As a reminder here was my set of 2008 fitness goals outlined in this post. The goals were:

• Complete the Philadelphia Triathlon on June 22th.
• Complete the New York Marathon on November 2^nd.
• Increase my weight to around 175-180 lbs by end of 2008, but keep my waist around 32-inches (i.e. muscle, not fat).

How’d I do?

Well, as I posted in my last post, I successfully ran the Philly Triathlon.  And believe it or not, I completed my first Marathon on November 2nd in New York, finishing in a time of 4:20, despite having a severely strained calf muscle and having to walk in a boot for 4 weeks afterwards (don’t ask).  As for the third goal… as of right now I’m 165 still.

That said, something had to give as a lot of other things have been going on in my life.

For example, in July J and I packed our bags of New York and moved back to San Francisco so she could start her long-term career at UCSF.

At the same time, the pace at my company really started ramping up with a co-founder onboard.  How much.  Well as of right now, here’s where we are:

1. We’ve officially launched the beta of our first product, a free and open-source tool that lets Java programmers modify live Internet-broadcasted video on the fly.
2. We came out of hiding with our official company name: www.xuggle.com
3. And we’ll be “officially” launching on-stage at the FITC conference in Amsterdam Feb 24-26.

All in, I’m quite happy with 2008.

For 2009, my fitness goals are:

• maintain current weight, and try to run at least 3 times per week

That’s it.  Because I have a sneaking suspicious that work might be a little crazy this year.

As for blogging, personal blogging is taking a backseat to company blogging.  That said, if you want to keep in touch, I still monitor the comments, or send me e-mail at art.clarke(at)gmail.com

Thanks to anyone who’s still reading.

- Art

So here we are half-way through the year, and a good time for me to check in on my 2008 fitness goals.

Spring Plan Final Report

Just for completeness my reported spring 2008 fitness goal was simple: complete the June Philadelphia Triathlon. I did that the weekend before last.

I’m really excited to be done; the swim was harder than I expected, and I was slow, but I got it done. My bike ride was good; I stuck to my plan and finished feeling fine. Although my run started off badly (my body wasn’t dealing well with ingesting that much water in the river), but, um, once I found a porta-potty, I went from 12-minute-miles to finish that last 3 miles at 8.5 minute miles, sprinting the last quarter-mile at a 7.5 minute mile pace. Total time was 3 hours 20 minutes, but I spent 50 minutes doing the swim, about 10 minutes in transitions, have room to improve in the bike and run, so for the next one I have lots of areas to work on (which is exciting for me).

Midway Report

As a reminder though, that was part of a larger set of 2008 goals outlined in this post. The goals were:

• Complete the Philadelphia Triathlon on June 22th.
• Complete the New York Marathon on November 2^nd.
• Increase my weight to around 175-180 lbs by end of 2008, but keep my waist around 32-inches (i.e. muscle, not fat).

Adjustments

I’ve achieved the first goal on target and now must begin training for the 2^nd goal. I’m currently injury free which is a good place to start.

I’ve learned that the third goal is too aggressive for me (when coupled with the tri and marathon). I just can’t gain that much weight (well, I can, but not gain weight the right way) and train for endurance events at the same time. During the winter I was able to add about 5lbs of muscle, but it took a lot of really hard work to even do that. So I’m going to pare my goal back to achieving 165-170 lbs by the end of 2008, keeping a 32-inch waist. For completeness, on last weigh-in I was 162 pounds at 11.4% body fat.

I’m also going to try to keep my running ramp slower than last year to hopefully avoid injury and actually show up at the NYC marathon start-line this year.

