It's sad that I feel the need to write this...

I'm going to just simply state that I am beyond embarassed by the need to post this, but recent events as well as things I've seen people I know put on social media make me feel compelled to say it anyway.

You can simultaneousely love your country and not agree with the policies of the government.

Yes, MAGA people I am speaking to you.  I don't revere your leader.  I find him crass and obnoxious and quite frankly a repulsive person.  No, I never voted for him, and I never will.   I don't agree with him or most of his policies, yet I still love my country.  I was born here, and unless he destroys the country, I will live here my whole life.  I belive in the ideals of America, and I firmly believe in the Constitution and as such, do not believe that the intent of our founders was to have an unchecked executive.  If you think that we should revere the President ask yourself why our military swears an obligation to the Constitution instead of the President.  I'll wait for the answer.

Presidents come and go, but the damage that is being wreaked on our country will take generations to repair.

"When tyranny becomes law, rebellion becomes duty"

Thomas Jefferson

There's a lot to talk about this month.

Hey it's June and summer has arrived in Florida.  We went from drought to rain forecast every day.   I'm glad for the plants because they're looking a little rough, but it's going to be hot and sticky out all the time, and that's no bueno.

Oh, you aren't here to listen to me complain about the summer here?  Yes, I have shit to talk about on the fitness front too.   I think I already talked enough about the triathlon and my disappointing finish, it's a little more disappointing because there's no way I can do the Tarpon tri this year, so it's going to be one and done this season.   I would talk about the race I ran on Sunday, but that falls into June, so let's just say it felt a little like redemption.  Otherwise, to be honest, May felt like a complete let down.  I seem to be gaining weight, had a bad race and overall felt like I was stuck in neutral all month. 

No sense in beating around the bush, lets get at it.   What were my goals for May: 

• Finish Triathlon with no walking during the run
• Maintain my weight
• Ride 300 miles
• May Apple Fitness challenge
• Perfect Month in Apple
• Gold in my May challenge
• Continue weekly weight workouts.
• Row post triathlon

Weight Results:

• Starting Weight: 224.6
• Ending Weight: 225.6

Exercise Info:

• Number of rides: 73
• Time on exercise: 27:12:46
• Distance on rides: 408.54
• Number of runs: 1
• Distance running: 3.11
• Number of walks: 10
• Time walking: 3:16:18
• Distance walking: 6.61
• Number of rows: 0
• Time rowing: 0
• Distance Rowing: 0
• Number of swims: 1
• Distance swimming: .25m
• Weight Workouts: 6

I really don't know where to begin with last month.   I guess I'll just start with the things I did well at.  I hit my reduced mileage target, which was a nice change for this year.  Like I've said before, I focused on some different things this year and it's showing, and not in a good way.   To address that, I am planning on doing more "longer" workouts, and more endurance exercises, so I hope to see a little more distance.  I also got all the Apple and challenge goals accomplished, and I've been fairly consistent on the weight training.   I still take a lot of bootcamps, mostly because it's what they have in the AM, but I am trying to take the Spring into the gym program on Mondays when it's live.

So what's failing me?  Let me start with the elephant in the room, and that is me.   My weight has been creeping up pretty consistently the past 2 months.   Maybe it's muscle, maybe not.  Either way, it's going to stop this month because I know I haven't been eating as well as I wanted to.   I ended the month up a bit, made something delicious and almost started June at 230 pounds. .  I've also ignored the rower and now the reflect.  I didn't swim, I didn't run and I only walked because Apple forced me to.   I performed poorly at Dunedin and it just made my month seem awful.  Not much more to say other than I haven't spent all this time and effort to piss it all away...

Since I don't want to dwell on that, what is going to be different this month?   Glad you asked because I'm goign to be a little more firm on goals:

• Get closer to 215 again
• Ride 350 miles -  I would have set it for 400 but we're going to VA for a little bit, and that's going to mean no bike.
• June Apple Fitness challenge
• Run at least every other week
• Walk at least twice a week
• Perfect Month in Apple
• Gold in my June challenge
• Continue weekly weight workouts
• All the bonus points in #mc54
• Weather permitting - Global running day challenge

So what's changed?  Well, instead of maintaining my weight I am going to actively try to lose a few pounds again.   My weight has crept up to just around 230 and that seems a little much for me.   Yeah maybe it is because of the birria grilled cheese etc... but I think there's a lot of junk food going in my mouth and I need to stop eating poorly to figure out if I've gained muscle or fat.  I'm going to keep the bike target a little lower because we're going to be away, and I don't want to be bike focused up there.  Since we're driving I might bring some bike gear, but I'm going to plan on more floor exercising and walking.  We'll see.    I'd like to go over 400 again, but I'd prefer to be realistic and then surprise myself.

The rest are pretty routine.   A little more run/walk focus coming on this month.   I have a race on July 4th and I'd like to perform well in it.   Yes we're going to see Stick Figure the night before, but I'll try to behave at the show and get some sleep.  Plus there is Global running day and the Apple challenge is walk/run focused, so I'll need to get a thirteen more 2+ mile workouts in.

On a final note, let me say June started better than I expected.  Although my weight went up again, we'll talk about that in a month, I ran a 5k on Sunday and I did ok.   Decent pace.  Not great, but far better than expected and no pain.   Yes, I'm sore today, but that's ok.   Should be fine for Wednesday night, and with that I've said enough.  Talk soon!

GD60

Yeah!

Tickets?  Check...

Hotel? Check...

Flight?  Check...

Can't wait.

One more in the books...

2025 Dunedin Triathlon

I'm going to start this post by saying that I am always ok with my results if I finish an event, and I finished my event yesterday.  The medal is already up with all the others.  However, I think it's always useful to look at results with a critical eye and ask "could I have done better?" and in this case the answer is a clear yes.  

