I actually forgot it was the end of the month

With all my comments about time flying etc... I actually forgot today was the 31st of the month.  Hard to believe it eh?  It's been an ok week, felt a little run down yesterday, but I feel a bit better today.  I finally started running again and it was much better than I thought it would be.   I didn't go that far, but I ran the last mile or so of my walk on Monday night.  I've been feeling some knee and hip pain when I walked over the weekend so you might understand why I was worried, but I felt fine afterwards.   Go figure.   I walk at a leisurely pace with Merinda and feel pain, when I go alone I'm fine and I can run.  I suspect I'm still recovering a bit from the TDE.

I think I had a pretty good month, I clearly didn't hit all these, and the TDE affected some of my plans, but let's review July's goals shall we?

• Maintain weight
• Ride 500 miles -  Outdoor rides when possible.
• Weekly run and walk exercise. 
• One open-water swim, preferrably two.   Minimum of 1/2 mile distance. 
• After workout stretch. 
• Row workouts until the triathalon training kicks in.
• Continue bootcamp workouts
• Perfect Month in Apple
• Apple July exercise goal
• Gold in my July challenges
• All the bonuses in #mc42
• Finish St. Pete pier run

Weight Results:

• Starting Weight: 220.7
• Ending Weight: 215.5

Exercise info:

• Number of rides:  95
• Time on exercise: 36:01:20
• Distance on rides: 550.98
• Number of runs: 1
• Distance running: 4.14 
• Number of walks: 7
• Time walking:  3:17:48
• Distance walking:  9.32
• Number of rows: 2
• Time rowing:  41:37
• Number of swims: 0
• Distance swimming: 0

Results:

This month was a lot different than I remembered.   I suppose I was a little involved in finishing the TDE and then looking forward to the Triathalon to remember that I was on track all month.  I did take a little break from runnign after the race, and that's normal, I'm not really a runner anymore, and then had a cycling challenge so that dominated my focus.   I'm feeling pretty peppy today, so lets talk about what I did accomplish.   I hit all my goals this month except for the swimming, sorry not sorry but the ocean is gross hot and I didn't want to.  The weekly walk/run, I have no excuses here.   I took a break from running and then lost sight of the walking until I realized I was going to miss the Apple monthly challenge and picked that up.   Finally, I lost focus on the rower.   I was catching up stages on Mondays and started my Tri training on Monday.   I'll pick it back up because I need some bootcamps, but it's going to be getting a little break after this month.

Overall, it was a great month.   I exceeded my expectations on the race, finished the TDE, set some PB's along the way, weight is staying low, have been stretching religiously, and am feeling a lot stronger from the bootcamps.  

With that said, let's look forward to August:

• Maintain weight
• Ride 500 miles -  Outdoor rides when possible especially for the distance training for the triathalon.  I know it's hot outside, but suck it up buttercup.
• Minimum of one run per week.   Try to stick to the training plan as long as my knees hold up.
• Start swimming per your plan.   Try to get in the ocean twice this month.
• Continue after workout stretching. 
• Continue bootcamp workouts. 
• Perfect Month in Apple
• Apple August exercise challenge
• Gold in my August challenges
• All the bonuses in #mc43 and start #mc44
• Finish at least one, if not both, of the virtual 5k's I signed up for. 

So we didn't go to Virginia this month, we're going up around labor day instead, so I'll have a full month at home to prep for the race and that should make these goals pretty easy to hit.    The only one that I think might be tough is the bootcamp bonus for MC43.   I don't know what the Apple goal for August is, so that also remains to be seen.

Anyway, I've been posting a lot, and have a work call coming up so we'll talk soon...

After a days reflection

I felt lousy yesterday.   I went to the doctor for my physical and she said everything was great, except I'm a little anemic.  Really it's not anything to be overly concerned about, but she wants me to take iron supplements.  That's fine, except they can make you a little constipated, so I was feeling bloated and "full" yesterday and that was definitely affecting how I felt about the TDE.  Long story short, I got the last stage done yesterday, and I even snuck in a twenty minute hills class before and I feel dramatically better.   I didn't get up early today, so I got a little extra rest, but maybe that was all I needed.   Regardless, I'm glad I did the TDE, and plan to do it again next summer.   It was a challenging experience that I intend to improve on.

Next up...  Merinda wanted me to sign up for this race, so I'm going to do a virtual 5k as my prep for the triathalon...   

The last stage

Today has been a weird day.   I thought about doing Intervals and Arms today, I wasn't going to do fusion because Janet is off and I don't want to get up at 6 for an encore, but I was pretty wiped out after my workout last night, and I have one last stage to finish the TDE.   It's the prologue and only 45 minutes, so I'll do that after work and then snag a quick walk.  I finally decided to sleep in a little bit and not get up for a 20 minute class only to do the 45 minute one later.  

