Sunday VO2 Max

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I started doing Max VO2 training almost every Sunday a few months ago. I say ‘almost’ because my vacations this summer included a few misses, but as I head into the school year this will become the norm. However I’m struggling a bit with motivation right now because the Norwegian 4X4 Protocol I’ve been doing is really hard.

I always feel great having finished it, but dang it’s just not fun to start. 4-minutes at about 85-95% heart rate max, followed by 3-minutes recovery, four times. The total protocol is 28 minutes, but I can’t just get on a treadmill and go at 85-95% without getting winded and having to stop or slow down, so I add a 4-minute warmup which puts this workout at 32 minutes.

You might wonder, if it sucks so much why do it? Why do I bother? Because increasing Max VO2, (your maximum oxygen intake during exercise), is one of the absolute best things you can do to increase healthspan and lifespan.

See this Tweet by Dr. Rhonda Patrick:

Here is her podcast on The Longevity & Brain Benefits of Vigorous Exercise | Dr. Rhonda Patrick:

Writing this is my last bit of procrastination before getting on the treadmill… I’ve got to figure out a habit routine that makes getting this workout started easier!

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PS. I’m keenly aware that I’ve written about this a couple times already (here and here), but it’s what’s on my mind and it’s something I hope I can inspire others to do!

Snoring issue

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Tonight I’m trying a mouth guard to help prevent me from snoring. I used to only snore on my back, and so to stop snoring I simply rolled onto my side. This was not a big issue since I normally sleep on my side. But that all changed in this last year. Now even on my side I snore.

I’ve gone to the doctor to look at my deviated septum, caused from breaking my nose more than once. However two different specialists told me that while cosmetically I would see an improvement from surgery, surgery would not fix my snoring problem. Snoring is often related to weight, but that’s not my issue either. And moderate sleep apnoea has suggested that a CPAP therapy might work, but I want to try a mouth guard before having to hook myself up to a machine every night for the rest of my life.

But if this doesn’t work a CPAP machine is next on my list. It’s either that or separate bedrooms from my poor wife who is a light sleeper and is constantly being woken by my annoying snoring… and I don’t like this as an option. So wish me luck with the mouth guard. I hope it adjusts the structure of my mouth during sleep enough that snoring is no longer a constant concern for me or my wife.

A (creepy) digital friend

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What is Friend? Watch this reveal trailer.

No matter how I look at it, this feels creepy and dystopian. Even when I think of positive things, like perhaps helping someone with special needs, or emotional support for someone with anorexia, the idea of this all-seeing AI friend seems off putting.

Even this advertising doesn’t resonate well with me. In the scene with the guys playing video games, the boy wants to check in with his digital friend rather than pay attention to his friends in the room. And in the final scene with the girl and boy on the roof, I thought at first the girl was candidly trying to take a photo of the boy, but then realized she was just fighting the urge to converse with the AI friend. Either of those scenarios feels like she has replaced a phone distraction with a more present and more engaging distraction… from life.

There are a lot of new artificial intelligence tools that are on their way, and I’m excited about the possibilities, but this one has a high creep factor that doesn’t seem to me like it’s adding the value I think it intends to.

26 Years

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The first member of my family to find out that I’d found someone special was my mom. It was early 1996, and I had only been dating Ann for a short time. I was talking to my mom on the phone and I don’t remember the full conversation but I remember telling her, “I think I found the person I’m going to marry… she just doesn’t know it yet.” Fast forward just a couple months and we were living together.

The next person to find out was my little sister. She was visiting us, and we were all in Nelson visiting Ann’s parents. I had already put a ring on hold at a jewelry store in Vancouver but I hadn’t sized it. I rented a canoe for a couple hours and was paddling with my sister when I told her I planned to propose, then I put her to task. My sister wore rings on almost every finger and I asked her to figure out which of her rings fit Ann’s ring finger.

My sister pulled this off without Ann realizing what she was doing. Then I had to sneak away to a jewelry store in downtown Nelson to get the ring sized, then I got on a pay phone and called the jewelry store in Vancouver to give them the size so they could start making the ring. That was in July, just over 27 years ago. On August 26, 1997 I surprised Ann with a proposal in Ucluelet, BC. That’s a story for another time, as is the story of the circumstances that led me to meet Ann… for now I’ll just say that I feel fortunate to have met such an amazing woman, and I feel blessed that she said ‘Yes’ when I proposed.

Today marks our 26th wedding anniversary. Including the time we spent together before marriage, we are at the point where we have known each other for half of our lives. We’ve raised two amazing kids, and we share a wonderful life with family and friends. I feel so blessed to have found someone so wonderful to spend my life with.

I look forward to more adventures together, and hope that the next 26+ years can bring us more joy and happiness. ❤️

First official day back

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I’m headed to our school board office this morning for our first admin meeting of the year. There are years when this day arrives and I sit in bewilderment wondering what happened to my summer? But this year is one of those years where I’ve felt like I’ve had a wonderful break and I’m ready for the new year.

My regular routine starts today. I’m not writing this at a random time of day, or squeezing my writing in right before bed (like last night). Rather, I’m up early, I’ve already meditated, and I’m getting on the treadmill as soon as I publish this. It feels good to be back to my routine.

The new year brings with it both excitement and trepidation. I always start the year with specific goals in mind, and I feel enthusiastic, yet apprehensive. The year always holds so much promise. New plans, new students, new and unexpected scenarios all lie ahead.

There is a lot of prep work to do, but no amount of prep makes you feel 100% prepared. Planning only gets you so far when you are dealing with so many people in different roles. You might be calm and ready, but others will be nervous and unpredictable. No matter how well planned you may be, unexpected things will happen.

