The KD Chronicles

The last decade or so has been a very interesting journey for me as I entered midlife. I tried my hand at, and pursued, several new hobbies. These included wildlife photography, a planted freshwater aquarium, SCUBA diving, freediving, ultra-endurance cycling, endurance running, triathlons and trekking. Reading, photography and music had always been a part of me. Through this period, my career also went through various S-curves. I transitioned from being an engineer to being an entrepreneur, and then on to senior business management roles. All this culminated in kindling my urge to write a blog.

I asked my daughter for suggestions for the site’s title. She delegated that task to ChatGPT. Of all the suggestions, I liked the below, but rejected them all.

I decided to stick to a simple “The KD Chronicles”, but the above list is partly indicative of the theme. This is a chronicle of my learnings and experiences. I’m an average human, experiencing new experiences and getting hyper-excited about them. These past few years have exposed me to a breadth of topics. So, expect to see chronicles of this midlife hustle including career topics, some activity and travel journals, my geeky obsession for gadgets and data, maybe some nutrition and supplement biohacking, etc. As I read some deep and impactful books, I realize that blogging on their content helps me assimilate the content more holistically. So expect book reviews in the form of literature research, maybe even the odd one touching upon a new pique – History.

I’m typically driven by a desire to keep improving and improvising, at work and in my personal life. In my engineering career, I had this habit of documenting new techniques or methodologies that I developed or learnt. This was for my own sake, so I could refer to them when needed, but also that colleagues could learn from them and allow me to move on in my career. I intend this blog to serve a similar purpose, that I could refer to my previous experiences for myself, but also that others could benefit from them.

At the time of launching this blog in 2024, I’m aged 54. According to my Garmin fitness app, my fitness age is 46. I feel that way. But I am just an average athlete who got active only at the age of 48. When I participate in races, I typically place around the 50^th percentile, the quintessential mid-packer. I have no shame in that, though I am working on getting better. I don’t expect to be winning these races. When I compete, my purpose is to complete the race, enjoy the pain and experience the thrill of crossing the finish line. I’m plagued with the occasional injury. In fact, I completed an IRONMAN 70.3 a couple of years back with a severe Achilles tendonitis. So some of what I cover would include how an average middle aged Joe could keep fit and healthy, and deal with the challenges of being 50+.

I am now an IRONMAN Certified Coach. I took that certification just to improve my knowledge of the science of endurance sports training so I could apply it to myself. That has helped me take a lot of the guesswork out of the challenges of being fit at 50+.

Welcome to my world. Hope you enjoy it and find it useful.