Summer 2008 Plan

This brings me to my plan for summer of 2008. I need to start my marathon training (which means more running) and I want to prepare for the winter lifting work I’ll do. Right now, I’m at about 11% to 12% body fat, and it’d be nice to run the marathon lighter, and start the winter “bulking” when leaner. So here are the goals:

By 9/30/2008 I will:

• Get my body-fat percentage from 12% to below 10%, with a stretch goal of below 9%.
• Increase my running mile by no more than 10% per week (starting at a base of 10 miles/week), and most importantly, avoid injury.
• Join a new gym in California, and do weight/isometric/cross training on running off-days

As a stretch goal, I may also do the Marin Century (cycling) in August. This is for fun, and I don’t really plan to train for it, so it may kill me. We’ll see, but if I’m worried about marathon injury, I will skip it. Lastly, I have a week in Croatia in about 3 weeks, so no training then.

Winter 2008 Preview

My plan for winter is to switch back to bulking/lifting as my fitness focus, but I also want to get a swim-coach and really work on swimming. If anyone has good recommendations for coaches in San Francisco, please let me know. I’m going to sign-up for at least one more triathlon in 2009 and want to see if I can break the 3-hour mark.

- Art

Closet-Optimism

I used to say that pessimists were actually closet-optimists: why point out the bad if you didn’t secretly believe that by pointing it out, you could make something better happen.

In the past few years I’ve realized that’s not the case; pessimists are cowards. It’s easier to prepare yourself for the worst and then be surprised by the best, than expect the best of the world and adjust when everything inevitably falls short.

I made a point when moving to New York two years ago to come out of the closet and try to live life from an optimistic perspective. This was new for me; prior to that I’d been an avowed pessimist.

Yet here I am, about to leave New York for San Francisco, and I find it harder than ever to maintain my new optimist lifestyle.

Why? Because I’ve been so lucky over the past two years… how can it possibly continue?

Gratitude

I was optimistic about my move to New York, but even so I’m surprised. The world did not fall short of my expectations: instead, it exceeded them. As those who’ve read this blog (I know, I’ve been intermittent of late), I’ve been trying to do a lot of things with my time here, and looking back on it now, I’m quite happy with where I got.

In leaving though, I realize it’s not because of my effort alone, but because of the help of others, that I had such a great two years. So, in no particular order, here are some of what I was involved with in New York (at least the things that really mattered to me), and some shout-outs to those responsible:

• Raised over $15,000 for care of cancer patients: Thank you to everyone who donated. (Including over $3,600 with the stupidest online competition ever: Thanks Jonathan, Sanjeev, Matt, Gary, Will, and James.)
• Met some amazing students, and fantastic volunteers at the New Song Learning Partnership: Thank you Stephanie, Grace, Roger, Robert, Neil (for introductions) and others, and a big thank you to all the kids!
• Met some great International students learning English in the US who taught me a lot about Korea: Thanks Woolee and Hyung
• Trained for and completed the Jack Brown Charity Ride from New York, NY to Providence, RI: Thanks to everyone who participated, but especially Mark for pulling it all together.
• Trained for (but alas, did not complete) the New York City marathon: Thanks to Team Continuum, and especially Paul for being the driving force behind that.
• Learned how to swim (sort-of) and then trained for and completed my first Triathlon (the Philadelphia Olympic-Distance Triathlon): Thanks to Grant, Mike, Erica, Jay, but especially to Gustavo for convincing me to sign-up and helping me learn to swim.
• Helped start Stolen Bases, and learnt a lot about what do when you’re trying to start a company: Thanks Mike, Rick and Cliff.
• Started my own company Vlideshow, and learnt a lot more about what to do (and not do) in the process: Thanks especially to Eric for introducing me to Robert.
• Made a lot of new friends in NYC (who I hope will visit in SF), and deepened my friendship with several old friends who also moved to New York: Thanks to new friends Gustavo, Mariella, Diego, Jocelyn, Tony, Alyssa, Zahra, Kim, Lisa, Eve, and Zohn, and old friends Kathleen, Regan, Abbie, John, David, Ryan, Gisela, Kevin and Nolan.
• And for the first time in our life together, my wife and I discovered we actually had weekends and evening available to spend together, and despite living in a 380-square-foot apartment, still found we liked each other. Thanks to J for putting up with me.
• (…and yes, I lost 30 pounds and then gained 7-10 back. The true thanks for that goes to everyone mentioned so far, along with Microsoft Excel.)

