Serenity Through Sweat

Travel Tip Tuesday: Christmas Spirit

Merry Christmas and welcome back to another round of Travel Tip Tuesday. All alliteration aside this will be a little different than the past few iterations which were very gear heavy. I love gear as much as the next guy and with Christmas here hopefully you found some heartfelt and useful gifts for your loved ones. But this week’s travel tip is about the Christmas Spirit.

I’m finishing up a four day trip and I’m very excited to be home with my family, even if only for a about 15 hours over Christmas. On this four day trip I was flying the last flight of the night from Atlanta to Charleston. Everything was moving on schedule and we were ready to push around 11:30 at night.

Right before we started our push, the captain and I saw someone doing that very familiar “I can’t believe I missed my flight” dance at the gate. We sent a message to the gate agent and told her to bring the jet bridge back and put the delay on us.

For those of you not familiar, everyone at the airline has a job to do in order to get flights out on time, and often times those metrics are tied to performance pay. So by us (the pilots) saying to put the delay on us, we were relieving the gate agent of feeling like she might be penalized for the aircraft going out late.

The jet bridge was brought back, the three passengers (two more made it up breathless in the time it took to get the jet bridge hooked up and the door opened) all made it on the aircraft and we’re extremely grateful.

What surprised me was the response from our flight attendants and one particular passenger in first class. The flight attendants were annoyed that they had to repeat their safety briefing over again. (The aircraft I fly kicks it old school without screens so the flight attendants actually talk and demonstrate). The first class passenger scoffed loud enough for me to hear from the open cockpit door and said “I can’t believe we are letting them on” I assured him that we would still be on time in Charleston

The flight proceeded without incident, we arrived at our gate two minutes ahead of schedule, and we got three more people to their destination for Christmas than we otherwise would have.

All it took for us to make these people’s Christmas as little better was a little bit of attention to recognize the situation, and a little bit of empathy to make the right call. One of the best things you can travel with all year round is a little bit of Christmas spirit.

Whether it is helping someone fold up their stroller in the jetway, giving up your seat in a busy terminal gate, helping someone get a bag in the overhead, or just having an overall cheerful attitude in what can be a stressful situation, we can all use a little more Christmas spirit in our travel experiences. A little bit of empathy and compassion will help all of us on our journey towards Serenity through Sweat.

Thanks for joining me for Travel Tip Tuesday, Merry Christmas, and stay sweaty my friends.

Today’s Serenity through Sweat, the 8th annual Christmas half marathon through the Carolina North Forest and around the UNC campus.

Mastery of the Aircraft

Whenever training on a new aircraft, pilots are put through a rigorous training program consisting of aircraft systems knowledge, training procedures and flows, and ultimately both normal and emergency operations in a simulator. There is a whole slew of things that evaluators look for including ; knowledge, skill, good judgement, proficiency, and mastery of the aircraft. That last item, mastery of the aircraft, is obviously a subjective term, but I think we all know it when we see it, someone who is calm and in control regardless of the scenario, and who can think a few steps ahead.

I was listening to JRE episode #1392 the other day with ultra runner Zach Bitter and it got me thinking about this concept as it applies to athletes. How much training and experience does it take for a pilot to be the master of an aircraft, and how much time do we devote as athletes to being masters of our own bodies?

On the podcast zach talked about his recent 12 hour and 100 mile record breaking performance, as well as his diet and training plan leading up to it. The thing that surprised me the most about Zach was his training based on perceived effort which is an arguably more subjective criteria as opposed to something more objective (like heart rate zone training)

The difference of course is that Zach has put in the time, energy, and effort, and has the discipline to be a master of his body and can honestly and accurately assess his training based on perceived effort. How many of us age group traithloners, or casual BJJ practitioners, can say we have the discipline and understanding to do that?

Yoga practices often remind us to be aware of our breathing and tune in to what our body needs. I’m relatively new to yoga and after about twenty minutes in the hot room the only thing I feel tuned in to, is how much longer I can hold chair pose before my yoga mat has transformed into a slip’n’slide. (Incase the blog title didn’t give it away I’m a pretty sweaty dude) I can’t tell you how many interval runs or rides I’ve done where I’m unable to maintain my interval pace through the final interval. Even with a wrestling background and a lot of competition experience, I still remember going out way too hard in my first BJJ tournament match and almost running out of steam.

Part of the journey towards Serenity through Sweat is being aware of our lack of knowledge of our own body and working to better understand this vehicle we have through life. Working to develop the discipline and putting in the effort to become masters of our “craft”. For me anyway, that journey makes me a better husband, father and friend, and it’s a journey I’m happy to share with all of you. Stay sweaty my friends.

