It's worth repeating this

I've said this before, but I think it bears repeating a few times...   Every workout isn't "killer" or a "personal best" or even average.   Sometimes just working out is a struggle, and today is a perfect example of it.   Merinda and I went to see some latin jazz last night, which if you didn't know, means Cuban music.  We love live music and had a good time.  I felt like I should have been sitting in the sun, drinking some coffee and just enjoying the music.   Anyway, we got home late and I didn't really get a good nights sleep.  Woke up today against my better judgement and struggled through my exercise.

Really there's no rhyme or reason to it, I've had late nights and woken up and crushed my workouts, but today that extra gear was missing.  Probably due to a combination of lack of sleep and two gruesome days of exercise in a row, regardless I got up and put the effort in.  Yes, it was difficult, however what's important is to listen to your body and do what you can, not what you "think" you should be doing.

Enough run-on sentances and ramblings.   Have a great weekend!

It's done

Well, for better, or almost assuredly for worse, Trump won again.   I am gravely concerned about what will happen, but I know that I don't trust the people who made this happen.

I would like to be wrong...

I've got the US Blues....

Its finally here

I'm so thankful it's finally election day.  I'm sick of hearing the ads and reading people rationalizing their choices.   IMO both candidates are badly flawed and indicative of our broken system.

Just glad it's almost over.   Well at least this part.

Whomever you support just vote...  

Birthday blues...

It's probably not the first time, but it is the first time I can remember where I really don't want to celebrate my birthday.  I guess that's not completely accurate, but I don't want to have an "event" because both Merinda and I are tired.  I'm emotionally drained by the Yankees loss and physically tired from being up late watching the games and trying to get in the swing of the distance challenge.  Oh, and not to mention the stress of Milton or the election next tuesday.  Thankfully it's almost over.

Ok, enough whining, how was October?  Well, as with a couple of previous months it was both good and bad, but mostly good.   So let's see how I did.

• Maintain weight
• Ride 550 miles - Ideally get outdoors once/week for at least 25 miles.
• Run at least one, maybe two 5k's this month.   
• Swim once, maybe twice this month.   Gentle pace for 500-1000 yards
• Continue weight training
• Continue bootcamp workouts. 
• Perfect Month in Apple
• Apple October exercise challenge 
• Gold in my Septmber challenges
• All the bonuses in #mc45 and start #mc46
• Start MDC3!

Weight Results:

• Starting Weight: 213.50
• Ending Weight: 214.1

Exercise info:

• Number of rides:  84
• Time on exercise:  45:37:37
• Distance on rides:  471.39
• Number of runs:  2
• Distance running:  6.53
• Number of walks:  4
• Time walking:  2:21:18
• Distance walking:  5.87
• Number of rows: 0
• Time rowing: 0
• Number of swims:  0
• Distance swimming:  0
• Weight Workouts: 5

Results: 

So, what is there to say?  Second month in a row where I missed my cycling mileage target.   Yes, I know the long ride this month was cancelled, so I didn't need to train for it, but that shouldn't affect my goal.   Now, in my defense, we had a couple of days without power so I probably would have hit the goal if it wasn't for Milton, but I did miss.   What else?  Well, no rows and no swims.   I'll be honest, I've been weight training on what used to be my "row" day, and I haven't had the desire to go to the long center.  Plus the rower is buried behind some stuff we're donating so using it has been "challenging", but that's just an excuse.   I've been prioritizing other things, and I will continue to try and change that.

So, what went well?   I've been running and almost hit my PR for a 5k.  I've been slowly creeping up my milage for MDC3 and am in 3rd place on my team and hopefully will be in second next week.  Finished MC45 and am almost done with MC46, I just need next week and one strength class, and got my apple challenge done.   Weight is right where I want it, and I've been trying to up my protein intake and I've even added some creatine to try and help build more muscle.

Overall?  October was a pretty good month and I am more than satisfied with where I am.    So what's on tap for November?   Glad you asked:

Maintain weight

• Ride 550 miles
• Run every week as long as my knees/hips are ok with it.
• Race in a turkey trot
• Ad hoc walks to complete the November challenge
• Continue weight training
• Continue bootcamp workouts. 
• Perfect Month in Apple
• Apple November exercise challenge 
• Gold in my November challenges
• All the bonuses in #mc46 and start #mc47
• Scuba certification

And a few optional ones:

• Swim once or twice this month
• Row - Try to row twice this month.

Slight change with moving some things to being "optional" but I don't want to bite off more than I can chew.   I've been struggling with motivation since I don't have a fitness goal right now, so keeping myself from feeling dragged down is key and I don't want to feel guilty because I didnt go to the long center, or chose to lift instead of rowing.   Being active is what's key.   With that in mind, this should look pretty consistent.   Really the biggest change is prioritizing getting my scuba done.  I'll be disappointed if I cant dive on the cruise.

It's a short post today as I really don't have that much to say.   Not looking forward to the election or my birthday, but I'll post throughout the month.   Talk soon.

Its that time of year

As well as being reminded that I am almost a year older, I'm once again looping around to the events that brought me to where I am today.   It was just two years ago that Merinda and I went to the woodwright and I wasn't able to stand up for more than 20 odd minutes without pain.   Yes, I've talked about it before, but when I look back it really was the first in a chain of events that got me here.  With that, while I was miserable that night, I am thankful that it was the beginning of a healthier, and for the most part, happier life.

Now if my knee and hip would agree life would be perfect :) 

Sigh...

Well, I'm going to have to really bust my ass to hit my mileage target for this month.   Those couple of days with no power/Internet really put me behind.   I'm going to have to average ~28 miles/day for the rest of the month.  At least I've been able to catch up on my Apple monthly challenge.

Also feeling a little demoralized because one of the teams in the challenge is completely stacked and have a 1200 mile lead after one week.  That's 170 miles per day more that their team is racking up.   Kind of frustrating to try and keep up.   Add in my already sore legs and it feels like an insurmountable challenge.  I guess it's a good thing the Yankees are in the world series and I can sit and pedal away while watching the game.

However, on a brighter note, I went for a run on Wednesday night.   It's been a hot minute, or month for that matter, since I ran, and I ran the fastest I've run since July.  Apple and Strava disagree on the "fastest" 5k, but I was pleasantly suprised at how good it felt.  It went so well that I signed up for an Alzheimers run as well as finally signing up for the race up in VA over Christmas.   Since my ride next month got cancelled I need a few more events to keep me moving.   Look for some more runs to come.

Tough month.

Well, I'm off to another rough start for this month.  Between Milton and losing power for a few days and then I completely spaced on the Apple challenge, so I'm behind on miles as well as the challenge...

I guess it's a good thing the distance challenge starts on Saturday. 

Fuck off Milton

I guess I'm a real Floridian now since I rode out a Cat-3 storm.  We had planned to evacuate to Jax and then were going to stay with a friend but they got evacuated so we ended up staying here.  We lost power for a few days and had no Internet, except for the phones.  Was hard to find gas, and I sat in a line for 3 hours to get some which really sucked.   I did go up to Pasco county and found some a lot easier on Saturday.

The good?   We have all our plywood to board up the house and it's organized and stored in the garage.   We're also set up with the generator now and it runs, so we can keep food cold.   I also have gas cans so we're ready.

The bad?  Well it sucks for a lot of people and we did have water come up through the slab.     That and the next storm coming.  Yes, I did say next storm.  Yes, the joys of Florida life.  

All in all it could have been worse, a lot worse.

Understandable but still disappointing.

So I got an email yesterday that my ride for the animals was cancelled due to damage from Helene.   Yes, it's completely understandable seeing as how the ride would be six weeks from tomorrow, but I am disappointed as I was really looking forward to it, but access to the barrier islands just opened up the other day and I'm sure there are more important things to do out there than block the roads, assuming they're clear, and watch bicyclists ride by.

