A Lousy Week
I'm glad this week is over. The weather was cold, windy and rainy which didn't do much for my depression as I try and come off the Prednisone which took me through my headache cycle. Every day was an effort to do anything other than just sit on my butt. It made it easy for me to make excuses for being lazy but I'd rather have the normal me back. There isn't much information online about prednisone withdrawal but they do mention dizziness, tiredness, and irritability and I've definitely experienced those. I was hoping to find something which would tell me how long I can expect to feel this way before I'm back to normal. It really depends on how long a person has been on the drug and at what doses. My adrenal gland which produces steroids for my body shut down as the drug did its job. Now that the drug is no longer there the adrenal gland needs to wake up and begin production. It's different for everybody. I was hoping that exercise would cause it to kick into action sooner and maybe it does but not soon enough for me.
Anyway, I was able to get out on Friday for a 40-mile ride. It felt nice to be out and I didn't have the nagging feeling I've had lately that I'd rather be home. Although my route through Prior Lake changed quite a bit since I was last though a couple weeks ago. They've begun a 5 mile stretch of construction which left me with no shoulder at all. I came through the area just ahead of rush hour so I was glad I didn't put this ride off till later in the day. There was a fair amount of traffic out there to contend with and it was no place for me to be. I stopped and asked some surveyors how long the job will take and they figured through the summer. That's too bad because that stretch of road I use quite a bit. I finally had my camera with me to snap a photo of this barn I've been wanting to photograph. It's not far from Orchard Lake in Lakeville. It's a cool looking barn with some interesting signs and decor on it...it's also got some sagging to it which gives it a lot of character. I've never seen it in the winter but I notice they light it for Christmas.
I was a total bum all day yesterday. I was going to get out on my bike but I laid down and took a couple hour nap instead. Most of the guys from Silver Cyclists were racing today and I'm feeling like I really want to get my license and join them. I think I could work my way through the cat 4&5 categories pretty quickly and race with the 3s where I think I could be competitive. Tammy would rather that I didn't...especially after crashing on the group ride a couple weeks ago. I'm sure there would be crashes along the way if I got into racing and that's one of the reasons I haven't I suppose. The main reason though being my knee. I know without question that I would push myself too hard and cause more damage to my knee. It's what ended my running and got me back on the bike. The crashes in bicycling can sideline you for quite a while. It's not a good thing to be throwing a 47-year-old body against the asphalt. Nothing good comes from that.
Toby and Allie got me up around 7 this morning. It was so cute on Friday morning...after taking the pups out and feeding them around 6:30 I went back to bed with Tammy. We slept in much later than normal and at 9:30 Toby had had enough. He got up on the bed and barked for us to get up. I of course didn't scold him and promptly got out of bed no doubt reinforcing his behavior.
I took the little guys for a walk this morning and made my way to church. Hosanna is working with World Vision to try and sponsor 800 children from Tanzania, Africa. Theirs is such a sad story with the pandemic of AIDS which has ravaged the country. Every 10 seconds a child is orphaned. It's a place which doesn't have much of anything to begin with and when you take away a child's only means of support they're literally left with nothing. We already sponsor a child in Indonesia through Christian Children's Fund but we felt we had to sponsor another through Hosanna's drive. Our new child's name is Alicia and she's 2 years old. We'll learn more about her and begin to exchange letters with her family. It takes about one month for out letters to reach Anna in Indonesia; I wonder if the letters to Africa will take about as long?
I was very tempted to crawl back in bed after church. It was lightly snowing and the temp was in the mid-30s with a 15 mph wind. All I could hear in my head was to forget the bike but I had to get out. I actually enjoyed my ride even though the weather was crappy. It felt like an October day as I approached the Minnesota River bottom underneath the Cedar Ave bridge. I didn't have much time for the ride so I kept it short at about 25 miles. That's probably a good thing because I'm working till 10:30pm and I know I'm going to be whipped without some rest. I hope the old me shows up this week...that would be so nice.
Anyway, I was able to get out on Friday for a 40-mile ride. It felt nice to be out and I didn't have the nagging feeling I've had lately that I'd rather be home. Although my route through Prior Lake changed quite a bit since I was last though a couple weeks ago. They've begun a 5 mile stretch of construction which left me with no shoulder at all. I came through the area just ahead of rush hour so I was glad I didn't put this ride off till later in the day. There was a fair amount of traffic out there to contend with and it was no place for me to be. I stopped and asked some surveyors how long the job will take and they figured through the summer. That's too bad because that stretch of road I use quite a bit. I finally had my camera with me to snap a photo of this barn I've been wanting to photograph. It's not far from Orchard Lake in Lakeville. It's a cool looking barn with some interesting signs and decor on it...it's also got some sagging to it which gives it a lot of character. I've never seen it in the winter but I notice they light it for Christmas.
I was a total bum all day yesterday. I was going to get out on my bike but I laid down and took a couple hour nap instead. Most of the guys from Silver Cyclists were racing today and I'm feeling like I really want to get my license and join them. I think I could work my way through the cat 4&5 categories pretty quickly and race with the 3s where I think I could be competitive. Tammy would rather that I didn't...especially after crashing on the group ride a couple weeks ago. I'm sure there would be crashes along the way if I got into racing and that's one of the reasons I haven't I suppose. The main reason though being my knee. I know without question that I would push myself too hard and cause more damage to my knee. It's what ended my running and got me back on the bike. The crashes in bicycling can sideline you for quite a while. It's not a good thing to be throwing a 47-year-old body against the asphalt. Nothing good comes from that.
Toby and Allie got me up around 7 this morning. It was so cute on Friday morning...after taking the pups out and feeding them around 6:30 I went back to bed with Tammy. We slept in much later than normal and at 9:30 Toby had had enough. He got up on the bed and barked for us to get up. I of course didn't scold him and promptly got out of bed no doubt reinforcing his behavior.I took the little guys for a walk this morning and made my way to church. Hosanna is working with World Vision to try and sponsor 800 children from Tanzania, Africa. Theirs is such a sad story with the pandemic of AIDS which has ravaged the country. Every 10 seconds a child is orphaned. It's a place which doesn't have much of anything to begin with and when you take away a child's only means of support they're literally left with nothing. We already sponsor a child in Indonesia through Christian Children's Fund but we felt we had to sponsor another through Hosanna's drive. Our new child's name is Alicia and she's 2 years old. We'll learn more about her and begin to exchange letters with her family. It takes about one month for out letters to reach Anna in Indonesia; I wonder if the letters to Africa will take about as long?
I was very tempted to crawl back in bed after church. It was lightly snowing and the temp was in the mid-30s with a 15 mph wind. All I could hear in my head was to forget the bike but I had to get out. I actually enjoyed my ride even though the weather was crappy. It felt like an October day as I approached the Minnesota River bottom underneath the Cedar Ave bridge. I didn't have much time for the ride so I kept it short at about 25 miles. That's probably a good thing because I'm working till 10:30pm and I know I'm going to be whipped without some rest. I hope the old me shows up this week...that would be so nice.
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