Samunwal

Whoa - heavy stuff, but you're pretty resilient and I know will come out stronger. Sounds like you're already headed that way. Won't be easy, but you'll get there.

Hey!! Don't know how I missed your post when I was checking in the other day, but I did. You did a 14er!!! That is awesome!!!! I almost died back in 2011 doing a 12er in New Mexico - hadn't been able to train hard enough cause of a hip replacement summer before. So, squeeee!!!

Yep - May have to swing thru Philly next summer. The Art of Clineliness is sounding more and more like something that has to be seen to be truly appreciated. I got to know the place a bit while in college because my SU went to school there (matter of fact, I'd go for a run to the art museum and do a Rocky at the top of the stairs), so it might not be hard to talk her into a trip. But, after the 2 week canoe trek through the Everglades on the Wilderness Waterway (I should probably warn her we're gonna do that, although surprise her with it as an anniversary present. Hmmmm....)

Yikes on the injury, but better the arm than the kidlet. Way to stick with your program - that can be a booger on vacation.

Don't know what the doc told you or if you've seen a PT, but do make sure you're stretching everything upstream and downstream that links into the part of your back that's giving you issues. Speaking from the experience of the Revolt of the Kingdom of Middle Butt (don't know me, osteoarthritis in my left hip that needed a surgical hip resurfacing - much better after but still stiffens up if I'm not careful), gotta make sure the neighboring lands are also stretched. But, sounds like you're handling. Easier said than done, but be patient and don't stress. It's gonna get better the same you get stronger - incrementally and with consistent work.

SAMUNWAL!!! You ole so-and-so! Where have you been? I'ma find your thread right now and use ALL CAPS for EMPHASIS because I'm EXCITED you're here!

 

And why wouldn't you? What a dreamboat. That guy.

Y'all would make me blush if I had any sense of shame or modesty.

And you're doing right listening to your shoulders. Push it but just don't get nuts.

Yayyyy house!!!! Fingers crossed that it keeps going your way. What is this - the third place you've lived since we (virtually) met?

And, uh, I'm a year older than Power Granny (can't dead lift what she does, though).

How do men NOT come on to you? You lift, go ruck, fight, AND wear little bitty lifting shorts ..... to a BAR. (By the way - mmmmmmm, barrrrrrrrrr. Not gonna see one of those for another 9 months. Oh well - Mr. Liver probably needed the break. Not that he ever complains, as he's a real trooper, and like you, is determined to go the distance. But I digress [so what else is new] - back to you.) Do you just flash a gun at them, or what? I mean, a kick to the head, especially a well-delivered one, would just strike me as endearing, but then I ain't exactly what gets classified as normal. And SU - I wanna meet him, see what of kind of guy gets to see the Art of Clineliness up close and personal on a daily basis.

Guess you'll just have to go without.....

Okay, I been gone way too long. You've got some gnarly looking threads I gotta catch up on, but mañana. Too late right now (back in Afghanistan again). More later.

Dude!! Gonna confess, subbed w/out reading. Out of time tonight, will catch up on it tomorrow.

Cline! You insane animal you! Subbed, more later.

سلام چتور استى

Been gone too long and missed all of y'all. Also can't get the freakin Arabic script keyboard to do quite what I want it to (just says hi, how are you). Getting late, hitting the rack. More later.

So I go away for a year and things go all to hell. Waiting it hear how it went with the doc, but whatever he said, TAKE IT EASY UNTIL YOU HEAL!!!! Rush things and you'll just make em worse, but as much as I hate sitting out injuries too, I know that's a lot easier said than done. Getting late here (I'm back in Asscrackistan) but will be checking back in on ya.

Heeeeeeeeee's baaaaaaaack (and back in Afghanistan). Won't sign up for this challenge (late and only been a week so still trying to get my routine set) , but gonna follow you on this one.

I dunno. I think it would get old sleeping on the ground and talking to kids who have no money and no goals/direction. I'm too old. We stayed in a hotel with a bed and a hot shower and day hiked several parts of it. But then there was this pub in town every night... see you can't carry beer on the AT b/c it's just too heavy.

That's why God created Scotch. Not as thirst quenching as beer but much compact and still dang tasty.

