Big Ideas – Run, Run, Run, Run, Run, Cycle, Cycle Too

2024

Some numbers from last year:

Running – 124.4 miles. Most of that probably walking
Cycling – 1,477 miles – better than I thought. I think mostly outdoors
Weight – Started at 215, ended at 225. When I started this blog, I was at 180.
Posts in 2024 – exactly one.

But, my doctor described me as “a very pleasant 50-something male … Normal appearance. He is well-developed”. Which, I suppose is true.

On the plus side, 2022, while being lighter, was far less fit:

Running: 102 miles. Definately most walking
Cycling: 1,949 miles – this actually surprises me a lot. But, I think much of this was trainer miles in the fall / winter.
Posts: 4

So.

I suppose I’m not really complaining, just using the blog to think again.

2023

I’d say I’m going to post more frequently in 2023, but we alll know that’s a big fat lie. So, let’s start with a straight up “Happy New Year”, and be done with it.

Today started with a long time on the couch; then I finally got off my butt, fixed some stuff around the house, went to the grocery and bought cheese, glorious cheese and some cream. Smoked a turkey yesterday, so that means we’ve got Tetrazzini. (Spoiler: Yum)

Workout was good – 90 minutes (with a rest) of my first Zwift race plus another 45 minutes of junk miles. Worked out the wiggles before heading back to work tomorrow.

Anyway, was thinking about writing resolutions, but probably won’t.

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.

2022

Haze grey and meh temperature. Much like many New Year’s Days past, and like many more to come.

Oh, wait one – I was about to write resolutions; ought to go get started on them first.

Alrite – I’m back. Actually ran today, then slow ride to the Y and a K in the pool.

2021 was a good rebuilding year – I think I’ve worked through my ankle issues that have been plaguing me since 2016. I got back in the habit of working out most days, and I’m in a decent mind space. I’ve been doing yoga and seeing changes in posture and muscle.

So, pretty bullish on 2022

Goals:

10 miles / week running; 500 miles total for the year. This is 3 5k’s a week, and I think the legs are up to it
50 miles / week on the bike; 2500 miles total for the year. Without really trying, and with 2 months off the bike when I borked my arm, I came within 100 miles of this in 2021. Least ambitious goal.
2,000 yds/week swimming, 60k total for the year. I’ll be honest – I’m a crap swimmer, but can knock out 1k in less than 25 minutes, and think I can really pick it up. This is 2 swims per week. The yearly total is way off because I think I’m going to travel more, and can’t always find a pool.
The new goal is 5x week on doing at least 10 minutes of yoga. The Apple+ workouts have been awesome, and I really feel an improvement in the last quarter.

Oh, also more pictures. Failed that today.

What am I running from?

So, I’ve been blogging again. And running consistiently again. Being a pessimist at heart, I’ve got to wonder “what am I running from?” These are some of the thoughts that went through my head while looking out over the Mystic River at the Naik Family YMCA (Seriously, the renovated gym really does look out at the sunset below, and the treadmills and bikes are all in front of a giant window).

Part is NaNoWriMo – I think this is the first year in a while I haven’t even contemplated being a novel writer. But, I do still feel compelled to hammer out text. Which, as of late, has been going too much into Twitter. Not that I don’t treasure the twitter comerades that I have; I do. But it’s starting to feel like the Gen X version of Fox News. Not enough truly deep thought.

Second is momentary avoidance of the work I should be doing for grad school. This quarter is actually going pretty well – I am going to finish all my assignments on time, and be able to pass my first comp, but I’m not truly throwing myself into it. I do tend to make better progress on days when I write here though. Maybe the gears just need to be loostened.

