Now

Triathlon training

I got back from a long cycling trip in West Africa and, for some reason, decided it would be fun to sign up for a triathlon. My first race is in late June (Olympic distance), so I’ve been training for that. Eventually, I want to do an Ironman. But Olympic distance is the first step.

I’ve also been running more. I ran my first marathon a few weeks ago, which still feels a bit surreal. I ended up with a pretty bad blister though and couldn’t run for a while after, so I’ll need to prevent that from hapenning again.

The book I was reading during training—Going Long—mentions it’s probably not worth going much beyond ~2.5 hours on training runs because of the recovery cost. Learning that the hard way, I guess.

Urban sketching

I’ve been trying to get better at ink + watercolor, which has been… harder than expected. It’s been tough to find a style I like, and progress feels slower than with other artistic endeavours of mine like photography.

To force some focus, I’m sketching my way through Queens and turning it into a neighborhood-based sketchbook. Current list:

• Jackson Heights
• Elmhurst
• Flushing & Murray Hill
• Corona
• Astoria
• Sunnyside
• Woodside
• Little Guyana

Hoping constraints help here.

Learning Chinese

I’ve been putting more time into learning Chinese. The long-term goal is to bikepack across China and actually be able to talk to people along the way.

Also loosely thinking about working or studying there at some point. HSK 4–5 feels like a good target over the next couple years.

Relief printing

Started getting into linocut printing. Right now just doing simple single-layer prints in black, but I want to experiment with multi-layer stuff soon.

Mountaineering

Still thinking about Aconcagua later this year, so trying not to neglect that. More hikes with a heavy pack, basically. The triathlon training will come in handy too.