Training Log Archive: j-man

"It was in its way a very macho world. The egos were immense--they had to be for so demanding a sport. Men of lesser will and ambition simply did not stay around. The oarsmen were almost to a man highly individualistic and exceptionally compulsive."

Accelerated at the end.

"The harsh weather, which drove off most of his contemporaries, drew him in. He had always felt comfortable in such weather. From the start he had a sense that this was a sport in which he could excel, for it required only strength and dedication, not skill or grace or timing."

Level 6

1 minute on, 1 minute off, from 10 to 25 minutes.

Last minute fast.

About 180 crunches--for the duration of Radio Nowhere.

"There had to be a form and purpose to life. That was one of the interesting things about rowing. Those who competed at this level did so with a demonic passion. Yet there was no overt financial reward at the end, nor indeed was there even any covert financial award, a brokerage house wanting and giving special privileges to the famed amateur."

Two today because they are so good.

"One could understand the son of a ghetto family playing in the school yard for six hours a day hoping that basketball was a ticket out of the slum; it was harder to understand the son of Beacon Hill spending so much time and subjecting himself to so much pain to attain an honor that no one else even understood. Perhaps in our society the true madness in the search of excellence is left for the amateur." [emphasis mine]

True dat, as they say.

[editorial cheap shot]: The search of excellence may be the domain of the amateur competitor, but certainly not that of the amateur event organizer. There, benighted mediocrity is the coin of the realm.

Good run.

Intense circuit.

"In truth, deep down, he liked this aspect of the sport because it permitted ordinary and not particularly talented young men and women to reach beyond themselves. 'I think,' he once said, 'that what I like about it is the chance to be a hero. Every day in what seems like a very ordinary setting there are heroes in every boat, people reaching down to come up with that much more energy to make it work. I like that, I honor it and I think that it is special in this world.'"

I so want to not besmirch my AP log with anything political (aside from orienteering politics) but it is hard to stand up to the gale force exultation going on, so much in the same way that I had/have to howl at the moon to cope with the heavy hand of the market tossing me about, I guess I have to say something to release the tension.

I guess I should be happy for the 99% (ok maybe 90% if I am generous) of the people I interact with or whose sentiments I can't but be aware of. They deserve to be happy. Me, well I am no happier (well maybe just a little if I allow myself a binary comparison, largely due to stylistic considerations) than I was under the Ancien Régime . I am largely insouciant, maybe bemused, possibly nonplussed. I have no idea how much feet and I agree about, but his reaction is at least one I can relate to.

Gabe called me out of the blue, and I had dinner with him and his brother Larry. They are out of the blue, and even Canadian, but they voted red.

We were undercover though; in hostile territory. Gabe, bless his heart, didn't even know who Ron Paul is. Larry did, though. I knew he was the smart one!

"He was able to pull more weight than men far bigger and stronger than he, and he was willing to punish himself to an uncommon degree to achieve his objectives."

Rocky II was on while I was doing this. Not an especially good movie, or not really good at all, but it does have a few moments/themes which were redolent (not that kind of redolent) and therefore I find it worth watching.

My thought for today is again inspired by DVOA.

I must live on another planet. Maybe the goose is living here, too.

Note to myself--breathe. In, out. That's good. Maybe if I really am on another planet I'll begin to forget what the letters DVOA mean. Maybe it will assume a different denotation here. Perhaps, Dang! Very Orange Apricots.

That would be nice.

Going to try to dig up some Bob Marley for my IPod. "Redemption Song" seems appropriate for today. I think he says "How long shall they kill our prophets while we stand aside and look?"

Only abstractly related to my current thoughts, but it is a good groove, and that can often be enough.

Rather than despair about the denouement, decline, dotage, or desultoriness of certain things or entities, and rather than come up with my own thoughts, I will initiate a project to offer notable excerpts out of the book I just finished (The Amateurs). They will go in order of occurrence.

The first: "If the loyalties and rivalries were narrowly balanced, the loyalties almost always won out. One reason for the adhesion was the pain. It was a critical part of the bond. It was part of the oarsmen's unwritten code that one did not mention the pain. That was considered unseemly and, worse, it might magnify the pain and make it more threatening and more tangible. It was as if by not talking about it, the pain might become less important."

Circuit, but not intense because there were some other people using weights.

Hopped on here because the treadmills were full.

Easy run.

Brisk circuit, with focus on legs. They were sore.