Day 9

It seems easier on the weekends.  Maybe because I sleep longer.

1200 calories per day +/-

A minimum of 30 minutes exercise on the rowing machine.  Hard.  Set a PR today for distance rowed in 30 minutes AND it was done in a fasted state.  So much for not having energy while I’m fasted.  Also did some pullups, pushups and deadlifts.

Drinking lots.  Lemon squeezed into my water first thing tin the morning as well.

I’ve been at 174.5 lbs for 3 days.  Mini-plateau.  I’ll kick it in the ass if it continues by going for a hard run.

Took my measurements with a tape today.  20.4% body fat.  If I hit 155 lbs I will be at 10% body-fat which is NOT unhealthy for a man.

Ate well all week.

Onward.

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It’s not conclusive.  It’s not scientific.  I have no proof.  BUT…

I suspect that my year and a half of stomach pain, myclonic jerks, heart palpitations, bloating and general gastrointestinal malaise has been due to a combination of stress and dehydration.

I have been on zantac, Nexium, rebeprazole, famotidine, antacids…you name it.  I have had an ultrasound, barium xray, etc.  I have seen a gastro-specialist.

As soon as I started drinking lots of water, my symptoms started improving.  Bit by bit.  Now I’m off all drugs and would say I am 95% back to normal.

As I age, my sense of thirst seems to have abandoned me.  It went totally unnoticed until one day I noticed my skin was not snapping back when pinched.  Then I recalled that my symptoms had disappeared when we were on vacation in Rome and Paris.  It was hot so we drank LOTS of water.

I thought I had a major issue.  Maybe something fatal.  Dehydration I can handle!

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Then someone nice gives you a call and is so positive that you smile.

Then you ask the boys if, on the off chance, they might consider contemplating, the possibility of riding my coveted Rocky Mountain race bike beside me while I run in the dark?  Who am I kidding?  They’re on their computers.

Then, I decide that bed is a better option, I get a drink, and Aidan brings in the dogs.

Now Aidan, to be fair, rides beside me a lot.  he always has.  But wait…

“What was that about a bike ride in the dark?”, Liam asks.

So we’re back.  Ran 7.5km on dark trails and quiet streets.  Liam rode and lit the way with my Petzl head lamp.  And we talked.

Life is very very good.

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Haven’t been able to train or workout this week due to other commitments so between laundry loads I did a quick Crossfit “Cindy”.  As many sets as possible in 20 minutes of:

• 5 pullups
• 10 pushups
• 15 squats

I stranded 7 seconds at the end so it was close.  Of note:  I managed to do the pullups without stopping all the way up to set 12.  Around set 16 I had to slow down or throw up.

20 sets in all.  1 better than last time and 6 better than when I started using it as a test again.  Good form.  That’s a record.  Now 21 is calling my name.  Yuck.

I wonder if all that time off helped.

Not bad for a guy in his mid 40′s.

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I grew up in a world where we opened the door for an elderly person, a lady, or someone whose arms were full.  When we asked someone for a favour, we made sure that it was repayed in kind.   We imposed ourselves as little as possible on others, helped wash up at dinner, and gave our friends and family our full attention when we were with them.

In those days we knew that it was wrong to be a “gossip”.  We kept our mouths closed when we had nothing good to say.  We were generous when praise was warranted.  We assumed that everyone else was as busy as we were, and we understood that we were not that close to the center of the universe.

“Please” and “Thank you” were a reflex back then.  Courteous language was a currency that when traded, and saved, yielded tremendous returns.  We tried very hard not to interrupt others when they were speaking, out of respect, and we tended to hear a lot more, as a result.  Four letter words were avoided, not because were were puritans, but because we knew we could do better, and because we had a wider vocabulary.

Seldom were we late.  Communication was not as casual back then either.  When we got a message we called back right away.  When we were invited to an event we RSVP’d.  We were predictable and we were trustworthy.

These days that courtesy seems to be gone.  The tragedy is that the rules and rituals by which we lived made us consider that other people had lives and hopes and struggles very similar to our own.  Now we impose on others because we have lost touch with what it was to be polite.

Email and MSN, and Blackberry’s, and voicemail make my life easier everyday.  But the role models for my daily interactions remain people like my mother, who sets a very very high standard for courtesy and caring, and Annette who has a very busy life and yet always makes time for her friends and family.

I have two teeneagers to raise.  They find such dicussions irrelevant in their world of one line texts and multi-multi-multi tasking.   Getting them to understand the importance of manners is sort of like trying to push an elephant through a funnel.  The subject is huge and the focus is narrow.   As Dilbert says  “I guess that will be handy if you ever get a call from 1993″.  Maybe I am becoming a relic.

It is not always easy to be polite.

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