Category: life

Beautiful Weekend. Didn’t ride

It’s a little bit ironic. I’d lubed up the bike, laid out the kit, made time in the schedule. And I didn’t get in a single mile outside. Yet I’m still joyous over the weekend.

Let’s begin on Friday. I thought the day was going to be short-ish, and that I’d be out of the office by about 2. But, finally had a really productive meeting with one of my teams, and ended up pushing through til 4. And, so rather than standing my wife up for supper, I did a quick run, a quick asana, and jumped in the ocean on Friday.

Saturday, I slept in (Friday was a really good night), and started rebuilding the boat rack in the backyard; then spent the afternoon floating in the Mystic River for FloatElla. Music and beers with some other friends about to be college empty-nesters, and life is all sorts of good.

Today, finished up the kayak rack (It’s <chef’s kiss>), actually took parts I didn’t use back to the hardware store, got the convertible washed, picked up fish for supper, and cleaned the rubble out of the back yard. By the time I was done, it was almost 5, so I sat on Zwift and watched She-Hulk #2. Felt good.

So, beautiful summer weekend, but I didn’t actually get any miles in on the bike. Part of me is really going to regret this in January, but most of me is going to be happy every day when I leave for work and the back yard isn’t a mess.

Not Tarzan Brown 2019

Beautiful run this morning. 40 degrees, mostly calm winds, sunny. Still enough leaves on the trees to make shady spots on the road – cold in the shadows until I got a mile into my legs.

I won’t lie – this has been a year of peaks and valleys. Came into the year feeling STRONG, then had my ankle give out on me. Didn’t ride my bike much this summer, but got close to 3 weeks in Colorado hiking with my youngest and another awesome week at a professional conference. Made some good connections. Was skinner after the backpacking trip than I’d been in 3 years, then put it back on (plus a pound or so) stressed out over school and work.

But I’m healthier now. I’m almost on top of school and work. I’ve descoped some of my commitments to others to a manageable load.

This morning felt good. Slow, and short by historical standards, but good, regardless. I felt like a runner.

Minor win

OK, so Nike+ told me to run four times this week. Two down, two days of weekend to go. I’m not going to declare success on that yet, though the two runs I did do were pretty satisfying. Legs felt good, mileage is where it should be, ankle hasn’t felt blown out since.

The minor win I’ll take this week is that I’m 5/7 since last weekend on at least logging breakfast, lunch, and snack meals, including two days where I even logged through supper. Most of those days I was near my target calorie deficit to put me near one pound/week loss; which was OK. Yesterday, we stopped for beers and nachos after work, but I kinda skimped on supper, though I did get a small cheeseburger with #2 kid on his way back from track.

So, not a perfect week eating, but the goal of getting tracking going was accomplished, and I’m on track for being reliable with exercise. I’ll take a narrow win, declare victory. Tea and medals to follow.

Some things change, some things don’t.

So, this is where I was last year. And, not much has changed in a year. I checked MyFitnessPal, and my weight’s been between 195 and 200 the whole time.

Actually – a decent amount has changed – I do have a consistent year of running and biking back under my belt; I’ve transitioned into a new position that I love, and where I’m getting to develop some really cool stuff, and I launched a kid successfully to college. So, yeah – not too shabby.

Fitness, I guess, is better, which is nice.

May’s coming up, and I guess I just wanted to put myself on report, get motivated, and try to use May to do a couple things:

  • Shift my internal clock: Early to bed, early to rise
  • Start working my core: Melissa did this, and it’s been transformative for her
  • Get back to the consistency I had over the winter – from the Runner’s World Run Streak (#RWRS)
  • Get control on what I’m eating

The last one’s the kicker – I’m pretty sure I’ve got a good engine under some flab, just need to burn it off. And I also think snacks is probably 85% of the flab, though I could probably stand to skip the fries at lunch more often (Fries, I think, should always be considered a snack)

Home Stretch

Big year since the last post way back in May. The short version is that I’m finally starting to feel whatever my “normal” is supposed to be. Ran the Tarzan Brown race again this year, and pretty comfortably finished the 5.5 miles under 50 minutes. I was a little discouraged about that, until I went back into Strava and found out that, even when I was feeling “strong”, my previous best was 47 minutes. Granted, that’s 30 seconds/mile faster, but I’m also carrying about 25 more pounds than I was for that race.

