tinkerer hurdles the obstacles

[SaltyDragon]

5 minutes ago, tinkerer said:

Ok ok, I'll get back to work!

 

Ooo, sorry! Didn't mean to step on the celebration, there! You just seemed to be anxious to get back to it. And I don't mean to dismiss how impressed – and inspired – I am. I can only hope to do so well in my race.

[Asa Pond]

Wow, Tink. That's an amazing race! Congrats!

[tinkerer]

Week 1 Day 2: Strength

I haven't got a lot of sleep this week and worked from 7am to 7pm yesterday. I really didn't want to do the strength routine but there isn't going to be another good day for it so I just did it.

 

Week 1 Day 3: Running

Still not much sleep but went from my normal 5 am run. I still feel like I'm in a little bit of a recovery mode from the race but enjoying just putting in some easy miles. My wife and I have a date night tonight so won't be working on either projects or fitness things.

 

13:54 Project Hours to 5:27 Fitness Hours

 

On 4/5/2016 at 10:11 PM, SaltyDragon said:

 

Ooo, sorry! Didn't mean to step on the celebration, there! You just seemed to be anxious to get back to it. And I don't mean to dismiss how impressed – and inspired – I am. I can only hope to do so well in my race.

Oh, no worries. I didn't take it as anything negative just encouragement to not bask in my post-race happiness and forget to move onward with future goals.

23 hours ago, Asa Pond said:

Wow, Tink. That's an amazing race! Congrats!

Thanks, I'm already looking forward to the next one in a few weeks.

[peelout]

Date night.  Good idea.  Have fun.

[tinkerer]

Week 1 Day 4: Climbing

First day of outside climbing for 2016: Complete! We had beautiful weather and my wife and I took her little brother and our neighbor climbing outside at the local climbing area. Our neighbor had never climbed outside before and my brother-in-law has only been once. It was a fun day but not a particularly challenging climbing day. I did get in my first outdoor sport lead for the year, though!

 

Week 1 Day 5: Running

40 minute run before work. I've been running at 5am since last fall and have seen very few other runners (or anyone for that matter). Now that the sun is coming up earlier and the weather is improving I'm seeing more people. In a way, it makes me sad to not have that time alone but I'm also glad for the company.

 

My plan is to do some painting after work today. If I can take off a bit early, I'll maybe have time for a hill climb too but the painting is the priority. Tomorrow I'm looking forward to going on an easy hike with my parents.

[peelout]

If I lived in an area w/ both rock climbing and white water kayaking (+ some skiing in the winter), I'd be in heaven. In central Illinois, we have corn fields.

[SaltyDragon]

Congrats on the first outdoor climbing of the year! Even if not particularly challenging, I think it's nice when you get to help others get involved with something you enjoy.

[tinkerer]

I didn't make in on the hill climb today. That's a bummer because I won't have time either tomorrow or Sunday for a hike so I'll miss that goal for the week. I did however spend 3 hours painting and fifteen minutes doing laundry to add to my growing totals:

 

17:09 Project Hours to 7:07 Fitness Hours

 

I also had a weird experience today. I think I mentioned that this weekend I head to Washington DC to meet with my congressmen for work. I do not normally wear a suit and so I tried mine on and found that the pants do not fit so well anymore. Based on the amount of training I've been doing, I honestly believe this is due to increased muscle but it is still a little hard to accept that idea and not worry that my old pants don't fit me anymore because I've gained fat-weight. I think it's a reflection of the fact that most often when someone complains that his/her clothes don't fit anymore they don't mean because of increased muscle.

 

 

If I lived in an area w/ both rock climbing and white water kayaking (+ some skiing in the winter), I'd be in heaven. In central Illinois, we have corn fields.

The Northwest US is a great place to live. Sometimes, I'd like to move around and see more of the world but I have a hard time figuring out where I'd want to go. Actually, it would be the alps...but I don't think they're hiring right now.

 

 

Congrats on the first outdoor climbing of the year! Even if not particularly challenging, I think it's nice when you get to help others get involved with something you enjoy.

I really enjoy taking new people rock climbing. I think seeing that "they are climbing a @$*!ing cliff!" in their eyes is pretty fun.

[acgilbert11@gmail.com]

That's an amazing time!! I know I'm a week behind, but it's always amazed me how much the race environment can push you past your normal expectations/pace!

 

Congrats!

[tinkerer]

Week 1 Day 6: Hiking

My wife and I drove up to visit my parents and went for a 3.6 mile hike with them. They live in a a very pretty area so it was really nice to get to visit.

We hiked along this lake:

 

Week 1 Day 7: Running

Today started by big trip to Washington, DC for work. I did the math and realized that I was 1:24 minutes shy of achieving my Zone 1 time, which I consider my most important goal. Despite my misgivings (there were a lot of misgivings) about running in a strange city about 100X (not an exaggeration) bigger than my own I ventured out. I am incredibly thrilled to have done so. The City has so many cool things to see and I only scratched the surface on my 9.3 mile run. I'm also pretty stoked to have achieved my 300 minutes of Zone 1 time despite a pretty busy week.

