035 – Winter Dreams, Part I

 Track Days  1 Response »
Feb 042013
 

We’ve reached that deep, dark hole in the middle of winter. The point where it never seems like it’s going to end, and all you can do is dream of the glories of summers past. I ran across these shots from my first ever track day, in September of 2005. It doesn’t seem that long ago, thinking about it. But looking at myself, I can see that it has been.

There’s a part of me that misses the exciting innocence of that time, when I was new to the track. It was heady stuff. New skills learned every session, faster laps every lap, finding out more and more about what this incredible machine could do for me. But you’re only a virgin once, which I suppose is probably for the better.

034 – Scars

 Life in General  No Responses »
Feb 032013
 

My right knee has had a hard life.

It was always the one bloodied when I would crash a bicycle as a kid. It was hyper-extended in high school at a wrestling practice. At 20, I took all the skin off of it crashing a motorcycle. At 26, I blew my ACL and tore both menisci, leading to reconstructive surgery, a patella tendon graft, and 6 months of rehab. It’s honestly the only place on my body that bears any noticeable scars. It’s not exactly pretty any more, because of all of that.

But it’s still truckin’. I can call it my “bad knee” because I do have to pay a little more attention to it than my left, but it doesn’t give me any real trouble. What I have noticed, in the almost 3 years since my surgery, is that the more I work it, the harder I push it, the stronger and more stable it feels. If I get lazy, it gets sloppy, quick. Seems counter intuitive, but it’s working for me.

033 – Isolation

 Weightlifting  No Responses »
Feb 022013
 

In general, I’m not a big fan of isolation exercises. I quietly get a kick out of the dudes you always see at the gym doing 6 different kinds of curls, while their legs are like bean poles and their guts are twice the size of their chest. But calves are the exception. They’re immensely important to my running and my biking, and I have yet to find anything that works them quite as well as good ole’ fashioned calf raises.

032 – Hooray, Beer!

 Food  No Responses »
Feb 022013
 

There are basically three reasons I work out. In no particular order, they are so that I can do awesome things, eat good food, and drink good beer*.

This was a really, really good beer. It’s not every day that I go to my favorite pub and drink something other than Guinness. But this is Ballast Point’s Victory at Sea, and with a name like that, I had to try it. I’m so, so glad I did. It’s easily the best coffee porter I’ve ever had, and paired with a slice of Irish Cheesecake, it changed me. As a person. I am better for having had this beer. Really.

(*I’m not just talking about handling the calories, either. When I’m in good shape, I physically suffer less negative effect from drinking. As evidenced by last night, when I drank probably two gallons of beer. My wife brought me home, poured me into bed, and I was up with her this morning, no problemo.)

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