What I'm up to.

Worth saying, lest my last few posts have given you the opposite impression, is that I'm feeling pretty good about things. I'd rather be running, of course. But any perspective at all yields the inevitable conclusion that life is pretty good despite that. I have pants, dogs to pet, food to eat, books to read. Somewhere in there is the recipe for my happy life.

Provided I do something daily to sate my exercise appetite, that is. Preferably something hard. And a lot of it. Running is a thing you can do a lot of; and I liked that about it. But even before I ran, I lifted every day for a few years, and elliptical'd most of those days too. (I still believed then that my flat-as-hell feet meant I couldn't run at all. Not quite accurate, as it turns out. But we'll see. Maybe I'm just breaking down after a few years, rather than right away? Can't say it's impossible.) All of that probably set me up to not totally suck at running right away, and established a pretty decent work capacity, which I've since maintained.

All of this is to say that, though I haven't been running, I have done a shit ton of other stuff. This is what I did tonight. It's pretty typical in volume/structure, but as much fun as I've had (for reasons I'll get to) on any non-running workout in a while.

Stationary bike. 17 miles in an hour. 

Erg row. 1000 meters in 4:19.  

Then, 3 sets of: pushups, parallel bar dips, chin ups, goblet squats, med ball twists. 

The main event: Warmup  5 x 5 deadlift starting at 135 lbs, working up to 215. Then, 5 x 3 deadlift at 225 lbs. Then, 1 rep at 235. (This was the fun part. Deadlifts are the greatest lift that ever was, both in terms of whole-body fitness and - to me - enjoyment. Since virtually your entire musculoskeletal system is involved, heart rate spikes after each work set, and your brain bathes in those choicest of chemicals. The hill repeats kind.)

Then, 20 minute cooldown on the elliptical.

Nothing impressive, if you know anything about each respective discipline. Which I do, sadly, because I have access to the internet. And the knowledge of what I used to deadlift.

But I'd be lying if I said any of that bothered me. Frankly, it doesn't. Not even a little. Yeah, my cycling sucks. But I'm not a triathlete. Yeah, my rowing sucks. But I'm 145 lbs, and the erg favors far heavier guys. Also, totally new to the technique. And yeah, my deadlift sucks. But I'm not a powerlifter. And I am, furthermore, 25 lbs below the weight at which I lifted my best.

Most importantly, I'm happy with all of that.

Can I really end a post without something vaguely nihilistic and snarky? I guess.