I’m also running away from the guy who it would be so easy to settle into. I’ve always struggled with my weight, but over the last couple of years, it really has started to get away from me. I’m still not obviously fat, but I’m not necessarily obviously thin. Age is starting to catch up – there are many days when it would be so easy (and accepted) to stop struggling against gimpy joints, chafing, time constraints, whatever, and leave the shoes in the closet and the bikes hanging on the walls. To pop on another video, open another beer, and just … rest.

but mostly I don’t think I’m really running away. Mostly, I think i’m running towards:

Towards my lovely Boston qualifying wife. I don’t think I’ll ever get there, mostly because I’m not willing to sacrifice food like she has, but darned if I’m not going to make sure I can keep up with her on the bike.
Towards the me that I know I can uncover again. As long as i can keep moving, I have the potential to dig the skinny me out again.
Towards life after the kids leave the house, and after I no longer have to work full time. Sure as heck don’t want to spend all those years on the couch.
Towards setting an example for my kids.

Generally, I’m not a fan of the “life is a journey” metaphor. Journeys have a destination, and the only thing we’re guaranteed to reach is the grave. Screw that.

Maybe life’s more an exploration. With things to run towards, and things to run from. With new things to find, and with places to which you want to return. People you want to travel closely with, people you’re happy to stop awhile with, folks you want to wave for, and folks to avoid.

Whatever. All I know is that I banged out my 3 miles on the treadmill this evening because Nike told me to. And, somehow, I wasn’t in the same spot I started.

Loving the second week of streak

Yesterday and today were pretty amazing runs. Beautiful running weather – 40’s and mostly windless. Last night was kind of an interesting situation, though. Busy day at work, so I was initially going to do the run after I walked the dog with Mrs. Jank. But, I got home with some time to spare before we sat down for supper. #2 son was cooking, and it was going a little slow, so I popped out the door for one lap of the neighborhood (~1.5 miles); ate a light-ish supper, and then walked the dog and ran another lap for another 2.7 miles on the day. Legs felt good.

Today was AWESOME. The Nike+ app suggested I do 5x400m repeats, so, sure! That meets the intent (2 miles on my feet each workout, at least 1 “running” – actually exceeds the intent in my set of rules for this year, which was going to give me the “cheat” of only having to sweat for 1 minute out of the two miles). Rather than do them on the track, took advantage of the GPS and did them on the trail alongside Narragansett Bay by the office.

And, I’m pretty pleased with the result. Nike+ says I did about 7:10 average for the 5×400 intervals; even though I walked the breaks from interval 2 on, Strava says I did 2.5 miles at under 11:00/mile overall. Not gonna qualify for Boston any time soon, but I’m really starting to feel stronger.

Today was also the second day in the pool this week. I had a pretty rough swim on Saturday; decent swim Monday afternoon, but today was another “meh” day. Regardless, I gutted out 1 KM. Form didn’t feel bad; I think it was mostly light breakfast + intervals + no lunch yet.

Tomorrow and Friday are big meeting days at work. I’m going to try running before work. I don’t usually have good luck with that, but if I don’t, I’m probably not going to get it done. So – wish me luck!

Week of Streak

So, I’m a week into my second run at the Runner’s World Run Streak, and I’m completely loving it.

Tonight – late leaving the office (Story of my life), but had a transcendent run. Yesterday was an almost cheating long run – it was

long – 6.7 miles, pretty reasonable

slow – Walked the first and last miles; Galloway’d the rest

distance – Having run marathons, it’s tough to remember how amazing it is the first time one runs for a mile; or three; or five, or for an hour…

Tonight, I thought I would bang out the 2.4 miles I needed to keep pace with 500 miles for the year. But, when I got to the turnaround, I realized that the legs felt good, and extended for another .3 miles for the evening.

Chunked out 1200m in the pool after the run. More LSD; felt great to be swimming until the close with fewer and fewer folks in the pool.

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:

Until 31 December, the streak is completely a run streak.
After 1 January, the streak can take four forms: Run, Bike, Swim, or Nike Training Club workout.
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.
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.
Swim is defined as 1,000 yards, any stroke.
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?

Looking forward to 2017, piling on 2016

So, I hate to pile on 2016, but, for purposes of me staying fit, it kind of sucked.