Schools are places of growth and learning, and real learning doesn’t happen smoothly and with conformity. Things don’t always go as planned. Yet, that’s part of the excitement. The unknown, the unexpected, the surprises along the way, the connections you make, the solutions you work on, and the collaboration required, are all part of what makes this job exciting and unique.

It’s the first day back, and so a whole new adventure begins…

Competence builds confidence…

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I love this statement by Dr. Alize Pressman,

“Competence builds confidence, not praise.”

So much pushback from kids comes from the frustration, or fear, of failure. Celebrate the path to little wins, focus on what they can do on their journey to doing more difficult things… and students start to shine.

Praise builds expectations of repeat performances. When students can’t hit those targets they lose confidence, or they stop trying… because it was so hard to get that praise and they aren’t convinced they can work that hard again. Or worse, they did work harder but didn’t hit the mark worthy of praise anyway. How disheartening is that? It’s definitely not a confidence builder.

“How did that make you feel?” is a question that fosters a student’s confidence. “That looks amazing, good job!” is a statement that puts pressure on repeated performance, and fosters performance anxiety.

“Competence builds confidence, not praise.”

Practicality over sentimentality

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My brother-in-law was speaking to my father-in-law about moving into an assisted living home from a rancher. He said, “I guess practicality needs to be a priority over sentimentality,” and my father-in-law agreed.

Moving isn’t easy. Downsizing isn’t easy. Letting go of things with sentimental value isn’t easy.

The knowledge that ‘we can’t take it with us’ on the next journey anyway offers little solace. Furniture, framed pictures, books, souvenirs, trinkets, antiques, old treasures and keepsakes all hold memories within them. Reflections of the past stir, and the desire to hold on to yet another item, another memory, pulls at the heartstrings.

Eventually realization kicks in… practicality over sentimentality. You just can’t take everything with you.

Alone time

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I just had a few days with a lot of alone time. I enjoyed it, but was really not focussed on anything I hoped to do. It reminded me of how much I rely on my habits and routines to keep me ‘in check’. I don’t necessarily use free time well, I get distracted and I’m easily entertained.

I never get lonely, and can spend time on my own without being bored or needing company… but I also need goals and tasks or I can just get lost in my own world. A perfect example is today I learned about Ed Witten, and then I spent almost two hours watching videos, most of which explained things beyond my full comprehension, but I was both engaged and lost… and again I was fully entertained.

It’s the power of being an introvert… even when I’m on my own, I never feel alone.

On Repeat

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I have an eclectic taste in music. From Zeppelin to Taylor Swift, Black Eyed Peas to AC/DC, Eminem to Vivaldi, Kitaro to the Violent Femmes… I don’t care who the artist is. I hear a song that hits me the right way and I’m hooked. When a song strikes a chord with me (literally and figuratively) I get a bit obsessed.

Right now that song is Last Man Standing by Livingston.

I’m listening to it now… on repeat while I write this. 

‘On repeat’ used to be so much harder. Now I just click the repeat icon twice on my iPhone and the song plays until I change the setting. 

I can remember lying down on the floor in the living room next to my parent’s record player and getting up after the song played so that I could lift the record player arm and gently put it back to the start of the song again, and again, and again. And when I say I remember doing this, I’m not exaggerating. Despite the memories going back 40-45 years I can still remember the songs I did this with: Queen’s ‘Another One Bites the Dust’, The Carpenters ‘Top of the World’, Lipps ‘Funkytown’, Led Zeppelin’s ‘All of My Love’, and Pink Floyd’s ’Mother’… I wasn’t joking when I said my tastes were eclectic. 

Later I improved my ‘on repeat’ skills with a Radio Shack tape recorder.

I can remember having an entire 45 minute tape side with nothing except Soft Cell’s ‘Tainted Love’ and The J. Geils Band’s ‘Freeze Frame’. The songs don’t just alternate, they were in the order that I was able to record them from a pop rock am radio station. It was an art form simultaneously hitting the play and record button on the tape machine just when the DJ stopped talking, and still maximizing the song’s intro that he was talking over. 

My recent obsessions before my current one were Taylor Swift’s ‘Maroon’, Colin Hay from Men at Work singing an acoustic version of ‘Overkill’, Sean Brown’s ‘Higher Baby’, David Wilcox’s ‘Breakfast at the Circus’, Mia Morris’ ‘Gone My Way’, and Michaela Slinger’s ‘Petty Things’. 

I have no idea what song or even what genre will tickle my musical fancy next, but until then, I’ll be choosing between these most recent choices ‘on repeat’.

Typecast

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I’m watching a Jason Statham movie. Now this is a guy who has been typecasted as a specific kind of hero: The lead actor who will beat people up, shoot them, and either bend the law to his favour or be on the wrong side of the law and yet still be the guy you are rooting for.

Not everyone gets typecast quite as strictly as Jason, but watching this movie got me thinking… How do people typecast me? What do they expect from me? And do I deliver as expected?

I think so. I don’t think I surprise too many people. I’m pretty consistent, and don’t feel I need to be performative. Actors get typecast into roles and have to play those roles. Regular people just are the roles they become. Sure there are bumps along the way, and I certainly did a few uncharacteristic things in my teens and early 20’s, but since then I’ve been pretty much what people expect of me.

That’s not a bad thing. Well for some people it might be. As a simple example, some people are known to always be late, lateness becomes expected. There are more serious things that people might not want to be known for, but there are many, many things that you can be typecast as which are positive.

You can be loyal, kind, fair, reliable, loving, thoughtful, even playful. The question is, if you were an actor, how would you be typecasted? If you don’t like your own response to that question, maybe it’s time to play a new role.