Excuses, excuses... and a new life ahead

There is a post in my drafts about the Barrelman Swim/Bike, another one about the Zoo Run 10K, yet here I am starting another one full of excuses instead. Life happened, again. About the same time last year I abandoned my blog, but for entirely different reasons. I was about to hit a concrete wall, quite literally. This time around, life is pretty full of awesome.

Fall is my favorite season. The smile says it all.

At the end of September, the Monday after Barrelman, I left my 16 yr long career in computer engineering to start a new adventure. I went back to school to become an arborist. I am in a two semester program at the Humber College that will give me a diploma in Urban Arboriculture sometime in April 2017.

Humber North Campus and the daily sunrise

To say that it is intense it is an understatement. We learn tree biology, how to identify over 50 trees, everything about safety in working at heights, operating a chainsaw, a chipper and other sharp and dangerous objects. We learn about tree diseases, fungi, how to identify failures in a tree and how to deal with hydro, wildlife, construction, root damage etc. And that's just the theory. We learn to make more than a dozen knots (blindfolded), how to climb a tree, walk on limbs, do aerial rescues, prune, fell trees, chip brush, set up our climbing system, use a lanyard and much more. For people with little upper body strength like me, every practice session is a full body workout. You can probably understand how much soreness and muscle tiredness I deal with on a daily basis. You may think it's an excuse, but I had weeks when I could not even hold my fork and knife at lunch to eat. Going to Taekwondo, swimming, biking or running was just too much physically.

Climbing trees has never been more exciting, especially when you do it safely.

Welcome to my classroom

Tree identification bouquet after a walk through the Arboretum

Then mid October I started not one job, but two. I work as a server at Swiss Chalet and Uber EATS driver, just so I can help Zin make ends meet. It hasn't been easy. I've been learning the value of money the hard way. When I earn 15 bucks from a delivery and then I spend 15 bucks on my lunch, I see exactly where the money is going. This is the kind of perspective that I didn't have before. But such is life, and it is quite humbling to go back to earning minimum wage. But aside from bringing enough money to help pay our bills, I have no other sources of stress, which is a huge step forward from what my life used to be. I spend 3 days a week outside climbing trees and cutting wood, then evenings making other people's day by bringing them food, be it at their table or at their door. I am actually having a lot of fun, in a new and challenging way, and I have zero regrets about leaving the corporate world behind.

Alas, working weekends and evenings also removed lots of opportunities for working out. I thought about going for a run today, but my last "excuse" is that I have also been sick for the past two weeks. I have been coughing, and coughing often and hard. Combined with the crisp, cold autumn air and my asthma, the cough has been relentless. After 10 days of Tylenol Cold and Sinus, I went to the doctor and begged for a Codeine cough syrup that should do the trick by knocking myself out for a few nights.

And these are the reasons why I stopped working out in the last month (my last run was on October 10) and concentrated on surviving my new arborist training days. I really hope to be able to get on top of this cold and at least go back to Taekwondo. I decided to wait for January to start my training for Ironman Mt Tremblant 70.3. Until then, I am going to concentrate on my next belt grading at the end of December and maybe, just maybe, being able to sneak in a run or two.

One thing that happened though and I almost forgot about, is that I attended another Taekwondo tournament and I didn't get my ribs broken this time, yeah! I ended getting silver in sparring and gold in patterns in my division. Besides, I got my Encyclopedia signed by the founder of Taekwondo's son, and president of the International Taekwondo Federation, Grand Master Choi Jung Hwa. A day full of win, indeed!

Two gigantic medals at a very special tournament

Humbled to have the Taekwondo Encyclopedia signed by the founder's son

And this is all I can share today, with the little time I have on my hands. School exams are going to occupy most of my free time going forward, aside from everything else that has to do with being an adult, like saving for our kids' college and paying our mortgage and taxes on time. Maybe I will find some time to write race reports, maybe I'll choose to take a nap instead. I honestly don't know. I am living so much in the present, I rather not make any ambitious plans. Right now, it's all about enjoying the special moments in the canopy like the one below.

Lazy days of summer

Coming back from Muskoka I felt a little drained. Not only because I spent most of my weekend on two feet, but also because of a heatwave that we've been "blessed" with for the past two weeks. Only today I felt that my brain wasn't ready to melt as soon as I stepped out of the door.

I don't do so well with racing in heat anymore. Not that it bothers me on the spot, but after such an effort I need to go down for a long nap. I did not have this opportunity on Sunday after the race, and to make matters worse, the heatwave got really out of control Mon-Wed, to the point that I completely gave up all ideas of exercising. I have to pat myself on the back for even leaving the house and going to work.

Yay for more water!

On Thursday I finally came out of this lazy stupor and went to Professor's Lake for our club's open water swim. A storm was looming on the horizon, but it did not affect our time in the water. I did 2 loops for a total of 1500m then decided to go on a 3km run loop around the lake. To be honest, after all the heat, the idea of running in the rain was rather inviting. About 1km in, this is what the storm looked like from the distance (and I still had to make it across the pond).

