The Quest #14: Takin' Off

October 8th, 2024 to November 13th, 2024

Can't believe it's November. Even Texas is starting to feel chilly...

A sad amount of runs this month but on the flip side I did the longest bike ride of my life: 25 miles. Running gets boring AF after a while so through cycling I'm finding another way to do some cardio. The other highlight - my daily ashtanga yoga sessions at home are much longer after taking up the courage to visit an IRL class and refine what I've mostly learned through an app. Before this month I did 20 minutes at the longest typically - now I'm doing 40-50 minute sessions on average. The impact is noticeable. Also did my longest breath hold: 2 minutes, 2 seconds. So despite the decrease in running, The Quest carries on.

Long story short: I became a stay-at-home deadbeat because life got too hard for an emotionally unstable yuppie. Now I'm trying to redeem myself by running a lot and talking about it. Hopefully you find this entertaining enough to subscribe, buy merch and follow your own Quest.

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Getting back into the groove of running.

Running gets boring and I still need to sweat.

A picture's worth a thousand words, here's nine.

TAKE CARE is an excellent album and a confirmation that BigX is going to be a legend in the rap game. His flow, the cinematic beats, the storytelling, it all comes together to become a truly compelling piece of art. Very well produced. Gave me flashbacks of College Dropout era Kanye West but further evolved with crisper sounds.

Elden Ring: getting closer to the end and finally beat a couple bosses that were slowing me down. Close to Level 100 and feels like I'm nearish to the endgame, but never say never. I started with the Samurai class and I've gone back to the starter weapons of the katana and the bow - they just work so good. Loving the Dragon Greatclaw too - it's great for breaking enemy poise. Shangri-La Frontier is the perfect companion anime to this game.

Master of the Flying Guillotine is a classic kung-fu movie - I've only seen a few of them in my life, but I can see how so many things I've loved over the years were inspired by the 70s/80s era of kung fu flicks. I've got a massive list that I'm looking forward to running through, like A Touch Of Zen, Dragon Inn, Five Elements Ninjas and Eight Diagram Pole Fighter. What started with The Last Dragon, Fearless and Ong Bak continues.

Social Studies is a five-episode documentary series that explores the lives of several teenagers going through life after the pandemic era and how their connection to social media and technology affects their lives. It's tragic in many ways, but at the same time I recognize that my parents were afraid of the technology I was exposed to, too. The world's always changing, and maybe the kids are alright. But it's very eye-opening and frankly painful to watch at times, but a great insight to what young people in the West are going through in this moment in time.

Let's take a break and learn something new.

Trivia

This time it's about triathlons!

1. Triathlons Started as a Cross-Training Experiment: The first known triathlon took place in San Diego, California, in 1974. It began as a way for local swimmers, cyclists, and runners to cross-train and test their overall endurance.
2. Ironman Distances Are Intense: The Ironman triathlon, one of the most famous and grueling types, covers a 2.4-mile (3.86 km) swim, a 112-mile (180.25 km) bike ride, and a full 26.2-mile (42.2 km) marathon run—all in one go! Athletes must complete it within 17 hours.
3. Swimming Comes First for Safety: Triathlons are structured with swimming as the first event because it’s the riskiest. Starting with swimming ensures athletes are fresh and minimizes the chances of accidents in the water due to fatigue.
4. Transition Zones Are Key to Winning: Athletes use transition zones to switch from swimming to biking and then biking to running. Speeding up the “T1” (swim-to-bike) and “T2” (bike-to-run) transitions can be the difference between winning and losing.
5. Super Sprints Are a Thing: For beginners or those wanting a faster experience, the super sprint triathlon consists of a 250- to 500-meter swim, a 6- to 12-mile bike, and a 1.5- to 3.1-mile run. It’s a fun way to enjoy the sport without the grueling hours of training required for longer races.

My unedited ramblings, typically after a run.

There's some gems between the manic thoughts.

10/11/2024

Traveling for a bit so the usual routine is being challenged. Good thing is that it lets you re-examine things from a different perspective.

