How are you?
How was your progress on your goals for last week?
What are your goals for this week?
My goals were
7/7 days of healthy coping - done, at 10 days in a row now
journal daily - 6 days
visualize daily - done
foam roll daily - 5 days
Goals are the same as last week: be at 17 days in a row w/o a particular unhealthy coping skill on next Mon’s thread, journal/foam roll/visualization skill practice daily
Here is my update covering the last 2,414 weeks.
It was late in 1980 (yes last century) that I changed jobs and was disappointed in how out of shape I was. I had previously run XC in high school and university and had completed 2 marathons. Life and a not great work situation led to this change in locations and jobs.
My new job had a gym in the building and a group that went for a run at lunch. I decided to join in and started a new fitness regime.
In 1980, I ran 795 km in total. I was hooked on getting back at it. Over the following years, I increased my running and in 1991 I ran over 6,900 km.
I always kept track of all my stats being an accounting type. Starting on green 7 column ledger pages, then gradually evolving to Lotus 123 and finally to Excel.
In 1996, I added some casual cycling into the mix and after a few years I bought a custom road bike and starting competing in duathlons, the harder of the multisport races.
Around 2000, I decided I need a BHAG (big hairy ass goal) and set a goal of 500,000 km over 50 years starting back in 1980.
As running goes, I had chronic achilles tendonitis and had to ratchet down the running. In the winter of 2007, I decided to learn to swim at age 50. Adult onset swimming is a real challenge. Being a Taurus and a stubborn person I kept up my swimming. Later that year I did my first sprint distance triathlon. Being a bad swimmer it sure was easy to find my bike in transition, but I made up some ground on the bike and a lot on the run.
In 2008, I continued on and a friend rooked me into doing a full ironman which ended up being my 5th triathlon in total. While I was in good half IM shape it was a crash training course to be ready for IMCanada 10 weeks later.
As a strong runner, weak swimmer, mediocre biker, racing stopped appealing to me if I couldn’t stay injury free for running. In 2012, I decided I wouldn’t race any more after the ITU World Long Distance Triathlon Championship in Las Vegas. For me it was the perfect triathlon. Due to cold temperatures the swim was cancelled (yeah) and it was just a bike run.
I don’t need the races to motivate me and enjoy going out and running, biking and/or swimming nearly every day.
After 46 years 3 months and 2 days I hit the 500,000 km mark.
Here are some stats and mile(or km) stones.
Swim – 7,940 km (since 2006)
Bike – 304,700 km (since 1996)
Run – 187,470 km (since 1/1/1980)
ST Points – 742,200 – average approx. 16,000 per year
Laps around the equator – 12.5
100,000 miles running – 2013 – year 34
S/B/R distance to the moon – 2017 – year 38
When I’m done and gone, remember me as the guy who is still lost in space.
jimruns
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very nice!
Glad to have you.
You just hit your half-million km goal! You must be excited. Congrats!
What are your prospective goals? (Sounds like you’re near my age: 69.)
Dr. TC: I look at what you’re doing as being successful over 98% of the time in the last (about) 2 months.
I’ve been dealing with a lot of non-training stuff lately. The first rental inspection since covid of our house next door; the tenants had damaged it. (The mom has medical problems right now, so I don’t have the heart to kick them out right now.) (All screens destroyed, all interior doors and jambs needed repairs, holes in the walls, electrical panel screwed with, etc.) Still more to do. (Non-driving) son’s jury duty on same day as inspection. Fixing financial stuff with state agencies and trying to deal with some tax issues with IRS (e.g. 6 hours yesterday without getting my questions answered.) Not even able to stay up to date with my class.
So making training goals impossible at this point. Retrospectively:
A little bit of bike trainer in granny gear (about 14 mph for 75 min.)
Using the SciFit arm trainer. (Used it as the warm-up for PT so I know it won’t aggravate the rotator cuff issue, which seems to be getting better, but still a concern.) Started at 20 minute sessions, now up to 35 minutes.
Some running and treadmill, with it becoming easier to jog for transport.
Weight is still disasterville.
I’m hoping that a lot of the non-triathlon stuff is cleared by next week, i.e.
Get the info needed to file taxes correctly (and have them filed, including returns that would need to be amended), get the licensed electrician for the fuse box, and the permit for rebuilding the back porch and complete the repairs we can do ourselves. Since a lot of this is done from 9-5, this allows me early and late time to do other things.
