Head to the Hills

I woke up today and my Whoop band said I was 95% recovered, my highest ever. So I set off a new route, with lots of hills, and felt… GREAT.

Since I’ve been doing around 50+ miles a week on Zwift on the bike, this run felt secure. Like, when it was starting to hurt, the miles and hours I’ve been riding have sort of shown me that I could handle it.

That’s the thing with running and biking and hiking – it’s not entirely easy. That’s what makes a different from eating a pint of ice cream (which I also did this week this weekend – it was my birthday).

There’s balance, too.

Eat the ice cream, just not every night.

Go for the 5.5 hilly run, just not every run.

Strain, rest, recover, repeat.

Report on an Unidentified Space Station

I love this story:

“Once again our estimate of the station’s size has been substantially revised. The station clearly has the dimensions of a large asteroid or even a small planet. Our instruments indicate that there are thousands of decks, each extending for miles across an undifferentiated terrain of passenger concourses, lounges, and restaurant terraces. As before there is no sign of any crew or supervisory staff. Yet somehow a vast passenger complement was moved through this planetary waiting room.”

From ‘Report on an Unidentified Space Station‘ by J. G. Ballard.

‘Present Tense’ by FACS

“Wasn’t the spring time cruel,” asks ‘Strawberry Cough,’ the second song from FACS‘ new album ‘Present Tense.’ Cruel, indeed.

Don’t Grind

The week of May 3rd I didn’t run one mile. For whatever reason running felt off. I wasn’t in pain, it just stopped being fun.

For a bit.

Weeks prior my mileage was down. Glad I bought a trainer and a Zwift subscription, just to keep moving, to keep the heart rate up.

On Saturday I had a nice hike / run, up and down and up and down a nearby mountain here, a nice 1,400 of climbing total.

Two days later I had tonight’s solid four mile run.

It’s probably that I’m getting more sleep. Drinking more fluids. Eating a tiny bit better. Less work stress.

Sure, there’s been times when I just got up and ran. Hell, I had a 70 day run streak earlier this year.

But there’s also time to back off. Smell the roses. Ride a bike.

Vital by BIG|BRAVE

This came out in April of this year, but just discovering ‘Vital’ now, in May.

“We’ve always been vocal, but even more so now, because we feel very strongly about what we’re speaking about, and it’s also a way to a way to reach out to someone,” said vocalist / guitarist Robin Wattie.

Here We Are Today

Lots of good offline conversations lately, at least out of the public eye, I guess. These conversations happen over email, DMs, and such, but they’re not out there in full display. A wonderful thing, really.

Been trying to be more present, and acknowledge than like 99.9999% of the time everything is fine. I have food, shelter, warmth. No one knocking at my door, no angry boss, no one is throwing shit at my windows.

Very simplistic, I know, but here I am. The CDC just said that if you’re vaccinated you don’t have to wear a mask anymore, but for fucks sake, THE OPTICS.

If I walk into a store right now with no mask on I’m gonna get the side eye, big time.

As if the work of retail employees hasn’t been hard enough during “these trying times,” now they have to navigate the “oh, but I’m vaccinated” crowd, without ever really knowing if they’re telling the truth or not.

The fun never ends.

Some Miles on the Bike

This week I ran zero miles. I can’t remember the last time I ran zero miles in a week. I’ve never been this burnt out, where every run is just horrible. I’ve talked to other runners about burn out. Every run for the past few weeks has just felt labored. Like I took six months off, and I’m just trying to “get back into running.” Not a fun feeling.

In the last few weeks I set up a bike trainer and a Zwift account. I don’t have to think about the weather, the wind, nothing. And it feels good. Like, even hard efforts. They feel good.

I rode 104 miles this week. Six and a half hours.

I don’t think I rode that much back in my Bike Nerd days.

That’s more hours than I usually run each week.

Also started doing some dance workouts, too. They’re silly, sure, but they’re fun and quick, and feel good.

I’m pretty sure the running will come back. In the meantime I sure am glad I got this bike set up.

Stuck

My housemate read me a text they got, from someone saying “if you need a COVID vaccine shot, call this number, they have extra doses.” I called (I hate calling), and got myself an appointment. Just recently I got my second shot, so that’s good news.

Everyday is the same, except for weekends, when I stop getting emails from clients.

Random encounters are gone.
Bumping into an old friend, gone.
Trying something new on the menu. There is no menu. Stay home.

I go on solo runs in the woods, and hope no one is around.

Once a week I venture to the grocery store. I’ve taken to drive the extra distance to different stores, just to mix it up a little.

I got a bike trainer and a subscription to Zwift, so now I see people from all over the world as virtual cyclists. We give each other thumbs ups as we pass each other.

Just 41 days ago a shooting happened at a Boulder, CO grocery store. The fundraiser for Maggie Montoya and the pharmacy staff where she worked, it sits quiet and still, having not reached the halfway mark. The last donation was 15 days ago.

Everything keeps moving, business as usual. Yet everything is frozen in time.