Non-Workout Post - 2021 Breakdown

I attempted the Bodyweight workout, but upon attempting the first set of Incline Push-ups, which I did do, it was clear my Shoulder capsules were not going to be cooperating today. In light of waking to bad allergies, sleeping heavily and longer than usual, and still waking up kind of exhausted (I did some light shoveling after the workout, but trying to push for anything past 5 or 6 Load on the Air Dyne necessarily involves Arms), as well as mentally exhausted, which also threw off the diet yesterday and killed my appetite, it is clear that I'm badly in need of an OFF week to recharge, and that the Bodyweight exercises are more primers, I scrapped the entire thing for today to be recovery (so I will be staying hard on the diet) and I will start my OFF week tomorrow and run it through the following Wednesday. It is supposed to snow again more, though, so I probably won't be entirely clear of activity...

I'm not doing another weigh-in, so I started this at 262 in March and the last weigh-in here was 237, which is -25 lbs (my written goal was -30). I can't quite tell if I'm still building muscle (probably, though at a much slower pace), but am pretty sure I'm in a metabolic stall. Winters seem to put me into a sort of S.A.D. state, so as long as it can continue to go downward, I'll take it. The hard plan is to get into the gym in 2022. The current state of COVID-19 suggests I should hold off on that until at least February, so I can miss the resolutionists, but it will also depend on the numbers. If they seem to be moving in the right direction, I'll probably run until through the third week of January and then start at the beginning of February there. If I elect to pursue the biking path I was strongly considering attempting, that will also throw in a pretty significant change, but as of now, I still need to drop at least another 30 pounds to realistically consider that. As adding either pursuit will obviously significantly impact my workout schedule, I'm going to wait until later to come up with a Goal Post, which I'm not sure I've actually done on this blog as of yet. I did manage to find my old numbers, though, for once I do head back in the gym, but I still need to hunt down some of my actual workouts so I can get them up here. 

I started in late March here, struggling to consistently hit 30 minutes and 4 miles. I haven't quite doubled the time, but generally, workouts are regularly running between 40 - 50 minutes and it's been at 10 miles as the minimum for a while now. Air is dramatically improved, as is the Left Achilles I rehabbed throughout this. I have hit 60 minutes and 800+ miles for the year, so the next move is to try to move much harder towards a HIIT-type training for the cadence. Legs are looking way, way better and clothes are fitting better. I still have a gut, because that's just how this body rolls, but I'm finally starting to look more like a bodybuilder in off season than just an old, fat dude. Part of the struggle is me trying really hard not to rely so much on protein shakes as I did before, but I may need to move back to what I was doing before as it seemed to work better (though I also note I was a decade younger then). I might do that on the workout days, but Cardio workouts tend to fry whatever's there, so that might also not be an entirely sensical thing to do. Still pondering...

When I was in the gym rat phase, I tended to go at night. That was not possible prior to this year, but now that it is, I may return to that, at least for the Lifting part. Cardio is actually kind of like in mid morning, as I think it sets a nice tone for the day after, but that will be schedule permitting, I suspect. Anyway, progress has been solid and I have no real reason to complain. It could have been better, sure, but also could have been much worse and I definitely have some notes for next year, namely the two goals I have as of now, which are:

Weight - down another 30
Air Dyne - Sprint at Max

I was considering driving the workouts past 60 minutes, but I strongly feel they can start to get catabolic at extended periods, as it is really hard to load enough calories to get through the workout, yet burn through the carbs at the right pace to encourage and stimulate conversion of body fat for energy, particularly at the higher cadences. I do not really want to lose mass or muscle so much as the excessive body fat. Once I'm able to get into the gym, that will also help that, though I'm nervous about how much has slid away in the intervening years...well, if nothing else, we're back on the right trail once again now...back in 2022.

D139: 12.26.21

Workout: Cardio
Equipment Used: Schwinn AirDyne
Duration: ~9mi/~41min
Driver: In Flames - Used & Abused
Calories: ???

Quality Level: N/A
Observations/Intel: Without taking those days off, Legs would not have been ready for the attempt. I socked in as much protein as I could manage, within the framework of trying to keep clean still (which will be relaxed somewhat once the OFF week starts), but still considered putting this off until tomorrow, but Legs were definitely good enough to go and I'd already passed one day where they were in position to be worked, so, we went and I went in with wanting to leave everything out there, since this was my last Air Dyne workout of 2021.

Good news first is that I finished at 803 miles for the year. As to the sprints...I did discover that the speed needle only goes halfway between Load 10 and the 0 mark and will go no further. So, it will not spin around. I went with a couple of mini-sprints at Load 3 and Load 5, which were not really challenging and felt pretty smooth. I did another at one of the harder Loads, 8, which was fine with Legs, but Air was more tested than expected. This proved to be my sort of undoing at the max level, which Legs handled fine. At the .2 mark, Air really got slugged and I finished that sprint somewhere between .23 and .25, but I can not conclusively say I hit the full 1/4 mile, so I am not counting it. I took another attempt at it again after getting Air back under control more, but only managed a tenth of a mile that time. 

So, I failed to reach the desired goal of a max sprint for 1/4 of a mile and that will be added to the list for 2022. I may not have missed by much, but still do not feel I can count it. I do have a much better idea of what it takes, though, and I'm not overly disappointed, given the point where I started in March, and particularly given the calamitous events that happened after my 50th birthday in June. Had I not lost both September and October, I likely would have passed both that goal and 1K for the year, but we play the hand we're dealt, I guess.

What remains now is the last bodyweight workout, which will be tomorrow, the last weigh-in, which may be tomorrow, the breakdown of the year, which will be the post following, probably on the recovery day, then the start of the OFF week. I'm going to try to tour the gym this coming up week in order to do the final thing, which is to come up with a Goal Post for 2022, beyond just the max sprint on the Air Dyne.

D138: 12.23.21

Workout: Cardio
Equipment Used: Schwinn AirDyne
Duration: ~10mi/~46min
Driver: Hammerfall - Dominion
Calories: ???

Quality Level: N/A
Observations/Intel: Legs did not feel at all ready for sprints, predictably, but were ok for duration. Speed and  how long it took to hit 10 didn't matter today, just so long as I hit 10 and could keep on plan, which I was able to do. I kept a higher cadence than expected, but definitely felt wear-down towards the end. This now puts me at 794 for the year, with the sprint workout to go. Given that 1/3 of that total is absorbed in warm-up and cool-down, it will be pretty hard to do sprints at all without hitting the 6 that are left, if not more. Probably more. 

The plan from this point is to hit 800(+) on the sprint workout and hopefully hit the sprint goal as well. Tomorrow is OFF, of course, but Saturday may be also, if I don't feel I can run sprints. Whatever weekend day I feel Legs are ready for sprints will be it. Regardless of which day, the following day will be the last Bodyweight workout, followed by numbers breakdown (and a day for recovery the next day) followed by the day after that starting the OFF week. During that week, I hope to be able to tour the gym closest to me and then in early January, I will either resume the Air Dyne (more likely) or start the gym (much less likely). Prior to doing that, though, I will come back with a Goal Post for the year, once I know what is left from this year unfinished and which path the pursuit of fitness will take next year.

D137: 12.22.21

Workout: Strength
Equipment Used: Bodyweight
Duration: ~25 min
Driver: N/A
Calories: ???

Quality Level: N/A
Observations/Intel: I debated this one, but reasoned that since tomorrow is another 10, with no pressure other than to hit that number, and Legs were surprisingly much less sore than I anticipated after the increase yesterday, since Arms felt up to it, might as well throw in another of these. Numbers were...not great, as my Shoulders were quite protesty. Crunches took a bit of an increase, and though I won't be doing it for the next workout, I will be moving that to 4 sets in 2022, but even tamping down the Inclines wasn't as helpful for Push-Ups as I was hoping. Also having a bad allergy day, which seems to always add in a challenge, particularly for exercises I hate, such as anything involving bodyweight. I think it's more what I said last time, limping to the finish line and generally just kind of exhausted.

Incline push-ups: BWX15, BWX15, BWX15
Flat push-ups: BWX15, BWX8, BWX10
Decline push-ups: BWX10, BWX8, BWX10

Flat crunches: BWX50, BWX40, BWX40

Also got in a weigh-in and I'm now 237, which is -1 from last time. I am getting the impression that I'm running the caloric deficit too low, which tends to be a part of that negative exhaustion feedback loop in that appetite tends to get knocked about. I'm going to make a conscious effort to try to bump it higher, but if I still feel it's held too low, then I might start manually tracking intake, which I've refrained from up to this point.

D136: 12.21.21

Workout: Cardio
Equipment Used: Schwinn AirDyne
Duration: ~14mi/~60min
Driver: Paul Stanley - One Live KISS
Calories: ???

Observations/Intel: I took off yesterday entirely to try to get my Forearms back into things...also had some minor stomach issues, which took a while to settle. Also, Legs were pretty cranked Sunday, but felt better yesterday and were go today. So, not to lose the opportunity, I went for the 60 minute goal and since air was also ok, pushed things a bit the entire time. By the time I got to the cool-down, I was definitely feeling it, but at least that goal is done. Also, it has the subsidiary effect of putting me now at 784 miles, so that I can hit another 10 Thursday and won't feel too pressured for whichever of the weekend days I do sprints. Saturday is Christmas, which is going to be strange this year, like all holidays going forward, I guess, at least for a time, but if I can hit the sprints one of those two days, assuming Thursday goes to plan, I will conclude both remaining goals on that day. That's what we're shooting at, anyway. At that point, I will possibly do one more strength workout and then start the OFF week the following day.

D135: 12.19.21

Workout: Cardio
Equipment Used: Schwinn AirDyne
Duration: ~10mi/~45min
Driver: Paul Stanley - One Live KISS
Calories: ???

Observations/Intel: Legs were no go for yesterday. Being off this week, waves of depression, stress of my main laptop taking a gigantic shit out of nowhere and still not working after fucking with it for 3 days at this point, all leading to some major exhaustion. Diet has been not great this week, which is not helping with recovery. Legs were still not great today, along with Forearms, which I'm finding kind of confusing (and definitely snowfall is going to be a challenge on those days I need to do it, particularly at the heavier levels). I probably should have skipped last Thursday in hindsight, but I was considering going for sprints and/or or 60 minutes, but it was pretty clear, after some mini sprints that I had a lot of trouble holding, both were going to be out. I decided to just try to get out of the 10 as quickly as I could manage, so I set my sights on cool down for this workout. 