So....   What is John going to do?   Well, I think I'll actually find out about getting scuba certified.  I'll do a few runs here and there and spin.   Maybe find an event for the spring.

What a difference a week makes

First off, we're all fine from Helene.  We lost a gate and some tree branches, water in the house again, but other than that we had minimal impact.   We didn't really lose power and we were already aware of the foundation problems.  The area we live in was hit pretty badly by the storm surge and people who live in a flood zone got crushed.  I can only imagine what would have happened if we took a direct hit.   I hope I never have to find out, but it definitely changed my opinion on riding one out.   I think both Merinda and I decided we'll just get the fuck out of Dodge with the dogs and spend a comfy night elsewhere.   I say this as there's another "disturbance" in the gulf.   It's looking pretty mild, but everyone is on edge after Helene.  Just hope all those people up in NC get the help they need.  That looks insane.

Now let's talk about September.  Overall a good month.   I really can't call it excellent because I feel like I came up short on a couple of things, yes I expected some of it, but not all.    As a reminder here are the goals I set:

• Maintain weight
• Ride 500 miles - Need to get outdoors
• At least one more 5k tuneup this week.   Then the Triathalon and we can take a little break from running.   
• At least one more swim before the race, preferrably two and ideally one in the ocean.
• Resume after workout stretching. 
• Continue bootcamp workouts. 
• Perfect Month in Apple
• Apple September exercise challenge 
• Gold in my Septmber challenges
• All the bonuses in #mc44 and start #mc45
• Finish at least one, if not both, of the virtual 5k's I signed up for. 

Weight Results:

• Starting Weight: 214.10
• Ending Weight: 216.9

Exercise info:

• Number of rides: 70
• Time on exercise: 50:28:42
• Distance on rides: 367.60
• Number of runs: 3
• Distance running: 9.16mi
• Number of walks: 2
• Time walking: 1:05:30
• Distance walking: 2.69mi
• Number of rows: 0
• Time rowing: 0
• Number of swims: 2
• Distance swimming: 1600yd 

Results:

I always like to start with the misses, so lets get that out of the way.   I badly missed my mileage target.  I took six days off the bike, which to be fair I mostly needed, but the week up in VA made a big difference, and to be honest, I wasn't trying to track miles, but get ready for the tri.  I did not get the Apple exercise challenge.   As soon as I realized what it was I knew I'd fall short because it had a really high calorie burn, and in a month where I was going to spend a week tapering and a week resting it was going to be almost impossible.   It really wasn't until this week that my legs began to feel better after the race, so I knew I would probably miss that.    I also missed my gold in two challenges.  I was overly ambitious because the non team focused ones are harder.   I was close in one, and missed by a mile in the other.   Oh well, there's next month :)

I talked about the bad, now let's talk about the good.   I ran a good race in Tarpon.   I really did.   Yes, of course there's room for improvement, but I am 56, almost 57 for those of you keeping score, and I have bad joints.   Other than some cramping I didn't feel that bad although I was pretty worn out for a week or so.   I suspect the 90 minutes I did on the bike on Sunday didn't help there.   Weight is good, I'm stretching more than I ever have, even if I don't feel like it's helping as much as I want.   Ran my pre-race 5k's and I'm taking bootcamp's twice a week now.   I don't know why I avoided them before, and I finished MC44.  I've even begun to do standalone weight training on my rest days.   It's a good way to keep moving and work on getting stronger.

Ok, so what are we going to do in October?

• Maintain weight
• Ride 550 miles - Ideally get outdoors once/week for at least 25 miles.
• Run at least one, maybe two 5k's this month.   
• Swim once, maybe twice this month.   Gentle pace for 500-1000 yards
• Continue weight training
• Continue bootcamp workouts. 
• Perfect Month in Apple
• Apple October exercise challenge 
• Gold in my Septmber challenges
• All the bonuses in #mc45 and start #mc46
• Start MDC3! 

This should look familar again, but I need to get a little more focused on the bike.   I have a metric century ride coming up in November, so I need to be ready to ride for 62 miles, which is about twice as far as I've ridden so far.   I'm estimating 4-5 hours, closer to 4, but it's going to take some work on my endurance, since I'm not used to working for that long.   That will tie in nicely to the distance challenge and an uptick in my monthly output.

I did take some downtime both before and after the race, and I'm glad I did.   I've been overtraining, and that can be a real problem.   I feel like I did this 30 years ago and it's why I burned out.   It's also why I like the challenges and other minor goals.   I won't be racing in another tri this year, at least I don't see that happening, but I don't want to lose the fitness I've worked at, so I need somethign to keep me moving.  I'll have to be a little more judicious in allocating rest time through the next few months.  I still want to take "rest" days, so I will be swimming and running and weight training on those days.  Obviously, not all at once, but I worked to build swimming endurance and I don't want to throw it away.  Same goes for running, especially since I have some races I'm planning to do throughout the fall.   Other than that, it's "typical" goals for me.  The last thing I wanted to mention is I'm trying to do more zone 2 training, so I can build up more endurance.

All in all, I'm excited for this month, assuming we don't have another hurricane.  I'm looking forward to the distance challenge and getting back to some semblence of normal exercise routine even if I'm not looking forward to getting older shortly.  Regardless, have a great day and we'll talk soon!

Well that's a wrap...

And with that, I finished the Tarpon Triathlon.

Post race selfie, and yes I felt shattered.

Let me preface all this with, I am 100% happy with my results.   I finished the race and didn't finish last in my category, or the race overall.   The weather was pretty close to perfect for the event too.   To talk about the individual portions, I had no issues on the swim and stayed close to or faster than my training pace.  My swim goggles leaked a little bit, but that's been an ongoing issue, and I will probably replace them for future races.  However, I felt good in the water and I think I could have gone 1/2 mile on the swim or more if I had to.  I need to swim in the ocean more because I just need practice at that.   Oh, and the seagrass/seaweed isn't fun to run through, but it could have been worse.

Yes it's official

I thought the bike went really well with the exception of having troubles clipping in.  I passed far more people than passed me and one person passed me because a race organizer on a trike was in my way and I had to slow down.   I think tri bars would help, but not as much as a better bike.   Don't get me wrong, I like my Bianchi, it's a comfortable ride, but I'll need somethign better in 2026 if I keep at this.  I do need to drink water while on the bike.   I feel very uncomfortable grabbing and replacing my bottle so that needs help.   Otherwise, with the exception of some of the elite/distance athletes I was on pace.

Now for the run.   Again, I finished the race and hit my goals, but I expected to do better running.   No, I'm not used to running after all that exercise, and yes, running is my weak link, but I was disappointed at how much walking I had to do.   My knee and hip were sore during the run and that hampered me, but I think more of that was allowing myself to get dehydrated.   Obviously, I can't drink in the swim, and I barely drank on the bike, so at this point I was an hour in and had minimal water.   I effectively chugged my fitly flask, and had to sip cups of water at the aid stations.   The only other change was that I was in slim socks, but my joints are fine now, so I think it's water intake and some fitness.   Both of which I can address in future training.

I was surprisingly pleased eating at Charley's for dinner, thanks for pushing that Jerry, because it wouldn't have been my choice, but that bison ribeye was on point :)

So where do I go from here?   Well, I think I'll repeat both Tri's next year with the goal of meeting or exceeding my performance so far.  Dunedin is a sprint, but I'd like to try an olympic distance.   I don't think I want to be ready for that in a year, so lets think about 2026 for that one :)   Beyond that, a few 5k's to go and my longish bike ride in November.   But before that, I'm going to take a light week and enjoy some R&R.   I'll still close rings and do that, but I'm going to let my body heal a little bit.   I was very sore going into the last week before the race and I think I overtrained.  I still have plenty of room to improve. but I tried to cram it into a small window and failed badly.   Now that I've finished the race I can plan for the training plan I wanted to run before this race instead of feeling overwhelmed and behind when I started my ramp up.

