Wednesday, December 7, 2011

December Crazies

December feels like the equivalent of the accountant's tax season for me. This is the month when things at work are THE busiest because I am gearing up for a big three-day conference I chair (e.g. wrangle) in February. Then add on top of that the holiday stuff where at least in our family, 95% of the planning and executing falls to me. Robert and the boys chop down a tree, so I'll generously concede 5%.

I usually do a pretty good job of managing daily stress but it's been a challenge lately. I've been wound very tightly (or more accurately as I joked today, "about ready to punch someone"). During yesterday's swim and today's bike trainer workout I was distracted and agitated. As my status revealed:
Oh, bike trainer. If this is how it's going to be between us it's going to be a long winter.

I had a workout scheduled with Kurt today and that helped tremendously. By the time I left I'd been sufficiently rehabilitated and it was safe for me to re-enter the general populace.

I was home this morning then continued to work at home. The solitude was therapeutic and I got a boatload done creating a pretty sweet 14-page conference schedule - color coded and with QR codes! We are getting fancy this year.

One bit of good news is that I am coming out of a shoulder issue I've been dealing with for a few months now. Kurt has helped me to work around it and I've been getting acupuncture. Slowly I have been able to add exercises back in. Today was the first day that I could do incline presses and pushups so that was very exciting. When the injury hit, I couldn't even do a lateral raise...with just my arms. For some reason swimming hasn't been affected.

I did successfully focus my frustration on deadlifts Monday. It was my first time doing sumos in a while and I hit two sets of 5 x 225 lbs. Sumos are not exactly an essential lift for a triathlete but sometimes it just feels good to load up a bar and lift something sorta heavy.

Tomorrow will be my first day back to running in two weeks. And I've only run twice since the marathon on November 12 (one being the Turkey Trot). This started as a promise to the orthopedic doc last year but I have to say, I rather liked the forced shut-down. I feel physically and mentally fresh and ready to go. And not a moment too soon given my attitude. Getting outside in the fresh air to run is probably just what I need.

That and my snowman bowl. Who can be grumpy eating out of that?


I've been diligent with my three meals-a-day with greens.  Collard greens, asparagus, broccoli, spinach, and green beans are all fair game. I have to confess though the Christmas cookie food group has been making dangerous inroads.

I've started to get a bit of holiday spirit. It took a Christmas puzzle, some holiday tissues (who knew?), and a gift for the dog (stuffed animal pictured at the top)!  Shhhh....don't tell her what I got her. She loves her stuffed animals and she usually sleeps with one from her collection. We do lose a few to eventual shredding but by and large they last pretty long.

Friday I am headed to a Christmas party with the Roanoke Triathlon Club. If the pre-party online banter is any indication of things to come....oh MY. It's a wild bunch!!

Hope you don't mind the non-triathlon-y post.Wishing you a peaceful start to your December :-)

Grant breakfasting at the puzzle table (that we rarely "dine" on)