EarlyRunner

I'm moving!

2011-08-17T07:37:00.002-05:00

But not literally.Hi guys, I decided to start a new blog. Check me out over at Theology and Geometry: http://theogeom.blogspot.com/

Book Review - The Private Patient by P.D. James

2011-08-16T05:39:00.002-05:00

This is my first and hopefully not last book review.

The Private Patient has all the elements of a work of British detective fiction.

Victorian manor in the English countryside - Check
Manor is possibly haunted - Check
Winter - Check
Shady domestic staff - Check
Old family feud - Check
Famous person murdered - Check
High ranking detective called in from London to investigate - Check
Probably an inside job - Check

This is the fourteenth (according to Wikipedia) book in a "series" involving the character Detective Adam Dalgleish. While the mystery part of the book itself stands alone, the author assumes the reader already knows all three of the detective characters in the book and doesn't do much to develop them.

If you like a good mystery, I recommend any by this author. I think at this point I've read all of them. She also wrote the book Children of Men, which was turned into a movie not that that long ago. I tried to read that, but it wasn't my cup of tea so I never finished it.

Who would like this book?

People who liked The Girl With the Dragon Tattoo who could have done with a lot less violence and 150 fewer pages

Who would not like this book?

People who are bothered by a high ratio of setting description and character development to action, abuse of the letter "u"*, the words "jumper" and "trousers" and the fact that the British do things so much later in the day than us

Have you read anything by PD James? Have a favorite mystery you want to recommend to me?

*Like the word "colour"

Seven Links

2011-08-15T05:26:00.001-05:00

Awhile back Sarah tagged me to do a 7-links post (thanks, Sarah), and I'm fiiiiiinally getting around to it. I know the 7-links meme was so last month, but that's about as current as I can keep.

1. The most beautiful post- This is stretching it, but I'm going to say my post about walking across the lake in January. I'm a warm weather girl at heart, but I have to admit, there's something strange and beautiful about Wisconsin in the winter.

2. The most popular post- Interestingly, according to the blog stats- is this post Daniel wrote about not cheating when you do squats.

3. The most controversial post- Hmmmm... maybe when I got bored and tried eating paleo for a month. Or when I mocked the governor. Or when I called beets disgusting.

4. The most helpful post- I think some of my garden-related posts were pretty good. Also, I had some posts on what to do with an overabundance of vegetables such as how to make and can salsa, and how to freeze broccoli.

5. The post that was surprisingly successful- Apparently my "in the bag" post about what I have in my office and carry around in my (at the time) very dirty backpack. This was an idea from the SHUBox. I'm wondering if she linked to it because compared to all my other posts, the pageviews for this one are off the charts.

6. The post I didn't feel got the attention it deserved- Apparentely it wasn't, but I really did think this post was funny.

7. The post I'm most proud of- I got nothin'...

I think it's time for the 7 things meme to end it's 45 day internet life so I'm going not going to tag anyone else to complete it. If you want to, that's great; knock yourself out. On that note, I'm going to go knock out a run and burn off some zucchini muffins.

Asian Fusion

2011-08-14T07:42:00.002-05:00

Daniel and I almost always go out to eat on Friday night, and this past Friday we decided to check out the Dumpling Haus that opened a few weeks ago in the Hilldale Mall.

The restaurant itself is a low key affair. It's pretty small with an open kitchen, and the "drink machine" is a pitcher of water in the corner with cups. The main attractions on the menu are the jiao zi, which are little dumplings, and the bao zi, which are big dumplings. They also serve some noodle bowls, salads, and rice.

We ordered the house jiao zi

and the house bao zi

which were both stuffed with pork and scallions and served with a soy dipping sauce.

Both items were tasty and freshly made. If you got bored watching the video about the Himalayas that was playing on a TV in the background, you could look in the kitchen and watch the kitchen staff preparing the food. However, that means each dish is brought out to your table as soon as it's done. Better to order a few things to split and eat them as they come than to have one dish sit and get cold before the other one arrives.

Would we go back? I think so. It's in a convenient location for us. The prices are reasonable for a quick dinner out, and you can't just walk around and pick Chinese dumplings off the trees here like you can with cheese curds and bratwurst. The only thing I'd do differently next time is- other than try different varieties of the dumplings and noodle bowls- is add a salad to share. Although the menu describes both of our orders as containing vegetables, but I think that was true only at the atomic level, and a salad or some cooked veggies would round out the meal.

While I have no complaints about the restaurant staff or service- we had no trouble communicating with the man taking orders- I think there's some kind of weird translation thing going on.

For one, Dumpling Haus? But they serve Chinese dumplings, not German dumplings... if such a thing exists. And also the slogan on the door. We're steaming... hot. I have absolutely no idea what that's supposed to mean. Anyone??? Really- am I being dense and missing something obvious? I mean, I get that the dumplings are steaming hot, but what's up with the ellipses? Oh well...

In other news, I'm glad today is a rest day. Getting back into lifting weights after taking a week off to recover from attempting two max lifts and to travel to FL made me crazy sore. Plus, even though my max deadlift and bench press only went up about 5% from last training cycle, the regular workouts feel tougher (at least for the deadlift) already. This was the first week of the training cycle and I'm already at 3 sets of 1 at 95lbs on the bench press and 3 sets of 1 at 130 on the deadlift. AND- if you'll permit me one more whine- the squat rack at the gym that is open in the mornings during intercession has bars that run along the sides that aren't removable so can't actually deadlift in the squat rack. You have to either a)Take the bar out of the squat rack and do all your weight changes on the floor, risking a smashed finger (which has happened to me already) or put the weights on the bar and then turn sideways and squeeze out through the tall bars on the back of the rack, which is not a lot of fun when you're already carrying a heavy weight. Fortunately there's only one more week before the regular gym opens in the mornings again.

But I'm getting ahead of myself... time to go and enjoy today. Have a good Sunday, folks.

That's what she said

2011-08-13T14:11:00.000-05:00

Get a load of this zucchini!

It was hiding in the bottom of the CSA box that Daniel picked up yesterday.

To give you some perspective. This zucchini is large enough to be used to alleviate ITBS symptoms

or for assistance when practicing half moon pose.

I'm thinking I'm going to bring in zucchini bread to the office as a treat on my birthday.

We also got a monster tomato this week. It's like three tomatoes in one!

That plus the peppers, onions and garlic that came in the box mean homemade salsa on taco salad for dinner tonight.

I'm really enjoying getting the CSA box. Not only do we get all the benefits of having a garden with none of the hard work, the contents is a surprise until the day we pick it up so every other Wednesday is like Vegetable Christmas.

Anybody have any good zucchini recipes?

Oh yeah, that thing

2011-08-12T06:00:00.001-05:00

So like ~~a bazillion years ago~~ slightly more than 101 days ago I was feeling overwhelmed by the crush of getting ready for vacation and a big conference, and I wrote a list of 11 things I wanted to accomplish in the next hundred and one days. Remember that? Me either. I made that list the day of the Boston Marathon. It was still snowing! It seems like just yesterday and forever ago. I was supposed to check in on July 28, so I'm a little late, but whatever.

Without further ado:

1. Finish my poster, analyses for a co-worker's poster, and analyses for my boss's talk, fly to Ft. Lauderdale for a week and participate in a conference. Yes! That feels like forever, ago, too.

2. Attempt a 120lb (bodyweight) bench press. Not quite there yet. Right before I left for FL I attempted 115lbs and almost got it. I just started a new training cycle on Tuesday, and will try for 115lbs again in about 2 months. I think 120lbs by the end of the year is totally do-able.

3. Go on vacation and visit family and friends in TN and NC. Yes!. And it was a wonderful trip.

4. Celebrate my 5th wedding anniversary. Yep. Love things that require me to do nothing more than keep breathing.

5. Finish analyses for two papers. Yes! Both have been submitted. Now we just wait and hope.

6. Do a 150lb deadlift. Yep. I actually nailed 165lbs at the end of my last training cycle. I'd love to hit maybe 180lbs at the end of the year??? I think 1.5times body weight is supposed to be a good goal for the deadlift.

7. Do a tripod headstand. Yeah. Don't ask me to do one now, though.

8. Finish reading the Bible and create a guide to the Old Testament for my church small group. Half and half. I finished reading the Bible, and I have worked somewhat on the presentation, but it ended up being much more ambitious (duh) than I'd thought. I'm keeping what I have on the back burner and I might revisit it sometime in the winter.

9. Invite at least one of two couples who live in our apartment complex to have dinner. Yes! And it was fun.

10. Attempt a 30-day blogging challenge. No, but I do want to blog more. I enjoy it, and I enjoy having the ability to look back on things- like this last 101 days- to see what I was up to. It's been a bit of a challenge to find a good dedicated blogging time, but I think I'm getting there.

11. Learn to play a pop song on the piano. Um... I can play about 2/3 of I Heard it Through the Grapevine (poorly). It was actually kind of hard, and I think I'm going to put that on the back burner, too, until I'm a little better.

All things considered, this has been a pretty busy 101 (+some) days. We are having beautiful weather here in WI, and I've enjoyed it with a run Monday, a bike ride and non Bikram-style weight session Tuesday, a run and ice cream at the Terrace yesterday, and a not horribly sweaty living room yoga session this morning. It's totally going to stay 75 degrees forever, right???

Gainesville Rock City

2011-08-11T06:00:00.000-05:00

We made a pilgrimage down south to watch Daniel's brother J become Dr. J. this weekend.

It's the first time we've been back to the 'Vill since his wedding two years ago and the last time we'll go until Daniel invents something cool enough he can get at least the water filtration plant named after him.

Of course we had to make a pilgrimage to the Center of the Football Universe.

Daniel stood barefoot on the very grass where Tim Tebow may have bled some of his blood.

J is ready to take on the world.

And things just went downhill from there...

But J did in fact graduate and it was all very distinguished, etc.

And it was great to see the 'fam. Plus I saw mine earlier in the week.

One thing that I get asked about in Wisconsin is if there are alligators just hanging around in Florida. Yes. Yes there are.

Easy as pie

2011-08-02T06:02:00.000-05:00

We got the first bag of grape tomatoes from our CSA last week. Unlike the beets- which neither of us like- or the rest of the veggies- which both of us like- tomatoes are 100% my responsibility. And I don't really like raw tomatoes. A bit of internet searching came up with a zillion recipes for a tomato tart/pie, so I threw one together with ingredients we happened to have around, sliced it into quarters, and now I have lunches for a week.

Easy tomato pie-

Ingredients:

One refrigerated pie crust (I used Pillsbury from Target)
Tomatoes- any kind you want- sliced so they'll lay relatively flat on the crust (I used the lovely orange ones shown above)
Cheese- something melty (I used Gorgonzola because we had quite a bit left over from a previous dinner)
Seasoning- Whatever you think would taste good (I didn't use any because Gorgonzola has a lot of flavor on its own)

Directions:

Preheat oven to 400ish.
Place pie crust in a pie pan or a round cake pan. Bake for about 10 minutes while you cut up the tomatoes. The ingredients cook way faster than the crust, so it's good to give it a head start.
Remove pie from oven and layer in cheese and tomatoes.
Put the pie back into the oven and bake until the crust is brown and the cheese is melty.
Devour or allow to cool and slice into lunch-sized pieces and store in Tupperware for later

I had a slice for lunch yesterday and thought it was really tasty for the tiny amount of work involved. Can't say I'll be sad to eat this 3 more times.

What's your favorite quick and easy thing to throw together for lunch?

And with that, it's time to fly. 115lb bench press- you are mine!

One year

2011-07-31T08:25:00.001-05:00

It's not often that I can remember almost exactly what I was doing about the same time a year before, but this year- like last year- I spent most of yesterday at the Sugar Maple Music Festival.

Polka!

Yesterday morning while I was running, I started thinking about all the similarities and differences between this year and last.

