So since I cannot afford things like formal coaching, I have to rely on what I can pull together from various sources. The result is a mish-mash of stuff that I glom together into a semi-coherent whole.
Training
Back At It: Training
Officially, I’m back at training. My back, generally, is okay now…the cortisone shots seem to have resolved everything pain-wise, so I’m feeling about 90%. Every so often I get sharp twinges of pain, or tingling spreading up and down my back, but that’s the exception, rather than the rule. Sunday, I hit the gym and … Read more
My Health Strategy
There was a time in my life when I could bang out 96 push-ups in two minutes, 120 situps in another two, and peel off a 2-mile run in 10:30. I miss being in that kind of shape. Realistically, I know it’s going to be difficult (if not impossible) to turn the clock back 20 years and be in the same physical shape I was in while stationed at Fort Bragg. But I want to get healthier and get back to racing again.
This year, I started riding again — more than I have since about 2007, and started logging all my data with Strava and a Garmin. My main thrust was trying to commute to work once a week — the route is mostly flat, and about 23-25 miles one-way (depending on the trail closure). Over the course of the summer, I got faster and faster at it, and enjoyed myself more and more as I could see serious progress happening in my Strava data. Even riding that once per week, I noticed not only my times improving (and setting several PRs per ride), but I noticed that I was dropping weight — my face was getting thinner, my pants were more loose, and the little beer belly I’d built up over the last decade was melting away. When I rode the Powderhorn 24 in August as part of a team, I felt super-strong and was happily cranking out the miles. Things have been on the upswing.