Sunday, October 23, 2011

I had hoped for a much more dramatic sunrise

Appliance repair people. Can't live with them, can't live without them. It turns out our oven needed a new igniter. We had called earlier in the week, and were assured, confirmation number and everything, that a repair person would be out Friday afternoon. On Friday they called to say they had overbooked and the repair person would not be appearing, but maybe Saturday. Then they said Saturday afternoon. Then Saturday about 5.

In the mean time some friends called. They were picking up their little boat from Glenmore Landing, and asked if we wanted to go out to dinner. Sure! They arrived. No repair person, and by now it was 5:30. We had phoned and complained, and tried to reschedule. Just everybody had their shoes and jackets on the repair guy arrived.

Our buddies played with their kid in the park for a bit. Then as the repairs were finishing up I sent them off to the British Chippy, and stayed behind to pay and see the guy out. That took a little longer than anticipated, but I got to the restaurant just as the food arrived on the table. I mean just. The waiter was in the process of putting plates of fish and chips on the table. They were pretty good too. I suspect we'll be back, though I won't have the canned Guiness again.

Something about the seating made my back feel wonky, and then I had a dreadful sleep. Though I can't really call it sleep, since I didn't really. Even the night before I was up early, then snoozed in my chair with a cat, only to be awoken from a sound sleep by a phone call. When I finally got out of bed this morning, I was an achey creaky grumpy mess. On Friday I had managed to bang my wrist at work hard enough that I was icing it that evening. That's one of the things that contributed to the poor sleep.

The sunrise was looking quite promising, with a gap in the clouds that I thought might under light them in a very pretty way. However, it didn't work out. This isn't the best time lapse movie in the world, but it does show today's dawn. I suppose I should have had it tilted up a bit, and facing a bit more south.



Here's the direct link.

I slowly got it together and decided not to inflict myself on my friends at spin class. Just because my day didn't start well is no reason to inflict it on anyone else. A little later in the morning I went down and did some careful stretching and twisting. There was no great and shuddering SNICK of my back going back where it belong, but things did feel better.

A little after that I climbed on my bike and got stuck in. Good warmup with some fast spin once I was ready. A little bit of standing, and a few minutes of hard effort. Then 20 minutes at what I think is mid zone 3. Breathing easy, sweating lots, legs happy. Easy spin. 15 minutes at a bit harder, up at the top of zone 3. Heart rate was stable and breathing was still good, sweating more. Easy spin. Then 5 minutes hard, up around 200 watts. Sweating a ton, breathing really hard, legs beginning to feel it.

So it appears that at 90 rpm, about 160 to 170 watts is sustainable till my butt gets tired, 180 to 190 watts is sustainable for a little while anyways, but 200 is not sustainable for much over 5 minutes. This gives me a nice baseline for training efforts.

I was on the bike 1.75 hrs altogether, then did more stretching afterward. This felt really quite good. Rollered my legs. There is a tight spot on each quad. And I was right, this was not as much fun as KBRCC, though I am getting caught up on DVD television. I've still got another season of Sanctuary, the last few episodes of Dollhouse, and a season of Leverage to go. Anyone seen Boardwalk Empire, is that any good? What else is good for television on DVD?

5 comments:

  1. Ugh. I hate Guinness from a can! I love it from the keg, although vacationing in Ireland has ruined it because it tastes even better over there!

    Some great tv series on DVD - Big Bang Theory, Criminal Minds, Dexter and another I love but I doubt you will appreciate is Sex & the City! I also love all the Law & Order's and NCIS

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  2. I'll bet the wonky back wasn't from the seating, but the angst that comes along with waiting for the GAWD DAMN REPAIR GUY FOR TWO DAYS!!!

    (oh wait...maybe that's just me...)

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  3. Pretty awesome...the repair guy could NOT have timed it better.

    But it was worth having fun and hanging out and esp fish & chips! :)

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  4. Love the word "wonky" although sorry that's how your back felt.

    I tried to get in to Boardwalk Empire but was not impressed. HBO is usally way better. Some people love it though, so maybe give it a try? My latest favorites are Breaking Bad (AMC) and Dexter (Showtime), if you haven't already indulged in those.

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  5. Let's see....TV show ideas... How about How I Met Your Mother, Big Bang Theory, Harry's Law, old episodes of Star Trek TNG, Mad Men, Modern Family.

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