Today’s Serenity through Sweat was my first time through Pavel tatsoulini’s Simple and Sinister kettlebell workout followed by 15 min on the spin bike.

Travel Tip Tuesday: Morsel Spork

All alliteration aside, here is another installment of Travel Tip Tuesday and this week it’s the Morsel Spork.

If you have tried to get an iced coffee or any other cold beverage with a straw lately, I’m sure you are aware of the war on single use plastics. This seems to be slowly making its way to cutlery as well, but even when plastic cutlery is available I can’t tell you how many times I’ve snapped cheap plastic forks or knives and been left with a nub to finish my lo mein.

Enter the Morsel Spork (available at https://morselspork.com). As with previous posts I am in no way affiliated with Morsel and am receiving no compensation for this post. (but feel free to hit me up if you are interested in sponsoring the blog) The Morsel Spork is just a cool gadget that I carry with me on all of my trips and highly recommend.

Size comparison between Morsel, Morsel mini, and a toddler fork

I originally bought this thinking it would be great for my then 1 year old son. The rubberized edges are great for oatmeal and yogurt but I thought would also be gentle on toddler gums. However, since it is ideally designed to get the last morsel out of camping pots, it was a little big and unwieldy for my toddler.

The mini is the perfect size to bring in a lunch box or meal prep cooler. The Spork side is tough enough for raw veggies and even has some light serration to help with cutting. The rubberized side has different edges to help getting every last drop especially from odd shape containers (I’m looking at you Nutella jars)

The Morsel for me has been a great tool for eating everything I meal prep for my trips, from oatmeal and peanut butter, to salmon and veggies. I don’t have to create extra waste with single use plastic cutlery, or risk shrapnel injury when cheap cutlery inevitably snaps. It has also come in handy in our tailgating kits, and I’m excited to take it with us on our next family camping trip.

With Christmas right around the corner, the Morsel Spork is a great stocking stuffer for anyone who is eating away from home. It is something I have been using for over a year now and highly recommend. Thanks for joining me for Travel Tip Tuesday, and stay sweaty my friends.

The Lion and the Sheep

We just got done running the Christmas Cookie 5k here in Orlando. It was a beautiful fall morning and the temperatures were perfect for running especially in matching elf costumes.

We ran as a family, my son in the the jogging stroller with me pushing, and my wife setting the pace at 24 weeks pregnant. My son was very excited by all the costumes, the Christmas music, and the promise of cookies at the end. As we bobbed and weaved our way through the crowd, he would alternate between saying walking and running. Personally I won’t try to analyze the word choice of a two year old, and I’m sure there was no malice in it, but, I understand why my wife said she felt bad for people we were passing, who had to watch a pregnant woman cruise past them while her toddler said “walking”

*WonderWoman with baby elf on board and Santa’s helper El Duderino dancing to some Christmas carols to warm up*

My first reaction was very Game of Thrones, “the lion does not concern itself with the opinions of sheep” there is no reason for my wife to feel bad for going out and running her race regardless of the other people around her. (She is my Wonder woman and she is pretty freaking awesome)

At the same time, comparing yourself to someone else and going to a negative place is not productive habit. In some races, or in some gyms, you might be the lion, and in others you might be the sheep. But you can always work to get faster and stronger, and control your reactions to those training around you. You can choose to be negative, or you can choose to be inspired.

Finding Serenity through Sweat is a much more rewarding journey when we feel good about ourselves and when we celebrate the accomplishments of our peers, and the two are not mutually exclusive. Thanks for joining me, stay sweaty my friends.

Travel Tip Tuesday: Zendure passport

All alliteration aside, welcome back to travel tip Tuesday where I break down some things I’ve learned while living out of a suitcase.

This week I want to talk about one of my favorite travel accessories the Zendure passport. I am in no way affiliated with this company and am receiving no compensation for this post. I received this as a gift from my wife and I don’t leave for a trip without it.

The Zendure passport has 4 USB ports plus the option to plug in another charger

When I travel for work I have an iPad for charts and work documents, a backup battery so I can run that iPad all day in the plane, my cell phone, and then a set of wireless ear buds for workouts. If you spend any time in a hotel, good luck finding enough places to charge all this stuff, plus not forgetting it when it’s plugged in all over your room. The Zendure passport has 4 USB ports so everything can charge at the same time and in the same place. It also has a built in surge protector and 4 different power adapter settings so you can use it anywhere in the world.

4 different adapter settings for use wherever your journey takes you

My wife bought this for me when it was a Kickstarter product but they have their own store open now at https://zendure.com/collections/power-adapters/products/passport-30w-travel-adapter-white

If you have ever found yourself frustrated with your charger situation on a trip I highly recommend checking out the Zendure passport. Thanks for joining me for Travel Tip Tuesday, stay sweaty my friends.

