Consistency

In October I worked out twenty-two days out of the thirty-one. I'll probably work out tomorrow, so let's say twenty-three days. It's the "off season" (as if I have a "season"), so the work outs are mostly weight training. And the weight training is very basic; bench, squat, curl, etc.  I do not yet resemble anyone who lifts weights, so you'll just have to take my word for it.

As reported earlier, since it looks like they're putting on the Branson 70.3 Ironman race, I will try to run it.  It's not till September, so I have a year to train, more or less.  There's nothing but hills in Branson, so the biking ought to be fun.  More on that later.

Man, this post is boring. Even more than usual, and deleting takes so much energy. Let's try this:

Top Guy Movies (That I can think of off the top of my head as I sit here.)

10. Wanted (This barely makes the list as there may be a few girls out there that would appreciate this)
9.   Master and Commander: The Far Sid of the World
8.  The Bridge on the River Kwai
7.  Bullitt (and let's go ahead and throw in The Getaway)
6.  Full Metal Jacket
5.  Any kung fu movie
4.  Monty Python and the Holy Grail
3.  Fight Club
2.  Shoot 'Em Up (Don't watch this with your Pastor, or Mom)
1.  The Godfather (This tops most of my lists)

What I mean by "guy movie" is guys like it, gals don't. I'm sure you have your own suggestions, which I'd be willing to hear.

Sac River

Went canoeing yesterday on the Sac River.  Got in at the access on 82 highway and headed south, which is upstream. However, there's not a discernible current, so the headwind was the biggest challenge. Along the way we stopped to fish. At about 2.5 miles up, we stopped to fish again and decided to turn back.

We had no luck with the fishing. We caught one cat and that was it. 

Heading back I thought the wind would push us along, but it had died down by that time and we have very little help in that regard. We stopped to climb a bluff. We also spotted a land bridge formation that we wanted to check out, but time was getting away from us at that point, so we saved it for the next trip.

Altogether I guess we did about 5 miles. I'm getting frustrated with my eTrex. The stupid thing randomly shuts itself off. At the end of the day, I saw it was off, turned it back on, and the mileage read 2,005. I'm pretty sure that's not right.

Here are the pics:

 My mug wasn't that important to the photographer.

 And back she goes!

A view from a bluff.

Been Lazy

Every once in a while I have to "start working-out again." This week's been one of those times.  I haven't done much since the Hermann Cross, and I wasn't very active before that.  So I need some motivation here.

Since I've started reading blogs by triathletes and racers, I've seen a number of them quit.  Some have quit blogging, and some have quit racing.  You'll be going along, looking for the next post, and then all of a sudden they'll write something like, "Well, when I started this I wanted to...but now it's kind of a chore and not fun anymore, soooo, goodbye."

For me, when my motivation for working-out or whatever wanes, its because my motivation in general is waning.  I wouldn't call it dysthymia, which I understand is long term. I'd call it short term dysthymia. I can't even stay motivated about being depressed.

My goals are to weight train for the rest of the year, and throw in some running if possible. At the beginning of the year I want to hit the water and finally learn to swim.  I'd love to fit some long rides in there somewhere on warmer, dry Saturdays throughout the Fall if I can find any. When Spring roles around I want to pick up training in earnest and hit a couple more triathlons over the Summer. If they hold the 70.3 event in Branson again next year, I'll sign up. That'll give me something to train for.

One last thing. I'm recruiting an adventure race team.  What's an adventure race?  This is from the USARA website:

Adventure Racing offers an easy crossover for cyclist, runners and water sport enthusiasts just to mention a few. Adventure races can vary anywhere from 2-5 person teams, with some events now offering solo categories. The disciplines can also vary from race to race. Adventure racing can include shredding through tight single track on a mountain bike or orienteering and hiking through a dense forest. Adventure racers may find themselves ripping down rapids in a canoe and then rappelling off a 100 foot rock face. The races can last a few hours or several days and can cover 10 - 100 miles or more!

Sound fun? Let's do it!

And now, a toast. To staying motivated!

More Stream of Consciousness

So there I am watching Glee with my wife. I'd never seen that show, and this episode was evidently about faith. I found myself praying that it would end so I could watch Top Gear. The only pretend high school students I want to hear singing are John Travolta and Olivia Newton-John.

I used to think those guys on Myth Busters had the best job ever. Now I'm not so sure.  Have you seen Top Gear? These guys get to drive the most expensive cars on the planet, and there's no annoying hosts that insists on using a pirate accent every episode. Driving expensive cars really fast through Europe is my new career objective.

The other thing that Top Gear gave me is an item on the bucket list: drive the Nurburgring race track in Germany. You can show up, pay a fee, and drive (from what I understand). My wife asked me what I would drive. I said it would have to be the rental car, though on the website I linked to above I saw an add for race car rentals.

Speaking of driving east of the Rhine, a few weeks ago I mentioned my Roman Empire tour. At the time I was behind in listening to The History of Rome podcast. But then the very next episode I listened to Mike Duncan announced a real Roman Empire tour they're putting on. Dang it!

OK, I need to quit watching TV and figure out how to get to Nurburgring. Danke schoen!