I'm back. It was even more awesome than I thought it would be. Boy in my boat caught a 2 1/2 foot long Great Northern Pike the first time he put a line in the water (we ate it for dinner and it was awesome), my (admittedly old) solo tent (a Eureka - used to be a good brand but now overpriced pieces of crap) leaked both nights it rained (thank the lord for fiberfil blankets) but managed to sleep through it anyway, saw two moose crossing a channel between two lakes, got bit by (I think) a spider (bite is almost healed), and donated about a half gallon of blood to the many friendly mosquitoes. Speaking of which, this was my second trip to the Boundary Waters, but the first for everybody else. First morning, we're on the plane in Tampa waiting to take off, all of us in full Scout uniforms (I just don't wear a uniform to work often enough to get my fill), when a woman coming down the aisle asks in a heavy Minnesota / Wisconsin accent, "Where are you all going?" One of the boys answers "Boundary Waters Canoe Area," and as she says that's what she thought, another woman behind us said "Mosquitoes as big as ponies." I think up until that moment the boys might have thought I had been exaggerating about them. And they were horrible (the bugs, not the boys). The times it was the worst was during a portage when I was carrying our canoe and it turned into a mosquito hat (did I mention that you have to walk between the lakes, carrying everything to include the canoes?). They just filled up the upside-down boat while waiting their turn on the back of my neck. The worst time, the other Scoutmaster said it looked like someone had been driving nails into the back of my neck. In short, it was glorious.

But, I am back now and back into the challenge. Have lifted twice and mountain biked once since my return. I dropped the weights on all of the lifts and have started back with only 1 set of 5 instead of 5 sets of 5. This is a variation of Strong Lifts called "I am old and now break more easily than I used to." I'm going to work back up to 5 sets of 5 on all of my lifts before I resume adding weight. I figure that as slow as that may go, it's faster than recovering from another strained back. Biking, on the other hand, is something I'm going to go ahead and push. I did 10 miles Tuesday and would have gone farther if I hadn't had to wait out 30 minutes of Wrath of God rain before I could get going.

Still have to work out points for this bad boy, but will get to it later. Now to start checking out other peeps' threads.

Yep - already got a thread started but haven't touched it in 3 weeks. Link is in my signature now. Check it out, and I'll catch up on yours as quick as I can.

(Editing on 11 August 2014). Started this post last summer, life happened, now I'm back. But, I left this on my signature as my current challenge, some folks have already checked it out or posted, so I'll just make it the current challenge. Any body know if this gets credit as the longest procrastination in NF history?

Just in case the original date doesn't show after I edited this, the below was written on (I think) 30 July 2013 (yep - 2013):

Okay, I didn't get around to writing my challenge yesterday, and in about 7 hours I'd better be on an airplane headed for Minneapolis en route to the Boundary Waters Canoe Area with another Scoutmaster and 5 Boy Scouts (my wife is going with a different batch of Boy Scouts and another adult leader), so I'm pushed for time. We get back on 7 Aug, so on 8 August I'll get this straight. BUT, challenge will again include Strong Lifts (finally got my squat to 200 pounds - not huge, but a milestone for me), but this time without getting injured, Biking either 50 miles road or 35 miles trail (en route to 50 miles trail next challenge), get some freaking weight off, and check NF at least 3 times per week. I still haven't scored last time, but it I'ma give myself about 60% for the last challenge. I'll score it when I get back from the wilderness (Work - "How do we get in touch with you if we need you?" ME - "You don't. I'm going to be 50 miles into a wilderness area." Work - "But how do we get in touch with you?" ME - "Which part of 'you can't get in touch with me' do you not understand?") I hit Erawka's thread 'cause it was near the top and I saw it. I'll get to everybody else when I get back - if I do it now I wont get any sleep before we have to leave for the airport. As it is, I' might get 4 hours. BUT - it's okay because part of why I'm up so late was watching the Tampa Bay Rays beat Boston at Fenway (first time a visiting pitcher has beaten the BoSox twice at Fenway in 5 days since 1931) to reclaim first place in the AL East, so I'll be tired but happy in the morning.

Later!!

Hola!!! I'm on the William Tecumseh Sherman (a fellow West Pointer, if mostly known for arson) method of thread answers (ya know- slash & burn). Glad you're back - I'm off to the Bondary Waters Canoe Area for a week and half in about 7 hours (so wh076d31d1d0d6c6ey the fuck am I still awake?) so I'll be off line too. See ya in a week or so.

Beer? Check. Charred meat? Check. Blow something up? Well, I watched other people blow stuff up, does that count?

