Michael: Half the Equation

Nearby there’s a bird
That sounds like a squeaky door.
It’s quite distinctive.


Tuesday, August 4, 2015

We now have a scale that is at least consistent if not precisely accurate. It says I weigh 138 lbs and am 12% body fat. Is that my ideal weight?

Not according to racingweight.com. That website’s calculator says I should aim for 136 lbs. and 10% body fat. Though in his book of nearly the same name, Race Weight,  McMillan says that for my age, body weight, and body fat percentage, the way to determine my ideal weight is to find out what weight I perform best at.

I’m going to do both; aim for those numbers and race to see how I do at 136 lbs. If I don’t do well or start to get sick or feel weak, I’ll let my weight float back up a little.

If I reach 136 lbs. that’ll mean I’ll have lost 9 lbs since moving to Panama. That I can attribute to cleaning up my diet, which is largely due to Kimme, tweaking my exercise program, walking around much more than I did in the states, and sleeping better. Though I would still like to work on sleeping longer more consistently.

At slightly over 5’10” tall, 136 lbs. is as low as I believe I should ever go and I doubt I’ll stay there for long. But if I can maintain or improve my strength, lose a bit of body fat, race better and not jeopardize my health, I’m determined to find out if that’s the weight that best for me.

Michael: Weight

The trees and wires draw
Lines between the glass and bars
That stand between us
.
Monday, August 3, 2015

Outside of being a vegetarian, which I became for ethical reasons, I have never been on a diet or read a diet book. But that doesn’t mean I’m not concerned about my weight. As an older endurance athlete I know there are only two ways I can improve or maintain my performance as I age. One is to get stronger and the other is to stay light. Today we’re going shopping in David to address both those issues.

To get stronger I’m hoping to find a heavier kettle bell. I’ve been using a light bell to learn the fundamental moves. Now that I’ve got those down, it’s time to up the ante and challenge myself a bit more.

We’re also going to get an accurate scale. The one we’ve been using was here when we moved in and is both inaccurate and erratic. It usually pegs me at 60 kilos ( 132 lbs.), which isn’t correct. At a doctor’s visit, her scale had me at 142, which sounds about right.

Before we go back to the states in a couple of weeks we’d both like to know what our weight is. If I could tip the scales close to 140 I’d be pretty happy. That would mean a 5 lb. weight loss since we’ve been here. By the end of the day I should know.

Now is that my ideal weight? For me there’s only one way to find out and that’s to race. I feel the mirror and our eyes can deceive us. Let  the numbers and performance objectively inform us.

Michael: Back in the Saddle

The twenty two mile
Descent into Bugaba
Is the cat’s meow.

Sunday, August 2, 2015

For my first ride back after my accident I chose the easy road headed downhill toward the coast. There are no dramatic pitches or turns. Though there often isn’t much of a shoulder, there isn’t much traffic either. Of course, after soft pedaling for almost an hour, to get back to Volcan you’ve got to turn around and head uphill which isn’t so easy, but it’s never very steep. Just a two hour spin for me uphill. And at least your heading away from the heat and humidity of coastal Panama and back into the relatively cool air of the highlands.

There was also a smattering of riders out, which was comforting. Though I only got to ride with one and that was only for a very short distance. And wouldn’t you know it, he was the last rider I rode with before my crash.

He recognized me and asked for my number, but I don’t have it memorized and my phone was in my seat bag, so next time out I’ll have it written on a piece of paper and in my back pocket. He lives in Volcan and is much younger than I am. He’s also the only rider to catch up to me so far, so there’s a good chance he’s also a stronger rider than I am. That would be great as it would force me to work harder. I also like to watch good riders descend in front of me to see if I can pick up any tips. Descending properly is just not a skill that comes easy to me.

Naturally, I felt it was a bit ironic that he would be the first rider I meet after hopping back on the bike after almost two weeks. And I did worry about the omen factor for a bit. But now that I’m back safe and sound, maybe it was a good omen to see him right off the bat.

I’m still going to wait a bit to tackle the more treacherous road that I crashed on. It would really soothe my nerves if I could meet up with the Volcan rider and have him ride in front of me on that one. I‘m keeping my fingers crossed.  

















  








 



















  












 

Kimme: Habit One - meditation

The first habit that I want to keep from my last heath and exercise plan is my short morning meditation.  I have had a push and pull relationship with meditation ever since I was a child.  My mom had wanted to be a Buddhist monk  long before she met my father and has continued to practice meditation throughout her life.  When he passed away she began a yearly ritual where she spends the first 108 days with intense meditation.  She has always encouraged me to meditate but I always found it difficult to learn from her so I have looked for meditative activities that I have the same amount of passion for.  Once I found running and making things, I decided that I had found my own form of meditation and stopped looking for a formal meditation practice.