Unsurprisingly, I got soaked in the last km, but it felt absolutely wonderful. Once I finished the loop I waited for Mellen and hubbs who were running a little behind, then headed home for dinner. All of a sudden, I was full of energy again!

The next day, when Mellen asked if I wanted to go with her on a bike ride, I could not say no. As I had other errands to run and a wedding reception to go to in the evening, I took the day off and chose to enjoy it to the maximum.

We chose to rode from my house to Erin and back. To be honest, I was very apprehensive because Mellen is so much stronger than me on the bike, but without knowing it, she had already planned to tire herself up before showing up. As a matter of fact, she rode 70km to start the day, then met with me for another 75km. I had one of my best rides of the year, but finished with another Strava extreme suffer score because of a 170bpm average over 2h50. I am THAT out of shape, OK? Mellen's HR... 140bpm. Alright then, glad that she did not fall asleep.

Still dry before the deluge

I should probably thank the rain for keeping us on the edge of our seats, literally. We got soaked (again!) on our way back from Erin. It was still a lot of fun, especially flying down Mississauga road with cross winds and all the speed! Despite the copious amount of sugar that I eat, I am also glad to report that I did not melt.

However, I was afraid to melt under the sun once I came back home, so I settled on a lazy chair in a shady spot with a cold beverage. It was glorious. I may or may not have fallen asleep in the process.

Apparently epic suffer scores require epic rest days, so Saturday I had to take the day off. Again. And while I was resting I did the unimaginable. I downloaded Pokemon Go!! And what does one do when they have a new toy? They go Pokemon hunting. With their cat. Like a certifiable crazy cat lady.

I caught a Pokemon. His name is Picchu and he is very athletic. Special powers are Killer Purr and Vertical Jump.

Then this happened. It was one of the first goals that day. I ended with over 15k steps, over 3 times more than a regular working day, 5 times more than a weekend on the couch.

Since then I went hunting every day. I now take the "long road" while going to the nearby coffee shop, just so that I walk by all 4 Pokestops within a 2km radius. I saw dozens of teenagers and grown up people outside enjoying the game. If someone puts a lure on one of these pokestops, it's pandemonium. Teens and adults come over on bikes, skateboards, cars or just by walking. It definitely took the neighbours out of their homes and it's really awesome to see.

My sons got on their bikes again. We compare Pokedexes and combat levels. We are bonding again around a silly game. Say what you want, but I do enjoy their company again. After 5 days I reached level 13 and caught/evolved 47 different Pokemons out of 150. This makes me happy.
Just look at the Pokemon effect on my activity level from the last 3 days.

Look at me (Pokemon) GO!

The craziness has also taken over my office. We have 2 gyms and 4 Pokestops on the campus and I find myself walking around the office a lot more, working from the cafe where people put lures regularly, and going outside to visit the pond. It almost makes the office bearable, almost. Can you argue with this?

View from the Pokestop

Where is my Pokeball when I need it? Did the game freeze on me? Oh wait... 

Comfortable sandals are mandatory for Pokemon hunting

But don't get fooled by the idyllic conditions, the inside is still a zoo and my head is still up in the trees. Probably a good introduction to what I'll be doing in 2 months from now: I am going back to school and will abandon the IT world for good. I had 16 good years going from computer engineer to Sr. Manager of a team of 30, climbing the ladder as high as I felt comfortable, but now it's time for a change. I have decided to become an Arborist (wiki link here) and signed up for the Urban Arboriculture program at Humber College. I guess I'll be climbing even higher now, ha! Classes start September 26 and I could not be more excited about it. The program lasts 2 semesters and if all goes well, next spring I will be working outside, taking care of trees as a "tree surgeon" with my new best friend, the chainsaw. I honestly feel that I fit right in. Not only the people that I met in the industry are so friendly and down to earth, they welcomed me with open arms and I think that I will feel much better in this environment, doing something good that makes a difference for nature and the habitat. And who knows where this path takes me. A new adventure for sure, with a lot of hard, physical work, learning and growing challenges, pretty much from the bottom up.

Trees, you've got a friend in me

Alright, now back to working out before my work becomes a work out. On Monday and Tuesday of this week I also went back to Taekwondo after a 10 day break. I think I needed this break after the emotional roller-coaster that took so much energy out of me. On both days we started the class with a jog/sprints combo and I survived both days without any pain. I suffered while stretching though, but that was to be expected. I worked on my patterns until my brain gave up and I was no longer able to coordinate my left with my right. That must be sign of a good workout, or I'm just getting old, as usual.

Today I took another day off from exercising, but I plan on swimming/running tomorrow, TKD class on Friday and/or Saturday, then triathlon simulation day on Sunday. Keeping the fun alive, one day at a time. Cheers!