Take a minute and watch this. So inspiring!

Thanksgiving 2014 - Thank You

Another holiday season is here... I should have posted this yesterday but what the hell, here it goes.

I am thankful. 

It has been a little over 5 years since I was hit by a car and survived a coma, lengthy hospitalization and endless rehabilitation.

I am very fortunate in countless ways. I have a beautiful/brilliant daughter (Nico Berlin) and I am now a grampy (hello Margaux Juniper)! I left the snow of the Colorado mountains to the sunshine of Florida to be with my girlfriend, Mimi Reeves.  And along her side I continue to improve athletically; and more importantly, cognitively. I have exceeded by an enormous amount what was medically anticipated. It is a daily struggle and I can only say, thank you. The list of people who have contributed along the way is greater than my capacity to recall, but again, THANK YOU. I am happy to be alive. 

I can run.

Enjoy your food, relax and have a second glass of vino. There is no need to stand in line all night for a discounted thing. There is so much more to life - it is called living. It is okay to cancel Black Friday.

Wrap #8

Welcome to my twisted room of ramblings, recovery from a traumatic brain injury, athletic training, vegan eats, music sensations and social screams.

Last week
Totals (11/16-11/22) 

Running 67.77 miles (65.65 previous week)

Biking 20.0 miles

NewBoozeRules (11/16-11/22) (less is more)

10 glasses of wine, 8 bottles of beer

Weight: 152 (moved up)
Diet track: My Fitness Pal
This week

Today

11/29Run - 1:38 - 11.25 miles - 8:42 pace
A little slower and a little bit longer today. 

11/28
Run - 1:22:00 - 10.15 miles - 8:04 pace
Endurance run; steady pace; wind and cool temps (60s!). I felt good today. I carried Gatorade, but I didn't seem to need any.
NBR: (6 Miller Light)

11/27
Happy Thanksgiving!
Trail run - 1:31:00 - 10.38 miles - 8:46 pace
trail run out on the levee... strong headwinds out/neg. split back NBR:  (6 Coors light, 3 glasses of red wine)

11/26
Run - 1:26:00 - 10.7 miles - 8:02 pace
Decent effort. No real focus; just run as steady as possible into the fierce winds (again). Hung tough the last two miles with minimal fade.
NBR: (1 bottle of red wine)

:

11/25
Run - 1:04:00 - 8.1 miles - 7:54 pace per mile
Included 6 time 4:00 minute tempo intervals on 3:00 easy. I called Garmin this morning and they are sending me a new heart rate strap. Yay! 
NBR: (2 Corona Light, .5 bottle of red wine)

Guns, Deaths. American exceptional-ism? It really blows my mind (like a bullet)...

11/24
Run - 1:33:00 - 10.19 miles - 9:09 per mile 
Very hot and humid today (at record temps for this time of year). I felt it too. Very tired even though I didn't push the pace at all.

11/23
Run - 1:31:00 - 9.26 miles - 9:49 per mile
Hills/Trails - the trash heap - 2 mile warm up, 5 complete loops, 3 times up the frontage road.
NBR: (4 Busch beers - football Sun)

OK, here is the scoop about my weight. Although, I have lost a lot of weight since my big post TBI hospitalization weight gain (174), I have been creeping up again even though my running mileage is increasing. I need to refocus on weight loss. as of today, I am going to not cheat and I am going to obsess on the scale a bit. Pardon me.

Wrap #7

Welcome to my twisted room of ramblings, athletic training, vegan eats, music sensations, my continued recovery from a traumatic brain injury, social scenes, dreams and lefty-leans.

Today
11/22
Run  - 10.4 miles - 1:39:00 -  9:31 pace - HR 100 (I must call Garmin - HR is off big time)
Trail run on Alligator Levee - Really difficult today. The headwinds were incredible. I was running nearly all out and barely moving.

Well it is official. I made the announcement and I am taking - what I hope will be - a prolonged break from Facebook. In a nutshell, that forum really isn't for me. My hope is by breaking from the endless news feeds, I can focus on issues that I care about. rant here to the occasional follower and perhaps get more things done. Besides, there are a lot of other social media outlets that I may enjoy more: Google+, Twitter, Instagram, etc.

11/21 
Run  - 10.1 miles - 1:45:00 -  10:23 pace - HR 108 - 840' elevation gain
Hills/trails at the Vista View trash heap. Wind and rain. Easy pace.

Thank you, Adbusters Magazine  for your continued awareness campaign of Black Friday (or Just Buy Nothing Day). I'm not sure how long you guys have been running this, but it is awesome - wake up consumer America!

11/20 
Run  - 10.3 miles - 1:24:00 -  8:09 pace - HR 102Steady run - still a weird heart rate. I need to call Garmin, but I am so lazy - ugh.

11/19 
Run  - 12.38 miles - 1:44:00 -  8:24 pace - HR 101 
Run - easy z2 - I carried 20oz of Gatorade and never sipped any; I definitely need to focus on nutrition more! Coolest day in SoFla ever (65-70 degrees). My heart rate seems really low. Maybe my strap isn't working right.

11/18
Run - Hills (@the trash heap) - 1100' elevation gain - 10.17 miles - 1:38:00 - 9:38 pace - HR 119
Trail run at the heap. I ran up main road ran up main road 5x to start then 5x after each lap.