Now that I live in Panama and feel more distanced from my mom, I am looking for other ways to connect to her so I decided to try adding in a meditation practice.  I knew I could spend months sorting through all the meditations I could choose from so I decided that I was going to pick one that had the basic elements of  meditation that my mom does... an intention, a specific time limit, breath, pose, gaze and mudra.   I know from my past experience of trying to settle on a meditation that I have a tendency to over research and jump around and want to try every new thing I hear about so I promised that I would do this one for 21 straight days before trying something else.  I have made it through my initial trial period and think I chose the right for now.  Other than wanting to have another thing in common with my mom, I have no specific goal for this new habit.   It will be interesting for me to see how this ritual evolves over time.  It seems that the only habits that are sustainable in the long run are the ones that I learn to really enjoy and have some sort of profound meaning for me. 

My mom starting her morning meditation.

Michael: Ranked

It’s not personal;
Cows are decent enough but
They’re a disaster.

Saturday, August 1, 2015

Kimme and I are excited that we’re both now officially entered into races coming up this month in the states. Kimme is doing the Bull Dog 50k August 22, and I’m doing the Bull Dog 25k then the Los Pinos 50k Sept. 5.

One great thing about racing is that the outcome is both immediate and clear. One strange thing about the Los Pinos race is that they give you a predicted time and ranking before the race. That I’m not sure how I feel about.

I haven’t done the Los Pinos race before so as part of my race preparation, I check out past results to get an idea of what people are running the course in. Out of curiosity, I’ll often also look at the list of current participants to see if I recognize any of my competitors. I’m not looking at the elites, I don’t know those guys, but dudes in my age group that I might be familiar with.

I don’t recognize anybody running Los Pinos. But in the participant list is a projected time and finish ranking. I thought when I signed up yesterday, I would be asked to estimate my time, but the website must have some calculator that does that. I was going to give 6:15 as my estimate, but they’ve given me a 5:48 projection, which would have me coming in second at the moment.

That is both flattering and a bit unnerving. I haven’t raced in the states in 8 months. I really haven’t been thinking about where I should finish. The race sounds grueling enough to where I should be satisfied just completing the course and not make Kimme wait for me all day. I’m going to try and not let it influence how I think about running the race too much, but that’s not going to be easy.

One good thing about being given an estimated finishing time is that I’ll use that, along with the course profile, to develop a fuel and hydration plan. If they think I can finish in under 6 hours, dammit, I’m going to give it a go and that means I’ll have to take in less fluids and sugars than I had originally planned.

Now what to wear?

Michael: Trepidation

The leaf cutter ants
Seem to enjoy the roses
Much more than I do.

Friday, July 31, 2015

Shortly after I got home from my bicycle accident almost two weeks ago, I ordered a new helmet, sunglasses and shorts figuring I wanted to lose as little training time as possible. Then a couple of days ago I received conflicting e-mails, one said that my credit card was declined and the other that my order had shipped.

I figured there had to be a mistake. Why would a company ship if the items weren’t paid for? I also figured that if they hadn’t shipped, I’d cancel the order and wait until I was back in the states in a few weeks to get my spare helmet out of storage. That would mean 6 weeks off the bike. And in a way that was a relief.

I know I’ll ride again, but the first few rides after an accident are always approached with a little trepidation. Yet I also know that extra bit of nerves is dangerous and that being on edge isn’t the best mindset to have in order to avoid the possible hazards of riding.

The package did ship and arrived yesterday. Now that I have a new helmet I’ll be back out on the road tomorrow. I’ll start back with some rides on less dangerous roads than the one I crashed on. I’m sure I’ll relax soon enough and get back out on the crazy road to Rio Sereno where I fell. But just like all the other places where my bike and I have separated, a nervous sigh of relief will escape me every time I pass where I went down.

Michael: 1,000 Days

It’s never quiet,
Absolutely quiet here;
Nature likes to talk.


Thursday, July 30, 2015

When I was a teacher I would tell my kids not too worry so much about failure. In fact they were bound to fail. The only people that succeed on their first attempt at anything are people that don’t take chances and aren’t trying to accomplish much.

Now I‘m trying to take my own words to heart. Yesterday marked the 1,000th day of my intention to workout everyday. But in those 1,000 days I missed two workouts. I failed. That was my first attempt. Today marks the 534 day of my ongoing exercise streak. If I don’t succeed, I’ll start again. Even if I never get there, in the attempt I’ll have strung together quite a consistent exercise regimen and that will be quite an accomplishment. But I want those 1,000 days.