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...