The Spew: keeping you up-to-date since 2003

Morning weigh-in: 179#, 14% body fat

I went swimming last night, which turned out to be a lot of fun. It was Doug and myself, as guests of Greg H at the Bethlehem YMCA. The setup there is pretty nice, not too big on weights or cardio machines that I could see, but they have several racquetball courts, hot tub & sauna, etc, and of course a pool. The water was chlorinated, but not too strongly.

I forgot how much of a workout swimming can be! We each did our own thing, swimming laps in the same lane -- a woman sharing our lane but "driving on the left side of the road" if you know what I mean, fled to the (empty) next lane over, after bumping heads with Greg... He was doing some specific workout, two double laps (ie 100 yards) hard, then a quick break before doing another two, over and over, while I did a bunch of laps in a crawl, then a "resting" double lap on my back, then a few more crawl, then a double lap of breast stroke, etc; Doug just did laps and worked on his form. Plenty of rest & BS breaks, the time flew by: we were there for an hour, finishing at 9:30. I'm sure I did more than a half mile -- 18 double laps -- but less than a mile. Greg did considerably more, Doug about the same as me. Afterward, we each went our separate ways -- I was meeting Joe G at Which Brew.

Before swimming I made that "pasta & wilted greens" dish, which was awesome but leaves you with a very strong garlic aura... the poolwater & subsequent shower burned it off, but after a while at WB I started to smell chlorine, then garlic again, so I called it an early night before I offended too many people. (Also, I've been thinking about the Superbowl, and am not too happy with some of the decisions I made -- don't ask -- so I think that'll be it for blowouts for a while.) Anyway, while I was there I had an Old Heathen Imperial Stout, and some black bean hummus (again with the garlic), and that seemed to whet my appetite because when I left I didn't go straight home, but to Taco Bell and got a shitload of all the wrong things... Damn you, Taco Bell!

Today I ran with Dawn, my trainer. I've been working with her for years, mainly weights which she's good at but it's not her thing; I think she's been waiting for me to break down and ask her for running advice for more than a year now! Anyway, she's helping me get ready for that 5k, pretty serious about it too, more than I am so I better get my act together...

In other news: soon I will be a godfather to my as-yet-unborn niece, but first my sister-in-law has to survive her pregnancy. She and my brother are the ones who got married in October; now they have a baby on the way, but apparently she's having a rough time, serious health issues, and she just went into the hospital. Her doctor was thinking of inducing labor early, say March 1, but is now talking (worst-case scenario) of possibly a C-section as soon as the baby can survive outside the womb... I talked to them last night on the phone: Amy's in a bit of pain but she seems to be holding up OK, and I joked with her to keep it in perspective: someday the baby will be thirteen and giving her lip! Anyway, that was my connection with the adult world for this week. (My next task: are conditions still OK for XC skiing, or should I do a road ride with Joe C and crew tomorrow instead?)

The view from the office (lunchtime, sucka!)

Morning weigh-in: 178.5#, 13% body fat

Got up and ran this morning, not so bad out that early, but when I drove to work it was getting nasty: cold rain while de-icing the car, somewhat slippery road conditions. I took 173 after I heard a traffic report of an accident on Jugtown Mountain.

Words to live by: "I'd rather have 25 degrees and snowing than 40 degrees and raining." -- Greg, in the 40 degree rain, before the Michaux race several years ago. I think he's absolutely right, and I think I'll take an invite to go swimming with Doug at Lehigh rather than ride. (On the other hand: "there's no such thing as bad weather, just bad clothing choices," and that college poolwater did a number on my skin & sinuses at Lafayette years ago. Ahhh, just go swimming, ya wuss.)

What A Difference A Day Makes

Morning weigh-in: 178.5#, 14.5% body fat

Got up this morning and ran, despite being up late last night. (Well, midnight, late for nowadays.) I felt pretty good, and took a minute off my time: ran my 15 minute route in 14 minutes. If I can get the pace up consistently, I'll add some distance to keep the time at 15 minutes, at least for a few weeks -- I eventually want to go up to 20-30 minutes at least one or two mornings a week. That's a little into the future though.

