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!