Poppy thought she knew the new routine. But then Kin had a WFH day on Monday; and for the rest of the week, he’s gone into a different office than usual, so there’s been a totally different morning walk. Even without this change, each morning walk is a little bit different; Poppy and I walk Kin to work, but we take a different route every day — a different route there, and a different one back. It’s fun to explore the new neighborhood. (It’s less fun when our zigzag path takes us through Times Square, even though, at 7:30 in the morning, it’s pretty empty.)

Poppy craves the routine — or maybe I’m just projecting. We like to think that dogs live in the present moment; that time is a human construct that they aren’t burdened with. But dogs do sense the passage of time. Poppy knows, at the very least, that certain things happen in a certain order — “the routine.” We walk every morning, and Kin leaves us halfway through. But shortly after her dinner, he comes home. She’ll eat and then wait by the front door. She gets a bit anxious when certain things don’t happen in the right order. Weekends, for example, are weird. (How the hell would she know it's a Saturday.)

I thought she'd stopped howling and barking when left alone at home now — she knows this is her home. But I still fret about her when I’m gone. And on Friday, when I went to the gym and Kin, working from home again, was the person to put her in her crate while he ran an errand, she started howling again. "Routine," she cried. "Where's my routine?"

Otherwise, the past week looked a little like this:

Monday:

• I hired housecleaners, which is a huge privilege, but damn, I hate cleaning so very, very much. And the apartment we moved into wasn't really thoroughly cleaned — that's my excuse. I don't know if I can afford to have them come regularly. Man, I hope so.

Tuesday:

• I did my weekly speed-work on the treadmill. I gotta admit, I'm sort of enjoying it now that I've come to terms with it. It certainly makes something like "hill repeats" easier.
• I spent much of the day (it felt like) making the obligatory eye, doctor, dentist appointments. Navigating new insurance and finding new care providers is such a pain. (I realize as I'm typing this that the dentist never got back to me. Damnit.)

Wednesday:

• Finally I had a day of lifting where my lifts were good.
• I was really annoyed by the Citibike availability on my way to and from the gym — I had to walk farther to pick one up; took my longest bike ride thus far; had to bike farther to deposit it; had to walk farther to pick one up after the gym. (I wrote about all this in Second Breakfast)
• On a whim — to notify folks who I haven't told that we've moved to NYC, I re-activated FB, only to learn about death of a friend’s little brother and be suggested by the company that I friend a throwaway account of Isaiah’s.

Thursday:

• Thursday's treadmill was also good. I tried to do Gatorade Sweat test, but it didn't work. Honesty much of reviewing technology — fitness or education or otherwise — seems to be "this didn't work."
• I stopped at Amy’s Bread on the way back from walking Kin to work to buy some bread. Leaving Poppy tied up outside gives me huge anxiety.

Friday:

• Friday lifts — deadlifts and overhead press — were good, in no small part because I found the microplates for the latter.
• Friday's biking was good.
• Friday's swim, also good — I think I prefer training by time rather than by distance. I quickly lose track of the number of laps, but I can always look at the clock and see how long I've been at it
• I ordered donuts for delivery from Doughnut Project and HOLY FUCKING SHIT they were the most amazing donuts ever -- chili lime mango, everything bagel, cinnamon roll, maple cruller.

Saturday:

• Ess-a-Bagel again
• Saturday's run was outdoors. It was very humid but quite cool — I can run at 6am on weekends, whereas I run around 10 during the week, so the treadmill. And this time, the Gatorade sweat test worked. Story to come on Second Breakfast.
• Kin and I went out for dinner Saturday: Lumlum for Thai food and Schmakerys for dessert. I wasn't blown away by either.

Sunday:

• Sunday are my long run day in this training block, and it was back to Central Park for the 6 mile loop (with the additional 1.5 mile loop around the reservoir) — 9 miles all told. There was a bike race going on, and now I'm even more nervous about that triathlon I signed up for. My god, they ride so fast! So bunched up together!