January 25th, 1:00pm

So, my last entry was January 15th, huh, well, I’ve been busy; sue me.

Last week work was busy and I was a little slacking in the work-out department. I was able to justify the low activity level somewhat by saying that I was “resting” to make sure I was fresh for my fitness test on the 19th. Let’s get into that a little bit… Saturday morning I was at CycleLoft (in Burlington, MA) for VO2 max testing (maximum volume of oxygen that your body is able to utilize during exercise), aerobic threshold (turning point of when your body’s metabolism becomes mostly anaerobic) and resting metabolic rate (a measurement of how many calories I use in a day). I had done this about 5 years ago too. I performed fairly well back then and it was helpful information to put together a training plan. I knew that I had fallen out of shape over the years, but I had no idea how much. Now I know, and it’s sad. But hey, like they say in G.I. Joe, “knowing is half the battle.” My VO2 max is down (from the high 50’s in 2002 to the mid 40’s now) and my weight is up (about 20lbs), and this data just verified what I already knew. Now, I’m motivated and it’s game on.

As soon as I got home, I went out for a good spin on my ‘cross bike, but I had to keep it short to get to work. I pulled the overnight shift on both Saturday and Sunday night.

Monday (1/21), after sleeping my overnight shift off, I was pulled off an hour on the trainer, then Tuesday morning (1/22) I was able to get another hour in on the rollers (I worked 10a-10p), followed by an hour run on Wednesday (1/23—I had to go in to the hospital for a 4hr meeting). Thursday morning (1/24) I did another hour on the rollers (before heading in to work the overnight), and here I sit on Friday (1/25), looking forward to some more saddle time. Indoors though, it’s still damn cold out there.

In no particular order, here are some other highlights from the past week or so:

• I had my first patient that came in as a result of a unicycle accident.
• I went to take my XC skis out, and found that they had both delaminated and looked like they were unpeeling like a pair of bananas. Hopefully REI will fix ‘em.
• Jean got a flat tire on her road bike—it’s on the Computrainer! (How???)
• Sadly, my friend’s bike shop is going out of business, so I went in and bought some stuff that I didn’t need.
• I booked an Emergency Medicine CME conference in Orlando, including non-refundable flight, only to have the conference cancelled two days later. Well, of course, I ‘m still heading down to see my mom and now I’ll call it a “training camp” too ‘cuz I’m bringing my bike.