So, why do I think that?   Well, I didn't really train the way I should have.  I'm not saying that I'm not in good shape because that's just not true.  If anything, I am in better overall shape than I was last September.  I'm stronger than I was, and my running times have gotten better since then, but when it came to preparing for the Tri I just kept doing what I had been doing all spring which was cycling and weight training.   I went for exactly one swim, and that was before the Long center closed for renovations.   I swam the distance I wanted then, but I was a little tired afterwards and open water swimming is harder than pool swimming.  So it's hardly an exaggeration to say I wasn't well trained for the swimming part, and that showed in the water.   I got tired and had to take several rests during the swim.  It probably didn't help that I took a boxing class on Friday night and burned out my shoulders, but if I'd been swimming every week, LIKE I SHOULD HAVE, I would have felt better in the ocean.

I have no complaints about my cycling performance, because I feel like I clearly improved on that.  Once I got over the salt flavor in my mouth I rode fast and consistently.   Average speed was good (18mph) and I peaked at 25 on a downhill stretch.   I didn't feel like I overdid the bike and got off it feeling pretty good.   Maybe I should have focused more on endurance and speed, but again I improved on that, so instead I'll say I need to drink more water while riding, and I should have worn my gloves.

The biggest let down for me was my running performance.  I had to start walking almost immediately, never got into a good running rhythm and walked for most of the 5k.  My hip and back were hurting for the entire section and it really crushed my performance.   Yes it was hot.   Yes I might have been a little dehydrated.   Side note, I had my fitly but couldn't find it in transition so I left it behind, but I've done events before and been able to cope, and I think there are a couple of reasons why.

First, I didn't get a good nights sleep on Saturday.   Getting up at 445am is tough and I should have been in bed earlier and sleeping.   That was almost all my fault.  I was stressed and overreacted to something with Merinda that wound me up.  Not sure if that's why the room felt like it as boiling hot all night, but that didn't help.  

Second, as with the swimming I didn't train the way I should have, and that goes back to New Years.  I pulled a muscle in that race and it made me feel like I was behind, so once I was able to run again I started doing a lot of 5k's in a short period of time.   In hindsight that was a mistake.  Not that it was too much "work", because it wasn't, but running all that over a few weeks really made my joints sore, and as a result I had to rest them coming into the race.   In fact, the last time I ran before Sunday, was the 5k by the bay which was on April 5th.   That would have been a fine tune-up race, but I needed to get out and run between then and Sunday instead of taking a six week break which I had to do because I'd worn myself out.

Needless to say, with no swimming or running training I didn't do any combo workouts, so I was physically unprepared for the demands of swim>bike>run.  We can add in that I didn't do a lot of longer workouts since I've been trying to be leaner/stronger rather than endurance focused which is what a triathlon is all about.  As I said in the beginning, I'm in good shape, so I was able to gut it out, but since I'm 57 with joint problems, instead of 27 I struggled more than a younger athlete would.  Especially since I didn't do any triathlon specific training.

Ok, what's the point of all this?  I've become somewhat of a realist about my capabilities, and I'm 100% ok with accepting them.   If I've set goals that are too ambitious, I can accept that, but I need to see that when I feel like I did my best, and I just don't feel that I did yesterday.  If I follow a good training plan, and stick to it, and get similar results I'll accept it, but I need to do my part.

With that, let me talk about how I plan to address this.  I have one event planned this summer and it's the 4 on the 4th in St. Pete.   I plan to compete in this, and I plan to start some light training runs in June.  I will not be competing in the Tarpon tri due to a grandchild being born, and I'm ok with that too.   I'm going to work on distance cycling for the Ride for the Animals in November, and some distance running goals.   I still want to get to 10k runs if I can.  If I can maintain a decent running program though the winter I plan to start training for Dunedin early next spring which means swimming regularly and getting that stamina back.  Assuming I can do all that I'll find a training plan and STICK TO IT.   I don't care if it's difficult, or inconvenient, it needs to be a commitment.   I was successful at the marathon because I stuck to my training plan.  Obviously, if I have a health issue that prevents it I will have to consider my options at that point, but if I want to run Miami in 2027 I can't expect to wing it and be successful.

This was a long post.  tldr I didn't train well, I acknowledge and accept that, and will pay attention to that for upcoming events to avoid feeling like I let myself down.

Just file this one under lessons learned.

It's time....

Auspicious number 

Not even twelve hours to go and I'm feeling a bit nervous, but pulling number 67 seems like some good luck.  I was hoping they'd have a more interesting shirt this year, but at least it's a different color :)  

I have everything packed up, the bike is ready, parking pass is printed and I'm charging my Garmin.   All I need to do in the morning is get dressed, make up some bottles and double check that I have everything.  New shades, new suit, new headband.   I'm as ready as I'm going to be...

I go off at 7:33 so I should be done around 9:15 or so.   Talk then!

runDisney

Well I got into this years virtual series again, so looking forward to some free Disney swag and a few medals.   I've backed off on the virtual runs because my knees have been tender this year, but now I have a good reason to run a little more...  LFG

In other news I pick up my Tri packet tomorrow so shit just got real again :)

May day

We're finally getting into the warm weather here in Florida, so it's safe to say spring has arrived.  Not quite at sauna levels, but we'll get that soon.  While I'll miss the cooler weather, it will be nice when the pool warms up, seems like it's a little late this year.

With that, let's talk about exercise.   As I already mentioned, I had a few 5k's in April and I'm glad those are behind me.   My knees have been pretty sore and cranky for most of this month and I'm glad to give them a little time to recover, but I do have the Dunedin Triathalon soon, so they're going to get beat up again.

