Me, Backwards

It’s been a busy weekend with Mom and Dad in town - I’ve hardly had time to sit down and write. Today’s a bit quieter so I’ll share what we’ve done so far. The photos here are from Castle Air Museum, a couple hours away from Oakland on the former Castle Air Force Base. We’d passed by there on the way back from our rafting trip a few weeks ago and I’d mentioned it might be fun to visit with the ‘rents.  Turns out yesterday was Open Cockpit Day, where many of the planes are open for visitors to climb in and poke around.  Although it was (understandably) crowded, the displays sprawl over several acres, so it never felt claustrophobic with all those people there.  We did have to wait for access to a few planes, but never more than a few minutes. (more…)

This morning was day three of working out with Noah with a new tool in our arsenal - an inhaler!  Since I’ve been working with him, some days when I push to very high levels, I have trouble breathing.  For a while I thought it was just conditioning, but even as my conditioning improved, my tendency to wheeze hasn’t gone away.  It’s not just the “oh wow I’m working hard I need to catch my breath” feeling that comes with pushing your heart rate way up.  No, it’s a gasping, wheezing, feeling that almost induces panic until I stop entirely and take shallow breaths still I can get in a deep one. (more…)

Ahh, finally, after four weekends off (travel, shoulder, weather, and puking, respectively) it felt really good to get back in the air at Skydance yesterday.  And since it was pushing 100 on the ground, the air at altitude felt *really* good.

I did small jumps all day, but they were all fun and energizing (despite the heat).  Landings went much better than the day I hurt my shoulder, because I popped up my visor for landing, which helped quite a bit with my depth perception.  I pooped out around 6 - the heat was finally enough, and I hopped into the car, blasted the A/C and headed back home.  One thing I learned is that for days like that I need to bring more water.  I went through the 1 1/2 gallons I’d brought quite easily and ended up borrowing some from friends as well.

Today has been spent organizing and cleaning and reading and working out, and just trying to stay cool in the 85-degree weather here in town.

After this weekend’s gastrointestinal adventure, I wasn’t sure how much energy I’d have for a workout this morning.  I emailed Noah yesterday and asked him not to schedule me for today, but I felt well enough to at least go to the gym and give it a try.  Boy, did I have nothing!  I pushed through and did a decent workout, but I’m glad I wasn’t paying for it!

It’s times like these that really drive home for me the connection that food is fuel for your body.  Yes, my body is weakened because it’s been fighting the bug all weekend, but it’s also weak because it just has had next to no fuel.  I lost everything I took in beyond Saturday breakfast, and yesterday I was able to keep down maybe 7 or 800 calories, far too little to thrive on, that’s for sure.  I’m hoping to get back to normal consumption today so I have full energy for my workouts the rest of the week.  But anytime I’m tempted to starve for the sake of losing weight I need to remind myself that my body will tell me how much fuel it needs - no more, but no less either.

Saturday afternoon was the annual skydiver whitewater rafting trip on the Merced River.  I’d come down for it a couple years ago - which was the year that a massive rock slide blocked the road to the put-in point, so we did the South Fork of the American River instead.  Water levels were quite high this weekend, so the river was extra-exciting. (more…)

I had a moment this morning that inspired me to write a letter to the doctor that I was working with in Seattle on weight and exercise issues before I moved.  I haven’t written much that’s been too personal lately, but I thought it would be an interesting thing to share.  I did take out names and a few specifics that I don’t want on the web, but the basic letter is after the jump: (more…)

Wednesday’s PT visit brought good news - I’m cleared to get back to “normal” with my shoulder, gradually increasing the intensity of exercises that engage my upper body.  Since I didn’t have any more sessions with Noah scheduled after that, I’ve been testing it out on my own workouts and so far it seems to be doing just great.  I still get little twinges at the upper edge of the range of motion, but all things considered, it’s healed pretty quickly. So from the ER doc’s initial doom-and-gloom diagnosis (torn rotator cuff) it seems to have turned out to be just a pretty severe impingement that was contributing to the extremely painful movement I had at first. (more…)