The year got off to a good start – overweight but had stuff to work with. My overall goal of about 30 minutes/day of actual exercise (not what passes for exercise on the Apple Watch) was more or less on-track. May was a low point, but I think i’d tweaked my knee.

Then, I found a tick after a scout camping trip. Went into the doc for antibiotic prophylaxis, and she told me that I’d start seeing symptoms in about 6 weeks if I had Lyme. Sure enough, Lyme it was. Started in early July while I was on travel, and laid me out. Felt like crap until I got on antibiotics; then haven’t been right since.

Anyhoo, it’s been a long, long road back (though not enough of it actually ON the road). During Thanksgiving, though, I caught Runner’s World Run Streak post, and thought “Hey, why not?” A (semi-sober) tweet at my little brother and it was on.

It’d be a lie to say that I crushed all 39 of those runs – a couple of them were phoned in, but runs nonetheless. Vast majority were <1.5 miles, but they got done.

Interestingly, when New Year’s rolled around, and when I did my last mile at 1:40 AM in shorts and freezing rain (my typo was “freeing rain”), I woke up later that same day and thought “Maybe I’m not quite done. The weather was good, so I went out and got in a decent ride on my favorite loop to really kick off the new year. Since then, I’ve been still going, despite being back to work, the winter kicking in in earnest, and my general lazy nature.

Weight’s still a huge issue. I’m ashamed to admit where I am, but I believe I may be fatter than at any point in this blog’s history. But, with a great bout of stomach flu hitting Chez Jank this weekend, I may have turned the corner the right way.

So, what are the #streak2017 rules?

Do something every day to get the heart rate up. 1 mile running is ~150 calories for me, so that’s the general ground rule

One mile walking =/= one mile running. It just isn’t. (At least not for me – though back in August it would have counted)

For cycling, I’m setting 2,000 watt-minutes as my mile equivalent. 2,000 w-min means that I take the watts I put out and multiply that by the number of minutes I ride. So, 20 minutes at 100 watts (which is zone 2-3 for me, pretty easy to breathe and talk but not like strolling), or 10 minutes at 200 watts (which is zone 4 – breathing really hard and starting to get uncomfortable) would count. When the weather gets nice, it’ll be a 3 mile outside equivalent).

Swimming is 1,000 yards, again, about 20 minutes. 500 yards seems too short (10 there and back laps in a 25 yd pool barely breaks a sweat), and I can’t really figure out where to draw the line between 500 and 1,000. Maybe 800 with swimming twice as hard as running? Dunno. Willing to talk.

In any case, I’m pretty psyched. 8 days in and still going (plus the previous 39, so – wow! 47 days). Feeling good. I think that as I’m getting older, keeping moving actually does better for me than taking rest days, provided that the “rest” days are really easy, easy days.

28 Days of March to Go

Mother Nature continues to be a Mother*.

Today, I went to pay my respects to the waters, to spend some time immersed and moving through them. A lovely mile in the pool ensued. “Ha”, I thought, pictures of lovely summer days swimming in the sound, bay, ocean, and lakes running through my head. “It can’t be winter while I’m swimming, right?”

The swim was good. Not noticeably faster, but still good. Form felt good, lungs felt good, and there was a little bit left as the pool closed and I had to call it quits. But, I felt good; convinced that I had this winter thing licked.

Winter had other plans.

As I left the pool, snowflakes were beginning to fall, and by the time I reached home, they were coming down pretty well. But, as Tony Robbins told me, I can’t let other people set my own reality – I must take control of what’s been given to me. So, after supper, Missy and I set out for our after-dinner stroll of the neighborhood. Tons of snow coming down; about an inch in the hour we’d had supper.

But, as I’ve unilaterally declared Winter over, we went for our usual after supper stroll. Kind of a lovely walk, with snow crunching underfoot, and gentle flakes falling down. Which would be great, ‘cept winter is done.

Wish it believed it.

Didn’t step on the scale today, but had a bad, bad eating day. Calorie counting says I ought to have broken even, but it needs to wait until I get back on the scale.