This brings mileage to 770, with 4 potential Air Dyne workouts to go (and some snow on the way next week). Not sure how push-ups are going to go, but I definitely am feeling a need for that week off, sort of limping to the finish line now. I think the mileage and duration goals are definitely within reach, but sprints are kind of iffy. I don't have any particular goals for the push-ups, but am looking forward to scouting gyms during my off week. I was thinking of doing it next week, which may still also happen.

D134: 12.16.21

Workout: Cardio
Equipment Used: Schwinn AirDyne
Duration: ~10mi/~50min
Driver: Kiss - Kiss My Ass
Calories: ???

Observations/Intel: Shoveling twice yesterday after the workout was...interesting. Oddly, it was my Quads that were the most sore when I went to bed last night and I thought today's workout was off. I woke up with Legs feeling like they could go, but once I got up and about, had really bad allergies, slightly cranky stomach (still) and Legs felt more touch and go. I calorically loaded for a workout anyway, just in cease. They still felt like I could probably squeeze in a light workout once I got around to feeling ready and since weekdays is more duration anyway, I decided to just go on and then bail if I needed to. 

Performance-wise, this was not great (and also reminds me that I meant to pull the Quality rating, which I formerly did for my workouts, out of this, as I'm not going to track that rather subjective rating and just leave numbers up), but weekdays are not really performance-oriented. If I can swing 50 minutes in that shape (Arms were mostly useless for the handles, predictably), I can definitely hit 60 somewhere in here before the end of the year. Hitting that and then the high mark on the speedo are the two goals I have mainly left this year for that...well, that and hitting 800. Today makes 760, though, so I feel I'm in pretty good shape there, with at least 6 potential workout days to go, actually pretty good shape on all of them.

I did a weigh-in today, which was holding steady at 238. 

D133: 12.15.21

Workout: Strength
Equipment Used: Bodyweight
Duration: ~25 min
Driver: N/A
Calories: ???

Quality Level: N/A
Observations/Intel: Finally, workout 100 for 2021. Both yesterday and Monday I was feeling well off, with some headache issues, which in turn caused some appetite issues and overall funk, but today was better, though appetite and stomach are still a bit screwy. I can always tell when it's a good idea for an OFF day when whatever I have in mind seems like an impossibly high hurdle, as it did the last couple of days. Fitness is a marathon, not sprint...

Here's how things shook out today:

Incline push-ups: BWX20, BWX20, BWX20
Flat push-ups: BWX15, BWX, BWX12
Decline push-ups: BWX10, BWX10, BWX10

Flat crunches: BWX40, BWX30, BWX40

Ok, so, again some improvement, even for being off. The Inclines today reminded me of how much I hate higher rep count exercising for strength, so I think I'm going to back everything off to sets of 15. As soon as I can get 3 full sets of 15 per set for all 3 of the push-up variations, then I will add a 4th (and possibly 5th) set into things. For crunches, those I will leave with the goal being 4 sets of 50 reps each. I will add the 4th set there as soon as I hit the 4th set for push-ups, I think...I considered taking a stab at a 4th set, to see how it would look, but it snowed last night, so I will be off to shovel in a couple hours and decided to not run myself that hard at muscle failure. 

Speaking of that, I did measure the actual blocks and came up with the following: 13 blocks X ~4' and 29 blocks at ~5' (I live in a very old neighborhood). This is 197 linear feet. This is give or take and there is a curved part around the corner, so I'm rounding to 200' for ease of calculation. The width is around 2', for the most part, so I'm just going to call it that part for ease of calculation. So, given 4" - 5" the other day, I moved somewhere between 133 and 167 cubic feet of snow. My neighbor has kindly blown around half of the walk out today and snowfall by the time I get to it this afternoon will be somewhere between 2" - 3". So, either way, maybe 1/4 to 1/3 of the previous time, though the plows might have gotten out by then, which means I will have to clear the end of the driveway, which is always wet, slushy, sometimes icy, and usually compacted. I am anticipating resuming the Air Dyne tomorrow anyway, however.

Revisiting this a few hours later, I misjudged the depth from behind the blinds...more like 6" - 15", which puts this probably more than last time and considering that a bunch of dipshits walked on part and compacted it, probably a lot more weight. It is a really good thing my neighbor did the other half or it would be way, way more than last time. Definitely a mess (and my garage door is frozen shut, so that's nice)...as it is, the plows drove over the corner curb (and buried it in icebergs), which took a while to clean, but have not done the residential streets as of yet, so I'm waiting for it to go by to attempt to unbury my driveway...this is probably going to ace out the Air Dyne tomorrow, though...my Legs are already pinging pretty good.

I'm debating doing the plank test next Wednesday, as that is the last day I really have in mind prior to my proposed OFF week, but may hold off until the 27th and instead start the OFF week on Wednesday the 29th or Tuesday the 28th, depending on how the mileage goal goes. I still need to at least attempt to hit the max-out speed on sprints as well prior to then...definitely looking at lot harder to at least take a stab at some of the goals I had in mind for this year now that we're this close to the end of it.

D132: 12.12.21

Workout: Cardio
Equipment Used: Schwinn AirDyne
Duration: ~10mi/~46min
Driver: Kiss - Kiss My Ass
Calories: ???

Quality Level: N/A
Observations/Intel: Storm blew in Thursday, so Friday saw me shoveling the walk. I'm guessing it's a good 150' - 200' (I'm going to do a harder count of the distance later today, so I know for next time), ~24" square blocks, with a depth of somewhere between 4" - 5". This would put volume somewhere between 100 and 167 cubic feet. I can't really measure the weight, since what I moved varied so widely. Some of the snow was pretty light, but some of it was also a lot denser, with wet leaves, etc. mixed in. The good thing is that I was able to whip right through it, which has not been the case. Indeed, one of the things that really prompted me to resume training was that winter prior have been agony for me to do this, more on a breathing, but also somewhat on a strength front. As it was, my Back did get a bit sore and Legs took more of a pounding than I anticipated (I usually have to go back and forth over the blocks 3 - 4 times, as I prefer the shovel plow method to bending over and scooping for that distance), so given that I didn't get an actual OFF day during the week, I decided, since Legs were no-go anyway, to just take Saturday.

Legs are still not entirely back today, though quite a lot better, so I kept it casual. Air wasn't particularly tested today. I wasn't thinking so much of snow removal, as it has been relatively minor the last few years, but definitely that skews the Cardio workouts, though I don't mind treating it as a sort of a different lifting workout, which I suppose it mainly is.

Weigh-in yesterday was 238, which is -1 from last time. Ideally, I had hoped to be on track to be sub-230 by the end of the year, but that seems unlikely at best. Still happy it continues to fall...also, this is 1 workout left to hit 100 and mileage at 750.

D131: 12.09.21

Workout: Cardio
Equipment Used: Schwinn AirDyne
Duration: ~10mi/~47min
Driver: Kiss - Konfidential/X-treme Close-Up
Calories: ???

Quality Level: N/A
Observations/Intel: Sleep was pretty funky last night and woke up with a headache, but managed to get it gone in time to hit it again. Legs were a touch iffy going in, but once I got going, I harbored strong thoughts about pushing for an hour. Had I a better driver, I definitely would have. Air was fine.

This leaves now 2 workouts to go to hit 100 for 2021 and puts mileage now at 740. Given that I have ~10 possible days of Air Dyne workouts remaining prior to the last week of the year, I should realistically be able to go past 800.

D130: 12.08.21

Workout: Strength
Equipment Used: Bodyweight
Duration: ~20 min
Driver: N/A
Calories: ???

Quality Level: N/A
Observations/Intel: Here's how things shook out today:

Incline push-ups: BWX10, BWX20, BWX15
Flat push-ups: BWX8, BWX10, BWX8
Decline push-ups: BWX6, BWX6, BWX8

Flat crunches: BWX30, BWX30, BWX20

For the push-ups, I went down in order of the positions as listed, so a full " push-up set" would be 1 set ea of those positions, in that order. For the Inclines, the first set at 10 was because my socks were sliding on the carpet and I stopped to put on shoes. For the last set at 15, I had a bit of a coughing fit (allergies decided to raise their ugly head). If not for those elements, count would have been higher. I suspect that the count is higher on those not so much because my upper Chest is that much stronger than the rest, but because my Arms have less bend travel and stay more within the power curve. 

Overall, it's a marked improvement from last time. I'm rethinking my idea on totals of the push-ups, though, as that winds up being 300 push-ups total, which is quite a lot...I'm not close to 25 reps per set, other than on the Inclines, but now that I've seemingly worked out all the extraneous kinks and can focus on the actual exercise, that may change more rapidly than expected. Crunches seems about right in terms of numbers, however, so no change necessary there. 

Weigh-in today was 239. Winter makes my typically sluggish body metabolism even more so, definitely need to take pains to keep things as clean as possible, at least until I'm able to resume the gym. 3 workouts to go to hit 100...

D129: 12.07.21

Workout: Cardio
Equipment Used: Schwinn AirDyne
Duration: ~10mi/~46min
Driver: Kiss - Konfidential
Calories: ???

Quality Level: N/A
Observations/Intel: Had a burning headache yesterday I could not shake and also some Arm pinging, so that was a no go. Today, Legs were a touch tight and I couldn't quite get them to loosen up, but these are more duration during the week anyway. I've decided on a minimum of 10 miles for those workouts. I've changed up the diet a bit for this week and burned through my usual front-loading well before the 30 minute workout, which was kind of interesting. 

I have 4 workouts left after this to hit 100 for 2021 and this puts me at 730 miles. 800 miles is probably within reach, given that I have most of this month left. If I do hit both goals, definitely will be looking forward to a well-earned OFF week...

D128: 12.05.21

Workout: Cardio
Equipment Used: Schwinn AirDyne
Duration: ~7mi/~36min
Driver: Hammerfall - Dominion
Calories: ???

