Freedomizing

 We brought home our little Atlas, a German Shorthaired Pointer puppy, last night. What a bundle of insanity; as I write this I am looking at him behind a little gate-type enclosure, and he is decibel painful! Same decibels that he was at last night; how can so much "I'm dying" come out of something so cute! So far, he's fallen asleep on my wife, myself, and my youngest. Such a sweet puppy, a few accidents, but nothing major, I believe we would have avoided all accidents if it weren't 7 effin degrees and snowing outside. It's only meant to be a balmy 20-ish degrees for a week! AHHHHH! I have been doing mental stress tests about this for a while, and nowhere in my chaos thinking did I think Denver would become a tundra for a sustained period. I guess that's the definition of anti-fragile. And my planning was not but is becoming. My wife and I had to be up about every three hours last night for 30 ish minutes, calming him down, allowing him to fall asleep on...

I signed up for the IronMan Idaho, I did the Boulder IronMan in 2015, and Thermal Yoga was instrumental in my training, hence my working to get back into it. That's why I put the heart rate monitor on for class; I'm working on aerobic sustained maximum heart rate, which I'm still calculating and finding. The rule of thumb, which appears to be pretty accurate, is 180-age; thus, for me, it's 140, but there are some riders, like if you trained a bunch, then add five, etc. I was not in great shape when I started this a couple weeks ago; thus, I was working with 140; I've found that mine is likely closer to 145, as the other "rule of thumb" is you are aerobic if you can breathe through your nose. This indicates to me that I can run at 145, as with anything above that, and I have to take supportive mouth breaths. Thus killing the aerobic workout.  With a Yin/Yang purpose throughout Thermal Yoga, my guess is that I will soar through that maximum (145) heart rate....

 Been "practicing" yoga now for over a decade, and I've had mini steps forward, hardly noticeable, actually very much like the book "compound effect," little tiny incremental improvements that over the years manifest themselves into HUGE changes. Mentally and Physically. But today I had a breakthrough that is noticeable both mentally and physically, and I believe my "practice firmly" will improve immensely from it.   The best way I can explain it is a mix of "body by science" and Yin and Yang, push and pull. My ignorance is going to show in this next statement, but whatever the name of the pose is where you are lying on your back, this is the Bikram Yoga 26 poses right after your standing session. You pull your leg up into your chest, and my teacher, Tonya (the absolute best), said the same thing she has for over 10 years. "biceps bulge pulls your leg into your shoulder" but today, either its the first time; she said it or its the f...

A work in progress, listening to the Gap and Gain, this struck me as something I need to do, so here's my 30-second iteration:  I know I am being successful when: I am present with my family My fiscal outgoings are less than my incoming.  I have the flexibility to do what I want every day No one can tell me when or where to be I can be me whenever and however I want I can pay attention to my physical and mental well-being without affecting my income Actionable Items Coaching: Allow for Gap "sulking" for 5 minutes Allow for Gain "personal praise" for 5 minutes Allow for Gain What did the others do well 20 minutes End of discussion Other book thoughts, I'm going to write this quote from memory; therefore, don't quote me (That's funny) "Do you want to stop all wars and violence today, right now? Then do it! Stop reading the news; stop following social media; stop it all."  I love that concept; interestingly, it appears in all sorts of literatu...

 The saying goes better to love and lost than never loved at all. I couldn't agree more, and it rings true regarding the unconditional love of man's best friend. Our family rescued a Blue Tick Coon Hound puppy about 6 months, didn't know anything about this breed; it just appeared to me to have the potential to be a pointer that I could bring out to the fields with me on hunts. And she was cute as a button, so the family brought me in to inspect the dog.  She was so sweet; nothing we could do to turn her away now. Her coloring is gorgeous. And most importantly, the family was love at first sight. I was worried; I've never had a puppy before, always rescued 1ish-year-olds. So I was still determining what to expect. The first thing I did was refer to youtube for a bunch of training techniques, and away we went. She picked up training so naturally and efficiently, and training the family was just as easy; she posted a picture of the hand signals for coming to sit down and ...

 If I were to write a book, in which the idea has always caught my attention, the title just maybe "The Lost Art of Life Maintenance" Chapters to include in no particular order: 1. Yoga Hot or Not     Mental maintenance 2. Bicycle Maintenence     Brake adjustments, derailer adjustments, tuning wheels 3. Vehicle Maintenence     Changing oil(s), changing spark plugs, timing and carborators 4. Home Maintenance     HVAC and Fluid dynamics, Water under pressure and not, seals sealants and insulation 5. How to survive outdoors     Glamping, processing wood, wood burning stoves, fishing, hunting 6. Overall life tinkering  

 I turn 40 this year, and I always said I wanted to do an Ironman in my 40s. Well, why not when I'm 40?! This has been inspired by my cousin sending a random text "I am doing an iron man ... Do you have any tips, recommend any training strategy, diet, anything that helped you? ... " Things happen for a reason, I think, divine sometimes. Therefore, I thought about it and deferred to a conversation we should have later. As this clearly was not on the front of my mind, but certainly should be!  I've been thinking about this for the last couple of weeks, and I've come to a conclusion, based on a study of one, me, that an iron man slides perfectly in line with the age-old 80/20 rule. 80% mental and 20% physical. Keep in mind I am a passive triathlete; in other words, I compete with no one but myself, and I consider it an absolute win if I finish and a super win if I enjoy it! Therefore my "recommendations" are for those individuals looking to "complete,...