11/17
Run  - 10.11 miles - 1:27:00 -  8:36 pace - HR 114 
Ran 0K for the first 7 miles, then faded. I felt sluggish out there today.

11/16

Brick Bike/Run
Bike - 1:03:00 - 20 miles - 19.0 mph HR 118
3 minute transition
Run - 34:32 - 4.3 miles - 8:01 pace - HR 126

Short brick to get the legs moving a little. Ran pretty good off the bike

This poem speaks to me on so many levels. Very will done presentation as well:

-
Excellent Link: Charles Bukowki's top ten tips for living a kick-ass life.

Wrap #6

Welcome to a slightly twisted environment of social ramblings, my continued recovery from a traumatic brain injury, daily athletic training, healthy and delicious vegan eats, rad music sensations, colorful dreams and scenes, 

Another great week of training in the books. 

Totals
Running 65.65 miles (61 last week - building)
Biking 42.54.16 miles (I need to pick it up)
NewBoozeRules  (wine, beers)

11/2/14 - 11/8/13
10 glasses of wine, 4 bottles of beer

Today

11/15
Today marks a big day in my life. I have been a happy well fed vegan for 2 years. After my traumatic brain injury I gained a lot of weight. At the time of the accident I was 139 lbs... within 2 years I was up to 174 lbs. I don't know why because I seemed to eat the same, but I had become FAT. Well, in two years I have lost a real 30 pounds and my athletic performance continues climbing closer to my pre-tbi levels! PLANT-POWER!

Run - 12.4 miles - 1:48:00 - 8:42 pace HR 122
Started pretty well, but faded towards the end. 24 oz of Gatorade may not have been enough...

By the way, I want to amend my previous comments. Positive the were, however not entirely accurate. True part, My weight did escalate to 174 pounds... Here is were it gets weird. The year I weighed, I also logged 1900 miles of running and a few thousand bicycling. When I took on vegan-ism I was pretty desperate. I continued running and last year I logged 2000 miles of running and a few thousand on the bike. My weight came down 20 pounds or so... I was encouraged. This year isn't over and I have already logged 2300 miles running an a few thousand miles on the bike. My weight has not continued its downward trend. In fact it has crept upwards (yes, I count calories every day). I haven't weighed in for a month or so because I was becoming obsessive. But since  today is my 2 year anniversary I did weigh in (albeit post-run because I was hoping for a good weigh-in) and I am definitely going in the wrong direction despite running more mileage than I ever have before. I am very discouraged. Being a fat-ass sort of sucks. I suppose I will revel in the animals that aren't killed in my behalf and the positive environmental benefits too.

11/14
AM Run - easy pace - z2 - 8.2 miles - 1:05:30 - 8:00 pace - HR 122
Felt pretty fluid today... occasionally increased tempo; but not for measured time or distance. Went by feel.
PM Bike - 20.42 miles - 20.1 mph avg - HR 126
I picked up my tri-bike from the shop today... It rode pretty nice, but the Florida weather is rough on the moving bits (I have some drive train repairs that are imminent); still, it was nice to not ride the fixie today.
11/13
Run - easy pace -  z2 - 11.1 miles - 1:35:00 - 8:33 pace - HR 136
Easy jog - a little longer - I should have stretched this run out but I didn't have the drive.
11/12
Brick workout Bike/run
1. Bike - on fixie- steady - 20.12 miles - 1:11:00 - 18:69 mph - HR 112
2. Run - street - steady z2 - 6.7 miles - 5:00 - 8:24 pace - HR 123
2nd short brick in a week... it has been a while. Maybe I am thinking about multi-sport racing or something.
11/11

Smokescreen strategies of the right-wing really suck - but sadly, work; as the recent election has proven… I cannot say that it doesn’t tighten my shorts, it does.

Leading up to the mid-terms the right focused on peripheral issues like Benghazi, Isis and Ebola. Priorities like Health care, living wages for all, women’s and minorities rights, education, the environment (instead, climate-change denying was in vogue)…

Hey Mr. self-righteous republican dude: for your information, 1 American has died from Ebola; but  do you care about the 8-10k American lives lost every year due to gun related accidents and homicides? Seriously, guns have their place: on the rifle range, during the hunting season, and in “controlled” defense (like the military and legal enforcement).  Not in public places like coffee shops, theaters or as in the recent practice of teachers armed in the classroom! America has a sick obsession with weapons and this needs to be addressed. 

But – I digress, I just wanted to say thank you to all of the fair weather democrats who didn't get to the voting polls last week.

-
Run - street/track - w/6 x 800 meter intervals on 400 meter recovery - 11.6 miles - 1:30:00 - 8:29 pace
Strong effort. The track session seemed to go well. I don't have my splits because I preset my Garmin for these intervals but I didn't know how to use the watch in this setting. Hopefully, I do now. My Garmin did record my best pace which was 4:39. I'm sure that it was only for a few steps but to see that type of leg turnover is awesome. Certainly a post-accident best. I will take it.

11/10

Run - street - steady z2 - 9.33 miles - 1:14:00 - 8:15 pace - HR 122
Dropped the car off at Honda this morning for an airbag recall and an oil change. I took the opportunity to run home the long way. It so nice to have my run done this early in the day (9 am).

11/9
Run - street - tempo - 7.35 miles - 55:05 - 7:29 pace
In the rain today; a bit shorter with better pace today.