Well…with all of the lung problems I’ve had since Tuesday, I was staying off the bike since I could barely breathe without coughing my lungs out…but they appeared to be getting better so I got on the bike today for a short 12 miler….and, while it wasn’t a mistake, I am not as healed as I thought I was since I did start to lose my breath after about 8 miles and now I am coughing again and can only take about half breaths before it hurts…it was still a nice ride but the first one in long pants since April with the temp only being 44 when I left here and that is too cold for shorts. It looks like I’ll have tomorrow to continue to heal with the rain that is forecast for the whole day so that might just work out okay…still have 260 miles to go to get to my last goal and I’m not too motivated to make it after hitting 5K for the year….it feel good to be able to walk without pain for the first time in months….but it is still hard to cut out the calories I need with not riding…looks like dinner is going to be apples, tomatoes and a handful of tortilla chips again….

Well…that was a little better…still woke up way too early at 4:54 but I slept okay with much less coughing and I think my lungs may be healing up some…still only have about 60% of capacity but it feels like there is progress going on and I’ll take any little improvement I can get…..but I still need to take the cough medicine I have been taking since it does help break up the mucus that it feels like my lungs are filled with….I feel a little guilty that I didn’t do a damn thing yesterday but cook but I think it’s what I needed to heal everything that hurt….my legs feel pretty good this morning but I am going to try to get out this afternoon for a ride just to keep the guilt at the level it is and not let it get any worse….but, I’m going to veg out this morning and watch some soccer with my coffee…I did a good job of limiting the calories yesterday with only have half a big rib and 6 onion rings for lunch and then only 3 small tomatoes for dinner along with a hand full of tortilla chips…I’m thinking I kept it under 1K calories for the day and that my be just a little bit too low but I can adjust that as time goes on…no much to do today….going to just ease into it and have some coffee and my last bagel along with soccer…I should do some work but I probably won’t….still don’t feel up to it…more later….

Well…running really late again today with another night of coughing, wheezing, and not being able to breathe that kept me up until 3 or so and then I didn’t get out of bed until 7:30 since I needed some sleep…can breathe a little better right now with being able to take half breaths instead of the quarter breaths from yesterday but it still doesn’t feel right…I did take a bike ride yesterday and got through it but barely…started to get out of breath at about 8 miles and it went downhill from there…and that never happens…so, I may have to re-think riding today…I have time for that since it is only 35 out there and that will keep me in until after noon…and my chest and back are really sore from all the coughing that will need an ibuprofen in a few minutes so I can move around here and get a few things done…the bitch in all of this is that it’s not a sickness and I did it to myself by not taking enough precautions when I was working downstairs…I just hope there is no permanent damage from this last time on the downstairs project…oh, well….as you can probably tell, I didn’t get much done yesterday but I am going to try to take the doors off the linen closet and get them ready to paint…and I have a door frame in one of the bedrooms that has to be finished but I need some painters tape for that and I am out of it….so that will wait for a run to HF to get that on Monday…this morning looks like just easing into it and having some more coffee and I may have a bagel to use them up before the spoil and I cut them out of my diet to save some calories….more later….

Well….that really, really sucked….running late this morning since I had the worst night of sleep in almost a year…my lungs kept me up all night with severe coughing and wheezing and that continues right now and I am sore and tired from it….the only thing that allowed me a little sleep was the cough pills that I bought for the last time this happened….and I know it’s going to take a week or so to get better and that is a little depressing….damn….didn’t get anything done yesterday but the grocery run and today looks like another down day with no bike ride again…I may try it to see if it will help clear out my lungs with the exertion on the bike but that won’t happen until this afternoon since it is too damn cold to go…check that…just looked at the weather and it is over 50 so I can get out any time after I have lots of coffee and probably another dose of cough medicine….but I need to space those out and make sure I have some for sleeping the next few nights….or I’ll have to make a run out to Meijers to get more….not much to do today….I do have to salvage the rest of the pink tomatoes since it will be close to frost tonight and I don’t think they’ll survive it…and I need to clean but I also need to make sure I don’t aggravate my lungs…it is just miserable to cough, and cough, and cough…. and feel this crappy….more later….

Well…after the work on the downstairs project yesterday, and with even wearing a dust mask, I feel lousy with allergies today…still. Have been coughing a lot all day with that iron taste that you get when there is blood in your lungs and have been taking stuff for it but it’s not really helping….I knew it would be a bad idea to get on the bike today and I didn’t have the energy for it anyway so I put the bike back in the garage after getting it ready to go out…the wind was blowing pretty hard anyway so I might have taken the day off even if I felt better….not sure how long this is going to last but I do know that I could barely catch my breath last night and I was breathing really fast just to get enough air but they were short breaths since I would go into a coughing fit if I took a deep one…at least I know what it is and that it will take a few days to get over it…but that doesn’t make it any easier…especially since I did it to myself….crap….

