Time for an update...

Since Facebook has taken over my life it seems I'm not doing nearly as many blog updates, so I guess it's about time. The last month has been seriously busy, mostly due to work. My typical work week runs about 50-60 hrs right now and probably will for the next few weeks. I love the projects I'm working on though, so it doesn't seem all that bad.

Joe kicked me into high gear at Headquarters about two weeks ago, so I'm on the big girl's lifting plan. Those first two weeks were brutal and it's a bit more tolerable now. Already I'm seeing big changes, so I'm expecting lots of new muscle in 30 days. Sweet!

I thank a friend for getting me into hot yoga, which has become my newest addiction. I absolutely think it's helping to heal my IT band, my bad knee, and various other issues. The most amazing thing is how awesome I feel after I'm done sweating my butt off for an hour in the studio. It's a great detox and resets me back to zero.

The most exciting thing to me right now is my running progression. I almost feel like I'm back to where I was three years ago, minus the speed. I'm running regularly 4x/week and just slowly building my mileage. Probably the most exciting part is that I'm running at Discovery Park again, which is awesome mostly because it's not flat. I'm finally able to run hills, especially downhill, and the IT band isn't even twitching. Just this past Saturday I logged a 4.5-mi run. Longest in years!!

On the flip-side, biking has gone completely to the wayside. The tendinitis in my knee is calming down, but the bike riles it up, so I just haven't been riding. Unfortunately, that also means my cross season is in jeopardy, but so be it. As it turns out, I've logged 580 miles this entire year, which is a far cry from the 2500 I did each of the two years before. And 150 miles of that 580 was RAMROD. Yikes.

I know myself well and I'm a very competitive person. I don't have enough discipline to not go 150% out there. Cross is fun of course, but frustrating because I'm not in shape, and I'm afraid it's a recipe for injury to try to go Zone 5 with no base right now. I even caught myself thinking about some 5K running races coming up, but I know I'd be trying to do 7-min miles in no time, and I don't need to do that right now either.

So, I think I've basically given myself a "No racing ban" for the remainder of the year. I think my time the next few months is best spent rebuilding. I have a ways to go, but I'd rather take the time to get fully healed and be back for next year. Afterall, I'm just ecstatic to be running again!!

And next year is going to be big....but more on that later.