(My apologies if I missed anyone.)

Given all that, I worry a little about how the next phase of my life can possibly measure up.

And the answer is it can’t… I can’t expect to compare and measure the past phase of my life to the next.

To remain an optimist, heck to become a Flamboyant-Optimist, I need to think about it differently.

The Worst Day of the Rest of my Life

Which brings me to Li and Eric’s wedding. Two weekends ago I was in California at a college-friend’s wedding. It was a beautiful wedding, and the entire crowd seemed a natural extension of Li and Eric’s relationship (which for me is the mark of a great wedding).

The bride and groom wrote their own vows, and something from Eric’s stuck with me. He said (I paraphrase):

“I believe today is the happiest day of my life so far, and also the worst day of the rest of my life.”

That, in many ways, is the creed of the Flamboyant Optimist.

Eric had faith, that despite the ups and downs of life, each day his relationship with Li would deepen in some way compared to the day before.

Now, Eric’s not stupid; he doesn’t expect each day will, when compared via all metrics, be better than the last; he only pledged that he would look for the way in which his relationship with Li deepened and became stronger in that day.

I need to now do the same. I am nervous in many ways about my return to San Francisco: will I be able to keep up the same philosophies? Will I find the right programs to give back to? Will my company succeed? Will my hair magically stop receding and getting grey (hmm…)? These are all questions that only time will answer.

But, as with my trip to New York, I am taking the following approach: I have faith that my life will be richer and deeper tomorrow, next week, five years (and further) from now than it is today. I don’t quite know how, but I leave here convinced that today is in fact the worst day of the rest of my life, and I go forth as an out and proud Flamboyant Optimist.

Thank you New York and good night.

- Art

p.s. As folks may have noticed, I’ve seriously decreased my postings to this blog. I expect that trend to continue for a while as I resettle in CA. I do hope to resume the “Naked Numbers” posts in August, and may post other things as time permits. The transparency the blog forced on me has been quite useful, and I may resume it again as a framework to help me push through other difficult changes I want to make. Feel free to keep an RSS reader pointed at the link.

Summary

Week 7 of the tri plan. Due to work and moving commitments, my training has gotten spotty and it’s only going to get worse between now and June 22^nd. That said, I’ve got a wet-suit set up and still planning to go for it. Next week is very travel heavy, so workouts will be limited.

Subjective Data

Due to weather the long bike ride never happened (it’s been a rainy spring here in NYC). And running was spotty due to the NYC Aids Walk cutting off my long run on Sunday. See, lots of excuses.

I did get a swim in on Friday, but while long it wasn’t that enjoyable due to crowding in the pool. Given my time constraints, I’ve fallen back on doing weight training which I enjoy.

Objective Data

Blue lines == actuals; Gray areas == my target range for that week.

Note: Where are all the graphs? I’ve run into an Excel 2007 ‘bug’ or feature where you can’t have multiple pivot tables of the same Excel ‘table’. I’m officially punting on fixing this for a while.

Assessment

I would have liked to have gotten more biking and swimming done last week, but I need to bow to the reality of the fact that (a) I’m doing a cross-country move in 6-weeks and between now and then am only in NYC for 3 of those weeks and (b) we’re hitting a nice crunch period at work and it’s the right balance to spend more time there.

Still, I’m not happy with the small amount of swimming drilling I’m doing. That said, I’m finding that the pools are always in use when I have time to go swimming. This week I’m going to try varying when I go.

Plan

That said, I’m going to be in Jacksonville for Memorial Day weekend, so at best I’ll get a run in there, and in California starting Wednesday of next week. I’m going to bring my wetsuit (for an open water swim at Candlestick) and my bike-helmet and shoes (because I’m borrowing a bike) to CA, but otherwise running and isometric workouts are all I’ll get done next week.