How did April turn out?  As a reminder, these were my goals:

• Maintain my weight
• Ride 500 miles
• April Apple challenge
• Perfect Month in Apple
• Gold in my April challenge
• All the bonuses in #mc52
• Swim at least twice this month
• Weekly weight or row workout
• Weekly swim workout
• Two outdoor bike rides
• Walking on the weekends where there's no 5k

And my results:

Weight Results:

• Starting Weight:  217.1
• Ending Weight:  223.7

Exercise Info:

• Number of rides:  58
• Time on exercise:  22:16:31
• Distance on rides:  300.71
• Number of runs:  10
• Distance running:  10.46mi
• Number of walks:  9
• Time walking:  3:29:20
• Distance walking:  9.15
• Number of rows:  0
• Time rowing:  0
• Distance Rowing:  0
• Number of swims:  0
• Distance swimming:  0
• Weight Workouts:  24

Lots to unpack here.   First off, I didn't do 24 weight workouts, some of those are instances where I got kicked and rejoined the class, however, I do weight training a couple of times per week.  Since I'm doing more cross training and less spin, I use Apple Fitness as my data repository and it doesn't handle Echelon errors.   Unfortunately Echelon doesn't do a good job of splitting different modalities out, so all I see is 111 workouts in a month.   Regardless, this is the best I can do right now.  In terms of my goals, I missed a few; my mileage target, outdoor bike rides, swimming, rowing and the bonuses in #mc52.  I also seem to have put on a few pounds.   Both Merinda and I think this is muscle gain, especially since I'm able to wear jeans that have a 34 waist, and I am noticably more muscular.  I don't think I'm overeating, but I will be keeping my eye on it since I worked far too hard to lose the weight just to put it back on.  

So what's going on?   Well, I've been pretty sore this month.  I think its the increased amount of weight training I'm doing and a batch of 5k's in a row but the reasons don't matter, what has happened is I've been trying to lower my overall training load to rest, recover and heal.  As a result I do a lot less double or triple workout days, and when I do the extra workouts are weight training, or a walk, instead of extra cycling.  The trip up to VA for Tyler ended up being a recovery weekend as all I did was walk/yoga and it was something I really needed.  Factor in that most of the live rides I can do are bootcamps and that kills my distance.   Swimming and outdoor rides are just me being lazy about it and not being home.   I don't like to ride outdoors when Merinda's away but I really need to get outdoors on the bike.

I can't say April was a complete failure.   Other than my sore legs I feel pretty good.  My performance in classes has never been better and even if it takes me a little to get moving, my running performance has been solid.   I like my overall training/fitness plan and believe it's helping me get stronger and fitter, and other than a few things I think this was a pretty good month.   I can't give myself more than a B because I missed so many small things, but overall a really solid month.

With that said, what's on tap for May?   I have to finish getting ready for Dunedin.  I think I'm physically ready but I need to get loosened up for swimming, so I'll need a few trips to the pool.   I also need to get a few longish outdoor bike rides in, just to get used to that, and probably one light run.   I have just over two weeks to go and I feel like I'm behind, even if its nerves.

With all that, here are my May goals:

• Finish Triathlon with no walking during the run
• Maintain my weight
• Ride 300 miles
• May Apple Fitness challenge
• Perfect Month in Apple
• Gold in my May challenge
• Continue weekly weight workouts.
• Row post triathlon

A few noticable changes for this month.   My main goal is definitely the Triathlon and ideally I'd like to set my PR in it, if I finish without walking I should be able to do that.   The changes are a much lower mileage target and I removed swimming since I won't be swimming after the race for a while.  I also know I won't hit all the goals in #mc53 so no point in putting that in.   I'm sure I'll get plenty of exercise this month, but with race prep, taper down, race and recovery, I won't have energy to focus on max distance or specific Echelon classes.  Depending on how my knees feel I might try to pick up a run once a week or every other week after the race.

Otherwise things are grand.   Hope you all have a great month and we'll talk soon!

A little more on running

I've had a little time to think about running and I'm feeling somewhat confident on some of my running goals.

I ran quite a few 5ks in a fairly short amount of time and after finishing the last one I felt pretty beat up, but maybe running four in two months, and missing a fifth for race week, was probably too aggressive for me.  It wasn't that I couldn't complete them, I did, but I felt beat up afterwards, and I was in some pain.  Maybe it was the long layoff after pulling my hamstring, but I ran my second fastest time in March.  However after two weeks of rest I feel a lot better and the joint pain has gone away.  

So what does that mean?  First off, I am definitely training for the Dunedin Triathlon, and that will be my next race.  I will definitely have to run between now and May 18th, but I think it will be mostly jogging.  After a little rest, I'm going to start working on distance and pace.   I'm registered for the Four on the Fourth and would like to beat my time from last year which, barring injury, I think I can do.  Since I'll probably miss the Tarpon Triathlon I want to focus on my two other goals this year which were running a 10k and getting my 5k time under 30 minutes.  I feel good about the 10k, but its the 5k time which might be difficult.  Long term?   I feel good about my plan to run the Miami Half Marathon in 2027.

This wasn't as well thought out as I wanted it to be but so be it.

tldr: running a lot is hard, but I think I over did it.   I feel good about my goals and have training plans to make them happen.

Talk soon...

Flight delays are no bueno.

Nothing quite a two hour flight delay which leads to a 4am bedtime on a work night.   Haven't done that for a while, and now I remember why.   I will 100% be in bed early for a few nights trying to recover from this.   Really disappointing because I was feeling pretty rested yesterday morning, after a well deserved rest weekend, and ready to get home and start my push for the triathalon.

Quick update on the recent spate of races.   I thought I was close to my 5k PR time on the 12th but I was wrong.   My PR is 33:26 from the Snow Dash last December and my time in the 5k by the bay was 34:46.4 which is my 4th best time.  Lots of work to do there.

Looks like I'm going to miss my mileage target again.  Not much I can do about it now, but I might need to rethink that goal since I don't want to stop my weight training, and I need to keep, or possibly increase, my rest days.   We'll see how it goes.

Not much else, other than the travel issues, it was a great weekend.   Happy Easter to all, and RIP Pope Francis.   I'm not a religious person, but he seemed to be a step in the right direction for the Church, and I hope they continue to adapt to current times.

Talk soon...

Not April fools day, but almost...

What a whirlwind month that was.  It just felt like I went from one thing to another without any time to pause, and to be honest that's how this year has felt.  Just busy busy busy and April looks like it's going to be more of the same.