We live and learn right?   Glad I did it, and excited for new challenges!  Talk soon....

 

How can anyone say stupid shit like this...

Someone I know recently posted a comment that said "Things will be much better after the second civil war" and I am dumbfounded by the stupidity of that kind of sentiment.

Really?   A war in the US over fucking political beliefs is what you want?   Are you serious?

Lots of people will likely die and get injured, but things will be better?

Our country in ruin, our economy in ruin, but things will be better.   Why, because you expect Trump to somehow lead the country through that?

I guess people like that believe that somehow they're going to just eradicate people who don't agree with them and we'll go back to the 50's... 

How fucking stupid are you?

Just a week to go

I'm ready for this race so I can take a little break.   I'm definitely feeling burned out and ready to ease up for a little bit and recover.   No, I'm not going to stop being active, and yes, I'll still do 30+ minutes a day, but I'm going to dial back the intensity a bit.  I could use some rest days here and there, and maybe some yoga days.  I do have my long bike ride in November, but that's an easier training schedule since it's just endurance.

I think I'll have to look at my goals for this month as well.   The Apple fitness goal for August seems unattainable given what else is going on this month.   Take today, almost two hours of strenuous exercise, and I'm still 100 calories short of the 1045 calorie goal, and I'm supposed to hit that another thirteen times.    Yes, I'll probably cross it today, but I need to slow down next week and recharge for the race, and post race the last thing I want to do for the rest of the month is bust my ass.   We'll see how it goes, but I'll be ok if I miss, disappointed, but ok.   Same goes for my mileage target.   I didn't think 500 would be hard, but I barely made it last month, and that required a push at the end of the month, and I'm pretty far off the pace this month, only 31% to goal, with a pre-race taper coming next week.   So, again, I'll be disappointed, but ok with it.   I didn't expect to be in VA for a week, nor did I expect a triathalon mid-month when I made this plan in January.  Truth be told, I'm ahead of my overall goal for the year thanks to a few overachieving months so I can live with it.

The lesson from this is don't allow your goals to be so rigid that failure is inevitable.  Allow them to bend and adjust to your life, but don't give up on them.   Yeah, I'll miss a few arbitrary things this month, but I'm still in the best shape I've been in since I was 27...  Stew on that...   I'm going to compete in my second triathalon this year next Saturday.   I ran a four mile race in July.   I can run 5k's at my discretion now, and I think a 10k is more than feasible.   I have a 65 mile bike ride coming up.  I'm 99% sure I'll be working towards an olympic distance triathalon next year and a half marathon after that, and finally, I feel great most of the time, my knees and hip notwithstanding.

tldr - ready for the race and a little recovery afterwards.   Have a great friday the 13th...   More race updates coming.

Rememberance

I often think about my mother on 9/11.   No, she wasn't in NY, or on one of the planes, but I was visiting her on that day.   I remember that she was making breakfast, im pretty sure it was waffles, and having her furnace serviced because that's what you do in Vermont in September.   The furnace guy said "hey something happened in NY" and I turned the TV on.   It stayed on for hours.   My office was adjacent to the FAA in Herndon so I called my boss to make sure everyone was ok and they were being evacuated.  I was just fortunate to be with family on that day.   So many people weren't and never would be again...

I remember how odd it was to see no planes in the sky.

I remember driving home and going past NY and seeing the smoke plume from the WTC.

I remember that radio service was disrupted because so many stations broadcast from the WTC.

I remember being a child and going to the Windows on the World restaurant.   It was awe inspiring.

I still feel like something is missing every time I go to NY and see the lower Manhattan skyline.

I will never forget.

Better late than never

So we were up in VA visiting family for a week or so and I'm finally catching back up.  I always forget how brutal that drive is, especially when we take the dogs, until afterwards, but it takes a lot out of me.  I felt wiped out all day Sunday and didn't really feel better until Monday.   Fifteen hours of driving on five hours of sleep is tough, even if you drink a few energy drinks.   I did stay on track up in VA for the Tri with running and biking.   No swimming though because its a PITA to find a pool and then work around whatever the schedule is.   I went for a swim last night and almost tripled the distance I need so I feel good there.   I badly need an open water swim, but there's still a little time, but I'm running well, albeit slowly, and cycling is not an issue.

With that, lets look at August.

• Maintain weight
• Ride 500 miles -  Outdoor rides when possible especially for the distance training for the triathalon.  I know it's hot outside, but suck it up buttercup.
• Minimum of one run per week.   Try to stick to the training plan as long as my knees hold up.
• Start swimming per your plan.   Try to get in the ocean twice this month.
• Continue after workout stretching. 
• Continue bootcamp workouts. 
• Perfect Month in Apple
• Apple August exercise challenge
• Gold in my August challenges
• All the bonuses in #mc43 and start #mc44
• Finish at least one, if not both, of the virtual 5k's I signed up for. 

Weight Results:

• Starting Weight: 213.9
• Ending Weight: 212.1

Exercise info:

• Number of rides: 93
• Time on exercise: 35:44:14
• Distance on rides: 500.94
• Number of runs: 1
• Distance running: 2.45 mi
• Number of walks: 2
• Time walking: 1:00:23
• Distance walking: 2.72 mi
• Number of rows: 5
• Time rowing: 1:37:34
• Number of swims: 2
• Distance swimming: 1550 yd

Results:

Well, in hindsight this was a pretty solid month.   I didn't run as much as I planned, but I've been able to run twice this month and it's been "ok".   No knee pain which is a plus.   No, I didn't get the virtual 5k's done. but weather was an issue and I'll knock out one this week.  I signed up for some random challenge and didn't get gold in that, but did in the other two.   Weight was good, rowing was good...   I feel ready for the Tri.  Really the only thing I blew off was my training plan.   I just wasn't ready for the volume of running and other things it planned.   Maybe it was a little aggressive for where I'm at.  I still feel like I can work up to an Olympic distance race, but that means a lot more swimming.  Ugh.  I did miss stretching up in Virginia which was a mistake.   I stretched last night and suffered for it.

So, what does September look like?

• Maintain weight
• Ride 500 miles - Need to get outdoors
• At least one more 5k tuneup this week.   Then the Triathalon and we can take a little break from running.   
• At least one more swim before the race, preferrably two and ideally one in the ocean.
• Resume after workout stretching. 
• Continue bootcamp workouts. 
• Perfect Month in Apple
• Apple September exercise challenge 
• Gold in my Septmber challenges
• All the bonuses in #mc44 and start #mc45
• Finish at least one, if not both, of the virtual 5k's I signed up for. 

This month is going to be challenging.   I didn't pay attention to the September challenge while we were away and I missed a week of it.   Apple wants me to burn 1045 calories and I haven't done it once yet.  It's going to be difficult with resting up for the race and recovery.  I also think hitting 500 miles on the bike could be tough.   I'll need to average 20 miles per day for the rest of the month and a few extra zero days didn't help.   We'll see, but maybe 450 is more realistic.  As soon as I finish this race I need to start planning for the long ride in two months, so distance won't be an issue, and I'm hoping we have a distance challenge through Echelon again.  Otherwise this month is about the race.

Not much else to say...  Sorry about being late and we'll talk soon.

Non scale victories.

Just a little NSV today.   Yes I’m still running, and it finally stopped feeling like I live on Mercury, so I went for a run tonight.   I decided to try my new shoes and I am very pleased with how they fit and feel.   

Set a PR for 2 miles and it’s looking better for the tarpon triathlon.  

Dont ask...

 

I'll only get to do this once...

