Running a mile

Whenever Rose and I go for a run, we never run more than a mile or two.  Whenever Rose and I go for a run, she blows me away by about 150-200 yards.

I went for a run with my sister.  Over the course of a single mile, she put about 250 yards in between us.

I once asked Walden how many players on Machine could run a mile at 6:30 or quicker.  His answer was all of them.

I have never run a mile faster than 7:30, but that was high school.  This week I put myself on a treadmill with an 8:00 min pace.  It was not an easy run.

Beware the signal and the noise!

I seriously doubt Machine is running miles as part of their training.  I also doubt that any well-designed training scheme will not include running miles as fast as you can.  However, pounding out a fast mile is a result of their training.

If a point last more than three possessions my utility falls off of a cliff, any “elite” player is more than capable of playing strong for a long point.

I do not plan on running miles more often, but until I can regularly run a 6:30 mile I will know that I am not training as hard as those above me.

Sisyphus

I envy Sisyphus.  Sisyphus knows his limit.  Sisyphus knows how far he can go.  Every morning he wakes up and goes all the way to his limit.  Every day.

I have a personal theory towards test taking.  If want to study until I get to a point where I feel like, even if I had more time I wouldn't study anymore.  My goal before every test I have taken is to get to this level.  In the academic world, I am able to get there every time.

I think I know my physical limit.  I got there my junior year of college.  I could have worked harder sure, it is always possible to work harder.  However, given a time machine, I wouldn't have worked harder.  Some readers may argue that the only way I feel this way is because I had a satisfying end to my junior year.  I would argue that getting last at Nationals when the dream was to play on Sunday isn't all that satisfying.

I have not gone to my limit since that season.  It has been easy to make excuses.  To rationalize missing opportunities to put in work.  To eat garbage.  To not lift heavy.

Today I did three work sets.  I wanted to do five work sets.  I only did three, but I did some extra plyos to "make up" for the two sets I skipped.  I convinced myself not to go to my limit.

I envy Sisyphus.

Early and undigested thoughts on coaching High School:

I don't think I ever earned the full trust of the girls.  Whenever I would provide them with feedback or try to have a teaching moment, they would always feel victimized.  They would tell me that I was picking on or being unfair to them.  I never found a way to share thoughts in a way that they would feel comfortable owning and digesting the criticism.

The fundamentals are way more basic than I ever could have imagined.  All of the time we spent discussing how to play defense, how to structure an offense or general in-game ideas never found it's way from drills to the field.  If I were the dictator I would go all in on partner throwing and running for practices.  Completing an upline and an incut are really hard.  Doing them well puts you in the cream of the crop.

Hopkins practices from September to June.  Most other schools that were at our level practiced from March 1 to June.  Does this mean we horribly mismanaged our practice time?  Do we desperately need all that practice time in order to stay afloat?  Or is the benefit/returns of having a long season overhyped?

High Schooler's are immensely hypocritical.  It makes me feel good because at least they know what the right thing to do is, it makes me really sad because they lack the self-awareness to check if they are doing it.

If you want kids to hate you, talk down to them.

It is really hard to flesh out a philosophy or a multistep idea with the attention spans at this level.  Everyone is looking for a quick, unbreakable answer.  There is little interest in diving into nuances and grey-scales.

Disrespect the game

Disrespect the game and the game will disrespect you.

I have officially been cut from every team that I was interested in playing with.  Moral of the story, cramming doesn't work.  I didn't work out at all from January 21 through April 18th.  I put in about 3 weeks of exercise and I showed up to tryouts completely incapable of catching anyone's eye.  I should add that during those 3 weeks of exercise I did not take a thoughtful or structured approach to training, plot twist this doesn't work.

Do I feel humbled?

No, I knew I wasn't prepared.  I knew that I had disrespected the game.  I thought that I had no chance at Drag'N and a dice roll at MSP and Bird.  1/36 chance of making both, 25/36 chance of making neither.  In the end, the odds stacked against me.  

