Losing a part of me

Yesterday was mostly a success. I had an extra protein in the evening – Not a full meal, but one chicken leg – because I was quite hungry after a good workout. I also had some dried apricots before the workout for carbohydrates. Neither of those is likely the reason my weight was slightly up this morning. That is most likely from the inability to move my bowels this morning. If I can get back on track these next few days, then I have confidence that my weight will begin to fall again.

I am not worried about the bowels by the way. I have a good friend who spent a week suffering from constipation so bad that he tells me he was vomiting and needed to see a doctor. While I am usually regular enough to set a clock by, I have been known to miss a day… especially when I have had diarrhea for a day or two, followed by a really good BM. If I go two days without a successful poop, then I might consider speaking to my doctor… if I am in pain, which thus far I am not.

I mentioned that I had a good workout yesterday. Yes, I finally got back into the gym. I did a little over two miles on the treadmill, and then some weight machines. While doing leg extensions, I started to feel that the issue with my knee might not be gout after all. As my doctor requested, I will get an x-ray done this week. It is entirely possible I have a touch of osteo-arthritis… not a pleasant option. With that said, it is still a manageable condition that if I have to, I can live with.

While it was supposed to come Friday, I finally got the call this morning that my new (replacement) mattress is being delivered today between 1pm-4pm. Yes, it was always supposed to be delivered today, they just told me I would get the call about the timeframe three days prior, rather than the day of. Okay, that is not a problem. I was scheduled to be here all day until the call came. Now I can manage the rest of my day… I did not have plans to go anywhere today but decided in the end to change my haircut appointment from next week. After all, I am teaching on camera this week, and as my wife pointed out last night (again), the beard has gotten quite a bit out of hand!

My personal trainer emailed me that she is back from vacation, and we are scheduled for our next two sessions. Tomorrow morning at 10am is the next one, which means that if I want to be ready, I have to be at the gym by 9:00am to do my stretches. I think she is great, but I also think she is completely unrealistic with the stretches that she wants me to do. I plan to tell her that tomorrow. I know, she wants me to be buff and toned and everything… I do not believe that in order for a fifty-year-old man to stretch for his exercises, he needs to balance his back leg on a bench and do maneuvers that he feels zero balance on and is afraid he is going to injure himself on. With all due respect, there has to be a better way. I know that what she is showing me is great, and probably better for people who plan to be hardcore… anything. I do not have to be hardcore; I just need to be limber enough to not injure myself when I work out. I will go into the gym early tomorrow, and I will stretch… but I will stretch as I would in advance of a Taekwondo class, which will not involve any apparatus or implements, just me.

Today is a cool and cloudy day. The forecast is for a high of 0°, which is about average for this time of year. It is also calling for wind gusts up to 20 km/h, which means that there will be a sustained breeze. All this to say that it will be a comfortable day for walking my Princess Sophie, as well as for sitting on the balcony with a cigar this evening, should I choose to do so. We will see. In the meantime, I am going to try to do some studying today, as well as preparation for my class which begins tomorrow evening. I am currently waiting on someone else for something, which is never fun… I do not understand why the site is saying that they can reset my password automatically, but that option is just not working. Yes, I know it is a technical glitch, and that they are not open on the weekends… but what a pain!

I guess I forgot to close this as other errands and tasks came up. My day has so far gone well – I went for my haircut (without any stops for cheats along the way), I had my lunch (the normal chicken with salad), and my mattress was delivered. I think I should go do some grocery shopping because I finished all of my vegetables today.

I realized that tomorrow will be tight – after my morning workout with the trainer, I will come home and make a quick lunch. The World Cup match is at 2:00pm, which means I need to be done with lunch and on the road by 1:30pm. In the worst-case scenario – if the game goes to extra time and then to penalties – the game will be over by about 5:00pm… but if it does go that long, I will have to cut out around 4:30pm. I am teaching tomorrow evening, and I like to be logged on early for my class – especially the first day. Here’s hoping that my Argentina side wins handily in regular time!

It is amazing how easily a day can get away from you. What I thought would be a simple day in a simple week has since changed completely. While I usually close my journal entry early in the day, it is now 4:15pm, and I just got off the phone with a training broker who wants to work with me. That phone call lasted over an hour, most of which was not discussing professional topics… although he was extremely complimentary about my speaking voice and cadence, which as a trainer is important. I also had to spend some time on the phone with tech support for the company that provides the labs for my class that starts tomorrow. I have not gone shopping, but plan to try to do that now. I am not going to the gym this evening – I have a session with my trainer at 10:00am tomorrow, and those two would be too close together. I will do my shopping, and then at some point I will take my Princess Sophie for a walk. I forgot to put it on this morning, so my fitness watch is reading 1,000 steps at 4:15pm. Not nice. Gotta make some of them up!

Have a great day folks… whatever is left of it!