I've been struggling with motivation lately.  I feel burned out and haven't wanted to train for the upcoming race.   Part of this has been the shift in Echelon classes away from the morning and into the evening and their recent schedule change took away even more of the classes I used to do.  I just find it much easier to work out in the morning rather than after work.  Sometimes it feels like a chore and I like to be over and done with it, the other part is, to be honest, just easier.   It's done and I don't have to worry about it.   I don't have to figure out what class to do, when, and how long it will take.   I don't have to think about working around dinner, or having some down time, because it's done.

So...  Last night is an example of this.   They took away the endurance 75, which I like because it's helping me train for longer rides, and replaced it with a 45.  Normally I wouldn't care, but I was feeling grumpy about it yesterday, and it was getting late, so I did this class with Reed and got this result:

First place in a live class!

Yes, that is a first place.  My first time in a live class.  I was very surprised to be near the top, and once I moved into first I pushed harder to stay there.  Speed isn't a strength of mine and I took it for that reason.  I was so shocked that I took his fusion right after, finished third in that one, and burned my legs out.

Sadly, the excitement didn't carry over to this morning.   I was up, dressed and ready in time, but Nicole's bootcamp was switched to a fusion 30 (Janet was subbing and I think she has some shoulder restrictions), my legs are a little sore from last night, and I didn't want to take a hard bike class.  So another evening workout is coming up 😠  I'll either go for a run or do a bootcamp on-demand.  I keep hoping I'll be able to get back to a more normal schedule but it doesn't seem that way.

I actually forgot it was the end of the month

With all my comments about time flying etc... I actually forgot today was the 31st of the month.  Hard to believe it eh?  It's been an ok week, felt a little run down yesterday, but I feel a bit better today.  I finally started running again and it was much better than I thought it would be.   I didn't go that far, but I ran the last mile or so of my walk on Monday night.  I've been feeling some knee and hip pain when I walked over the weekend so you might understand why I was worried, but I felt fine afterwards.   Go figure.   I walk at a leisurely pace with Merinda and feel pain, when I go alone I'm fine and I can run.  I suspect I'm still recovering a bit from the TDE.

I think I had a pretty good month, I clearly didn't hit all these, and the TDE affected some of my plans, but let's review July's goals shall we?

• Maintain weight
• Ride 500 miles -  Outdoor rides when possible.
• Weekly run and walk exercise. 
• One open-water swim, preferrably two.   Minimum of 1/2 mile distance. 
• After workout stretch. 
• Row workouts until the triathalon training kicks in.
• Continue bootcamp workouts
• Perfect Month in Apple
• Apple July exercise goal
• Gold in my July challenges
• All the bonuses in #mc42
• Finish St. Pete pier run

Weight Results:

• Starting Weight: 220.7
• Ending Weight: 215.5

Exercise info:

• Number of rides:  95
• Time on exercise: 36:01:20
• Distance on rides: 550.98
• Number of runs: 1
• Distance running: 4.14 
• Number of walks: 7
• Time walking:  3:17:48
• Distance walking:  9.32
• Number of rows: 2
• Time rowing:  41:37
• Number of swims: 0
• Distance swimming: 0

Results:

This month was a lot different than I remembered.   I suppose I was a little involved in finishing the TDE and then looking forward to the Triathalon to remember that I was on track all month.  I did take a little break from runnign after the race, and that's normal, I'm not really a runner anymore, and then had a cycling challenge so that dominated my focus.   I'm feeling pretty peppy today, so lets talk about what I did accomplish.   I hit all my goals this month except for the swimming, sorry not sorry but the ocean is gross hot and I didn't want to.  The weekly walk/run, I have no excuses here.   I took a break from running and then lost sight of the walking until I realized I was going to miss the Apple monthly challenge and picked that up.   Finally, I lost focus on the rower.   I was catching up stages on Mondays and started my Tri training on Monday.   I'll pick it back up because I need some bootcamps, but it's going to be getting a little break after this month.

Overall, it was a great month.   I exceeded my expectations on the race, finished the TDE, set some PB's along the way, weight is staying low, have been stretching religiously, and am feeling a lot stronger from the bootcamps.  

With that said, let's look forward to August:

• Maintain weight
• Ride 500 miles -  Outdoor rides when possible especially for the distance training for the triathalon.  I know it's hot outside, but suck it up buttercup.
• Minimum of one run per week.   Try to stick to the training plan as long as my knees hold up.
• Start swimming per your plan.   Try to get in the ocean twice this month.
• Continue after workout stretching. 
• Continue bootcamp workouts. 
• Perfect Month in Apple
• Apple August exercise challenge
• Gold in my August challenges
• All the bonuses in #mc43 and start #mc44
• Finish at least one, if not both, of the virtual 5k's I signed up for. 

So we didn't go to Virginia this month, we're going up around labor day instead, so I'll have a full month at home to prep for the race and that should make these goals pretty easy to hit.    The only one that I think might be tough is the bootcamp bonus for MC43.   I don't know what the Apple goal for August is, so that also remains to be seen.

Anyway, I've been posting a lot, and have a work call coming up so we'll talk soon...

After a days reflection

I felt lousy yesterday.   I went to the doctor for my physical and she said everything was great, except I'm a little anemic.  Really it's not anything to be overly concerned about, but she wants me to take iron supplements.  That's fine, except they can make you a little constipated, so I was feeling bloated and "full" yesterday and that was definitely affecting how I felt about the TDE.  Long story short, I got the last stage done yesterday, and I even snuck in a twenty minute hills class before and I feel dramatically better.   I didn't get up early today, so I got a little extra rest, but maybe that was all I needed.   Regardless, I'm glad I did the TDE, and plan to do it again next summer.   It was a challenging experience that I intend to improve on.

Next up...  Merinda wanted me to sign up for this race, so I'm going to do a virtual 5k as my prep for the triathalon...   

The last stage

Today has been a weird day.   I thought about doing Intervals and Arms today, I wasn't going to do fusion because Janet is off and I don't want to get up at 6 for an encore, but I was pretty wiped out after my workout last night, and I have one last stage to finish the TDE.   It's the prologue and only 45 minutes, so I'll do that after work and then snag a quick walk.  I finally decided to sleep in a little bit and not get up for a 20 minute class only to do the 45 minute one later.  

I am glad the TDE is over.  I'm just worn out, and my knee has been achy, and I just need a light day or two to rest and recover.  I can't imagine what it's like to ride in the real race, but doped or not, those guys might be the best conditioned atheletes in the world, and if anything, the TDE has shown me that I still have a long way to go.

And just like that...

I'm two months out from the September Tri...   What the hell, and where did the time go?  I'm still trying to finish the TDE (Tour de Echelon) and only have three stages left.   Echelon does a challenge of sorts where they mimic the Tour de France.   Last year my bike broke during an early stage so I never got to finish, but I was a little more focused this year.   The race on the fourth cost me a few stages, and being a live class snob cost me a few more, so now I'm playing catchup.   I should be done by Saturday, so I can start my tri training on Monday.  Yay for more pool time...  Not.

I finally went for a walk last night, and I think that was the first time I've put my running shoes on since the 4th.   I can't believe I took three weeks off from running, but I actually felt pretty good walking.   My feet felt light and I didn't hurt until I got home.   Then it was time for Advil and fitish sports rub and my knee felt fine at bedtime, so it wasn't all bad.   I'm behind on my July Apple fitness goal of walking/running 2.12 miles per day.   I didn't think it would be tough, but I was wrong.   I'll get it, but it's going to be a photo finish.

Not much else to say, I just felt like writing about something other than the election... 

Interesting times ahead

I'm torn on my feelings about what happened over the weekend in the election.   I've been pretty clear that I think Biden was beginning to suffer from dementia, alzheimers, whatever you want to call it.   The symptoms are evident and we cannot have a president who's not "all there", however I think Trump is also beginning to suffer from some of that and I do believe that he wants to be more of a strongman type of leader.