Reminders

I’m planning to try (again) for the NYC Marathon in November. If you’re interested in running either with me, let me know. Also, if anyone is interested in doing the Philly Triathlon (June) with me, or the Marin Century (August) with me, you’re welcome to join the team!

Presentation Notes

These notes are always presented in SOAP Note format. Click here for all the Nude Numbers posts.

Other

Thanks for reading.

- Art

Summary

Week 6 of the tri plan. A slow resumption to working out after (a) a pretty harsh flu and (b) my partner Robert was in-town most of the week so work took priority. Still, it felt good to be back at it.

Subjective Data

I came back slowly, but got a short run, a short swim and a bike ride in this week. It made me feel good to be outside. Spring has finally started to come to NYC, and I do believe Spring on the right coast is much better than on the left coast; we just appreciate it more here because of Winter.

During the run and bike ride my calf held up well. I also resume some upper-leg lifting (quads and glutes) and was reminded the day after that you shouldn’t take 6-weeks away from lifting.

Objective Data

Blue lines == actuals; Gray areas == my target range for that week.

Note: Where are all the graphs? I’ve run into an Excel 2007 ‘bug’ or feature where you can’t have multiple pivot tables of the same Excel ‘table’. I’m officially punting on fixing this for a while.

Assessment

Good slow start, but the tri is now breathing down my neck. I’m going to go or it anyway, hoping the combination of adrenaline, wetsuit and perseverance gets me to the bike-start. I also need to be patient with the run and the bike for now, but I feel ready to start some light running again.

Plan

I’d like to get at least one long and one short bike ride in, as well as one longish run. But I’m going to try to give special focus to swimming.

Reminders

I’m planning to try (again) for the NYC Marathon in November. If you’re interested in running either with me, let me know. Also, if anyone is interested in doing the Philly Triathlon (June) with me, or the Marin Century (August) with me, you’re welcome to join the team!

Presentation Notes

These notes are always presented in SOAP Note format. Click here for all the Nude Numbers posts.

Other

I’m way behind in other blog-updates. Why? Well, as you can see from my training numbers, work is eating into a lot of other areas in my life. For those who worry about that, don’t worry yet. I’m having so much fun doing what I’m doing right now, but had to cut back on something. If I stop updating my training log, I give you permission to hit me over the head with a big stick and remind me that balance is important. Of course, my wife gets ultimate “hitting me over the head” authority, and even as we speak is glaring over me with a big stick telling me to stop typing…

Thanks for reading.

- Art

Summary

Week 5 of the tri plan. And zero time spent working out. Why? First I got the flu, then J.

Subjective Data

Thursday I came down with a bad flu which took me until Sunday to really recover. Then Monday night J gets it as well, only far worse. We end up spending all night Monday in the emergency room where she gets IV liquids. Don’t worry, she’s all fine now, but wow, does it suck to get sick.

Objective Data

Blue lines == actuals; Gray areas == my target range for that week.

Note: Where are all the graphs? I’ve run into an Excel 2007 ‘bug’ or feature where you can’t have multiple pivot tables of the same Excel ‘table’. I’m officially punting on fixing this for a while.

Assessment

Don’t get sick. More in the next update.

Plan

More in next update.

Reminders

I’m planning to try (again) for the NYC Marathon in November. If you’re interested in running either with me, let me know. Also, if anyone is interested in doing the Philly Triathlon (June) with me, or the Marin Century (August) with me, you’re welcome to join the team!

Presentation Notes

These notes are always presented in SOAP Note format. Click here for all the Nude Numbers posts.

Other

I’m way behind in other blog-updates. Why? Well, as you can see from my training numbers, work is eating into a lot of other areas in my life. For those who worry about that, don’t worry yet. I’m having so much fun doing what I’m doing right now, but had to cut back on something. If I stop updating my training log, I give you permission to hit me over the head with a big stick and remind me that balance is important. Of course, my wife gets ultimate “hitting me over the head” authority, and even as we speak is glaring over me with a big stick telling me to stop typing…

Thanks for reading.

