Ergolad

Every May since 2018 we've done a challenge in the Strava Nerd Fitness Group, shooting for daily physical activity. If you're on Strava, feel free to join the Group. Here's a link to the challenge post on Strava. General Guidelines: If it’s not logged in Strava, it didn’t happen. Track 30 mins of something daily. Feel free to share your specific goals in the post on Strava. Also don't worry about showing up to this late (I posted it last minute). Start when you can and go for 30! Happy to just see you showing up at all! 👍 #pandemicliving

Right on. I love the idea of a meditation community. Though sometimes I feel the spirit of meditation can be entangled in all the tech and chatter the app can enable… I've turned off many of the community features and start by going directly to meditation. I interact in the community aspects more actively as a separate session. See you on there!

Hey Shukar. Always good to see you on RK. Kudos to you for starting a new challenge. It's been a long time since I've done one, or at least one where I've held myself publicly accountable. If you're still looking for meditation apps, I highly recommend you check out Insight Timer for iOS and Android. Great tool for timing, tracking your meditation progress and also dialing into a community of meditators from different disciplines all over the world. Plus, it's LOADED with tons of free guided mediations. http://www.insighttimer.com Over the last year development was taken over by a new team of practicing meditators. They are really doing great things with it. The app has tons of groups dedicated to a variety of subject matter. I started a Nerd Fitness Group within the app for Nerd Fitness mediators. In the Nerd Fitness Group, you're able to dial-in to other Nerd Fitness members, easily become meditating friends, talk NF and Mediation, and be notified when a NF friend is meditating. If all that sounds like way too much, know that everything in the app is customizable. So if you want to only use it as a timer, you can set it up for just that. It'll record metrics in the background. You can choose to view them or ignore them. If you want a full blown community social experience, and to receive feedback for the milestones in your practice, all that comes enabled by default, or you can turn it off. Check it out. (We also have a small NF group on Strava too!)

Resurrecting this thread and cross-posting the info a bit in case anyone is looking for a solid meditation app: If metrics are your thing (which I'm fairly confident they are for most nerds), check out Insight Timer for iOS and Android. Great tool for tracking your meditation progress and also dialing into a community of meditators from different disciplines all over the world. Plus, it's LOADED with tons of free audio mediation guides. http://www.insighttimer.com Over the last year development was taken over by a new team of dedicated meditators. They are really doing great things with it. To create a space within the app for Nerd Fitness mediations practitioners, I started a Nerd Fitness Group. The app has tons of groups dedicated to a variety of subject matter. In the Nerd Fitness Group, you'll be able to dial-in to other Nerd Fitness members, easily become meditating friends, talk NF and Mediation, and be notified when a NF friend is meditating. If all that sounds like way too much, know that everything in the app is customizable. So if you want to just use it as a timer, you can set it up for just that. However, if you want a full blown community experience and receive feedback for the milestones in your practice, all that comes enabled by default. I can't really think of a nerdier way of meditating.

Resurrecting this thread in case anyone is looking for resources: If metrics are your thing (which I'm fairly confident they are for most nerds), check out Insight Timer for iOS and Android. Great tool for tracking your meditation progress and also dialing into a community of meditators from different disciplines all over the world. Plus, it's LOADED with tons of free audio mediation guides. http://www.insighttimer.com I like this app and found it through the Insight Meditation community: http://www.insightmeditationcenter.org The Insight Meditation Center has some wonderful, free, non-religious programs to introduce oneself to Meditation and a great community to help support ones progress and answer questions. But my real touchstone is the Insight Timer app. Over the last year development was taken over by a new team of dedicated meditators. They are really doing great things with it. To create a space within the app for Nerd Fitness mediations practitioners, I started a Nerd Fitness Group. The app has tons of groups dedicated to a variety of subject matter. In the Nerd Fitness Group, you'll be able to dial-in to other Nerd Fitness members, easily become meditating friends, talk NF and Mediation, and be notified when a NF friend is meditating. If all that sounds like way too much, know that everything in the app is customizable. So if you want to just use it as a timer, you can set it up for just that. However, if you want a full blown community experience and receive feedback for the milestones in your practice, all that comes enabled by default. I can't really think of a nerdier way of meditating.

