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Post by phillydude on Apr 22, 2024 17:09:22 GMT
I'm suffering through a series of "epic fails" right now.
A few months ago, I ordered a jersey for my bike club from a company that manufactures custom cycling apparel. I ordered a medium, which would probably be snug (the way a bike jersey should be) but would be the right size based on other bike jerseys I own that fit. It arrived last week and it's comically small... closer to a youth medium in my estimation. So I'm going through the process of getting that returned/replaced... but of course it is a specially made item with my club logo "sublimated" in the design, so there's some issues around that which are still being resolved.
I also ordered a new rack-mount bag for my bike, which was supposed to be a 15L size. The one I received was also comically small... turns out they had mis-labeled the item in their inventory and I received the smaller version than the one I had hoped to get, but they figured out the problem quickly this morning and that return/exchange went out in today's mail along with the jersey.
Finally, the past 36 hours have been a challenge to say the least. I only got six hours of sleep on Saturday night (I was still working on projects at 9pm) so I woke up groggy on Sunday morning, didn't have the motivation to ride my bike, and debated calling out from work. I sucked it up and went in, but I was "asleep at the wheel" as they say and just got through on cruise control. Somewhere in the course of the day I got it into my head that I wanted a piece of Pepperidge Farm cake (the vanilla birthday kind) and I couldn't shake it. So by the time I left work in a daze, the cake had made its way into my car, and we had a nice sit-down session at 9pm last night. When I had eaten all I could, I threw the rest in the trash and passed out from exhaustion and a sugar high.
Needless to say I wasn't feeling my best this morning either, but I got my bike gear on and mounted up to ride. Five hundred yards down the road, I turned around... while it was sunny outside it was colder than I thought and I was short one layer from where I would have been comfortable (despite having gone back in the house and changed jackets as soon as I had walked outside). Since I had a hard time slot to be at the radio station to record my new commercials, I didn't have time to change and get back on the bike, so I took a few minutes to collect my thoughts and called out from work today instead. So I have this afternoon and all day tomorrow to get some major work done (I have a plumber and a contractor scheduled for Tuesday) and still get out for a ride and do some pushups at some point. Gotta get to it and get it done!
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Post by phillydude on Apr 23, 2024 12:02:32 GMT
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Post by shamie on Apr 23, 2024 22:18:54 GMT
I listened to the interview, and the commercial. Both were very good. I am sure it is difficult to get clients from the radio. You have to somehow match someone hearing the commercial / interview with someone in that area who also wants to improve nutrition / fitness. Not an easy thing to do. Good luck.
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Post by seltzer on Apr 23, 2024 22:40:23 GMT
I'll be listening tomorrow.
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Post by phillydude on Apr 24, 2024 0:37:05 GMT
Day two of the great property cleanup (day three if you count Saturday, because I am), and I'm doing great. I think I'm taking the day off tomorrow and that should finish up a good bit of the work. I had the plumber in today to fix a few small things (and will have him back in a few weeks to do a few more), and the contractor came to take measurements for the estimate to build out the new porch. While I was working, I heard my commercial come on the radio... which is weird, hearing your own voice come through your earbuds.
I signed up to be a vendor at a local festival on May 11th, so that will get my ass in gear to get ready for that from a business perspective. I think I'm "well known" enough to start talking to people face-to-face, and I'm starting to work on a brochure to hand out as well as a "meal prep" gift basket to raffle off, and may try and come up with a pre-recorded PowerPoint presentation (with audio) to screen it on the back wall of my booth.
No cycling, no pushups, just hard physical labor and a ton of steps. I spent most of the day dancing with the power washer and moving cinder blocks.
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Post by phillydude on Apr 25, 2024 12:37:18 GMT
Yesterday was day three of the great property cleanup, and I got about 90% done with all the small projects that have taken up too much time, space, materials, and energy over the past year. I kept thinking about how much time I lost last summer and how much further along I would have been, but then thinking there was no guarantee that I would have done the work had I not been sick.
