Incredible Training Week, Gov't Mule, Bouldering

Swim training went really well this week. I managed to move in the water in a manner that felt proper.

Yesterday, I knocked out a full 1600 meters - exactly 1 mile. This is the distance in the Nation's Tri. 1800 meters is up to bat next. 1800 should insure proper over training to handle the mile swim in the Nation's Triathlon.

My running pace is pretty solid. I'm not shooting for improvement in that department, just looking to sustain pace for the mileage.

Cycling has been a bit of a challenge lately. My right knee has been really bothering me after my rides. It's gotten to a point that I'm beginning to feel a slight bit of pain in/around it during and after training. Walking up the stairs, standing up after being seated for long periods of time both bring on pain.

I'll blame my Cannondale Synapse road bike or the toe clips for my cycling shoes. My Cervelo P1 never caused issues last year. I've been using the Synapse a lot lately so, I think the geometry and the gear ratio I ride/train on in stop/go areas is hurting me.

I've been good about loosing up the gear ratio and making more gentle starts. I've also started taking glucosamine supplements along with a daily vitamin and fish oil tablets. I hope in a couple of weeks to see a reduction in pain. On occasion, I have broken out Motrin/Ibuprofen, to reduce any inflammation or swelling that could be caused by a potential repetitive stress/strain injury.

Weights

I also started to include a weight-training program into my work out routine. After my 2nd pool work out for the week, I hit the weight room at UMD, conduct a High Intensity Training (HIT) session, and then about 30 minutes of treadmill running.

During my HIT session, I focus on knee extensions. When I started implementing this program about 2 weeks ago, the muscles above my knee cap (my lower quads?) were screaming out in pain. Those muscles are under developed and very tight. This could easily be contributing to the knee issue. Weight training should loosen them up and provide the proper conditioning to build up the muscle tissue. Improvements to the lower quad muscles should create improved support for the knee.

Semester is Ahead, Batter up!

The semester is on the horizon. Parallel Computing here I come. When I was an undergrad, I participated in the Clemson Research Experience for Undergrads program. At the time, I was working on Coven, a High Performance Computing (HPC) programming environment.

I developed a unit testing framework on a Beowulf Cluster. Since the recent growth of interest in GPGPU, it'll be interesting seeing how the field of HPC has changed.

It'll be a little tough dusting off my Beowulf roots for the course.

Bouldering

I'm looking into nabbing some shoes for bouldering. I've been doing it off/on again this year. Each session is an incredible experience. It's doing some crazy work on my forearms. My hands are getting a lot stronger. Hopefully, it's building some agility, but I am a lot more aware of my body size/weight and how to shift it and move it in other sports (swimming, running, cycling) to get the most out of my overall economy of motion.

Gov't Mule

Great show if I wasn't completely exhausted! I was running myself ragged this weekend. Was up late with friends Friday and Saturday nights. Still having to pull a full 8 hours at drill (5 am wake ups and cab rides) - the long and short was that the weekend was packed.

Thankfully, the show was a total improvement over the previous one. The stage was set in a field near a country club in Loudon, VA. Warren Haynes was in good form. They started off slowly and it picked up about mid way with some solid improvisational work on his part. A very sound drum/keyboard solo - a Maryland saxophonist showed up and played with them for a bit. It was a really good time.

My old Clemon buddy Eric is a big jam-band scenester and had pretty solid time. He wasn't 100% sold on the blues-like tunes that Gov't Mule dusts off, but he did appreciate the solo work and proficiency the band displayed.

The big waiting game

It's officially been 1 year since I resigned. I'm still waiting on the resignation. Usually my drills are basically spent completing online training classes or doing documentation checks. This is usually related to "big army" requirements that get pushed down to the my weekend warrior brethren. This month, we actually had a pretty solid training event. I was really impressed with my instructor's proficiency and he seems to have found himself a terrific niche doing some particularly technically challenging work. I'll need to contact him and figure out what type of outfit he's in, it could be an interesting career option if I decide to become a GS/DA civilian.

I had another "service reaffirming moment". On my way to the cab, a guy around my age was walking home (at 5 am is it still a walk of shame for a guy?). He walked right by me, looked at me, and said "thanks".

I was still waking up and probably mumbled something back, but, it was interesting all the same. The reactions I get from DC residents regarding military service still fascinate me. If it's not revulsion, or sympathy, it's appreciation. So it probably is with most jobs in this part of America.