Thoughts on the state of software development and AI

Ironman Training Diary - May 7, 2026

I slept pretty well last night, the best all week in fact. I did wake up with a tiny nagging pain in my left calf, probably from trying to mimic what a muscle-bound guy did at the gym yesterday after watching him stretch his calves on some wooden incline thing that sits against the wall in the stretching area. I figured if it was good enough for him it was good enough for me. Maybe it wasn’t. Hell for all I know he wasn’t even stretching his calves with it.

By the way, I had to stop typing the above paragraph for a moment to wipe grapefruit juice out of my eye. This, my friends, is a glimpse into the life of an endurance athlete. Am I allowed to call myself that on only day 2 of this experiment? I certainly would never call myself an Ironman at this point. 1/2 marathoner? Sure. 5Ker. Also sure. But in my opinion one does not speak the name Ironman until one is one. Is that even grammatically correct?

Anyway, starting today I’ve resolved to stop eating so much junk food. Since starting to get my act together back on January 1, 2025 my eating habits have improved in so many ways. I’ve only eaten McDonalds twice in 2026, and only ate fast food one time in all of 2025. I largely threw alcohol out the window too, only drinking a few IPA beers here and there. As of today I haven’t drank more than two glasses of wine since April of 2025. For breakfast I either eat a salad and scrambled eggs or oatmeal and fruit, almost without ever deviating. But in the past few weeks my appetite has soared! I feel like I could literally eat anything, and because of it I’ve been falling victim to grabbing the closest and easiest thing to eat, which is naturally junk food. And like clockwork, I have returned to feeling generally horrible and bloated. So it stops today! At least that’s the plan.

On today’s exercise agenda is a 30 minute run. It includes a 5 minute warm up, a 20 minute run at ~11:30/mi pace, and a 5 minute cool down. I ran it at 11:30am, covering 2.57 miles at an 11:41/mi pace. Although it’s still unusually cold in central Ohio, and in fact I ran with a stocking cap on, the sun was shining and the skies were pure blue.

What I Ate Today

Breakfast

  • 1/2 cup oatmeal with 1 scoop protein powder mixed in.
  • 1 cup milk
  • 3/4 cup blueberries
  • 1 medium banana
  • 1 cup coffee

Lunch

  • 4oz honey mustard chicken
  • Spinach/lettuce blend
  • 1 cup basmati rice
  • 1/4 cup feta cheese
  • 1/2 pita bread round
  • 3 tbps hummus
  • 1/2 green pepper

Snack

  • Two energy bites. I will post this recipe soon.

Dinner

  • Fish
  • Broccoli
  • Two IPAs

Tomorrow is a scheduled day off running because Saturday I’ll go on a long 60 minute run. I’m chaperoning one of my kid’s field trips so should be able to log some significant steps there, and will likely go to the gym early in the morning to stretch and lift.