Too much stuff to list, but highlights included the purchase of eighteen rosemary plants to stock a large bed along a fence line in the front yard. I am also close to having the back patio (and fire pit) ready for this weekend. The canopy tent I put up in the yard has been great for staging work, and I finished all the projects that were being stored in it and started figuring out how to configure it for the festival in a few weeks. I'm hoping that I can get some kind of automated presentation running in the booth, and I have all the equipment except for some kind of battery pack/generator to power the projector (the laptop and the speaker are self-powered). I am thinking either a car battery with an inverter (I have both of those), or maybe an investment in one of those super small rechargable/solar generators, which would be handy to have down the line for camping and/or power outages.
So the sum total of exercise for the past five days has been yard work (and moving cinder blocks around the property as I continue to "rough in" the new porch area). That will change this weekend.
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Post by seltzer on Apr 25, 2024 14:17:41 GMT
Lots of functional exercise with the additional benefit of dealing with projects you'll be able to enjoy for a long time.
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Post by phillydude on Apr 26, 2024 13:36:09 GMT
I transitioned back to work yesterday, which wasn't as bad as I thought. I'm off again tomorrow, which will involve a clean-up event at the yacht club, more gardening/property management projects, and since I bought a thirty-rack of Natural Light, some beer drinking. With that said... I need to get focused on my nutrition and training again. I went off plan this week - a lack of proper food intake (and lots of poor - but tasty - choices) and virtually no planned exercises. This means that I am not going to show any weight loss again this week, which isn't the end of the world but it's something I still want to accomplish before we get into "suns out, guns out" season.
Someone I met at the store invited me to join her for a group ride she is hosting on May 4th along the C&D Canal (about thirty miles round-trip), and while I will have to blow off another event (an open house "fly-in" at the Air Museum that I've had on the calendar for a while) I'm going to do it. I also sent an e-mail to the captain of the Penn cycling team this morning in regards to the MS Rides, and found out that the Delaware MS ride is the weekend after the big Philly-Ocean City NJ ride, and it's a "one day, one way" from Dover to Rehoboth, so I'm putting that on the schedule (in case MacDiver is planning to be at the beach on October 5th). A 2024 MS Ride "Triple Crown" FTW.
I met with my psychologist yesterday, not as a therapy session but as a business networking one, and we traded marketing ideas as well as some general thoughts about running a counseling practice. She loved my radio ad (it came on while we were talking) and thinks the booth at the upcoming festival will be good exposure as well. I've still got some work to do to get the booth (and all the collateral marketing materials) together, but all that is mostly planned out. I'm going to resume FB posting for the business next week, and plan to drop by the radio station for another live segment the day before the event.
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Post by phillydude on Apr 30, 2024 1:51:57 GMT
Week 1 (Apr 1-7): 169.5 lbs @ 17.1% BF (28.9), 131/80 BP, 63 HR, 164.2 BS, 7.43 sleep (.31 deep) Week 2 (Apr 8-14): 168.6 lbs @ 16.7% BF (28.2), 121/79 BP, 62 HR, 146.8 BS, 7.30 sleep (.40 deep) Week 3 (Apr 15-21): 167.9 lbs @ 16.7% BF (28.0), 124/81 BP, 62 HR, 147.0 BS, 7.24 sleep (.40 deep) Week 4 (Apr 22-28): 169.4 lbs @ 16.6% BF (28.1), 125/78 BP, 60 HR, 155.5 BS, 7.59 sleep (.44 deep)
Bike: 10.36mi in 52:32 (11.8), HR 118 (Z2 2.20), perfect weather.
Wow... so much to say on some many fronts that I can't even start to sum it up. Let's just go with "Last week was uncommon, and data collected does not necessarily reflect recent trends."
Jumping forward to today, I was on the bike by 6:30am and got a nice ride in before getting into my day... which was a perfect way to start what turned into a very good day indeed.
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Post by phillydude on Apr 30, 2024 14:38:15 GMT
Consecutive Pushups - 60 with some left in the tank.
I feel badly about not updating my journal for a few days... here are some highlights.
1) The bike jersey situation is revolved (for now)... I ended up ordering an XL. This was tough as I worked really hard to go from an XL to a S/M, but I guess it's better than looking fat in a too-tight shirt LOL. We'll see how it fits when it arrives (TBD).
