IronMike's 2023 log: Fewer means better, right? (EO & RUS)

[IronMike]

Passato prossimo, finalmente! Took till lesson 30 in Pimsleur I, but I'm finally there.

Granted, I've already covered it a bit in Ultimate Italian, but still, I was getting really tired of repeating numbers over and over again...

[IronMike]

Well ok, Polyglot Fitness Challenge fitness goal #1 complete, but unsuccessful.

This weekend I swam in Swim the Suck, a 10-(plus) mile swim in the Tennessee river valley. This is my third time doing the event. Yes, I love it. My goal was to swim it in under 5:00 and despite more of a "push" from the dam's release of water (I think 20,000 cfs vs. 18,000 in 2018 and 13,000 in 2012), I swam 10.3 miles in 5:23.24. By about hour 4 I was ready for this swim to be done! Fast forward to a bit after the 5-hour mark and I finally stopped to look down the river (I normally don't do this for fear that I'll not see the finish line and have to keep swimming forever) and saw the finish buoy.

Is that the finish? I asked my kayaker.
Sure is! he responded, with glee, because he probably had to pee really bad.
w00t! I screamed and then put my head down and sprinted...

...for only 100 strokes, then I was pooped and fell back to my "forever" pace. Still took me another 400-odd strokes to hit that damn finish buoy!



Despite my not hitting my fitness goal #1, I'm still happy with my swim. Now, back to lifting and trying to hit my fitness goal #2: deadlift 370#. Yikes!

[MorkTheFiddle]

Congratulations! Ten miles is a long haul, even just walking. Most I've ever swum was 1,000 meters, thought the major hurdle got to be boredom. Not the world's youngest or fastest swimmer, took me around 52 minutes. A snail's pace, but it helped keep the fat off

[Uniceros]

I like the Polyglot fitness challenge idea! Maybe I’ll come up with something for 2020.

[IronMike]

I like the Polyglot fitness challenge idea! Maybe I’ll come up with something for 2020.

Keep an eye open. In December I'll post a thread in the Language Challenges section on the Polyglot Fitness Challenge!

[IronMike]

Congratulations! Ten miles is a long haul, even just walking. Most I've ever swum was 1,000 meters, thought the major hurdle got to be boredom. Not the world's youngest or fastest swimmer, took me around 52 minutes. A snail's pace, but it helped keep the fat off

Thanks!

I used to run, and even started to like it, then of course my knee blew out. Swimming's never hurt my knees!

[IronMike]

Wow, page 3. Wish I had more to update you on!

Italian progressing. Looking forward to the Christmas break Old English mini-challenge. Next Esperanto Sumoo coming up in November. What to read, what to read?!

[IronMike]

Signed up for the 6WC. w00t! Gonna work diligently on Italian reading. I'll work my way through the Easy Italian Reader. I hope after the six weeks to be able to tackle story #1 in Sessanta racconti by Buzzati.

[IronMike]

First day of 6WC went well. Did some Pimsleur and then reading.

Also first day of NaNoWriMo! Wrote for a while. Only 800-odd words. Oh well. Just starting.

[IronMike]

6WC going well, as is NaNoWriMo. Havent' done enough words to hit the 50K yet, but I'm sure I'll have some big words days coming up. Our Army daughter is visiting, and she's doing NaNo as well, so it was fun to hear her tapping away on her computer while Mom, taking writing classes, was tapping away as well.

I've also challenged myself to read 70 books this year, through Goodreads' annual challenge. I'm at 57 books now, which is 1 behind my goal. But the major one I'm reading now is a huge, 700+ page Stephen King, and I'm almost done. Perhaps I'll read a couple normal length ones after that!

With the Esperanto Sumoo coming up, I'll read the Eo version of Roadside Picnic, the forum's November book. I've also got a writing class I'm taking starting on 14 Nov, so I'll be busy. Then somewhere around 15 December or so we'll start the Old English mini-challenge!