 

Good to see the workouts are coming along. You keep bringing up those weights and they won't stay light for long. I'm taking it the back is still headed in the right direction and you haven't suffered any setbacks if you're doing squats, deads and rows. That's the best part!

  

Back is heading in the right direction, and I know the weights will come back. Biggest problem is going to be my impatience more than anything, but as long as I remember I am old and more easily broken than I used to be, I'll be fine.

Yippee!! Good for you on the workouts!!! Woot woot.

And I love America!! In all ways you mentioned!

Now go be subversive, especially as you live in the home of American subversiveness...

And yesterday and today:

Thursday - mountain biked 10 miles, 8.3 mph pace. Pace kinda sucked, but it's a more technical trail system ("technical" = "will kill your silly ass") than I have been riding, so yesterday was a comb aerobic/anaerobic workout that I'm not used to now and consequently kicked my ass. Mojo was bad enough I wiped out on a really sandy uphill turn in the trail into the scrub on the side. Didn't realize I cut my face until I got home and my son asked if I had blood or strawberry jam on my face (it was blood). But, still a good ride with gopher tortoises, swallow tailed kites (one of the most beautiful birds we have down here), ospreys, and bull gators roaring at each other. Naturally, said roaring was taking place within about 10 meters of one section of trail. I couldn't see either, but by the volume of roar they were pretty good sized. But, as Mrs Samunwal said when I told her about it, "when you're out there by yourself with them, they're ALL pretty good sized." (if you're curious where I was riding, it was Balm Boyette Scrub Nature Preserve - there are some pretty cool pics you can find on line, and I'll post some of my own once I can figure out to do so from my iPad)

Friday (5 Jul) - Lifted: 5 x 5 Squats @ 155; 5 x 5 overhead press @ 75, 1 x 5 deadlift @ 145, and one-armed cable pull downs 4 x 5 @ 52.5 (I wish all weights were in kgs, but it's lbs)

Tomorrow and Sunday, will be canoeing on the Withlacoochee River in the Green Swamp

Happy Fourth of July! If you're an American nerd, go celebrate your independence - write something subversive, go protest something, or demand something of your State and Federal Representatives and Senators. Remind them of who works for whom. Then have a beer and some charred meat, blow something up (with FIREWORKS, not a bomb - it IS a celebration). If you're a non-American nerd, go do the same thing, anyway. We like big parties here.

Annnnnnd, now a work out update.

Monday - lifted, 2 x 5 of squats and overhead press, 1 x 5 dead lift. Wienie weights for all, but still taking it easy.

Tuesday - alternated 2 minutes of walking with 2 minutes of running. Did 10 push ups or 20 seconds of planks in the middle of the walks.

Wednesday - lifted, 3 x 5 squats, bench, and bent-over rows. Still lighter weights, but bringing them up.

That is a BEAUTIFUL picture. So glad this move has been good. Can't wait to hear about resumption of mobility. You should get mountain bikes - you're in one of the greatest places in the universe for it.....

Got room for a cranky old fart? I think I might qualify for "dirty" - we're sitting under a system that tried to turn into a tropical storm and failed, so now it's just raining on us. I'm gonna go run in it. I'll probably stop along the way and do some pushups, some planks, and maybe even some situps, cause I FREAKIN' LOVE MUD AND SWEAT. I will be one dirty old man in about 10 minutes. Hehehehehe.

Ola, my friend. Hope this finds you well. Best advice I can give is unfortunately kinda crude - just tell your parents (either literally or figuratively, and you're such a sweetheart I know you'll choose figuratively which is perfectly okay) to go outside and play a nice game of hide and go fuck themselves. Think about it being how Bernie and Daisy learned to accommodate each other - they didn't do it by bumping noses and deciding to go find a dead gopher to roll around on together. They tested each other, learned that the other was not going to just roll over and submit, and thereby learned they had to respect the other. Don't know if your parents will learn to respect you, but trust me - it'll do wonders for YOU respecting you. Will it be scary? OH yeah. Will it be worth it? Was getting back on Ironman worth it? Was the race with your carmel-cannabis corn crunching bro worth it? Only you know that, but from what you said about both, I think so, and I think you would find this also worth it. I also think if you just don't give yourself time to think about it but just do it, it won't be nearly as scary as you're thinking it will be, especially if J is there supporting you.