Back to the grind....

 




My forced mid-summer vacation from working out is officially over.  We are back to the grind now.  It is funny as I type that, I can't help but think of one of my favorite motivational videos on YouTube called "Rise and Swim (Welcome to the Grind)" I love it because it has Michael Phelps in it and he is awesome.  It is right up there with his under armor commercial set to the "The Last Good Bye" I think that video is called rule yourself.  Both are excellent.  Extremely motivating especially for someone who is part Orca.  If you need some motivation I would watch either of them or both.  My favorite Michael Phelps thing is when he is warming up before a swim and he swings his long arms back and forth and can call his hands behind him.  I don't know why I think that is so awesome.  Like he was some sort of sea creature.  

So, I as I talked about yesterday I started cycling again on Saturday.  22 miles, 700 feet of climbing, and 2 hours of riding.  Sunday, was a walk followed by some light body movements and stretching with Clayton.  

Yesterday it was back on the NEO.  It was only 48 minutes, but man it was tough.  It wasn't supposed to be but it showed me just a how much I had been off. I had to fight really hard to keep up with the program.  The first 25 minutes weren't bad.  I could do it.  I was rolling along.  Then I hit a wall.  The last 19 minutes, I was starting to rethink some serious life choices.  I tried to gear down a little bit on the last push but the Zwift gods weren't having it.  So, I hung in the best I could.  Man it was hard work.  That is when it hit me, I was back to the grind.  Back to pushing myself hard.  Back to moving every day.  It was certainly a grind.  That is what I do, I grind things out.  Even when I don't really want to.  I mean all and all it was a great ride and my coaches response was YAAAAAAAYYYYY, or some variant of that.  So, I was happy.  It did remind me we have a lot of work to do.  

I followed up yesterdays workout with a meeting with Clayton today.  We did a 25 minute walk around with Kona.  She got a stick early so she was always trying to take short cuts to get home.  She is like that.  However, if I am back to the grind then Kona has to grind with me.  

Then when we got home we did our first weight and body work in three weeks.  We did some pushes and pulls, and squats and dead lifts.  All very light weight, just getting the body back into the movement.  Then after we finished two sets of that, we did some stretching.  I can't even begin to tell you how tight my hips are.  Uffff..... they are really tight. It was a really good workout.  

I am sitting here waiting for my next meeting to start and I am tired.  I wish I could nap.  Hard to nap when the cleaning people are here.  Really hard to do anything when they are here.  So, instead of napping I am hiding in my office and typing, and welcoming myself back to the grind!  

The week doesn't get any easier.  I have three rides left this week.  Two more workouts with Clayton, so we are in the thick of it.  October's 3F's will be here before we know it.  Will I get to a hundred miles?  I am not sure, but I am going to work my ass off trying to get there.  

Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

The Escapement

Image
Billy b at the book store…. Not the best selfie    The Escapement The Escapement is a Sci-fi novel by Lavie Tidhar.  It was the first book I read for a Sci-if book club I joined here in Bloomington.  However, I am not here to talk about the novel or review it.  I think it was worth a read, but that is something for you to decide for yourself.  No I am here to talk about the fact that I left the house and went out to a book club.   The definition of insanity is doing the same thing over and over again and expecting a different outcome or something like that.   Truth, I can’t continue to sit on my couch every night and expect for my life to be anything other than ordinary.  Unless, I am really lucky and guessing from the Mega Millions drawing last night I am not.  As someone one almost a billion dollars and I won four, so a beautiful bride and a bunch of friends aren’t just going to come knocking on my door as I watch another Superman TV show or reruns of Archer.  Also, the more I sit on
Read more

Back Home Again....

Image
  I am back home again in Indiana.  When I say I am back home again, I mean it!  I am currently living in my Mom's basement.  48 and living in Mom's basement, isn't that the dream?  Maybe if you are a serial killer.  Actually, I tease.  I always have a nice time with my Mom.  Here place is super nice and Kona and have been very welcomed guests. The Trip back across the country wasn't awful.  It had some moments that weren't so great like when we got hit by a giant cone that semi crushed.  However, overall it wasn't as bad as I thought it would be.  Things really happened at warp speed at the end.  I am not sure where the time went.  The move was moved up by a day because of weather issues.  So, when I picked my good buddy Chip up at the airport in Oakland on the 19th we just started the journey back across the country.   Leg 1 of the journey we went from Livermore to Reno.  So, we loaded up the Dodge Durango (which was a rental) with Kona and headed out.  It was
Read more

Settling in….

Image
I can’t believe how long it has been since I sat down to write.  I have thought about it, but then I think what I have to say is foolish and I step away from it.  Like anyone wants to read a blog about my new nice rack.  Living back in Indiana is going great.  I think I am really close to hitting my stride.  Kona as you can see above is doing really well.  That was a picture from her last walk with her new Dog walker Basil.  Yes, her name is Basil.  Not sure if her parents were hippies, yuppies, or chefs, but I am sure it has to be one of the three.  She is no Ross, or at least not yet.  Kona seems to go back and forth between parking at her and seeing her as a new playmate.  I like Basil because she is an accounting major at IU, and being a former accounting major myself I know we are good people.  Kona has loved the season changes.  She loves snow.  That crazy dog will just go outside in it and shove her face straight in it.  She spends most of her days in the backyard.  I go out the
Read more