I’d gone to bed about midnight, but had been awoken around 3 a.m. to the sound of my son returning from his birthday night out. Jason was born on Christmas Eve 27 years ago and we’d struggled for years to try and keep some separation from the holidays to celebrate his birthday. He’d never complained…and by the sounds of things…wasn’t complaining now. His three siblings were helping him get to a safe sleeping place…I think he was experiencing a little vertigo of his own…and then they returned to putting the finishing touches on the tree and having a little late night/early morning breakfast while Holly prepared dumplings for Christmas dinner and wrapped the last of the presents. And yes…this was all going on at 3 a.m. Christmas morning.
Needless to say, I was the first one up later Christmas morning. I was feeling pretty good…certainly rested…and had my Kashi cereal and a banana…and passing up all the wonderful cookies. I knew it would be some time before any other humans were moving…it was only 8 a.m. I did some kitchen cleaning, wrapped a couple of gifts I’d forgotten, made sure the camera was charged and ready and got out the trash bags. Still…no action from the rest of the house. When someone finally did rise, it was Jason.
“Wow…I was really, really tired when I got home last night,” he said. “I was so tired that I was walking kind of funny and Jack had to help me take my shoes off.”
“That IS tired. I’m guessing you were so tired that you had to have someone drive you home?”
“Oh yeah…I was THAT tired. Matt drove…and he was wide awake,” he replied. I’ll give him credit for that. When he’s going out, there is always a designated…and completely sober…driver. He had breakfast, which managed to wake Holly, but his three siblings were having none of it. Once he’d finished eating, he climbed the stairs and got them moving…the way only and oldest brother can do.
I received some excellent workout gear and a Timex heart-rate monitor watch. I put a lot of faith in basing training on one’s heart rate and was very pleased to have my first. I’ll normally just do the 10-second check, which is more than adequate and after 40 years of this, pretty much know my heart rate to within a couple of beats based on the effort I’m expending. Still…I know having the monitor on can turn my current workouts into death marches if I’m not careful. I will push myself harder than normal to stay at a certain level…particularly on the bike where I tend to have mental lapses and ride easier than I should. Anyway…once the dust settled from present opening, I knew I had to try it out.
I knew better than to go out on a ride though the weather was SO inviting. At 45 degrees and with plenty of sunshine, I would have gone three hours if not for the vertigo…and dinner guests due in two hours…and a wife who might throw me out permanently. Anyway…I could test it out on the trainer…so I did.
I proved quickly what I’d suspected already…that I was riding too easily inside. The bike I have on the trainer no longer has gear adjustments…the cables have rusted frozen and I haven’t bothered to replace them…so I’m riding easier than when I’m on the road. I couldn’t get my heart rate much above 110…and that’s unacceptable for me and will have me working to fix the gears before I ride again. The good news is I rode for close to two hours and felt great the entire time.
Dinner was chicken and dumplings…and I had one helping with my green beans and corn…but for dessert I passed on the banana cream pie and had a pear. You read right…a pear! I was actually too full to eat dessert at the time and figured I’d eat the pear to be sociable…and have pie later. It never happened and I’m glad it didn’t. My pants were getting tight and starting half a day early was an excellent idea. I don’t know what tomorrow will bring with the vertigo…but if I’m feeling good in the morning and it’s nice again…I’m riding outside.
Bike Duration: One hour and 40 minutes.
Training Heart Rate: 110 bpm.
Calories burned during workout: 1250.
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