I just realized I hadn't posted since the beginning of March so let me tell you what made it so busy and challenging all at once.   The distance challenge ended, and I made a push to get into the top 20.  I was in the top 20 last year and wanted to do better this year, but a month without the bike made that difficult, but I made it by the skin of my teeth.  As the challenge was ending I had back to back 5k's, dressed as a leprechaun even.   Yes, it was very hot in that suit, but I survived.   

Leprejohn

I had a third 5k scheduled for last weekend, but I ended up crewing on my friends Yacht for race week in St. Augustine.   Justin and I used to sail a lifetime ago, and he asked and I couldn't say no.

How do these things work again? 😜

Good times in St. Augustine with a mix of old and new friends

I was more than a little nervous, but it was AWESOME to be out on the ocean again.   I hope it's not 35 years until I get to go again.

So what was the purpose of all that?   Well, like the rest of the year it was an up and down month.   So let's talk about that.   These were the goals I set for March:

• Get below 220 pounds
• Ride 550 miles
• March Apple challenge
• Perfect Month in Apple
• Gold in my March challenge
• All the bonuses in #mc51
• Weekly Row
• Weekly walk and run
• Swim at least twice this month

Optional:

• Scuba Certification

And here is how I did against them:

Weight Results:

• Starting Weight:  221.0
• Ending Weight:  217.0

Exercise Info:

• Number of rides:  63
• Time on exercise: 37:27:13
• Distance on rides:  393.76
• Number of runs:  3
• Distance running:  9.25mi
• Number of walks:  8
• Time walking: 1:57:50
• Distance walking:  3.99mi
• Number of rows: 0
• Time rowing: 0
• Distance Rowing: 0
• Number of swims:  0
• Distance swimming:  0
• Weight Workouts:  4

Results:

There's no sugar coating it this month, I missed a bunch of goals.  For the third month in a row I missed my distance target for cycling.   Yes, I was away for the last weekend, and that cost me roughly 70 miles, but I still would have missed my target by 50 miles.   I'm just going to have to re-evaluate my distance targets or work harder.  I did feel a let down after the end of the challenge, but that doesn't change my fitness targets for this year, so we'll see how this month goes, but I'm almost 400 miles below where I wanted to be for the year and that's going to be hard to make up.  So, what else was a dud last month?   Rowing and swimming.   I can forgive myself the rowing, because it's the odd man out when I start to train for triathlon season, but it doesn't excuse no swimming.   I just need to do better, and I will.  I also missed the bonus points on #mc51

Well shit, what went well last month?   I'd like to start with my weight which finally dipped back below 220.   Yes, I know that I shouldn't chase the scale, and yes I've been building muscle mass, but it's going to take me a long time to stop worrying about my weight.   I saw it creeping up for a lot of the month and it made me nervous because that's how my weight gain always starts.  I knew I wasn't overeating, but I wasn't eating some of the right food, and I was snacking late at night.   Those are the bad habits I need to lose.  What also went well was the running and walking.   I did get pretty sore after the second 5k, and wanted to feel "rested" going into race week, so I let up, but I have a 5k on Saturday so I need to get back at that.  I also got back to weekly weight workouts so I want to keep up with that.   I have another round of back to back 5k's this month before I put the pedal down to train for the Dunedin Tri, which is seven weeks out.   Race week was probably the highlight of the year so far.   Sailing isn't quite the level of exercise that spin is, but I was in shape for it and loved every minute.   It took me a day to get used to it again, but I can still power a winch pretty fast which is a plus when the boat is coming about.  Hoping to go back next year and finish first instead of second.  Finally, I did go up to the dive shop and began the process to get my scuba certification, which I'm pretty excited about.  Currently the plan for that is after the triathlon.   I don't think Tarpon springs is going to be on my calendar this year because we have to go up to VA for a grandson, but we'll see if I feel up to Tarpon.  I'd like to do it, but it might be difficult.   I did sign up for the four on the fourth in St. Pete since that's a fun event but that's the only other race on my calendar for now.

If I had to grade myself for last month..   I'd have to say I got a solid B-.   Good, but not great, and a lot of room for improvement.

So, what's on the docket for this month?   Here's what I have planned:

April Fitness goals:

• Maintain my weight
• Ride 500 miles
• April Apple challenge
• Perfect Month in Apple
• Gold in my April challenge
• All the bonuses in #mc52
• Swim at least twice this month
• Weekly weight or row workout
• Weekly swim workout
• Two outdoor bike rides
• Walking on the weekends where there's no 5k.

I don't think these are particularly hard, although I did lower my mileage target from 550 to 500 miles because of the running and knowing we're going to be up in VA for four days for Tyler's senior night.   I might even go to 450 because I don't want to penalize myself for a family event which I would prefer to enjoy, rather than worrying about getting my miles in.   I really just want to focus on getting my 5k times down and getting on track for Dunedin next month and that means a lot of endurance focused work.

I'll try to post some updates this month, probably after the 5k's...   Talk soon!

Spring forward.... Already?!?

It's pretty annoying to change time, well to be honest springing forward is annoying, and it feels like it's happening extra early this year.  It's a little less than appealing because I have my first race of the season on Saturday and then clocks go forward that night.   Yuck.

