Wednesday, January 4, 2017

New Year, New Me: Wednesday Weekly Update #1

It has been a while since I last posted on my blog. To be honest, I started it with good intentions, and then became lazy and shifted my focus to many other things. This year, I really want to start up my own side gig (I've been making custom things for friends and family over the past year) and what better way to do it than to share some of the crazy with the internet. 

So lets put it out there: this is the first 'Wednesday Weekly Update' of the year where I will share an update on my goals, my favorite podcast and quote of the week, an update on things I have worked and one random curve ball for fun. This post will not take me more than 30 minutes to produce (focus on efficiency and accuracy) and take you less than 5 minutes to consume.

With that, let's get this show on the road!

2017 Goals

Normally, like a minority of people, I do not set new years resolutions. I always felt not setting resolutions was a better method than setting new years resolutions, crowding the gym for the month of January and then getting on with the normal fat, lazy American life. After listening to who knows how many hours of influential podcasts and reading hundreds if not thousands of blog posts, I decided to 'walk the walk' instead of 'talking the talk', or in my case 'thinking about talking the talk'. While most people set resolutions as a fresh start with only blind will-power to guide them, I actually gave each of these goals a test run in Q4 2016 as I learned it is a great way to not only achieve your goals, but to form good habits. 

  1. Run 1000 miles - because that just seems crazy (I must have run 500+ miles last year and the year before training for races)
  2. Eat 1000 Tacos - because I need fuel for these miles, some guy on instagram is doing it, tacos have all the things I need (meat and veggies) and I want this shirt
  3. Bike 2017 miles - because I didn't want to run 2017 miles with all the swimming and biking required for triathlon training
  4. Swim 270 miles - because I need to get more comfortable in the water 
  5. Complete a full Half Iron man (swim was cancelled at the 2016 Austin 70.3)
  6. Move to a warmer climate - because my body does not function for the 4-6 months it is below 40F in Michigan
  7. Challenge: Run a sub 3 hour marathon (PR of 3:16)
  8. Challenge: Become an ambassador or sponsor for a race/brand/organization.

Goal Update

Miles Run: 20.18
Tacos Ate: 12
Miles Biked: 11.25
Miles Swam: 0

Things I worked on

Well this past week I was in San Francisco, California on the 3rd Annual Beercation with the two best friends that anyone could have (the third hasn't been able to join us due to being lame). While I did not work on anything per-say, I did improve my alcohol tolerance while consuming over 126 new beers including one of the best IPAs known to man [Pliney the Elder], saw some beautiful sites, realized people from all over the world think living in the tundra is ridiculous and spent tons of quality (and some not so quality) time with my best friends and new friends. While no tangible progress was made on a project or potential product, much reflection, inspiration and idea generation occurred, probably due to the quantity of creative juices consumed.

In the coming weeks, you can expect to see the design, building, and assembly of my upgraded X-carve CNC machine and work space, my 4th iteration of a minimalist wallet, a USA medal display and potentially a surprise project.

Favorite Podcast of the Week

I use pocket casts to listen to podcasts while driving (~45 mins a day commuting to work, plus hours upon hours of weekend travel); as I am running out of time, I will post a list of the podcasts I listen to some other time.


Favorite Quote of the Week

"Failure only happens when you quit trying" - Heard on The School of Greatness Podcast #422 - Scooter Braun

Random of the Week

For Christmas, my Iron man support Crew (my older brother and his wonderful girlfriend) got me the Roll Recovery R8. I saw this thing during my first official Ultra Ragnar Race (Michigan 2016) shortly after I finished my final run and the sun began to break the horizon. Note: this will f***ing hurt and destroy your muscles, but it will help with the recovery soooooooooo very much. I first used it ever so gingerly after running ~40 miles in <24 hours in the pouring rain, and was out running the next day with legs as sore as a normal Sunday recovery day. This product definitely gets the highly coveted 'Zach Stamp of Approval.'


Time to write post: 53 minutes (shit, perfectionism and ramble-ism in full effect, better luck next week Zach)

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