Keeping the thread alive. Started studying Yang Long Form back in 1991. Been an off and on again love affair. Though at times I've been proficient in the full sequence, I'm fairly solid on the 1st two thirds. That's part of the problem, jump starting your practice so many times, you have to start over again and agin, reviewing the earlier material more than the latter. I'd like to get back into it and get dialed all the way through, really focus on the last third now for a while. Studied with a variety of teachers over the years, but my latest school has been Master Kai Ying Tung Academy of T'ai Chi Ch'uan and studies with a couple of his senior students in Los Angeles. It stays true to the style I first learned with Dr. Marshall Ho'o. For those challenged by distance finding a teacher, I recommend going the extra mile. You don't need to attend a class every week, what's important is that you practice regularly. So, maybe that means finding a good intensive seminar, workshop or camp/retreat, and then practicing the principles until you can attend another one. That could be once every 3 months, or longer. You'd be surprised what you can learn with an intensive class. It's also great to find a partner to practice and learn with. You can help and motivate each other. Also, videos can be good, but I think they are best used as reference for something you've already been exposed to in the flesh. I often use my teacher's long form video when I've lost the plot and need a refresher of the sequence. I've started and stopped my practice so many times in the last 25 years, I can tell you that you never finish learning the form. It constantly evolves and deepens. Just keep practicing and refining what you know. Avoid jumping around, but focus and commit to a form/school/style. Set your intention and you will be surprised at the resources you will discover.

Right on. Hope to see you on Strava!

Kick ass and take names.

Hey there folks! If you are a Strava user, or looking for a place to track your runs, rides, swims, etc., I've started a general club there for Nerd Fitness. Check it out: http://www.strava.com/clubs/nerdfitness It's an open club. Anyone can join. I don't intend to actively manage it much, post events or anything. If someone wants to play a more active roll, join, let me know, and I'll set you as an admin. Could end up with Clubs for all the Guilds too if we wanted, but I figured keeping it simple and starting small was the way forward. Hope to see you all out there so we can bask in the power of all your metrics!

Challenge Report: (reposted from my challenge thread) Overall went pretty well. My grading here isn't very scientific. STOP WASTING TIME - I'll call this a D. Basically not a lot changed for me here. This was way to nebulous of a goal. Need to figure a way to make it SMART. I still procrastinate like no one's business. RUN 3-4 days/wk: I'll call this an A. I set milestones and ran consistently. PR-ed for a half marathon, trained with my coach regularly and when a mild injury started to flare up a bit, I backed off, but kept running and am recovering well. Still feel on track for the August Bulldog 25K. STRENGTH TRAIN 2-3 sessions/wk: I'll call this a B, mostly because I allowed more time than necessary between my pushup sessions. But, I'll qualify that by saying I did strain my shoulder a bit trying to keep up with the pushup goals set by the app, which were unreasonable IMO. Lost my edge and ended up getting an average of about 2 sessions a week. MEDITATE: +A! Not only did I meet the criteria I set but I exceeded it by taking on a new 2X a day mantra based meditation practice. This is a new one for me, and challenging to accomplish, but so far I've been consistent. Not that this was part of my challenge officially, but I'd mentioned being between jobs and my concern about maintaining my objectives while working. Well, I secured a new position and start the middle of next month. I'll have to put my money where my mouth is. We'll see how that goes. CHALLENGE GRADE: B

Challenge Report: Overall went pretty well. My grading here isn't very scientific. STOP WASTING TIME - I'll call this a D. Basically not a lot changed for me here. This was way to nebulous of a goal. Need to figure a way to make it SMART. I still procrastinate like no one's business. RUN 3-4 days/wk: I'll call this an A. I set milestones and ran consistently. PR-ed for a half marathon, trained with my coach regularly and when a mild injury started to flare up a bit, I backed off, but kept running and am recovering well. Still feel on track for the August Bulldog 25K.STRENGTH TRAIN 2-3 sessions/wk: I'll call this a B, mostly because I allowed more time than necessary between my pushup sessions. But, I'll qualify that by saying I did strain my shoulder a bit trying to keep up with the pushup goals set by the app, which were unreasonable IMO. Lost my edge and ended up getting an average of about 2 sessions a week.MEDITATE: +A! Not only did I meet the criteria I set but I exceeded it by taking on a new 2X a day mantra based meditation practice. This is a new one for me, and challenging to accomplish, but so far I've been consistent.Not that this was part of my challenge officially, but I'd mentioned being between jobs and my concern about maintaining my objectives while working. Well, I secured a new position and start the middle of next month. I'll have to put my money where my mouth is. We'll see how that goes. CHALLENGE GRADE: B

When I first started mixing up my own sports drink from scratch I experimented with a few sugar sources: honey, maple syrup & agave. For me, the one that was the most even energy load has been agave. Never tried Nuun tabs.