Quality Level: N/A
Observations/Intel: Legs felt surprisingly good this morning, so I planned for a light workout before they changed their minds. I decided that today was a really good day to get some metrics that I'd been planning on chasing for a while and that took me long enough to call it a workout. Air did get somewhat tested at the higher RPMs, but not greatly. 

What I did was time how long it took to complete one mile. I have a dial odometer/speed indicator, so it is "soft," as in not super-precise, but it does appear to be consistent, so I just need to understand how it registers. All of this, again, is based on how long to move the odometer a full mile:

Load 1 - 35 RPM - 5:00 ~12MPH
Load 2 - 44 RPM - 4:00 ~15MPH
Load 3 - 50 RPM - 3:40 ~16.667MPH
Load 4 - 55 RPM - 3:20 ~18MPH

Clearly, there is some sort of algebraic formula at work here (which I may attempt to discover, but also, more likely, will not) in terms of higher load inducing more work to gain a correspondingly lower RPM rate. The drop in time from Load 1 to Load 2 is kind of interesting and if the ratio after 2 holds, then it will continue to drop 20 seconds with each consecutive load increase. Now, I'm not sure I can sustain a full mile at anything past 5, but will probably try to take a run at a full mile at Load 5 at some point to see if the expected time frame holds.  

Did a weigh-in today, which was 239, -1 from last weigh-in. I don't really have any set number to try to hit before the end of the year, just want to see it continue to fall. I think I will continue to keep a running log of mileage for this year, so now at 720.

D127: 12.04.21

Workout: Cardio
Equipment Used: Schwinn AirDyne
Duration: ~12mi/~51min
Driver: Brainstorm - Ghosts & Skulls
Calories: ???

Quality Level: N/A
Observations/Intel: I seriously hope I'm done with the fucking about for this year, as trying to get into any sort of regular routine continues to elude me, particularly with sleep. I'm also still somehow continuing to overrun my body's ability to recover, so diet tweaking still continues. I fortunately remembered yesterday was supposed to be OFF and did not attempt any kind of workout, but might need to print off that schedule I made a couple weeks ago. Legs were kind of in limbo, but unless they are definitely not go, I'm going, and so I pushed harder today to try to finally work Air more. Air was worked more, but not really pushed to the extent I want, so I'm going to try to finally get back to sprints next weekend. I also need to do some stopwatch stuff to try and figure out how long a mile takes at given cadences, maybe tomorrow.

I have 6 more workouts to go to hit 100 for (the tumultuous) calendar year 2021. Once I hit that, I am going to schedule an off week, probably the last week of the year, so starting Dec 26, though I may actually move that to Dec 29, to accommodate NYE. I really need to remember to do a weigh-in again, at some point, as well...I'm at 713 miles for this year, since resuming, so 800 is not outside of the realm of possibility, though anything much beyond probably is. Still, this is across slightly over 7 months, so I'm not too troubled by it. I'm going to try to scout out the nearest gym to me sometime the week of Dec 21, as that itch is pretty severe lately.

D126: 12.02.21

Workout: Cardio
Equipment Used: Schwinn AirDyne
Duration: ~7mi/~34min
Driver: Brainstorm - Ghosts & Skulls
Calories: ???

Quality Level: N/A
Observations/Intel: Sunday saw me working mostly on projects and also attending to fall leaves, the raking of which sort of bore down on my Shoulders a bit. I was curious to see if they would be back in order Monday, but got a set each of two positions and it was clear the answer was no, so I stopped. Tuesday I wound up jumping in on my son's second vaccine shot for my own booster, so hitting the bike again didn't seem too prudent. Arm was too sore to attempt the stuff on Wednesday, as well as some vaccine sides which made that prospect not possible. 

Today, I wound up having to be at work less time than expected and Legs felt good enough to go, so I went, though I don't think I'm quite back from those sides. Air wasn't really tested, but Legs weren't great, just good enough to go, so I went for much more of a casual vibe on this one. Will also be finishing leaf duty after this and have more work stuff tomorrow, so may not wind up with enough time to attempt the routine, though if I can fit it in, I definitely will.

D125: 11.27.21

Workout: Cardio
Equipment Used: Schwinn AirDyne
Duration: ~10mi/~44min
Driver: Graham Bonnet Band: Live At Daryl's House
Calories: ???

Quality Level: N/A
Observations/Intel: Legs quite a lot better today, but still not enough to really push Air. Given that I've added more upper body training, Arms are not able to pick up to drive quite enough, either. So...I'm thinking instead that I'm going to need to prioritize what I want to actually do. If I want to drive Cardio, probably will need to back off torso training somewhat. To that end, everything there was fine today, so I'm thinking the planking will be more of a test than actual training, which isometric types are really at their best. I really want Fridays to go back to being off entirely, so I'm thinking I will be doing the following, going forward:

Mon - Torso
Tues - Cardio (duration)
Wed - Torso
Thurs - Cardio (duration)
Friday - OFF
Saturday - Cardio (intensity)
Sunday - Cardio (duration) or OFF

I'm also within 10 workouts left to hit 100 since resuming this year, which, barring any sort of injury or illness, should be well within reach, if not accomplished outright in early December. I do need to get around to doing some sort of weigh-in again, maybe tomorrow.

D124: 11.26.21

Workout: Strength
Equipment Used: Bodyweight
Duration: ~10 min
Driver: N/A
Calories: ???

Quality Level: N/A
Observations/Intel: I've been looking into some core exercises, given that mine is not great currently and while I'm not usually too interested in isometric stuff, the idea of planking seemed an interesting one. So, I decided to take a shot at a few sets to see how it would go. 

Straight/full plank X 30 sec
Forearm plank X 15 sec
Straight/full plank X 20 sec
Forearm plank X 10 sec
Straight/full plank X 20 sec
Forearm plank X 10 sec

Some interesting things here...I seem to have some sort of muscle pull in my right upper pectoral or possibly (again) the shoulder capsule, though it seems to be more chest-related. Quite annoying. The Forearm plank is supposedly the easier of the two, though clearly not for me. I don't think the impingement was necessarily the issue (though obviously probably a factor), so this might have to do with centers of gravity and abdominal recruitment. Will be interesting to see how the core is tomorrow vs. the crunches from earlier in the week...I also want to maybe add in single-leg or side planks at some future point, as well.

D123: 11.25.21

Workout: Cardio
Equipment Used: Schwinn AirDyne
Duration: ~8mi/~41min
Driver: Graham Bonnet Band: Live At Daryl's House
Calories: ???

Quality Level: N/A
Observations/Intel: Tuesday took me too long to get back and I didn't wind up having time until towards evening, but I was too wiped by then. Part of this was due to some spicy food filming I had done on Monday after posting the entry and it hit a lot harder than expected, partially because it was also somewhat delayed. Yesterday, I was still not quite back, but did move closer to completing the ongoing project. 

Today, Left Hamstring was super-tight when I woke up. I have no idea why that was the case, but I was able to stretch it enough to get back in the saddle, but intensity was fairly low. It was good for around 6 miles or so and then started to wear, so I cut it short after that. Air was obviously not tested at all for this.

D122: 11.21.21

Workout: Strength
Equipment Used: Bodyweight
Duration: ~20 min
Driver: N/A
Calories: ???

Quality Level: N/A
Observations/Intel: After spending some time thinking about how much I do not want to have free weights around cluttering up my newfound space, I decided that working biceps in isolation was out, which meant working triceps in isolation was similarly out. I elected then to go with a compound exercise that works everything from the waist up, namely the push-ups. I moved a bunch of boxes around this morning, as warm-up, and I still retain a good degree of natural strength, but...the exploratory push-ups went like this:

Incline push-ups, BWX14, BWX16
Flat push-ups, BWX4, BWX6
Decline push-ups, BWX2

So, pretty much trash. I was hoping for at least 25 rep count, but part of this was finding a good place to actually do these in. I used the couch for the Inclines, which was...not great. I tried various places before settling on my bedroom floor for the Flats and Declines (using my bed). That seemed to work alright, so I will probably use my bed for the Inclines as well. 

Now, what does all this mean? It means that the more I try to recruit my core (abdominal muscles), the harder the exercise becomes. My core is frankly pathetically not great, so I added in the following also:

Flat crunches, BWX25, BWX25

This is the bodyweight workout I will be sticking to until I get to 25 reps in all of the various push-up positions AND 4 sets of the crunches X 50 reps each. If I can figure out a good place to do it, I might try to move to hanging crunches, but the exercise ball that was formerly here (and that I never used) is gone now and I do not have wish for exercise equipment beyond the Air Dyne here. 

I am going to go move boxes around some more for a while, though, not for exercise, just more to wrap up that project...

Before I forget, I also got in a weigh-in this morning, which was 240, no change from last time. Not really surprised to see a stall and definitely need to clean things up a bit more. Part of the challenge there is when I'm doing spicy video content for a YouTube channel I do, which is infrequent, but can often throw a wrench into the rhythm of things, which is probably the cause of the stall this time.

D121: 11.20.21

Workout: Cardio
Equipment Used: Schwinn AirDyne
Duration: ~10mi/~43min
Driver: Hammerfall Dominion + Random Metal YouTube videos
Calories: ???

Quality Level: N/A
Observations/Intel: Way earlier than usual for me, which has to do with my sleep rhythm getting entirely trashed and not resetting prior to the Daylight bullshit, so I decided just to roll with it this morning. Legs were a little on the funky side, but once I got into it, they were good to sustain a 3+ load for a good portion of the workout. Time would have been better if my batteries hadn't run out in the CD player about a third of the way in and I slowed down to try to figure out what I could do to keep the workout and at least some of the intensity intact. Air was also kind of not hot early this morning, but an allergy tab later and good to go. I realistically could start doing sprints now as I really felt like I could have gone again yesterday (after 10 miles the day before), which is exactly the stage I want to get to. Now, that makes a bit of a problem as I don't want to do back to back Cardio over and over, as there are some associated issues with that, so I don't think I will be doing another Cardio workout tomorrow, unless I'm really feeling it, but will instead start doing some bodyweight exercising, focusing on the torso. Moving all that shit recently reminded me of how much I like being and feeling strong and I may as well start ramping that up now if I'm going to try to resume the gym in February 2022...