I am glad the TDE is over.  I'm just worn out, and my knee has been achy, and I just need a light day or two to rest and recover.  I can't imagine what it's like to ride in the real race, but doped or not, those guys might be the best conditioned atheletes in the world, and if anything, the TDE has shown me that I still have a long way to go.

And just like that...

I'm two months out from the September Tri...   What the hell, and where did the time go?  I'm still trying to finish the TDE (Tour de Echelon) and only have three stages left.   Echelon does a challenge of sorts where they mimic the Tour de France.   Last year my bike broke during an early stage so I never got to finish, but I was a little more focused this year.   The race on the fourth cost me a few stages, and being a live class snob cost me a few more, so now I'm playing catchup.   I should be done by Saturday, so I can start my tri training on Monday.  Yay for more pool time...  Not.

I finally went for a walk last night, and I think that was the first time I've put my running shoes on since the 4th.   I can't believe I took three weeks off from running, but I actually felt pretty good walking.   My feet felt light and I didn't hurt until I got home.   Then it was time for Advil and fitish sports rub and my knee felt fine at bedtime, so it wasn't all bad.   I'm behind on my July Apple fitness goal of walking/running 2.12 miles per day.   I didn't think it would be tough, but I was wrong.   I'll get it, but it's going to be a photo finish.

Not much else to say, I just felt like writing about something other than the election... 

Interesting times ahead

I'm torn on my feelings about what happened over the weekend in the election.   I've been pretty clear that I think Biden was beginning to suffer from dementia, alzheimers, whatever you want to call it.   The symptoms are evident and we cannot have a president who's not "all there", however I think Trump is also beginning to suffer from some of that and I do believe that he wants to be more of a strongman type of leader.

What bothers me more is that he stepped down, and the party just decided it should be Harris as the new candidate.   Yes, of course she doesn't appear to be senile, but she's been MIA for the past four years.  This doesn't even mention who's actually running the country because it's clear it hasn't been Biden.

So...  Do I just shut up and smile, and vote for what looks like a shadow government, or do I vote for what looks like a rapid descent into an authoritarian government that wants to take the US back to 1950?  If I vote third party, which would be my normal choice here, it's a vote for Trump.  I'll probably vote for Harris, but I don't know which is better.   Voting for the shadow government, even if it implements policies I agree with, or vote for Trump.   Yes, I know what's better today, but it's really not much better in the long run.

Personally, I think we should have had an open convention, let some candidates advocate for the nomination and let the delegates choose, but nobody asked my opinion.   I still think it's a forgone conclusion that Trump wins.   Unfortunately I can't apply for UK or Irish citizenship through Merinda, but we can move there and I can apply to be a permanent resident and if we stay 3 years I can become a citizen.  I don't want to leave the US, of course the MAGA crowd would say I don't love my country, which is a lie, but I can't stay and watch it become something awful, nor do I want to participate in the descent into what I think is coming, either tacitly or passively.  Look I'm white, middle aged, middle class straight male.   I'm not the group that will get attention at first, and to be honest the only thing that might get me noticed is my political views which are moving to the left, but I'm still what should be considered "centrist".   That said I have friends who no longer want to be branded as "democrats" because of what they think is coming...   And sadly I do too.

Be safe folks.

I know I'm falling into a trap but...

Listen, I was fat.  I was classified as "morbidly obese" by my doctor, it is listed in my health history by my doctor.   He even referred to it when I saw him last that since I wasn't that way anymore he didn't get to charge my insurance anymore.

Anyway, I've been clear that a big part of my losing weight was due to health concerns.  At best I was going to be a cripple and at worst, probably an early heart attack.   So I worked my ass off and lost a pile of weight.

Before losing weight I didn't like to fly, airplane seats are small, and have limited leg room, so being fat and tall made the experience miserable.   Now I can at least sit in the seat, although I still don't have nearly enough leg room.

So, my question is this.   If we're going to accomodate fat people, sorry "plus sized travellers" with free *complimentary* seats, so they are comfortable, why the fuck is it ok to punish tall passengers like me?   I suppose I could have my legs amputated so I don't get crushed in coach, but that's extreme.   I can't CHANGE my fucking height, but 99% of plus sized passengets can CHANGE THEIR WEIGHT.

So I'll ask Southwest airlines this.   Why do you care about fat passengers, but not tall ones?   Why can someone who weighs 300 pounds get a free seat so they're comfortable, but not someone who's 6'4"?   If they need a seat, fine, but ask them to pay for it, just like you demand that I pay if my bag is 51 pounds...

How did we get here?

If you're not interested in US politics feel free to skip this post.   I'm not going to rant about the candidates, because at the end of the day we, and by that I mean Americans, chose them.    However, how did we get to the point where it's always the "lesser of two evils"?

What is wrong with our society that this is what we're presented with?   I feel like we live in a bizarro world where we're presented with progressively worse choices every four years.   I don't know about the people who didn't run, but at the bare minimum, some of them appear to be better choices...

Are we at a point where we have to kowtow to the all powerful "party"?   Perhaps it's time they went the way of the dodo.