Back on track

Overdue for an update, I know. I kind of fell off the wagon (or got on, whichever is not the way you want to go) for my training and my diet over the Christmas/New Year’s periods. Big surprise, right? I mostly blame the inconsistent schedule and travel pulling me out of my routine for the lack of training, and the delicious holiday food for the diet slip. But, oh well, I’m not too far set back by it and I’m not yet into my 2009 training schedule, or at least I wasn’t until this week.

The holidays were good, as usual. I’m used to consistently enjoyable holidays of seeing friends and family, all of who I get along with, and this year was no different. I’m not sure there were any really standout moments, but overall it was nice. I did get a little exhausted after our 5 cities in 5 days tour from the 24-28th where we went from Cincinnati to Delphos, OH to Louisville to Columbus to Dayton and back to Cincinnati. At least they were regionally close, but that’s a lot of driving. Then, I worked 3 long days, and we were back off to Memphis to see Kentucky win another bowl game. That’s 3 years in a row, and although winning the Liberty bowl isn’t a huge accomplishment, I could get used to penciling in a bowl trip every holiday season, which is something I couldn’t count on a few years ago.

Anyways, back to Christmas. I’m still treated like a spoiled child (and maybe still am), so Christmas smiled upon me again. I didn’t have a lot of big requests this year and actually wanted more practical things like work clothes, running shoes, and the like. I ended up getting: plenty of clothes, a couple CDs and DVDs, 3 PS3 games, running shoes, money for tri-clothes (needed), a new Spinervals DVD and slick throwback USPS cycling jersey, and an insulated polar water bottle among other things. I know my family does way too much for us for Christmas, but they refuse to hear it when we try to tell them, so we just enjoy it while they still consider us children.

As nice as the holidays were and a mix up in the schedule was good to keep things fresh, I’m happy to be back to my routine. I felt a little lazy and kind of off when I wasn’t being consistent with diet, training, sleep, etc. I think the holidays made me appreciate the life Susan and I (and Derby) have right now. Not that I was unhappy before, but I was definitely missing being home under regular circumstances by the end of the holiday.

So, this week has been a return to training. I’m running again after my month off to heal my hip, so far so good. The return to running gave me a renewed motivation, and I’m officially on my mini-Marathon training schedule now. They also started a weight-loss competition at work this week, which will tie in nicely with motivating me to keep up with my diet. Nothing like the opportunity to earn some cash to help with the diet plan.

Well, I think I’m up to speed now. I’d love to start updating more often, but we’ll see how that goes. I’m not sure I even have that much to talk about. But, either way, happy training and new year.