I keep forgetting to do weigh-ins, which is always a bit funky in winter, since I tend to sleep in some clothing to be comfortable enough to sleep uninterrupted. It's chilly and I have no desire to strip off the clothing to do my normal morning weigh-ins, post constitutional, so I space it a lot more. Definitely need to get one in. Eating has been...decidedly not great lately, but not too far off the mark, aside from yesterday, where I just kind of let most of it slide.

D120: 11.18.21

Workout: Cardio
Equipment Used: Schwinn AirDyne
Duration: ~10mi/~47min
Driver: Rainbow - Black Masquerade
Calories: ???

Quality Level: N/A
Observations/Intel: Mid-afternoon workout was kind of interesting. Wasn't really up for it and didn't caloric-load correctly, so pacing was definitely off, but getting back into the groove for the more extended workouts. Legs were not great, but Air (not pressed particularly) was fine.

D119: 11.16.21

Workout: Cardio
Equipment Used: Schwinn AirDyne
Duration: ~9mi/~42min
Driver: Rainbow - Black Masquerade
Calories: ???

Quality Level: N/A
Observations/Intel: I was not expecting a morning workout, so when I was suddenly freed from it, I had not done the usual mental or caloric prep. Still, I was pleased to be able to get it in where I could and went forward anyway, with the full intention of shooting for another lengthy weekend sort of workout. Because I did not do the usual prep, though, it did not go particularly smoothly (and yesterday was a not-great eating day). Legs were not up to it and I ran out of energy somewhere around the 7 mile mark. Air was atrocious today, thanks to allergies (I also may be fighting off something, as I've been a bit sluggish the last couple days), but held up pretty well throughout the workout, though it realistically did not get pushed too much. I'm not going to chase the fuller tilt ones until December and depending on how the night (afternoon?) workouts go during the week, I may have to re-shuffle everything and move those to weekends.

D118: 11.13.21

Workout: Cardio
Equipment Used: Schwinn AirDyne
Duration: ~10mi/~44min
Driver: Immortal - Northern Chaos Gods
Calories: ???

Quality Level: N/A
Observations/Intel: Today was a pretty hard push. I wanted to get a longer ride in (more like an hour) and hit double digit mileage and got at least one of those. Air was fine, but Legs were not finding the workout, particularly the latter part, too enjoyable, even with a longer than normal warm-up. Still going to take it casual for the rest of this month, though I want to start pushing weekend mileage higher.

Now, the problem coming up is that I probably won't be able to do mid-morning workouts during the weekdays, as I am doing now. So, switching to night workouts is going to be kind of interesting. I'm still intending on keeping the same day schedule as now, T/T, but given that I won't be home, I also will need to come up with a new plan for food. I might just go with protein shakes from a gas station or possibly protein bars, at least until my son is vaccinated AND I continue to lose weight until hitting my target, which I feel strongly needs to be sub-220. For weekends, I have to move my grocery shopping day, formerly mid-morning Friday, to Saturday mid-morning most likely, which means at least that day will also have to shift to either mid-afternoon or night. Conversely, I am strongly considering moving grocery shopping to Saturday night, which could leave weekends mid-morning open...still kicking that one around, but I will have to decide by next weekend, so won't be kicking around for too long.

D117: 11.11.21

Workout: Cardio
Equipment Used: Schwinn AirDyne
Duration: ~8mi/~38min
Driver: Hammerfall - The Templar Renegade Crusades
Calories: ???

Quality Level: N/A
Observations/Intel: Last night crashed super hard, super early, which wound up being a reset of sorts. I really don't want to skip any more workouts and there is just a fuckton of extraneous shit circulating around. I probably will need to move the workouts out of mid-morning, as they are now, more towards evening, which is fine, as that was my usual time. Legs were a bit stiff, thanks to me continuing to work on the project, but that thing is in the tedious phase now, which I'm hoping will allow for greater recovery time. Air was solid and I could have extended this workout quite a bit longer, if not for that extraneous shit, which I will not be listing out. 

Weigh-in today was 240, which is -2 from last time. It is definitely much easier to breathe now, so I just need to knock off at least another 20, if not 25 lbs., prior to moving to the gym phase...at least that's the goal.

D116: 11.09.21

Workout: Cardio
Equipment Used: Schwinn AirDyne
Duration: ~6mi/~31min
Driver: Hammerfall - The Templar Renegade Crusades
Calories: ???

Quality Level: N/A
Observations/Intel: Haven't had this short of a workout in a while, but I can't see to stop myself from the physically intensive part of the main project I was doing, so I finished most of it yesterday and wrapped more or less entire of that phase this morning, prior to the workout, of course...Legs were not great, Air was fine, but with the time change, back to having a disrupted rhythm, which still isn't settled from a lot of time in another time zone, so definitely, not planning anything intensive until December. Feeling a bit exhausted overall, which obviously also not helping, in addition to going into the cold season, which always does wonders for the old metabolism. Still, getting the workout in at all hopefully helps to re-establish the routine, which is more what I think I should be doing for things to start resolving...

D115: 11.07.21

Workout: Cardio
Equipment Used: Schwinn AirDyne
Duration: ~9mi/~42min
Driver: Hammerfall - The Templar Renegade Crusades
Calories: ???

Quality Level: N/A
Observations/Intel: Definitely pushed past the point of recovery both Thursday and then again even moreso Friday. I deliberately took off Saturday to try to heal up, as I was feeling entirely exhausted Friday and Legs were no go for Saturday, and happily note that the remaining boxes should both go faster and be far less physically intensive...I think. Legs were in good shape, air still a bit dinged due to allergies. It's funny...I gave myself the rest of 2021 to finish that part of the project, along with two other bits, and I'm nearly there now (given that I both overestimated how long it would take and how motivated I would be to go through every single box, especially those without necessity for that) for at least that part, but I find myself sort of in the same mode as towards the end of the homeward stretch of a road trip, wherein I just want it to be over and done. Anyway, definitely need to ramp up a bit more (and also be done with that project) before pushing too much again, but another one in the books for 2021.

D114: 11.04.21

Workout: Cardio
Equipment Used: Schwinn AirDyne
Duration: ~8mi/~36min
Driver: Immortal - Northern Chaos Gods
Calories: ???

Quality Level: N/A
Observations/Intel: I think I miscounted the time yesterday, as I ran a way hotter cadence for more of it. In any event, today was definitely more of a struggle...a lot more of a struggle. Air was dinged for allergies and Legs felt ok, until I started applying to work to them and then they definitely let me know they were feeling things. Nice to see that 30 minutes takes me easily to 7 miles, even in that state, however. I'm sure a lot of this is my grand moving project, which involves a lot of heavy lifting and not much resting, as it did before. Yesterday was not a great protein day, thanks to another of my projects, which is probably also not exactly helpful. 

I keep forgetting to do another weigh-in, but a lot of my clothes that I put away due to me being overly fat to wear them I find now are fitting, still not exactly right, but much closer to the mark, so actual weight is not a super concern at the moment. Not sure if I will be able to do back-to-backs this weekend, for a variety of reasons, but I definitely have it as at least a soft goal. Definitely will be back on for at least one of those days. From here, I need to hit another 19 workouts to make 100 for this year, which will be borderline amazing (kind of doubting I will hit 1K miles, tbh) given that 4 and 2/3 months were a total wash...definitely have that in sight, should be very do-able.

D113: 11.02.21

Workout: Cardio
Equipment Used: Schwinn AirDyne
Duration: ~8mi/~40min
Driver: Entombed A.D. - Bowels Of Earth
Calories: ???

Quality Level: N/A
Observations/Intel: Well...didn't expect it to be 2 months to the date of the last workout post, but here we are, I guess. Both Legs and Air were pretty good throughout. Last night, I was amped to finally get back in the seat, but this morning, woke up feeling kind of blasted. So, I meant to go in and kind of ease back into things, but found that, after a fairly lengthy warm-up period, that normal to slightly higher cadences felt pretty good and air was keeping up, so I extended it from the initial 7 miles to 8. I am still going to ease into things a bit more, though, as recovery was somewhat of a problem before and it wasn't exactly great during my time away.

The time away was definitely not spent loafing. Sure, there was a bit of booze, but I didn't stray off-diet and what I was doing tended to be very physical, so, in many ways, it was like a very extended workout. When I came back, resumed my own box-moving project for another week (basically I didn't take days off until I had re-filled my trash bins and couldn't go further until they were emptied) and felt I had things back at a level I could consider resuming workouts, once body healed a bit. Achilles seems fine, have not braced Left at all in months and Right only once in that time period, so that is also good news.

I did a couple weigh-ins last week, both at 242, but rather than continue to press my luck, I really want to get myself back on track, both with a somewhat cleaner diet and with the bike again to work Cardio. I presume a vax will be available to 5 - 12 this week and if so, that means my son can be potentially fully vaxxed by the end of the year. I do not wish to resume the gym in January with the resolutionists, so I'm looking more at a Feb 1 return date, if all works out. So...plan to keep trying to hit it as hard as I can for the next 3 months...

Non-Workout Post 10.18.21

Finally back home and after moving stuff for most of that time, am exhausted and sore. Stayed on diet (mostly, had to let it slide a bit due to availability and my desire to try to fuel recovery as much as I could) and lost another pound, weigh-in was 245 today. No thoughts of working out for a while. I said in the last post that October 23 would be the earliest, but other events of a similar nature occurred and that is right out. New earliest date is October 25, but I don't have a ton of hope for that one, either. I will be resuming my own moving project and really buttoning down the diet again this week, though, as even though I'm relatively certain my metabolism is slowing in response to lower temperatures, I still have some pounds to lose...during that 3 week jaunt though, body composition did improve and I've even seen some very slight definition, particularly in legs, which I find kind of wryly amusing...I definitely need a solid week off, though, as I did not have done during my projected time nor since and I'm thoroughly exhausted.

Non-Workout Post 09.20.21

Nothing quite like a family emergency to send things off the rails a touch. I doubt anyone reads this and am more posting this to get it out of mind, but definitely did not resume the 13th of this month and probably won't the 13th of next month, either, as it is taking some time to clear things. Realistically, October 23 is probably the very earliest to resume, but perhaps things will go smoother. 

