JOHN MEANEY

1.1.20

2020 vision

Well to start, what happened in 2019? Publishing-wise, Two For Tristopolis and a rather stealthy release for Strategy Pattern, the former being two short stories set in the world of Bone Song but without Donal Riordan, the latter being a return to the contemporary cyber-thriller world of Case and his fierce partner Kat.



Physically, despite a bit of a cold, I'm still training every day. (Remind me to tell you about the time I nearly died of septicemia... Never, ever take antibiotics for granted.) Not much running, but lots of wrestling calisthenics (Hindu push-ups, Hindu squats, wrestler's bridge) and weight training (which includes resistance-band training: just as effective as barbells and dumbbells, although my home dojo has a squat rack and bench and I love them), and of course karate drills. And stretching/mobility, every day.

But the real runner is my wife, Yvonne. What did she do?

146 half marathons or longer, in 2019 alone. (Nine full marathons, one ultra, and a bunch of 15- and 16-milers in the mix.)



Yikes... Unofficially, this appears to be a world record for a female runner of any age.

So now it's the morning of 1st January, 2020. I hammered out a full-body strength-training session starting at 6:30 (big volume, loosely based on German Volume Training: ten working sets for the big compound lifts). And as I post this, Yvonne is out running a half marathon, having run half marathons on each of the last five days as well.

And yes, she's 65 years old. Mindset is everything. Discipline and focus are your most valuable friends, always.

2020? More of the same, with luck.

And I hope your 2020 vision comes true.





(P.S. "Hindu push-up" and "Hindu squat" are common misnomers for exercises more properly termed dand and bethak, not restricted to wrestlers of any particular religion or ethnicity.)