Things Come Together

Morning weigh-in: 181.5#, 12% BF
Blood pressure: 124/75

Got a call from Doug last night: he was home from the hospital and he sounded a lot better already, though his dog sounded like it was having a meltdown in the background. We got onto the subject of hospital food, and the observation that a lot of people don't seem to be connected to their lives (lack of empathy with others, lack of appreciation of nature, indifference to the quality of the food they eat). I told him I associate all that with libertarianism and the fifties.

Meantime, or rather, before that call, I did a towpath ride. It was so nice out -- and nice evenings seem to be so rare right now -- that I decided to take today's yoga class (chance of showers) instead of yesterday's, and do today's gym workout on Wednesday rather than ride (possible thunderstorms), to make the most of the good weather. I noticed, early in the ride, that my heart rate wouldn't go very high no matter how hard I seemed to be pushing; this is a sure sign of overtraining so I backed off the pace & just took it mellow. Ride time was 1:47, not all that bad for active rest. I can't figure out the "overtraining" thing though, I'd swear that I'm not getting out riding all that much; my only guess it that I need to get in more base work before trying the harder offroad rides -- that, and I'm carrying more weight than I should up those MTB hills...

Dinner was New Orleans style rice & beans, with tuna. In other words, I have to go food shopping, but it was actually a very good meal, tasty & super-nutritious bike-wise. Just what the doctor ordered. I ate on the porch, and had a nice conversation with my neighbor.

Reading: Steven Runciman's Byzantine Civilization. By the way and speaking of the Byzantines, today is the anniversary of Constantine the Great being proclaimed emperor by his troops in 306, and of Michael VIII Palaeologus recapturing Constantinople and re-establishing the empire (in 1261). Wikipedia rawks.