Sweat through the small $h!t

I remember as a kid one of the first times I flew looking down and thinking how small everything was. And then my next thought was once you’re up in the air, things on the ground don’t really matter anymore even if only for that short period of time.

Looking back on that memory helps me understand what keeps me coming back to aviation and why I look forward to going to work. Being both something I’m passionate about and enjoy as well as a space for me to compartmentalize all the other drama away is almost like a mental vacation, how many people can say that about their job. As aviators we tend to be very good at compartmentalizing our problems to complete the mission, but those problems or worries are always waiting for us on the ground like a checked bag you wish you didn’t have to lug through the parking lot.

The very heart of Serenity Through Sweat, is that most of the time once I’m done exercising, that drama is gone, or at least toned down. The blood starts flowing, the heartbeat elevates, the sweat drips and then whatever background bull$h!t that seemed important before is lifted like a morning fog to reveal a beautiful day.

Last night I got sucked in to a super negative conversation. Every time I tried to exit I got pulled back in and kept slipping further into the weeds. I didn’t sleep great (the hotel bed didn’t help), and I was thinking about it almost immediately when I woke up.

Getting on the bike first thing was the best mental therapy I could think of. After a few tabata intervals everything else is background noise and even if it does come back it comes back muted. I was able to find Serenity even if only for a few moments through sweat. I hope you can all find your own moments of Serenity, stay sweaty my friends.

My morning Serenity Through Sweat: a peleton tabata ride where instructor Robinnyc helps me get reaquainted with my hustle

Travel Tip Tuesday: Pocket Monkii

All alliteration aside, travel tip Tuesday is something I plan to make a weekly thing. I’ll try to cover things I’ve learned spending my entire professional life and a decent part of my childhood living out of a suitcase, especially as it relates to fitness, diet, relationships, and overall travel saavy.

I often joke with other pilots that the three most important things in the hotel are the three W’s: Wi-Fi, water pressure, and a workout area. If any one of the three are mediocre chances are your stay will be mediocre. I don’t know how many times I’ve been to a hotel with a broken down workout room and been left to my own imagination to get my sweat on.

The Pocket Monkii in it’s case next to my suitcase for a size comparison.

I’ll start by saying I am not affiliated with this company and I’m receiving no compensation for this post. (Although if you are part of the Monkii team and want to show me some love, please reach out) This is something I was excited to buy and something I use both on the road and at home. To me, it is an insurance policy against the broken down hotel workout room.

The Pocket Monkii (https://monkii.co/collections/pocket-monkii) has been my go to for a great hotel room workout, especially when the weather is bad and I can’t get outside for a run. The trx style workout is great for it’s variety and scalability. I can do light stretching and range of motion exercises, all the way up to a full on sweat session. It also folds up super compact and doesn’t take up a ton of space in my suitcase. The company has a companion app that also helps provide instructional material, pre programed workouts, and a glossary of movements so you can get inspired and create your own.

Movement library in the companion app with gif animations to check your form

Turn your planks up to 11 with the Pocket Monkii

I really enjoy using the Pocket Monkii both on the road and at home, and coming in at roughly the size of Coke can, it’s a great insurance policy against crappy hotel workout rooms. Thanks for joining in on travel tip Tuesday, stay sweaty my friends.

What I’m thankful for

Sometimes the things we are thankful for are hiding in the background, to be discovered and appreciated years later

With thanksgiving here I’m thinking about what I’m thankful for. I’m extremely blessed with a happy healthy family, friends that enrich my life, a job I enjoy, and hobbies I’m passionate about. There are other things in my life that I am grateful for that are less obvious that I maybe took for granted because they are in the background.

My son was playing with toolbox in my garage and I remembered where that toolbox came from. It was Christmas gift from my father when I was about eleven or twelve. As an eleven or twelve year old I wasn’t particularly enthused with a toolbox as a Christmas gift. In fact I wasn’t very enthused with it for a number of years. But when I moved off to college and had a decent tool set I was very grateful and realized the true value of that gift.

Likewise my parents gave me the tools as a young child to lead an active lifestyle, and for that I am eternally thankful. There were lots of outdoor activities, sports, hobbies, etc and none was ever pushed more than another, just the idea of being active. This mindset as a child and as I continued to grow has led me to a number of adventures that wouldn’t have been possible without a basic level of fitness. That mindset of an active lifestyle has always been in the background, and like the toolbox, it has taken me years to appreciate what a special gift it was.

