Saturday, November 9, 2024

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!

Wednesday, November 6, 2024

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....

Tuesday, November 5, 2024

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...  

Friday, November 1, 2024

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.