What bothers me more is that he stepped down, and the party just decided it should be Harris as the new candidate.   Yes, of course she doesn't appear to be senile, but she's been MIA for the past four years.  This doesn't even mention who's actually running the country because it's clear it hasn't been Biden.

So...  Do I just shut up and smile, and vote for what looks like a shadow government, or do I vote for what looks like a rapid descent into an authoritarian government that wants to take the US back to 1950?  If I vote third party, which would be my normal choice here, it's a vote for Trump.  I'll probably vote for Harris, but I don't know which is better.   Voting for the shadow government, even if it implements policies I agree with, or vote for Trump.   Yes, I know what's better today, but it's really not much better in the long run.

Personally, I think we should have had an open convention, let some candidates advocate for the nomination and let the delegates choose, but nobody asked my opinion.   I still think it's a forgone conclusion that Trump wins.   Unfortunately I can't apply for UK or Irish citizenship through Merinda, but we can move there and I can apply to be a permanent resident and if we stay 3 years I can become a citizen.  I don't want to leave the US, of course the MAGA crowd would say I don't love my country, which is a lie, but I can't stay and watch it become something awful, nor do I want to participate in the descent into what I think is coming, either tacitly or passively.  Look I'm white, middle aged, middle class straight male.   I'm not the group that will get attention at first, and to be honest the only thing that might get me noticed is my political views which are moving to the left, but I'm still what should be considered "centrist".   That said I have friends who no longer want to be branded as "democrats" because of what they think is coming...   And sadly I do too.

Be safe folks.

I know I'm falling into a trap but...

Listen, I was fat.  I was classified as "morbidly obese" by my doctor, it is listed in my health history by my doctor.   He even referred to it when I saw him last that since I wasn't that way anymore he didn't get to charge my insurance anymore.

Anyway, I've been clear that a big part of my losing weight was due to health concerns.  At best I was going to be a cripple and at worst, probably an early heart attack.   So I worked my ass off and lost a pile of weight.

Before losing weight I didn't like to fly, airplane seats are small, and have limited leg room, so being fat and tall made the experience miserable.   Now I can at least sit in the seat, although I still don't have nearly enough leg room.

So, my question is this.   If we're going to accomodate fat people, sorry "plus sized travellers" with free *complimentary* seats, so they are comfortable, why the fuck is it ok to punish tall passengers like me?   I suppose I could have my legs amputated so I don't get crushed in coach, but that's extreme.   I can't CHANGE my fucking height, but 99% of plus sized passengets can CHANGE THEIR WEIGHT.

So I'll ask Southwest airlines this.   Why do you care about fat passengers, but not tall ones?   Why can someone who weighs 300 pounds get a free seat so they're comfortable, but not someone who's 6'4"?   If they need a seat, fine, but ask them to pay for it, just like you demand that I pay if my bag is 51 pounds...

How did we get here?

If you're not interested in US politics feel free to skip this post.   I'm not going to rant about the candidates, because at the end of the day we, and by that I mean Americans, chose them.    However, how did we get to the point where it's always the "lesser of two evils"?

What is wrong with our society that this is what we're presented with?   I feel like we live in a bizarro world where we're presented with progressively worse choices every four years.   I don't know about the people who didn't run, but at the bare minimum, some of them appear to be better choices...

Are we at a point where we have to kowtow to the all powerful "party"?   Perhaps it's time they went the way of the dodo.

Happy 4th of July

Yes I finished the race

I think the worst thing about running in Florida is the crack of dawn start times for races.   Yes, I know why, it's fucking hot, but that doesn't take away from having to get up at 530am on a holiday so you can drive to St. Pete and run for just shy of an hour...   And it was still hot.   It didn't feel that bad when my wave started, but it was pretty gross by the time I finished, and every article of clothing, including my shoes, was wet, and I was tired.   Very tired.   It made for a long, albeit enjoyable day.

Enough wining about the heat and getting up early, let me get to the exciting parts of yesterday.   

What a fun race...   Let me repeat that, what a fun race...  I thoroughly enjoyed it...

I ran the whole race, and without any severe discomfort or pain.   I stopped to drink water, which I expected, and paused to take one picture because it was funny, but I never had to stop and walk.  

It's funny because its true

I wasn't sure how I would feel today, because I was a little sore yesterday and concerned about knee and hip pain, yet none to speak of.   Today I feel great, yes, my legs are sore, but that's muscular, which I am completely fine with and honestly I should have expected.  I decided to skip my morning workouts today, partly because I was just tired, and partly because of being sore.   Instead, I'm going to do a low impact ride later and see how the TDE speed 20 feels. 

Note to self, make sure you stretch as soon as you got home.

I set a new PR for a 5k.  I'm nowhere near what I used to run at, but let's be honest, that was thirty years ago, and expecting to come back after a break like that, and run anywhere near those times is ludicrous.   I am more than satisfied with my time yesterday.   I didn't feel like I was shuffling at all, in fact I was able to lengthen my stride which helped me run faster.   I was able to accelerate to pass people when I needed to and I didn't I feel like I was landing heavily.

I'm pretty sure this was my longest run since 1995, and the longest race since the marathon.   That's almost thirty years and things I had assumed I would never be able to do again which I am very pleased with.

So... where did I finish?   My chip time was 52:29 which put me at a 13:07 pace.  Overall, I finished 697th out of 899 for all the men and 30th out of 47 in my age group.  Here are the official results: St. Pete Pier run - I was bib #1335.

So what does all this mean?  Mostly, it means that my running struggles have been a conditioning and mental issue so I think I'll be able to continue running and continue to increase my distance.   I think my biggest problem is that I'm impatient and expect to be able to run the distances I did thirty years ago, which is absurd.   I didn't get on the bike and within a few months expect to ride fast for an hour, or for 40 miles, so expecting to do that running is silly.  

In the near term I would like to get my pace down closer to ten minutes per mile.   I'd like to run a 5k in thirty minutes again, and I think that's feasible.   Long term I want to work myself up to a 10k by next year, and work towards the olympic distance triathalon.   Assuming I can do that, I'm going to train for the Miami half marathon.  It's a fast flat course, all runs in Florida are flat, and has a kick-ass medal.   I told Merinda that maybe we can go to Miami on Friday, just chill on Saturday, then I can run Sunday morning and we can go on a cruise afterwards.   This is a few years out so we'll see, but I've always been goal driven, so having those in the back of my mind is important.  Also, Merinda and Teresa both said they want to run this next year so look out...

Lastly, I want to thank Merinda for driving us to the event(s) being there for me and cheering me on.   It means more than you know...  Love you babe!  I couldn't do this without you.

Merinda and I right before the race

I really wanted to use this hashtag but didn't think other people would find it as funny, but advil has been my best friend the past day or so :)

#advilbecausetheywontsellvicodinoverthecounter

Another month

Well July seems to have rushed in, and that's both a good and a bad thing.   Actually, I can't think of any good things about time accelerating.   What July does signify to me is that I have a race on Thursday, which I'm not really looking forward to, and that I have to start my next round of Triathalon training this month, which I'm also not looking forward to.  It's really not fair to say all that because it's a monday, and it's early, and I'm tired.  I do have a training plan, so if my knees and hip hold up I'll be ok.  Beyond coming into July feeling a little tired June was a pretty good month.

What did we plan to do in June?  

