Day 21

This writing every day objective is hard when you are actually very busy in the work from home mode.  The CARES Act was approved on the 27th and this week has been spent figuring out what is in the Act, how to interpret it and how to implement it.  I have enjoyed the challenge.  I am a little nervous about everyone's rush to get the provisions out there.  I hope the general public don't make poor short term decisions... which they probably will.

I continue to be amazed at how many people are out and about.  Really just out there doing all sorts of things.  Now I understand there is a message to get outside.  To get fresh air.  Do not spend all the time inside.  Get some sunlight.  Get some vitamin D.  BUT I don't think that equates to getting in your car and driving all over the place.

Now, I havent been far.  I went for a 2 mile run on Monday and Wednesday.  I was thinking it would be a quiet run from my neighborhood.  Just long enough to get away from my desk and clear my head.  But wow... so many cars out and about.  I don't know what they are doing.  Where are they going.  And social media seems to support it as well.

And there continue to be people out around the neighborhood.  I have some new empathy for those folks.  I like in a 2 bedroom 2 1/2 bath townhouse by myself with my small dog.  We have enough space.  As long as he is right next to me he feels there is plenty of space.  And he understands a good part of the work day means he sleeps in his bed.  So I started thinking about the people all around the neighborhood.  There are some small single family homes in the neighborhood.  Not all of them have ample yards.  And there are people with children in the townhomes.  So, yes, as much as I cannot handle the playing outside because I fear they aren't social distancing.. I understand that they all need to run.  I am trying to stick to the quieter hours outside.

And the pollen is still hell.  And I keep putting myself out in it.  Both days I went running I feared for about 24 hours as I coughed and throat tickled.  The goop in my eyes pretty much confirmed how much pollen you take in when you are out there.

Today I pruned the oleander.  It did really well last year.  And then the lawn people just came through and hacked it back.  So I let it die over the winter as it typically does.  Today I pruned it back further to where you could see new growth.  I am excited to see how it does this year.  I have had the oleander since 1996 or '97.  I moved with me when I moved in 1998 so maybe it was just '97.  It lived in a pot and then a larger part when I lived in the various apartments.  I would bring it in each winter and then lug it out on the porch in the spring.  It went through a couple of pots and eventually I didnt have it in me to replant all the time.  Luckily by then I was living in the townhouse.  I eventually decided well it has been with me all these years... I will just put it in the ground and see what we get.  Yes, it dies back every year.  BUT it comes back every year as well.  I suspect it has a strong root system at this time.  The biggest thing is when it will flower.  Some winters are long and hard and it doesn't have much time to bloom. Other years it is wonderful.  Beautiful pink flowers with the faint sweet scent.  So I took care of that today.

I rode my bike on the trainer.  Did a Zwift ride through Central Park.  Not as motivating as one would like.  But I did it all the same and will do it again.  I should probably do that right now but let me brain dump some more.

I have successfully eaten through all the fresh food in my house aside from 1 head of cauliflower.  I did a grocery pick up for my mom yesterday.  Not sure she is really liking the idea.  I will need to touch base with her again on it.  See what she needs for the next go around.  I get a large load of groceries for myself tomorrow.  Mostly fresh fruit and vegetables.  We shall see how it goes.  At this point I have a good amount of frozen meat in the freezer.  That is what i will work to eat this week.  I will make another shop ahead list tomorrow as well with the hopes of grabbing the following Monday.  I think that will be the routine.. at least for me.

I did a wine pick up as well.  It is a local store doing curbside delivery.  I figured that would be a good way to support some local business. Others are doing curbside prepared meals.  Not sure how I feel about that at the moment.

Mentally I feel OK.  Been getting enough sleep.  getting enough hydration.  exercise. some social interaction.

have heard some sad stories.  trying not to obsess on them.
have tried to do my part.
taking it one day at a time

day 16

i say i am going to write a blog... what was that two weeks ago
well technically come back to the blog i started years ago and start adding to it
it seemed like a good way to get things out on paper so to speak as we go through this time

today i just wanted to write on actual paper
and then remembered well this is out here... and when you take the time to type, it is marginally as rewarding

so today...  it was a work day - well duh, it is monday after all
i had client calls in the AM... i was expecting to have client calls for 2 days but it turns out that people are more concerned about the immediate future than their not so immediate future called retirement.  i spoke to 4 people about their accounts.  for the client that was on the schedule this may not be all that far off from the norm.. and since we have all been working from home there wasn't anyone on location to rally folks to schedule times to meet

