Weekend Round-Up

I feel like I've been neglecting the blog a bit lately, and at least some of that is by design.  Sally and I started working on a joint memoir a few weeks ago, and it's taken up most of my concentration.  For better or worse, nothing derails writing projects like other writing projects.  So the blog's been on the back burner.  I am, however, sorry if you've missed me.

Not sorry I didn't have to do 5 Things on a Friday last week, though.  Yikes!  What a week.  We all need to learn to do a better job learning to live together.  It's a tough world out there, but if this nation can ever come together as a single community, we'll be more than a match for whatever they have to throw at us.

***

I don't know if you know this, but I'm the Information System Officer (ISO) for my class, the West Point Class of 1995.  The job entails setting up conference calls for class officer meetings and other events as well as managing the class website, Facebook page, and general social media presence.  Granted, it's something of an open question as to how large a social media presence a West Point class ought have, but when I ran for office, I ran on the platform that we as a class should to work harder to manage our message and the public's perception of us.  That theory carried the day, though it was a close vote, at least in part because I ran against my friend Steve, who is a really good dude.

In any event, I finally got the class's Twitter account set up yesterday.  We are @USMA_1995, or you can hit us with the hashtag #WithHonorWeStrive.

#WithHonorWeStrive

— USMA Class of 1995 (@USMA_1995) July 10, 2016

  Follow @USMA_1995

***

Sally and the kids and I ran a few ropes confidence courses Friday night over at the Bridgeport Adventure Park.  I love that place.  One of Emma's friends had a birthday party there, so Sally, Hannah, and I ran runs together while Emma and her friends went off on their own.  Look for an article on that for the "NYC & the Area" series pretty soon.  Hannah's also got an article on the Mystic Aquarium for that same series that I'm hoping to post for Wednesday.

Zipline!

Obligatory selfie, taken up in the trees.

Hannah negotiates an obstacle.

We stayed until after it got dark.  Despite the Christmas lights running
along the course, that increased the degree of difficulty substantially.

***

Only a few Saturday's to go..Get your popcorn ready #GoArmy pic.twitter.com/uEelw4tGMu

— Army WP Football (@ArmyWP_Football) July 9, 2016

I'm so ready for football season.  Summer is fine, but I really enjoy the Fall...

***

For whatever reason, folks always want to know about my workouts.  So okay, here's what we did:

 -- I counted the Adventure Park trip as a weight workout.  Hannah and I worked back and core on Thursday, so by Saturday after the ropes course, my biceps were burning.

 -- I put in 2200 in the pool Saturday morning:

 ---- 2 x (3 x 100 @ 1:30) warm-up

 ---- 200 kick

 ---- 100 drill with the kids

 ---- 11 x 100 @ 1:30 pull

 ---- 100 easy warm down

Then I hit the treadmill and ran easy for half an hour.  Wound up with 2.6 miles @ 9:15 pace, finishing with a heart rate of 135.  That's not bad at all.

 -- Ran 6.1 miles on the Trumbull Trail on Sunday @ 9:08/mile, finishing with a total time of 55:43 and heart rate around 140.  This was more complicated than it sounds, though, because the trail has a 2-3% gradient along its entire run.  So I was climbing gently all the way out and descending gently all the way back.  

Mostly that impacted my pace.  I needed a slight push on the way out to hold my form against the incline, and that had me a bout :10/mile under my target pace.  By the time I turned, I was feeling it.  Miles four and five were my slowest despite being slightly downhill, and I struggled a bit, wanting the decline to push me a little more than it did.  I got it back together on the last mile, though, finishing exactly on-pace at 9:08.

Then I bought two cups of lemonade from the neighborhood stand a couple of kids had set up right at the trail's entrance.  That was awesome.

Unfortunately, my right ankle is a little sore this morning.  I think I may need to lay off running for a week or two.

***

Final note: as of this evening, it'll be official.  I'm teaching adult swimming lessons at the Stratford YMCA.  

The YMCA

The Y's manager Krystal said they have a need for someone to teach adult private lessons, especially since a lot of adults don't particularly want to take swimming lessons from the Y's normal cadre of college student-instructors.  So I'll be teaching private lessons, apparently, though I am perfectly willing to teach an actual class if that's what folks would prefer.

Yay swimming!

Heh.  Actually, I think of this as community outreach.  We all find ways to serve, and right now, this is mine.

If you want to take lessons with me, by all means let Krystal know of just drop me a line.