A week of success

So, I did it. I made it through my first full week of olympic-distance triathlon training and hit the milestones. I swam and ran and biked the way the plan said to, I stretched and did my strength training, and it all worked. Here's to another successful week.

My diet continues to give me trouble. I just sort of eat things that are around, whether that's protein shakes or pasta or whatever. I'm at a healthy weight, and it's been stable for some time, but it's chaotic and not particularly healthy. It's healthier than the average american diet, but that's not saying much. I spent a couple months at one point living on keto chow, which was convenient and reasonably healthy and stable, but I did miss actually cooking every once in a while. Now, I'm cooking every day, but mostly simple things like eggs or pasta. Maybe I should just go onto keto chow and cook keto periodically.

My kombucha developed a spot of mold. I'm planning to throw out the whole batch and start over.

I'm probably going to make it

This week is the first week where I've lasted this long with a formal tri training plan; previous attempts have been derailed by schedules, or cramps, or some such thing. But I got up early enough to swim for an hour before work earlier this week; it was "STT2", 200 meters in Z1 (9:26), 400 in Z3 (15:07), 2 minutes rest, 200 in Z3 (7:21), 2 minutes rest, and 200 in Z1 (12:29). A lot of it was against the current, but the times are still slow. That's okay. I'm improving. I went for a run this evening. 45 minutes, and my watch had 18% battery when I began, and 3% at the end. Good to know.

I made a large batch of sweet tea in my new (to me) 2-gallon glass jar six days ago and added a bottle of kombucha to it. In time, it should become a good continuous-brew arrangement.

I got some "suicide brake" levers for the rammer (the raleigh 20 I'm rebuilding and upgrading). They'll go nicely with the stock brakes, I think. The trick is where to mount the trigger shifter for the 8-speed hub. I need to order a few more parts for it, but it promises to be a fun project. Almost totally insane.

A long, long time off

I'm on my third consecutive day off. It's amazing. Less amazing is that the tri plan that I had chosen did not work out, between my schedule and getting a massive cramp on the first swim that I felt for nearly a week afterwards. I have still managed to get a fair bit done; for example, this was a solid strength training week. I've racked both my mead and my maple mead to secondary jugs over the last few days, and mixed my elderflower vodka half and half with simply syrup to make a decent liqueur. I intend to start in on an olympic-length tri training program tomorrow; the shorter distances should help me avoid injuries effectively. I also got word that my raleigh twenty frame is ready for pickup; I'll be buying a hub and rims for it soon. I hope to get a stem, handlebars, and a few other parts for it at the Somerville bike kitchen.

I made a concentrated soapberry liquid by boiling down several changes of hot water that had had the same batch of soapberries steeped in them. I'm hoping it will prove to be shelf-stable; if so, I'll experiment with using the instant pot to make a larger batch of liquid.

It's the 4th of July. I intend to grill some burgers and brats, cook some corn on the cob in foil, and generally drink beer and invite people to join me.