With that, it's time to talk about what's been going on and how things are looking here.   I felt February was another "good" but not great month.   It was great to get a bike again, and I even got an upgrade to an EX5s-22, so I've been back on the bike pretty regularly.   Lots of bootcamp classes in my preferred time, so I'm getting a fair bit of off-bike exercise and I even got my century day in.  Running has been less than ideal because it feels like such a drag, but I've started going every week and I want to maintain that but there's a few things that haven't been so ideal.  Let's go over that:

As always, here were my goals for February:

• Maintain weight
• Ride 500 miles
• February Apple challenge
• Weekly bootcamp workout(s)
• Perfect Month in Apple
• Gold in my February challenge
• All the bonuses in #mc50
• Weekly Row
• Weekly walk and run

Optional:

• Scuba Certification
• Swim 1000 yards twice this month

Weight Results:

• Starting Weight: 220.30
• Ending Weight:  221.00

Exercise Info:

• Number of rides: 75
• Time on exercise: 4:23:11
• Distance on rides: 490.35
• Number of runs: 2
• Distance running: 6.24
• Number of walks: 6
• Time walking: ;:00:17
• Distance walking: 11.28
• Number of rows: 5
• Time rowing: 1:02:13
• Distance Rowing: 13396 meters
• Number of swims: 1
• Distance swimming: 500yd
• Weight Workouts:  2

Results:

I'll go over the good stuff quickly, and I've already mentioned some of it.  Apple challenges done and dusted.   Bootcamps?   No problem, I get at least one or two per week.  I had a full month in #mc50.   Felt great to be on the bike and while I didn't get 500 miles, I was only ten miles short, and counting in the distances from the distance challenge I exceeded 550 miles, so I hit my original goal.  I also did plenty of walking and a little running and even got in a swim and a gym day.  On top of all that, I've been regularly stretching and using the foam roller, which seems to be making a difference.

Ok John, what are you unhappy with?   Glad you asked.   I'm disappointed with my weight.   I came back from vacation and got right back to where I wanted, but I've begun to see notifications that my average weight has been higher, consistently in the 220's instead of 210's and I almost saw 230 on the scale.  Now I don't want to be focused solely on my weight, because there's a lot more than that to watch, but I do need to be mindful of it.   Merinda thinks I've been putting on muscle, and I feel lean, strong and hard but some clothes felt snug, and I didn't work this hard for so long to get fat again.  I've just been struggling with snacking late at night and I think that's why my weight popped up a bit.  I felt pretty lethargic on my run last night, yes Monday is usually a rest day, but with a work trip, and the race on Saturday, I wanted to get one more in before the race.  Hopefully, it was just a case of tired legs instead of fat lazy John.  I also once again forgot I have a rower, but that's been a little more "schedule hell" and max distance for the MDC.   I'm hoping to get that back weekly after this week.

Ok, so, instead of beating myself up, I'm just going to work hard this coming month, and do my best to cut out the crappy food.   The Dunedin triathalon is 2 months out, and I need to get ready for that.  Withg that, what do I have planned for March:

• Get below 220 pounds
• Ride 550 miles
• March Apple challenge
• Perfect Month in Apple
• Gold in my March challenge
• All the bonuses in #mc51
• Weekly Row
• Weekly walk and run
• Swim at least twice this month

Optional:

• Scuba Certification

I'm going to use this month to get myself back on track, and by that I mean apply some will power to my food consumption.  I want to get back around 215ish, so that will mean a lot of lean protein and less junk.  Maybe some more endurance focused workouts instead of HIIT.  We'll see how to make that happen.   I've been doing more morning workouts so I don't seem to double as often, nor do I get endurance/low impact as often so I might need to adjust my schedule.   I don't know how this will work into riding 550 miles either, but we'll see how that goes.   I just might need to lower that across the board if I want to run and row regularly, and I'll be away the last weekend of the month.  The good news is the distance challenge is coming to an end this coming weekend, so I won't have the pressure to rack up distance at the expense of other exercise, but that comes with a tradeoff when I set high mileage targets.  I've also made a soft commitment to go to the dive shop on pi day, yes I have that day off, so I should finally start that process.  

It felt like a lot to talk about this month, but was a little shorter than I expected.  Yes, I'm being hard on myself, but that's how it goes sometimes.  Someone has to be the taskmaster and it's going to be me.   As a FYI, I will include all the distance conversions through the end of the challenge, but once that's over, I'll probaby stop adding it in.   It's just too much work, and if I can't make the distances I set, I'll lower them, but for now lets stick with 550 miles for the month and I'll revisit it around the 15th.

Ok, enough griping, it's not all bad.  Apple made this month's challenge pretty simple so I won't be frantically trying to finish it.   Look for some update after the Shamrock Shimmy.   Talk soon!

2222

I'm not usually into numerology, but I saw that I hit workout number 2222 today.   When I looked at all the metrics I had the following numbers:

• 1789 - First US presidential election and the French Revolution
• 232
• 123
• 66
• 12
• and as mentioned 2222

Not really sure how to interpret it, but seems pretty lucky overall.   Lot's of twos which are lucky.   Maybe we'll win the lottery :)

On a different note, I recently switch to Isagenix protien powder and so far I think I think it's a step up from the one I used to use.  I usually used unflavored powder, but this tastes pretty good (hokey pokey) but more importantly, it mixes better into my parfait.  Not sure about the gains, but will let you know about that later.  I feel lean and strong, so I guess that's a good sign that I'm putting on some muscle.   What I have noticed is that I feel "fuller" after taking some, which helps control snacking.

Another recent change is I've started using my foam roller regularly.  Hear me out on this.   Yes, I know it hurts.  The first few times I squealed like a schoolgirl seeing The Beatles, but it got better, and it's made a huge difference in how tight my IT band is.  Just be patient and consistent and it should help.

Anyway, coming up on the end of the month.  Weight is still up a little bit, but I finally dipped back under 220, so it's getting better.  It looks like I'll be shy of 550 miles on the bike this month, but I'll get over 550 in the distance challenge, so I'm going to take that.

Talk soon!

Another milestone accomplished.

One of the soft goals I set for myself was to complete a century ride.   In case you don't know what that is, it's when you ride 100+ miles at a time.   Last year I'd signed up for a 100km ride, which was going to be a challenge and was going to train for longer distances.   That ride got cancelled due to hurricanes, so distance training got put on hold.

Once MDC3 started I'd been thinking about a century ride, and really wanted to complete one during this challenge, then my bike broke and I missed a month of cycling, and it seemed unlikely.   It's an all day commitment, and I wasn't sure I was conditioned for it.

