Checker Cab Shift Bid

Daily Quote: "You only ever grow as a human being if you're outside your comfort zone." --Percy Cerutty

I had to awake at 5:00 a.m. with only four hours of sleep as today is Checker Cab shift bid, and must be at the company yard by 6:00 a.m. when bidding starts as my seniority number is so low I'll be one of the first drivers to bid. Every six months I have to go through this process of choosing my shift (which 12 hour shifts, days or night shift), my days off, and the particular cab I want to drive.

I've been driving for Checker Cab since June 20, 1990, and with a seniority number of #31 (we have over 800 Checker Cab Drivers) can pretty much have whatever I want in the bid. Therefore, I chose Saturdays and Sundays as my days off, as that's when my wife has her days off (she's a banker). My shift for the next six months will be the 61 Shift, which is 12:00 p.m. to 12:00 a.m., which is the highest booking shift with little down-time. Last and not least, I'll be driving a new Ford Crown Victoria with no mileage on it! By the time I finished bidding and chatting with the other drivers it was 7:00 a.m.

Left the company yard and immediately went to my gym, 24 Hour Fitness, for my scheduled run today, which is a hill workout.

7:30 a.m. 6 miles. Life Fitness Treadmill, Hill Program, Level 5 (the highest hill will be at a 5% grade), speed set at 6.1 mph. Time, 59:00 minutes. Overall pace, 9:50 minutes per mile. I am getting better at hills as my heart rate was lower during last week's hill workout, therefore this week I increased the speed to 6.1 mph (last week was 6.0 mph.) Average heart rate, 162 bpm. Cardiac drift, 179 bpm. (Note: my maximum heart rate is 190 bpm) No aches nor pain, but totally exhausted, mostly due to lack of sleep than today's run... thankfully tomorrow is a easy recovery run. I'll probably maintain this same workout parameters next week, than consider whether I should increase my speed, or elevate the treadmill's grade.

I need to get to bed for a long nap before work.