While I haven't been working out, per se, it has been far from restful. Not super-active, but definitely not a vacation or even off-time, particularly.  I kept to plan and largely stuck to the diet and am now hovering around 246. 

This has thrown a lot of my projections for the rest of the year off. I am not taking the bike in to get it re-done and won't be riding it at all this year, since I will miss my window entirely. COVID-19 is still rocking in the area and there is not a vaccine for kids as of yet, so I can't consider joining a gym, either. So, for now, it is looking like more Air Dyne, in addition to the huge project I have waiting once I do get back. It is definitely frustrating but the only way out is through.

D112: 09.02.21

Workout: Cardio
Equipment Used: Schwinn AirDyne
Duration: ~9mi/~40min
Driver: Amon Amarth: Berzerker
Calories: ???

Quality Level: N/A
Observations/Intel: Legs were rather iffy today and Air was again not great this morning. Still, unless Legs were absolutely no-go, with this being the last scheduled workout, we were going, so we went. I had, initially some designs of trying to hit either 12 miles or 1 hour. The approach was decidedly casual and I figured I'd just go as long as I could. Legs were up to it for about the first 25 minutes, but after that point, deteriorated rapidly, so I had to cut short.

Weigh-in yesterday was 249, which is again holding steady, with no change from last time. This makes it +2 from the lowest point, -13 from the start, and -16 from the high point after the start. Body composition is improving, though, so I'm not particularly dismayed by this. I kind of felt I might be in a stall, which is a good sign a respite is needed.

Mileage is at 598 since I started, with this workout. Even with August being somewhat of a fucky month, I should be on track to hit 1000 miles by the end of the year, depending on if I'm able to resume the gym. If I decide to get back on the bike (still feel strongly I need to lose at minimum another 10 lbs first), it could be faster, potentially. I was hovering around 4 miles and pushing to get 30 minutes at the start, both of which have long been eclipsed. 

I was ready to pronounce my left Achilles fully healed after being able to do sprints with it unsupported, but it was decidedly unhappy the day following, so I'm not quite there yet. I am probably rehabbed to the point where I need to wear it only for sprints, though, so definite progress...I am also going to try to do as little as possible for this week coming up, though this weekend is looking like it may be a bit of a shitlob here and there...ah well. 

Back on the 14th.

D111: 08.31.21

Workout: Cardio
Equipment Used: Schwinn AirDyne
Duration: ~8mi/~36min
Driver: Amon Amarth: Jomsviking
Calories: ???

Quality Level: N/A
Observations/Intel: Moved back to some of the moving/cleaning project over the last couple days, greater activity which Legs did not seem to appreciate in terms of recovery, but my appetite has also still been off the last couple of days, which is also unhelpful. Even though Legs were a bit dicey, I decided to get into it and see if I could warm them up enough to hit it and if not, I'd take it easy and rest up for Thursday...big problem is that I wasn't sure if they'd be recovered enough by then and I had that sprint goal and all. So...I took a couple miles to warm up and then hit a lower cadence sprint, which went well. I then went for the 9 - 10 load sprint and hit it, which is the new high. I also ran it past 10, but was not able to hold it for a quarter mile, so didn't count it. Next time...

One more workout on Thursday, then it's off of training for the period of time I mentioned in the previous post. Will do some numbers breakdowns next post also.

D110: 08.29.21

Workout: Cardio
Equipment Used: Schwinn AirDyne
Duration: ~10mi/~41min
Driver: Hypocrisy: The Final Chapter
Calories: ???

Quality Level: N/A
Observations/Intel: I decided today, though Legs are a touch sore and Air was awful this morning, to try to focus on distance, specifically getting to 10 miles as fast as I could manage. I remembered my allergy pill this morning, so things were improved there and I loaded calorically normally today. I thought I had done somewhat better speed-wise than it turned out to be, but I'll take it. Ideally, I would like to get it as close to 30 minutes as possible, though I think 30 minutes outright will be near-impossible with 5 minutes warm-up and 3 minutes (give or take) cool down...

One more workout for August coming up and whichever day I feel Legs are ready (they mostly breezed through today, except for right before cool-down) will be sprints, whereupon I try to go past the 9 Load and maybe past 10, Legs willing. The workout on September 2, which will precede off from training (but not the diet, aside from me allowing myself to have some beers at least part of that time) from September 3 through September 13, I will post up my mileage to date, as well as cumulative weight loss...definitely made a lot of performance progress in that time...

At the current rate, I should also hit 100 workouts for 2021 sometime in October (I think). I'm still trying to decide if I want to hit the live bike...need to get it reconditioned, but weather looks pretty close to being ready to cooperate somewhat more in the coming weeks...

D109: 08.28.21

Workout: Cardio
Equipment Used: Schwinn AirDyne
Duration: ~10mi/~43min
Driver: Fear Factory: Obsolete
Calories: ???

Quality Level: N/A
Observations/Intel: I managed to tweak my left inner Thigh a bit somehow Wednesday morning getting up to use the toilet in the middle of the night and Thursday was feeling well off anyway, so just bagged it. Legs better today, though took about twice as long as normal to warm up, but Air still in the toilet. I'm kind of getting tunnel vision for the week off, as I'm feeling really worn down and appetite is shot (which is also fucking recovery - also badly screwed loading up today) but really am trying to fight off burnout to make sure I don't miss workout unless unavoidable.

Did a weigh-in Thursday, at 249, which is no change from last time around. I'm moving to a much higher vegetable period for this coming week and the one after that, so we'll see how that does.

D108: 08.24.21

Workout: Cardio
Equipment Used: Schwinn AirDyne
Duration: ~8mi/~35min
Driver: Duskfall: A Lifetime Supply Of Guilt
Calories: ???

Quality Level: N/A
Observations/Intel: Legs still not quite all the way back and Air not great, either, so went for a more straightforward workout. 5 workouts left between now and the scheduled week off, which I am very much looking forward to, so definitely want to get sprints in again there somewhere. Also, want to try and extend riding time again, but that might need to wait until after the week off...with any luck, I will also be -20 lbs overall by that time, but won't know until we get there...

D107: 08.22.21

Workout: Cardio
Equipment Used: Schwinn AirDyne
Duration: ~8mi/~36min
Driver: Sabaton YouTube channel
Calories: ???

Quality Level: N/A
Observations/Intel: Legs not quite all the way back (did some minor moving after the workout yesterday) and Allergies roaring still a touch, but we were still a go. Again, no ankle brace, but I'm planning on putting it back on for sprints next week.

D106: 08.21.21

Workout: Cardio
Equipment Used: Schwinn AirDyne
Duration: ~8mi/~35min
Driver: Unlucky Morpheus YouTube channel
Calories: ???

Quality Level: N/A
Observations/Intel: A very, very active week and trying to fit in bike time anywhere in there was pretty much a complete no go. Also, did not do a great job dietary (not that it wasn't clean or anything, just way too low of calories) and I threw off things quite a bit, I think, which impaired recovery. Allergies a bit on the fritz today, which kind of clanged Air, but Legs were go, so we went. Overall, solid considering...definitely looking to get back onto the normal schedule this week coming up, though. I also neglected to brace up  prior to this, which wasn't much of a problem until towards the end, so some improvement on the Achilles...

Weigh-in Wednesday was 249, which is +2 from last time, but I was also holding water like crazy, so...could have been worse, I guess...another reason to get back on track.

D105: 08.13.21

Workout: Cardio
Equipment Used: Schwinn AirDyne
Duration: ~7mi/~33min
Driver: Entombed: Uprising
Calories: ???

Quality Level: N/A
Observations/Intel: Very unusual Friday workout. Legs were no-go yesterday and I had a very rough night prior and was overall quite wrecked. Air was better, but Legs were very iffy today. I didn't want to skip another day with this weekend off also. I decided to go light, as I didn't want to run things too hard today and make the weekend moving more difficult. I had harbored thoughts of shooting for double digit miles, but warm-up took twice as long as by the time I hit 24 minutes, it was very clear that was going to be out for today.

Next scheduled workout will be Tuesday and I'm not planning on taking any further weekends off until Labor Day weekend, but we shall see how well that holds.

D104: 08.10.21

Workout: Cardio
Equipment Used: Schwinn AirDyne
Duration: ~9mi/~40min
Driver: Hypocrisy: A Taste Of Extreme Divinity
Calories: ???

Quality Level: N/A
Observations/Intel: Air is still awful, like really bad, so my Air was correspondingly horrendous today. Did some light additional moving stuff around the last couple of days, so Legs were on the border, but I felt like they were ready to go, so I went. I've had it in my head that I'd like to resume sprints or at least get one of those in and I tried to scratch that itch today. It went...not super well. I could hit the targets, but could not hold pace there for most of them (I went up and down pyramid with a fixed distance in mind) and Air was just not there (I spent a lot of time coughing and trying to clear lungs and catching my breath back up took way longer than normal). Legs also turned out somewhat less recovered than I thought and I wound up having to cut this short once the sprints burned out Legs. Thursday will be the last workout this week, with more moving this weekend, plus a massive bottom to top reorganization and cleaning effort following that. I was trying to hold off until the end of the week for a week off, but that may inadvertently come sooner than anticipated...

D103: 08.07.21

Workout: Cardio
Equipment Used: Schwinn AirDyne
Duration: ~10mi/~42min
Driver: Entombed: Serpent Saints
Calories: ???

Quality Level: N/A
Observations/Intel: Lots of smoke in the area and awful air quality, so definitely hitting the allergy tabs, but Legs were good enough, so we went. It took them quite a while to warm up and were not so interested in being pushed, but still, pretty solid overall. Ass is a bit sorer than usual, however. Tomorrow will be off as I will be assisting a move again. Next weekend will be off entirely for the same reason, so T/T workouts only next week. 

Once all those moves are mostly completed, I have a massive cleaning and re-organization project, which should keep me fairly active, but may also be a wrecking ball to workouts. I don't have an end game in sight for that, but am going to try to keep going on workouts, other than Labor Day weekend, which is going to start an entire week off.