The content of this interview over at RunnersConnect.net is killer: Phil Wharton, along with his father Jim, pioneered a standard known as Active Isolated Flexibility, or AIF, that delivers the benefits of stretching without the muscle damage. The short version of AIF is that you need to dynamically stretch in order to achieve proper musculoskeletal balances that will allow you to stay healthier and train in a more consistent fashion for a longer period of time. The long version? That’s what's covered in the interview. Phil Wharton was a young runner when he developed a particularly bad–and painful–case of scoliosis (curvature of the spine). In his quest for correcting the problem, he and his father became musculoskeletal specialists and therapists with a “secret†to allowing the body to work on it’s own. By the way, Phil, through AIF, corrected his scoliosis and THEN was able to train himself to a 2:23 marathon personal best, too! Here are some of the things they talked about: The best practices of stretching.How to use active isolated flexibility to avoid injury.The role diet plays in your training, beyond your overall health.How to deal with and heal an ever-irritating malady, such as plantar fasciitis.

Love your dedicated updates. An example to us all. Trying to work on my diet as well. Went pseudo-paleo back in the beginning of 2012. I still do limited dairy (mostly greek yogurt and cheese) and a very limited amount of sweetener (agave and honey) every now and then (long run home made sports drinks and non-dairy vitamix ice creams). I'm also not terribly careful about the source of my meats/fish/poultry, but try to go organic grass fed when I can. My results out of the gate with paleo were pretty astounding. At the time I was training for a marathon, it was X-mas and I was putting on weight, even with more weekly mileage than I'd ever done before. I was shocked by how much grains/carbs I was eating, and didn't really notice until I started cutting them out. I've plateaued a bit now, and am toying with limiting cheese intake. I consume a lot fresh fruit too, so I'm getting quite a chunk of carbs there. My primary carb outside of fruit is sweet potatoes. I love me some sweet potato fries, but am also trying to limit my fried food intake. Fried stuff seems to be a great way to sneak in wheat through breading, etc, not to mention the high heating of the oils isn't the best for you. I think if I dialed down on the cheese and fried stuff and was a little more careful about portions, substituting for more greens, I'd lean up again fairly quickly. I'm also not so careful about dressings and sauces, which are an underestimated source of evil. But overall I'm pretty pleased. Curious to see what the results of my blood work for my next physical are. After 9 months on the above diet, I was pretty solid, not showing an issues. If anything my levels had all improved. I've always been a bit suspect about paleo and endurance activities. In addition to making a homemade sports drink for anything in the 10+ mile range, I also carry dates and chew them like most people do GU. Which means a date about even 6 miles or so. I just can't bring myself to do GU, and so far dates have been working pretty well as a substitute. Not to mention I really enjoy them. Did I mention my other cheat? Chocolate milk! I get those little drink boxes of Horizon organic chocolate milk from Costco (where I also buy almonds for cheap to make my own almond butter). When I go long, anything over 10 miles I reward myself with a box or two of that stuff when I'm done. I can't say I really get to enjoy it because I hoover it down so fast, but I've heard that it's a great recovery drink, so I go with it. By the way, Disney was really fun with my family. That place is exhausting! But we had a good time. There's something to be said about getting to live vicariously through a 2 & 4 year old. I think I loved Disney when I was little, thought it was cheesy as a teenager and young adult, and now, getting to watch my brother's little munchkins soak it all in, I'm finding I loved it all over again!

Just checked and this app still appears to be free… Thought it was a one day only thing.

Thanks man. Um, because I'm a fan of ChiRunning, I searched their teacher database first and got some local names. But it wasn't until I did a workshop with Danny Dreyer, the guy behind ChiRunning, that I met who I'm working with now, Steve Mackel. He was assisting Danny at the workshop and he approached me and gave me some pointers that were very helpful. I learned he was located fairly close to me in Pasadena, so I did a private with him. It too was super-helpful, making the concepts behind ChiRunning more digestible. When my schedule freed up I just bought a 6-pack of sessions with him and it's been great. In addition to Steve, I also did a private with a crossfit guy I found through the VivoBarefoot site. He wasn't as helpful, but he did record video of my running which I liked. In addition to all the minimalist/midfoot or forefoot strike/barefoot inspired coaching, there are tons of traditional coaches out there. You could check your local specialty running store. They might be able to point you in the right direction. Online I like Jeff Gaudette at RunnersConnect. I found him through the free training plans on RunKeeper, followed his profile link and ended communicating with him a bit. I liked that he has always been responsive to my questions, even though I've never actually paid for his coaching, only an Elite Membership with RunKeeper and trained for my first marathon with his RK training plan. If you get on his RunnersConnect mailing list they send out regular emails with great running tips. Hope that helps.