Well…that was a crappy day…all my work on the downstairs project went for nothing and my lungs are completely trashed from allergies to the point that I can barely breathe….and I think it will take a couple of days to get back to normal…and the coughing and wheezing kept my up most of the night so I am just worn out this morning…and feel really lousy….I did get out on the bike for one ride yesterday but there is no way I can get out today with the lungs so screwed up so I think I’ll make it an off day and just take it easy…didn’t get anything done yesterday but the work downstairs but I do need to mow the lawn and do the grocery run today…and I need to get that done early since my brother is coming over to pick up some equipment and take some of the tomatoes off my hands before they spoil….so, I’ll need to get moving by 7:30 or so to get the grocery run done before he gets here around 9….not much to do today…I probably should do a little painting in here but I don’t think I will….just need to recover and be able to breathe before I can do much…more later…

Well…no, he didn’t die…I do put musician’s names in the title when they die but I also add RIP…just a short little comment on a photo I saw when I was reading yesterday…as you know, I read a lot and yesterday, I came across an article about the greatest bass players in rock and JPJ’s name was on the list…and they had a photo of him from their concert at the Chicago Stadium in January of 1975…and I was there! I remember it vividly…but it was a little disappointing because Robert Plant’s voice was shot and you could barely hear him…very crokey…just a cool coincidence…

Well…that night wasn’t too bad…didn’t get up until 5:49 and 6 hours is better than 5 so I’ll take it…and I got my computer problems fixed so it doesn’t take 10 minutes to start it up in the morning or to load any site so that is cool…feel pretty crappy this morning, though, and I really do need to cut back on riding….did another 30 mile day yesterday and the only reason was that I wanted to get one last ride in wearing shorts and a t-shirt before it gets cold later in the week…I do have lots of work to do on the downstairs project today that involves getting out to get some dry ice and then abusing my back and shoulders for a couple of hours and that will take up this morning so there won’t be time for two rides today….had another electrical fixture fail over the weekend so I had to replace that yesterday and remembered that I got a light that straps on my head and that worked like a champ when I had to shut the power off to work on it…and I got that free from HF about a year ago…it was cool to not have to juggle a flashlight while wiring it in…and it was cool that I remembered it…and could find it….other than that, I didn’t get a lot done yesterday….I did start on the winter clean up of the yard yesterday and I think got the last of the pink tomatoes off the plants but I am leaving the rest of the peppers for a few days until it frosts to try to get them a little bigger before I pick them….not much to do today….just the project for this morning and then the normal stuff for the rest of the day…will probably have to take some ibuprofen after the work today since it normally hurts pretty badly after I do it….more later….

Well…that was weird…slept all the way through until 6:30 this morning and I’m not sure why that happened…if I did, I’d do that every night and not be exhausted all the time…hmmm…but I’m still tired today and I’m pretty sure that one night is not enough for my sleep deficit to be fixed…but, I’ll take anything I can get….I do think that cutting back on riding is going to help with the pain I feel all day since I don’t have much right now after only doing one ride yesterday…I am getting out as soon as it gets light, though, since it is probably the last day that it is going to be over 50 overnight….big change in the weather coming later in the week with highs in the 40’s and freezing at night so I’ll need to salvage the last of the tomatoes and peppers in the gardens and start taking out the plants that are left…..I guess that’s pretty normal for the middle of October but I am not ready for the cold yet….not much to do today…I have to get out to depot this morning to get a replacement fixture for one that failed downstairs and I need some crimp on hose clamps to fix my expandable hose…both of them have failed and I am trying to make one hose out of two to get through the rest of the year….more later…

Well…yesterday I wrote some about my 5,000 mile year on the bike but I didn’t talk much about the physical effects of the ordeal…and yes, it was an ordeal that I am going to take quite a while to recover from…there were some good effects….I lost 3 inches off my waist and my clothes are hanging off me and I look a little thin as compared to normal…and my thighs are huge and have definition in them I’ve never had….but, I am just damn worn out…so tired all the time when I keep doing 30+ miles a day…I know part of that is from lack of sleep…and that is confusing since you would think that so many miles would tire me out and I would sleep well every day…but my best days are around 5 hours and I don’t think that is enough to support 5k miles….and, with being tired, I am sore and stiff all the time…I know part of that is from getting old but not to the extent that I feel it every day….so now, I think I need to start the repair process for my whole body by gradually reducing the amount I ride along with the calories I consume…but cutting 600 plus calories out of my day means no more bagels with my coffee…and no more cheese and crackers or cocktails….okay, I’ll cut the cocktails in half but damn, what the hell am I saving my liver for? I am old and I don’t know how long I have and I like my cocktail nights…and the repair process has to include my mental state, too…I have to admit to myself that the guilt I feel from not riding has to be put away and I need to understand that I won’t recover until I cut back on riding for a while at least….so, one ride today and there was no way I was going back out in the 15 mph wind when my legs went flat at about 12 miles on the first run….it will be interesting to see if I did any permanent damage from doing the 5K this year…that would suck…