A Typical Week In My Life

The beginning of my week was spent closing a big deal for one of my clients -- it feels like they've been negotiating against this very large company for at least 4 or 5 months.  It was such a relief to approve the final version for execution.  I am FREE!!! (of this deal at least).

The deal was worldwide, so it involved many international folks, meaning conference calls were late, early, and whenever everyone could attend (sleep is not an acceptable excuse in my line of work).  This, amped up to close the deal, and coupled with recovery from Kaiser, ensured that M/T were free of any workout, and the week, in general, was light on exercise.  So much for being inspired to jump into training for Oakland.  C'est la vie.

I did make it back to track day on Wednesday (only 2 weeks off), and was shocked to see sub 7/mile paces on my Garmin for a couple of the segments.  It's been a long time since I ran in the 6's, even if just for 200s.

Due to The Deal plus general end of the month work nonsense that comes from running my own law firm, Th/Fri were similar to M/T on the workout front although I did manage to fit in 3.5 miles walking and 30 minutes of elliptical.  Sometimes, I just have to take what I can get.

One weeknight, we finally defrosted the ranch-raised steak that had been gifted to us from a Texan friend.  We invited another Texan and his wife to enjoy the spoils.  It was delicious.

Happy Guests

Fun With Dry Ice (upon delivery)

E perfectly grilled both the rib-eye and the flatiron.  I made mushrooms and squash.

Saturday, E wanted to run, which is always fun.  So I headed out in the 100% humidity break from the rain for 1.5 with him (~10/mile), and then tacked on a bit on my own to total just above 4.

Saturday evening, we hosted a young couple from the middle of Amercia who just moved to the bay area for dinner.  It's always refreshing to spend time with folks who aren't in your cohort.  They are in their early 20s and still adjusting to the changes from their locality to ours. Their observations were eye-opening.  

In preparation for their arrival, I made bolognese for the first time in years.  Friday, after discussing our potential meal options, E bought half a pound of ground beef, half a pound of ground turkey, and I re-purposed some prosciutto and spicy coppa (how amazing are cured meats?) leftover from the book exchange.  The final sauce was a 3-animal, 4-meat concoction, worthy of the bolognese name.  Mid-afternoon, I found myself smiling broadly, slowly making the sauce over the stove hours before our guests arrived.  It had been so long since I'd taken the time to make such time-heavy effort of food-love.  We served it over orechiette, with a salad.  It was delicious home-made comfort food, and I was so happy to serve it.  Bonus, E and the guests appeared to be happy to enjoy it as well.

Sunday, I woke to rain.  I gamely went out, hoping I could do 10 miles before buckling down to get some work done (as I'm still in the hole from the big deal).  Nope.

I turned around and arrived home at mile 1.15, not quite drenched, but unwilling to commit to the full 10 in the intermittent rainstorm.  So, I took the audiobook and headed to the gym.  I made a simple deal with myself.  I would do an hour of aerobic work on the treadmill at 1% incline.  I managed 5.23 miles, primarily running at 10:56, with the occasional walk break, and the last 8 minutes being a ladder that finished with a minute at 9:31/mile.

Total mileage for the week: 19.78.  Week -6 for Oakland?  Not great.  But, then again, I did some soul-searching and decided that I'd rather focus on getting my mass down for Oakland than speed.  So, I'm not going to worry about pace.  For the next 5 weeks I'm going to focus on mileage, total aerobic load, getting in as many track days as I can, and opting for lighter, healthier food.  I plan to do this despite 2 trips -- one to Montreal and Ottawa and another to Hawaii.  It's a tall order.  

In keeping with the healthier food theme, E and I had a very light brunch after my run today, and I exercised supreme discipline by ignoring my growling stomach and avoiding the popcorn station before watching Breakfast At Tiffany's on the big screen with Cat (interesting to watch a movie where the cat is named Cat while sitting next to your friend Cat), Jen, and several other cool ladies.  Of course, upon arriving home I demanded that we split the last remaining pizza slice in half and have it as a pizza snack before dinner.  So, there's that...