2013 Pasadena 1/2 Marathon = 1:56:56 Color me pleased.

right on man.

9.9? GPS error… sure of it. I mean what's 0.1 miles really?? If anyone asked, I'd say you were a 10 mile animal. Begone evil Plantar Fasciitis! Glad you're improving. Keep on keepin' on!

An iPhone app that I use to track my running, iSmoothRun, is free today in the app store. If you're really a geek and you run, then this app will make you wet your pants. I don't have a horse in this race. I just figured free is good and y'all might dig it. iSmoothRun Pro GPS/Pedometer Tracker for Runners

Whoa. I'll consider myself lucky having been visited by a 2 and 4 year old for much of last week. Somehow parenthood seems to be losing its luster.

Have had two sets of house guests over the last two weeks and totally forgot to check in here last week. Gonna do a recap now. Run: Killing it with lots of running over the last two weeks. Meeting my goals and then some. Tapered a bit this week; running the Pasadena 1/2 Marathon tomorrow. Goal is to break 2 hrs, a PR. Supposed to be a hot one, so we'll see. I like the heat, and I better be ready for it running the Bulldog in August. Got in a ChiRunning session the other day and worked out a strategy for the race with my coach. Mediation: Still sticking to my philosophy of doing something meditative. Solid with it. Haven't done as much Tai Chi class with family in town, but I keep things up and have attended at least once a week. In addition I started training in a new meditation method and it will actually have me meditating regularly again. I'm optimistic. Also got a copy of a book about running as meditation, looking forward to finding some time to read that. Strength: On target with strength training. Making progress with my 100 Pushups program. It made a 20 pushup leap this week, which challenged my confidence. I didn't make it, but made a solid gain. Will repeat until I push through. Taking an extra day off so I'm not recovering on my race day. Also worked out with my trainer each week. Enjoyed the plank stuff from our challenge a week back. Want to do more of that, and will. Had a weird flair up of lower back pain, but managed it well, got in solid recovery and it never really manifested. Time Management: Well, I think I'm doing OK, considering all the activity in my house. I lost the plot a bit the other day, but recovered, making time for myself today. Wish I could do it all, but sometimes I just have to set some boundaries. Here's an analogy: I have a Chevy Volt. For 9 months I ran that car off of one tank of gas, managing to get everywhere I needed to go on the 30-40 mile electric range, only rarely drawing on gas. I've been using a lot of gas lately. Circumstances change though… rolling with it. Well, in the spirit of this goal, let's wrap it up, get to race prep for tomorrow, and my other tasks. Of note, there appears to be potential for work again looming on the horizon. Nothing solid, but an interview and two other projects expressing interest. That in itself is a whole other topic. I'll say this, I'll take it one step at a time, not project too much, and meet the decisions head on when and if they have to be made. Hope everyone is doing well. Kick ass and take names.

Yeah, it's an interesting journey, right? I'm about to read a book on running as meditation, Running With the Mind of Meditation: Lessons for Training Body and Mind by Sakyong Mipham Rinpoche. Curious to see what it offers. I also read an interesting review on Amazon regarding Chi Running that has me thinking… Having had a background in Chi Kung and Tai Chi, I'm curious as well to see what further investigations along the lines of the reviewer's comments yield.

Not a fan of Burpees. Flashbacks to torquing my back doing them once upon a time. Increasing my mileage and introducing more core work, I'm walking the razor's edge already. May come up with some other body weight stuff and continue to work the core. I'm already doing this 100 pushup program. Can I count that? My next workout's got me jumping up 20 more pushups, doing stupid numbers like 5 sets @ 20, 25, 15, 15, 25+. Egh... So, per minute? So you start by doing 1 in 1 minute, then 2 in minute 2, 3, in minute 3 and so on? Wow, that would take forever…. Am I missing something?