I had been training for that half-marathon for the end of September, another banger by Tejas Trails, but the training never quite came together and the race happened while I was out of town. It's been a chaotic few months.

Point is, I've been developing a basic 5K training plan, so this is a good opportunity to live through the plan myself and make it incredible. I've been doing lots of research, and while there's lots of apps that have great training plans that can adapt to you on the fly (e.g. Runna), I still think there's something for the plan that you print out and stick on the wall. This one's going to be an 8-week plan, so I'm going to train to PR my 5K time in a big way. I'm going to work in strength training, HIIT training, cycling, and figure out my nutrition. The vision behind Sendō has always been to

Being sober has been good: the clarity is painful and I've been humbled at how far I need to push myself in the present to change. I haven't been a good partner, a good sibling, a good employee, a good friend. But there's an opportunity to take life a bit more seriously and appreciate everything I've got around me. To work harder and create a life that I want. I've always lived as a background character in my life, now it's time to become a leader and create the reality I want.

That includes actually trying to grow Sendō beyond this blog - I created an Instagram, I'm back on Reddit and joined the running and Strava communities, and I'm realizing I've got to get creative on Strava as well. I've always sucked at being social but this is going to be how we grow into a real human.

That said, here's another Tejas Trails race that I'll think I'll do and ask some friends to run it with me. The whole vibe is that we need other people in our life, so feels pretty on brand.

Mosaic Trail Race | Tejas Trails

Mosaic Trail Race 50k, 26.2 mi, 13.1 mi, 15k, 10k, 5k. Hosted in December on a historic ranch outside of Austin in Liberty Hill, TX. Register now!

Tejas TrailsHome

There's 8 weeks until December 7th. Perfect time to design a new plan! It'll just be a 5K, but I'm going to run the best 5K of my life. Let's get to work.

--

I really suck with people. Even with my own family. I guess I've always struggled with being on track with people. But today was just proof that there was maybe a brief moment that I was 'normal', but I think I can get it back. It'll only work through one way - constant practice and reflection. Back into the fire we go. I used to hate myself and beat myself up over all of the awkward interactions - the change is this - experiencing, reflecting, adapting, repeat. I know this is literally an insane idea but I know it's going to lead to victory. They laugh at you until you win, and I'm willing to keep fucking up to keep growing, and someday I'll fuck up less and less. Here's to every day and every moment and every opportunity to evolve.

10/14/2024

Having to rethink my strategy for the marathon in February. I was doing the half-marathon plan from Nike, but I think I'll switch gears and train with the 5K plan that I'm developing myself so I can make it the best possible. I think I mentioned that before but I'm designing it every day so the inspiration is coming together. Got good ideas for the shirts we'll go with at launch as well - three different designs so you can pick what you like, and it'll be a good way for me to learn which designs do best.

This little Side Quest to Nashville has been good in a lot of ways. Centennial Park, home of The Parthenon is really beautiful and it was nice to do a couple laps there. Water is calming, nature is calming, watching birds do their cool patterns in the sky is calming, dodging geese is a little scary. They had all sorts of historical plaques along the loop, and it was a good education in how much has happened to create the society we live in now. Even building a city park takes a tremendous amount of effort.

10/15/2024

Got a HIIT workout for the first time in months, felt good. Semi-related - took a stab at using Figma and whoa, I'm just going to have to watch some tutorial videos. Lots of functionality and power but I was a little arrogant to assume I could get into the flow of it without a little commitment. There is a mountain of growth and change that I need to climb, but I'm going to keep going. This is the way.

Turn The Lights Back On by Billy Joel once again hits in the feels.