• Maintain weight
• Ride 450 miles - Weather permitting I want to ride outdoors every Sunday.
• Weekly run and walk exercise. 
• One open-water swim, preferrably two.   Minimum of 1/2 mile distance. 
• Weekly Yoga
• Weekly row
• Perfect Month in Apple
• Apple June exercise goal
• Gold in my June challenges
• All the bonuses in #mc41

Weight Results:

• Starting Weight: 218.9
• Ending Weight: 221.4

Exercise info:

• Number of rides:  73
• Time on exercise: 34:12:45
• Distance on rides: 460.20
• Number of runs: 4
• Distance running:  9.73mi
• Number of walks: 6
• Time walking:  3:27:03
• Distance walking:  10.15mi
• Number of rows: 6
• Time rowing:  26:14:22
• Number of swims: 0
• Distance swimming: 0

Results:

Well, this month was a lot better than I remembered.   I did think it was goign to be a close call for the montly mileage, which it was, and to be honest, I knew I hadn't swum, but I'd forgotten that it was a goal, so I don't know if I want to talk about it, but let's finish all the misses.   I did pretty much run/walk every week.   I took last week off from the run, partly due to weather, and partly due to my hip.   Regardless, I finished all my virtual runs and feel pretty ready for this Thursday.   I'll probably go for a walk or light run tonight but that will be it until Thursday.   I already mentioned the swimming, and I also didn't do as much Yoga as I wanted.   As it turns out, I did three yoga workouts, but I've been successful at doing stretching classes and those are helping my flexibility, so three yoga's and over twenty stretches?  I'll take that.  Other things of note?   My weight ticked up a bit, but I'm also doing more weight workouts so we'll keep an eye on that, but I'm still under 225 so nothing to worry about.

There was a lot of good in June so let's talk about that.   As I stated above, I'm doing a lot of stretching and more weight workouts, which is what I need to do in order to lean out.   I need some muscle mass so hopefully that's going in the right direction.   Plenty of rowing, mostly bootcamps now, and I hit all the challenge goals etc... So overall, an excellent month.

I'm feeling a little flat today, so let's just get on to July goals:

• Maintain weight
• Ride 500 miles -  Outdoor rides when possible.
• Weekly run and walk exercise. 
• One open-water swim, preferrably two.   Minimum of 1/2 mile distance. 
• After workout stretch. 
• Row workouts until the triathalon training kicks in.
• Continue bootcamp workouts
• Perfect Month in Apple
• Apple July exercise goal
• Gold in my July challenges
• All the bonuses in #mc42
• Finish St. Pete pier run

This is going to be a transitional month.   We're going to spend some time up in Virginia, which might make my mileage goal a challenge so if need be I'll ramp it down to 450, but eight weeks from September 21 means I start my training plan this month.    I think I should be ok to hit all these goals, I don't think any are particularly hard.   The Apple challenge for July is a walk/run distance and the only other gotcha is when we drive to/from VA.

I also signed up for a 100km bike event in November.   Once the triathalon is out of the way I'll be training up for that.   Fun times!

Final Thoughts:

Not much else.  I'm just drained.   Happy 4th, and I'll post about the race.

Talk soon!

Motivation

Motivation is a fickle thing.   Some days the alarm goes off and I jump out of bed and feel ready to workout and get my day started.  I think of those as "easy" days because I'm already motivated and ready to get moving.  Thursday was like that, yes I work out late on Thursday, but work has been crazy and I had a lot of things to sweat out on the bike and it felt great.

Then there are days like today.  I was tired yesterday, I neither got enough sleep, nor did I sleep particularly well and went to bed early.  I got a fantastic night's sleep and still had a difficult time getting out of bed.  I hit the snooze button instantly and debated going back to sleep.  I did get up and as Merinda would say, dossed around, so I didn't get a warm-up in before I worked out.

Which day would you say I hit a PB in a class?  I didn't even notice I hit one today until well after class.  I knew I was working hard, and we did spend the first half in challenging effort, but I didn't even consider it.  Maybe it was the end where Jaime had us do a climb into a sprint and said "catch the person in front of you".  I still had some in the tank, so I went all out.   I hit max resistance on the climb, but even better was the sustained 100+ cadence at 22 or 23 resistance, and yes I caught the person in front of me.  Still, I wasn't sure I'd even finish top twenty whereas on Thursday I was top ten.

I guess the point of all this is you find motivation where and when you can.  Just remember you'll never find out until you try and you might surprise yourself.

On the election...

I've avoided talking about politics here, for the most part, because it's become such a divisive issue.  However, those of you who know me should be aware that I was very involvedin politics in my past, and studied political science in college.

That said, I was devastated by the debate last night.   On the one hand we have a candidate who lied about almost everything he said.   In a normal world we'd all laugh about that and know that he would get demolished come November, however on the other hand we have a candidate who looks, and sounds like he's suffering from dementia.  I know a little bit about this disease as my father has it, his mother had it and her mother had it, and I can recognize a lot of the symptoms.

You can say it's "ageism" but the fact is, nobody should be President at Biden's age.   I cannot believe he will make it through his term.  He's just not physically capable of the demands of the office.   I'm not arguing what his administration has/hasn't accomplished, because sadly that's not going to be the central issue of the election.   While we elect the "administration" we vote for a president, and therin lies the rub.

I will unfortunately have to vote for someone who I believe is unfit for the job to avoid voting for someone who I believe is going to take our country to a place I don't want to go.  Make our country into something that it shouldn't be, and divide our people.  I think it's a pointless gesture on my part, because after watching the debate I cannot see Biden winning the election.  He looked lost at times and had the same vacant start my dad gets when he has no idea what's going on.

I'm terrified as to what the future holds for the US. 

Im just impatient

Despite worrying about the weather last night I was able to get a 5k in, and despite all my concerns, I ran the best prep run I've run so far.   Hell, I even beat the time I ran in the Triathalon. 

Yes, this is my current PR for a 5k

As always there's good, bad and ugly.   So, what was ugly?  Well not too much other than my pace which is akin to a fast shuffle.   I'm sure some of that is due to bad joints, and being old and inflexible.   I was able to pick up the pace a few times, so I'm hopeful that I'll get faster and lengthen my stride.   The bad?  Just some joint discomfort that I was able to run through.   I'd like to feel more stable and nimble when terrain shifts, and it seems to be difficult for me to run on a slope.   So what was good?  Well, I ran the whole time.   I'm pretty sure I could have run an additional .9 miles and run four miles, which happens to be the race I'm running in two weeks.  I also feel pretty good today, so I'm not feeling joint pain afterwards.   Nor do I feel very tight or even stiff and that's a very good sign for future endeavours.   Maybe, just maybe, I can get to a 10k and then maybe I'd like to consider an olympic length triathalon.

runDisney 2024 challenge complete!

The other aspect of this is I'm actually finished with all the virtual 5k's I'm currently signed up for.   I finished the Disney ones and both the Stay Classy and the 5 O'clock somewhere runs.  I do think I'm going to try and keep running this at least once a week.   I would like to get faster and run further, and the only way to do that, barring a time machine, is to run more.

By the beard of Zeus, John ran another 5k!

So...   More 5k's to come.   Maybe after my 100km ride I'll work on some running distance.   It should be cooler then and I won't worry about overheating.   I usually drink a whole bottle when I run so I might need more than one bottle. 

Overall struggles....

I really didn't think I overdid it this weekend, or that I've been overdoing it in general, but that seemed to come to a head on Sunday morning.  Allow me to explain.

I might have stayed up a little later than I planned on Friday.   I also might have had a little more whiskey than I'm used to but I still got up on Saturday, rode the endurance, and ran all my errands.   Sure I was a tired, but nothing way out of the ordinary.   Saturday night I ended up going over to a friends house, didn't stay that late, came home and went right to bed.   Yes, it was after midnight, but I still expected to get up, get my workout done in plenty of time for us to go to brunch.

