4th of July party and we did our home fireworks. 

I skipped some meals today through headache nausea and straight up calorie restriction. 

It was easy at the party as they had ribs and pie. 

The Tour de France started and I watched team time trial while biking. 

I drank a fair old bit in the heat. 

I got about 85 oz maybe 90. It was hard to tell with cups of water on the 5k and cups at the party. 

I read about table manners which were remarkably similar in Shakespearean times. 

 

Day 63

I did a little rekie on the mountain biking trails I’m going to try with the kids next week. 

Got 11k steps in before 9. 

It was super muggy and still but also beautiful. 

I listened to World Cup podcasts and fought off some ovarian cyst pain with slow movement. 

I spent most of the day playing video games but went out once for lunch for great thai food. 

Our town always does its fireworks on the 3rd so I really should have done my 2nd workout early. In fact we did load up for the gym at 4 but they closed early because of the fireworks and traffic so we went back home and played more video games. 

Today I played the 2016 Doom and a Jack Black heavy metal comedy game called Brutal Legend. 

Lots of fun. 

Then at 9 we headed out for fireworks. 

Then at 10 onto the bike to see the sports. 

I read a good beet tart thing that was weirdly spiced and wondered where the author (I think she’s in Minnesota is getting 3lbs of frying rabbits).  But! There was this poem written by a husband (head of household) to his wife’s dairy maid. It was the most condescending, lecturing, mansplaining thing ever. 

He was telling her how to do her job and not to put too much salt in the cheese. 

I am offended these hundreds of years later for that woman. 

Good Lord!

Let that woman do her job. 

I drank about 85 oz of water and had a coffee in the morning. 

 

Day 62

 It was quite hot this morning. I hiked around in the shade and saw lots of nature (a big bird that might have been the owl again) lots of deer a turtle and a monarch caterpillar.

I’m tired and drained from the migraine but it was a walking morning so I lucked out. 

In the evening we watched a Lemmy (Motörhead) movie and then I got on the bike and watched triathlon stuff on YouTube. 

Our friend Martin gave us this bike when he moved back to Germany and it’s been a Godsend in the evenings of late. 

I read about table setting etiquette in the Elizabethan era and a poem about being a guest. 

I drank 81 oz of water plus a green tea today. 

Day 61

They cancelled the group run today for heat advisories.

I’m happy to have an earlier run in the woods as I woke up with a headache and am relieved to not have to bring a bad head into a hot social unknown.

I felt the heat and my first 4 minute interval felt terrible  my knees hurt and my back hurt and my everything felt tired.

But magically my next running interval felt great. I even had a few seconds of actual running.

I mean it was flat to downhill but it was definitely not a jog.

That was terrific.

I nearly smacked straight into the mountain biker. I think he was out early because of the heat.

I jumped straight into a pokey set of wineberries and we both apologized to one another and carried on.

This is what my water bottle looked like when I got back home. 

I got my migraine today. Went home early from work after taking a few ibuprofen. Got home took a sumatriptan and went to bed. 

I got up a few hours later and drank some kombucha and did a few chores. 

I went downstairs to watch USA vs Bosnia and ride the bike again. 

I didn’t drink a ton because of my head but I had about 45 oz before lunch so I was on track till I crashed. I had a 16 oz strawberry basil smoothie and a 16 oz kombucha and a coffee so the liquid intake was okish.

I read several baffling recipes including a salad that was just lemons with sugar and a description of potatoes as Peruvian skerrit. Potatoes dipped in wine and sweet potato dessert with apples that sounded nice. Also an Italian description of the loveless English sending their children away because they cared only for their own comfort.