Testing Tribulations

Records indicate I've had the PT since October 19, 2007. Of course, the thing is only so good to me if I know how to use it to train better. Part of getting there is establishing the baselines, right? And that means testing. Well, up until yesterday, I hadn't done any formal testing. JB and I have been using some best guesses for my zones. Somehow, he/we decided this week was as good as any to run some tests.

Yesterday was the 5 minute test. I was supposed to follow up today with the 20 minute test. I didn't.

Yesterday was a mess and put me in my place. I could hash through every minute of those 5 minutes and describe the euphoria and despair I felt in that brief period. I'm gonna skip that in favor of a much meatier story. This one's about how my very strange mind works.

Rather than tell the tale again, I'll re-print the e-mail I just sent JB. Be warned...these are the musings of a man with some very odd fixations and tendencies.

JB-

I know, I know. It sounds odd (and like a put-on
excuse). Read on.

I brought my gear down to the gym this eve and there
were a bunch of guys touching up paint in the gym.

A little background. I have an insanely sensitive
sense of smell. Very keen, too. I should consider
sommelier school.

Another bit of history...when I was twelve years old,
we moved into a new house. I had a pet gerbil named
Aloisius. (Mind out of the gutter!!) We had the house
re-painted and the woodwork (door trim and some
parquet floor) re-sealed just as we moved in. While we
got settled in and unpacked, I put Aloisius' cage in
my step-father's office and closed the door. Well,
that room was swirling with fumes. I came home from
school the day after we moved in and went into the
office. Aloisius was awfully still in his cage. I
tapped on the glass. No movement. I tapped a bit
harder. No movement. I shook the cage slightly.
Nuthin'. I violently tossed the cage back and forth.
That's when I realized he was a goner. I thought it
through. Why did he die so suddenly? After all, he was
in the prime of his gerbil life. I concluded it was
due to the fumes. His little lungs and vascular system
just couldn't take it.

I'm sure, at this point, you can make the connection.
I know my system is a little tougher than a small
rodent's, but maybe not by much!! Needless to say, I
don't think I could bring myself to vigorously breathe
in a room filled with paint fumes. Talk about feeling
a little lightheaded stepping off the bike.

And so here I am. It's all too bad, as I made a coffee
run in the second half of the day and was buzzin'
pretty hard from that. That energy, paired with some
oatmeal I downed at around 3:30PM, seemed like it was
gonna carry me to some good results. Good results,
though, depend on a clear mind and body. The
conditions downstairs aren't ripe for either of those
things.

I'll assess tomorrow and try to tackle it then. I know
this sucks, but sh*t happens.

And the apartment offers its own psychological
barriers. I'm a clean freak. Plus, our living room is
covered by some uber special rug SVR brought back
from Afghanistan. It's worth many thousands of
dollars. I think I'd be in a boatload of trouble if I
sweated 20' worth of testing on that thing. So...my
desire to not sweat all over the damn place in an
effort to sate my clean freak tendencies, paired with
the wrath of SVR, is enough to also inhibit a
successful test in the apartment.

I'm at an impasse.

I think this rambling note has to migrate to the blog.
I'm a nutter!!

Best,
JFW

There you have it. The reason I'm blogging instead of testing. I'll hope for fresher air tomorrow. I'll also hope I'm feeling as amped and energized as I was when I stepped foot in the gym earlier this eve.