Matthew’s Blog

Day 22 of the Holiday Rowing Challenge with a need to burn off some energy after a very strange day breaks the 150,000 mark.  Now standing at 152,428 with 8 days remaining. 

Word of note: 
I had a massage with an excellent massage therapist today who really gets at the source of tension - physical, mental, emotional, and spiritual.    I have been at a bit of low energy today which I attributed to the rapid approach of the Solstice 6 more days of dark before it lights up again.   I have noticed that the past three years the 10 days on either side of the Solstice are particularly rough for me.   The light boxes are helping.  The massage helps.  The exercise really does help.  Shovelling snow outside helps.  AND my energy was way down.    Well, she noticed and worked me over pretty hard.   

We were talking about how some of her clients will get sick immediately following and up to a few days after a deep massage.  How all the toxins have now been released and are circulating in the system and need flushing.   Drink LOTS of WATER.   Well I have been.  

I don’t usually get ill following a massage - sleepy sometimes, but not ill.     Within an hour after her departure I felt like a kid home from school curled up on the couch with body aches.   Head hurt, body hurt, mind was numb.  Stayed that way for an hour or two, maybe it was four.  Drank LOTS of Water!  Ate good healthy food.   Drank lots of water.   Then at 10:30 when I think I am ready for bed I realize that I am wide awake and don’t feel ill any more.    In fact,  I have excess energy!      It has past.   The malaise is gone! I want to DO something.   Well I actually did something - a little rowing.   As a bonus I passed my 3/4 mark 150,000m to boot!   WOW!

 Muscle tired, sleepy tired now.   Ready for a great night’s sleep.

New learnings:
1) That some massages will actually make you feel worse and then feel better
2) ALWAYS,  ALWAYS, ALWAYS drink LOTS of water  (I don’t know where it all went but my body certainly needed it- craved it)
3) Why not exercise at midnight when you are full of energy - toss and turn in bed, or be productive; take a nice shower and slide into bed happy and physically exhausted - out like a light.
4) This seasonal dilemma is more complicated than I thought - or less and I have change my regular complicated thinking to see it as simple.  Light, exercise, outdoors, eat right, socialize.

Today marks the first goal of the Concept 2 Holiday Rowing Challenge Achieved!  YAY!  100,000meters between Thanksgiving and Christmas Eve. 

2005 Holiday Challenge Goal#1 100,000m Achieved Day 16-14 days remain
2005 Holiday Challenge Goal#2 105,189/200,000 Day 16- 14 days remain  94,811 meters togo!

To track my progress check out my rowing blog http://matthewsrowingchallenge.blogspot.com/

Well its that time of year again. Didn’t do so well on the MillionK year. I think it was because I would rather be outside in the spring and summer and fall than on an erg. So for the Winter lets see how much I can do. I am going after the 200K challenge this year. 200k between Thanksgiving 11/24 and Xmas Eve 12/24 30 days 200k.

You can track my progress at  http://matthewsrowingchallenge.blogspot.com/

My friend Claudette Lajam, MD sent me a link to this cute and fun blog site. What is your seduction style? Her blog can be seen at "He’s Dead Jim" in the links section.

Your Seduction Style: Ideal Lover

You seduce people by tapping into their dreams and desires. And because of this sensitivity, you can be the ideal lover for anyone you seek. You are a shapeshifter - bringing romance, adventure, spirituality to relationships. It all depends on who your with, and what their vision of a perfect relationship is.

Cool Doodad that I learned about while sitting at a lunch counter in my favorite coffeeshop Cuppa Java in Minneapolis.  Its a contact sheet, todo list, disposable plannner doodad in a fun origami  format, it even has pockets.  If you are into SoDoKu you can even add that.  It has blank pages that range from lines, dots, grids to musical scores.  Reference sheets from tips to conversions to a cheat sheet on how to fold the sucker in case you forget. You do it all online with a really slick Flash program or you can download it.   Its a disposable planner.  This is really cool.
http://www.pocketmod.com/

I’ve decided to take on the Concept II Holiday Rowing Challenge. The Challenge has two parts 100,000meters (100km) or 200,000meters (200km). I am shooting for the 200km. All records must be made between Thanksgiving and Christmas 2004. Thats 30 days and I am starting 6 days late Dec 1st. This will be an interesting challenge for me as I haven’t rowed this much since college and that means I must average 8333meters a day between now and midnite ET Dec 24th

I created a new blog to track and be held publicly accountable for my progress.
http://matthewsrowingchallenge.blogspot.com/

Feel free to add comments and messages of encouragement.

How often to do you listen to what your body is telling you about going to bed? waking up? Take a rest? Get outside? Look Up?

Last evening I was watching a movie and found myself super uncomfortable and all I wanted to do was go to bed. How often do I feel this and just ignor it? Watch the end of the movie? see the end of the show?

Well last night I listened and went to bed at 10. This morning at 5:45 the crickets were chirping, the geese were far off honking, and I knew I had to get up.

The lake was placid. Not a ripple. Seemed for a while I was the only one out around the lake. The lake was waking up. What an awesome thing to watch. Kind of like watching a child wake up but on a grand scale.

It was very remeniscent of BSA Camp Oljato where I spent 7? consecutive summers as a youth. We had this program called Sunrise Service that was held before sunrise on the top of the granite hillside overlooking Huntington Lake to the East and we would listen to guitar and rub our eyes to watch the sun peek its rays and then its head over the Sierra Nevada and bring forth the new day. One of the most magical experiences of my life.