Of Moose And Men
The Best Laid Plans Of Both Often Go Astray

It’s a good thing I normally bike commute, and thus had an extra pair of pants in my office to replace the ones that got soaked on my walk to work this morning. Whee.

Gorgeous day, after the rain ended. Slept for crap last night, though, so a rest day for me. Had a cult co-op meeting tonight which was going well until the issue of discriminatory pricing came up at the end (we charge less for seniors to use the fitness center, even though we’re all supposedly equal members of the corporation; it’s the only place where anyone pays anything different for “extra” services past the carrying charges). Nerve touched, on all sides. Fun, fun. Should be an interesting election season for the board in two months.

Get fitted for new orthotics tomorrow (yay new orthotics, yay killing off the deductible in one fell swoop). Mine are fine, except the little front part is about the sheer off. Will have to talk about whether it makes sense to have 2 pairs, given how much abuse I heap on them. We’ll see. In any case, the old ones will reside at work until they die so I don’t have to keep hauling them on the bike. Every ounce not carried is a good thing.

I have three big weaknesses, as far as I can see now, on my biking. The first is a tight iliotibial band, which leads to some knee issues. The second is a sore neck when I ride in my aerobars. The third is an occasional sore back after riding (which is a big pain when one moves from biking to running – nothing like having the first few miles cause pretty piercing pain in the back).

On the first, I know how to fix that, and I’m working on it. Lots of stretches, some strengthening, and continuing to keep up the good efforts there. The Stick is helping keep stretch it out.

Not sure yet how to address the other two. Instinct says that they should react well to strength training, but I’m not quite sure what to do there. Still searching for solutions on those two.

This comes to mind because with our freak 70-something degree temperatures today I went out on a nice 20-odd mile bike ride, in regular summer bike regalia. Was nice to do, but it still feels odd to have to put on sun screen, and to have all the windows wide open.

Up early this morning to run and get to work early for a meeting (I was in the office at 8:30, which is unheard of for me). Forgot, as usual, to body glide my thighs before the run; I always seem to remember that about 5-6 minutes into a run… Anyway, was irritating, but not fatal to the run. Did discover that my usual running path is very well lit, even before the sun comes up.

Inside scoop on the budget is that we should have our full-year CR the last week or January, or by February 1st. Which is good, since the executive budget proposal comes out on February 5th.

Swam after work. Also expressed a bit of irritation with some of the leadership of my tri club. I volunteered with our new triathlete program this past year, was in fact one of the co-leaders. Had attempted to get in touch with the other co-leaders in early December, was not quite blown off, and now suddenly a couple dates have been set for things for this year already, without any attempt to involve me. I let them know I was disappointed. I’m still going to help out, and hopefully I’ll still be a co-leader this year as I really do believe in the program, but was not pleased at how that was handled.

That said, if you’re in the DC area and you want to try your hand at triathlons, drop me a note.

Nice dinner just up the street tonight with MG. He’s currently off at the grocery store picking up snack stuffs. I’m trying to cool the apartment down – it’s in the low-to-mid-60s outside, but in the middle 70s in here. Too. Freakin’. Hot. This is supposed to be January, not April, ferheavenssake. At least it’ll be nice to get out on the bike tomorrow morning.

Not quite done with the Uberlist for this year, have about a third of the way to go yet, but have ideas to go do file. This weekend I should be able to post it, I hope.

Despite prediction of temps above freezing there was plenty of frost out this morning when I ran. Yay for fleece tights. Knowing that it’s the beginning of getting back to regular workouts I took it a little easy, shortened the run down from my usual, and enjoyed it. Was up early enough to get it in, still get a good breakfast, and bike into work without being late. We’ll see if I can replicate that (though with a bike ride) tomorrow.

Also swam this evening, again cutting it a little short, but still getting in a good workout.

Signed up for another race, in October, and looked into two others (one of them I had to print a non-fill-out-able file to write in and mail in a check. wtf?!?! 2007 here folks!). So I think that’s now 3 races I’m confirmed for, and one more to mail off tomorrow. Busy Moose, and that’s how I want this year.

Work went well. Cleared some stuff off the desk to make room for the current two big projects (I so, so need to file things, though, and clear out a bunch of books left by my predecessor). Passed a bunch of corny puns to my team leader while asking to go in late Tuesday to get fitted for new orthotics (“thank you from the bottom of my sole!”). Will be good to get new ones – my current ones are just about to have the front part shear off from the two years of abuse I’ve given them. I’m hopeful they’ll still be okay for work, in which case I’ll leave them there and have to remember one less thing when I pack to bike in.

Oh, and I fussed at a car tonight. Jerk had the audacity to blow his horn at me with 10 seconds left on the light. I turned around, put out a full hand (not just the middle finger, though it was tempting), palm out and told him to chill. And then turned around and sat in the lane as I’m legally allowed to do. Sorry, not putting up with your impatience, car driver. If I were a car, you’d have to wait, too, so suck it up.

A nice, quiet start to the new year. I did go biking with the club. We did about 20 miles (plus to and from the site), most of which was in the rain. Should’ve put on my toe covers, but I don’t know that it would have kept my socks from getting as soaked as they did. Regardless, it was a fun time, and I’m going to try to do more rides with the club from now on. It was just too helpful to be out with other folks on the bike.

Though I suppose it is, as I told one friend tonight, “the masochism tango in all its forms.”

What that would mean is earlier bed times, though, since the weekday rides are at (ugh) 6:30 am. Not a bad thing, overall, but the change will be rough to adjust to. I’ll have to confirm that we’re still biking, since it’s not really winter here yet in DC (no temperature lows are predicted to get below freezing in the next week, and we have highs predicted in the 60s).

