An Update - November 2024

Phew. It's been a minute. Over a year, to be clear. But, while it has been a while, I haven't stopped doing stuff and things. I wanted to write a quick update and provide a very general outline of what's to come for me and for this blog.

Now, where to start? Probably with fitness since my last post was about becoming a triathlete.

Fitness Update

In September of 2023, I had said that I was training for a few huge goals:

None of those happened, but for a simple reason: I don't like swimming. Not that I was bad at swimming, or wasn't seeing the progress in my swimming technique and speed. I just didn't enjoy the process of swimming. So, I dropped triathlon completely after finishing Leon's Triathlon (I'll probably write about this one).

So, that meant that I was no longer doing Triathlon, and decided to just focus on running and cycling. Early in 2024, I did complete Seeds & Stones Roubaix, and came in dead last. Which, I'm 100% OK with. That was my longest bike ride ever and it was extremely windy. I am still proud of that effort.

But, WalesDuro and Gravel Worlds didn't happen this year either. WalesDuro didn't happen because I actually bought a house in Lockport, IL. So, the extra cash I had laying around for that trip to Wales went straight into the house in either the form of down payment or movers. (I have it slated for 2025, but we'll see. It's a big undertaking).

Gravel Worlds didn't happen because I had a medical situation crop up. At the time, it seemed more serious than it is, and I thought I was going to have to get immediate surgery. I ended up canceling my trip to Lincoln because of it. As it turns out, the medical thing isn't as big of a deal (currently), and I probably could have done it, but I ended up just dropping out of it.

I then tried to do a 30km trail race (Hell Hath No Hurry), but I was completely untrained and, though I was doing it with a friend who crushed his goal, I DNF'd.

Reading all that back to myself after having written it, I feel sad. Sad to have not really pushed myself to compete in more races. But, it's not like I haven't been making progress...

Progress

I'm sad that I didn't really compete in more races. Sad that I have these HUGE goals of like doing multi-day stage races for both cycling and running. But, while I haven't raced, I haven't stalled in progress.

I've lost ~90 lbs (~41kg) since I started really focusing on my health in March of 2023. I'm running running, and my cycling fitness has skyrocketed. I think since I decided to not swim anymore, I have missed less than 5 workouts prescribed by my coach, Mark.

I'm still 100% focused on losing weight and getting my fitness as high as possible. I mean, I am starting 2025 with the UTMB Desert Rats 50km race! But here's an extremely tentative list of events I have scheduled for 2025:

  1. UTMB Desert Rats 50km
  2. WalesDuro (as mentioned, this probably won't happen, but I want to train for it)
  3. Gravel Worlds 300 miler -- I'm doing the big one!
  4. UTMB Chihuahua 100km

I'm also still planning to get to my goal weight of 220lbs. I have about 60lbs more to lose.

I am still obsessed with this. It's become a core part of who I am.

I just want this to be very clear (maybe just for myself), but my health and fitness are my main focus currently. I want to get lighter, stronger, faster, and be able to run and cycle for long distances.

Personal Update

This one is a bit shorter, simply because not a ton has changed, but there are still some changes.

As I mentioned above, I bought a house in Lockport, IL. I really enjoy the south suburbs of Chicago, and Lockport is on the rise (at least that's what I tell myself). But what really drew me to the area were the trails. Just outside my door I have a trail that connects to a pretty large trail network which is great for long rides and runs.

I left PredictHQ to join Edge Impulse as a Senior Pre-Sales Solutions Engineer. I'm so thrilled to be back in IoT and working to bring real products into life.

That's really it from a personal side of things. Working hard, both physically and mentally to keep pushing towards my goals. I do have a desire to pick up one more thing. My best friend builds guitars in his free time, I have some other friends that are involved in their communities. I want to do one more thing with my time. So, I'm spending some time thinking about that.

What's Next?

Well -- it's kind of all laid out above...

Outside of that, I want to write more. So, I'm going to. I have a whole note dedicated to blog post ideas I've had over time, and I definitely want to write more about my focus on health & fitness and my mindset. I think I tend to have a unique approach to things, which could be good content to write about.

But really, I just want to explore things that interest me. Writing about what I'm doing, learning, or enjoying will help solidify those things deeper into my brain. I'm really excited to explore this more, and create things for me. Look for posts about what I'm learning at Edge Impulse, or for posts about my meal plans and what I'm eating on a day to day basis, or for posts about my tools and what I use (and more importantly why I use them). Lots and lots of ideas in my list (and in my head), so keep your eyes peeled.

Who knows, maybe I'll get sponsored in the process!

I post on Mastodon now, instead of X (formerly Twitter). I'm also very active on Instagram.

Until next time...

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