Two Workouts: Spin + Swim

Last week was frustrating in the sense that I had to work a lot.  Which is fine, work pays the bills.  However, it didn't leave much time for workouts, and that sucked.  By the time Saturday morning rolled around, I felt like I was about to come out of my skin.

5 Things on a Friday: Notes from Quarantine

People are dying, and that’s bad.  It’s also not something that many of us can do much to fix.  We’re all locked in isolation, having seen vacations cancelled and lives put on hold.  Yes, the tragedies are tragic.  However, we still have to find a way to move forward in our lives and make each day count for whatever it can.

Manhattan

This week’s post is about that experience, for whatever it’s worth.  I’d love to hear what’s going on with others.

#SBRLLR: Losing My Father (Part 2)

We buried my father in Arlington Cemetery with full military honors.  A giant Marine Corps band showed up in their red dress uniforms, complete with a horse-drawn caisson.  The Marines took my father back in the end, and I walked away from the cemetery content in the knowledge that my dad was again with his people, that he was where he wanted to be.  He was buried in formation alongside all the other soldiers, sailors, airmen, and Marines who’ve faithfully served our nation in its times of need.⁴⁸  His funeral was truly moving.  But it was sparsely attended, however, because my father’s drinking had driven so many of his old friends and colleagues away.

Crunch: Looking Forward to the Next Thing

If you’ve been following this blog, you will already know that I’m swimming across Long Island Sound with a few friends on August 4th.  Before you ask, yes, we could still use your support.  We’re a little more than $2K away from our fundraising goal with less than a month to go.  A few good-sized donations could put us over the top.  That would be very nice.

Crunch: Knowing When to Get Help

I had a physical a few years ago during which the doctor said, “You have to be careful when you train.  You know, you’re not Lance Armstrong.”

“Yeah,” I replied, “but I can train as hard as he does… at my level, anyway.”

Crunch: The Hardest Part

The hardest part, to me, is just getting out the door.  Whatever I’m doing, be it swimming, running, lifting weights, or something else, if I can get all the way out my front door, I’m usually good to go.

It was not this hard growing up.  Even when I had to get up at four-thirty in the morning to be on the pool deck by five, working out didn’t typically feel like a struggle, exactly.  It was more like a gut-check.

5 Things on a Friday: It’s All Connected… Or Is It?

It’s mostly sports this week.  Except for the piece about the monster movies.

5 Things on a Friday: Woefully Wishful Thinking

Happy Friday, folks.  Let’s get it on!

Training Log: 3/7 to 3/13 (Week 2)

Another tough week.  I changed my routine a little bit this week, but after Sunday's long run, it's clear that I'm going to have to change it some more.  It's fine to say that I'm not a great runner, that running further is always going to be something of a challenge, either because of my body-type or just because that's how God made me.  However, running long has been much more difficult this training cycle than the last time I trained for a half-marathon, and that feels like a problem.  I'm not exactly sure what to do about it, but I'm going to have to come up with something.

Swim, Bike, Run

The rest of the week was okay.  I only managed to hit the pool once, but I got into the weight room twice, managing my full schedule with my daughter.  That's a plus.

Training Log: 2/22 - 2/28 (Rest Week)

I generally train on a four-week cycle, three working weeks and a rest week.  Last week was a Rest Week, and it came off of a very hard Week 3 in which I put in a super-intense session of yoga, swimming, and Mossa Group Power endurance weight training on Saturday, followed by a 6.5-mile long, slow distance run on Sunday.  That combination flattened me, and even with the Rest Week, it took me until Thursday to start feeling like myself again.

There's a line between working and over-working, and I think I went over that line two weeks ago.  It's good to have time to recover, but the sheer amount of recovery required this week was a little frightening.  I did eventually put in a good run, but it wasn't until Sunday, and up to then, I'd felt like hamburger.

Swim, Bike, Run

My weeks typically look like this:

Training Log: 2/15 - 2/21 (Week 3)

This was a tough week.  My long run is up to a distance of six-and-a-half miles, my daughter Hannah and I did a session of Mossa Group Power with my wife on Saturday, and we had decent weather, so I got back on the bike this week as part of my commute.  

Swim, Bike, Run

That stuff was all good, but Group Power really wiped me out, leaving Sunday's long run a significant mental and emotional challenge.

Training Log: 1/11 to 1/17 (Week 3)

This was kind of a different week for me.  I've been struggling to find a sense of purpose for my training lately, especially because I've been enjoying running and lifting weights so much, but swimming is undoubtedly my best thing.  Around mid-week, I finally decided that I needed a change of pace, and in putting together my calendar afterwards, I chose the Danbury Half-Marathon on April 3rd as my next race.  

I'm not going to actually enter the race until I get a little further into my training and have assured myself that my knees and ankles are going to hold up for the long runs, but it feels good to have a training target.  More importantly, I'm happy to have a focus that won't force me into the pool so many times per week.