D102: 08.05.21

Workout: Cardio
Equipment Used: Schwinn AirDyne
Duration: ~9mi/~40min
Driver: Hypocrisy: Virus
Calories: ???

Quality Level: N/A
Observations/Intel: Woke up early this morning to allergies, so that was...not great. Timing was off on caloric loading, so even though Legs were go, it was a bit of a struggle to get through, as I did not move the actual workout time. Some rather odd random pains today also didn't help.

Weigh-in yesterday was 247, which is -2 from yesterday, -15 from when I started in late March and -16 down from the high point since starting. I'm hoping this means I've finally turned a corner. Definitely feeling some diet fatigue in there, so going to throw in some changes next week. I've been alternating days with high protein workout days and lower protein, but much higher fiber alternating days, which I'm liking, so will definitely strongly work on retaining that. In other numbers, this is now around 511 miles on the Air Dyne since I resumed in March.

D101: 08.03.21

Workout: Cardio
Equipment Used: Schwinn AirDyne
Duration: ~8mi/~32min
Driver: Defleshed: Royal Straight Flesh
Calories: ???

Quality Level: N/A
Observations/Intel: Definitely was the smart move to take the weekend off after helping someone move. Will be a repeat of that, albeit probably a shorter one, hopefully, weekend after next, so that weekend also will be off. 

Once that person is out, I will be doing a lot of moving stuff around internally, as well as a large cleaning project, so I may have to take more time off here and there, as necessary. Back to now...

Last couple of days I've felt off, but Legs were a go, so off we went. Cannot complain at all about this from a performance perspective. A very soft goal was 10 miles in 30 minutes and this was off that pace, however, there was also both the warm-up and cool-downs in there, so I feel pretty strongly I could accomplish that sooner than expected. Legs were fine, Air did an ok job of keeping up, but again, not feeling 100% going in, which compromised that a bit.

D100: 07.29.21

Workout: Cardio
Equipment Used: Schwinn AirDyne
Duration: ~13mi/~55min
Driver: Opeth: Watershed
Calories: ???

Quality Level: N/A
Observations/Intel: Legs a bit sorer yesterday and this morning I woke up feeling awful, but I'm digging the progress and it's the last workout of July, so had to hit it. Again, sustained higher cadence and once I got going, first 40 was mostly a breeze. This is both the longest in terms of duration and distance, so a good way to end the month and my 100th workout.

I've been hoping to be back in the gym by October, but I am going to hold off until under-12 have a vaccine and my son is fully vaxxed. With any luck, this should be sometime in November, so I could look strongly at a return in December...fingers crossed.

D99: 07.27.21

Workout: Cardio
Equipment Used: Schwinn AirDyne
Duration: ~12.5mi/~52min
Driver: Kamelot: The Shadow Theory
Calories: ???

Quality Level: N/A
Observations/Intel: Once again, day after last workout, felt like I could go again. Today, woke up with a headache (air quality here is horrid currently), but Legs were fine, so I went. Interestingly, my dietary strategy with warm-ups worked nearly exactly as I had hoped...first 30 minutes were a breeze, then my carb loading wore out and the last 22 minutes were much more a test. Air, in particular, was really tested the last 22 minutes. Legs did better, but were grinding down a touch also. I went with another sustained higher cadence workout, which will also be the next one. I'd need to double-check, but I believe this may be the highest distance total since resuming training. This weekend I'm planning on being off entirely (well, off from the Air Dyne - will be doing a lot of more physical work of helping someone start moving) and then resuming next Tuesday. Thursday this week will be it for July, which will also be workout 100. I do not believe I will be resuming sprints until maybe end of August, possibly into September, depending on how it goes. I also am using my arms frequently enough that I need to add them to my limbering-up routine, pre-workout.

 Big internal debate right now is whether or not I get bike re-tuned. I wound up buying a Go Pro (and mounting accessories), but I'm honestly too heavy for the bike still, in my view. I *might* take it out and fuck around with some gear switches and maybe do some test footage, if I do get it tuned, but that would be about it. I'm getting closer to being more ready for the gym, though, which, if Delta doesn't completely fuck things up, will hopefully be no later than October.

Weigh-in this morning, as I kind of spaced what day it was, was 249, which -3 from last week and finally under 250, which I was, as might be expected, relieved to see. Not really surprised, though, as my body composition overall is improving and clothes are fitting better. I thought I might be bloating again, but that did not bear out as far as weight scale reflection goes.

D98: 07.25.21

Workout: Cardio
Equipment Used: Schwinn AirDyne
Duration: ~8.9mi/~40min
Driver: Demolition Hammer: Timebomb
Calories: ???

Quality Level: N/A
Observations/Intel: DOMS struggle continued through this week. Definitely not getting enough calories as I suspect my body is using the higher protein, without enough compensating carbs or fat, evidently, as fuel rather than to support re-knitting muscle fibers. It has been really hot lately, though, so typical July and maybe August, not really too much appetite. I'm also more active than I have been (which will continue probably through the end of this year, at minimum), but not to what I think is an extent that would compromise recovery. Still, I am a huge proponent of listening to my body and it has been telling me, in a very clear signal, that it needs more time.

In that light, I've decided I'm just going to run slightly higher cadence workouts for a while, since my next few weekends are going to be very active (may only do weekday workouts). I am not planning on taking an entire week off, though, until maybe later on in the month, though that may change.

Last weigh-in was 252, so at least that is holding somewhat steady.

D97: 07.20.21

Workout: Cardio
Equipment Used: Schwinn AirDyne
Duration: ~7.5mi/~35min
Driver: Devildriver: Dealing With Demons
Calories: ???

Quality Level: N/A
Observations/Intel: Sunday and Monday were kind of wreck-ish, with notable DOMS in Legs for both. Also, the combination of it being hot and whatever was going on with me, where I was constantly exhausted, sort of wrecked me getting in proper nutrition at all, let alone protein. I really need to be pushing 200g, 150g at minimum, which is why protein shakes are such a useful device, but on days where nothing sounds good at all, it gets very difficult and I almost certainly missed pretty wildly. Sleep was not great last night, so Legs, I should note, were not great today. On a kind of interesting note, I forgot to put on my ankle brace and didn't notice until I was walking around a parking lot a bit later after the workout, so that seems good. Definitely don't want to make that a habit, though...

Anyway, today, I decided to just put in a maintenance workout, nothing too long, nothing too intense, just a nice casual session. Air was obviously not tested for this. Summers, I should note, are catch-as-catch-can for me much of the time anyway, even back when I was working out regularly, so this is not too far off the norm. I'm also planning on taking an entire week off either the first or second week of August.

D96: 07.17.21

Workout: Cardio
Equipment Used: Schwinn AirDyne
Duration: ~10mi/~45min
Driver: Enslaved: Utgard
Calories: ???

Quality Level: N/A
Observations/Intel: Woke up not so great, which is combination on not a lot of or particularly good sleep and allergies. Legs, consequently, after the walking around yesterday, were not fully recovered, so today was going to be low key. I had planned on going for 60min, but the CD I chose I discovered too late (i.e. after I already started) was only 45 minutes, which, as things went on, I was kind of grateful for. Legs never felt warmed up and it was a bit of a struggle today, which is usually the case on bad allergy days. I decided on weekends I'm really going to shoot for at least 10 mi, though, and I'm starting to do a decent job of racking in the miles. I don't have a specific goal to that end, but maybe at the end of the month, which will be slightly over 4 months since I resumed things, I will do some totaling.

Finally up to 100 posts total on the blog with this one. Moving closer to 100 workouts, which should be next weekend.

D95: 07.15.21

Workout: Cardio
Equipment Used: Schwinn AirDyne
Duration: ~10mi/~43min
Driver: Misery Inc.: Random End
Calories: ???

Quality Level: N/A
Observations/Intel: Air was terrible. Legs were a little iffy going in and took a long time to warm-up, but I wound up getting in some .5mi sprints, at a lower cadence. The really interesting thing to me is that I had a lot of gas left in the tank at the end of this (it was cut a little short by the CD running time), so it may be time for me to start taking throws at 60 minutes on weekends...maybe. I'm taking it day by day, but that is much closer on the horizon now.

Weigh-in yesterday was 252, despite some not-so-clean eating over the weekend (I shoot some YouTube videos that involve me eating spicy foods and some of those are not particularly overall healthy - fortunately, I'm nearly done with those that I had). I *think* my body is finally getting the idea of what I want it to be doing now...hopefully.

D94: 07.13.21

Workout: Cardio
Equipment Used: Schwinn AirDyne
Duration: ~9.2mi/~40min
Driver: Decapitated: Organic Hallucinosis
Calories: ???

Quality Level: N/A
Observations/Intel: Air was still not great, more allergy fun, and the headache thing, which I assume is due to the horrendous air quality lately. Legs, however, were ready to go, so I decided to do a full-on sprint day, everything .25mi. I figured I probably had a higher speed than the last time I did that whole run-down, so I set a new high today, between 8 - 9 load, which is 70+ PRPM. I also went through all of the other levels, save for the previous high. I don't think I will be doing another highest level, as planned, at the end of this month (the meter only goes to 10), but will instead wait until either August or if I wind up feeling froggy again. Legs were not especially fried and I could have gone the full 45 easily, but the CD I chose was one that I did not understand was also a fairly short one until it ran out of playtime after about a half hour. Ooopsie.

I also think I might be getting to the point where I need to start consider more benchmarks. I saw a site online where the dude(?) was looking after people for how fast they could do 5mi, which I don't currently know myself (guessing maybe 20 min at normal cadence), but I don't know how fast I can do 1mi, either. I also have not related how fast it takes to go .1mi at the various cadences, so I may haul out the phone so I can use the stopwatch feature and do some data collection at some point in the very near future.

D93: 07.11.21

Workout: Cardio
Equipment Used: Schwinn AirDyne
Duration: ~7.25mi/~35min
Driver: Rakoth: Tiny Deaths
Calories: ???