10/18/2024

First yoga class in years, and my first ashtanga yoga class IRL. I've been doing about 10 minutes a day with the Down Dog Yoga app for years, but this was the first time getting the real experience. This was at a totally different level. The longest I've done in the app is about 45 minutes, so I knew most of the poses but the pace was relentless and it was a heated room. But it was great - I lasted at decent strength until about 55 minutes, then I was struggling. It was an hour and fifteen minutes, though it started a little late so maybe just over an hour. Super small class, maybe like ten people, and I'd say there were 2-3 high level people there but everyone knew the entire sequence. Teacher was good, though a little hard to hear at times, but it was just so powerful to go through the entire sequence and see how many things I missed on my own. Or rather it's easier to give up on your own, and while the app is good for showing you how to do the poses, having a class of people around you is a different kind of energy. They did a chant at the beginning and a sound bowl thing at the end. The corpse pose at the end was real, I legit couldn't move for a bit. My biggest failure was letting the thoughts overtake my breathing when it was easy though, this is the part of practice I have to dial in is the constant watching of the thoughts in all moments. Great practice!

10/19/2024

I took a good look at myself in the mirror for the first time in a long time. Years. I was disgusted - the neglect on my personal appearance was apparent. I stopped caring about myself, how I presented myself, and it shows. I wouldn't want to look at me, be around me, see me either. Truly I feel like Shrek. But now it's an opportunity to take care better care of myself, from diet to skincare routines and mindset. I'm going to transform in every dimension - not to feed my ego, but rather just to present myself in a better light. Just got that Korean skincare routine in the mail: cleanser, toner, moisturizer, and cream. Though it's from Amazon so it might straight up be poison or a knockoff of a real brand, or both. But let's give it a month or so and see if I'm not glowing by the end of this. Also back to drinking water more consistently. It's time to just try again. I want to be someone people aren't embarrassed or disgusted to be around. That's not their words, just me realizing how much I let myself go.

10/23/2024

Super stoked with how many improvements I've made to the site in the last few weeks. Feels closer and closer to a real product. Doubting that it'll make me rich and it seems like there's so many things to consider, but I'm going to keep swinging while I've got this time and energy. I added Yoga to the site finally, and so now we've got everything except more training plans and nutrition in SenDex, so it's close to 100%.

10/24/2024

Got a sunset run in last night at East Metro. Got dark about 15 minutes in so I ended up doing laps in the parking lot till I hit 25 minutes or so. Crap time but I had the dog with me, it was good to do some running with her. I'm starting over with a 5K plan of my own creation, so I'm taking it one step at a time and refining the details. The upcoming Tejas Trails race I've got in December is a 5K that I'm running with friends, so I'm going to run my own training plan so it'll be 100% true advice that I'm giving to folks.

Writing is going well too - I've been working on a 'prologue' piece that I'm going to post to other places to drive people towards Sendo - it's finally taking shape into something decent. But we're talking like 30% complete.

10/27/2024

Solid bike ride - about 6 miles. Next bike ride is going to be 12 miles, going to lock it in this week! Let's keep going!!

10/28/2024

Looked up the Austin Marathon 2023 results. The best men's time was 2:16:XX, the last person in the men's top ten was 2:42:XX. The women's best time was 2:36:XX, last person in women's top ten was 3:19:XX.

I've been following Casey Neistat for years and he's an avid runner - he's never broken a 3 hour marathon. This is pretty tough to do for the amateur and the pro-am athletes. A good average marathon time is 3:48:XX.

In other words, if you can run a marathon in under 4 hours, that's great. Doing it in under 3 hours is incredible. Under 2 and half-hours is elite level performance. The current world record is 2:00:35 by Kelvin Kiptum, set on October 8, 2023, at the Chicago Marathon.

These are just numbers to me at this stage, but it's something to dream of. I was hoping that through my epic yoga training that I'd be able to run under three hours, but we'll see. 3:30 would be extremely impressive for a first time.

10/29/2024

2-miler today. Using my own plan and fixing it as I go has been a good education. Plus I'm taking a smarter approach to my diet as well, and that's giving me more energy and helping with recovery. Turns out health is wealth.

Running with the dog so my timing isn't perfect, but I figure that running with her and slamming the hills in minimalist sandals is going to make me unstoppable on a normal road course. Just got to get comfortable with running 4 hours nonstop. Obviously the dog will stay home for those longer runs, but if we can do a clean 20-30 minutes together, I'll be overjoyed.