from there was a bunch of emails on how the CARES Act will work between our varying providers
and tomorrow the calls about the CARES Act begin
I am not one to pretend to interpret laws.. so i will sit on the phone and listen to the steps that people will have to take and that will be that

the other random take away from my day - my desk chair - i think it would more likely be called a task chair based on it's size... and what i have noticed starting my third week of sitting in said chair day after day... it is NOT comfortable.. there is something in the way it sits that throws my hips off
and then well i am sitting in the chair for extended periods of time...  i don't have a printer to go to... i don't have any co workers to go chat with... and the next thing i know there is  dull pain in my hips...  i have raised the chair.... i have lowered the chair.... i have rolled a blanket to create a bolster to move legs and hips differently... i have moved a box under my feet...
going forward i think i need to make more of an effort to get away from the chair for a time to not get so stiff
tomorrow i will work on that better

today i also went for a run - that is the main reason why i really want to write with pen and paper - write down some run notes - i probably will do that as it is easier to go back to review
it feels odd getting up in the middle of the work day to go for a run - but i am not stopping to get lunch anywhere etc so may as well take the 30 minutes and go for a run
i have to limit my outside time - the pollen is killing me - itches my eyes and my throat

and lastly i had the frozen pizza i bought days ago for dinner... an odd monday night treat
usually that is  thursday or friday night thing - but i thought it would be a good time to offset the other healthier eating (actually down a pound) that i have been doing.  it was tasty. not the best but tasty.

sorry just rambling on about a few more things

my co worker sent my an article about this college athlete that killed herself.. a rather sad article. she jumped out of a parking deck.  it came up as we were talking about the fake smiles of social media and the reality in peoples heads.. i would guess this time inside and in close quarters can get to people.. and then there are others out there posting away on social media like they are out there not social distancing. i can see where this may get to people.  it is a strange world we live in these days

i also read of 3 people i know having family members pass away.  that surely wasnt fun.  hopefully that won't become the norm.

we watched Frozen II

and texted with the woman that normally cleans my house and watches my dog - she is going stir crazy

Food

I started this post last week or so.  Having enough food and such.

I am not one to have lots of food.  I shop by a list.  I create a list by a menu.  And my menu usually only covers 4 days.

So on my way home from my work trip 2 weeks ago I knew I needed food.  I wasnt sure what I would find at the store.  I stopped halfway home in a small down and did a quick pickup of non perishables.  Soup, pasta, bread, peanut butter, crackers.  Nothing too healthy but basics if the stores near my home were bare.

When I got home I did another run.  I got a whole lot of stuff.  Fruit. Vegetables. Chicken. Salmon. Bone broth. Frozen vegetable. Frozen meals.

It felt good to have so much food in the house.

I felt like I quickly ran out.  Or maybe the news made me nervous I was going to run out.  So on Thursday of week 1 I went to the store first thing in the AM.  I was so happy to see all the fresh fruit and veg available.  I stocked up I was so excited.  Napa cabbage. Potatoes. Tomatoes. Zucchini. Mushrooms. Grapefruit. Green beans.  Peppers. Onion.  Good stuff.

The meat section wasnt so overflowing. I grabbed a corned beef (which prompted me to circle around and get a cabbage and more potatoes). Andouille sausage.  Frozen burgers.  

And then some silly non essential non perishables.. frozen pizza, ice cream, frozen meals, wine.

I am about 10 day out and still have a good amount of food.

Those cabbage type veg stay a good while.

day 14

yes, i guess that is correct
two weeks ago i did my last social activity
i met friends at the corporate park and we did a short bike ride
and since then i have stayed home
i was in until that Thursday when i did a grocery store run
i went out this Thursday just to turn the engine on the car - we took a ride around a bike route i occasionally ride
and today i called in a order for a half case of wine and picked that up
that has been the extent of me really putting myself out there

there have been the dog walks and occasional runs
but mostly just inside and close to home

tomorrow i plan to do a long run
it has been a while since i have done a long run and i think i can go down the street and out and about with little interaction with otthers

and then get ready for the work week

i have more to say but going to bed instead.

Caffeine

Today feels like a high caffeine day.  No, not that I need a lot of caffeine.  That is not in my nature.  I mean I have HAD TOO MUCH CAFFEINE!

I bought this coffee at the local bike shop back in February.  It is one of my fave treats.  I buy it around this time of year.  I used the ground coffee fairly quickly.  The next visit they only had K cups.
So I used the K cups on Monday and Tuesday but found I didnt like the taste as much as when I use my coffee maker.

This morning I disassembled 3 K cups to make a pot of coffee.  TWO K CUPS TOO MUCH of caffeinated coffee.  I am so feeling it right now.  Jumpy.  Jittery.  On edge.