- Art

Summary

Week 4 of the tri plan. The pain in my leg is now gone, but I’m staying off running for 2 more weeks. Swimming gets better, but I need more time in the week; anyone know how to solve that problem?

Subjective Data

I’m recovering well from the latest leg injury, and don’t feel it anymore. I picked up the weight training a little this week, and got one long pool workout in. My balance was better, but I still tire relatively quickly.

Objective Data

Blue lines == actuals; Gray areas == my target range for that week.

Note: Where are all the graphs? I’ve run into an Excel 2007 ‘bug’ or feature where you can’t have multiple pivot tables of the same Excel ‘table’. I’m officially punting on fixing this for a while.

Assessment

Work is really starting to creep into training time (I know… startup and all). But my swimming is getting better. I need to spend more time in the pool and prioritize time a little better (I spent 3 hours on Monday failing to track down a bug instead of swimming, and once I took 60 minutes off to relax, the fix came to me quickly. I should know better). I’ll work on that this week.

Plan

Continue with light leg work, more swimming, and better prioritization of work vs. workout.

Reminders

I’m planning to try (again) for the NYC Marathon in November. If you’re interested in running either with me, let me know. Also, if anyone is interested in doing the Philly Triathlon (June) with me, or the Marin Century (August) with me, you’re welcome to join the team!

Presentation Notes

These notes are always presented in SOAP Note format. Click here for all the Nude Numbers posts.

Other

I’m way behind in other blog-updates. Why? Well, as you can see from my training numbers, work is eating into a lot of other areas in my life. For those who worry about that, don’t worry yet. I’m having so much fun doing what I’m doing right now, but had to cut back on something. If I stop updating my training log, I give you permission to hit me over the head with a big stick and remind me that balance is important. Of course, my wife gets ultimate “hitting me over the head” authority, and even as we speak is glaring over me with a big stick telling me to stop typing…

Thanks for reading.

- Art

Summary

Week 3 of the new plan leading to my Triathlon in Philly on June 22th. The plan was to recover from the pull in my left-calf this week, and now, a week past it, I can still feel some pain. I begin to suspect distance running is not my sport. On the bright side, swimming is starting to be fun.

Subjective Data

To refresh your memory, I pulled (or tore) my calf muscle pretty badly last Tuesday. I couldn’t limp more than a block or two until Saturday. I stayed away from activity until Sunday when I started doing swimming and some upper body lifting work for the rest of the week. My leg is taking longer to recover than I’d like.

On Tuesday I was really compressed with time due to work and only had 20 minutes it the pool. But someone I stayed focused and whipped off 500 yards quickly (for me). My stroke and balance is improving.

Objective Data

Blue lines == actuals; Gray areas == my target range for that week.

Note: Where are all the graphs? I’ve run into an Excel 2007 ‘bug’ or feature where you can’t have multiple pivot tables of the same Excel ‘table’ so I need to rebuild my spreadsheet for the new plan. Grumble. Not sure how to fix this.

Assessment

I don’t know what happened on my Tuesday run, but it’s definitely worrying. I seem to get lots of injuries with this running thing, and perhaps, maybe, there’s a thing or two I could learn about it. If anyone reads this, your assessment and advice are mucho appreciated.

Dan, your advice on swimming was spot on. I’m swimming slower, but magically I’m starting to complete more yards in less time. Me like-ee.

Plan

I’m continuing with the light treatment on the legs. That means swimming and upper body lifting only. I’m not going to run again for at least 3-4 more weeks. If I feel ok, I might do a recovery bike ride at the end of this upcoming week.