(Athletic) goals when the dust settles:
Continue SciFit and add back other PT exercises. (I might be able to swim slowly with a straight-arm recovery.)
Get comfortable on the bike with 2-hour (gentle) sessions, increasing gearing as muscles/glycogen stores start coming back.
Get so I can average Olympic distance/day for a month, time no object, starting around May 1. (Swimming may have to be replaced.) (My most effective weight-loss period in the last 5 years was doing this when Dev proposed it a few years ago.)
All this requires that I be more effective, as I’ve been avoiding doing the (dreaded) things that have, therefore, been put off.
No real goals going forward other than to keep on keeping on. I bike most days other than when there is too much snow on the roads. My running is very limited now due to OA in the knees but if I can get out and do 15 to 30 minutes daily I’m now content with that. I don’t like pool swimming so OWS as often as I can. As we had snow again today (we’ve had snow in each of the last 6 months) some of those outdoor activities are restricted. OWS is a few weeks in the Caribbean in the winter and 3 or so months here in Ontario.
I’ll probably try to maintain a 10k per year goal until I can’t.
1/1 week on all goals… 11 days in a row
Finished off last week with a chilled 10 x 150m 10% grade trail hike with poles. All up an hour/6km hike then off to visit the 4 youngest grandkids. First time in over 2 years we stayed overnight.
Monday. I was up early (5 am) as was 1.6 year old Lillian and her parents. Daylight saving finished Saturday night so it got light early and I did an 11 km walk in the rain, I jogged 2 kms of it.After getting home in the arvo I did a 50 minute kayak on our local little reservoir with efforts of 5, 4, 3, 2, 1 minutes.
Tuesday. A nice 6 kms hiking in misty conditions through the forest, lots of photos. In the arvo a 2 hour mountain bike ride with a good mix of terrain. Quite a bit of time on the shovel and the barrow so skipped the weights.
The plan today is a longish easy trail run. I’ve got a lot of stuff to do around the property so I will probably skip my weight session again. I find the labouring work is enough strength work nowadays.
As Mike said Dr T you are hitting your targets nearly all the time, good job.
You seem to have so much (too much?) going on Mike. I like my simple life. It has been a bit more complicated in recent times by the separation of my daughter and her partner. He is still living on our property. My daughter has put some pressure on him to move out by the weekend. I will be pleased to have him go. He is lazy and a bit of a grot. Cigarette butts and booze cans everywhere. He never finishes things he starts so we have various half done jobs everywhere. Cars, motor bikes and tractors in various states of disrepair.
I am impressed as much by your record keeping as your stats Jim. I do remember I did 30,000 kms running in the 5 years from.1980 through 1984. I realised after that I was a pretty hopeless runner so starting taking a less serious approach both to training and the tracking of it.
Your photos always make my day! Thanks!
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outdoor work is indeed strength work.
@madMike100 does have a lot going on.
12 days in a row!!!
2/2 week on not using the unhealthy coping skill
2/2 journal
2/2 visualize
1/2 foam roll
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@UK2ME how are you?
13 days in a row without using the unhealthy coping skill
3/3 week not using the unhealthy coping skill
3/3 week journal
3/3 week visualize
2/3 week foam roll
I ran for 90 minutes on forest trails and farm roads on Wednesday, slow and easy.
Yesterday I did an hour of muddy hiking in the rain and an hour of mountain biking, no rain but 50 kph winds.
A few more photos from this week’s activities.
I love your photos!
14 days in a row without the unhealthy coping skill! two weeks! 93/99 days without using it this year
4/4 journal
4/4 visualize
3/4 foam roll
15 days in a row!
5/5 journal
5/5 visualize
4/5 foam roll
I got outside (a bit). Trainer sessions Monday, Thursday and this morning. Ran on Wednesday morning and today. Power on the bike is at all time highs, running, not so much.
Today was a brick, which, well, hurt but the good kind. Felt amazing to run in shorts and a tank top again. Starting to experiment with nutrition while running. Not sold on a hydration bladder, and definitely not the pack I have.
Tomorrow will be an easy ride post Paris-Roubaix. Really looking forward to getting the coworkers out on an XC ride on Tuesday. Maybe next weekend the water will be warm enough to jump in a lake.
16 days in a row!
6/6 journal
6/6 visualize
4/6 foam roll