Sometimes easy things are harder than they need to be. In this case, the easy thing is “keeping track of data about my exercise routines”. The hard thing is “making the diverse ecosystem of exercise data gatherers and providers work for me.” It has taken a few attempts to find a collection of equipment and services which meet my needs, so I thought I would share in case it helps others.
I love well kept lawns. Seeing a lush green lawn, freshly cut, with stripes that look like they were measured out with a set square and ready for the cup final at Wembley is a beautiful thing. The grass in my back garden has never looked like that. I am beginning to wonder if it ever will. But we’ll keep trying.
I am generally pretty scared of heights. Not all heights – flying doesn’t worry me, I was surprisingly OK with a hot-air balloon ride, and I can overcome the fear in order to ride large roller-coasters. I am not so good if you put me near the edge of a high cliff, on the roof of a building, or up a ladder.
Recently though, I have seen a number of online videos showing something that truly scares me – crane climbing. And by “scares me” I mean “cannot watch the screen without looking away A LOT scares me”, or “makes my insides go ice cold and makes me feel physically sick watching scares me”.
My last two blog entries covered the first 15 days of a 30-Day Primal Challenge. I had fully intended for there to be a third entry that summed everything up on the 30th day, as if reaching that point would be some magical revelation. I assumed I’d have a nice tidy conclusion to the challenge; the results from my 30 day experiment, if you will.
As of last night, I have reached the half-way point of my 30-Day Primal Challenge. Here is a brief update on progress.
In the past couple of years I have become very active and lost quite a lot of weight. Initially, a lot of running and cycling helped me lose about 30lbs, and then a switch about a year ago to more of a gym and cardio mix helped me build some strength. However, with neither approach have I managed to lose the excess body fat I am carrying. Despite being lighter overall, I still have about 25% body fat. I’d really like that to be lower, perhaps closer to the 15-18% range.
Yesterday, I had the pleasure of spending a fun few hours on a photography field trip with my friend Daniel and his son Liam. We set out from Daniel’s house at 6am and drove (via a coffee house!) two hours North of Seattle to the Nooksack River, near Deming. Daniel regularly takes trips to this area, mostly to photograph the eagles.