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.
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.
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.
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.
Listening to these in the background is wonderful. The real mind-fuck is when they stop. A constant hum in your ears, an unending drone – it just feels different when it stops.
That’s why I started making these mixes in the first place. I want something with no lull in sound. Streaming music services are great for playlists, but not for mixes, as they go from one track to the next.
My DJ skills aren’t the best. Still trying to figure out cross fading and EQ and such, but hey, I’m learning.
I ran the Tortoise and Hare 5K in Wind Gap, PA back on Memorial Day in 2018. What a differern time that was! Two things stand out; the Memorial Day picnic food spread – best I ever had! And the military person there doing the National Anthem (meh), she was introduced with her partner; a woman. I loved that.
Back then I wrote this on Instagram, from May 30, 2018:
Hey pals – thanks for putting up with my running nerd stuff in addition to my metal nerd stuff. This is me from Monday smiling like a goof because we all raised $260 for Project Child in the Lehigh Valley, then I ran a sub 30 minute (barely) 5K and ate vanilla cream cookies.
So they’re doing it in-person again this year. I did a 10 mile trail race back in October, so let’s see how this goes. THey’re limiting it to just 200 people. I’m also raising money again this year (you can do that here), help out if you can.
My time from 2018: 29:09 (9:24 mile), 118th out of 329, 70th male out of 136, and 6th out of 12 for my age group. This year I’ll be in the 45-49 age group! Moving on up! My goal is to hit 25 minutes this year, around 8 minute miles (my best 5K was in 2019, at 25:25).
Since I’m sleeping so well lately, I’m actually recovering well, too. Seriously, the past few months I’ve felt wrecked, and oh my god, I feel great now.
Could I really head out for 1400′ of elevation over 6.5 miles on dirt roads? Well, only one way to find out.
Took me about 30 minutes to get to the top of the first climb, which is a bit slow for me, but whatever. I walked most of it – it’s mostly all 10% grade, and upwards of 15% in places. Figured I’d save my energy since I never attempted this route before.
Made it to the top! That’s the Appalachian Trail, heading north. I think the next trail head there is Palmerton, PA.
Now it’s time to head down the northern side of the mountain, which I’ve never done before.
I mean, it was gorgeous. Windy – I wish I wore my jacket at this point, but I survived. Had my first GU Energy gel while descending, and wow – that got all over my fingers and felt sticky like maple syrup. And it was very sweet. Like, I felt like I needed to brush my teeth afterwards. I usually use Spring Energy for food on longer runs (for me that’s 1.5+ hours), and wow… I miss them already.
This road goes out to Route 309, just another half mile down the road (to the right in this picture, not in the direction I’m facing here). Didn’t feel like testing if I had the extra mile in the tank, so back up the mountain we go!
Yea, that’s a “Fuck Your Feelings” banner there. So welcoming!
This side was much easier to climb. Still walked a bunch, but the grade was a little more forgiving.
In all, a good run. Took 1:25 to go 6.5 miles, with a total of 1,416ft of elevation.
I was on the fence a bit about with Whoop, as most of the people I talked mostly mentioned “it’s just about recovery mostly.”
One of my favorite mantras, going back to my Bike Nerd days, is “you can’t fake sleep.”
You can grit out that last half mile to the finish line. You can will yourself up over that big hill. But you ain’t faking your way to nine hours of sleep.
Sure, seeing my “Strain” score for a long run was nice and all, but I kept seeing that my recovery scores were in the 30-40% range. Even dipping down to 29% – that’s red, oh no!
So Whoop has made me think about sleep a bit more.
Okay, get to bed a little earlier. Okay, sure, less screen time before bed.
I kept seeing this sleep mask on my Instagram feed, I think because someone I follow showed it off. So I followed them. It looked neat enough, I guess.
But, before I drop $30+ on a sleep mask, I remember my housemate had a spare sleep mask on hand, from a hotel swag bag. Let me try that first, right?
Well, it looks like a sleep mask sure helped, huh?
So right now, Whoop is worth it, because it got me thinking about sleep, about recovery. I kept seeing my hard runs, all that strain, but I was also forced to see that I’m not recovering enough.
If I’m not recovering, it won’t matter how hard I run, or how many miles I ride.
Sure, $30/mo is a chunk of change, but Whoop is helping me see how rested I am, which helps determine how big of an adventure I should take on each day.