Training Log: 1/4 to 1/10 (Week 2)

This was not an easy week.  We went from having beautiful, spring-like weather to the full-on heart-of-winter.  I kicked off the week with a bike commute in eleven-degree weather, and I'm not sure I ever fully recovered.  That made it hard to keep up with my training over the course of the week, and it left me exhausted, both physically and emotionally.

Swim, Bike, Run

It warmed over the course of the week, and the weekend has been actively nice, but it's been tough to get back on my schedule.  I wound up cramming almost the entire week's training into just Saturday and Sunday.  That's hardly ideal, but at least I got it done.

5 Things on a Friday: 80s Sci Fi Comes Roaring Back

It’s Friday, folks.  Wahoo!  Let's get ready to party!!!

Keep Your New Year’s Resolution: 10 Steps to a Fitter You

The nice thing about the holidays is that they give us time to rest, hang out with family, and think.  I spent my time thinking about how to improve both this blog and my fitness training plan.  I've seen a gazillion articles this week about New Year’s resolutions and fitness, so I thought maybe it was time to write a General Fitness/New Year’s article, too.  I should note that my wife Sally helped me with this; about half the items listed below are hers.

Sally mugged it up before class on Sunday.
Sorry the shot is blurry.  That's my fault for taking exactly one picture.

Sally works in fitness, but I'm like you.  I'm trying to manage my weight and my health at the same time that I'm working and raising a family.  I'm lucky, though.  I grew up with a father who took the time to teach me how to run and lift weights, and I got involved in competitive swimming at an early age.  This gives me an excellent base from which to build lifelong fitness.  I'm still busy, though, and I still find staying fit a challenge.  I envy folks for whom vigorous exercise is a part of their basic job functions.  For the rest of us, staying healthy is an important part of our daily lives; it’s just not easy.

You can abuse your body all you like.  In time, though, your body will abuse you back.  More importantly, kids become their parents.  If you want happy, healthy kids, you have to model a happy, healthy lifestyle.

So… how do you get in shape for the New Year?

There’s not just one way, of course, but there are a few basic things you can do to help yourself succeed.

Triathlon Training Log: 8/17 - 8/23 (Week 5)

It's been kind of an interesting week.  I never made it out to run, but I did a decent amount of swimming, and I actually got out with one of my buddies for a long(ish) ride on Saturday.  That was fun, and I think it was productive as well.

I'm getting tired, though.  I usually train on a four week cycle, which is three working weeks followed by a rest week.  This is Week 5, however, meaning that I haven't had a rest week since early July.  I still feel okay, but in the back of my mind, I know that I need to back off soon and let my body recover.  Recovery is an important part of training.  But while that's easy to say, it's hard to do when you feel like you're making progress.  This week in particular I finally managed to get down below 195 lbs for the first time in almost a year, and I felt good both in the water and on the bike.  Yes, I'm tired, but it's going to take a change to my circumstances to force a change to my training.  As a matter of reality, swimming three times per week and riding my regular commute is a solid training plan all by itself.  I could cut yardage, but I don't particularly want to.  Still, that's really the only way to do it without changing my schedule.

Fortunately, we're headed on vacation later this week, and that promises to be less rigorous.  That's a good thing.

RPG News & Other Notes

I don't usually do RPG-type news, but a few things caught my eye this morning:

5E Adventure Review: The Fall of Cahokiantep (Merric's Musings)
The adventure is presented as an 11-page pdf, and consists of seven “scenes”, some of which might potentially have several encounters. It’s a wild, fantastic adventure, which should appeal to those wanting more than “just another dungeon” to explore. I mean, how many adventures are there where you get to fight an astral dragon turtle?

I love the imagination of it all...

If you missed it, I put out "The Fall of Cahokiantep" on Tuesday.  For what it's worth, I always try to do my D&D-type content on Tuesdays.  As of this writing, over 400 people have read "Fall of Cahokiantep," making it one of the most successful posts I've put out.  Readership is way up in general, though, and I've been especially gratified to note that more roleplaying folks seem to be coming by for other posts, like "5 Things on a Friday."   Thanks for that!

As an aside, I badly need a cover image for "Cahokiantep".

Saturday News & Notes: 49 Days to Football

Army's season kicks off the Friday before Memorial Day Weekend.

I don't know what the rest of football nation is doing, but it ought to be fun to see how Coach Monken's squad starts coming together after a full year in the system.  Here's hoping!

50 days until kickoff! #ArmyWestPoint #WestPoint #USMA #USArmy

A photo posted by Army West Point Athletics (@goarmywestpoint) on Jul 16, 2015 at 4:07pm PDT

Saturday News & Notes: The "Quiet" Professionals

So much for the quiet professional. The silence is deafening. http://t.co/cMz2HRc7Ta
— Doctrine Man (@Doctrine_Man) April 25, 2015

Tri Training Log: 4/4 to 4/12 (Week 4)

The good news is that I finally managed to get back out on the bike.  The bad news is that I did it largely because my right knee was so sore after running on Friday that I was afraid to try to run again this weekend.  I'm getting concerned, but the coming week is a scheduled Rest Week.  That at least gives me the chance to maybe heal a little.  We'll see where we are after that.