If I had a six month break from work, I would create a daily schedule for myself to make sure I didn't waste that time. I would exercise (weight lifting or hiking or kayaking) and stretch each day, I would work on my novel at least five days a week and I would spend some time trying to learn a foreign language.

I would take the kid to school each day and I would take the dogs out at least every other day – which some days would include walking the kid to school. She and the little dog love that.

I would cook dinner every every weeknight.

I have it all planned out; clearly I'm looking forward to retirement.

I don't eat street food.

There are two reasons for this. As I get older, I find myself more worried about germs and such. I have a horror of people with obvious nasal congestion: Stay home! When I see all these food trucks sprouting up in the last few years, all I can think is that these trucks don't have a restroom. Which means they dont have a sign reminding employees to wash their hands. Ugh.

The other reason I don't eat street food is because I don't like to eat standing up or on the move. I prefer a little more relaxing atmosphere when I eat.

I have made several resolutions this year. Unlike previous years, when I had the same resolution each year and the only question was how long before I broke it, I have written down each of these resolutions. Well, I have found an app for them, actually. Who uses paper anymore?

One of the most important ones is the one I have made every year since I was, I think, about twenty (and, by the way, eighteen is probably too young to have a credit card unless your parents are accountants and teach you about red and black): pay off my credit card debt. This year I have modified it to be more realistic: pay off four of six credit cards and incur NO MORE debt. I usually fail on this resolution during January. This year I am more hopeful because I have written it down and because I have a "pay off your debt" app. (clearly, apps – and Kindle books — have been a big part of my debt over the years).

Another important resolution is to spend more time with my parents. Now that I am back in the same city, I really have no excuse not to, and I have the example of my partner to follow – she has a weekly dinner committment with her parents.

A third important resolution is to have a second draft of my novel completed by the end of August. This will allow me to do prep work for November's National Novel Writing Month event. I would like to participate in that again this year.

(As we all know by now.)

I have been in denial for about ten days but finally, after an Insanity Pure Cardio workout at work during lunch, I had to admit that this fun workout was doing to my back/glutes/hamstrings the same thing that running seemed to be doing…that is, I can’t comfortably sit down afterwards.

I have yet to figure out the connection between the degenerative disck, the super tight glute and hamstrings and the pain when I sit for any length of time (which sometimes amounts to ten minutes!) But I can’t fail to see the connection between running or Insanity and not being able to sit down comfortably. So it’s back to the elliptical along with my pushups and pullups to stay in shape….

… or so I thought.

I had to go to Pacifica to see a stove installed yesterday. Just the thought of driving for an hour was painful to me. I decided to try something different: take the train and then bike to Pacifica.

I haven’t been on my mountain bike in about thee years. I had to pump up the tires before I could ride. I rode to the train station and remembered that I actually kind of liked bike riding. The train ride was uneventful; the train was quiet on a weekend morning.

I got off the train in South San Francisco and consulted Google Maps on my phone to verify my route to Pacifica. The ride to Pacifica was about seven miles but it had some hills; my legs were feeling it but that’s why my bike has 18 gears!

I spent more hours than I had hoped in Pacifica watching the stove and microwave installed. At three o’clock I left, heading back toward SSF — knowing that I was unlikely to get there in time for the 3:31 train. At El Camino, I stopped to check my time: seven minutes to get to the train. Maybe Lance could do it, but I knew I couldn’t. Rather than sit at the train station for almost an hour, I decided to continue down El Camino and catch the train at a stop further down the peninsula.

El Camino should more rightfully be called El Camino de Muchos Semaforos. I either had to ride more slowly or ride faster if I didn’t want to stop every block. Another rider whom I had passed (“On your left!” I warned as cycling courtesy dictates. “Thank you,” he replied which, while not dictated by cycling courtesy, was a welcome courtesy nonetheless) a block earlier. I made a comment to him about hitting all the lights. We continued to chat as we had to stop at each light. He said he was drafting off me; I replied he was the first. I didn’t add “first person ever desperate enough to draft of someone as slow as me!” At one light, we introduced ourselves; his name was Jeffrey.

Several stoplights later,  Jeffrey asked which train I was planning to catch. I said I hadn’t decided. He asked if I liked wine. I said yes! Jeffrey mentioned that near the Burlingame station was a BevMo that was holding a wine tasting.

At the next light we separated as I was riding too far behind him to make it. Spontaneous wine tasting with someone I don’t know is not really in character for me so I was thinking I’d just head to the station. At the corner of Burlingame, though, Jeffrey was waiting for me. I turned toward the station, still undecided. I checked the train app on my phone; I had at least 30 minutes before it arrived.

