πŸŠβ€β™‚οΈ The easing in continues

A lake surrounded by trees features a dock extending into the water, and workout statistics overlay the image detailing an open water swim.

πŸƒβ€β™‚οΈ Easing back into a routine

A winding road sign along a lush, green forested pathway indicates curves for the next 8.0 kilometers, with running stats overlayed on the image.

Finished reading: Service Model by Adrian Tchaikovsky is a surprisingly amusing story about the robot apocalypse πŸ“š

🎧 Given the rewrite of Overcast, I’m switching back from Apple Podcasts to try it out (yes, right on time). Although the audio engine is better and there are some other, nice refinements, I think my favourite feature of Overcast is that it just shows me a clean list of the podcasts I’ve actually chosen as subscriptions. Apple Podcasts pushes discovery too hard for me.

Finished reading: Adam Frank cleverly uses interest in UFOs to get at the science of extraterrestrial life in The Little Book of Aliens πŸ“š

Finished reading: Slow Productivity by Cal Newport has some interesting concepts for how to manage pseudo productivity. Almost makes me want to have the type of job that would allow me to really apply the advice πŸ“š

Finished reading: Black Hole Survival Guide by Janna Levin is a short, fascinating, and entertaining book all about black holes πŸ“š

πŸ“Ί Thoughts on recent television shows

Some short notes on recent seasons of shows that I’ve watched:

Adding The Peripheral to the list with Outer Range and Night Sky makes me reluctant to watch sci-fi shows on Amazon Prime. I enjoyed each of these well made and smart shows, only to have them all cancelled.

Finished reading: I enjoyed A Darker Shade of Magic by V. E. Schwab. Moves briskly with an interesting plot, good characters, and intriguing magic system πŸ“š

Finished reading: Blood Meridian, Or, The Evening Redness in the West by Cormac McCarthy is bleak, nihilistic, and compelling πŸ“š

πŸ”— Matt Gurney: Anson Mount saved Star Trek

Because Anson Mount saved Star Trek. And I’m not afraid to say so. In fact, I’m here to shout it from the rooftops: thank you, Anson Mount. You were just what we needed.

I endorse this claim

As usual, against my better judgement, I’ve installed the public betas. I’m mostly interested in the new fitness features of watchOS 11. Although I already have something like Training Load in the HealthFit app, Apple’s take is intriguing. For me it is the simple things, like structured swim workouts and being able to see what the next interval is in a custom workout that will make the biggest differences.

To get watchOS, I had to install iOS 18. Overall, some nice incremental improvements with nothing too significant (at least until some of the Apple Intelligence features get added).

Finished reading: The Rise and Reign of the Mammals by Steve Brusatte is a comprehensive and detailed tour of all of the mammals, past and present, that stays engaging. Such tremendous diversity and curious lifestyles πŸ“š

Auto-generated description: Two dogs, one golden retriever puppy and one adult black Labrador, are resting on a dark brown leather couch.

Dog couch

Finished reading: The Lost Metal by Brandon Sanderson is a good ending to The Wax and Wayne series. Although the Cosmere hints were intriguing, they also got a bit confusing. Presumably to be clarified in later books πŸ“š

πŸŠβ€β™‚οΈπŸš΄β€β™‚οΈπŸƒβ€β™‚οΈ 2024 Muskoka Ironman 70.3

Well that was “fun”! The Muskoka Ironman 70.3 was very well organized with great volunteers and an excited crowd of spectators.

Auto-generated description: A map displays a triathlon route in the Huntsville area with details on distance (112.66 km), time (5 hours 34 minutes), and calories burned (5,236 kcal).

I was within a few minutes of last year which I’m very happy with, considering the interruptions to my training with a trip to Portugal and introduction of a new puppy (neither of which I regret).

Not much new to report, relative to last year, in terms of the course. Still super hilly and challenging with some great views of the Canadian Shield. Given the challenges of the run, in particular, I don’t think I’d recommend this as a first 70.3. Definitely should be on anyone’s list that is looking for additional courses though.

As always, a huge thank you to my wife for her continued support and excellent race crewing. And thanks to the One Academy crew for all of the training hours together. These races are not a solo effort.

Auto-generated description: A man wearing blue finisher merchandise poses with his bicycle after completing an Ironman 70.3 triathlon event, with spectators in the background.

πŸŠβ€β™‚οΈπŸš΄β€β™‚οΈπŸƒβ€β™‚οΈ Getting ready

Auto-generated description: A collection of triathlon gear arranged on a table, including a wetsuit, running shoes, helmet, water bottles, nutrition packs, a towel, and cycling shoes.

Finished reading: The Bands of Mourning by Brandon Sanderson is a fun continuation of the series. Intriguing to see the world of Elendel open up to a wider perspective πŸ“š

George discovered digging. So George had his first bath

A wet, young Golden Retriever is sitting in a bathtub.

Finished reading: Justin Trudeau on the Ropes by Paul Wells is a short, informative, entertaining, and timely look at Justin Trudeau’s tenure as Prime Minister πŸ“š