Last year I was training for the Milwaukee Lakefront Marathon and I started the morning with a 20 mile run.
This year I slept in and was glad I didn't have to run 20 miles because it was hot.

Last year I didn't do much strength training
This year- Tuesday, in fact- I'm planning to try for a new 1-rep max on the bench press (115lbs. That's a 35lb plate on each side. Light weight, baby!) and did 3 sets of 2 reps at 150lbs on the deadlift last Thursday.

Last year I spent most of the day reading a murder mystery (A Carrion Death by Michael Stanley)
This year I spent most of the day reading a murder mystery (The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo). Both are great books but certainly very different.

Last year Daniel didn't have a beard! Wow, I forgot what that looked like!

This year he has been fully integrated into society.

Last year, after the 20 mile run and the music festival, we went to see a friend's band play a late night show. I was like deliriously tired in that picture. And I'd planned to do a 5-mile recovery run the next morning. That didn't happen.
This year we got that out of the way the week before. I'm also not doing a 5-mile run this year, but I am planning to hit up a yoga class in the afternoon.

Last year we went to a wedding the day after. Wow, that was a lot of stuff in one weekend.
This year we still see almost all the people in this picture on a regular basis. And one- second from left- is due with her first baby in October!

It just doesn't seem that long ago!

What has stayed constant in your life since last year? What has changed? What do you think this time next year will bring?

If I had a million dollars...

2011-07-30T06:56:00.000-05:00

Periodically I get a clothing catalog from a company called Boden out of the UK. I hadn't heard of it before, and I'm not sure how my name got on the mailing list, but I enjoy going through it and picking out all my favorite items. Not only are the outfits cute, but it's one of the few companies I've seen that carry clothing that *I* consider truly warm enough for getting around in the winter.

I bet this red coat would raise January vitamin D levels all on its own:

BUT, all the items are super pricey. Ever wondered what a $200 hoodie looks like?

Now you know. Granted it's made of cashmere, but a $200 hoodie? Really? Better not spill anything on that.

Out of curiosity, I added most of the items I'd flagged when I was flipping through the catalog to the online shopping bag, just to see what would happen.

Actually, $2400 is less that I thought the total would be. I must have missed some shoes! Anyway, the fun is in the shopping, not the buying.

Have a dream kitchen/clothing/jewelry/housewares/sporting goods/whatever store you love to look at but is waaaaayyyyy out of your price range?

Looks like I need to go click "remove" 18 times and then head out for a run. We're going to a music festival this afternoon, which will provide a lot of good listening and Girl With the Dragon Tattoo reading relaxation. Have a fun Saturday!

Party like an undergrad

2011-07-25T05:47:00.000-05:00

Saturday was my annual night out after 10pm! Daniel and I went sent to see a friend- the husband of second from right- play at Quaker Steak and Lube (yep, a gas station themed restaurant/bar).

Smile if you normally go to bed at 9pm!

This was kind of a "reunion show" for our friend's band- except this year he didn't play with a band, he played with a guy who wasn't in the original band- I think? The dynamics were kind of confusing. The important part is that I'm fairly certain I haven't been out that late since his show last year.

Then I slept in until- gasp!- 8am the next morning. My life is a Katy Perry song.

Although I don't remember anything about her making her own nectarine fro-yo ice cream sandwiches. Mmmmm.... sprinkles.

Yes, that's exactly what it's like...

2011-07-22T05:47:00.000-05:00

Nation's Optometrists Finally Starting To Recover After Raucous Optic Disc Expo 2011

It's pretty exciting when The Onion parodies something specific to your own life. Not that I think the writers of the article had ARVO (the vision conference we attend almost every year in Ft. Lauderdale) in mind, but they got some great coaching on eyeball terms.

An excerpt:

While days were reportedly filled with "mind-blowing," "wild," and "f***ing amazing" presentations on hyperopia in baby boomers and new ways of reducing bilateral papilledema, optometrists said they also spent long nights in their hotel rooms talking with colleagues well into the morning hours on wide-ranging topics such as the vessels that supply blood to the retina and slit-lamp biomicroscopic examinations.

The eye specialists told reporters that when they returned home from the intense weekend of nonstop optic disc lectures and discussions they "immediately passed out."

"I got maybe three hours of sleep the entire expo," said Dr. Cyrus Patel, who had to cancel nearly 40 appointments this week because he was too exhausted to go into work. "I kept telling myself I was allowed only one more optic disc drusen seminar and then I had to go to bed, but that would mean missing Dr. Lappen's keynote on optical coherence tomography, and it's like, you only live once, you know? It's not like there's another Optic Disc Expo next month. This is it for 2011."

Yesterday was not the funnest day ever at work (at least the AC was fixed), so it was a great surprise when someone found this at 4pm. I need to go raid the bins to get a couple paper copies. As someone who spends waaayyyyy to much time thinking about "vessels that supply blood to the retina"- heck I'm hoping to have three papers on that topic accepted this year- that was probably my favorite line. I've talked that topic to death but fortunately not in the wee hours of the morning. Unless I was having nightmares.

Things are basically back to normal with the cooling systems on campus, and the gym is open again today. I'm chugging coffee to try to wake up because we were out late last night at the Gillian Welch concert (fantastic!). Hopefully I won't have to fight anyone for the squat rack as I am feeling slow and dimwitted. Have any fun plans for the weekend? My sleep schedule is going to be further disrupted by seeing a friend play a show Saturday night, but that's about it other than the usual chores, etc.

Good news, everyone!

2011-07-21T05:50:00.001-05:00

From the UW website:

Relief, in the form of cooler and less humid air, was delivered Wednesday to the 47 campus buildings that went without air conditioning early this week.

As Madison struggles through a stifling heat wave, campus facilities officials were able to restore cooling capacity to the affected buildings and most workers and students returned Wednesday morning to find cooler, more comfortable conditions.

With the exception of a few isolated areas, the added air conditioning was reducing both temperatures and humidity levels. Facilities officials reported that temperatures in most of the affected buildings had dropped to between 72 and 75 degrees Wednesday morning.

OMG. OMG. OMG. It was so hot on Tuesday. So so so so hot. My office was 90 degrees, and there was no air circulation. Anything that was "cool" in comparison (the bathroom, the stairwell) was covered with a layer of condensation. My building is one of those tall, 70s deals where no windows can be opened, and it was not meant to be inhabited without the HVAC system. The lawyers got sent home Tuesday morning, and the transportation office got moved. I lasted until 1:30pm and gave up and went home to lay on the floor in front of the AC. I had to take a 1/2 day of vacation to do it, but it was totally worth it. I just pretended like I was on vacation at the Sun and had gone back to my hotel room for the afternoon.

Yesterday was MUCH better. I borrowed someone's desk fan to get a little air circulating because I still wasn't getting any actual AC in my room. However, there was AC coming into the rest of the building so it was cooler and smelled less like asbestos and bathroom.

Unfortunately because of the heat, the gym is still closed:

IMPORTANT CLOSURE:

THE SERF AND NIELSEN TENNIS STADIUM WILL BE OPEN THURSDAY, JULY 21. THE SHELL AND NATATORIUM WILL REMAIN CLOSED UNTIL FURTHER NOTICE. GENERAL PUBLIC MEMBERS AT THE SHELL MAY USE THE SERF WHILE THE SHELL IS CLOSED. REC SPORTS REGRETS THE INCONVENIENCE OVER THE PAST SEVERAL DAYS. THANK YOU FOR YOUR UNDERSTANDING AND PATIENCE.

The SERF weight room is closed for maintenance, but I'm hopeful that because the temperature is a bit cooler the rest of the week, they'll open the Nat again in the next couple days.

I saved the best news of the entire day for last. Here's an e-mail from our apartment complex:

Residents of XXX:

Due to the extreme amount of millipedes migrating through your part of the neighborhood, our pest control contrator, Anderson Pest Solutions, will be spraying for millipedes behind your buildings today. They will be spraying the exteriors of the buildings and the stairwells to the basement and some of the vegetation directly behind the buildings.

The product they use does not have an odor and is safe to be used in residential applications. Hopefully this will help control the millipedes so they do not continue to come into the buildings.

Normally I'm anti-killing, but when they write "extreme amount of millipedes", they aren't joking. The whole walk to the laundry room through the basement is "crunch, crunch, crunch" because every step crushes at least 20 of them. Plus they were all over the walls. And the dead ones smell horrible! After three trips down doing laundry on Tuesday, I thought I was going to vomit. So yes, death to millipedes! I only hope that they've contracted someone to get rid of the dead millipedes.

Well, I'm off to run while it still "feels like" it's in the 80s. What's the best news you've heard lately?

H-O-T

2011-07-19T05:57:00.000-05:00

I did not sign up for this.

I signed up for this

And this

But did not sign up for highs in the high 90s with a heat index in the 100s. It's only fair, don't you think?

After a Bikram run yesterday morning and a disgusting sweaty bike ride to work, I thought I had it made, sitting in the AC all day. But no. Three chiller plants on campus broke, and all the remaining cold air production capability was diverted to the hospital and to buildings with animals. Okay, I don't really have an argument with that, but I thought this line of the press release summarized the attitude of university leadership/state government toward university employees perfectly:

This means human comfort will not be a top priority in chilled water distribution until the chillers are back to full capacity.

I work in one of those tall buildings that don't have windows that can open, and our office started to get steamy by the afternoon. There was a huge rush to get more of our stored samples to a place with AC because trying to keep samples at -80F in a room that is 100F will kill the freezers. And then there are our servers...

The most recent update from the university says that one of the chiller plants is working again, but they are kind of non-committal about what that will actually mean for the AC situation. I'm guessing that if it's super warm in our building most people will work from home. I'm going to try to stick it out, but I'm not above doing that, either.

This is going to make Al Gore cry, but we've been keeping our window unit on at our apartment during the day set to 80 degrees so it's not miserably hot when we get home in the evenings. In fact, it feels pretty good right now.

Well, I'm off to do some Bikram weight lifting followed by some Bikram SAS programming.

How are you staying cool today?

Beets are Digusting

2011-07-18T05:52:00.000-05:00

I'm a big girl. I like most vegetables. So when I got some beets in my CSA box this week, I wanted to try to like them.

Aren't they cute? It's like a little, spiky-haired beet family.

I even researched the proper way to cook them- wrap in aluminum foil and roast for 60-90 minutes at 400 degrees. After they cool, the skin an hair can be pulled off easily with a paper towel.

The good news is that the process worked. Beets = cooked and ready to go.

The bad news is that the peeling process left me with a cookie sheet full of carnage.

Who's up for some car accident delite?

The other thing is that beets STINK. Ew. I had planned to make a salad with the beets and take it to a potluck we went to last night, but I just couldn't inflict these stinky, rubbery things on people in their natural form. Time for plan B.

Daniel's mom suggested beet brownies, which had two points in their favor. 1. They would use up the beets and 2. They involve chocolate. After doing a bit of internet searching, I found this recipe, which looked like it would do the job. Not too many recipes out there for beet brownies. Imagine that?

So the nasty beets went for a ride in the food processor and were dumped in the blender with sugar and eggs.

Then comes the secret ingredient: Jello pudding mix.

The only way this desert could get more Midwestern is if it somehow involved Ritz Crackers.

No one will ever know...

Now no one will really ever know...

So what was the verdict? They were kind of cakey and floppy compared to real brownies. I think that had to do with the fact that the recipe didn't use any oil. A few people ate them at the potluck but we took most of the leftovers down the the high school youth group meeting, where they were devoured in seconds by a pack of wild 10th graders. I saved two big pieces for us to sample later. I don't think Daniel ate his yet because he had a watermelon, which trumps all other deserts for him. I thought they were okay. They tasted mostly like chocolate, although I think I got a few distinct bites of beet in there. The frosting made a huge difference. I don't think I would have eaten a whole one plain. If you want brownies, make brownies. If you have beets you don't like, give 'em to the neighbors next time.