“I don’t have a lock for my bike,” I said to the Jeffrey, beginning my excuses. He said I could take it into the store. We went in and he showed me wear to lean it against some boxed wine. (Leaning a bike anywhere in a beverage store can be a tricky proposition!) “How much does it cost?” I asked, ready for another excuse. The stove installer had done some “under the table” work so I only had $2 in cash. “Two dollars,” was the reply. Apparently this was meant to be!

The tasting consisted of various reds; the French wine was pretty much gone by the time we arrived. Too bad! The first thing I tried was a Conn Creek Cab Limited Edition 2006. It was a good first start – I liked it a lot. I tried most of the wines but the other wine that I really enjoyed was a Meiomi Pinot Noir. I took a photo of the bottle for a future purchase.

I chatted with Jeffrey and a female friend of his who had met him there, ate some tiny squares of a tasty smoked cheese (I hadn’t eaten since I had left the house at 7:30 AM and now it was almost 4:30). Another taster was willing to give me an introduction into sniffing and swirling wine but I had to explain that I was too congested to smell. I also noticed that I had to catch the train – I didn’t want to miss two in one day!

Jeffrey had left. I said goodbye to my fellow tasters and grabbed my bike — along with a bottle of the Conn Creek. I hoped jostling along in my backpack on the brief ride home from the train station wouldn’t “stress out” my wine.

At the train station, I ran into Jeffrey again. He was taking the train to Belmont. Later, I thought how unexpectedly my day had finished up because I didn’t have the patience to wait at the train station. Maybe there is something to this bike riding. I think I will be doing more of it in the future! ;0

Shaun T.’s type of Insanity, that is.

On vacation (of all times!) we decided to begin Beachboy’s Insanity workout. Insanity with Shaun T. Is a 60-day workout program that forces you to “dig deeper!” Billed as “max interval training”, Insanity is an intense cardio- oriented workout.

The first day, we performed the Fit Test. The test alone was a hint as to how intense the workouts would be. We did 8 sixty second tests which we will repeat every two weeks to gauge our progress.

The Fit Test somehow inspired us to go for a little run. As I ran I calculated how long it had been since I had last gone for a real run. (By real, I mean not merely throwing in some downhill running during a hike.) It’s been about two months.

I have missed running and even though I’m not sure my back is ready to continue, I am still thinking about my next run!

But back to the Insanity that started it all: three days down and we are hooked. The first day was Plyometrics Cardio. We were all careful to work at our own pace and not try to keep up with Shaun T. He would put us through three sets of exercises that would get progressively faster…or in my case, remain at the same speed — if not get slower. These workouts are tough but fun.

The next day some upper body resistance was thrown in with the cardio. Another tough but fun workout.

Today’s workout was a Recovery workout. I feared that Shaun T.’s idea of recovery would be far different than mine, but I was happily mistaken. This was a gentler — without being easy — workout with lots of stretching and some leg work.

We were hoping to see an ab workout — all the people in the video have killer abs — but we’ll have to wait until next week for that DVD!

On another front, I posted to WebMD a question about how the degenerative disc affects me so that it’s hard to sit after running. Hopefully, someone will have some thoughts.

On the shoe front, I am currently wearing some Merrell minimalist trail running shoes. They rock! I wear them all the time – even when I’m not running. Running in them is super fun! I hope that they will help strengthen my feet and lower legs.

Whenever I see old, abandoned buildings, I have wanted to explore them. I have never had the opportunity but even now, at fifty years old, I would jump at the chance.

Along with old abandoned buildings, I find caves and old mines cool. I did take a mine tour — complete with hard hat and yellow slicker — once many years ago. That was fun and I would do it again.

As a kid, my sister and I found a cave dug into a hillside. I ventured in as far as I could before it was too dark to see my way. In other words, not very far.

We returned later with a flashlight and a length of old rope. I explored as far as the rope would allow with my sister nervously holding the other end. I was almost relieved when I reached the end of the rope; I was very conscious of the weight of the mountain (ok, it was a hill) above me.

In May when I began this layoff from running, my intent was to reevaluate myself (I.e., go for a short test run) when I returned from my trip to Oregon.

I’ve been back from that trip for almost a week and during that time I changed the “test run” date to the start of July..

…. And then to after I return from a July 4th camping trip….

…. Or after a mid-July trip to Tahoe. It’s hard enough for me to run in Tahoe due to the elevation without worrying about my back.

