Saturday, February 16, 2008

Shabbat Shalom

Dear Children:

Another day of rest comes just in time. It’s always been a matter of mild interest to me that the version of the Ten Commandments that appears in the 20th chapter of Exodus spends a lot of words on just two of those commandments. The first is the proscription of idols and the second is about the Sabbath Day. In says in part, “Six days shalt ye labour and do all thy work: …”. Six days is about right. Five is too few to really say you worked. And, not to put too fine a point on it, two rest days seems excessive.

This is also the day I report my weight (This is being written on Saturday so as not to do violence to The Sabbath). On Saturday I weighed 190lbs. That’s a loss of 5.5lbs. Last Sunday, you’ll recall, I said this sort of weight loss isn’t sustainable. I still believe that to be true but I’ll take whatever I can get. In this case, I’ve lost 10lbs. in two weeks. Still, I’ve been here before many times. Around 180lbs. there is a wall. I’ll need to lose another ten to face that test.

This is also stats day. Tell me what you make of this, please. You will recall the treadmill is set to run for one hour at about four miles per hour. The machine is responsible to adjust the incline to achieve a target heart rate of 120 beats per minute. That is 77% percent of the maximum for a man my age. The hour is then expanded by a three-minute warm-up and a five-minute cool-down. Sometimes the machine reaches level (0.0 incline) when my heart rate is elevated. The machine asks me to slow down the belt until the heart goes down to 120 bpm. The machine keeps track of the time, the distance covered and calories consumed. Got it? Here’s what happened over the previous six days while on the treadmill for sixty-eight minutes each day:

Monday 3.90 miles; 486.3 calories; 124.69 ca/mile or 7.15 ca/min.
Tuesday 4.45 miles; 533.5 calories; 119.89 ca/mile or 7.85 ca/min.
Wednesday 3.60 miles; 313.0 calories; 86.94 ca/mile or 4.60 ca/min.
Thursday 4.25 miles; 530.8 calories; 124.89 ca/mile or 7.81 ca/min.
Friday 4.25 miles; 436.5 calories; 100.35 ca/mile or 6.42 ca/min.
Saturday 4.46 miles; 420.2 calories; 94.22 ca/mile or 6.18 ca/min.

How do we account for the differences among the days? The treadmill settings did not change. Are we different physically on different days? Do the factors that control mood also control our physicality? How much sleep did you get the night before? Are you aggravated, elated or sad? What’s the weather like? Is there an iPod factor? Did you have any caffeine or protein or carbohydrates for breakfast? What were the proportions?

There are too many variables to parse. The best we can do is take note of the constituent details of our lives and strive to harness the positive ones and constrain the negative ones. That’s big talk. We’ll see.

On the iPod today were selections from a four-CD set of Johnny Cash called American Recordings. Mostly, the theme is manhood. Girls may listen too.

Much Love,

Poppy

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