Fast forward to last week, the end of the distance challenge got announced, it's going to be the 8th/9th, and we're at the finish line.  Merinda decided to go to VA to visit family, and I had an opportunity to go for it on Sunday.  My awesome teammates also decided to do a century day too to motivate us and five of us completed it.  I finished with 105.05 miles

Honestly, I think it was more of a mental challenge instead of a physical one.   I was careful about resistance so I spent most of the "work" in zone 2.   Yes, I did see zone 3, but it wasn't common, and to be honest, the most challenging part physically was sitting on the bike.  Echelon bike seats aren't that comfortable and if I sit on them too long it begins to become painful. 

Regardless, I finished it, and look forward to another opportunity to do better.   My legs aren't really that sore, more just tired, but it does make me wonder if I could do it on my road bike.  I ride slower outdoors, so its more like six+ hours instead of 5, and I dont know how I'd react to getting off the bike and then riding for another 3 hours.

Sorry for the rambling post, I'm still feeling sleepy so I'll wrap this and we'll talk later.

Just some random thoughts...

First off, I ran on Wednesday night.   My time was awful, but made it through 5k, so that's a start...   I have a few weeks until the first race, March 8th in case anyone was curious, and being able to run a 5k despite taking six weeks off was reassuring.  Yes, my legs have been sore since, so I have become re-acquainted with my massage gun.   I'm probably going to run at least once or twice a week until the event, or I get closer to my December times, whichever comes first.   I'll keep you updated.

With that said, if you don't want to hear about my opinion on the US and only care about fitness, stop reading now.  If you post something hateful you will be banned.  I am a US citizen, pay more than my share of taxes, yeah I pay a higher percentage of my income in taxes than Musk, and I'm allowed to express my opinion on *my* blog.   If you don't like it?   Tough...

<rant>

I don't understand how people can look at what's going on in the US right now and not feel concerned.  The administration has launched an attack on; The Press and now the courts.  All led by the President and the wealthiest man in the world.

I have to wonder why, and the only answer I can come back with is Power.   That's what it's all about.

Now before anyone accuses me of TDS, or some other made up illness, grow up.  I know the government is bloated, I worked in the DC area for a long time, and I've been involved in politics for almost 40 years.   I went to a presidential inaguration, Republican mind you, before I could vote, so I'm not just a mindless drone, but let me ask you this.   Do you really believe the richest man in the world is doing all this out of some random altruisim, or is there something else?

I don't care who you voted for, but if you think that we should impeach sitting federal judges, for simply interpreting the law in a way you don't agree with, you should really ask yourself if you want a democracy, or an autocracy.  Judges interpret the laws.   Elections don't determine how laws are interpreted, nor do they allow them to be ignored.   If the laws need changing we have a mechanism for that, but you don't get to pick and choose what parts of the constitution you follow, or perhaps your beloved 2a should be set on fire.  Remember the FIRST amendment says the government can't restrict your speech.   It comes before the second amendment because people smarter than us wrote these documents.  Think about that the next time the President kicks the someone out of the oval office because they don't say "Gulf of America".  Like it or not, that is unconstitutional.

Did the judge do something unethical?   Like gut the agency investigating your company?   No?   Hmmm...

Yes, Trump won, god help us, but he did, but that doesn't make him all-powerful.  Nor does it make his sidekick all-powerful, well not yet, but if they succeed in crushing the judiciary AND the press we're fucked...

Hope it was all worth it to those of you who voted for him, because the numbers don't add up, and something doesn't smell right.

And for what it's worth, I hope I'm wrong.

<rantoff>

Still struggling a little bit...

The good part of having the better part of a month off from heavy exercise, is getting a chance for some R&R on my legs etc...   Yeah I was expecting to be running, but the hammy pull stopped that dead in it's tracks.  

What's been tough is getting back into the swing of things.  It's been challenging to get up early, I guess I got used to sleeping in a little bit, and I just haven't had the drive to push myself the way I did before the holiday.  Maybe I'm asking a bit much since I just got the bike a week ago, but I've also completely skipped any running and I desperately need to start that.

I'm thinking about a run tonight, so I will keep y'all updated...

Well... Isn't that fucking special

My "reward" for finishing second on my team in sales is to get double the quota as other people, sadly I wasn't the only person given this, and the same payout(s).

So...  Work twice as hard for the same, or probably less, money.   They must be taking lessons from elmo...  I don't want to find a new job, but it looks like I'm going to have to consider it.

Mornings

You know I'd forgotten how much it absolutely sucks to get up in the morning.   I've had about six weeks of getting up at a more leisurely pace and hitting the snooze button, or not even setting an alarm.

That ended today.

No, I didn't get up at o'dark hundred, but I did have to get up on time for my class, and while the class was great, I struggled to get up, but glad I did and it ended up being a great start to my day.

Otherwise, the new bike arrived at lunchtime yesterday and so far I love it.   It felt like a year since I'd taken a spin class, but got right back into it last night and managed to finish 6th in class despite being in z5 for 40% of the class.

I've also started filling up my race schedule.   I have four 5k's scheduled so I can start getting ready for the Dunedin triathalon.

Fun times ahead!

Now it's time to get back at it...

And just like that it's February.  I'm actually glad because the past six weeks have been a little crazy between Christmas in Virginia, driving up and back and then going on the cruise.  We kind of lucked out a little bit because Merinda's friend Jackie was pretty sick and unable to visit and go on the cruise.  Now don't take that as a "we didn't want her to visit, because we did" rather as a "we got a chance to catch our breath" instead.  I caught a cold on the cruise, after all it's not a cruise if I don't get sick, and I hate having company when I'm sick.

In terms of fitness, not much changed...   I ended up not running all of January and still don't have a replacement bike from Echelon.  I had planned to run today, but went for a 35 mile ride outside yesterday, so I'll be walking tonight instead and my new bike is due to arrive tomorrow.  Yes, it was six weeks, but due to travel I lost over three weeks due to travel.  It really was just bad luck on the timing.  C'est la vie, and I think I needed a little break.  I ran a lot of 5k's in the Thanksgiving > New Years window, and had been riding like a fiend for the challenge, and it just reminded me that I need to do more recovery and less intense workouts.  