Anyone actually like beets? Ever made a "sneaky" dish before?

Five Things Friday

2011-07-15T06:04:00.000-05:00

1. I got my hair cut yesterday (by Gen at ChaCha on Willy St. if anyone wants to know). It's really short in the back now- not so much the front- and I love it! You can see it in the reflection in the mirror. It's really hard to take a picture of the back of your own head.

2. I had another lovely evening at Concerts on the Square Wednesday evening with the stat group at work. Lots of food and good company. One of our fellows is moving on in a couple weeks, so it was one of the last times we'll all get to hang out together. She would be very unhappy if her face ended up on the internet, though, so we'll pretend that R.A. Fisher joined us. That's appropriate, I think.

I has mad Paint skillz.

For my part, I made fruit salsa and cinnamon chips based on this recipe I found on Pinterest. I actually used soft corn tortillas for the chips because that's what we had on hand. Mmmmm... Summertastic.

3. The Brooks shoe fairy sent me a new pair of shoes to wear test. This was perfect timing because I'm about 450 miles into my last pair, and it was about time for some new ones. Thanks, Brooks!

4. I accidentally left two Mt. Dews in the freezer yesterday and they exploded. I didn't even mean to put them in the freezer. I was just going to stick them in the fridge, but when I came home to defrost something for dinner, my fridge looked like Slimer came for a visit.

Why you want to treat me so bad??? Don't you know I love you?

5. Our CSA box is filled with all kinds of exciting vegetables this week.

We've got beets, carrots, 2 kohlrabi, some fennel, and only two heads of lettuce. I can't believe I'm finally saying this, but after eating a salad every day at work and often on the weekend for lunch for the past year(?) maybe longer, I think I'm officially sick of salad. Too bad I have no idea what else to take/make for lunch! I know a lot of people do leftovers, but anytime I make anything that's actually good for dinner, we always finish it up and don't have leftovers. I only take leftovers for lunch when the dish was kind of gross.

Anyway, I'm looking forward to trying everything in the box except that I'm slightly nervous about the beets. I don't know if I like beets (def. hate pickled beets like on a salad bar), so I think I'm going to cook those and take them to a potluck we're going to on Sunday evening.

And with that I've got to take off so I can beat the 19-year-olds taking calc 2 in summer school to the squat rack at the gym. Happy Friday! Got any big weekend plans??

Hipster Saturday

2011-07-10T07:14:00.001-05:00

It all started with a trip to Art Fair on the Square...

We, and 75% of the rest of the local population, converged on the capitol at 9:30am to see some art before it got too hot (Read: 85 degrees- That's weak, people!). Fortunately it wasn't too hard to see because at least half the people there had to hit up the food tents for a breakfast beer and ice cream cone with a side of Hot, Spicy Cheese Bread! before they were ready to shop. Our mission was to find an appropriate gift for two certain someones who are having an eventful summer.

We made our way through the exhibits, trying to decide. 99.5% of things were automatically eliminated for costing more than 1/2 our monthly rent. I was a fan of the giant metal yard giraffe, but after further discussion, we thought that TSA regulations wouldn't allow it to be carried on and stowed in an overhead compartment. We also considered a painting of SNOW with one little tiny brown leafless tree. (It's coming for you, A! - No, not really. I bet you'll learn to love snow in DC because it means you get to sleep in for a few more hours until the plow comes by). In the end we did find what I hope will be a fun gift. However, it must remain a secret for now.

On the final stretch, we stopped at the busiest vendor we'd seen so far. Kitchen ceramics + ironic stamps + nothing more than $100 = hipster bait. It worked on me.

Do I need a spoon rest with a whale on it? How could I not?

And what is the most appropriate first use of a hipster whale spoon rest? Attempting to make homemade ice cream in the food process, of course. Inspired by this recipe at cooking with TJ's and a huge bag of cherries in the fridge, I set out to make my own Cherry Garcia froyo.

Pitted cherries go in the freezer.

Then they get thrown in the food processor with Greek yogurt and sugar. After pureeing everything, I stirred in some chocolate chips and poured it into a container to stash in the freezer for a couple hours.

Dinner is served:

So what? I had a salad, too. It was pretty good! Not Babcock Hall, but so what?

Daniel's contribution to Hipster Saturday was to watch the entire Ken Burns Civil War Series on Netflix (also he helped me pit the cherries).

And now to start Hipster Sunday with a bike ride to church... In the spirit of national reconciliation, I hope all the Northerners are stocking up on their vitamin D and the Southerners are enjoying their central AC!

Theme from A Summer Place

2011-07-05T05:56:00.000-05:00

In Madison, you have learn to cram a year's worth of fun in four months. I think I'm starting to get the hang of it. So far I've:

I've attended a 3-way birthday party,

Gone to my first Mallard's game

Learned there's a reason I've never eaten a mulberry before (Holy stems, Batman. My hands are still a little purple)

and that I enjoy my healthy CSA veggies best in gooey pasta form

Watched the sun set from Observatory Hill

and the Rhythm and Booms fireworks from across the lake

And traveled to Dubuque where I won my weight in catfish at the slot machines.

Thankfully not true on that last one. We visited crazy 300lb dino-catfish at the Aquarium of the Mississippi.

As a side note, I hadn't gone to see the fireworks in a couple years, and I'm glad that they are still making advances in fancy explosion science and technology. My favorite was the smileys.

The one thing I haven't managed to do yet is get re-conditioned to running in warm weather. I ran on Saturday morning when it 77, and I was sure it had to be 107. After a water stop and a walk for a minute in the shade break (yes, I'm not too proud to admit it) I was happy I wasn't trying to crank out a 20-miler like I would have been last summer. Yesterday wasn't soooo bad, but man, SWEAT. Hopefully I'll get a little better conditioned so I don't die when I try to run when I'm back in Florida in another month.

Hope you are having a fun summer so far and had a relaxing 3-day weekend.

Angry birds

2011-06-26T08:00:00.000-05:00

So I totally saw another runner get dive bombed by a blackbird yesterday. I didn't have my camera with me, and I couldn't find a picture of an actual bird on runner attack, so you'll have to use your imagination a bit.

It was sort of like this, except the guy I saw was by a lake, not waiting for a subway, wishing he'd sprung for the fried rice rather than the white because, really, it was only $0.57 more.

Or this, except the guy I saw was running, not frantically trying to make a casting call for extras on the Jersey Shore the day his car broke down.

Or like this, except the guy I saw was human, not a bird. I'm thinking that blackbird is about to get it.

On a totally different note, Madison- liberal, animal hugging, organic loving, CSA eating, Prius driving Madison- is planning euthanize 350 Canada geese that are taking over and pooping on four city parks.

I can totally see how it's going to go down. Gov. Scott Walker will come on TV to give us the announcement.

"Good people of Wisconsin, it has come to my attention that there are far too many geese in Madison. Did you know animals only pay for 63% of the cost of their health insurance. Unacceptable! I took my pugapoo to the park last week and stepped in goose poop. Disgusting! Something must be done!"

"Now I know that you're going to get all up in arms about this. Just like you always do. I can never get a freakin' break around here. But this time I've come up with the perfect solution."

"This resolution gives the Department of Natural Resources the power to euthanize the geese by force feeding them."

"You just grab the head, and cram the food down their throat. It's waaaaayyyyy easier than spreading around a bunch of poison."

"We will give one free fois gras dinner to every business that commits to relocating to Wisconsin. It's a win-win for everyone. I don't know how this plan could not work!"

Ever been attacked by a bird and/or other animal while running or seen someone on the wrong end of a bird beak? Or- if you are tech savvy vampire who avoids sunlight at all costs- do you play Angry Birds?

Happy Birthday!

2011-06-24T05:59:00.000-05:00

To two special men in my life.

To Dad:

To Daniel:

Hope you both have a great birthday.

A most auspicious day

2011-06-22T05:56:00.000-05:00

Not only was yesterday the summer solstice, luring me to stay up past my bedtime watching Pushing Daisies*, it was the SMPH ice cream Christmas**! Sure there are football games and basketball games, and all manner of classes and research and distinguished-type speakers on campus, but for the School of Medicine and Public Health, one day stands above them all. The Day They Bring The Free Ice Cream and We Can Eat As Much As We Want Day.

We'd gotten at least three e-mails reminding us that the big day was about to arrive. I was thinking about putting together one of those paper advent chains you make when you are a kid so I could tear one off per day and think, "Just a little bit closer to SMPH ice cream Christmas."

Everybody who is anybody was there, including three big time Madison Runner-Bloggers. That would be: yours truly (I scoop mocha macchiato, 1 scoop chocolate peanut butter), TutuRunner (1 scoop chocolate peanut butter, 1 scoop orange custard chocolate chip), and Running Diva Mom (1 scoop cookie dough, 1 scoop chocolate chip frozen yogurt***).

Not wanting to waste such a lucky day, I decided to use some of our limpy kale to make kale chips. There was much excitement and surprise that they tasted good! Kale + salt + garlic + olive oil + Parmesan cheese + oven = tasty.

Daniel proclaimed them the strangest thing he'd ever eaten, but then I reminded him of these.

Which are still- inexplicably- in our cabinet.

What's The Biggest Day of the Year where you work? Or the strangest thing you've eaten lately?

*Only three episodes left- I simultaneously want to call in sick and knock them out and stretch them out and make them last forever- darn you, writer's strike!
** Not to be confused with Hippie Christmas, that's in a couple months.
*** Actually I don't know what flavor(s) she ate, I just added that for symmetry.

Other mysteries are yet unsolved

2011-06-20T05:38:00.000-05:00

How did this

and this

all end up with the same name?

Maybe I'll submit that one to The Straight Dope. Any mysteries plaguing you this Monday?

I'm also kind of wondering if I'm going to get soaked on my way to the gym, and what's going to happen in the last 6 episodes of Pushing Daisies.

Another one of life's mysteries solved

2011-06-18T07:12:00.001-05:00

Where do all those socks that get lost in the dryer go?

To my apartment.

Learn to walk- Just do it!

And that was the haul from just one load of laundry. Guess I should take these guys back downstairs so they can be reunited with their lost relatives.

Who knew there was so much dumb sock humor out there? I think this is the first image search I've done where a random girl in a bikini didn't show up on the first page.

We share a washer and dryer with a few other apartments in our building, and occasionally someone will miss something and it will end up with another person's clothes. I think three socks is my record, though. Hopefully three pairs of my underwear isn't someone else's.

Got any good "fun with apartment life" stories you want to share?

New addition to my weight training page

2011-06-14T05:55:00.000-05:00

Hey ya! I've just updated my weight training page with the new plan I'm starting today. Get ready to Get Huge!

Graaaaaaahhhhhhhhh!!!!!!! Yes! A new max!

Why yes you can

2011-06-13T05:38:00.000-05:00

1. Make classy "grown up" nachos in a cake pan in then oven (idea courtesy of, Eat, drink, AND run).

I was sort of afraid that they'd turn into chip cinders coated with cheese dust, but no. They turned out pleasantly crunchy and melty, and made a mean taco salad*.

No more microwave nachos at our house!

2. Make a giant chocolate chip cookie in the crock pot.

I actually tried doing this once before, but I rushed the cooking process (the recipe calls for 3 hours in the crockpot plus cooling time), and ended up with a chocolate chip cinder block with a molten lava core. We ate the lava and tossed the outside. This was the time I learned that it is advisable to only include the amount of chocolate chips called for in the recipe rather than the whole bag even if there's "not that many more".