(side note: I worry about the areas that are getting neither snow nor rain this winter – that precipitation, no matter the form, though snow is better in some areas, is necessary for the spring and summer or large parts of the country could be in drought, yet again, which is Not A Good Thing)

Lots of cleaning today and all weekend (and two big batches of soup made as well), and likely will continue. I’m still trying to cull down the posessions, even after the culling I did before the move. I emptied out an entire footlocker worth of stuff, so now I have to figure out what to do with the extra locker. I think I know how it all accumulated, but I’m glad to be rid of it.

Anyway, off to bed for this Moose, have to get up and run. That Cherry Blossoom race is only 3 months off now…

Since we’re not getting snow any time soon here in DC (it’s getting up to almost 60 today), I decided to add snow to my web page. Yay for simple java script files. Enjoy!

(the instructions and file to add it to your own can be found here)

After biking all over creation today (well, not quite, but more than the usual for me as I had errands to run, post-gym), and swimming for an hour, I feel much, much better. Moose + Exercise = Much Better Mood. It also = much hungrier Moose, but that’s par for the course.  It helped that it was insanely warm here in DC today, around 70 F (~21 C) for the high, where the normal high is about 23 degrees cooler than that, around 47 F (~8 C) or so. So after all that it was home to wash clothes, grab some leftover soup and chill out.

Work is in that odd state of not-quite-fully-loaded-up, but not-quite-on-down-time either. We always expect it to be quieter, but somehow the inevitable last minute crises appear. At least it’s not completely dead, though then I would be able to catch up on filing and clear off my desk.

Party tomorrow evening, and seeing MG for probably the last time before he takes off for his trip back home for the holiday. Office party is also tomorrow (my particular section, as opposed to my larger attorney office, which was last week). My boss asked one of the organizers if it was going to be a dry party. We assured her it was not, so she zipped off the requisite mother-may-I letter to the building manager and got our permission (long gone are the days when feds could legally keep liquor in their offices without any check or fear or reprimand).

Not sure if I’ll get a run in tomorrow morning or not. If not, so be it. If so, yay. Would be better with, to stave off the party calories, but that’s what the rest of the week is for.

With lows in the mid to high thirties this week, and as I get ready to start running and biking regularly again, it got to be time to haul out the winter running gear. The collection’s slowly grown over the years as I’ve needed items for particular weather conditions, or as I’ve found good sales in the spring. I remembered the collection as I was preparing for a short run this morning, and hauled out a top that was perfect for the temps (mid-40s).

In the same storage container was the bulk of my long-sleeve t-shirt collection, which was also a pleasant find. I’d left a couple out in my drawers to tide me over for the change in seasons, but I definitely needed shirts, even for just hanging around the house.

In he meantime, I’ve misplaced two DVDs that I use for indoor bike workouts. Found the short one (which I’d misplaced when I moved), but now I can’t find the two longer ones. I’m sure they’re around somewhere, but heaven only knows where.

It did feel good to run this morning in the cold. As usual, I needed the gloves to begin, but by the halfway mark they were too warm. The hat covering my ears lasted a little bit longer, but not much. I look forward to more cold runs this winter as I do base training for next year, and should be well prepped for the two spring races I want to do.

I voted right after 9 this morning, was a breeze – most notable moment was being asked
if I wanted paper or electronic, when my response was, “Paper, paper, paper! None of that electronic crap for me, thanks.”

Biked over to the gym in the rain, worked out for a little over an hour (light weights, high reps – trying not to be too sore tomorrow). Biked home in the rain (wet, wet, wet out there!), stripped down inside, dried the bike chain, showered, started laundry, ran to the pharmacy and grocery store, back to switch laundry, have a salad and now I’m watching the news.

I have to say, I have mixed feelings about the Democratic gains they’re projecting. If the Dems pick up even one house, my professional life will get much, much busier because the Dems actually exercise oversight over the agencies, which means a ton of official letters coming in with requests for information. Whee. It’s a good thing that the Congress exercises their Constitutional prerogatives, but it’s been relatively quiet these first three years at my current Big Government Agency, which isn’t such a bad thing, personally (not not such a good thing, as a citizen).

Anyway, back to watch the elections and get the laundry out of the driers.

It’s hard not to feel bitter this morning since I’m not out there racing the Marine Corps Marathon. The knee did not improve sufficiently over the week to feel comfortable doing a race of this length, and discretion is the better part of valor, or however that goes, and so I’m skipping the thing this year. There will be other races, and my ego was not so invested that this is a crippling event psychologically, but it’s still disappointing after all the training.

Not helping the mood is that I just paid out the ass so I can not listen to/watch a bunch of useless Continuing Legal Education courses so I can keep my law license. One does like to stay employed, but one wishes it weren’t so expensive, nor such a waste of time (there are no CLEs in my practice area).
Did sit down this week and look at next season’s races. I’ve picked several that I think I can do. Unsure as to whether I’ll sign up for another marathon (did put a half marathon in the mix, early in the season), but picked out a couple of triathlons, and I’m seriously considering doing a half ironman toward the end of the season (1.2 mile swim, 56 mile bike, 13.1 mile run).  Added into the mix this year has to be more serious weight and core training. The IT band troubles I’ve had this past week are the proof of that, and I’d really rather avoid this sort of thing again if at all possible. The weights and core work will help stabilize stuff, and I’ve known that (intellectually), but not really felt the need for it (emotionally). Well, now I can’t afford to neglect it, so back to the weight room I go.

Thankfully, for the runners, it’s a gorgeous morning here in DC, and it looks to stay that way through the entire race. You couldn’t ask for better conditions. Which will make going out to watch pretty nice, too.