So with that, let's talk about what I did during January, as a reminder here were my goals:

• Maintain weight
• Ride 400 miles
• Weekly runs once my hamstring heals.
• January Apple challenge
• Continue weight training
• Continue bootcamp workouts. 
• Perfect Month in Apple
• Gold in my January challenge
• All the bonuses in #mc48 and start #mc49
• Stretch... stretch... and stretch....
• Row

Optional:

• Scuba Certification
• Swim 1000 yards twice this month

Weight Results:

• Starting Weight: 218.70
• Ending Weight:  215.80

Exercise Info:

• Number of rides:  15
• Time on exercise:  14:11:31
• Distance on rides:  181.02
• Number of runs:  1
• Distance running:  3.1
• Number of walks:  11
• Time walking:  9:01:07
• Distance walking:  24.98
• Number of rows: 36
• Time rowing: 8:06:46
• Distance Rowing: 73,169.00 meters
• Number of swims:  0
• Distance swimming:  0
• Weight Workouts:  0

Results:

So let's talk about January.   I think if I was to best describe it, it would be "when life gives you lemons make lemonade".  My spin bike was broken and unavailable, I was injured and needed to rest and overall I was worn out.  Add in a vacation and it could have been a disastrous month, but in some ways I'm pretty pleased with myself.   My weight was spot on, even with a vacation and a lot of food on that last Sunday and while I didn't get any weight workouts in, I still managed to have a perfect month in Apple, get all the Apple goals, row and walk quite a bit.  And, while I missed my "cycling target" for the month, if I take the updated calculations that they use in the distance challenge for running/walking/rowing, I  hit 401 miles for the month, and I'll take it as a win.   

This isn't to say last month was perfect, I let the weight workouts and stretching slide a bit as I was hyper focused on trying to add to my mileage, and I missed some of the MC49 bonus points, which is ok too.   All in all, I enjoyed a month of walking and rowing with a little biking outdoors and on the cruise thrown in there

That's enough of rehashing old news, let's talk about February.   Unfortunately I missed the 5k in Safety Harbor I wanted to do, but I wasn't ready to run on Saturday, and forgot all about it, but my bike is supposed to arrive tomorrow so I should get back to some regular spinning, but I don't want to go back to just spin so I'll have to play that by ear,  but as of today I think it's going to look like this:

Maintain weight

• Ride 500 miles
• February Apple challenge
• Weekly bootcamp workout(s)
• Perfect Month in Apple
• Gold in my February challenge
• All the bonuses in #mc50
• Weekly Row
• Weekly walk and run

Optional:

• Scuba Certification
• Swim ~1000 yards twice this month

These should look pretty familiar.  With the return of the bike I should go back to spin at least 4 days a week.   That will leave room for a weekly row, walk and run.  I'll take the walk and possibly the run as a recovery day.  With this quarters schedule I should be able to pick up some bootcamp classes since there are live classes a few days a week that work with my schedule.  Realistically, I'm just trying to get back into a habit.  I've been letting myself laze in bed a bit more than I should, and surprisingly I'm happy to get my discipline back.  

Other than that, planning on registering for the Dunedin triathalon and trying to find some 5k's to run.  Hope you're having a great month and I'll probably provide an update on the bike in a few days...

Outdoors again

I've been almost exclusively walking and rowing since January 1st.  Mostly because of the broken crank on my spin bike, and partly due to a pulled hamstring from my race on New Years day.  It's been a little frustrating since I was hoping to run a little more often, especially since I can't spin, and I thought it would be a good way to work on running endurance and pace.  I like the rower, but I don't have the dedication to spend 60-90 minutes on it every day, so I feel like I'm treading water and losing fitness and motivation.  Not really how I planed on starting 2025.

The weather here in Florida has been cool, but otherwise pretty nice and I decided to take my bike out and ride on the trail.  I really appreciate that we have a nice trail system here in Pinellas county, but my only wish would be for a few less street crossings and more bridges, because it's a pain in the ass to stop all the time.  Yes, it's better than being a hood ornament, but it is a pain in the ass.  I think that was the first time I've been on the bike since September and it felt great.  I was a little slow to get started, so I didn't ride as long as I planned; only went 24.5 miles, and I completely forgot how to use the garmin equipment (Pro tip, don't try to figure it out while riding), but I got it all working and had a good ride.

Long story short, I might be the only person looking forward to vacation so I can exercise again...   

 

Well

Between the broken bike and my pulled hamstring it appears this will be an easy month for me...   At least I'm finally getting some use out of the rower.  I still prefer the bike, but it's better than nothing.

Et tu Echelon?

So I already mentioned that my Echelon bike failed.   There's a fairly consistent issue with the crank breaking right at the spindle and, for reasons that dont seem clear, it's a part that cannot be replaced.   If it breaks, you have a giant paperweight/clothes pole.

This happened to me for the first time in July 2023 and they replaced the bike within a week, which I thought was remarkable since it was a holiday week.   Fast forward to December 2024 and my replacement bike failed.   I'm pretty sure it was the same side which is an odd coincidence, but I have a 50/50 shot so it's probably just that.  Regardless, it broke the morning Tyler and I were driving to VA and didn't snap off completely so I figured I would deal with it when I got home.   Reached out on Monday and while they were initially responsive, they asked some odd, seeemingly unrelated questions and have gone quiet.  This is a problem because there's a good chance this might arrive while we're on vacation.

/sigh...   First world problems.

I could look at this as a blessing in disguise, I did pull my hamstring on new years day, so I'm getting time to rest and let it heal, but I was hoping to hit this year with a bang and that hasn't happened...   I guess there's always February.

Let's talk about 2024 and 2025...

We're finally home, and things are a little calmer, so it's a good time for me to talk about 2024 as a whole and what I did in December.