I slept until almost 10am.   Missed all the morning workouts I intended to do and described my legs as feeling like they were put in a blender.  Suffice to say that the last thing I wanted to do was work out.   I finally dragged myself onto the bike and got a light day in, but I was pretty surprised to feel that worn out.  Maybe I do need more sleep than I used to, but I really didn't think I was pushing myself that hard.  Maybe it's the weight workouts, maybe lack of sleep, honestly I don't know, but right now it feels hard to get myself to the next level of fitness.

On top of that I feel like I've lost control of my appetite.  Yes, my weight is stable, but I'm eating the wrong types of food and I'm very concerned that if I slow down exercise for any reason, including just letting myself have some rest, I'll gain weight.  I don't want to be scale focused, but it is an important metric and I have zero interest in gaining weight.

Happy monday y'all :)

Running struggles are real

I'm getting towards the end of my rope when it comes to running.   I know I have joint problems, and I know that I'm closer to 60 than 50, and I know that I used to be obese.    All of those are facts.   It also doesn't help that I only like to run outdoors.  However, I'm in relatively good shape, and my cardio fitness is high, so I finishing a 3-4 mile run should be feasible.

That begs the question, why am I struggling so much to run?   My gait can't get longer than what feels like a shuffle, and I feel like I need to stop often, and not always due to knee/hip pain.  I'm not under any illusion that I'll ever get as fast as I was in my 20's, but the metrics seem to show me getting slower instead of faster, and that's not acceptable.  Yes I was feeling a lot of pain last night, and don't tell Merinda this but I was I limping quite a bit, but that's just my fate and I need to accept it. 

I can accept that I'm pushing myself a little harder than I should, and I'm beginning to worry that a 4 mile race in 3 weeks is going to be very difficult, but I signed up for it and I'm going to do it.  I'll just keep doing my weekly 5k and try to gut out this race.   After that I'll be finished with the Disney races, the other virtual races and all I need to be prepping for is the triathalon in September.

I will say on a brighter note, I mapped out a 5k loop in my neighborhood which makes my life a lot easier.   Since I don't like to run indoors, and since I run like a dead slug, it's better to be close to home, and the other good part is that my knees are at a one, maybe two out of ten for pain today, so whatever is going on doesn't seem to be impacting my day to day life.   It does give me hope that I'll eventually make some kind of breakthrough and be able to run easier and faster.

 

Say it aint so...

I just read that Jabra is exiting the earbud market and I hope this isn't true.   I used to be a headphone junkie and still have a lot of different ones ranging from Sennheiser, arguably the best, through my airpods.   While the airpods work best with Apple products, I am consistently disappointed with the battery life and fit, so they get used mostly if I need to make/receive a phone call and I replaced them with Sony's for travel.  I switched to the Jabra elite 7 active earbuds for working out over a year ago.  Why?   They have adequate noise cancelling for a workout, substantially better battery life, and just all around a better fit.   While I think they're going to last a long time I suspect I might need to buy a new pair to stash in the event I lose these. 

More on body shaming

/ranton

This is one of the few places I tend to differ from the "norm"...  I think we've gone too far to be accepting of everything.   If you've been reading this, and I commend you for doing so because I don't think anyone but me actually reads it, then you should be aware that I've struggled with my weight for most of my life.   I've gone from skinny to fat to skinny to fat etc... and I'm back to healthy...   I also started going bald as early as 21, yes that was disappointing, so I know a bit about these topics...

Yes I've met plenty of women who are only interested in people based on their body shape or even their hair, and yes, it was much more prevalent when I was younger.   No surprise to anyone I wasn't very popular with girls in high school.  However, I'll take a fair amount of that blame.   I didn't do a good job of making myself attractive and that is my fault.

Here's where I get upset about the body shaming thing.   If we all act like being obese, and yes I was obese, is ok, and there's nothing to say about it, or nobody is allowed to comment on it, then when people can't get a date they don't understand why.

Yes I'm aware there's a tiny percentage of people who can't lose weight, but again this is a fraction of the people who need to.   Go ahead, change my mind.   If that's not the case why is ozempic so fucking successful?   Most fat people are fat because they eat a lot of garbage food and spend all day sitting and staring at a computer monitor, or their phone, or their TV.

I learned some of this when I went to Europe for the first time as an adult.   I did a work trip 20 years ago and was amazed at the difference if portions and food quality as well as how Europeans seemed more active.   Granted I was primarily in the Netherlands, but they were just healthier.

Here's my advice for anyone who's being bullied because you're fat.   Use the anger to better yourself.  No, the people who shit on you are still crappy people, but they're going to help you make a better life for yourself.   You will feel better, you will be healthier, this will come out in your body language and you'll make a better impression on everyone else. 

Take it from personal experience.   Stop complaining that people are mean, yes people are mean, that's never going to change, but you can change.   Stop expecting everyone else to change for you and do it yourself.   That is how the world works.

You don't believe me?   Two years ago I couldn't stand for 20 minutes.   Going up or down a flight of stairs was extremely difficult and one month ago I completed a triathalon.   Tonight, weather permitting, I'm goign to run a 5k training run for a 4 mile race on July 4th.  I know my running pace might be mistaken for a turtle, so what.  Make fun of me, I don't fucking care.  I have two bad knees and a bad hip and I'm still more active than most people, hell I'm in better shape than most people and I feel great.  

Be the person you were born to be.

/rantoff

Oh and the cause for this was a CNN article saying it's bad to make fun of Trump's appearance.  Normally, I might agree except he brings this on himself.   I actually feel pity for him because he's clearly insecure about his appearance.   Honestly, he's old enough that he should have hit the "I don't give a fuck" moment in his life.  Instead he's still blathering on about his hand size....   Grow up Donald. 

Running....

One of the things that's happened as I have gotten more active and focused on fitness is an almost obsession about apple and their rings.   Yes, sometimes it's a pain, but I do think it's useful to keep you motivated and moving.   I just wish there was a "vacation" setting so you could easily have it set your goals lower when you're travelling or on vacation.   It's almost impossible to close my rings when I'm driving.  Yes I know, first world problems...

Apple announced a challenge for world running day, and it required a 5k run.    If you've been reading this you'll probably remember running isn't my strength and until yesterday had only completed one 5k in at least 15 years  That was the Tri, and I struggled with it.   Since I have a 4 mile race coming up in a month, and a few virtual 5k's to complete I went out to run last night

Not my best time and pretty close to the Tri pace, but I did run more and this was a bit further.  I got to listen to music too.  I also knocked off 3 virtual 5k's.   I'll get the remaining 2 before the race as I train up, but my knees feel "ok" so I should be good to run some more.   Hopefully this will help me in the Tarpon Tri too.

   

Deja vu...

 Nothing quite like waking up and letting your competitive side take over.   Not only did I register for the Tarpon Springs Triathalon, but I also signed up for a 4 mile race on July 4th and a 65 mile bike ride in November, and if you add in the virtual Disney events I signed up for, it's going to be a busy summer and fall...   Well, at the least it will keep me motivated :)

Here's the list of events so far:

• 4 on the 4th - July 4 2024
• Tarpon Springs Triathalon - September 21 2024
• Ride 4 The Animals - November 16 2024

One thing I noticed was that Tarpon springs has an Olympic distance Triathalon.   I'm nowhere near ready for that, however maybe in a year or so?   If I can get a 4 mile run in, I think I can get to 6.2.  I also found out that some of the Echelon treadmill classes are based on RPE, so I can do them outside.   I think that's my plan for a run tonight.  I think that will help me get ready, regardless wish me luck on my first run in a few weeks.

Oh and I saw another virtual 5k with a kick-ass shirt so.....   If you're interested you can sign up here, and a 2nd one with a nice tank for Merinda...   Stay classy folks.

Talk soon!

June already.

