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.