So, I’m fat, but the legs are back.

Lovely wife and I went for a possible last ride yesterday. Temperatures were in the 40’s, but the ride was awesome when we were in the sun and out of the wind.

But, boy – the wind. I set two strava PRs and matched another best effort, because winter was coming down from Canada with a vengeance.

Main goal of the ride was to get out to the Stonington Farmers’ Market in the Velvet Mill. We hadn’t been together for a couple months, so it was good to get back there. Picked up a beautiful ciabatta, shrimp and amazing scallops, and cheese curds.

The ride home was pretty non-eventful. We stayed off Rt 1 and mostly stayed in the woods and hills to stay out of the wind. Coffee stop, and home to toasted bread and cheese. Amazing.

Oh, and this was supper:

Spring Sprung

Time for a quarterly update from frosty New England – it’s April, and there were daffodils under the snow we got this week. And it was 50 degrees after the snow stopped.

I’m excited – I think I’m turning a corner with consistiency again – great months in the Strava Log since the new year. No pains, no nags. Really embraced it. I’m ahead on my annual goals for the bike AND the run, which is nice, and with a push in the pool for a week, I could get caught up.

Weight is still an issue, but it’s almost a year since it moved up again, so I’ve got that going for me.

My intentions for the next two months are to keep consistiency of the working out going; get through spring break, and then start tackling nutrition head on with the summer.

Kelley’s Pace in Old Mystic Village starts their Thursday fun runs again tonight; can’t wait to  be back in the swing.

Fell off a little bit

So, technically I finished the RW Run Streak. But I’ve failed on the 100 days goal. Not really spectacularly failed; just kind of faded out.

I’m not necessarily upset – looking at Strava and just kind of feeling my body, I’m still in better shape than I was over the summer. I also didn’t put on any weight over the holidays.

There’s a whole bunch of “buts” – the weather has been unseasonably cold (like below freezing for about 10 days); I finally got serious about screwing around with my 3d Printer, so I’ve been up late and distracted, had some personal drama.

But, I’ve pretty much got the 3d printer running now, the weather has returned to New England seasonal, and I have my Zwift setup dialed in.

So, let’s try this again. But easier. Goal is to be on track with running, biking, and swimming mileage for the year by the time Paris-Roubaix rolls around. I’m not going to try to streak because I’d like to up the intensity of each training effort, so the critical measure is going to be the mileage targets on Strava.

Anyway, hope y’all are having a good new year.

Autumn is a time for new starts

It’s been a … well, pretty good year. I’m still not quite back from 2016’s episode with Lyme disease, but I’m pretty good for consistency since about September. The summer was a little more sporadic than I hoped; partially driven by work and non-work activities; partially driven by a little bit of slack.

My current battle is to catch up with my (very modest) Strava goals for 2017 – 1,200 miles cycling; 500 miles running; and 50Kyds swimming. The Cycling is pretty much in the bag – 150 miles to go; if I were really ambitious, I’d knock that off between Turkey Day and the Sunday after Thanksgiving – it looks like the weather should be pretty nice in New England; not many horses are going to be pulling the sleigh through the white and drifting snow.

Swimming: I’m not quite sure if I’ll nail this one. I set it pretty low – 1K/week, but took a hiatus from actually swimming from about April through September. I need to do about 2.5K/week, which, for me is really only two half hour sessions; but that’s consistency I haven’t been able to muster so far. I think I can nail it, but this will be the first one that I’ll let slide of the three.

