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Rules for thee but not for me, today. When having the mental health and overwhelm conversations with friends and loved ones, of course I talk about why vulnerability, community, mutual trust, etc, are important. But when it comes to needing to ask for a spotter at the gym (someone to watch and catch the bar if you fail during particular kinds of lifts, especially bench presses), I hate it and it keeps me from pushing as heavy as I know I could. So I tried to ask two people today and the first one thought I was asking for his bench and said he’ll be done soon 😦 and the second one was only kinda available and helped for two of the five sets. So I need to restrategize and figure out how to have the conversation where I ask for help. Even knowing this, I don’t hate it any less! And yes.. this is a metaphor for something bigger!

Have been lifting again for the last couple weeks, and even though I’m just barely putting the bumper plates on again, it feels amazing to be doing this again. I can deadlift 70 pounds! It’s not a lot but it’s probably more than a beginner, and I know that number is only going up. It’s tough to lift as a triathlete, but I’m taking roughly 8 weeks to do so alongside minimal cardio, where I will then abandon it yet again once I thoroughly exit the off-season. One day I would love to just focus on strength! But I love triathlon at the moment and it’s a very demanding (in literally every way) sport.

Erika and I are coming off the long winter break, and I’m just appreciating so much that my work gives me a week between christmas & new years, and because NYD landed on a Thursday, they gave us the Friday of Jan 2 off too, so it really felt like a solid week and a half off!

Not in a resolutions kind of way, but I’m eager to become a journaling type, again, and I’ve already got this blog with the world’s best domain name possible, so why not actually try to get there, right here?? Processing with a bit of writing is something I’ve always done and I think my mental health does really well with that. It’s also good practice to just be in the habit of writing.

I’m coming up on year four of doing triathlon, and I think I’m finding an equilibrium of effort and interest. I’ve been taking it slowly, ramping up, and now I can comfortably do an Olympic-distance triathlon at pretty much any point, and a 70.3 with a known, predictable degree of training. That distance is hard! But it’s now gotten to the point where that feels like the kind of effort you (I mean, you know, “I”) can settle into, you’re not sprinting the whole time, you’re finding a sustainably effortful pace at a heartrate that doesn’t blow out. At this time, I don’t have any interest in doing a full distance ironman, but 1-2 “half distance”, the 70.3 and comparable, per year, is a lot of effort but very doable.

Speaking of milestones, I’ll be five years at my job next month and I’m so proud of that! I started in one area, hired to bring ops practices to a very networking-heavy team, and then I moved to another department in 2023, and I could stay here, and/or in this space (Certificate Authority/ies, if that means much of anything to you), for a very long time.

And speaking of another milestone, my wife and I will be celebrating our one year anniversary next month as well 🙂 it honestly just keeps getting better.

I’ve got a triathlon this weekend, and I’m curious how it’s going to go. I’ve done this exact tri before, and now it’s been a year and I’m hoping I’ll be stronger than last time, my first time doing this race. Also I had just gotten over covid like a week prior, last year this time! My running has been pretty solid because I’ve been getting like 5 runs a week, sheesh. My bike is getting stronger lately, but all this takes time and is slow. My swim somehow seems to be taking a dive (lol), but this is a weird one – first half is against the current, second half is with it (there ‘n back in a river). So the only comparison is my performance last year!

Another day, another phenomenal experience with partselect.com. As soon as we finished the siding project, the dishwasher seemingly busted, but only a bit – the dishes come out quite wet and it does not seem very hot. The heating element is cool to the touch, so that means it won’t heat the water more than tap, and that steam sanitize does not work. It is still usable but only with some babysitting. So I looked up the model number of the dishwasher and bought the exact part, which it also explains how to install and it seems really approachable! Wish us luck that it’s this $80 fix instead of a whole damn new dishwasher!!

In so much as 99% of fitness influencers are culpable for internet-worm-borne eating disorders, they really have an outrageously criminal omission in failing to share how to fuel oneself, both outside of the workout and within! If you’re doing a hard effort, you need carbohydrates, electrolytes, and water! If you’re doing a long effort, you need same. It scales by time, not really by effort though there can be some modulation. If you get in the habit of fueling every time, you will not be so wiped after a workout! It shouldn’t make you want to lay down and die after. Should NOT.

I finally have Cory Doctorow’s latest from the library, the third (and final?) in his recent series Red Team Blues, called Picks and Shovels, and his books are just catnip to me lately. His observation and love of both ethical comportment/pro-user regulation and of Computer is just so ridiculously soothing to read. Library book pages are different than paper, but damn this was just 96 (library) pages for the PROLOGUE. I am so happy that this will be a lonnnngg and chewy journey with this book.

I’ve been spending a lot of time on the triathlon subreddit, trying to learn and be part of the community and keep abreast of what’s happening, and aside from the overgliders (mostly kidding), there is so much commonality in this sport and it’s really wonderful to all encourage each other! I’m doing a race tomorrow and while it isn’t my “A” race for the season, I’m quite excited and hopeful for a good-for-me result!

We paid some landscape types to cut and haul away all the blackberries, and now the onus is on us!! to actually!!!! keep them from getting out of hand again! My wife and I (we got married a few months ago :)) have been getting really fired up about making the outdoor space nice, so of course today on a national holiday (no kings, no masters, our country is not good right now) we are getting after it!