Work: eh. Interesting day, I guess, cool projects and also John Jackson's 50th birthday. He wasn't happy when he heard that people knew about it, and was even less happy when they threw the "surprise party" ... I wasn't too happy myself, after I ate a slice of that cake. I normally try to only eat fruit, like bananas etc for snacks at work, but had a corn muffin every day this week -- and now this! The horror, the horror...

I may have been the sugar rush from the icing, or yesterday's rest day, but tonight's spin class was pretty awesome. Hard & fast, but I felt good and my heart rate was up there, between 80%-90% of max for almost half the class.

Some computer "housekeeping," a little bike work (brakes, again) then it's bedtime for me. I'll probably run tomorrow morning, but biking may be out of the question: there's a possibility of significant ice on the roads. That, and the cold rain coming down, ought to keep me inside. Yesterday's ride: shoulda, woulda, coulda...

doldrums

Morning weigh-in:179#, 12.5% body fat

Bored. Going to go for a ride maybe, do some MTB-on-road, maybe the Hellertown loop. Nothing else to say.

UPDATE: No ride. Instead, I stayed up late, cleaning out and reorganizing my Mozilla bookmarks.

Superbowl of Chili: Now it Can Be Told

Morning weigh-in: 179#, 14% body fat

Listening to WLVR. Apparently the Lehigh kids are still on vacation, so their station still rocks.

The Chili Contest: yes it rocked too. We (me, Eric, Doug & Lori, Brian, and Joe & Cos) started with a hike at Merrill Creek, where we later ran into Lee Sindet, and Karen Fox & her boyfriend Brian -- we were supposed to meet them but had parked in different lots, oh well. It was a good start to the day though, and hiking was the right choice, the trails were ruined for XC and except in one or two places the snowshoes were unnecessary. About an hour and a half of walking around and playing in the snow, and we went back to the cars, changed, and headed for Easton.

We got downtown about 11:30, and there already a lot of people there on line, but we lined up inside, where we were warm and could order beers. (Not long after we got there the line went out the door -- this is a half hour after the pub opened, and at least an hour and a half before the start of the contest -- so we lucked out.) Time flew as we hung out and people-watched, and it didn't seem too long before we were inside sampling the chili.

(A quick note: the contest is among local pubs and restaurants, judged by a panel of "experts" like local reporters & firemen or such like, and the grand prize is a top-of the-line stereo system. There is also a "People's Choice" award that people like us get to vote on. The whole thing is for charity and $5 gets you in. Beer is full price, but the chili & water are free...)

This year there were a lot more contestants than last year. Personally, I think Pearly Bakers really dropped the ball or something last year: no advance work, no advertising etc, and it showed... luckily, plenty of people showed up, and despite last year's disappointment they showed up again this year... There were probably thirty contestants, maybe a few more, and they were all good, like there was nothing there (among those I could eat: some had nuts or mushrooms) that wasn't excellent, it really was hard to pick a favorite but I liked entries from Porters and the Savory Grille best. This is probably the biggest deal in Easton, with the possible exception of Heritage Day. I saw Kelly-Jo and crew from Which Brew, and the Green Cafe crowd pushing their wares, and a ton of people out there consuming...

We ate our samples, then voted and left (I forgot to mention we hooked up with Dick Saul there), to escape the crowds and to let others get a chance. We went next door to Mothers, then up the street to Porters, then the day started catching up to all of us, so we headed home. I was asleep before the kickoff...

Checking In Before The Crash

Morning weigh-in (Sunday): 180.5#, 14% body fat
Morning weigh-in (Monday): 179#, 14.5% body fat

Going to bed in about 5 minutes but thought I'd just stop here to say that the Chili Contest was a smashing success. More on this maybe tomorrow, but right now I'm freaking exhausted and need my beauty sleep.