Getting Back To Asics

So just about 24 hours ago I went to the gym and tried to get a feel for where I am now, fitness wise. Oh how the mighty have fallen.

The plus side is that I know for a fact that I can recover from this dreadful decline in my fitness level. Although I was in better shape to begin with the last time I was able to take advantage of a gym (not to mention younger) the fundamental mechanics of the process are identical. I'm going to need to do a regular 2-hour routine every day to begin with. Eventually, I'll be able to trim that back to the 1-hour routine I had back when. Actually, if I'm going to be honest, I'll probably keep a two hour routine...I'll most likely just add more exercises to it.

What I used to do was a combination of aerobic exercises and weight work. Twenty minutes each on a treadmill, stair climber and cross trainer with sets of weight work interspersed. Follow the whole thing with a long, leisurely stretch session and the walk back to the barracks. Allowing for my new medical condition, I expect to be at least 3 months getting back to a serious performance level. I can only hope that I don't degenerate.

I've been laid up the last 24 hours. Hell of a way to spend a birthday; lying flat on your back, trying to sleep so you don't have to watch the ceiling spin. Still, at least there wasn't any nausea this time. On the plus side, I managed to get and remain vertical long enough to open the gift mum got me. Something special, considering my eclectic collections of skills and talents.

I might have mentioned before that, thanks to the way my mother and step-father raised me, I have the necessary collection of skills and knowledge to re-start western civilization from scratch. Excepting, until today, that which is necessary to locate and extract metal, particularly iron, from the ground. No more, as today I was bestowed with a copy of De Re Metallica. Here's an interesting bit of trivia; did you know that the current English translation most widely used and held as the best was done by Herbert Hoover? Lousy political leader but one helluva good engineer. While not one the texts I need for my field of study, it is a lovely addition to my personal library and, who knows, maybe some day I'll need to restart western civilization?