The challenge that I’m pining my hopes on is hitting the running goal. I set it at 500 miles for the year – a relatively easy 10 miles / week, but let things slide while finishing grad school, traveling a bunch for work, and trying to keep up with life. August, September, and October were all good months, with mileage at or over 50 miles for the month; November, I’m behind – sitting about 28 miles with 10 days left in the month. Strava tells me I’ve got 100 miles left for the year, which, on one hand is pretty easy – only 2.5 miles/day; on the other hand, it’s doubling my mileage for November and hitting a PB for mileage in December.

Which brings me back to one of the things that really got me going last year: The Runner’s World Run Streak. I can’t tell you HOW MUCH it meant to me to have this going with my brother last year – really pulled me through a rough time physically and psychologically. So, I’m back in this year, but I’m setting a personal baseline at 2 miles/day, and I’m starting today. Not quite the 2.5/day that I need to make my annual goals, but more than the bare minimum.

The second modification I’m making is that I’m going for #100DaysOfNewYear, starting 23 November and going through Saturday, 3 March 2018. For this year, my rules are as follows:

  1. Until 31 December, the streak is completely a run streak.
  2. After 1 January, the streak can take four forms: Run, Bike, Swim, or Nike Training Club workout.
  3. Run is defined as: At least a mile (2 miles from 23 Nov through 31 December) during which a sweat is broken and a heart rate of at least 120 is obtained for a minute.
  4. Bike is defined as at least 10 miles or one hour. Either on the road, or trail, or Zwift, or a crappy stationary bike in a smelly hotel gym.
  5. Swim is defined as 1,000 yards, any stroke.
  6. NTC is defined as at least 15 minutes of some workout. Admittedly, this is a cop-out, as there are some gentle stretching routines, but, I’ve become convinced that there’s something to a strong core.

Anyone else in?

Thoughts on an almost lost summer

So, back in May, I found a tick. Went to the doc, got the Lyme Disease prophylaxis, and thought not much of it.

Did my first triathlon in a while at the Mystic Triathlon; not in great shape, but racing felt AWESOME – really brought out the desire to fly, and I thought I was on track for a great summer.

Went for 4 days on the Long Trail in June, and had one of the scouts need to be medevac’d due to vomiting and generally feeling terrible. Turned out, he had Lyme. Trip felt great for me; and was happy, healthy.

Vacation in Stowe was AMAZING as always; possibly the best week of the year by far, though my conditioning didn’t really reflect the effort I’d put in. Not sure why.

Immediately after vacation, I had a work trip to Honolulu. The first couple days I was there, my right knee swelled up, which is odd, because that’s like the only joint in my legs I haven’t had an issue with. But, it felt better when I ran, so I went with it. Plenty of good running laps of the canal, and a rented bike from Island Triathlon & Bike lead to two AWESOME days of riding.

But, I got home, the knee swelled up, and the lethargy I felt was stronger than the usual 6 hour Hawaii jetlag. So, I went in to see the doc, who, given the tick earlier in the year, said we ought to start the antibiotics, and take the test.

The test came back positive for Lyme, so I’ve got that going for me.

The course of Doxycycline seems to be working well; most days my head is clear, my knee doesn’t ACHE, though it is still tender. I went for a (REALLY SHORT) bike ride this morning, and had no lungs, though that might just be neglect.

Poop.

Call to me …

I think I’ve exorcised my Halloween candy demons.

I think.

I hope.

Gorged myself on starburst today at the office. Of which I’m not proud, not proud at all, but I think it’s important I get that out there.

But, looking at the training log for this month, I’m off to a decent start. 15 miles running so far (injury free); 50 miles outside on the bike plus a spin class, and three hours spinning. AND, we’re not done with the first half of the month.

Regardless, for the first time in a while, I actually feel fitness CALLING to me – my lungs are good, my legs are good, and, while winter’s knocking at the door, I really, really just want to say screw it and start to hammer.

Now to get my stomach on board.