Your lactate test actually mirrored mine (minus the 15k warmup). Tested at 2.1 before and thought I’d see what would happen after the warmup. Sure enough, it dropped down to 0.7 after 30’. I figured the worst that would happen is I’d abandon the test if it persisted high and just continue on the long run which was the plan anyway.
This was the first time I also noted RPE at each step figuring I need to get better at feeling the effort rather than being overly reliant on the precise data (which is my Achilles heel.)
✅✅
The Green Year 🏊🏾♂️🚴🏾♂️🏃🏾♂️💻
This weekend was a sub-max re-test to set zones for the next 8–12 weeks. Which, naturally, turned into a curiosity project.
The last six months I’ve been neck-deep in process improvement and analytics tooling for our investment office (office is an over statement - I’m the CIO but also the sole member of the office). Because I can. And because agentic AI is useful without “replacing the junior analyst who left” (spoiler: true).
So this weekend I built a little training dashboard (Cursor + Claude Code) to:
•ingest my Strava data
•check whether I’m broadly sticking to @feelthebyrn1’s 8:1 easy:hard balance
•run my training through my store-brand version of @Alan_Couzens’ “Harry” to see if I’m on track, and spit out next week’s plan based on goals + progression
Still tuning the coach’s personality and the progression logic, but it’s a fun ride: build, test, learn, repeat.
Truth is, I’m coachless right now and I miss weekly accountability. I don’t need someone to tell me “mostly green, a tiniest bit of yellow/red, test, lift. - repeat” I need someone (or something) to stop my worst impulse: tweaking the plan to death.
Also. You can swift and code. And socials.
@ToddPearson12@Alan_Couzens Sometimes you walk out of an exam thinking it didn’t go well. Then you get the results… and it didn’t go well. Other times, you walk out feeling the same, knowing the universe is weird, and you get an A+.
My 2025 was the first scenario.
Ms. 17: Argh. This college app wants 200 words about concepts that inspire me?! What should I write??
Me: One word - brevity.
I’m just trying to add value to my child’s life in a way that makes sense to me.
@andrew_rattray@adam_kurland@Strava Of course. Maybe it’s also me just trying to figure out when you’re in Adelaide and when you’re in Melbourne which isn’t creepy.
@hjluks It took me longer than I care to admit to understand what Alan and Gordo have been saying for ages about absolute VO2 max. The constraint is not oxygen delivery. It’s whether the muscle is aerobically capable of using it.
And therefore... just keep walking. A lot.
@dpolehn I had literally zero appreciation shown when I had announced I had spent my weekend alone swapping out all the dimmer switches to LED compliant ones. I mean they smiled but still.
The problem, @feelthebyrn1 , with having Amazon deliver while you’re traveling is that your family absolutely will not tell you your highly anticipated book has arrived. They’ll just unpack it (assuming it’s something they ordered) and discard it on the nearest flat surface like it’s a takeout menu for me to discover much later.
The hell.
And it begins… the UC applications are in. Keeya is taking her first step towards being able to define the essential character of who she is as a fully actualized human being in 350 words.
For the kiwis, this is the University of California system (of which the two most famous you’ll know are UC Berkeley and UCLA.) I don’t know if there are infamous UCs - maybe UC Santa Barbara where maybe Keeya has also applied to…
#collegeapplicationseason
I have a Substack called Permanent Rez because this is how we do things now. Truthfully, it’s just a collection of things I’ve written over time; and if you’re math-inclined, you’ll notice the dataset is sparse. I’m far better at thinking about writing than doing the writing.
But public accountability is a wonderful thing. There’s value in saying you’ll do a thing and then actually doing it.
This week I wrote about my breakup with my phone. I’d call it a metaphor, but it isn’t: I’m down 42% in screen time from last week, which means I’m now using my phone a lot instead of a ton.
At its heart, it’s about being present, not being beholden to the algorithm, and finding better ways to spend my attention.
It also explains my lack of participation on the socials and was spurred by @inaki_delaparra and @Alan_Couzens latest discussion on recovery in which they also discuss the "delete / reinstall" doom cycle we all find ourselves in. I appreciated the humanity and I assure them I had more meaningful takeaways but this was a useful byproduct.
Read it here: Thought of the Weak by @rpwiki https://t.co/Wxz5xZqH7y
Ten years ago I wished Te Maia a happy 10th birthday on Facebook and declared I couldn’t wait to reflect back on the intervening 10 years and “particularly the point where you started to love doing the dishes.” A throwaway line meant for an easy laugh.
Because my humor, like my taste in men’s cologne, is cheap (Old Spice is a hill I will die on).
A betting man would have wagered money because Te Maia does, in fact, love to do the dishes. Well, I don’t know if she "loves" to do the dishes but what I do know is she does the dishes. And specifically when she’s home she unloads, like clockwork every morning, the dishwasher. In a polarized world I think we can all agree that this is the worst of the kitchen jobs. The culinary equivalent of folding clothes. After all, any fool can launder. But only the best of us fold and then put away the clothes.
My wish for ten-year-old Te Maia was that she would embrace the next decade of dishes with the same joie de vivre she had thrown at the first decade of her life. A callous wish to be sure, and one she exceeded: participation at the United Nations across three continents, filmmaking from the Pacific to the steps of Congress, podcasting, sitting on panels, sitting in audiences advocating to panels - the list goes on and all of the list is better than dishwashing.
So my hope for the next ten years of the adventure that is Te Maia Wiki is that she settles into the true nature of her Self: a Self that leads with love and curiosity and is goofy and serious at moments opportune and inopportune. At the precipice of adulthood I encourage you, my love, to peer over the edge and then throw yourself down the other side with reckless abandon. Well planned, thoughtful, safe and risk adjusted reckless abandon.
And while we’re here, let me tell you about ironing…
Happy 20th birthday Te Maia.
This is a great reminder, Alan. Thanks!
Did the Ch. 8 math on my old DEXA and, thanks to genetics (or just a lifetime of being “robust”), I’ve already got more than enough muscle to support an excellent absolute VO₂ max.
The job now isn’t adding clay - it’s making that mass aerobically useful (years of Zone 1) and keeping it from disappearing.
Relative VO₂ will take care of itself… with fewer lamingtons (even if I might need them to fuel the effort).
@inaki_delaparra@Alan_Couzens Funny. I’d actually wondered at the start if you were in the same room! Great listen as always - and of course I listened while I was on the bike and then got back to back calls and couldn’t eat for two hours 🤦🏾♂️
A lot of smart minds and money went into decades of technology and innovation to give us the ability to instantly communicate with groups of people. This is how we’re utilizing human genius today.
Mx. 17 has been hard at work doing AP Econ prep, SAT study and college application prep in these final weeks of summer.
Me: Hey. I just want to say I’m really impressed with your work ethic this summer.
Mx. 17: Work ethic? I woke up at 11:30 today.
Me: Yeah but you’re balancing a social life and…
Mx. 17: Dude. Don’t sing praises yet! I woke up at 11:30!
Me: YEAH BUT I’M JUST TRYING TO SAY THAT…
Mx. 17: AND I’M SAYING I WOKE UP AT 11:30!! THAT’S NOT A WORK ETHIC.
Me: AND I’M TRYING TO SHOW MY EMOTIONAL SUPPORT!
Mx. 17: LUNCHTIME!!
Glad they’re in charge of everything soon.