What now?

I don't know.  If I take another summer off I doubt I will ever be able to make a team ever again.  I took last summer off for a purpose, but I always thought I'd be able to get back into the game and enjoy several more years of playing strong.  Taking this summer off with no reason will likely mean my death knell.

That being said, am I afraid of my death knell?  Do I care to make a team?  Can I be content with work and social activities?  Should I embrace the end and leave the game where it is?

I'm 27.  

Does that matter?  Am I at an age where even if I put in the work I won't be able to get the returns necessary to make the squad.  Does that matter?  Is trying in and of itself rewarding enough?  Where even if next year turns and I still can't crack it, at least the journey would have been enjoyable?

I could play league.  I don't want to play league, that sounds really bad.

Internal v. External Motivation

I believe that is impossible for an external force to spark true internal motivation.  No pump up speech from a coach, no buddy that works out with you, no hype video can spark a genuine internal motivation.

Have you ever watched a highlight video that makes you hunger to improve?  A minute into the video you're telling yourself you're going to overhaul your entire workout strategy.  Two minutes in your planning to workout 4 days a week and throw 7 days a week.  After the third-minute, you're setting your alarm for 5 am so that you can hit it hard.  You know the first morning will be brutal, but if you can make it three mornings it will become a habit.

5 a.m. the next morning, the alarm goes off, you hit it and go right back to bed.  You can workout after work, it will be fine.  5 p.m. rolls around, it's time.  You just hop in your car and go home, the mo is gone.

Workout buddies surely get the job done.  When Ray was around I never missed a workout.  We put together 2.5 good years of training.  But what happened when Ray wasn't around?  I haven't put together three consistent weeks of workouts since 2012.

Motivational speeches?  Try following "Coach Quotes" on twitter, read through some tweets at lunch, at the end of the day try to recall them.  How'd it go?

The internally motivated man can climb to the top of the mountain, spend a year training in absolute isolation, and climb down more powerful than could ever be imagined.  I always fantasized that I was a member of this group.  It gave me a sense of superiority, it made me feel good about myself.  Plucked from my community and given an "isolation tank", I am forced to acknowledge that I am an externally motivated individual.

For those of us who are externally motivated, we live and die with our community.  Our community defines our top three priorities.  Pull us out of our community and our top three will experience a total overhaul.  

If the game falls out of your top three, you disrespect the game. If you disrespect the game, the game disrespects you.  The frisbee gods are a wrathful and hateful group, they have no patience for being disrespected.

12.15.2016

Workout:

I did not workout

Reading:

The Reckoning: Accountants explain their value as providing transparency or clarity of information, but too often they miss rogues or act as aids to fraud.

Notes:

The heat has been out in our home.  We boiled a ton of water hoping to add some humidity and thus increase the heat capacity of our unit.  It worked, strong recommend.

12.14.2016

Workout:

Yoga

Glute Bridges

Resistance Band

Core

3x6 at 80#, 90#, 100#

• Squat
• Reverse Lunge
• SLDL
• Thrusters

Reading:

The Economist Leaders:  on how Donald Trump will be executing deals rather than policies.

12.13.2016

Workout:

• Yoga
• Glute Bridges
• Resistance Band
• Core
• Basketball for 1 hour
• 120-yard shuttles
• EMOM x6

Reading:

The Reckoning: on how accounting was intertwined with American philosophy during the Revolution.  Washington kept detailed accounts of his expenses as general, Benjamin Franklin called for the government to operate open books, and Robert Morris called for businessmen to operate under uniform rules so that accountants from other places could understand.

Railroads created accounting issues.  How do you account for depreciation and known maintenance of the railroad?  How can the public understand this without being trained in accounting?

I finished listening to Trevor Noah's book Born a Crime.  I am a big fan of Trevor and this book is great, I give it a strong recommend.