Quality Level: N/A
Observations/Intel: Air was better, but still pretty funky today. All those fucking fires are playing some Hell with my system, I suspect. Today, woke up with a headache also. Legs were pretty shot and this was a tough workout. One of the things I like about the Air Dyne is that it is a lot like doing a Leg workout. It is nice to feel the pain of worked muscles rather than muscles on the verge of injury, but I could do with better recovery. I might need to start tracking protein, as I'm almost 100% sure I did not get enough in yesterday. At this point, that cannot happen any longer, particularly given the caloric deficit.

D92: 07.10.21

Workout: Cardio
Equipment Used: Schwinn AirDyne
Duration: ~8.55mi/~40min
Driver: Vio-lence: Oppressing The Masses/Torture Tactics
Calories: ???

Quality Level: N/A
Observations/Intel: Air was still pretty funky today and it took a while to get going, consequently, I fucked up the pre-workout loading. Not wholly sure how much it mattered, though, as Legs were not there today. Weekends are casual/duration anyway, but when things get grind-y, like today, definitely need a better lift from the tunes. Cardio workouts are almost always like that for me...the music can really step in, lift you up and carry you along, but as I'm in sort of a process of weeding out, sometimes the music is not well-suited to that task.

Workout posts are running 4 behind total posts, so in 4 more posts, I will hit 100 posts total for this blog, then 4 posts after that, 100 workouts.

D91: 07.08.21

Workout: Cardio
Equipment Used: Schwinn AirDyne
Duration: ~10mi/~42min
Driver: Product Of Hate: Buried In Violence
Calories: ???

Quality Level: N/A
Observations/Intel: Woke up really late, which threw the entire day off. This also meant my workout got interrupted right after warm-ups, but I was feeling a lot like sprints were a total go, even though air is still not entirely recovered today. Air, in fact, was kind of crap throughout, but Legs were solid enough to make a go at making up for Tuesday's miss. I wound up doing down a beginning mini-sprint and an ending mini-sprint of .5mi ea and in between those I did down pyramids from my previous high speed, starting at .25mi, then dropping down one level of load, but increasing distance, so sprints from there of .3mi, .4mi, .5mi, and .75mi. 7 sprints in all and my legs were shot at the end of it, but 3.2mi in sprints overall. Also worked up a crazy sweat, since we're in triple digit days...

Weigh-in yesterday was 253, which bolstered my spirits somewhat.

D90: 07.06.21

Workout: Cardio
Equipment Used: Schwinn AirDyne
Duration: ~7.4mi/~35min
Driver: Vader: Blood/Reign Forever World
Calories: ???

Quality Level: N/A
Observations/Intel: Didn't mean to get quite this deep into July before hitting the seat again, but a dose of food poisoning (at least I hope that's all it is) created some havoc and I decided to err on the side of non-physicality over the weekend in the hopes I could do sprints this week. Thursday is still a maybe but I woke up with what feels like some very strong adverse allergies, to the point where it was fucking my air and also pushing me towards a headache, so I decided to take a shot at duration. Didn't quite get there and was not feeling at all well, so instead went for the minimum. Not bad, not great. Legs were fine throughout.

D89: 06.31.21

Workout: Cardio
Equipment Used: Schwinn AirDyne
Duration: ~9.1mi/~40min
Driver: Satyricon: The Age Of Nero
Calories: ???

Quality Level: N/A
Observations/Intel: Sleep has been really chaotic. That, in combination with an (unintentionally) erratic deficit caloric intake, is compromising recovery. Yesterday was off of a really bad sleep night and since I had only one weekday workout schedule for this week due to other commits, I just moved it back to today in the hope Legs would be fresher. They were, but still took a really long time to warm up and Air was really funky, possibly due to the slight rain yesterday that made everything much more humid than normal and little else. Air, in fact, got really pushed, while Legs, after some coaxing, were able to keep up with what I asked. This marks one of the few times that Legs were able to drive Air as I was hoping, but, again, Air was not quite all there going in.

I went with a higher peak point on the sprints, but did the pyramid, except for everything at .4mi. It's interesting to note where my natural cadence seems to be on the sprints. Legs, as mentioned, were not warming up fast enough to my suiting, so I also threw in a .5mi mini-sprint prior to all of that. Ideally, I will be able to get sprints eventually to 1mi, but as I'm not quite to .5mi consistently at the higher speeds, that won't be for a bit. I believe next week, one of the days, I will be pushing to the peak point. Today, I went one level below my previous peak of last week. 

Weigh-in today was 255. It sort of hovered between that and 254, but I'm going to err on the higher side.

D88: 06.27.21

Workout: Cardio
Equipment Used: Schwinn AirDyne
Duration: ~9.35mi/~45min
Driver: Stratovarius: Nemesis
Calories: ???

Quality Level: N/A
Observations/Intel: Legs and towards the end, ass, were pretty fried, predictably. Air was fine, but not tested. Intestinal area still a bit odd, but not enough to knock things off track today. Not sure what's going on there, but kind of annoying.

It's really getting pretty gutty trying to be patient, particularly in the face of the Delta variant, as I very badly want to get back into the gym again and throw some iron around. Now that it's generally too hot to realistically consider riding my actual bike, the enthusiasm for that has dampened somewhat, but all I have to do is look down to wish I could start making some serious composition reform, but also can't really do that without equipment...

D87: 06.26.21

Workout: Cardio
Equipment Used: Schwinn AirDyne
Duration: ~11.35mi/~51min
Driver: Insult II Injury: Point Of This
Calories: ???

Quality Level: N/A
Observations/Intel: Today was odd...was woken up early, felt super-bloaty, then some gastrointestinal chaos, which didn't clear until a bit later on, so later than usual workout. I decided to really go low-key and wound up with both the highest distance and time since my return to working out. I'll take it. I also tried to go to a more staggered cool-down, as I feel that lactic acid not clearing may be a hindrance. Again, just went with the running time of the CD, but also managed to drop my mini-flashlight, so cool-down didn't start until the entire disc was concluded. Tomorrow, more of the same I expect. Sprints will be Tuesday-only this week, as I have a very time-consuming meeting on Thursday, which will work out well in not taking a huge chunk of time off, but still getting some quality rest...at least I hope, anyway. Air and Legs both fine today, but neither really tested, despite the extra time/distance. All to the good.

D86: 06.24.21

Workout: Cardio
Equipment Used: Schwinn AirDyne
Duration: ~8.5mi/~38min
Driver: Skyfire: Mind Revolution
Calories: ???

Quality Level: N/A
Observations/Intel: Monday felt like I could go again, but Tuesday & Wednesday woke up both days feeling tired, which is usually a pretty strong signal to take some time off...today was a bit downcast also, but I suspect that's more due to a change in the weather. I got on anyway, as I wanted to see where things were and...then took a while to warm up. 

Usually, my cadence is between 40 - 44 PRPM (pedal revolutions per minute) and a load hovering somewhere between 1 - 2. I should probably point out my machine is also not calibrated and is not at all remotely young, so, this may be somewhat off, but it is what I have to measure with currently. When I do sprints, I usually hit a point somewhere between the load marks and hold it (some of the time .25mi, some of the time .4mi). The highest sprint I have done in the earlier posts is with a load between 5 - 6, which is a cadence of somewhere around 60PRPM. So, today, starting with a brief warmer between 4 - 5, I went up to see how long I could hit and hold .25 mi sprints. I wound up making it between a load of 7 - 8 and PRPM of 70 before my Legs were gassed. Air, however, was fine and I'm thinking now that if I would have given myself more rest, I probably could have hit 8 - 9. 9 - 10 or 10+ is probably not realistic at this point, however. Still, goals to work toward...

Weigh-in yesterday was 255, which is -1 from the last weigh-in and which matches the lowest I've hit since re-re-re-starting this whole fitness journey thing...

D85: 06.20.21

Workout: Cardio
Equipment Used: Schwinn AirDyne
Duration: ~9.15mi/~45min
Driver: Damageplan: New Found Power
Calories: ???

Quality Level: N/A
Observations/Intel: Today was a lot less breezy than yesterday. Air wasn't tested, as this one was a lot more casual, given Legs and ass being not fully recovered. At the moment, Tuesday is probably going to get skipped, but will see how I feel then.

In other news, one area of major stress is at the beginning of the resolution. To be sure, there won't be an actual easy part to the thing, but I'm hopeful that it will be easing towards conclusion by the time I'm ready to resume the gym.

D84: 06.19.21

Workout: Cardio
Equipment Used: Schwinn AirDyne
Duration: ~9.75mi/~45min
Driver: Burn It Down: Let The Dead Bury The Dead
Calories: ???

Quality Level: N/A
Observations/Intel: Today was kind of a question after Thursday, but the rebound, even given the kind of crappy last 2 nights of sleep I've had, was definitely there. I am getting the impression, though, that I might need to take another shot at some extended time off, so rather than take a full week after tomorrow's workout, I think I might skip Tuesday, depending on how I'm feeling after the work-work I need to do then and just circle back for another sprint day on Thursday, particularly if I'm going to be chasing a max. That will be right around the 3 month mark of when I started, so...not a bad plan, all in all. 

Legs were fine, Air was fine. I can actually see some of my Leg muscles when I work out, which is kind of interesting...it also made me really want to get back into the gym again, so I can start chasing definition better, but my commit was fall, so I could try to improve my cardio before attempting that and I still need to lose a solid 30 pounds, minimum. Once I get back, of course, I will have to fight the battle of strength training/bulking vs. bodybuilding, but I also feel I really need to keep pushing to 12 - 15% bodyfat, so I guess we'll see. Winter is not a great time to be trying that, but where my head is at is with me never wanting to leave this path ever again.

D83: 06.17.21

Workout: Cardio
Equipment Used: Schwinn AirDyne
Duration: ~8.5mi/~37min
Driver: Skyfire: Esoteric
Calories: ???

Quality Level: N/A
Observations/Intel: In the course of doing work yesterday, I wound up increasing my uptake of protein rather considerably, resulting in my Legs being a lot more ready today. So, the point I knew was coming, in which I tried to move forward using a more "normal" diet, has gone as far as I can take it. Starting probably tomorrow, but maybe today, I will be moving another step closer to my former pseudo-bodybuilding diet of several years ago. One of the things I disliked about it was a heavy reliance on protein powder. While I use it now, I don't also want that situation repeated as going that narrow can tend to cause "crashes" if I step off of it, which I may need to do here and there.