So I  had some food - well a peanut butter sandwich - and that won't help.
And now sucking down some water.  And some vitamins.

note to self - at this time it may be in my best interest to stick to the decaf versions of coffee and tea in my kitchen.

Robbie Williams music on IG

this has been something i look forward to every day!
if you are not a robbie fan - get on the band wagon
it is so much fun every day

that's about all i need to say about this little snippet of stuff that has come out of this quarantine thing

Vaccum

well this post is going to take a pretentious slant.. i apologize ahead of time...

for quite some time now i have had a woman come in to clean my house.. she started way before 2008/2009.. i gave her a little time off  in 2009... 

it started as a just let's see what this is like
ultimately it became something that afforded me time to do some other things
and for my little house it isnt much of a draw on the budget

so this week i gave her a paid visit off so to speak... my employer is paying me to work from home, her job does not allow her that flexibility BUT the government has asked us to social distance... the easiest way for me to do that is to not have her or anyone for that matter come into my home

so this weekend i did a little vacuuming... plus my "coworker" decided he would mark some of the carpet in the home office and that needed to be attended to..

take aways - my carpet still has some nap to it.. yes, it is OLD.. yes, it is gapping and buckling up... but is still has some nap.  my vacuum is still kick @$$...  he whole HEPA filter animal stuff is probably a lie but but system itself still does a good job at cleaning...  going forward the designers shouldnt make clear parts - no need to see that dirt building up inside there

and most importantly in this world of oddities right now, the vacuuming was rather peaceful... a nice melodic movement and very loud white noise to drone out some of the outside world

and leave me with a sense of accomplishment.

day 9

There are spin offs on day 7 that i have to go back to.
And look at that i missed day 8 all together...
but that is OK

I have taken to "calling" my mom on video chat.  I didnt today as I was walking the dog.  I think she is starting to like the video chat.  It is nice to see her.  It does seem to add to the animation of talking to her.  And it does confirm she is more often only half paying attention and watching whatever is on the tv at the same time

Today is the start of work week 2!
The local schools (well state wide) will be closed until May 15th.  And the Olympics were postponed. 
I spent the better part of the day on calls... internal calls and client calls.  At first it was 9am.  Then 11:30. The 2:30. Then 4pm.  It was crazy how the day just sped by.

I remember last week I brought home things with the specific thought - OH, these will be good to address while I am at home.  I got a few of them done but they are surely not the things that are on the forefront of my day. 

It is keeping on top of legislative possibilities and market conditions that have me jumping.


It appears the neighbors still don't understand the self isolate thing.  Again today there was a play date on the street in front of me.  I don't know how many kids were out there... BUT a lot of them.  And man what a ruckus they were making.  I was hoping to get the dog out for a walk but didnt want to deal with the crowds.


As for meals... I enjoyed some lovely food today.
smoked mackeral in a mediterranean style seasoning over a salad. It was a whole lot of salad.
Roasted artichoke (not as good as the first time I made it - need some patience and needs to be cooked fresh)
Roasted asparagus - YUM!  always YUM!
And roasted NAPA cabbage for tomorrow.

Had some rice crackers that could have stayed on the shelf...  seem stale but I know that is how they are. 


AND NO EXERCISE!  But I did load Peloton to my FireStick.  ANd WhatsApp.

Day 7

The first Saturday of social distancing... or as I call it self ostracizing...
I am choosing to not go our in public and hang out with people at a 6foot distance.  No need to take that risk.  How do they know for sure if it is 6 feet.  What if it is really 8.  And what about when there is a breeze.  I could go on.. but the reality for me is... I don't have to go out so just stay put.

I got up.  MAde the bed. WHAT!!!??  I am not a maker of beds.  Never have been.  I love the idea of climbing back into bed the way it was when you left it that morning all cozy and snug.  But these days to create some semblence of order... I am trying to make my bed.

I then put on a tri suit.  Yep, just do it.  Put that on and make sure you use it during the day.  I threw on the heart rate montor as well just to be sure.

Loaded dishes.  Turned on the dishwasher.  Took the dog for a walk.  It was raining.

Brought the dog back in and went on a short run.  Hill drills!  Run one minute up hill.  Walk one minute down.  AGAIN.  Do this until reaching the top of the hill. About 4 times and .55 miles.  And then i tacked on some more running intervals jus to get to a mile.

Silly I should run longer but that is all I had in me.

Coffee followed by a Peloton ride, Peloton yoga, transition clinic zoom meeting and a hot bath.

