3-30-13

Tate and I hiked today, looking for remnants of a very early coal transport system hidden in the middle of PA State Gamelands 207. Never found the rail remains but had a nice 8 mile walk on a sunny spring day. When the trail we were following ended at the edge of a sheer rock face, we had to scramble down a steep mountainside, cross the valley at the bottom and then climb out the other side via a power line cut. Not pretty but a good dust flusher. Had to abort the mission to get home to make the salads for Uncle Dick's Saturday-Before-Easter dinner. Looking forward to going back soon to find the old rail works dating back to the early 1800s.

Use it or lose it

My Dad had a small number of incisive sayings that he repeated tirelessly. My personal favorite was "use it or lose it". As I get older I have this sense that if I can just keep on doing what I am doing I will be able to keep it going indefinitely. But as soon as I back off, its all downhill. Ironically, I see by looking back that I have already gone agood way down the slope without feeling like I gave in to anything. Maybe that's as good as it gets. Inevitability aside, with the possible exception of health issues that people just don't deserve, and erectile dysfunction, one does seem to improve the probability of a decent quality of life by determinedly staying active. How active is a good question. Susceptibility to injury definitely increases, from a lower level of exertion, as we age. At the same time, it gets easier to talk myself into taking a pass on a workout, every year. There is some apparent sweet spot I suspect. I don't anticipate competing in the Ironman in the future, but I am damn sure going to work to avoid getting bedsores on my ass. I remember how Pop used to sit on a rock to rest at the half way point between the back door and the mailbox, as he walked to get the newspaper. I remember urging him to push it a little more, not realizing that he had in fact found his sweet spot. Just another thing that he understood that I didn't I guess.

3/27/13

Weighted vest, and no real plan.

Half mile on the Dreadmill for warmup.

8 super-set, 8 reps each hand, 25lb dumbbell bench press, on a big ball, and 40lb dumbbell bent over row

push up burpee jump to a pull up, super-set with o-bar good-mornings, 5,4,3,2,1

3 sets of 20 cable crunches, 150lb

run half mile on the dreadmill

3 sets of 12 cable crunches, 150

3/26/2012

Waddled, lumbered, floundered 3 miles on the Dreadmill with the 13lb vest.  A lot of pep talk from mile 2 to 2.5, but, kept on.  Probably be sore tomorrow.  I'm sure the ManCub will mock me mercilessly for both time and distance -- nah, don't care.   

Work has been interesting, stressful, and I just had to get away and fit a workout in.  It was the right thing to do personally.  I'll let the politics land where they may.  So, I'm back in the saddle.  I like the progress I'm seeing and I don't want to lose that.  I'm just short on rants of late don't have the energy to spend. 

3-24-13

Tough week in Monterrey, MX. Fell off the plant based diet bandwagon. The only workout I made was a dash down 14 flights of the emergency exit stairs in the hotel after a kid pulled a fire extinguisher at 2am as a prank. You don't mess with that stuff in MX. Finally today Tate and I went for a hike in Mountain Top, PA at a former site of a unique coal hauling system active during the anthracite mining era in northeast PA. It used steam powered pusher cars to move 8-10 coal cars up the mountain that was too steep for conventional locomotives. Many remains are still there. Cool local history, beautiful mountain streams and a good workout on what felt like an early spring day. It's great to be home.

3:20:13

Went on a run with my XC running roommate. She showed me some new trails in Tryon. It was hard running with her, but the pressure of running with someone else and the awesome feeling after finishing the entire run without stopping made it worth it!