2) The replacement bike bag arrived and it's much closer to the one that it replaced. With a few modifications it will suit my needs just fine. As part of the bike upgrades, I also installed a lot of the "gadgets" from my old touring bike, and right now it's down to just the frame/wheels/gears/etc. I will dispose of it somehow... which is tough, as I put over 12,000 miles on the old bike, and I'll hate to see it go. I also put the saddlebags on my current bike, and plan to start sorting camping gear and loading them up to gradually add weight as I train for my trip.
3) More contractors were here over the weekend for estimates, and it looks like the front porch project will be started this weekend, with the greenhouse to follow. Still waiting for the quote for the side porch project, but I've got some time on that one. The tree guy was also here but that was a more expensive job than I thought, so that's on the back burner. Of course, there was a lot of property work on Saturday, the biggest was planting a 50' row of rosemary plants (and some mint in galvanized buckets) to finish off that bed. And the trees I planted are all starting to bud.
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Post by phillydude on May 1, 2024 12:23:39 GMT
Bike: 10.36mi in 57:00 (10.9), HR 108 (Z2 0.00), perfect weather.
Left a little later, rode a little slower, enjoyed the scenery and counted my blessings.
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Post by phillydude on May 2, 2024 10:33:04 GMT
The wife is leaving for two weeks, which means I will have to pick up some of her tasks. This includes taking care of the dog and watering the gardens, which will add at least an hour a day to my routine. I am also going to be very busy around the house while she is gone, starting with the front porch, as the contractor who is helping with that project plans to be here at 8:30 tomorrow night to get started. I also have Grand Jury duty on Monday...
I am taking my kayak to the yacht club tomorrow morning, with the hope that for the next few weeks (Fridays) I can get out on the water instead of out on the roads. For now, I'll have to drive there for the workout, but logistically I think I can make it work since it's getting light earlier now. Saturday is "Opening Day" at the club, and since it's always the same day as the Kentucky Derby, there's a big party to watch the race... so we get dressed up, eat buffet food, and drink mint juleps. Should be fun, even if my wife won't be here.
I'm going to make the group ride on Saturday morning a game-time decision... they are calling for possible showers and a high of 65. It's an hour drive to get to the start, and the plan was to sit at an outdoor restaurant and have lunch after the ride, and I'm not sure I want to invest the time if the weather is going to be less than ideal... I can get out and ride around here and have a few extra hours to do property management-type stuff (I'm not sure if the contractor is also planning to work on Saturday).
More updates later... it's "pushup test day" again!
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Post by phillydude on May 3, 2024 11:29:19 GMT
Looonngg day yesterday. I got up and outside and after a couple hours of ground work, I called an audible and moved into the garage, completing a huge chunk of the garage clean out, mostly because my kayak was buried (and full of water from the plumbing issue over the weekend). I worked pretty much until it was time to leave for the airport, and that meant a few hours of driving (with a stop at Wendy's and another for a brief moment at the casino, which was disappointing as it's just a shell of the facility it once was in better times). When I got to Home Depot, I had to load all the lumber for tonight's porch project, and then I took a break and went to Bdubs to watch the first half of the Sixers game (spoiler alert... they lost). It was after 11pm when I got home so I'm going to be dragging today.
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Post by phillydude on May 4, 2024 13:53:23 GMT
If Thursday was a long day, Friday was longer. I was outside early and knocked out a section of grass with the mower as well as taking down some high grass along the drainage ditch with the trimmer. Then it was off to work before the contractor arrived around 9pm. We worked until 2am and were able to get the lower section of paneling completed. I am going to start painting that work as well as the window frames (the porch has ten windows) over the next week, and he's planning to come back during the second week of my wife's vacation to finish the upper section. I'm tired but not sore, despite doing a lot of physical labor. But I'm definitely lying low today... the weather is shit (again) and I've got plenty of indoor projects to do. Derby tonight.
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Post by seltzer on May 4, 2024 14:53:02 GMT
That's one long day.
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