Not too bad of a day

working out from home

I got up on Monday and made a schedule to try to stick to for the week.  When to stop and get water.  When to stop and walk the dog.  Lunch. etc...  It was a good plan.  I even had a run built into my day and a bike/trainer ride.

The week didn't turn out like anticipated.  There were calls after calls after calls.  And I found myself doing exactly what I expected... sitting at my desk for too long without moving.  Sitting there.. getting stiff... not moving enough.. not getting enough water.

Yesterday I thought WELL IT IS FRIDAY
and I would make the most of it.. I would get outside. I would do more!
Yep, took the dog for a walk.  The wind had kicked up.  It was warm.  And as we were out there we witnessed a gust of pollen right in our path.

And that was the end of that.  We pretty much walked home at that point.  And I gagged on the pollen for the remainder of the day.

Next week I work harder to get those workouts in.. it will help my sanity for sure.

social distancing

So we are to be keeping 6ft from one another.   I personally am social ostracizing and trying to not even let that math come into play.

But people are funny. 

Folks that normally work from home or dont normally leave the house seem to still be gathering

Some are excited to see me and approach to talk.. what? Stop.

Then there are the play dates around the 'hood.  Parents and kids running from a home, waving, thanking their hosts and jumping in their mini van.  Hello?

And then the people out there with their dogs not on a leash.  Sure, I do that at times.. but now is not the time.  If your dog approaches me then I have to get too close to you to give you your dog back.  Or worse yet both our dogs get tangled and we have to get really close to untangle them.

I am not sure that I get it.

Stay away

Stay home

Wash your hands

Day 6

A day late.. and technically day 2 v2

An interesting day.. 

I had one thing I wanted to do and then I was going on a run.  I got the one thing done and ended up on a dog walk instead.  Got caught in a cloud of pollen.  Not fun.

And so the rest of the afternoon I dealt with that.  Extra allergy medicine. More water.  Nasty pollen.

It was a hot day as well.  Forgot how warm that front room got when the sun was out.  Might need to order those light cancelling shades sooner than expected.

And I caught Marcus Mumfors doing a little IG chat.  He spoke to a few fans.  He sang a few songs.  He jumped on with some other musicians..  it was a nice distraction.

Rounded out the day with a virtual happy hour with some work colleagues. There were 5 of us on Zoom.  It was fun.  Odd at first.  But it was good to see peoples faces.  Chat with them.  And relax a little.

I followed that with a video chat with my good friend and her husband.  Not the same as being there but nice to see them all the same.

Sipped the last of my Dark N Stormy.  Watched the Baz Luhrman version of Great Gatsby. Went to bed.

I could chat some on my Great Gatsby observations...  maybe another post

day 5

Also known as Day 1 version 2

I say that because I interacted with live people today. 

I went out to get gas.  Not that it was needed.  And then went to the grocery store.  

I got it in my head that I wanted to restock my fresh fruit and veg before maybe that wasnt an option.  So I probably have another 14 days of stuff ahead of me.

I need to write all the food out and make a plan.

My plan for a routine during the work day is falling apart.   Not as many walks today.  No yoga. No run. 

I am not feeling blue.  Just a little.. ok novelty has worn off.  And maybe a little mentally tired. 

Saturday I am going to try to detach on social media to recharge.  We will see how that goes. 

morning routine

I will admit that the extra hours of sleep in the AM are nice.  I have set my bedside lamp to gradually turn on around 530am..  it is a nicer way to wake up.  Sure the music options on the phone arent bad but this is nicer.

Today I am slow to rise.  Woke up in the middle of the night with a bit of a flushing reaction to niacin.  I guess the slow release pill kicked into overdrive as a slept.  Now that was not a fun way to wake up.

Alrighty... long dog walk, coffee and some fee reconciliation for my AM.

Going to be warm this afternoon.. there needs to be some swear equity with my afternoon. 

day three

I forgot to write yesterday.   It has been a while since I have done this.  And yesterday was a whole new routine. 

I am making sure I do follow some routine.. up by 6... walk dog, shower, dress, coffee.. at desk by 8..

I have delayed workouts to during the day just to make sure I get away from the desk.

I have scheduled dog walks as well.. get some fresh air and all that.

The work load is normal.  Today included some calls I just didnt need but... they needed them so..

Tomorrow.. there will need to be a workout with a lot of sweat.  I need that. 

day one

The social experiment of self isolation.  Just jumping past social distancing since I can.

Today started similar to others.. well except in the past month I have been spending time at the YMCA for some swimming and afternoons on the bike.  So it really wasnt similar.