I wanted to try it once more on a weekend when I had the time to let it cook all the way through. Sadly, this didn't turn out to be quite a winner either. The best thing that could be said for this guy was that it was a giant chocolate chip cookie. Buuuuutttttt... it was kind of dry and not really very sweet. It was more like a "healthified" chocolate chip muffin. This might have been my fault because I left it on the "keep warm" setting for a little while while we were out rather than taking it out immediately after it was cooked. I put a slice in a bowl, topped it with milk, and mashed it up, which was pretty good, but meh, I don't think I'd try this again. It's not like it saves a lot of time. I really only did it for the novelty factor.

Ever made anything "non traditional" in the crockpot that turned out surprisingly well? We actually made yogurt using ours a couple times. It takes all night, but it makes a ton of tasty yogurt.

*If it has lettuce, it counts as a salad, right?

Dumb Internet Friday

2011-06-10T05:44:00.001-05:00

See that green stuff on the left? That is watercress. It's primary qualities are

1. It is a green vegetable so it is probably good for you.
2. It tastes like nothing except the sauce you put on it.
3. It gets stuck in your teeth really bad.

Pretty unremarkable as far as vegetables go, right? No. Watercress not only has it's own domain name, you can be friends with it on Facebook and follow it on Twitter. I plan to blame all future conspiracies I come up with on the powerful Watercress Board.

Is this proof that the whole social media thing has gone too far? Do you feel a little less cool being on Twitter now that a vegetable has joined? Adding "Delete Facebook page" to your list of weekend activities? Got any actually fun plans for the weekend?

Sand Cake

2011-06-09T05:31:00.000-05:00

Check out my non-chocolate version of dirt cake.

It's crushed up Trader Joe's brand golden Oreos on the bottom, covered with vanilla pudding, and topped with TJ's sea animal crackers and gummy sharks, lobsters, and octopi. You could pin it on your "Things to Make for My Future Child's 5th Birthday" board.

BTW- if you haven't wasted any time on Pinterest, I think most of you would enjoy it. You have to sell them your Facebook or Twitter soul, but then you can browse and "pin" pictures interesting ideas/recipes/books/knit kumquat baby hats that are already saved on the site or that you find on different websites and blogs. I haven't pinned much yet, but I hear once you start, you'll be so busy pinning things that you won't have time to actually do any of the things you'd pinned that you'd like to do. Pretty sure that's a metaphor for life.

It is 65 degrees and breezy, and I'm going to go run.

That's all there is. There is no more. Until November.

2011-06-07T05:22:00.000-05:00

Here lies the remains of the giant snow pile after one 90 degree day. In the winter- and I'm sad I didn't take a picture of this and couldn't find one when I searched- the snow pile is so big that dump trucks can drive up it to drop off a load.

Now it's but a memory. I'm not sure if there's actually even any snow left there or if that's all the dirt and debris that was mixed in with the snow. Only a second 90-degree day will tell...

On Not Doing a Long Run

2011-06-06T05:52:00.000-05:00

People who don't do a long workout on the weekend don't really know what it's like. They make guilt-inducing statements like, "You should try to get out more often on the weekends," and don't understand why I'd say that it was hard for me to get going early on Saturday mornings. People who don't do long runs just get up, maybe exercise a bit, eat breakfast, and they are ready to go. I'd have to get up, drink coffee and wake up, run for a few hours, come home, shower, try to eat something, and then I'm ready to go. It's hard to do all that before 9am. Plus when I was done I was tired. I wanted to take a nap in the sunshine, not go shovel dirt around in a garden, walk around in the heat, canoe up a river, or haul my lazy self around town on a bike.

In short, doing a long run was my weekend. It- and it's after effects- controlled everything. And in some ways I miss that because now that I'm not doing them a huge chunk of my "normal life" is missing. The first time I truly was ready to start my Saturday at 9am, I just sat on the couch, paralyzed as to how to handle the huge amount of time that lay before me. Should I clean? Run errands? Practice the piano? So many options and so much energy with which to do them. But on the other hand, doing long runs is a point of honor. On Monday you can swap stories with your runner friends about how far you went or how hot (or cold!) it was or if you hit your goal paces. Not doing that feels kind of lazy and lame.

But I'm trying to embrace the positive aspects of short running. Yesterday, Daniel and I biked a bit of Ride the Drive. It was going on through downtown, and since it was fairly cool out, we decided to bike to church (which is downtown) rather than try to drive, and then we biked over to Tex Tubb's on the East Side for lunch. I Google-maped it after the fact, and it was about a 12 mile round trip.

Red bikes go faster.

This would never never never have happened after a 15-miler. At least not without a lot of grumbling. But I'm glad it did. It was fun. It was different. I got to see the city in a way that I wouldn't normally. Only once a year can you cruise down the Wash' mostly car-free. I'm sure I'll go back to doing long runs again sometime, but for now I'm trying to embrace the ~~laziness~~ new opportunities that present themselves.

Ever had to make a big change to your schedule that you were unsure about only to discover unexpected benefits? Want to share any tips for balancing long runs and the rest of your life on the weekend? Think I'm just making excuses for being a slacker? Think doing long runs is only for crazy people?

So this is why I live in Madison...

2011-06-05T07:44:00.000-05:00

Friday afternoon at the Union Terrace

Lovely veggie sushi dinner at Takara on State St.

The Dane County Farmer's Market. How many places can you register as a member of the Socialist Party while enjoying handfuls of hot, spicy cheese bread right out of the bag?

Tasty Italian soup with kale and chard from our CSA box (Thanks, A, for the recipe)

Saving room for Chocolate Shoppe ice cream

In the winter, it's hard for me to remember why anyone would ever want to live in the Midwest. After a day like yesterday, I can forget that not so long ago, I considered this a warm and pleasant day.

What do you love about where you live? What makes it worth sticking it out through the unpleasant times?

Just to prove

2011-06-03T05:40:00.000-05:00

That I'm not a total degenerate (every day) when it comes to preparing healthy food, I give you last night's dinner:

Broiled asparagus and spicy catfish topped with honey-lime coleslaw (riffing off of this Cooking Light recipe). Plus strawberry rhubarb pie, which is not pictured because it turned into strawberry rhubarb soup with pie crust garnish, but it was still really good.

So far we are two for two on good on our use of the CSA veggies (rhubarb + asparagus). We still have some kale, some chard, two root things that *might* be ginger, some spring mix, and a bunch of arugula(?) to go. Any tips for tasty ways to prepare the kale, chard and arugula? I've seen arugula on top pizza before, but we have about 10 pizza toppings worth of it.

Even though it's only a four day week, I'm already ready for the weekend. Not so much to take a break from work but to sleep a little later. Just a little because I know that it's best to keep one's sleep schedule as stable as possible, but getting up that extra hour earlier coming off of vacation has been brutal! Plus it's one thing to go to bed at 8pm in January when it's already been dark for 4 hours and quite another to try to sleep at 8pm now when it's light out and kids are out and neighbors are opening squeaky doors over and over and over again.

After work today, I'm going to a retirement party for a co-worker, but other than that I have no concrete plans for the weekend so far. Maybe a trip to the farmer's market is in order? How about you? Got anything fun going on?

Okay, gotta get it together to go to the gym while I'm still not running late. First time this week, yay!

Oh! And last, but certainly not least, a huge congratulations to Dr. J!!!! Can't wait to see you and A in August and crash at your freshly painted new place sometime.

IRL/WIAW

2011-06-02T06:05:00.000-05:00

Very early yesterday morning I wrote a post about the nine things I feel make up an ideal day for me in terms of making me feel my best, inside and out. "I can totally do this today," I thought. I'd even managed to drag myself out of bed not *much* later than I'd wanted. Because the day's virtual summer retreat topic was about eating healthfully and mindfully, I was going to do a What I ate Wednesday post today, and you were going to see how healthful and mindful I could be. By lunch time it was all out the window.

So I decided to just honestly recount my day yesterday- the good, the bad, the usual and the unusual. Some may find this boring, but I actually kind of like reading about the mundane parts of other people's lives so here goes.

My Day 6/1/2011:

4:20am - Push snooze button without actually gaining consciousness
4:30am - Push snooze button and think, "Not yet."
4:40am - Drag self out of bed. Start coffee maker. Put in contacts, etc.
4:50am - Drink coffee, do e-mail, write blog post.

6:00am - Frantically finish blog post. Get stuff together to leave for the gym/work.
6:10am - Ride bike to gym.
6:25am - Lift weights
7:20am - Shower at gym
7:22am - Dress. Realize that- because I'm not at my normal gym (it's closed in the am when classes are out)- I don't have a hair brush. Try to comb hair with hands.
7:30am - Ride bike to work
7:45am - Starving, inhale oatmeal + PB + applesauce + protein powder concoction while doing work e-mail

Yes, I stir it.

8:00am - Realize project that I need to finish STAT is going to take longer than I thought. Go get Diet Mt. Dew from fridge. Frantically work on project.
11:30am - Finish project. Talk to boss about project. Have nice conversation with boss about the weather.
11:45am - Report results of project to coworkers. Everyone is happy. Breathe sigh of relief.
12:15pm - Go eat lunch with coworkers at Pasqual's at Hilldale. Do not take picture of veggie quesadilla (no olives, please) or two liters of Diet Coke I drank because I don't want to have to explain why I was doing it, and because I was so hungry I couldn't get it into my stomach fast enough. Enjoy relaxing lunch catching up with everyone.
1:30pm - Back to work. Finish putting together a dataset for a collaborator. Feel guilty because I still haven't finished a dataset for someone who works with that collaborator who made the request months(!) ago. I just need one more variable!
3:00pm - Start on analyses for presentation boss will give next Wednesday.
4:30pm - Feel brain dead. Decide I will go home soon because I have errands to run in the evening and need to do laundry. Wrap things up at work. Figure leaving 15 min early is okay because I was at work from 8:00-5:15 yesterday with only 15 minute lunch break.
4:45pm - Ride bike home.
5:00pm - Get mail, start laundry. Flip through catalog. Lay on couch. Drink Diet Sunkist.
5:20pm - Play piano.
5:30pm - Daniel comes home. Talk about day. Discuss plans for necessary errands.
5:50pm - Flip laundry. Leave home.
6:00pm - Pick up 1st CSA box. Discover there is rhubarb in box. Discuss possibilities for pie.

6:15pm - Go to target. Spend forever picking up pie ingredients, cereal (it's too hot for oatmeal anymore), and soda for co-worker's retirement potluck Friday.
6:45pm - Decide I am too hungry to make dinner when I get home. Stop at Panera and order turkey artichoke panini and salad. Snap picture while Daniel is in the bathroom. Save apple for later. Devour remainder.

7:30pm - Arrive at home. Get laundry. Fold laundry. Put away Target stuff. Research strawberry rhubarb pie options.
7:45pm - Chop strawberries to help Daniel make pie. Refuse to taste rhubarb because I'm still full from dinner and hate tasting things. Assemble pie.

8:30pm - Brush teeth. Remember I wanted to show Daniel something on the internet. Grouch at Daniel because I'd told him at dinner I wanted to show him something funny on the internet and if he was going to look at cats all night I would just have to show him tomorrow because I was tired.
8:31pm - Look at cute picture of baby sloth. Mood improves slightly.

8:45pm - Get ready for bed. Lay down and start reading article in The Atlantic. Decide baking pie smells really good but don't want to stay up for pie to finish cooking, cool, etc. so get up and eat a couple Trader Joe's dark chocolate PB cups.
8:50pm - Brush teeth again. Lay down and read. Curse downstairs neighbors who keep opening their squeaky screen door and slamming their regular door.
9:30pm - Zzzzzzzzzzzzzz

The bad (because it's always more obvious, isn't it?):

Too much soda (yeesh!). That's abnormal for a day. Usually I have one, maybe two cans.
Too much food. How can I still be so hungry when I work out so much less than I used to?
Not enough preparing my own food. Only used delightful organic CSA vegetables to make pie. Two fast food meals in one day = bad if not on vacation.
Too much snooze button in am.
Stayed up too late in pm (which meant I didn't get up until 4:50 this am)
Too lazy after work so I didn't get in time on the piano before Daniel got home.
Didn't spend any time in devotion or prayer so I was more grouchy than usual when I was hungry and/or tired.
Did not brush hair- other than with hands - all day.

