Texting and Treamilling

Texting and Treadmilling

My 12th day of #runstreaking found me on the YMCA treadmill once again; twice, actually. The first time was 15 minutes prior to my youngest boy's swim class, and 35 minutes during. Connor was already in the pool for swim practice, and Nora was up in Kids' Stuff. She's really been doing well, only crying when I drop her off and when I come to pick her up. My voice gives it away. I need to remember to whisper when I show up so she doesn't start to cry immediately.

While I was running, there was no real disconnection from the world around me. Texts rolled in for on-call service events -- luckily, for things that generally clear on their own -- and escalations from clients. It was client need that prompted me to cut the run short at 50 minutes instead of 60, pack up the kids, and head home early. I wasn't planning on leaving the Y until at least 20:30, but we were out the door by 19:45. Fun times!

Oh yeah, something weird happened today during my first 15 minute run. The arch on my right foot felt as if it was pushing against the shoe, or perhaps the other way around. I concentrated on relaxing the muscles in my feet and calves and landing squarely mid-foot, and after a couple of minutes, the "bulge" feeling went away. The shoes were comfortable again. Weird. Here I thought the shoes had gotten to a point where I'd have to replace them. (Size 13 Brooks Pure Grit - yes, trail shoes on a treadmill.. Not quite right.)

(I slightly "cheated" on the blog post. Since most of what I want to share is about running, and I generally share this at Daily Mile, I copied my workout entry there. Technically, this is far more detail than any micro-blogging site, so I feel I've covered my bases! I could have reduced the detail on DM to save it for here, but what's the point?)

Work

Luckily, the customer escalation didn't appear to be a major problem, which makes for a restful night. Life was very busy at work today. In a Support Engineer position, everything is interrupt-driven. You may feel that you've got a handle on your "plan" for the day, but essentially it's just a loosely defined "TODO" list that you may or may not be able to complete. Custom scripting, SQL research, log diving, software release coordination all comes with the territory. It makes for a challenging and fast-paced day; never boring. I'm glad when the day is over, and I hold out hope that the "pager" stays quiet throughout the night.

Winter Shufflin Blues

Finally made it through my backlog of emails at work!  Only took two hours after the boys went to bed.  Originally thought I would hack on my own stuff, alas it was not to be.  I've been sitting in front of this laptop for most of the evening, first to work on an on-call page, then to dig in to some funky unit testing for an Andriod application I'm writing - yes, this is what I do for fun.  Before I got started, I wanted to bring my INBOX count down to 50 emails, if at all possible.  If I can't quickly browse through that venerable folder and get a quick understand of my outstanding issues, I start to feel swamped and overwhelmed.  It's been above 50 for a couple weeks now.  Today was no exception; over 250.  Most of the emails were either things I couldn't take care of immediately, were simply Cc's of other conversations, or things already resolved.

I'm down to 70 emails now, and I'm calling it quits for the night.  Lisa Loeb is telling me to "Stay" (I loved her in the 90's).  I could so easily continue working, since the well never runs dry.  I'm not going to listen!  No.  Count Basie will be giving me the "Roseland Shuffle" instead!


Speaking of shuffling, I've been doing a bit of that lately as well.  Running has been painful due to over-stretching my left Achilles tendon in an unfortunate downward facing dog pose following a 3 mile barefoot run.  I didn't notice the problem until later that day, but it has plagued me since.  Two weeks out, and I'm wondering how the heck I'm supposed to run a 50 miler next Fall if I can't even get out for a 3 mile jaunt.  ARG! I've managed to get to the pool for a couple of 1200m swims.  Mainly SKPs, but I think a 2-a-week schedule will help keep my conditioning up, especially as winter progresses.


And then there's the snow!  Snow!  Maybe my bum heel will allow me a bit of cross-country skiing?  Perhaps!  Time to check in to SkinnySki!

Slow workout week on account of busy...

Busy.  Always busy.  This is something I think everyone has to struggle with, how to accomplish all of the goals you set forth for yourself through the week and beyond.  This week was a tough one for me.  I seem to lose momentum on the weekends, as Saturdays are generally reserved for taking care of the boys while Meghan gets a day to sleep in and then run afternoon errands.  I plan on running my long-slow-distance on Sundays, but that rarely comes to be.  It has been my day to sleep in then cook an afternoon brunch of waffles, pancakes, Eggs Benedict or other terribly satisfying and lethargy-inducing food.  It was waffles today.

Monday's weight-lifting workout did happen, but it was in the early evening rather than mid-afternoon as planned.  We had a potential issue at work that needed investigating, one that I thought had a higher priority than it actually proved to be.  I managed to eek in the workout before heading over to my friend's house for late night Cribbage game and a little Scotch.  Yes, "Dad's Night Out" can be quite rewarding!

Tuesday, I missed my afternoon run with the gang on account of busy!  This one was perhaps my fault.  I scheduled a production release of software before lunch, which can sometimes run long for unforeseen issues.  I should know better.  Lunch didn't happen until 14:30 CST, just two hours before I had to leave to bring Connor to swimming lessons.  I was going to leave at 15:30 to get my workout in, but had another deadline to meet by the end of the business day.  I didn't get out until 16:30 anyway.  My boss' comment, "Make time for yourself. Plan to be gone and people will adjust around your schedule."  Lovely!  I immediately blocked off an hour and a half for lunches every day.

Wednesday, I made it for my swimming workout!  Wahoo!  It seems that I am effective in applying  the "Total Immersion" principles to my swimming. I spent a lot of time focusing on form and keeping my head down, as if I were trying to hold an orange between my chin and my chest. I aimed deliberately for arm re-entry and tried to remain balanced in the water. I did falter a bit when I got tired and sub-luxed my left shoulder (a half-dislocation), and I'm still feeling the after-affects today. I may have over-worked my shoulders on Monday's lifting workout, and the moment I lost my concentration was when it happened. I just need to remember that with good form, I prevent injuries, my efficiency improves, and I swim better. The results showed this: two 400 meter legs with only a five minute break between them. My goal is 1600 meters, 64 laps, in an hour -- no stopping.

Thursday was a nice run with our afternoon "club". We ran West along the river and back again. The pace felt a little fast for me for some reason, I think perhaps because I didn't have a good breakfast at all and had coffee all morning. I really need to eat healthier throughout the day if I want to get the most benefit out of these workouts. It's early in the season, so I can afford to make these little mistakes and adjust accordingly.

Friday was a loss on account of busy. This time it was a company lunch! I knew ahead of time, though, and should have adjusted my workout to the morning. Failing to do so meant lost potential and momentum.

You of course know what happened Saturday, my rest day, and today: waffles. So, what dos this tell me about the upcoming week? Plan effectively, eat healthy morning meals, and remember that form is everything.  Oh, and waffles are REALLY tasty!

Chad