Throwback Thursday to 1992 wrestling practice

Camping and trekking in Philmont New Mexico with my father and brother. Biking along the Alsace wine route after getting engaged to my wife. Exploring temples and hiking in Thailand and Cambodia on my honeymoon, training for and completing an Ironman with a good friend. These experiences have all helped shape me as a person, a father, and a husband, and are all rooted in interpersonal relationships and athletic adventure.

A hilly day on the bike with my wife between Riquewihr and Ribeauvillé enroute to Obernai

Lots of steps on the way to this gorgeous view with my wife in Angthong National Marine Park Thialand

There are so many life changing experiences out there, but a lot of them require you to walk, climb, swim or sweat to reap the rewards. This is a gift I’m grateful for, and a gift I hope to pass on to my children, even if it takes them many years to appreciate it. What are you thankful for that’s hiding in the background?

Thanks for joining me on the journey towards Serenity. Stay sweaty my friends.

Father son Thanksgiving turkey trot 5k on the way to the playground

Today’s journey towards Serenity through Sweat

Pushing with purpose

The development and progression of my two year old son fascinates me and forces me to reexamine my understanding of behavior. He has developed a keen liking to the word “show”, and a habit of pushing on the baby gate that safe guards my TV and sound system. When pushing doesn’t work he stomps his feet and pulls. Until recently this was nothing a little talking and explaining couldn’t solve. And then he got big enough and strong enough to pull the gate down.

Watching this was a validation to me that the gate should be there, if it wasn’t, he would have unfettered access to all those buttons and knobs that toddlers love to play with, and would certainly wreak some sort of havoc and destruction on my sound system. But, as is often the case, the wisdom of my better half prevailed and the gate stayed down.

The impressive thing was my son didn’t go turn every knob to eleven, but sat back (further away from the TV than normal) and watched his show. He was pushing on the baby gate because that is the natural reaction to the barrier, and once it was down there was no more need to push. He was pushing without a purpose.

In a grappling context often times we push our opponent to set up a reaction. For most people if you push them, they push back, and we are counting on that reaction to set up a technique. However, if you’ve trained BJJ or wrestling for any length of time you have probably found yourself in a glorified shoving match rather than a productive training roll. I push you, so you push back. You push me, so I push back. We do this dance, reacting to each other for five minutes or so and then change partners without any knowledge gained or technique applied. It’s easy to find ourselves in the same situation as my son, pushing without a purpose.

Next time you train and you find yourself in a grappling shoving match try to visualize your technique beyond the push. The same goes for training in any sport, hammering out reps or pounding the pavement without an endgame is pushing yourself without a purpose. Keeping the goal in mind be it short term or long term is crucial to success. The purpose could be your first takedown on a tough opponent, finishing a triangle choke, or getting on the podium at a tournament. It might be your first 5k or it might be an ironman PR. It might even be just to feel a little bit better after a workout you didn’t want to do. Whatever it is, pushing with a purpose in mind will always yield better results.

Thanks for joining me on the journey towards Serenity, stay sweaty my friends.

Today’s sweat session was a rehab run. My knee has been bothering me so just getting in a few miles to get the blood flowing and the sweat dripping.

You gotta begin to begin

Welcome, and thanks for joining me on the journey towards Serenity. I’m enjoying my post run coffee in a small cafe in downtown Greenville thinking about how to start this blog, and I’m struck by the wisdom of Pete the Cat.

Now if you aren’t familiar with Pete the Cat I can tell you he is one groovy dude (and you probably don’t have young kids). But Pete the Cat has been an essential part of convincing my almost two year old to sit on the potty long enough to actually pee. In one particular episode Pete the Cat is procrastinating instead of writing a new song for his band. Pet gets some advice from his older brother Bob and finds the inspiration to write. The episode ends with Pete the Cat and his band playing the new song “you gotta begin to begin” which is esoteric in it’s context of a children’s show but also brilliant in it’s simplicity.

Often times this idea of beginning to begin is the hardest part of working out (or writing a blog, or doing anything that we deem challenging). Once you get the running shoes on one foot follows the other. Getting in the car and driving to the gym is often times the hardest part of the workout. Newton’s first law of fitness (it’s legit you don’t need to fact check it) is that bodies in rest will stay at rest unless compelled by an outside force. But it also says that bodies in motion will stay in motion.

Sometimes you just gotta begin to begin. Strap on those running shoes, throw on your gi, get back in the saddle, or throw around some iron. I’ll bet my last dollar that if you do, you’ll feel better and we can all get a little closer to Serenity through Sweat.

If you want to follow along on my journey towards Serenity through Sweat check out my Instagram @triflyjitzfad. Get out there and find your own Serenity, and stay sweaty my friends.