The good:

Did a blog post.
Completed a project ASAP to everyone's satisfaction.
Did not grouch at co-workers while stressed (I think).
Had nice lunch with co-workers. We do not go out very often.
Kept focused during the afternoon when I actually wanted to Zzzzzzzzzz.
Got errands and laundry completed. Finally invited neighbor out to dinner (forgot to mention that one above!).
Helped make first rhubarb pie.

Arhg! Now I'm running late again. And I'm hungry, but I have to run and shower before I can eat breakfast (but good news, I have cereal now).

And that's me. In Real Life.

What works

2011-06-01T05:54:00.001-05:00

I'm participating in Sarah's summer virtual retreat (If you're not, think about it), and the theme of this week is inside/out - what practices/habits can you cultivate to feel your best. Having come back from vacation and then spent a busy day at work yesterday, I was thinking about the best of both worlds. Vacation is a combination of novel and relaxing. I usually get more sleep than usual, but I tend to eat a lot more and exercise a lot less. Work is not alway so exciting and there are nights when I stay up waaaayyy too late for my early wake up, but I tend to eat healthier, be more active, and keep up with other activities I enjoy like playing the piano. So if I could merge all the best of vacation with all the best of regular life, what would I end up with? Here are the 9 things I consider essential components of an ideal day in the life of Chelsea.

1. Daily exercise - I get very crabby, very quickly when I sit around all day. I'm like that pet that you thought you could leave in its cage while you were at work. When you come home, I will chew your shoes, destroy two houseplants, and then use my tiny claws to cling to your head until you let me out for a walk. As a side note, I've found that not just running but switching things up and doing yoga and lifting weights several times a week makes me look and feel my best.

2. Daily devotion - While I don't feel physically uncomfortable if I don't spend time praying and reading God's word, I feel... disconnected. Starting my day with gratitude, learning from individuals who show good (and bad!) character through adversity and having an outlet to share my worries helps me focus on what is truly important in life.

3. Daily fruit and vegetables - To me a meal is not complete unless it contains at least one serving of produce.

Sorry, Ragu, you do not count.

4. Daily music - Yes, 7 million Chinese 5-year-olds are better than me at the piano, but only 3 million are better than me at the first 20 measures of "I heard it Through the Grapevine". Whether it's an hour or simply 10 minutes before I have to run out the door, I'm happier when I make music part of my day.

5. Daily desert - But not as much as what is still hiding in a sack under your kid's bed leftover from Easter (and last Halloween if you're lucky).

And not for breakfast. Ummm, can I trade the candy
corn for some strawberry jam?

6. Daily novelty - Sometimes my life is busy and exciting. Sometimes I feel like day after day is the same and I have nothing at all interesting to say. Even if all I do is go to the sensory deprivation gym and sit at my desk at work and make Excel tables all day, I want to keep my eyes open for something new/interesting/novel. It's that or use drugs.

7. Daily caffeine - This is where the drugs come in. Now stop giving me a condescending look and pass me a Diet Mt. Dew.

I love you, too.

8. Daily (enough) sleep - On vacation, I could easily do 8-9 hours. I think if I could sleep as much as I wanted every night, my body would naturally fluctuate between 7 and 9 hours. In real life, I think never going below 6 and sticking some 9s in on the weekend to balance things out is pretty good.

9. Daily unstructured family time - I'm the kind of person who likes to schedule everything, but it never feels right to interrupt a good conversation (or Futurama episode) because it's "time" to read 1.5 pages of April's The Atlantic before I zonk out for the night. I feel better when I get everything done before the evening so I can just relax and enjoy Daniel's company without feeling like I "should" be getting other things done.

So how about you? Are you participating in the virtual retreat? What do you consider essential components to your life?

I'm about to go work on number 1 right now.

PS - Good news! The fan is staying.

This is dedicated to the one I love

2011-05-31T06:07:00.002-05:00

I'm sending this one out to all the oscillating fans out there and to the special one in the room next door. Thank you. Thank you.

A form of late-spring-like weather finally came to visit us in Madison yesterday. While I'm loving the warm weather during the day, it can be tough to sleep at night when it's 75 and humid. All of this could be solved with ceiling fans, but alas, we do not have one, and our apartment is one of 1000+ owned by the university. They are not inclined to carry out special requests.

Credit

So we resumed the debate from the previous two summers: What should we do to keep our apartment reasonably cool at night? We have a window unit AC that sits in a hole in the wall in the living room and cools it about as well as if we left the refrigerator door open. It's great to stand in front of if you are sweaty from commuting home or to cool the room down after cooking dinner, but the way our apartment is laid out, it's hard to get that cool air back to the bedroom. Did we need a stronger AC? At $300, the answer was "No." Plus we weren't sure it would make much difference since the real problem was air flow, not amount of cold air produced.

This was someone's fan science
and technology PhD project. Credit

Did we want a different fan? We had a fan that perched on top of the dresser, but it didn't actually blow air on us. Yes, yes, we needed a new fan. Fans are cheap (compared to air conditioners) and circulate air, which was the goal. But did we want a cool new Star Trek-looking fan or an old-school oscillating fan? Which would be tall enough to blow air on us while we were sleeping? I mean, I want balmy summer breeze here, people. And more importantly, which would be the less death-trapish option for our tiny bedroom. Because I'm pretty sure we discussed the oscillating fan option before but ruled it out because of it's middle of the night tripping hazard.

Maybe I just wanted
to pretend I was on Mad Men.
Is that so wrong? Credit.

At the end of the ~~day~~ Target trip, we decided on the old school fan, and oh yeah, it was great. We had to turn it up to "jet engine" to cool things down enough, but it fanned right at sleeping level and increased my comfort and quality of life by 1000%. I'm not sure how Daniel feels about it because he was tinkering with it at about 4am. Sorry, but the butterfly whisper setting is not going to cut it. So maybe it's going to go back to ~~the fan orphanage~~ Target, but until then... I just can help myself... I love you, fan.

What small pleasures make your life worth living?

Death in a Major Key

2011-05-30T06:02:00.003-05:00

Because we wanted to squeeze just a little more vacation out of our vacation, Daniel and I traveled to Chicago this weekend to sing at the Midwest Sacred Harp Convention. For those of you who don't know what Sacred Harp singing is- and I would have counted myself in this group this time last year- you get together with a bunch of other people and sit around and sing old-timey hymns in four part harmony. Pitches in the scale are given shapes (which is why this style is also called shape note singing) so you sing through the song using the shapes first and then using the words. Each person takes a turn selecting a song and leading it. Here's Daniel leading. I didn't lead anything.

The thing that makes Sacred Harp "interesting" (the preferred pejorative) is that it is about singing to God, not performing for humans. Therefore, the most prized qualities of a Sacred Harp singer are loudness and enthusiasm not finesse or intonation. I think it's best described as a combination of church choir and marching band. The other fun thing about the songs in the Sacred Harp hymnal is that they are almost all about death- eminent or otherwise. Click here for a more through "official" description of what Sacred Harp singing is all about.

Here's a good example of a song being done by a Chicago group in 2007.

Although Sacred Harp singing is popular in the south, the whole thing feels very "Midwest-y" to me. This prompted me to think about a few ways the Midwest is very different from where I grew up- Florida.

1. Beards - Beards are not a big thing in Florida, but men in the Midwest seem to pride themselves on having impressive facial hair. And while I thought that growing a beard was about keeping your face warm in the winter, evidently even your facial hair needs special protection from the elements.

2. Potluck - If you were going to have a large group lunch when I was growing up, it would be pizza. Or if you had the audacity to ask people to bring food, they would all show up with Publix rotisserie chicken and chocolate chip cookies. Not so in the Midwest. Someone made a huge dish of barbecued ribs for lunch - two days in a row. And- defying stereotype- every potluck I've ever been to has had plenty of salads and vegetarian options.

But yeah, sometimes people make some weird/nasty stuff.

Credit: Toothpaste for Dinner.

Even that might be too spicy for the people from St. Paul.

3. Events at places that look like Hogwarts - Watch out, UF, The University of Chicago will give your lovely vine clad halls a run for their money.

I got in a nice run through the campus yesterday morning and checked out all the pretty Gothic style buildings. Not a place I'd like to go to school, though. UC is infamous as The Place Fun Comes to Die.

4. Perception of temperature - Yesterday in Chicago it was rainy with a high temperature of 64, which was universally pronounced as being far too hot. Note that the average high in Orlando in January is 72.

5. Central air conditioning - Okay, so a big part of the last one is that everything in Florida is air conditioned. I think they even passed an amendment to the state constitution that requires chicken coops to be air conditioned. But people, please, 64- with or without AC- is not hot.

6. BratFest - And the multiple alterna-BratFests. Some things cannot be parodied.

So what are the quirks of the place you live? Got any hobbies that are hard to explain to your friends? Going to a BratFest or other sausage-related event this Memorial Day weekend? Have a special serviceman/woman you are remembering*? Hope you are sleeping in!

My family will remember my cousin Chris who was killed in Iraq 2007.

Check out my new "About Me" page

2011-05-28T06:19:00.002-05:00

What does one do with hundreds of freshly scanned* old family photos? Post them on the internet, of course.

Just a teaser:

This is officially the most flattering photo taken of me
between the ages of 11 and 14.

I'm going to live where in my late 20s?

This one time, at band camp...

*My family and I all had great results using the ScanDigital service.

Back to Life, Back to Reality

2011-05-26T10:10:00.000-05:00

Sadly, the traveling part of our vacation is over, but luckily I don't have to go back to the work part of reality until after Memorial Day. Rather than do a blow by blow of the entire trip, which is kind of boring for you and for me, here are the highlights of Vacation 2011: The Mid-Atlantic Edition.

Best part of vacation:

Seeing my wonderful family- both the family that shuffled me onto this mortal coil and my family-in-law. Thanks for the great time!

My mom and dad plus D and I by the fountain in Duke Gardens.

Runners up: Being warm and wearing shorts and sleeveless tops. (It's currently 52 and windy in Madison).

MVP of the trip:
Our car, which allowed us to add 2k miles to the odometer without complaint.

As a side note, this car has made one round trip from Miami to Virginia, one round trip from Miami to San Fransisco, one round trip from Miami to Albuquerque + one trip from Miami to ABQ, one round trip from ABQ to Las Vegas, two round trips from ABQ to Ft. Collins, CO, one trip from ABQ to Madison via South Dakota, three round trips from Madison to Tennessee, a big trip around the Great Lakes last year, and this 2000 mile jaunt. Way to go, red Honda.

Best meal:
Watts Grocery in Durham. Didn't hurt that we had good company. Thanks again, Sarah, for making reservations and meeting up with us.

Runner ups: Med Deli in Chapel Hill and Which 'Wich in Johnson City. I'm a sucker for grilled vegetables and feta cheese and basically any kind of hot sandwich.

Weirdest food:

Four words- seafood nachos in Cleveland.

Oh yes I did. Shrimp + pineapple + Velveta-like white cheddar goo + carrots + corn + peppers + cabbage + sour cream. It was wild. However, this is one of those cases where I hoped the food wasn't raised locally.

Runner up: Deep fried pickles and jalepenos at Top of the Hill.

Best news:
Seeing my college roommate and hearing about her success running the grueling academic job application gauntlet and being hired at her first choice university.

Runner up: Hearing that her husband found a post doc near her university (J- Lamar is going to start at NRL this fall!)