I feel like I say this almost every month, but it's a little surprising that we're already at the end of May.   Yes, I'm actually ahead of the game this month, shocking isn't it, but it's Friday and a little slow at work.  I've talked at length about the Triathalon already so no need to harp on that anymore.   I've had a few weeks to reflect on it and I'm going to say I'm more than satisfied with my results.  No, I didn't get to swim, but that wasn't my choice and it was the right one

This is a picture I took that morning, and while it doesn't quite show the wave action, you can see it's pretty active.   We had a rip tide warning in effect and the surf was pretty active.  The dual runs were a bit much and made it clear to me that I was underprepared.  I probably should have taken a training plan and used it, but that's hindsight.  All that aside, I finished and I wasn't last.   I'll do better next time.

Let's get to it and recap the rest of May:

• Complete the triathalon
• Maintain weight
• Ride 350 miles - Yes I lowered this for pre-race taper and post-race recovery
• Weekly run and walk exercise.   At least two walks and one run per week.   
• Bi-weekly swims for the two weeks before the race. 
• Regular Yoga exercise.   At least once per week.
• Resume rowing activities after the race. 
• Perfect Month in Apple
• Apple April exercise goal
• Gold in my April challenges

Weight Results:

• Starting Weight: 218.0
• Ending Weight: 216.8

Exercise info:

• Number of rides: 78
• Time on exercise: 23:57:56
• Distance on rides: 391.40
• Number of runs: 3
• Distance running: 5.27
• Number of walks: 6
• Time walking: 3:27:03
• Distance walking: 10.15
• Number of rows:  0
• Time rowing:  0
• Number of swims: 2
• Distance swimming: 2000yd

Results:

A whole lot of up and down this month...   Let's start with the down shall we?   While I've been holding my weight in the range I want to, it's been very volatile.  I seem to overeat on the weekends and then go back down during the week.   I would like that to stay more steady, and maybe get my eating a little more under control.   Yes, I know I wasn't going to talk about weight, but it's an important metric for me and I feel like my appetite is a little out of control and I excuse it because I work out a lot.  Oh and those 34 waist shorts?   Don't quite fit which is a bummer.   

Oh, there are other things to talk about?   Well, I didn't get gold in my solo challenge.   Missed that because I took some recovery time.   No rowing either.   As I've stated I was pretty sore and felt that way for about a week and a half after the race.   My hips and knees are finally feeling decent again, so I plan to start rowing next week.  I don't feel bad about the things I missed because I did taper down pre-race and that helped a lot.

Don't let me make it sound like it was all bad.   On top of finishing the race, I hit my revised mileage goal,  Plenty of walking last month and I feel like I might start running again next week.   I can definitely do a mile, or maybe two.   I need to get up to 5k distances because I see some of those in my future.   I didn't do as much swimming as I wanted, but I want to start some open water swims and I need to think about when I'll do the scuba certification.    Yoga has been fairly constant, I really like the restorative classes and want to make those a weekly activity.  And for my challenges, I crushed #mc40.  got a a perfect month in Apple, and a gold and silver finish in my challenges...

So what's in store for John this month?   Glad you asked..

• Maintain weight
• Ride 450 miles - Weather permitting I want to ride outdoors every Sunday.
• Weekly run and walk exercise. 
• One open-water swim, preferrably two.   Minimum of 1/2 mile distance. 
• Weekly Yoga
• Weekly row
• Perfect Month in Apple
• Apple June exercise goal
• Gold in my June challenges
• All the bonuses in #mc41

This should be a fun month.   MC41 has a lot, and I mean a lot, of bootcamp and fitpass requirements which should fit nicely into some cross training.   I don't know how many complete rest days I'll take, but maybe I'll try to slot Yoga in there or just alternate fitpass and Yoga with cardio activities.  The other thing I did was lower my cycling mileage.   This was initially supposed to be a 550 mile month, at least it was when I set my yearly targets, but I think that's unrealisitic given that I want to improve on my running and overall fitness, and I need more than just cycling for that.   Plus I don't want my legs to feel dead again, so we'll ride a little less, row a little, lift a little more, stretch a little more, run a little more and feel better overall.   Hopefully, the Apple June challenge isn't gross hard...   We'll see.   Tarpon Triathalon registration deadline is July 14 which is both Bastille Day and my mother-in-law's birthday.   Not sure that's what I'm looking for, but it is auspiscious so good enough...   More on that after June. 

Final Thoughts:

I've posted enough random shit today.  I'm excited for summer, and being active.   Have a great month and we'll talk soon!

More post race rambling

I was only half kidding about the massage gun in my last post.   I've been using it several times a day, both with the heat setting, yes it has a hot/cold option, and today is the first day I don't have some deep tissue soreness.   Honestly I don't know how I worked out without it.   I guess it's easier when you're young.  I'm still struggling with some general hip pain but that seems to be easing and I'm not sure if it's muscular or joint pain.   If I was going to guess, I'd say it's a bit of both, but between Yoga, stretching, massage gun and JJ's pain ointment it's getting better.   Maybe I should be a little more patient?   I did push myself pretty hard on Sunday and I need to let myself recover.  I need to remember that I'm 56 not 26 and to be completely honest, I feel like I was somewhat underprepared for the race and should have trained better which I think is why the run was so hard.

On that note, assuming I didn't damage my hip, I'm planning on running another Triathalon in Tarpon springs in September (9/21) and am already looking at training plans.   I winged it this time and I feel like I was a little underprepared, so this time I'm going to use a training plan I found online and see how that goes.   I might need to modify the running a bit, but I have time to work on running before I start training for real.  I also lowered my monthly cycling goal this month.   I had to account for the pre-race ramp down so I wasn't sore and tired as well as this past week of recovery.   It was just going to be impossible for me to hit it and I didn't want to feel like I underaccomplished this month.   So, it's down to 350 miles which I should be able to hit, and I'm already 200 miles in the positive this year so I'll make up the difference.  

So, what does it look like going forward?   Well, assuming my hip holds up, I'm going to maintain a bike/run/swim/row combo until I start my actual race training plan.   I think it will look like this:

• Sunday: Outdoor cycling until it gets too hot
• Monday: Rowing and/or Yoga and weight training
• Tuesday: Endurance cycling
• Wednesday: Low impact cycling and run
• Thursday: HIIT cycling and weight training
• Friday: Intervals and weight training
• Saturday: Ocean Swim and easy walking

I think that will keep me moving in the right direction and help me get ready.   I'll adapt as necessary and based on previous history, I'll probably cycle too much and for anyone worried about rest, zone 2 training is an active recovery, so between that and Yoga I'll be ok.

#truth

 

Triathalon...

Yes I survived the race, and I finished.   I have mixed feelings about my results, but I think some of that is disappointment in myself.  

Yes I finished and got my medal

My overall goal was to finish, which I did, however as a secondary goal I didn't want to finish last, and that's where the mixed feelings come in.   No, I didn't finish "last" but I did finish last in my age group, and by maybe 30 seconds.   I did beat men who were younger than I am, and by a few minutes, so I'm taking that with a grain of salt.   What was frustrating was I had to walk a good bit of the run.   Not sure if it was training, because my back hurt, or just physiology because my knees also hurt.  So, I'm going to work on running a bit and see if I can get myself able to run faster and longer because I think I can do better than 44 minutes for a 5k and if not?  Then so be it, but my knees don't hurt at all today, so I feel like I should be able to do better.

Otherwise I will say it was much harder than I expected.   The ocean was very rough and they cancelled the swim portion and we had to run twice.   I was better on the bike than anything else, but have work to do to get faster there too.   I was also pretty slow in transition.   When I do more I need to be better organized.  

So will I do another one?   Yes, of course I will.   At a minimum I'll do this race again next year but I think I'll do some more local ones to get better.   I think some of this is because I used to be much more competitive in races and I set unrealistic expectations, but Merinda said for a first time I should be very pleased and I don't really disagree with her.

In case anyone wants to see, here are my timed results.