When I first moved to Austin five years ago, I met a lady who trained for marathons and triathlons with her dog running alongside her. My dog's kind of a wild cannon so never thought that was possible, but she's figuring out the more we do this together. I kind of hope she thinks we're hunting for a wildebeest or so it's a fun bonding experience and we're not just doing laps in the woods for no reason. I run in a pretty isolated place so she runs off-leash with me. I think it'll be good until I get into longer distances.

Money's been tight lately so I haven't signed up for my December race: the Tejas Trails Mosaic. But I'm getting my shit together. I thought once I stopped being a bozo that I'd skyrocket into being great, but all it's done is make me see clearly where I'm at. Hard work and discipline are going to be what get me to wherever I'm going next.

10/31/2024

Did my twelve mile bike ride yesterday! Went well, only downside was that I did the last 15 minutes or so in the dark. Trying to balance between going out when it's not insanely hot and having enough time before sunset. Lesson learned: go out about 1.5 hours before sunset, which these days means around 5:15.

The ride was good - the last 20 minutes is where I started to feel pain, but it still worked out. My next goal: 24 miles. I finally got the bike rack on my car and just drove in the neighborhood to see how it felt and worked. With that said, now I'll be able to go to Ladybird Lake and bike the entire Butler Trail or even going on the Onion Creek (I think?) Trail to cover a ton of the city. Either way, 24 miles are waiting for me.

Next upgrade: a better water bottle. Mine is not the right shape for a bicycle, so I used straps to tie it down to my bike, the downside being I couldn't drink water at all and I didn't want to stop. The good thing is that I did use a Nuun tablet in my water which I drank afterwards, and that was a great help to my recovery. Halfway through the ride I had a Honey Stinger packet which I think gave me some energy, but that shit is so sweet my teeth hurt, so I'm going to find something else. The training continues!

11/03/2024

Did a 25 mile bike ride yesterday. Can't believe I pulled it off. Ran out of water with 10 miles to go and it started raining during the last 5, but it was a blast. Learning to push myself beyond what I thought was possible each day. Now a triathlon doesn't seem so scary, though of course I need to pull off a 10K run and a 1 mile swim. So the great work continues.

Got a solid 40 minute ashtanga yoga session in this AM too. Debating if I'll throw in a strength training workout tonight but the consistency is coming back to me. And deep physical exhaustion makes the endless chatter of thoughts much weaker.

11/07/2024

Solid run in today. I mean, only 25 minutes, but that's solid. Taking time to dial in my nutrition so I can kick ass on upcoming runs. It's been good running with the dog too, I think it's building better discipline and a bond between the two of us. I know she's tired when she tries to (gently) attack me to stop moving. My biggest challenge apart from nutrition is consistency - it's been five days since I cycled 25 miles, and even longer since I've run. The only way this works is to get the mileage up, so I want to grab another 2 runs out of this chapter, plus a bike ride.

Going to print out my own 5K Run Plan and keep refining that over the coming weeks. Looking forward to Mosaic!

11/08/2024

Checked out East Austin Comedy last night - specifically the Featured show. Great performances all around. Comedy as an art form is incredible - it's cool to see how you can take an empty room, fill it with a couple audience members, and have one person use a microphone to bring that place to life. Fill it with laughter, fill it with awkward pauses, fill it with constant human engagement. It's magic in it's own way. You bringing up people's memories, their feelings in the moment, their frustrations at the way the world is and the acknowledgement that most of life is a complete joke. It's powerful and much needed in these times. Shout out to Sarah Matthes, Sam Lopez, Deric Poston, and the rest of the lineup. This shit ain't easy, and being vulnerable in front of strangers every single night is a battle of mind and spirit. Here am I working on my dinky little blog and so it's a lesson to put myself out there on a totally different level to make even a little bit of an impact.

11/13/2024

Squeezed in a bike ride and a couple runs before calling it quits on this chapter. Yoga's been my strongest category of training this month, but cycling's been a welcome addition to the mix. Next time you read this, I'll have another trail 5K under my belt. Wow!!! So impressive!!

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