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.