Craziest tourist attraction:
The Museum of Appalachia. It was part Little Norway, part House on the Rock. This place was a collection of everything old from the Tennessee/ North Carolina area you could possibly imagine down to the last bone saw and Coke can ukulele. And it was overrun with peacocks.

Runner up: The Zorb in Gatlinburg. While there was no way I was going to roll down a hill in a giant bubble, I thought the concept was- insane.

Best graffiti:

Old candle smoke writing in Mammoth Cave.

Worst graffiti: All the writing on every surface of every house in Cades Cove. It was terrible!

Strangest Historical Re-enactment:

The kids from the inner-city school carrying the Stars and Bars, re-enacting Pickett's charge in Gettysburg. Daniel said he wasn't sure what he thought that meant about American society today. Probably that it's universally true that kids like to yell and run.

And now for a final random mish-mosh of pictures:

Inside Mammoth Cave.

At the Old Mill in Gatlinburg, TN.

Black bear on the trail up to Clingman's Dome.

From the parking lot at Clingman's Dome. Unfortunately
the Smoky Mountains lived up to their name, and I couldn't
get a good picture from the top.

Montecello.

Gettysburg.

Whew. I feel so blessed that we are able to take a vacation like that and even more so that I have a few more days off to do laundry, stock the fridge, run errands*, and otherwise do what needs to be done before I start back to work on Tuesday.

Got any exciting vacation plans for the summer? What's the longest car trip you've ever taken? Anyone else wonder if it's ever going to get warm here in Madison?

*Like replacing the laundry detergent and bleach that was stolen from us while we were gone. Very strange because 1.Whoever it was didn't bother with the dryer sheets and 2.In the almost three years we've been here, we've never had anything stolen before.

More signs of spring

2011-05-14T05:52:00.000-05:00

As seen at the UW gym:

If you can't read it, the three "construction season" rules on the lower left are 1.Drink water, 2.Clean up your sweat and 3. Wear shoes. I can attest that the first two are important because the gym does not have air conditioning. It's not soooo bad in the morning, but by the afternoon the place is a sauna. You could charge $15 an hour and call it Bikram's weight training. We're talking so much sweat that you can slide around on the floor. Which, although I've never actually seen anyone come in barefoot, explains the importance of rule #3.

Two other exciting developments from gymland are:

1. They got new towels!!! At the UW gym, you can buy a towel one time and then swap it out after you take a shower, but as you can imagine these are some of the smallest, roughest, dingiest towels you've ever seen. You can't even wrap one of the old ones around your torso while you walk to the shower. You just have to hold it up in front of you and not get too bent out of shape because you are about to take a shower with eight grandmas (Hi, 6:30am senior fitness class) anyway. BUT the new towels are still relatively soft and white and are long enough to wrap around your entire body. Feels just a little bit more like I'm working out at a gym and not a minimum security prison.

2. I did a 150lb deadlift. Three singles, actually. And PS, I'm up to three reps at 105 on the bench press. Not that I'm trying to brag... :)

Back to signs of spring- our cherry tree is blooming! I heart you, cherry tree.

And because spring is all about new beginnings, I want to say congrats to Jamie on hers.

Check out the sweet animal print cake:

And now it's time to run!

As seen on my run yesterday

2011-05-12T05:17:00.000-05:00

1. My legs, arms, and hands. May 11 was the first time in 2011 that I ran in Madison in a t-shirt and shorts without mittens. It wasn't all that long ago I was dressed like this to go out on an easy 6-miler.

2. Green stuff on trees and the ground. I heard they are called "leaves" and "plants", respectively. Monday I was washing my hair after my run and thought I'd given an hitchhiking caterpillar a ride home on my head, but fortunately it was only a chunk of oak pollen the size (and texture, yikes!) of a caterpillar.

3. A crow fly off carrying a dead mouse/rat/baby squirrel (cue The Circle of Life). Reminds me of the squirrels we used to see at Florida that could jump from a trash can to a tree carrying a discarded piece of pizza.

Stronger than they look.

4. My brother-in-law's wife's "twin". My brother also has a twin that I see from time to time, but his twin needs to lose about 50lbs. A, your twin appears to be in pretty good shape.

5. An old Chinese woman carrying a fishing pole try to run down a goose on the sidewalk with her bike. Surf 'n turf?

How can anyone say running is boring? What's the most interesting thing you've seen on a run lately?

Back

2011-05-10T05:59:00.002-05:00

Thanks to Daniel for guest posting while I was away. Check out the hat post if you missed it.

We had some long days at the conference, but I can't complain too much because they were started with beach-side runs and ended with beach-side seafood dinners. I got to wear shorts and sandals for the first time since... last September??

Tuesday was my poster presentation. Unfortunately, instead of hiding out in a back corner, it was selected as a "hot topic" so I got a fair amount of traffic. 99% of people who came by were helpful and interested.

The title is so long this has to be important.

The rest of the time was spent at talks and looking at other posters. I feel like I learned some stuff, especially about genetics. I camped out in front of the poster of another young woman from the Mayo Clinic and refused to leave until I understood what copy number variation meant.

And then no conference would be complete without checking out the freebies.

Sadly neither the cute stuffed mouse or the eyeball were free. I'm thinking that the ratio of cute stuffed mice at an exhibit booth to the actual happiness of the mice the company works with is pretty high. Most of the swag was limited to pens and Hershey kisses, although I did score three bags of chocolate covered coffee beans from one vendor. Two of those kept me alive during Wednesday afternoon.

Now I'm back, hopefully slightly smarter and not too much fatter after having gorged on delicious seafood and Snickers from Genentec. Time to hit the gym. It's 60 degrees out at 6am! Spring is finally here!

Thanks, Kerri, for the pictures!

Cinemagraphs

2011-05-05T07:36:00.002-05:00

Throughout the history of the internet, animated GIFs have been used for three main things:

Hot girls
People falling down
Cats

Some intrepid photographers are actually using animated GIFs to create beautiful, artistic images called cinemagraphs.

The aesthetic is to capture a particular moment in time, like a photograph, but with more context and action than a still image can supply.

You can see more cinemagraphs here. The other photography is also quite nice.

Some Training and a Test (Daniel)

2011-05-04T10:13:00.002-05:00

Here is yesterday's training. This is pretty typical of what I've been doing this year.

Deadlift

-- 135x8

-- 225x5

-- 305x4x4 (barely touch the ground on each rep)

Shrugs

-- 275x4x5

DB Overhead Press

-- 55x4x5

Pullups

-- 2x10

Bench Press

-- 135x8

-- 205x2x1

Shoulder moves with light dumbbells

This is my "rep" day, where I perform higher volume on the deadlift and press. On the weekend, I do a "heavy" day with singles or doubles. Last weekend I hit an easy 365x3x1 deadlift; this week it will be 365x3x2.

I've moved away from hard benching. Overhead presses are easier on my joints and better for my physique. I'm throwing in a couple of moderately heavy singles just to keep the feel of the movement. Truth is, I'm a terrible presser and always have been. My lifetime best bench is only 245, done at a weight of about 175. That's not terrible, but definitely isn't smashing any records.

I like the idea of working up to 225x10 on the bench, so that I could accomplish the 10-10 Ultimate Fitness Challenge:

Bench press 225x10
Immediately afterward, run 1.5 miles in under 10 minutes

A few years ago, everyone was worried about all-around fitness and being ready for everything. I blame CrossFit*. People were making up all kinds of ridiculously complicated challenges and lists of skills that needed to be mastered.

I made up the 10-10 challenge as an antidote. Individually, neither of the tests are that hard, but the combination is deceptively challenging. Lots of guys bench 225x10 and lots of people can run a 6:40 per mile pace for 10 minutes, but surprisingly few can do both.

I can't do the 10-10 Ultimate Fitness Challenge. Yet. I guess I need to put it on my list of 37 things to accomplish in 370 weeks.

* CrossFit deserves blame for a lot of things, but this blog is not prepared for that amount of hate.

Something More Important Than Osama (Daniel)

2011-05-03T09:17:00.004-05:00

I don't want to distract from everyone's killhappiness at the death of a guy that sucked, but I have other news. While walking in to work yesterday I saw A MOTHER DUCK AND EIGHT TINY BABY DUCKS ON THE SIDEWALK.

Unfortunately, I didn't have a way to take a picture, so I have to supply this artist's rendering of what it was like.

Life is like a hurricane

I'm not sure why the McDuck family was making its way down Old University Ave. at 8:00 in the morning. Maybe they had been lost and wandering ever since the unspeakable horrors of the Mifflin Street Block Party two nights ago.

On Squat Depth (Daniel)

2011-05-01T22:29:00.005-05:00

Let's talk about squatting. Here's a picture I stole from this blog. Who can spot the problem?

This squat is not anywhere close to the correct depth*. Go into any gym, anywhere, and almost every guy will be squatting just like the picture -- way too high and probably using the same weight.

Most books and trainers call for squatting to parallel. This is the standard in powerlifting, where a legal squat requires the hip crease to drop below the knee. This is fine, if you actually do it.

In reality, parallel squatters cheat**. I know, because I've done it myself and I've seen literally hundreds of other people do it. In this style of squat, the last few inches above parallel are the most difficult part of the movement. Add heavy weights and the temptation to cheat becomes nigh irresistible. If you don't force yourself to go well below parallel, you will squat high.

My solution: squat to full depth on every rep. This means descending as far as you can on each rep, feeling the hamstrings make contact with the calves.

Yeah, I know, full squatting is overkill, you can't use as much weight, some stuff about your knees, whatever. Based on what I've seen, though, I think the average trainee would get more benefit from squatting if we treated the full depth version as the "regular" squat and saved the parallel version as a special case.

By law, all blog posts about squatting must include this picture

The exact form of any exercise will vary from person to person, so there is no one true "correct" way to squat. That being said, here are some tips I gave Chelsea when she was learning the movement:

Take a comfortable stance. There is no reason for regular people to go uncomfortably wide or extremely narrow***.

The bar sits in a natural groove on the traps. Some authors teach a very low bar position borrowed from powerlifting. This can give you better leverage, but stresses your shoulders.

Toes straight ahead or turned out a little, whatever feels best.

Keep your chest up and back flat throughout the movement. A little forward lean may happen, but don't allow yourself to suddenly drop forward, especially on the ascent, where it may make you miss the lift.

If you have trouble going deep, try raising your heels with a small plate. If this helps, you need to improve your ankle mobility.

In general, strive to make your movements natural and fluid. Deep squatting requires full lower-body mobility, so this may reveal some areas where you're stiff or inflexible.

Finally, contrary to what some authors say, you don't have to squat. The squat is good exercise, but it isn't mandatory. You can get excellent results without doing heavy squats.

* Partial squats are a legitimate exercise, particularly if you do them with very heavy weights. The great Paul Anderson did a lot of high squats as assistance for his full squats. Letting your normal squats turn into high squats is the problem.

** They don't necessarily want to cheat, it just sort of happens.

** Powerlifters like a wide stance to decrease the range of motion. Bodybuilders may use a narrow stance to emphasize the quads.

How do you like your quasi-futuristic hats? (Daniel)

2011-04-30T19:00:00.001-05:00

Via Buzzfeed, the eighteen most awesome hats at the royal wedding.

Coming in at number one are Princesses Eugenie and Beatrice of York.

Evil stepsisters IRL

The bizarre non-Euclidean geometries of Beatrice's eldritch millinery drew comparisons to Cthulhu, lord high priest of the Great Old Ones, who lies not dead but dreaming in his sunken city of R'lyeh until the stars are right again. Ph'nglui mglw'nafh Beatrice's Hat R'lyeh wgah'nagl fhtagn!

O R'LYEH?

Sally Bercow, wife of House of Commons speaker John Bercow, dressed up her brain slug for the occasion.

Zara Phillips will be serving drinks in Ten Forward after the ceremony.

