Happy Birthday (Not Me!!)
2006-09-20, 2:58 p.m.

Day 759 Happy Birthday

No � not me. I don�t have anymore of those.

It�s Jill�s birthday today. She's now all of 22. Even though she�s not technically ours (yet), we�re doing her up a bit tonight. Got a few presents for her, having a dinner of her choice (Chicken Cordon Bleu, corn on the cob and salt potatoes) and a cake of her choice too (carrot cake w/cream cheese frosting � NO SINGING!!)

I think I get to cook. Don�t know for sure. Doesn�t matter much I suppose.

She's headed to her folks home this weekend for a celebration with her own family. We just can't let the day slip by un-noticed.

Got all trained up on the Nautilus equipment at the Y the other night. New toys!! The other stuff I was using (Life fitness machines) were all electronically controlled. The computers kept all your settings and tracked all your exercises. With the nautilus gear, it�s all manual now. I�ll still earn points, etc. but I�ll have to manually enter all my exercise routines into the tracking software. It�s only a pain the first time you enter a particular exercise, after that the program retains everything you�re done for quicker look up in the future.

Besides learning the new equipment, also picked up 5 new exercises. Four of them I�ll be doing regularly, the fifth (Dips) I�ll only use of the triceps machine is down. So now, instead of 12 pieces of equipment, there are 14. Two beasties do 2 exercises each, one is completely new (the Pull Over � kinda odd, but it definitely has some effect)

The morning routing will be pretty much the same, 35 minutes sweating it out on cardio, then a split weight routine � upper body one day, legs and core the next, followed by a rest day. Saturday will be a monster day. Do 2 sets of all the gear, go to a 60 minute step class, then head back out and do another 2 sets. Very fun day. Sunday is bike riding day with no focused weights at all. Sort of a rest day, depending on the bike ride.

Speaking of which, Sunday I decided to ride from home, a couple miles west of Rochester, along the Erie Canal to the village of Fairport. Had been to Pittsford previously. Nice 20 mile round trip. Fairport is the next village on the canal. Somehow, I thought it was much closer. Figured the round trip would be around 25 � 28 miles.

Oops.

Trip took 2 hours 15 minutes and covered 33.5 miles. Let myself get a little dehydrated and also got my blood sugar a little low. Just felt kind of light headed and slightly nauseous. After some orange juice, a couple of apples and even more water the old body started feeling normal. Surprisingly, the legs weren�t doing too bad. That�ll teach me to skip lunch before a longer ride like that.

The biggest problem with the canal path is that after Pittsford it isn�t paved. Just stone dust & driveway gravel. Really slows you down. Really don�t like having to ride on the gravel either, especially with road tires. May just have to give up on the canal for the longer treks and stick to heading out for the western villages via state roads. Sucks having to deal with traffic lights & cars, but it�s better than having your fillings shaken loose traveling over gravel. Plus � if I have a breakdown it�ll be much easier to call in a rescue trip if I�m on a well traveled road. The other benefit? Traveling west for the first part of the trip means a tail wind for the ride home. The legs will appreciate it.

Probably ought to think about packing a spare tube, air pump and a tool kit. Should have gotten the larger under-seat travel bag too. The one I have now will never fit a tube, tool kit, wallet & cell phone. Could probably skip the wallet and just bring along some ID and a few $$. Need a lock too. Gee, too bad it�s not my birthday soon � I�m a needy guy.

Time to go out and get this years hunting license. Just not feeling it this year though. Ever since my mom sold her place, it just doesn�t feel right hunting back in the old stomping grounds. Haven�t shot my bow since last year, don�t like the arrow rest, and I need new arrows and broad heads. Plus there�s always the possibility that my old hunting area is very, very wet. Like 8 inches of standing water wet. Hard getting excited about it.

Alison posted something yesterday (9/19) that struck a chord. In a good way. Makes me consider things I hadn�t seriously thought about before. Just what does it feel like to be in Cindy�s shoes?

So now, on the one hand, I can kind of appreciate where Cindy is coming from, but on the other hand, I need to avoid being co-dependant and/or enabling. Perhaps Alison�s exercise will help me to accomplish that with a little compassion. One can only hope.

Earning peace, one piece at a time.

Updated stats:

Weight start: 206.5 on 1/1/06 (265.0 on 1/15/05)
Current weight: 185.25 on 9/19/06 More progress.
Next weigh in: 9/23/06 (have to get back to the Saturday weigh ins)

New target � Aim is 180, by Halloween.

The Keep on Truckin goal: (idea stolen shamelessly from Marn�s Big Adventure)
Miles at speed 9/19/06: 737.83
Miles with cool down: 811.68
Target for 2006: 1000 miles
Plus 161 miles biking so far. (160.99 for you choosy mothers)

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