Legs were not all the way back today, but good enough to run sprints and I ran the peak of sprints higher. I was shooting for 40 minutes, but the higher levels were pretty hard to hold (.3mi at the peak instead of .4, as were the rest) and definitely gassed out my Legs. It did get me curious, though, and I think next sprint day I'm going to try to see how hot I can run for .25mi passes. My guess is that next sprint day will also be next Thursday, as I'm in the midst of a project that precludes me getting on the bike Tuesday at the usual time. If I can do sprints then, I will, but not counting on it. Air got pushed pretty hard today. Needs improvement, as expected. I also wound up working up a decent sweat for the first time since getting back to this.

Weigh-in yesterday was 256, which is no change from last time.

Also, as of today, I am 50.

D82: 06.15.21

Workout: Cardio
Equipment Used: Schwinn AirDyne
Duration: ~8mi/~39min
Driver: Alcatrazz: Live Sentence - No Parole From Rock 'N' Roll
Calories: ???

Quality Level: N/A
Observations/Intel: I said last post that recovery was in question a little bit...it's in question a lot of bit. Legs were a total no-go for sprints today. I wound up getting to this way late due to work commits, and decided to do what I used to do in the olden days and just throw on a CD (cassette back then) and go for it. The album running time would dictate the workout and I'd use the final song for a cooldown, which is what I did here. I was still thinking of sprints going into the workout, but I never warmed up enough to feel that was feasible. Perhaps Thursday...it was also like 106 here today, so doing it after appointments was kind of interesting. Air wasn't really tested, but I rather prefer doing the workout prior to going out, so I'm going to keep my eye on that. Night workouts are still kind of out of the question, I think...

D81: 06.13.21

Workout: Cardio
Equipment Used: Schwinn AirDyne
Duration: ~9.2mi/~45min
Driver: Black Label Society: Mafia
Calories: ???

Quality Level: N/A
Observations/Intel: Recovery is still in question a bit...Legs definitely not there today. Head foggy from wildfire smoke...it smelled like a BBQ restaurant in the bedroom when I woke up. It was still a go, but took a much longer time to warm up. If this was a sprint day, I probably would have modified it, but as a lower key duration workout (which is good to have as a backup option), it was fine. Air was not tested particularly.

D80: 06.12.21

Workout: Cardio
Equipment Used: Schwinn AirDyne
Duration: ~10mi/~45min
Driver: Annihilator: Alice In Hell
Calories: ???

Quality Level: N/A
Observations/Intel: That one took some doing. Sleep schedule has been funky and it's kind of screwing with my loading. Yesterday was also a very erratic eating day, which is not always desirable when running a caloric deficit. Anyway, I wound up having to do some pushing, which I nicely, but with not much room to spare, hit the newest goal. This is an average of slightly over 13 mph, so getting there, and not bad for a duration day, but need to push that a bit higher. There is, I should definitely note, no way I would have gotten anywhere near an hour today. Air was fine, but Legs were definitely having a harder time of things.

This coming up week will likely be somewhat of a busy one, which is not helping with my consistency...I may need to alter the times I'm hitting it, but I rather like the time frame now, not too hot, not too cool. I also am leery that I may be too worn down if I put the workout after things...ideally, I will be able to get back to that (maybe) or at least have the option, but that is definitely a more-towards-fall discussion.

D79: 06.10.21

Workout: Cardio
Equipment Used: Schwinn AirDyne
Duration: ~7.1mi/~32min
Driver: Skyfire: Timeless Departure
Calories: ???

Quality Level: N/A
Observations/Intel: Legs were not there today...deficit diet + not so great sleep + more exercise than anticipated Tuesday wound up tanking them for the workout I had in mind...air was also a little dicey, but didn't get severely tested. Workout was also lacking intensity, as the driver and having a child in the area conspired to ruin that quite nicely. Loading was fine, however, on the positive note. Looks like I'll have to try for the 10 mile mark during one of the weekend duration workouts.

Weigh-in yesterday was 256, which is -2 from last time.

D78: 06.06.21

Workout: Cardio
Equipment Used: Schwinn AirDyne
Duration: ~9.5mi/~45min
Driver: Gamma Ray: Heading For Tomorrow
Calories: ???

Quality Level: N/A
Observations/Intel: I knew going in that today would be a struggle, so I went into this with more of an "anything goes" mindset towards distance, but as I got into things, it was less of one than I thought. Warm-up took forever, but it occurred to me that I could hit double digit distance (this is evidently my newest goal obsession) today with a higher cadence rather than waiting until the next time I do sprints. Realistically, it will probably not be then, either, depending on when the next sprint is, as I have an actual work function to attend to on this coming Tuesday. Anyway, I ran at the lowest sprint level and held cadence there for a bit, so basically 3 mini-sprints, but that blew what little gas was left in the tank and it was just not enough to make up for the extended warm-up period. I probably would have not quite reached 9 miles today were it not for those, though.

Legs were ok, considering this is the third consecutive extended workout in a row. Air was also solid, but, again, not really to where I can really push it just yet. I think I'm hitting the place I wanted to, though, as summer comes on, in terms of being ready to take advantage of the higher temperatures in relation to unfattening. I really want to go back to the gym, though...both to hit the weights, but also to change it up with some stairmill time on the Cardio side. If I can make it happen by this full, no question I will be fully motivated.

D77: 06.05.21

Workout: Cardio
Equipment Used: Schwinn AirDyne
Duration: ~9.9mi/~45min
Driver: Bitter End: Harsh Realities
Calories: ???

Quality Level: N/A
Observations/Intel: Bum bum is pretty not used to this kind of duration back to back...tomorrow should be interesting, given I have not broken double digits in mileage yet and I'm about due. Air was pretty solid today, despite being somewhat pushed. Hot enough now that I'm working up an ambient sweat, but Legs are still not caught up enough for that to be solely due to the intensity of the workout. Weekends are duration anyway, however...Achilles was a touch sore, but slapped the brace on and no worries. 

Today puts me at right around 260 cumulative miles since I've started this year also...

D76: 06.04.21

Workout: Cardio
Equipment Used: Schwinn AirDyne
Duration: ~8.4mi/~40min
Driver: Motorpsycho: Wrenched
Calories: ???

Quality Level: N/A
Observations/Intel: Been on a pretty bad run of allergies and probably depression, thanks to a situation that grows increasingly stressful. The allergies took a break today, so back on again, even though my schedule has been blown to shit. I've tried to focus a bit on eating cleanly (and even had some vague illness, which did wonders for me attempting to play with fasting a bit, though it was somewhat inadvertent). I did a weigh-in yesterday (?) and it was 258, which is +1 from last time, but that could also possibly have been some slight bloat.

I forgot my brace, as I don't usually do runs on Fridays, and I figured I would go until it started barking, which was after around 35 minutes, so that was kind of heartening. I probably could have pushed through, but really want to use this weekend to get my ass back on track.

D75: 05.29.21

Workout: Cardio
Equipment Used: Schwinn AirDyne
Duration: ~8.75mi/~45min
Driver: Slaughter House: Face Reality
Calories: ???

Quality Level: N/A
Observations/Intel: Today started as mostly a "better than nothing" workout, very, very casual. I got some weird Calf pings, but overall, I guess it turned out mostly ok.Ass was unusually sore, though.

May has been a really rough, uneven month, from the start of it and now ending it again on more question marks. Thursday I was dizzy and nauseous almost all day...most of that has subsided, though I'm still a touch queasy even now. I also was getting really weird Leg pains on and off from that day on, though Wednesday was pretty clear (and I felt like I could have gone again). No idea what the fuck, but looking at another workout tomorrow, even though some of my music technology is busily shitting the bed...

D74: 05.25.21

Workout: Cardio
Equipment Used: Schwinn AirDyne
Duration: ~7.75mi/~35min
Driver: Skyfire: Spectral
Calories: ???

Quality Level: N/A
Observations/Intel: Sprint Day again today. Ran the sprint distance a touch higher, .4 mi (except for the top of the tree, which was .3 mi) vs. .25 mi the previous session and distance keeps increasing accordingly. I *almost* think I can increase duration as well, but am holding off on that for a bit longer. Today was a bit harder than I was anticipating and it will be a game day decision as to whether or not I increase sprint distance on the next session.

Legs felt pretty good yesterday, like I could have gone, but today were oddly a bit sore going in. I was able to stretch and warm that out, but it was kind of strange. Knee is back to normal, which is good since my fucking braces have not arrived yet...still.

D73: 05.23.21

Workout: Cardio
Equipment Used: Schwinn AirDyne
Duration: ~9.1mi/~45min
Driver: Alice Cooper: Dragontown
Calories: ???

Quality Level: N/A
Observations/Intel: The ugh is finally clearing out, I think. It's hard to tell as yesterday was really bad and got a lot worse in the afternoon, to the point where it more or less laid me out. On the good token, I'm right at the edge of pushing past my body's ability to recover and it's at that exact edge I want to stay. Legs were obviously in solid shape today, at least for this workout and air, while not really tested, was also notably better than yesterday.  

I feel a lot lighter, now that the bloating from a couple posts ago is down. That is a consistent fight I have, but my face is starting to lean out a lot. My body likes to move fat from everywhere else and leave the front of my body, particularly the stomach area and tits, for last, but hopefully in the next month or two, I will go from looking like an out-of-shape slob into something closer to a bodybuilder in a bulking phase, though I don't think I will quite make that all the way until I can get back into the gym again.As I intend on doing strength training nearly exclusively (cardio will be the Air Dyne and maybe the live bike and possibly also a stairmill to break it up) once I do return, that probably will be the look I settle into...next spring, if all of these projections hold, will be when I start moving into more of a toning sort of thing...at least that's the plan for now.

D72: 05.22.21

Workout: Cardio
Equipment Used: Schwinn AirDyne
Duration: ~9mi/~45min
Driver: Alice Cooper: Brutal Planet
Calories: ???

Quality Level: N/A
Observations/Intel: Been a bit of ugh the last couple days, so glad weekend workouts are lower key. 45 minutes not a challenge physically, but mentally a bit of a slog, which made it a bit grindy towards the end. Air was not challenged for this workout.