Reminders

I’m planning to try (again) for the NYC Marathon in November. If you’re interested in running either with me, let me know. Also, if anyone is interested in doing the Philly Triathlon (June) with me, or the Marin Century (August) with me, you’re welcome to join the team!

Presentation Notes

These notes are always presented in SOAP Note format. Click here for all the Nude Numbers posts.

Thanks for reading.

- Art

Summary

Week 2 of the new plan leading to my Triathlon in Philly on June 22th. And right at the start, problem: I either pulled a muscle in my left-calf on a run yesterday or I tore something (likely somewhere in between). Yikes. Rest planned for next week to recover.

Subjective Data

I missed Saturday and Sunday’s workouts due to guests being in town, but otherwise got back on the horse on Monday. On Tuesday on my long-run, I got a sharp sudden pain in my left-calf. I’m limping today and on rest and no-running for at least a week.

Objective Data

Blue lines == actuals; Gray areas == my target range for that week.

Note: Where are all the graphs? I’ve run into an Excel 2007 ‘bug’ or feature where you can’t have multiple pivot tables of the same Excel ‘table’ so I need to rebuild my spreadsheet for the new plan. Grumble. Not sure how to fix this.

Assessment

Well, apart from the pull/tear, things were looking good. Alas, one step forwards, two steps back. I hope to resume swimming pretty soon, but I’m going to lay off the bike and run for a few weeks at least.

Plan

Rest until I have no more pain in calf. Then carefully resume swimming and upper-body weight work. Wait at least 2 weeks before running again, and then go slowly. If I can recover, I can still do the tri, as my bike/run endurance is pretty good. In a way, this is a nice signal to focus on swimming J

Reminders

I’m planning to try (again) for the NYC Marathon in November. If you’re interested in running either with me, let me know. Also, if anyone is interested in doing the Philly Triathlon (June) with me, or the Marin Century (August) with me, you’re welcome to join the team!

Presentation Notes

These notes are always presented in SOAP Note format. Click here for all the Nude Numbers posts.

Thanks for reading.

- Art

Summary

Week 1 of the new plan leading to my Triathlon in Philly on June 22th. The plan switches focus from weight lifting and swimming to endurance in swimming, biking and running. Also, in a sop to my wife who generally gets out of work at a reasonable hour on Wednesday, my new plan will be tracking Wednesday to Tuesday, with Wednesday being my day off training.

Subjective Data

It was strange to do a week almost totally devoted to cardio training, but I did a lot of swimming, biking and running this week. I’m still following Dan’s advice on swimming slowly, and also finagled the use of a 25-yard pool this week. I discovered that a longer pool really helps me develop a sense of rhythm, so I’m going to try to keep going there.

By end of week, my legs (in particular) and my arms are quite tired, but in a good way.

Objective Data

Blue lines == actuals; Gray areas == my target range for that week.

Note: Where are all the graphs? I’ve run into an Excel 2007 ‘bug’ or feature where you can’t have multiple pivot tables of the same Excel ‘table’ so I need to rebuild my spreadsheet for the new plan. Grumble. I’ll try for next week, but I’m still tracking actual correctly. If someone knows some good software that tracks both future plans and actual, let me know.

Assessment

Overall I’m happy with the work this week. My foot, in particular my right foot (the injury that knocked me out of the marathon) is feeling a little squirrelly, but not sore. I’ll keep monitoring that closely.

My increase in cardio time meant I had little time for yoga and weights this week. I’m going to think a little about that and see how to best readjust.

Plan

Two key goals for this upcoming week: Maintain cardio workout; Find a way to work in Yoga and 45-90 minutes of weight lifting as well.

Reminders

I’m planning to try (again) for the NYC Marathon in November. If you’re interested in running either with me, let me know. Also, if anyone is interested in doing the Philly Triathlon (June) with me, or the Marin Century (August) with me, you’re welcome to join the team!

Presentation Notes

These notes are always presented in SOAP Note format. Click here for all the Nude Numbers posts.

Thanks for reading.

- Art