Now the beginning of August is starting to look good to me.

As I continually push back the date of my return to running, I realize that I am scared to run again. I am afraid that a three month layoff coupled with back strengthening exercises will not have made my back any better as far as being able to run.

As I walked to the train this morning, I felt that familiar tightness in my glutes and hamstrings that I have always felt was part of the problem with my running (causing me to be unable to sit for long periods of time after a run). I need to stretch.

I’ll probably need six weeks for stretching to have any real impact.

The beginning of August is definitely looking good for my return…

For the first two weeks after I found out about the degenerative disk in my bag, I didn’t do much of anything to keep in shape. I was lost and directionless without my now useless training plan. In a vague way, I knew that I wanted to do something to stay in shape, but I was motivated enough to figure out what that “something” was.

A combination of two things got me moving again: a desire to run again and a fear of gaining weight while I sat around not running.

I can’t make the disk “better” – once degenerated, always degenerated. But, I can try to strengthen the supporting muscles and I can try to make my glutes and hamstrings more flexible. I’m not entirely convinced that the disk is the entire problem. I can’t help but feel the super tight hamstrings and glutes have contributed to this problem of not being able to sit for any length of time.

I followed my usual pattern of searching for a book to solve my problem. I found “Foundation: Redefine Your Core, Conquer Back Pain and Move with Confidence”.

Well.

Who doesn’t want to move with confidence.

I read the forward by Lance Armstrong and liked what I read. I decided to give it a try. Unlike some of my purchases (“Framework for the Lower Back”) I was actually committed enough to read the book in its entirety in about three days.

I have completed a week and a half of the Basic Workout. I have actually found that the workout is getting easier. Does that mean that it is working? I hope so.

In addition to the Foundation Workout, I have been working out on the elliptical machine at home. A friend turned me on to Beatburn Elliptical Trainer by Lolo for the iPhone. I started out on the intermediate level but soon realized that was too ambitious. I have been doing 30 minute workouts most nights after work with a 45 minute workout on the weekend.

Another app is Hundred Pushups app by SoftwareX, LTD. I dig this app! It has me doing five sets of pushups every other day.

And if you are doing pushups, you might as well be doing pullups? Right? And of course there’s an app for that, too. I’m currently using Pullups Pro by Fors Brunns Konsult AB. I’m not sure it’s my favorite but I’ve started using it and don’t want to start over with another right now. I have been able to do 5 narrow or neutral grip pullups and 2 wide grip pullups.

I’ve never done more than, maybe, 3 pullups in my life before! Something is working. This might be leftover fitness from my favorite workout app, Bodyfate. I actualy stopped using it for a while because I’m trying to work out a little more slowly – being mindful of my back.

I have become so motivated that I was actually doing both the pushups and the Foundation Workout at 10:30 last night.

My ability to sit has improved slightly but that might be due to the cortizone shot…. more on that in my next post!

*sigh*

I didn’t want to admit it to myself but my runs were beginning to hurt. Not so much during the run but afterwards I’d have trouble sitting. That’s a problem when you commute an hour to work.

The straw that broke the camel’s back occurred three weeks ago today. I went for my afternoon run. I was running across the street and stepped up with my right leg onto the curb.

Ouch! That hurt!

The worst part was that I knew it would. During my previous runs when I came to a curb, rather step up as normal, I had been kind of throwing myself up the curb with an awkward movement.

After I got back to work, I was sitting at my desk in pain. I could no longer deny that running was making it harder to sit for any length of time.

I made an appointment to see the doctor the next day. The following Tuesday I had an MRI which revealed a degenerative disk in the lumbar area of my spine.

“I’m not going to tell you to stop running,” the doctor said, “but you can’t fix this…It’s a matter of pain control at this point.”

For an hour or two after than I was pretty bummed out about my running.

That night, however, I googled “running” and “degenerative disk disease”.  The results were not all doom and gloom. Pretty soon I was convinced that the degenerative disk wasn’t even really the problem! My hamstrings are too tight!

I still experiencing pain when I sit for very long. I have a long drive planned in June so I’ll take a break from running until I’ve returned. In the meantime, I will try to work on building my core and gaining flexibility.

Unfortunately though, I’ve spent the last three weeks seeking a focus for my core building and flexibility regimen — I haven’t found it yet. I’ve rode the Spin bike exactly twice, done the Framework workout exactly twice, done some stretching from another book twice…

Where oh where is the QUICK FIX I’m looking for????