We ain't one-at-a-timin' here (Daniel)

2011-04-30T09:13:00.000-05:00

We're mass communicatin'!

Chelsea is gone until Thursday. In the meantime, I have assumed control of this blog.

Expect fewer discussions of food, running, and life goals, and more pictures of cute animals.

Now, as promised, baby otters.

A huge check mark

2011-04-29T05:48:00.000-05:00

Even though I listed it in the 11 things I wanted to accomplish in 101 days, one of my goals has been almost two and a half years in the making. This morning I finished reading the Bible. The whole thing. And this is a study Bible so I read all (well, not quite all, but almost all) the notes, too.

Lots and lots and lots and lots of pages with lots and lots
and lots of little words. I'm sorry I gave you a hot coffee bath back in 2010.

For those who are interested, I actually started reading the New Testament back around January of 2009. It took almost a year to finish because at that point I was taking fairly detailed notes as I read. I started the Old Testament in Dec. of 2009 or Jan. of 2010, and I finished this morning. I read a few pages every morning- text and notes- which took me about 20 minutes, and I would spend 10 or so minutes in prayer and reflection after that. Kind of skimpy, but it's easy to transition from prayer and reflection to sleep at 5:15am.

The second half of this goal is to put together a "guide to the Old Testament" presentation for my church small group. There's so much information and so many stories, it's easy to let it all blend together, and I thought teaching it would help me solidify things in my mind. I've mentally set aside a couple days at the end of our vacation to work on this.

A few quick thoughts about the whole thing:

You should read it, too. Believers, you already know that. However, I think it would be a good project for non-believers, too. So much of Western civilization is based on the stories and concepts contained in its pages, that even if you read it from a purely academic perspective, you would learn a lot. It's not much of an exaggeration to say that everything we say comes either from the Bible or Shakespeare.
The Old Testament is actually really interesting, and I was afraid it was not going to be. My favorite parts were the Joseph story, the David story, and Ruth. The only parts I felt got a little boring were the lists of names in Chronicles, the three descriptions of the temple, and some of the psalms and minor prophets. Although everyone else loves Song of Solomon, it kind of made me feel embarrassed- like an 8th grader in health class.
It made me feel connected to the past. These are words that people have been reading for thousands of years in incredibly diverse places and situations. This was especially true when I was reading the book of Isaiah. There's a lot of messianic prophesy in Isaiah, and Jesus quotes from the book often during his ministry. It's like wow, this is so old and so important that Jesus studied it as a child. It still blows my mind.
I'm planning to start reading through the New Testament again, and after that I'd like to read a Jewish translation of the OT. The books are in a different order, and obviously the commentary would be different. I think it would be a good way to motivate myself to take on the challenge again.

Well, that's the last you'll hear from me for awhile. My flight leaves super early tomorrow, but Daniel will be guest posting some throughout the week. I have no idea what he's going to blog about. Probably courage wolf. See you on the other side!

T-minus 2 days

2011-04-28T05:56:00.000-05:00

Until I'll be on one of these

flying here

for this

with this

in tow, and I can officially check this

1. Finish my poster, analyses for a co-worker's poster, and analyses for my boss's talk, fly to Ft. Lauderdale for a week and participate in a conference

off of this.

Whew.

It's hard to believe that other than little things like... packing... or building my itinerary so I have some idea where I have to be and when during the conference I'm ready to go. Even though our days are full and I do have to ~~hope someone I don't already know comes to talk to me about my~~ present my poster, my role once I get to the conference is pretty passive. It's fun to be all professional and "travel for work for a conference" especially to a place where one might procure a fruity drink and sip it on the beach. The high in Madison today is 47 with snow and rain forecast in the afternoon, and I'm ready for some warm weather and sunshine!

Squee

2011-04-24T13:56:00.000-05:00

First off, Happy Easter to everyone. Hope you are having as beautiful a spring day as we are.

There's a lot of things about the internet that I don't understand (Courage Wolf, for example. Can anyone explain the appeal?), but I am a sucker for baby animal squee. Actually, now that I think about it, I kind of hate the word "squee". I retract the previous sentence. I am a sucker for cute baby animals.

So with the promise of seeing baby goats bottle fed on the 10am tour, Daniel and I journeyed out to Hinchley's Dairy Farm east of Madison Saturday morning. During the drive, I was contemplating how actual farmers must view farm tourism. Every morning they get up to milk the cows and feed and care for all their animals, and we will pay $10 a person for the privilege of pretending to do just that*.

Hinchley's is a real working dairy farm that supplies milk to Dean Foods. They also grow corn, wheat and alfalfa to feed the cows and raise a variety of other animals, mostly as 4-H projects for the kids and to supplement the family's income.

First stop, the baby goats:

Most of the kids did well on the tour, but there was one little girl who screamed and cried almost the whole time. Poor thing is going to grow up to be a vegan and have an irrational fear of cows.

Next stop was the baby cows. This one was born just the day before.

This "little" one was two days old. It was chilly out so the calves had to wear cow snuggies.

Then it was cow milking time. I was kind of afraid I'd hurt the cow because you have to squeeze pretty hard to get milk to come out. Juicy the Cow was unimpressed.

Then we went back outside to see the other animals.

Gigantic fluffy geese:

Mean, nasty, ugly geese:

Bessie the Dog, who we nicknamed Hambone, who followed us around during the tour:

Goats:

Chickens:

When we pet the chicken, we were allowed to touch the comb and the waddle, which the woman running the tour described to the kids as feeling like a hot fruit roll-up. I'd agree with that.

Newborn baby chicks:

Baby lamb:

After the animals, we saw a bunch of farm material and equipment, including a gigantic $350k combine. That thing would be like driving our 2nd-story apartment around. The whole tour took about 1.5 hours, and was fun for kids and adults. The only downside was that it was pretty cold out, and I was glad when we got to go inside and defrost my feet.

It was neat to see the animals and get a glimpse of the hard work that it takes to keep a dairy farm running. Although this is exactly the kind of non-organic, large-company supplier farm that people like Michael Pollan love to hate, it was certainly clean when we were there, and the animals seemed well-cared for and happy. And the farmers seemed to enjoy being able to carry on the family tradition. If you live in Madison and are looking for some relatively inexpensive family fun (with our without kids), I'd recommend it. They have a corn maze in the summer, and a pumpkin give-away in the fall.

Today is just a relaxing day. We went to church this morning, did some cleaning, and will go to yoga and Easter dinner at Samba tonight (gotta use up a Groupon before it expires tomorrow!). Tomorrow begins the final push before our trip to ARVO. Have a good Sunday, all.

*Well, I didn't have to shovel any poo... Probably couldn't get $10 a person if poo shoveling was involved.

Why Marathon?

2011-04-22T05:54:00.001-05:00

A couple weeks ago, Michael from WhyMarathon e-mailed me to ask if I'd be willing to exchange a link to the WM site for a free shirt. While most of the blog world feels that freebies are sooooooo 2008, my blog is stuck back in 2008, so I said, "Heck yeah. And can you explain how to put a link to your site on my blog? In the blogroll? Okay, gotcha."

Sure enough I got the shirt in the mail a few later.

It's pretty nice but big enough on me to be a dress. I actually put it on with a tights and a belt to take a funny picture, but honestly it was embarrassing to both me and the good people at WhyMarathon so I ditched the idea. Even though I can't wear it, I did pass on the shirt to someone who will put it to good use.

So why WhyMarathon? What's that all about? I did go check out the site before I agreed to link to them. I wanted to make sure that the answer wasn't, "Because it's a great warm-up for knocking over the all-night Taco Bell." The WhyMarathon film crew travels around to races and asks finishers- from the winners to first timers- why they do what they do. The 1.5-ish minute responses looked like they were going to be very Motivational and Inspirational. That made me nervous. I'm not really into the whole "power of the human spirit" thing. I think people who do too much introspection should get a second job, and the last three times I cried all involved banging a body part into furniture during late-night trips to the bathroom. However, I know plenty of other people who are into that kind of thing, so I thought I'd put the link out there for them.

But when I started to write this review, I thought, "You know, I really should actually watch a few of the videos." Just for research purposes of course. A few videos later and I was hooked. The 1.5 minute length is perfect. It's long to feel like you've gotten to "know" the person in the video but short enough to be ADD and watch a whole bunch of different videos in a row. I went from the woman who won a marathon 4 months after giving birth to the 18-year old guy who finished his 1st marathon sub 2:40 to the doctor who ran in honor of a patient suffering from ALS to the guy who was REALLY REALLY REALLY excited that he just finished Boston. About 5 videos in I realized that I'd watched 5 videos (I was planning to watch like... 2), and that even though they were Inspirational and Motivational, they were genuine and not saccharine. Watching a couple of these would definitely get you pumped up for a big race or even a though workout. My only complaint is that they don't have many interviews with women. However, they are actively interviewing people at races so ladies, if you see the WM film crew, stop and do an interview. We've gotta represent.

I have not been compensated in any way for my review (other than a shirt that I gave away because it didn't fit), but I honestly think the site is a neat idea*. It's Inspirational and Motivational for those of you who like that sort of thing, and it's interesting from an oral history perspective for those of you who will never admit to crying for a reason other than almost losing a toe to the dresser.

*If anyone with $$$ out there is listening, I'm not opposed to being compensated for... nearly anything that won't get me divorced or fired from my job. This ugly blog layout is not going to change itself!

*****************

For further proof that I met the internet devil at the cross-roads at midnight see my interview here about running in Wisconsin. I should note that I actually have no desire to run a race with Daniel. I just couldn't come up with any other answer to that question. Who would I run a race with? Jesus? Probably would be against me trying to pass blind people. Kara Goucher? Probably couldn't run as slow as me even if we had run a race while she was actively in labor with her son. Usain Bolt? I don't really like chicken McNuggets. So sorry, D, you got thrown under the bus for that one.

When setting goals

2011-04-20T05:52:00.000-05:00

It's best to set at least a few that you area already 99.5% sure you can accomplish.

I give you... tripod headstand:

Even though my form is crummy- I'm basically using the weight of my butt to counterbalance the weight of the rest of my legs- I was able to balance long enough for Daniel to, "Get some pictures- and make sure one is from the side so everyone knows my feet aren't touching the wall."

Yep... this is what people do when it's too miserable to go outside. Yesterday and today are what I *hope* are winter's last kick in the teeth. The walk to and from the bus ride to my piano lesson involved no less than snow, rain, slushy (Does anyone know what the real name for this is? Is it just "wintry mix"? Some of you must know what I'm talking about. It's where it looks like there's big chunky snowcone ice all over the ground.), hail and thunder snow. While I was waiting for the bus, there was a particularly loud rumble of thunder, and I overheard this exchange:

Undergrad1: That doesn't normally happen.. does it?
Undergrad2: Nah, bro.

Even though it's not so bad right now, I'm glad to be going to the gym. Where's my spring???? Bring back my spring!!!!

Dear The Weather,

2011-04-19T08:24:00.000-05:00

We regret to inform you that there is a mistake in your Page-A-Day calendar. The entry for November 19 was accidentally duplicated and inserted in your calendar in place today's entry for April 19. Here is a copy of the the correct page if you'd like to print it for your use.

So your agenda items should include this

and this.

Instead of this

That's snow on the roof.

and this.

More snow

We regret any inconvenience this error may have caused. We are still the leader in calendars, planners, and stationery for natural phenomenon, and we hope you will continue to use our Page-a-Day calendars in the future.

Thank you,

The Management

11 in 101

2011-04-18T05:55:00.001-05:00

First off, good luck to MM and everyone running Boston today. Hope you have beautiful weather and a great run!