I think 2024 was a tremendous success for me by any stretch of the imagination.  I competed in seven in person races, two of which were sprint triathalons, and one was a four mile race in July...  In Florida...  Every part of my body was sweating, but I finished strong.  I ran ten virtual 5k's last year.  Finally, I ran two 5k's in December alone, and I even squeezed one in on New Years Day, and set my current PR for a 5k time in one of those (33:26 and 10:45 pace).  I find it somewhat ironic that although the spin bike was the push to get me back in shape, the accomplishments I am most proud of don't relate to cycling.  Of course I have cycling accomplishments too, I rode 6249 miles last year, which ended up being 104% of my final goal.  Yes, I know I said 7000 when I set my goals in January, but that ended up being unrealistic as I still have to balance other demands on my time.  And last, but certainly not least, I kept my weight where I want it to be.   Even after 2 weeks of family time up in VA, and eating lots of holiday food, I didn't go over my "max" weight.  

With all that, there were some things I didn't accomplish that I wanted to, I didn't get every month's Apple fitness challenge, Septembers challenge was practicallyimpossible with an event in the middle of it.   Could I have done it?   Yes, but I didn't want to overtrain and wear myself out for the triathalon.  I missed a gold in a few challenges, but I can live with that because some of that was me, some was bad teammates.   I know Merinda think's I'm inflexible, but that's not quite true.   Life happens and we adapt and move on.  I just try my best to make sure I stay on track and to not let my fitness slip.

That's a perfect segue into talking about December.  As a reminder, here were my goals:

• Maintain weight
• Ride 550 miles
• Try to run weekly
• Two 5k events.   12/14 and 12/28
• December Apple challenge
• Continue weight training
• Continue bootcamp workouts. 
• Perfect Month in Apple
• Gold in my December challenge
• All the bonuses in #mc47 and start #mc48

Optional:

• Scuba Certification
• 2-4 Rowing workounts
• Swim 1000 yards twice this month
  

Weight Results:

• Starting Weight: 213.10
• Ending Weight: 218.70

Exercise info:

• Number of rides:  88
• Time on exercise:  53:36:15
• Distance on rides:  500.33
• Number of runs:  9
• Distance running:  12.02mi
• Number of walks:  5
• Time walking:  2:41:06
• Distance walking:  7.35mi
• Number of rows: 0
• Time rowing: 0
• Number of swims:  0
• Distance swimming:  0
• Weight Workouts: 2 dedicated, plenty of I&A and bootcamps.

Results:

This was a great month.  I every goal, with the exception of the cycling distance which I probably could have hit, except I took a mini bike break when I was up in VA.  I enjoyed using the treadmill, and since I ran two 5ks in December, and one NYD,  I'll give myself a pass.  Other than that I exceeded my goals for the month even factoring in travel and holidays.  No, I didn't get my optional goals, but c'est la vie.  My bike is broken so I will be rowing frequently until it's replaced.  It's still not my favorite workout, but it is effective, and will keep me able to run longer.

So...  What to expect for 2025?  I want to maintain and increase my overall fitness and improve performance on events.   The question is, how to do that.  Let's start with these goals:

• Maintain Weight
• Ride 6500 miles
• Perfect Year of Apple move rings
• Every Apple Monthly exercise goal
• Perfect year of closing my rings
• Complete two or more triathalons.  I'd like one to be olympic distance if I can get to 10k distances.
• Run at least one 10k
• Get my 5k pace under 10 minutes.

I believe all of these are possible, albeit challenging, but what is life without challenges eh?  The first five, with the exception of the Apple monthly goals, should be straightforward.   Yes, it's 250 miles more than this year, but if ride 550 miles/month for every month, except for January, I'll hit 6500.   I can dial this back as the year goes, but even if I have a slow start I'd like to do better than 2024.  

The remaining three are where it's going to get harder.   At a minimum I'd like to do both the Dunedin and Tarpon Springs triathalons.  If Tyler walks in May I will miss Dunedin because it's the same weekend, but I can find something else.   Tarpon is the question mark.   It has an Olympic distance, which would be my preferred race, but the 10k is the question.   I'm confident in both swim and cycling and it remains to be seen if I can run 10k's regularly.   I didn't mention it here, but I really want to run the Miami half-marathon in either 2026 or 2027, and that's dependent on my being able to run futher.  As to running faster?   That just takes practice, so I'll need to run more than last year.  I'll need to shave almost 2 minutes off my 5k time to get there, but I think that's within reach.

With that, what do I have planned for January?

• Maintain weight
• Ride 400 miles
• Weekly runs once my hamstring heals.
• January Apple challenge
• Continue weight training
• Continue bootcamp workouts. 
• Perfect Month in Apple
• Gold in my January challenge
• All the bonuses in #mc48 and start #mc49
• Stretch... stretch... and stretch....
• Row

Optional:

• Scuba Certification
• Swim 1000 yards twice this month

So...   I'll share that I am not going to get all the bonuses in #MC48.   I didn't get the I&A workouts in.  I thought I'd cycle more up in VA, but I didn't and I was behind when it started.   I'll get back at it for MC49.  Other than that I think I can hit this.   I did pull my hamstring on New Years, so I won't be running until it feels right, but I am walking on it and I hope to be able to run by next week.  Obviously with a broken bike I can't ride. so if it's not replaced before we leave for vacation I'll have to dial the mileage back.   I will be using the bikes on the boat, so I should get some distance there and I think I'll use the rowing distance as an alternative the same way it's calculated for the distance challenge.

I won't get certified this month, but I would like to start, and I should start swimming soon. Most likely after vacation.

That's enough, was a great 2024 and looking forward to bigger and better things in 2025!  Talk soon.

Ugh

I didn't have time to post before we left, but that morning I broke the crank on my Echelon bike.   Not the way I wanted to end 2024...  At least I'll have a new bike in 2025 and no excuse to not use my rower anymore.

I finally caught up on my distance challenge stuff and got it all entered so I'll talk about 2024 and 2025 in the next few days...   Talk soon!