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Grand Canyon →
7230: I surrender →
I surrendered yesterday with a heavy heart.
Since July 20th, 2015, it has been a long year of ups and downs. I’ve made some massive improvements in strength, and form, for the activities I’d chosen. But I still have much work left to do — both in terms of the number of reps left before the 10,000 goal, and in terms of the quality of the activities I had hoped to reach along the way.
A few weeks ago, I started a sprint to the finish. In an attempt to make the 10,000 goal within the dwindling days, I would need to do approximately 200 reps of everything every-other-day for several weeks. I started using a resistance band to ease the strain on my shoulder during the pull-ups, but even that was not enough to preserve my shoulder. This past weekend, at a Parkour event in Boston, it became painfully(!) clear that my shoulder injury was returning.
I have a Parkour trip planned in August, and I must begin that with my shoulder at 100%. I am forced to choose between a good shoulder for my trip, or the remaining 2770 pull-ups. I am choosing my shoulder.
Now, I find I have to write the “wrap this series up” post sooner than expected. So, what have I learned?
Anyone can put a challenge in front of themselves that they are unable to do. How well do you know what you are capable of? How well do you know how to make yourself capable of more. I train to know who I am and how I can improve.
~ Jesse Danger
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This 10k project is the largest challenge that I can ever recall attempting. It is the only thing I’ve ever tried to accomplish which spanned the course of one entire year. It was ambitious, huge and has taught me a lot about my ability to stay motivated over a long time frame. (Pro tip: I suck at staying motivated.) I learned (or refined) several new skills involving daily and weekly planning of workouts, planning for road-blocks (winter weather, holidays, trips) and recovering from injury.
It is certainly not the first thing at which I’ve failed. It is certainly not the last thing at which I’ll fail.
Perhaps one day I will do it again and make the goal. But for now, I have other things to do.
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Change simply is →
Change is neither good nor bad. It simply is.
~ Don Draper, in Mad Men (“Love Among the Ruins”), (s3e2, 2009 TV series)
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This kid →
This guy still remembers how to play! I’ve been in this bus terminal countless times and I’ve never thought to play with this rail gap. He’s got the foot-hook sorted already! #notadulting
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Pig ‘n Whistle →
Side trip to an Irish pub! Bit toasty in NYC… must. resist. guiness.
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I work like a gardener →
I work like a gardener… Things come slowly… Things follow their natural course. They grow, they ripen. I must graft. I must water… Ripening goes on in my mind. So I’m always working at a great many things at the same time.
~ Joan Miro from, I Work Like a Gardener: Joan Miró on Art, Motionless Movement, and the Proper Pace of Creative Labor – The Marginalian
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In the beginning, my Parkour practice was simply “push. push! PUSH!” with the only moderating factor being to avoid serious injury.
Fortunately, I soon found my own way to the concept of auto-regulation (although I didn’t know the word at the time). Now, at each practice session, I simply start moving and practicing. Then depending on how I am actually performing (physically, mentally) I dial up or down the intensity, and level of challenge, to correspond to the moment/hour/day. The critical point being that I assess how I am actually performing. It’s not, “I roll out of bed, decide I feel sore (or lazy) and then skip the workout/class.”
Lately, I’m noticing there’s a seasonal component. (It’s one thing to say that. It’s another thing to really experience it over a few years.) In the Spring I charge ahead on new plans and goals, and by Summer I find I’m making progress by leaps and bounds. (See what I did there? #sorrynonotsorry.) Then Fall rolls around and I’m starting to chillax and really enjoy things; Meals with friends, vistas, the moments between gonzo training sessions, etc. By the time winter descends, I’m ready to burrow into reading and cooking up new schemes for the coming year.
Obviously, part of that is just the natural rhythm of life in an area that has four clear seasons.
…but part of it is exactly what Joan said about working like a gardener.
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ARDV in Boston →
Tracy’s new #skochypstiks
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Grand Canyon →
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En route to Boston and Somerville →
Our original colonists wanted freedom from English rule.? …yeup! New town names? …not so much.
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Immortality →
Based on what I know about software without deadlines, humans achieving immortality would be a disaster.
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