Here is a view of the Washington monument, Lincoln Memorial, and a plane landing at DCA.

[tinkerer]

And now for the Week 1 Summary!

 

Goal 1 - Run in Balance

17:09 Project Hours to 10:36 Fitness Hours

I added a lot more workout time this week than I added project time. That is OK but I need to make sure and hit the projects hard upon my return home Thursday. I'll try to keep adding to the Workout Time while traveling. So far, pretty balanced after two weeks!

 

Goal 2 - Zone 1 Training

Week 0: 80 minutes (shortened for race prep) OK, 71 minutes (going on a 9 minute run doesn't make sense and I got plenty of undocumented exercise shoveling compost)

Week 1: 300 minutes DONE! Kind of against the odds.

Week 2: 300 minutes (Travel week)

Week 3: 360 minutes

Week 4: 80 minutes (shortened for race prep)
 

Goal 3 - Other Training (5/6 currently)

Climbing once per week Week 0: Subbed Core Training, Week 1: Done! Outside!

Strength training once per week Week 0: Done, Week 1: Done!

Zone 3 training once per week (races will count during race weeks) Week 0: Race (Done!), Week 1: Not Done

[peelout]

 

 

Week 1 Day 6: Hiking

My wife and I drove up to visit my parents and went for a 3.6 mile hike with them. They live in a a very pretty area so it was really nice to get to visit.

We hiked along this lake:

 

 

That sounds perfect.  A family visit while hiking w/ beautiful scenery.

 

I like the way so much of your life revolves around the outdoors: exercise, time w/ wife, friends, and family, helping others through teaching classes.  

 

[acgilbert11@gmail.com]

As a Maryland native I don't spend a whole lot of time in DC, but it is a beautiful city. If you have time and like animals you should it up the National Zoo. It's free admission and the metro gets you close, there's a lot of hills in and around the zoo just as a heads up. It is amazing though!

 

Otherwise enjoy the museums of course and the rest of your trip!

 

https://nationalzoo.si.edu/

[RogueLibrarian]

Oh, man, I love DC. There's so much great stuff to do.

[tinkerer]

I'm only here for a few days and working a lot of that. I always feel I'm spending my time on the wrong things when I "tourist". Today I rented a bike and rode to Georgetown. Maybe I should have toured something but I was overwhelmed by choices.

[SaltyDragon]

 

I always feel I'm spending my time on the wrong things when I "tourist". Today I rented a bike and rode to Georgetown. Maybe I should have toured something but I was overwhelmed by choices.

 

I get this way too, sometimes. I try to remind myself that it's not that important, and just to enjoy whatever I decide to do. A long run and a bike tour through the city sound like great choices to me! Good job on the week, and the hike on the lake sounds fantastic.

[tinkerer]

Week 2 Day 2: DC Adventures

Well, it was a pretty interesting time trying to get in a 5K run. I decided to ride a rental bike to Georgetown, run my 5K along the river, and then bike back to my hotel in time from my meeting at 2pm. I left at 11 thinking it would be a half hour bike ride, half hour run, and half hour ride home. Lots of time! (Haha).

So the rent-a-bike program is pretty cool. You get to use a bike for a day for $8. You just park it in a bike dispenser rack when you aren't using it and then check another one out later. However, I didn't really know where the bike lanes were. I started riding in a really nice one which quickly disappeared. I was then in 3 lanes of traffic with angry buses honking horns at me. Once re-routed I found a place to run...50 minutes after my departure.

My run went great! I had my fastest 5K time since my injury with a 6:41 / mile average pace! Super excited.

(Funny event #2 - I ran into a post avoiding pedestrians. Of course I acted like I didn't notice and it didn't hurt but it did!)

Back to the bike rack - can't get another bike! It won't take my information. Hmm....at this point I have 1.5 hours to get to my meeting and I'm several miles away. I decided to jog back. That ended up working fine, I grabbed a sandwich, scarfed it in my hotel room, and made it to the meeting 5 or 10 minutes early.

 

Anyway, that's the whole adventure. Since then it's been mostly work.

 

[acgilbert11@gmail.com]

That sounds like an excellent adventure!!! Plus you weren't late for the meeting. I'd call that a win win.

[peelout]

Couldn't resist.

 

[peelout]

Hope everything is alright.

[tinkerer]

 

Hope everything is alright.

I'm fine, just got burned out on NF due to life things. I'm actually still hitting a decent number of my goals. Stoked for you to see the NOS is continuing! Thanks for checking in.

[SaltyDragon]

Good to know you're still out there. Hope everything's working out for you. I'm looking forward to your next update.

[peelout]

 

I'm fine, just got burned out on NF due to life things. I'm actually still hitting a decent number of my goals. Stoked for you to see the NOS is continuing! Thanks for checking in.

I hear you.  I've been shortening up what I write and how many people I follow.

[Chelkie]

On 4/26/2016 at 3:50 AM, peelout said:

I hear you.  I've been shortening up what I write and how many people I follow.

 

Same here, mid-spring burnout seems to be going round the scouts!

 

Looks like you had an excellent start to the challenge though, hope you finish up your goals strong.