I launched the Wealth of Humans on audible.  It is basically about how globalization cut costs for big companies allowing them to invest in automation, meanwhile, our population has become more educated and more skilled than ever before, these two forces combine to create tectonic shifts in the future of employment.  It took the author a few minutes to reference Thomas Piketty, below is a list of books I've read that have referenced Thomas Piketty.

This Changes Everything: Naomi Klein

Saving Capitalism: Robert Reich

The Price of Inequality: Joseph Schultz

Throwing Rocks at the Google Bus: Douglas Rushkoff

Algorithms to Live by: Brian Christian

The Wealth of Humans: Ryan Avent

12.12.2016

Workout:

I did not workout.

Reading:

I did not read.

Notes:

We are off to a hot start this week!

12.8.2016

Workout:

Yoga

Glute Bridges

Plyos:

• 1 legged slalom 3x50
• squat to lunge 3x8
• seat to jump 4x6
• hurdles 3x6
• 1-2-3 height 4x5
• step up jumps 3x8

Core

Reading:

The Reckoning:  In France under Louis XVI an accountant named Necker wanted the French crown to be as transparent as the British crown.  With the publication of the Compte Rendu they revealed the French crown was operating at a surplus, they also revealed the priorities of the crown.  The distortion between military spending and spending for the poor was so large, the author argues, that it became a driving force behind the French revolution.

Notes:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zM5Ljm87V3U

I have been thinking about the idea of "silencing hate" or "not lending legitimacy" to undesirable views.  Not listening to hate speech or removing it from our echo chambers certainly "silences hate" but it does absolutely nothing to reconcile hate, which I am ever more convinced can only be done through engagement.  

"No lending legitimacy" is a different issue to me, because what is legitimate anymore?  People think Breitbart is legitimate.  Fox News is America's most trusted news source.  It feels like fighting the wrong fight.  

"We don't want to lend legitimacy to their views!" 

"Yea but no one in media has legitimacy anymore, so how can they be in the business of lending it out?"

12.7.2016

Workout:

I did not work out

Reading:

The Reckoning: bookkeeping becomes a staple of English education.  "Even girls were allowed to study arithmancy as it pertained to bookkeeping."

12.6.2016

Workout:

Yoga

Glute Bridges

Resistance Band

Planks

Basketball

• 90 minutes

Reading:

The Reckoning

The author outlines how the British adoption of accounting principles allowed the empire to grow.  Specifically the involvement of Lord Walpole in implementing time value of money to the planning procedures of the the Empire which alone was able to dramatically reduce their expenses.

12.5.2016

Workout:

Yoga

Glute Bridges

Resistance Band

Planks

• I am adding planks to the warm-up.  I have been doing 45 seconds on 30 seconds off for five minutes

Freeweights ((80#, 90#, 100#) x5)

• Squats
• Reverse Lunge
• SLDL
• Thrusters

((80#, 90#, 100#) x3)

• RFE Squat

Reading:

The Reckoning: The Sun God

Colbert was Louis XIV's accountant.  Colbert worked to teach Louis how to audit his own books and would constantly harass Louis about frivolous spending and useless wars wasting his wealth.  Louis was not a big fan of this pressure.  When Colbert died Louis did not appoint a new accountant to the position - it is the author's take that this is the beginning of the end of the French Empire.

Notes:

I have finished relistening to Algorithms - I find that rereading a book is often better than reading it the first time.  After one read I may have scored this book a 6, now I feel like it is an 8.

12.1.2016

Workout:

Yoga

Glute Briges

Plyos

• 1 legged slalom 4x75
• squat to lunge 4x8
• seat to jump 4x6
• hurdles 4x6
• 3 step heigh jumps 2x5
• step up jumps 3x8

Reading:

Midas Paradox Chapter 11: Sumner outlines his thoughts on the rise of socialism and facism in the wake of financial crises.  Although Bernie is socialism light and Trump is facism ultra-light it is hard to not draw the comparison.

