It was a long one...

I was up early today, 5 am. I couldn't sleep and I was worried if I forced myself the lying down would just hurt my back again. My back got a bit of a workout last night I must have went to the bathroom at least 4 times. In total yesterday I think I went about 20 times, no joke.

When I weighed myself this morning it said 192 lbs. That was over a 10 lb weight loss from yesterday. It even got better I went swimming and when I got home it was 190 lbs and after I went running tonight it was 189 lbs. That's over 13 lb swing in one day.

This morning I hit the pool. Al was coming over and we were heading to a meeting at AG at 10 am and I wanted to get my swim in before then. I also wanted to see what it felt like getting up and not blogging, rather just waking up like normal people.

The swim was my best in a long time. The main set was 30 x 100's with 15 second rest between them. I did them between 1:28 - 1:36 per 100 yards, or 1:36 - 1:43 per 100 meters. I was happy with that, for 30 100's and doing them constantly felt good. There was a few times I felt really strong in the water, I had the feel. It's fleeting. You can have the feel for 25 yard and then lose it. When you have it it feels awesome. If I could duplicate that feeling every swim I'd probably like training. I will say doing 30 sets at 100 yards is a tough workout. I bring 10 pennies with me and move them from one side of the grout line to the other on the pool deck.

When I got home Al was waiting for me and because I was running late Alice went to look for me. Al and I drove to AG and had our meeting. Rino told me to put 10 am in the outlook company calendar, even though the meeting was at 11:15 am. He wanted to make sure Wayne was on time or we did have to wait for him, Wayne is most always late, never an apology.

The problem was at 10:18 am Rino emails me asking where we are? I emailed him back saying we were on our way. Then I saw a text he sent as well and I texted him back saying "I thought we were to meet at 11:15 am, you asked me to put it in sooner because Wayne shows up late".

When we got there Wayne and Rino were in Wayne's office. We came in, I apologized for being a little late. I had a semi-side conversation with Rino about a misunderstanding on the time and he acknowledged it in a lets not discuss it way, like he didn't want Wayne to know. He was like "no problem, no worries".

The meeting was primarily Al focused. Al is representing Kromar in Winnipeg for book work. He tried to give it to AG but they are not set up for book work. AG is set up for digital book work and commercial printing. AG was farming out all the book printing and with the mark ups the pricing wasn't competitive. Wayne still wanted to discuss it and see if Al could keep the work with AG if they took less mark up. It was a meeting that should have lasted 90 minutes max, maybe shorter, that ended up going 2.5 hours. It was tiring just sitting there. Wayne can go on and on with his thoughts and he was relentless in trying to convince Al. He didn't do it in a direct way it was more of a Chinese water torture sort of way. Very effective and very smooth.

It's about a 100 km drive from my place to AG. By the time we got back I was tired. Even though after the meeting Al bought me a Subway sandwich I was still hungry. All I wanted to do was eat and then sleep. I couldn't. I upgraded my iPhone to the new operating system and things weren't working properly. Little did I know at the time but this morning when I started the process I didn't let it finish before taking my phone. Doh!!!  After everything got transferred I spent time looking and trying out all the new features.

Today was the day I was going to test out my right calf and go for a run. There was no way I was going in the daylight, I knew it was going to be ugly and I'd rather not be seen. I went around 8:30 pm. I first dropped off one of the helmets the bike shop gave me to try that I forgot to return, they called me. Doh. The run was more than brutal. The main issue was my back. It was so stiff I looked like I was running with a pole up my rear end.

For the first little bit I was shuffling at a 7:00 per km pace. That's damn slow. It was comedy. I looked like a little old man. I've run with a bad back before, it's never felt or looked so awkward. It took 20 minutes and then it started to loosen up, big time. It just shows how motion is lotion. The movement of it really helped. When I got home I was also able to do all my stretches fully. There was no way I could have done that before the run. I ended up at a 6:00 per km pace and the best part was my calf didn't bother me. Although I was going very slow and it wasn't my traditional running style. Still it was a win.

Family wise, Alyssa's doing school stuff, working hard. Reid's doing workout stuff, working hard. And Alice is back to working out in the morning on the elliptical. Yesterday Reid brought home a note from his old schools resource teacher, nice note and some candy. Amazing on her part, there is a teacher than truly cares. She's also one of the normal ones.

I was downloading Reid's iPhone today and came across some pictures he took this summer, some from his Winnipeg trip. The photo that shocked me was the one of my brother in his lazy boy chair, it's his standard position. Drink and then sleep in the chair. Al saw the photo and she said it looked like a casket shot.

Reid also took a picture of his daughter Coco's tattoo she got on her back. She's only 16 or 17 years old. Bob knew nothing about it until recently when I told him. He wasn't happy. His ex-wife Jayne signed for it and let her get it. Reid jokes that it looks like the branch from Arizona drink. I totally don't agree with kids under 18 years old getting tattoos. I can't believe her mom let her get it.

Bob found out and rather than get upset at her, he let it go. She hasn't talked to him or seen him in months, she's essentially had enough of Bob's behaviour. He tends to be hard on her, especially when he drinks. He thinks and tells her she's spoiled. After Bob found out that she has the tattoo and an 18 year old or older boyfriend he texted her and said he knows and he's not angry and he just wants to see her. She didn't respond until he called and said he was going to show up at her work or school if she didn't respond. She called back right away. He had sent her many many texts and left voice mails for the last few months and she didn't respond. I can tell it bothers him that they are not talking. I told him that he's got to chill and not try to tell her what to do. He says he agrees. We'll see.

Long Swim - 1:06:01 / 3110 meters
Easy Run - 35:36 / 5.94 km / 5:59 km avg / 125 avg hr
192 lbs.
2450 calories.