cape cod (my heart's a stereo).

I failed to mention in my post yesterday just how much it chapped my ass not being able to tolerate boozing as much over the holiday.

I miss binge drinking. Fo' real.

Today's post is brought to you by the letter C: colds, cranberry, and getting wasted (yes, I realize the last one doesn't even contain the letter C... fuck it).


But firstly... I made a triumphant return to the gym last night -- only to find that a couple had already occupied the machines that my workout buddy and I had planned to use. So we watched them work out on the closed circuit video system until they left... giant waste of an hour of my life. This is the downside of using the small free fitness center at a hotel... but it's where I work and it's FREE so I have a really hard time justifying a gym membership. Once we had the room to ourselves, I realized what a terribly late start it was and I just knew it would be bad news. Sure enough, at 1.5 miles my boyfriend called asking to be picked up from work. I made him wait until I finished 2 miles (22:30) before I left to collect him.

Sad, sad realizations from yesterday: taking almost a week off from exercising = BAD NEWS BEARS.

It felt amazing having my lungs burn (I am seriously in love with that feeling), but my posture was off and I couldn't find good foot position and it threw off my stance. But the good news bears brought me a little present: speeds upwards of 70 RPMs! I was trotting away at 64-65 RPM thinking that I was not getting the workout I had expected, so I dropped my butt a few inches and took a squat placing more emphasis on my upper legs and the 70s were rolling in like nobody's business. I was maintaining 73-75 consistently for short little bursts, usually just a minute or two, but enough to make me feel like I was flying.

Goal for this week: get to a consistent 70 RPM, increase to Level 3 resistance.

Now, onto the letter C:

Cold: I hate this weather. Even worser, I hate being sick. Being rudely thrust back into adulthood yesterday left me with zero energy after dinner. I had every intention of doing an hour of Pilates, but between the 3 hours of sleep I got on Sunday, the full day of work, working out, and cooking, I had nothing left to give and I passed out on the couch at 7pm. I woke up at 10pm with a tickle in my throat so I took a lozenge and drank some water and everything seemed fine. When I woke up this morning at 5:30am, I knew I was in trouble.

My throat hurts and I am congested, thus officially kicking off the start of cold season. FML. I'm afraid I'm going to overdose on benzocaine so I had to lay off on the Cepacol, but on the plus side I've upped my intake of fluids in the form of green tea, which I'm sure is plenty good for me. So yay? Fuck you, cold, for making me... healthy?

Cranberry: I read somewhere that cranberry juice helps increase bicarbonate levels (if only in minute amounts) so naturally I considered buying stock in Ocean Spray avant de commencer my new cranberry regimen. I haven't actually gotten around to buying any cranberry juice, but I've been pecking away at a 5 pound bag of dried cranberries over the last few days. I was foolishly hoping that the internet would give me more insight as to the benefits of cranberries while on Diamox, but sadly I am coming up empty. I have a well documented distaste for pills of all varieties and if I can manage life without vitamins and supplements and opt for the natural route, I'd much prefer it. Even if I go broke buying bananas and cranberries and tea.

Crap I can't get wasted anymore (BAHAHAHAHA, I made it work): I have had limited experience with booze since starting Diamox (Almost 6 months now... holy Jesus) so I don't have much to go off of, but I can tell you with certainty that the little drinking I have done makes me feel like shit. Beer tastes gross, so that's out of the picture. I tried taking the cranberry route and having vodka cranberry cocktails, but the last time I did that I got three drinks in before I felt like I had been run over by a truck. I don't drink any sodas anymore, cider tastes like piss, beer makes me piss, and spirits are killing me. Quelle dommage, I say. But in the spirit of the holidays, I feel obliged to drink (and by that I mean, I WANT TO DRINK). And with the realization that Las Vegas is less than FIVE WEEKS away (34 days in case you're counting) and the wedding festivities following shortly after that, I am desperate for a solution to my boozing problem. The last trip I took to Vegas was shortly after I started taking Diamox, so I simply opted to postpone starting the meds until after my vacation was over. Dr Stern didn't have any outward reaction in any direction to that news so it didn't seem like much of an issue. But now after six months of almost perfect compliance, I struggle with even the idea of not taking my meds. The simple solution would be the one I had before: skip the meds in Vegas, drink to your heart's content. But I'm afraid my dosage is so high that I should consider tapering the dose down first rather than go cold turkey. I also worry that when I do return to normal dosage, the dreaded symptoms will return.

I've been on the fence about calling Dr Stern on the issue because I know that there is no easy answer. Plus, we've already talked about it and she basically told me it's okay to drink as long as I feel comfortable. I guess I just want her blessing to stop the Diamox for a week? Plain weird.