Most intense running week so far

This week was definitely the most intense week I’ve had running so far. It started out Monday with a threshold workout. It was basically 15 minutes at the race pace, which the Garmin figured was right at my lactate threshold.

I was very nervous about this workout all weekend. I really wasn’t sure if I could do it or not, but I knew I was going to get out there and give it a shot. I found a route that was mainly flat if even slightly net downhill, just because since it was pace based and not heart rate based, going uphill did me no favors.

It was 10 minutes normal pace, 15 mins at race pace, 10 mins at normal to finish. When I started the interval section, it felt fast (well, for me) and I could tell my HR got up pretty quickly. But I settled into a groove. I saw the timer get to 10 mins left and it was feeling hard, but I felt like I had plenty left. When I had 5 minutes left I was hurting. But I just told myself to hold on for 5 more minutes. 4… 3… 2… 1

And then I made it. It felt really good to get through that. That’s probably one of the most consistent hard efforts I’ve done in years. I mean, in CrossFit, we do lots of hard stuff. But I’ve had a hard time convincing my brain that I can stat at that HR for that long. Doing it on Monday was a good reminder just how much of all this is mental.

I had several more runs that I did during the week, and I felt good in all of them. I felt really strong yesterday in my “long” run for the week. It’s amusing, this week the Garmin has definitely turned up the knob. My Wednesday run this week was last weeks long run. But I’m excited to get them done.

The fact that I’m actually running straight for an hour at a time is just a great feeling. It will be interesting when I get back to Austin and some real ups and downs, but I’m excited to keep working towards the sub 30 goal!

Week recap: running, lifting, and 21 years!

This week was my first full week of working out that I’ve had in quite some time. I did take one day where I went for a long walk instead of doing a run, but I was really sore from the Bulgarian split squats that I did the day before, and I think it was the right call.

The key is consistent movement, after all, and I figured a 45 minute walk was better than a 30 minute run where I just felt like trash.

At the end of our hiking adventure last summer.

This week was also our 21st wedding anniversary. I still think about stuff from when we got married, and I think to myself oh that wasn’t that long ago. But it was 21 years ago. Pierre was actually younger than our current cats when we got married - that’s crazy. But I look forward to many, many more years with Carrie. I love spending time with her, whether that be here or traveling somewhere. I love you, Carrie!

Middle of Mardi Gras Weekend

This post will be short. We’re deep into Mardi Gras activities. We headed back to Baton Rouge this evening as we are both working tomorrow, and then we’ll head back to New Orleans in the evening for Orpheus and to watch Rex on Mardi Gras morning.

It’s been great to see everyone and to get in some of the parades. The parades are a blast, but they are exhausting. I love Mardi Gras, but come Tuesday night I am glad that it is over. Definitely not something you want to do all the time. But that’s part of the magic of it. It does just come once a year. There’s wisdom in the seasons, not everything needs to be available all the time.

Looking forward to seeing the fish in the local ponds are acting once Mardi Gras is over. I’m hoping they're getting more active with the weather being not cold. We will see.

In Boston

I’m in Boston for a few days for a work meeting. When I have traveled for work in the past it’s almost been exclusively overseas, so it was always at least 5 days if not seven or more. This trip is two nights… fly up, meet, come home. Not bad. I would like to make it back up here at some point as a tourist.

When we were landing we swung over the Atlantic and came in from the east and while we were over the ocean the mist coming off the water was interacting with the setting sun in a crazy way. Just wanted to share that.

Kayak progress... power!

Today I had some time to work on the kayak. Last week when I posted I was still trying to figure out where to put the circuit breaker for the main motor circuit. You want it close to the power source, but there really wasn’t a good spot. I looked into some options of trying to create something, but it wasn’t panning out.

Then I discovered that you can buy battery boxes that have a circuit breaker installed in them. This concept was perfect. It was the right size to still fit in the battery well behind the seat, it put the breaker adjacent to the battery, and it gave the battery some protection from water. I ordered one of those and it showed up early in the week. I also had gotten my crimpers and wire strippers in the mail this week, so I had everything I needed.

The battery box with the quick disconnect halves attached.

I moved the mount for the wheels back a bit and that allowed the battery box to fit in. It came with a strap that fit nicely through the bracket to secure it down. Connected the battery to the box circuity and the quick disconnect plug to the terminals on the outside. A strip, crimp, and shrink tube and the connection to power was complete. I have the wire routed through the left side of the kayak inside the hull. The next thing was to cut off some of the wire coming out of the motor and attach the plug on there that matches the outlet I installed last weekend.

Plug that connects the motor to power.

I cut off a decent amount of the wire coming out of the motor, and spliced the plug on. I will say, getting used to exactly where you need to crimp is not the most straightforward thing. At least with the heat shrink tubing, it gives you a little more security. This tubing has a glue inside as well, so once it shrinks that glue melts and makes a nice seal.

Inside kayak splice to motor plug receptacle.

I made the last splice inside the hull which connected the main length of wire coming from the battery to the wires coming off of the receptacle I installed last weekend for the motor plug. (I of course disconnected the battery before doing this as this completes the circuit.) Once this connection was made I went back and reconnected the battery and heard the motor beep. At this point I knew I was close.

I went through the pairing procedure with the remote, and then it was the moment of truth. Would the prop spin?

Success!

I’m very proud of this, which I know is kind of silly. But I really have never done anything like this since building my senior thesis hardware component, and honestly, that just involved some soldering and putting things in a bread board. Compared to what some people have in their kayaks and boats, this is trivial. But I brought it into existence, and that feels pretty damn good.

Still left to do before I can get it in the water:

  1. Make an appointment with TPWD to get the boat registered and get my numbers put on.

  2. I need to get the rack installed on top of my Bronco Sport so that I can actually bring it to water.

  3. Still need to figure out the placement for a few things on the kayak. I know this will evolve over time, but there’s some key things I need to find a place for.

  4. Adjust the pedals for my leg length. This is a pretty straightforward task, but I noticed today the stock position is really close in. They are very easy to adjust, but I need to actually sit in it.

The junk removal folks are coming on Friday, so that will also mean that I should be able to get things rearranged and the kayak holder mounted.

Well that was hard

Today was something else. The short version: we didn’t eat enough and probably didn’t have enough water. All things that can be fixed (former cyclist Taylor is judging current Taylor for making such a rookie mistake). The views were amazing, however. And honestly, I felt pretty great other than the last hour.

The internet isn’t great here, so this will be text only. The hotel we are at is super cute and supper was included which was nice.

This trail is no joke. Tomorrow is more climbing, but more refuges and the last 40% is actually all downhill. I am also going to switch my watch to kilometers instead of miles so that we can have a more accurate notion of where we are using our directions. I will say, the GPS course on the Garmin was great to have. Also, the signage really is amazing. There are times when you are like, really, we go over here? But yes, you do.

I’m also hoping we’ll get a little more acclimated to the altitude every day. Things that looked like nothing hill-wise had us both huffing and puffing.

But with that, I’m going to drink more water, use the theragun to hopefully get my muscles recovering, and get to sleep. Bon nuit!