My body has adjusted to the extra activity of the rowing challenge. I definitely felt drained after the first 6 days, but I haven't felt particularly fatigued since that first week. I even managed to break 19 minutes in a 5000 m rowing session on Wednesday. That's the first time that I've managed that in years. I'm particularly pleased that I've managed to work these rowing sessions into my established routine rather than replacing running or lifting with rowing. It makes for some active days, but I've been trying to keep the pace easy on days that I'm just not feeling all that primed to push. In previous attempts at this challenge I always felt obligated to keep my pace below 2 minutes/500 meters. I've abandoned that arbitrary pace this time around. I did 5000 m last night while watching basketball. It took me 22 minutes. I took a couple of very quick breaks to mess with my music, but those breaks weren't long enough to have a big impact on my time. I did do a crazy 500 m sprint at the end, but that was just for fun. Consistently getting on the rowing machine makes the difference. The pace of those meters is secondary to getting them done.
It will be no problem getting in my meters today. This is the first half day Friday of 2017. I'm taking my car to get the oil changed, but I should have a solid hour or two after my car is done to lift and row today's 5000 m. I was in Chicago for some worthless training this time last year. Two years ago was the first time I lifted at Crunch. I spent the rest of that day getting groceries and taking my daughter to Girl Scouts. I'm getting lunch some place with TVs while my car is in the garage. I may even break my beer only on Saturdays rule. Or I may just get iced tea. I'll see how I'm feeling in that moment. I'm giving myself a chance to actually enjoy today. It really sucked to be away from my family last year. The flight back was delayed so I didn't get home until early Saturday morning. Today is a day to celebrate all that is good in my life.
I've been consistent with eating more carefully. I have probably given myself more passes recently than I should, but I've lost almost all of the weight I gained post-August keen injury. I was 218 Tuesday morning. I floated right around 217 before I got hurt. It's nice to see the numbers go down, but I'm more focused on sticking to the process of eating healthy and working out regularly.
Yesterday was not the best day for my eating. I planned on going to Subway for lunch, but there was no place to park (the Subway is in the same shopping center as a Buffalo Wild Wings and a local university was playing in the tournament at that time). I went to Taco Bell instead. I didn't go overboard at Taco Bell, but it was definitely more than a veggie sub and some Doritos. I wasn't sure when I was going to have dinner so I picked up a bag of Doritos and a Kind bar. I ate a few Doritos in the car as I drove back to work. I finished the bag and had my Kind bar as I was driving home. It turns out I left early enough that my wife was able to cook me dinner. So I went home and ate that. I didn't have anything else that night, but it was still more food than I normally eat in a day. This is after having a piece of pizza and some cake after a very filling dinner on Thursday. Today is not going all that well either. I grabbed an egg mcmuffin on my way in, had a donut in a meeting, and then had a cookie and some cake at another meeting. I should seriously consider getting a salad for lunch and skipping the beer. Sure, I was on the treadmill for almost a half hour this morning and I will row later, but that activity is not enough to cancel out all those calories!
After finishing A Time of Gifts, I moved on to Sapiens. It's a very interesting book that reads fast. It's nice to be reading a book that I actually look forward to opening and have a hard time putting down. I've struggled with enough books this year. I'm ready to just read fun stuff for the rest of the year. I won't, Book Shelf Zero doesn't have room for that, but I will be sure to work in some less onerous books between the real drags. To the Lighthouse drags on. I get through a few pages when I can. The mornings have become a less than ideal time to read. These half day Fridays only make it more challenging. I would rather get in to work so I can leave earlier rather than sit around at home and extending the time I have to spend at work.
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