Thursday, December 27, 2007

Back to Routine

The hustle and bustle of Christmas is now behind us and time to get back to routine. And boy do I love routine!
Up early at 5:00 a.m. and into work by 6:30 a.m. Check on the previous days production and operation logs and then get into my day. With year end looming there is the usual panic for tax reporting and now Greenhouse gas reporting. That was the issue of the day today as we had to supply details of our natural gas usage over the last 3 years. But by 10:00 a.m. everything was resolved and our reports were being couriered to the Alberta government. The rest of the day was spent reviewing account analysis reports (boring but necessary), and getting some spreadsheets organized for 2008. Slipped out for a swim at 11:30 a.m. and did 2,300 metres in 51:50. The pool is exceptionally warm these days which is nice to get into after you walk over in the cold, but not great for any speed and it tires you quickly. But for now I am quite happy with the swimming and the return to good form. I will start putting in some speed workouts soon as I would like to finish the swim in Arizona in about 1:15 - 1:20. Last year in Couer d'Alene the conditions were very windy and it took me 1:30 battling the waves and crowds.
Tonight I managed a 6.36 mile run at a comfortable 7:28 / mile pace. Mixed it up and ran some on the trails and some on the roads. The trails were still fairly snow covered and I had to run in a quad trail which is good for the balance but not great for any speed. However, the bonus of running on the trails is that you always have a chance of seeing something and today there were lots of mule deer out. There were two at the entrance to the trail and I kicked up a third one that was laying down on a little side loop that I ran. Mule deer are odd creatures, somewhat shorter than a white-tail but stockier and they bounce instead of running.
Christmas was fabulous as usual and we really enjoyed having the kids home. This year was very special as our son Nicholas and his girlfriend Nicole became engaged. Plans are for a celebration in May 2009. She is a wonderful girl and we are very happy to have her become a part of our family.
The training will start to pick up now as I start to build for Arizona. Cycling is my biggest opportunity so I will spend considerably more time in the saddle building strength and technique. My running is strong and I will keep a good base but not really add too much to it until later on in the program.
On the iPod these days I am listening to B.B. King "80", Justin Nozuka "Holly", and the Eagles new double CD "Long Road On To Eden".
Have a great day!

1 comment:

Love2Run said...

Your training is going well. Maybe you need a work trip/bike vacation down south? Nice news about Nicholas and Nicole.