Long week

Ugh... I ache all over. I'm exhausted. I feel like I got run over by a truck this week. One sentence summary of this rambling blog post: I've been getting up at ungodly hours of the morning (and I'm NOT a morning person) and the variety of PT I've done this week has kicked my butt.

Monday, as I previously mentioned, I got up at 0430 and had to skip Command PT so we could do our walk-through of the drydock basin. Well, at lunch time, to make up for the lost PT, W and I went and played racquetball. This is the first time I've played r-ball in... I don't remember. W seriously kicked my butt. We played four games. The first game was a shut-out. The other three games I managed like 4 or 5 points to his 21. It was a great workout though. I was sweating profusely and racked up 860 calories in one hour on my HRM.

Tuesday was the big D-Day (D for Drydock). Got up at 0330 to shower, eat breakfast, and head out to meet W to drop his car off on the shipyard side, then drive us around to the sub base side. Stationed the Mighty MSP's last-ever maneuvering watch at 0600. We crossed the sill into the drydock around 0800, and they closed the caisson behind us around 0945.

Aside: Interesting point in Navy Regulations - the Commanding Officer is normally the one absolutely responsible for anything that happens on the ship. The big exception to that is when the ship crosses the sill of the drydock, then the drydock commander assumes responsibility for the ship.

We were about 30 to 60 minutes behind schedule on most of the agenda for the day, but other than that it went fairly smoothly. We got kudos from the pilot that we were the most courteous in dealing with the pilot and the most professional in line-handling on the waterfront. The shipyard guys said it was the smoothest drydocking evolution they've done since they can remember.

Unfortunately, the weather wasn't exactly cooperating with us. The day before, we were all concerned about heat stress, dehydration, and sun burn. As we got underway from the sub base, it was partly to mostly cloudy out, and I said a prayer of thanks for the clouds providing us shade and keeping the temperatures down. Then, just as we were entering the drydock, the heavens exploded. I mean, it was just a torrential downpour for the next hour or so. All of us up topside were soaked through to the bone.

Along with the rain came high winds. High winds mean no crane operations. Because of the requirement to crane certain things into the drydock basin as soon as the basin is dry, and the shutdown of crane operations due to high winds, that postponed pumping down the drydock. We pumped it down far enough so the ship was resting on the blocks, and we managed to get the services brow (shore power, cooling water hoses, etc) and the personnel access brow across before they shut down the crane.

Wednesday morning, I had one of those mornings where I gradually gained consciousness, and as I woke up I said to myself, "Self, it's awfully light outside for the middle of the night. Normally when your alarm goes off, it's still pitch black outside." I turned my head to the left and looked at the alarm clock. Unlike the daybreak coming in the windows, the alarm clock was pitch black. The storm that came through Tuesday and through the night knocked down a lot of trees. The morning radio show reminded me of Virginia after it snows - listening to all the school closures and road closures, etc. Luckily, I woke up in just enough time to throw on my PT gear and head out the door.

My poor LW had the unfortunate ordeal of staying home with both boys since ES's school was closed, and she spent a substantial part of the day without electrical power. I think the boys were awake by 0640, and started saying "we're BORED" by 0645. No TV, no DVDs, no video games... They've got a gajillion and one toys to play with, but since the power was out, they didn't want toys. Why is it we always want what we can't have?

I went with a small contingent of the crew that did make it through the road closures and non-functioning traffic lights to Command PT at Bloch Arena with the PT Nazi. Since we had a smaller group, we moved into the aerobics room and did the interval training there. As usual, he worked us hard. My right shoulder was pretty sore from racquetball on Monday. After the interval training, my whole torso ached. Note that, according to my HRM, I burned 684 calories doing the interval training, almost 200 calories LESS than I burned playing racquetball (both were over almost an exact hour-long period).

We also finished pumping down the drydock Wednesday. Toward the end, I stood on the wall of the drydock watching the last of the water get sucked out, and the fish flopping around on the grates where the water left them. There were a couple of really big puffer fish - the biggest was like 18 inches long.

Thursday morning, still aching from the PT Nazi yesterday, I went to our new Thursday morning Command PT. It was still raining on and off outside, so we stayed in the gym at Bloch Arena. The COB and I alternated running laps around the basketball court and running the bleacher steps. So now, in addition to my torso aching from Wednesday, now my gluteals, thighs, calves, and ankles are sore, too. Basically... I ache all over.

I used to be able to lay down on the floor, and the boys would walk all over my back. It's almost as good as good as going for a massage. I've really needed it this week, and I keep coming home and collapsing in a heap on the floor hoping the boys would walk on my back. I even ASK for them to walk on my back. Somehow though, the fact that I'm asking them to do it seems to take the fun away for them. I guess they only did it before because they thought it was fun to beat-up on Daddy.

An old photo of a Daddy-massage from 2005

So we're starting a new Friday routine tomorrow. Now that we're in the drydock, it'll be very difficult to get an effective field day done on the boat. So we're going to try a routine that's been done on a few other boats. Liberty expires at 0400 so we can kick off Field Day at 0430 and finish before the shipyard starts its workday at 0630. We don't have anything else on the agenda for the day except for quarters on the pier to hand out some awards, so liberty is dependent on workload. We'll see how it goes.

As for now, it's time to hit the rack!