Up to Speed

OK, OK, so I’ve been getting a ton of grief for announcing in my last update (October) that “I’m back” when, in fact, I haven’t posted since then. What can I say, things have been hectic over the past couple months. Allow me to bring you up to speed…

[insert weak excuses for not blogging here]

Injured – Some of you may know this, as I’m sure you heard me whine and complain about it, but for those who don’t, I was injured for all of September and October and most of November. Well as injured as a runner can be and still function normally day-to-day. So I finally broke down and went to the doctor after experiencing knee pain for two months. What started as a small irritation in my left knee in September, turned into major knee pain by late-October. I was having trouble running, going up and down stairs and working out. I had cut-back my running mileage steadily over that two month period to try and give my knee a rest, but it just wasn’t getting any better. In fact, it was getting worse. So, I go to the doctor and sure enough, I have Runner’s Knee (tendinitis). By that point I was barely running 10 miles a week and had quit most leg workouts, so gearing-down for another couple weeks wasn’t too hard to do. It was harder on me mentally more than anything else, just ask Shannon, she’ll vouch for how whinny and bitchy I was from not being able to run. Nonetheless, I took it easy for a few more weeks and was able to resume my normal 20 – 30 miles a week running schedule in late November. Been gimping along ever since. J

Job – some of you may know this already, but for those who don’t, I chose to leave my current client, Aviva, and opted to pursue another consulting opportunity at Sammons Annuity Group. It’s a much smaller company than what I’ve ever worked at (400 employees), but the chance to work in a pure Agile project environment was something I couldn’t pass up. So I left* Aviva and started here last Monday. Ramping down at one client to go to another was like the sprint at the end of a marathon; you’re cruising along and all of a sudden, there’s a ton to do, and limited time to do it in. So, that chewed up a lot of my free time over the past few weeks.

* I’ve agreed to stay on at Aviva, working 5 – 10 hours a week (evenings/weekends) until the end of the year. So technically, I haven’t officially left there yet.

Home Life – what can I say, things are hectic for everyone around the holidays and our Halloween and Thanksgiving was no different. Though we didn’t travel far to be with families, the hustle and bustle was still present. That combined with an overwhelming amount of work to get done before “leaving” Aviva kept me pretty busy.

So there, those are my “excuses” for not keeping up with the bloggage. I dare not vow to keep up the blogging multiple times a week, but I have made it a goal to update this thing a few times a month. After all, my one, two, three….six steady followers are probably on pins and needles wondering how my training is going. You know you are!

Segway to a training update – Like I said a few paragraphs ago, I’m just coming back from a setback, so my miles aren’t quite where I’d like them, but I’ve still been able to crank out 20 miles/week (two “easy” runs and a long run of 10 miles) for the past few weeks. All and all, I’m not too far off my maintenance schedule for the “off-season”.

LL (my trainer, Lisa Leon) and I have been meeting one a week for the past few months and I’m happy to report that that is going well. LL continues to kick my butt with new and different exercises week-in and week-out. Things like Bounding, Reach Thrus, Superman-to-Banana Rolls, Side Plank Repeaters and my personal favorite; Bird Dogs. The goal here is for her to put together workout routines that help strengthen my muscle weaknesses (hips, gluts, lower back) and improve the imbalances I have (hammy vs. quad, low back vs. abs, inner thigh vs. outer thigh, etc). And to this point, she’s been doing a great job. I can prove it by the amount of sweat I leave on the gym floor by the end of a one-hour workout session. Apparently I have a lot of imbalances, but according to LL, most die-hard runners do. So we’ve been spending the first part of the off-season working diligently on lunges, core work, hip-flexors and glut firing (not that kind of firing, Chad).

As for logging miles, I’d like to stay on the 20 – 30 mile/week regiment for the next couple months, but with a winter that’s started off with one helluva bang (14 freakin’ inches and a blizzard for the first snowfall of the season – don’t get me started on why I didn’t replace my snow blower when it died last year); I’m not sure how often I’ll be able to run. I’m holding out hope that I can stay on that pace, otherwise getting to Boston might take longer than expected.

Next steps – continuing having LL whip me into shape and picking a spring marathon to qualify with.

For my non-running blog thought of the week – I recently joined a poker league as a winter activity to keep me out of trouble and hopefully sharpen my poker skills (or lack thereof). I think Shannon is secretly happy I did it so I’m not interrupting her Thursday Night TV with my constant puttering around the house and roughhousing with the boys during her shows. I’m sure she’ll enjoy the extra piece and quiet around the house a couple times a month. Anyway, the league meets twice a month (every other Thursday) and we had the first league tournament last week. It’s a points league where you accumulate points for how you place in each tournament (along with any money earnings for that night’s tourney finish – top 3 get paid), with the top point-getters finishing in the money at the end of the league. What a blast! It was like playing at Prairie Meadows; I didn’t know anyone (except for Big Sexy) and, more importantly, I didn’t know anyone else’s style of play. I was both nervous and anxious to play with a new group. In the end, I finished 3rd out of 11 taking home $30 in prize money. Not bad for my first showing. We’ll see if I can validate my showing next week for Week 2 of the league. I’m sure it won’t be easy, I have a feeling I’ll have at least one person gunning for me.

Ideally, I’d say, see you in a couple days with another post, but with me, you just never know…