11.30.2016

Workout:

Yoga
Glute Bridges
Resistance Band
Treadmill

• At 8 minute pace
• 1 min on
• at 5:30 minute pace
• 1 minute on 1 minute off x4
• 30 sec on 30 sec off x3

Reading:

Midas Paradox Chapter 11

Sumner has spent a lot of time ripping on Keynesians and Monetarists.  It's always pretty amusing when someone exposes an apparent "either or" choice as a "neither" answer.

Notes:

Relistening to Algorithms:  The optimal sort is to just pile your papers if you use a paper return it to the top of the pile, and that's that.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=uGNLlMbYe1g
Liberals will say Trevor won, Conservatives will say Tomi won.  Sometimes I wonder if there is anything to be gained from these kinds of discussions.  Tomi isn't interested in changing her position because she makes a livelihood depends on it, Trevor isn't interested in changing his position because his livelihood depends on it.  Mark Twain would say never argue with a fool, Hamilton would say if you don't stand for something you'll fall for anything.

11.29.2016

Workout:

I did not workout.

Reading:

Mias Paradox Chapter 10

Notes:

I attended a Minnesota Ultimate Board meeting last night.  The board is trying to establish their Strategies and Objectives that will be posted on the website and shared with anyone who interacts with the Board professionally.  We spent an hour and a half debating word choice and sentence structure for 5 sentences.  I have a new found respect for how much effort, word-smithing, and the seriousness with which board members approach setting these statements.

Sidenote:  a revenue base is where you are able to draw revenues from.  It is not revenues that you have drawn and placed into a "war chest".

11.28.2016

Workout:

Yoga warm-up

Free Weights

• 5x5 at 60#, 70#, 80#, 90#, 100#
• Squats
• Reverse Lunges
• 5x3 at 60#, 70#, 80#, 90#, 100#
• SLDL
• Thrusters
• 3x3 at 50#, 50#, 50#
• RFE

The goal was to do 5x5 of each exercise at 60#, 70#, 80#, 90#, 100#.  Alas, this was harder than it looked and I had to tone it down in order to finish.  Additionally, this took much longer than I wanted.  Over the next couple of weeks, I am going to try to work into 5x5 and then 5x8.

Reading:

The Economist: "The Leaders", "Buttonwood", and "Schumpeter".  I have been fretting that my president Trump is appointing a climate change denier to the head of the EPA, good news is the economics of climate change is on our side.  Oil prices are too low to warrant new drilling sites, the cost of kWh for solar is falling, there are more future jobs in solar than there are in oil, batteries are improving and getting cheaper, India has to take a stand against climate change or risk losing massive pieces of land, and China is going to continue working toward renewables with or without the US.

Notes:

Ray is way ahead of me in the race to programming "god status".  I need to put up more of a fight here.

I am comfortable listening to audiobooks at 2x speed, time to start working toward 3x speed.

"Throwing rocks at the google bus" is an okay audiobook - your time is better spent reading "Capital in the 21st century"

"Algorithms to live by" is a strong recommend.

New audiobook strat.  Listen to three, then relisten to my favorite of the three.  After time elapses I can then relisten to any of the other two, how much time is the question.  

11.22.2016

Workout:

I did not workout

Reading:

Midas Paradox - Chapter 10

Notes:

I work on the eighth floor.  I read as I walked up and down the stairs.  I went down twice and up three times, it was great.

11.21.2016

Workout:

• Yoga
• Front Squats
• 40# x10
• 70# x8
• 100# x5
• Reverse Lunges
• 90# x5
• 90# x5
• 90# x5
• Thrusters
• 40# x5
• 70# x5
• 90# x5
• Steps Ups
• 100# x5
• 100# x5
• 100# x5
• Core

Reading:

I did not read anything

Notes:

I got married on Saturday - what a time to be alive

I passed all of the CPA exams

Things are on the up and up

11.15.2016

Workout:

I didn't workout

Reading:

I didn't read

Notes:

It's hilarious that I rib Machine players for "not loving" ultimate yet I can't even keep a workout streak going.

I met with Minnesota Ultimate Board - hoping to hop on as the treasurer.