I made a large cup of coffee (think Yeti size) and headed into the office.  I have been in the road since Wednesday.   I decided it might be best to lay low for a bit.  I went to the office to get a bunch of files to keep myself busy in this realm of laying low.

I didn't realise that by the time I got home and settled the work from home option would be more mandatory than voluntary.   Glad to have gotten to my stuff ahead of the crowd.. that surely wouldnt have helped with the distancing and isolation. 

So with my day I did some dishes.. did some laundry... watched a rerun of a triathlon and took a nap.  I ate good food.  I ate bad for me food.  I complained about my allergies.  And watched Beecham House with some wine.

It reminded me of a typical Sunday from years ago.  I used to watch a lot of tv on Sundays.  Before the triathlon and running thing took precedence.

Now it's time to find my vitamins... suck down lots of water.. and head to bed.

Today was OK because well it was day one.

Observations from the road

No long run this weekend.  The rain continued in Sunday and OH BOY did it chill down!  I did 2 miles in the rain.  I think it took me over 24 hours to get that chill out.

As for the road... amazing that a hotel with 8 storeys has so little equipment in their gym. Such a small gym.  I did a half hour on the recumbent bike.  It went OK but not the workout I anticipated.

And THAT always seems to be the case when it comes to hotel workouts.

Now to find more miles when I get home tomorrow.

Speed Work in the Rain

So I have penciled out a training program for the next 16 weeks or so until race day!
And I have been within reason of it so far.

Now it has not kicked in to full gear yet.  This week I was traveling.  The objective was to try to at least get on the treadmill while I was away.  And I successfully did that at least 2 days.  You get tired after a while and the early morning hotel treadmill is hard.  Especially when you add in late night dinners and time changes.  All week I was saying things like - it's 8pm and in Eastern time it is 9pm and just a few days ago it was 10pm....  I was good and got to bed around 930 10pm each night so I was reasonable in that regard.

So today I had written SPEED work...  and even though it's not now... it has been raining all morning.  I wasn't going to do it.  and then I realized - it could rain race day... I better get used to it.  So off to the track I went.

The warm up got me.  I would guess my hydration is low.  I would guess my salt and fat intake from the week is high.  And I haven't done much skipping, grapevine, shuffle work in a while....  Once around the track I went.  And then a little jog.

Warmed up - now for the fun part...
30 seconds to get from one end to the other - quarter of the track.  I managed that OK.  Although I know my speed has been faster in the past.  Then 3 minutes to walk back to the beginning.  DID THIS 4 TIMES.

Then some whole track work.  Get around the track in 3 minutes with a 30 second rest.  it should be closer to a minute rest but did not have patience to reset the timer on my watch.  I did that twice.  And did OK with that.  I wanted to do that 4 times as well.  But my mojo was off at that time.

TOO MUCH RAIN perhaps.  Or a little overheated.

So tomorrow I am looking to find 7 to 10 miles in me.  we shall see how that goes.

Driving

Yesterday I spent a good amount of time on the road. It has been a while since I made the drive I did. And this time it rained the entire time. It was miserable.
The rain. The spray off the big trucks. The fog like conditions. Just miserable.
I am literally screamed at the conditions in my white knucled solitude of a rental car at least twice.

I am glad I got some hill drills runs into my day before the day started,  before the rain started. I am sure it helped in some way.

I can only imagine the stress of the drive has played with my muscles in some way. I don't know just yet as I am still lying in bed.

Thought I'd squeeze in a walk this morning.  But no sooner did I turn over to get the phone to check the weather... skies opened up out there.

Sadly it will be another day's worth of driving for me.  And it is a haul this time. I will leave as soon as I can after this morning's meeting. I am just not looking forward to it.

Hotel treadmill is in my future.

Yogurt

Oh the marketing of yogurt.  Which variety  is truly healthy. So hard to say these days.
Some slap on the term Greek and everyone assumes its a healthy variety. Until you read the label and realise it isnt a thicker strained variety... they put gelatin in it to make it thicker.
Some are so sweet.  Surely that can good for you.
I found two fruit flavors that I like thay seem to be lower in sugar but I am sure that is debatable.
Chobani has a pineapple fruit on bottom that is good.  And with even less sugar is a blended coconut flavor.
I had been buying these for ease in an attempt to get an afternoon dairy with some fruit.
Of course I came to thw revelation that's really not enough fruit to count.

This week I am using 2% Fage and ran it and somw frozen strawberries througg my Ninja.  Good flavor. Hopefully a bit more fruit than the prepackaged variety. Hopefully less sugar.