Recovery Daze

Well, after Sunday's ultra efforts, I needed to "cut" back for some small measure of recovery. In other words, no running for me today, no matter how bad I wanted to run 2-6 miles to see how I handled it. I know about all the micro tears and all the other things we are supposed to let heal in between runs. Damn Pfitzinger taught me TOO much...keeping me off my feet!

So, tonight I promised the girls a swimming pool trip.

I got into the hot tub first and stretched my legs all about under water. I rubbed all the muscles down and just tried to get all loose in the heat...that always feels good. Then I hit the lap lanes and swam my normal 1/2 mile fairly easy with a little extra kick on the 9th lap. I decided while I was face down that when I was done, I would walk another 9-18 laps depending on how much time I had. The section I was swimming in is only 3-4 feet deep so I can walk the whole length. I figured that might be good recovery type activity and it felt real good. The resistance of the water made it more than just walking a mile regular, and I also felt like the water forces you to get up on your toes, which is always good for a runner's form. I walked 18 laps for one mile water walking (not to be mistaken for walking on water, only Kim does that!)

I am absolutely itching for a good run, but will wait til tomorrow.

In the meantime, I cooked a lot today and had to do some kitchen cleaning and I just finished the dishes. I had one of my little epiphanies that I am always so proud of so I thought I would share it, and maybe another. I have this small frying pan which is ideal for scrambly eggs and such and while I was washing it I noticed that once again the handle is loose and needs tightened. I have tightened that damn screw countless times and as I was looking at it tonight, I was thinking about how I could put to rest this constant fixing (short of spending dough on a decent frying pan!) So, I am looking at it....some industrial glue? no, that would just melt. Fiberglass at the joint? No, also would not stand the heat.....dang...what would bond these two metal surfaces together? WAIT!!! I know how to weld! and own a sweet welder (well, co-own it with my Dad, we bought it to build cars together...) I am going to take the pan down to my Dad's (the welder is there, he has a MUCH bigger garage) and weld that damn handle tight, and if I get too zealous and screw the pan up, well, then I will just HAVE to buy a new one, right?

So, that took me back to about 5 years ago, and I am with my friend Dimitrios. He has volunteered his day to help me go pick up a car I bought in PA. I had this obsession that I wanted to get an old Toyota FJ40 LandCruiser and rebuild it for family camping trips and such. I found one in Southern OH that fit the bill price-wise and also found a bunch of parts from a guy in Western PA, so we made the trip to get both bits in one day. We drove Dimi's truck towing a cousin's borrowed flat trailer.

We make Southern Ohio just fine and pick up the car there, and are headed over to PA for the rest of my stuff, and we are about one mile from where we are going to meet my PA junk dealer when one of the trailer wheels go flying off into the woods! The trailer sags and the end of one axle is scraping the road. We pull over, and assess. After some searching, I find the disengaged wheel and tire about 60 feet off to the side in the woods. The dang axle shaft actually sheared and this sucker was not able to be reattached. What now?!

We talk about all kinds of options, but end up figuring our only real path that makes any sense is to leave the trailer and Toyota sitting there and come back another day. It is late on a Saturday and all parts outlets that might let us fix the trailer are closed...besides which we have very few tools on hand. I am SO dang frustrated to do all this work, only to have to drive home and come back another day, besides that I want to get my goodies (junk) home to start working on my project. I have big dreams for this little car!

I mentally take a step back, and WHAMMO! Solution! I have brought countless tie down straps with me to tie down the goodies (junk) and I see a possibility. The real problem is that the axle is hitting the road. There are still three other wheels on the trailer to roll on, and the suspension is leaf spring, so if I can jack that axle up against the trailer bed tight enough that it cannot sag down, then the other three wheels should do the job of rolling and supporting the trailer. I end up using two straps and get that axle sucked up against the trailer from underneath just as tight as you please! Not ideal, and we had to run about 45-50 mph all the way home to be comfortable, but other than that, we made it! We even shifted all the weight forward on the trailer by repositioning the Toyota as far forward as possible to take more weight off the rear axle and transfer it to the front (another reason we had to go slow.)

Close up of my handy work!

So, where is my FJ40 project now? It languished in the garage for a long time, and I got verbally abused by the wife as I slowly took it apart. When the slow pace (remember I was fat and lazy then - it's just the truth) and the realization of how much money I was going to have to commit sank in, I hurried up and finished taking it apart. Then I sold all of those parts to guys fixing other cars, and made a tidy little profit. I came away with about twice as much as I spent, but no dream camping car. This has nothing really related to getting Fit from Fat, but it was fun to relate the story. :)

While I am at it, I am going to slide in another non-fitness related mention. I am currently listening to an album put out by Robert Plant and Alisson Krauss called "Raising Sand." Two words: GET IT.