Thinking about everything that has to happen in the next two weeks before I leave for a conference in Ft. Lauderdale is intimidating. It seems almost impossible that in 30 days I will have prepared for and gone to the conference, come back, finished up projects, and be on vacation. I know it will all get done, but wow. So, riffing off of an idea from Sarah, riffing off the 101 in 1001 meme, I present 11 things that will get done or I want to do in the next 101 days*:

1. Finish my poster, analyses for a co-worker's poster, and analyses for my boss's talk, fly to Ft. Lauderdale for a week and participate in a conference
2. Attempt a 120lb (bodyweight) bench press
3. Go on vacation and visit family and friends in TN and NC
4. Celebrate my 5th wedding anniversary

I like this picture of us despite the fact that it has a random
arm in it and that I'm officially as pale as my dress.

5. Finish analyses for two papers

6. Do a 150lb deadlift

7. Do a tripod headstand

8. Finish reading the Bible and create a guide to the Old Testament for my church small group
9. Invite at least one of two couples who live in our apartment complex to have dinner
10. Attempt a 30-day blogging challenge
11. Learn to play a pop song on the piano

Now it is time to inhale some applesauce, bundle up, and head to the gym. What will you accomplish in the next 101 days? Work goals? Personal goals? Fabulous vacations? Feats of speed and/or strength?

* By July 28, 2011

Bird watching

2011-04-17T09:38:00.000-05:00

Last Thursday while I was getting some software updated on my computer, I looked outside and noticed two swans were swimming in ponds out by the marching band/ ultimate Frisbee field. We get birds- including cool stuff like swans and cranes but mostly just nasty geese- passing through on their way north for the summer. So I grabbed Kerri and another coworker and we braved the weather to check out the swans.

They were so beautiful and didn't seem to be bothered by people watching them. I took about 10 pictures.

Kerri brought her binoculars to get a closer look.

Although you can't tell from the pictures, the feathers were incredibly detailed.

Even though it was windy and gross outside, the swans just swam around the ponds peacefully... impervious to us... to the guy chasing geese off the flag football field with a net... not even moving their heads at all...

Because- as we realized after 5 full minutes of oohing and ahhing- they were fake. Those incredibly detailed feathers? I guess you can do a lot with plastic these days. The groundskeepers must have put then in the ponds to scare away other birds. I'm guessing it will work because they sure fooled us.

Leaving nature alone, Friday night Daniel and I went over to check out the opening of the new UW Union South.

It's pretty fancy. There's a bowling alley, a rock climbing wall, a movie theater, food court type restaurants, a bar/grill, concert space, and offices and meeting rooms. Daniel is happy that he will be able to cut through it to get from the computer science building to the engineering building during the winter.

It was pretty packed, but we were able to catch a free showing of The Social Network. Although I was obviously not a computer science major at Harvard, the movie did take me back to my undergrad days in the early 2000s. The whole idea of spending a Friday evening watching a movie at the student union was reminiscent of Gator Nights. I thought the movie was pretty good, but I did have a hard time watching any part with Justin Timberlake in it and not thinking "Hey! That's Justin Timberlake! Wow! Justin Timberlake is in this movie!" Daniel didn't like the message it gave that good and innovative computer science is all about hacking and binge drinking and twizzlers. But he did say they got the parts about Mt. Dew and Asian girls right. He also plans to start writing all the solutions to problems he's working on on the window.

Skipping ahead to today...
It's 9:30am on Sunday, and I have the whole day ahead with no obligations. Normally we'd be going to church now, but Daniel went in to work on a paper he's submitting to a conference on Thursday, and we've already heard the sermon so I decided to stay home.

On the agenda:

Update the blog
Apply to a summer fruit/veg and a meat CSA - I've done the research. Now I just have to get the printer to work
Go through our "in box" and deal with mail, etc.
1 hour Dave Farmar yoga podcast
Practice the piano
Figure out what I'm going to bake for our church group meeting tomorrow night
Walk to the store (I have the car, but it's beautiful out!) to get ingredients
Update our budget
Get lunch stuff ready for the week

If there's time:

Work on my afghan while watching a movie/ Pushing Daisies?
Do some vacation research?

Hope everyone in NC is doing alright after the crazy storms yesterday. Get out there and enjoy some nature!

T-shirt Scarf

2011-04-13T05:50:00.000-05:00

I had some old t-shirts that had sentimental value that were not going to last much longer at their current rate of use. I wanted some way to preserve them but still be able to wear them. I've seen t-shirt quilts before, but I didn't have enough that I thought "went together" to make a quilt. Awhile ago, I was thumbing through an Uncommon Goods catalog, and I saw this t-shirt scarf, and thought it would be the perfect solution. If only I were good at sewing... I mean, I could probably throw something together if I wasn't worried about doing "do-overs", but I didn't want to wreck my stuff in the name of a Sunday afternoon experiment.

So I turned to Etsy to see if anyone made them. After some poking around, I found Laura's shop: Banoonoos. She pre-makes scarves to sell but indicated that she'd do custom orders. After some discussion, I sent my shirts, and very soon after, I had a new scarf (for only $15 plus the cost of shipping).

The shirts are all from our days in Albuquerque: three running shirts (one of which was made of tech material), a snowshoe race shirt, and a shirt from a trip I took with our church. Laura did a beautiful job preserving the logos on the front. I really manhandled it putting it on to take the picture, and all the stitching felt sturdy. It's also thick and warm enough to be useful.

You can still see almost all of the print when its on. If I were going to wear it "for real" I'd pair it with jeans and a plain colored long sleeved shirt.

I have no financial incentive to write this review. I did think it was a neat idea that some of you might be interested in, and I am truly happy with it and wanted to give Laura some free advertising.

And with that, I'm going to go deadlift 145lbs. What a great way to start a Wednesday.

Guess who did a pull-up this morning?!?

2011-04-11T08:34:00.000-05:00

Me!!!!!! I've been trying to do one for about forever. Even last night when Daniel and I were walking, I made an attempt at the pull-up bars and was able to pull myself up until my chin reached the bar, but I had to give a kick to get my chin up and over it. This morning, I walked into the gym and decided to give it another go as a warm-up. That's when the magic happened. I jumped up and grabbed the bar (and then let myself back down so my arms were fully extended- we're all about good form around here) and *did a pull-up*. I was so shocked that I did another one just to be sure. I think the main difference between this morning and yesterday afternoon is that the bar at the gym is thinner than the bar outside, so it's easier for me to get a good grip. Regardless, it still counts! I actually did a few more throughout my workout just to make sure I wasn't hallucinating, and yep, I can do a pull-up.

Now with 80% less funk

2011-04-10T14:41:00.001-05:00

Good funk:

Bad funk:

Nasty.

Ewwwwww... this is what happens when you and everyone who comes to visit you takes off their snow boots in the same place for six months. It feels pointless to clean it when ever day brings another layer of sludge, but fortunately, maybe, possibly we are beyond all that for awhile, so it was time for scrub-a-thon 2011.

The lineoleum is old so it doesn't *look* that much cleaner, but I guarantee you, it is.

Whew.

I'd say I was doing spring cleaning, but it really feels more like summer. It was beautiful yesterday, but the weather is about to go all Wizard of Oz on us this afternoon.

Eeek.

Our indoor/outdoor thermometer is confused:

Indoors: 76.4 (that'll be fun for sleeping tonight); outdoors: who knows?
What is this "warm weather" you speak of?

I wish I could say I spent the day outside, working on my tan, but it's already windy and thundery. So instead I played Miss Domestic (Servant) and cleaned (see above) and cooked lasagna for our neighbors who just had a baby

Cheese-a-licious

While I'm on a roll, I'll share my #1 (and only) cleaning tip with you: Denture cleaner will clean anything. Well, I haven't taught it how to vacuum, but every week we soak our dish drier and my water bottle in hot water with a few Target brand denture cleaner tablets, and it clears up all the hard water and general gunk that builds up.

So fresh and so clean, clean.

Now it's time for straight chillin'. And hoping we don't get hit by a tornado. And finding the fan for the bedroom. Please deposit any lazy cleaning tips you have in the comments section.

Signs of Spring

2011-04-08T05:51:00.000-05:00

Is it here? Could spring really *finally* be here? Let's consult the checklist.

Has it snowed in the last week? Yes, BUT if all goes well for the next four hours, the answer will be NO!!

All gone!

Have you gone outside without a jacket? No, but I've gone outside with only a single jacket rather than having to wear multiple sub-jackets. And... we are forecast for highs in the 70's!!!!!!! this weekend.
Is the current temperature below freezing? NO! It's 40 degrees before 6am. Heat wave!
Are there signs of animal life? YES! The birds are singing. The raccoons are coming out of hibernation in the storm drains. The geese are stopping traffic.

They live there. Too creepy.

Not my picture. I wasn't fast enough to get
a picture of a goose stopping traffic both ways on my
way home from work.

Have you considered not wearing wool socks? Not quite yet, but I'm getting a pedicure this afternoon (and a hair cut) so there is the possibility of me not wearing socks.
Is the heater off yet? Ha! Not until May.
Are there flowers blooming? Um... there are green things poking out of the ground. I think that's what a plant is... It's been so long.
Have you opened a window? YES! Now I can enjoy a cool evening breeze and keep the smoke alarm from going off while I burn dinner.

Raise your hand if you're glad it's not winter any more. Put your hand down, and get out there and enjoy it. Any other signs of spring you're glad to see? It's been a long week (but productive) week at work, and I'm excited to start the weekend a little early this afternoon. YAY for warm weather.

Stupid Internet Wednesday

2011-04-06T05:56:00.000-05:00

We had our BIG MEETING at work yesterday, and it was a success. I wasn't actually involved in the presentation, but it's still a huge relief to have it over. Which makes it the perfect time for some dumb humor.

This one's been going around for awhile, but it still cracks me up:

Instead of using the microwave for making dinner like I normally do, last night it was the stage for an epic battle- MORTAL PEEP FIGHT.

Here are our two contestants in Peep Joust 2011. I've got my money on the one on the left.

Sadly, our microwave has this anti-fun screen so you can't really see how massive they got. Also, it would have been easier to see which one "won" if they were different colors.

Definitely not as good as the original:

Have a good Wednesday, kids.

Re-boot

2011-04-04T05:59:00.000-05:00

The weekend always goes by too fast, but I think I'm ready to get back at it.

Breakfasts and lunches are ready for the week.
Work clothes and gym clothes are out and/or packed.
I've got 8 minutes before I have to throw them on before I catch the bus for the gym.
I actually made a decent dinner for us last night for the first time in awhile:

Baked salmon + asparagus ala Real Simple

I'm pumped up to rock 5 reps at 95lbs (that's a 25 on each side!) on the bench press at the gym this morning.
And then I'm planning to work from about 7:45am-6:30pm, which I know a lot of you do regularly, but it's going to be a long day for me.
But at 7pm I'm going to a work dinner at a Thai restaurant down the street.
And then I get to turn around and be back at work at 7am tomorrow for our BIG MEETING.
Daniel's alarm is going off, which is my cue to get dressed, pack up, and head out the door.

Have a good Monday, all.

Still here

2011-04-03T08:20:00.000-05:00

Wow, it was a busy week at the statistics ranch, and it looks like it will continue to be that way until the beginning of May. I feel like I only have so much brain power, and when I spend all day frantically trying to herd SAS output into Excel tables, I don't have much left over for blogging. Plus it makes me feel really boring. So yeah... I've been a bad blogger, blog reader, and commenter, and I'm not expecting that to improve much over the next month. But you, dear reader, I still love your blog. I promise I'm not neglecting you, even if I'm too boring to come up with a good comment.

There have been a few fun and/or interesting things that happened in the past week.

Not my actual carotid artery, but that's
what it looked like.

1. I got to see a part of my anatomy that few people have seen before: my carotid artery. One of our sister studies is doing carotid IMT measurements on participants, and they needed volunteers to get some practice images, so I signed up. Basically, they ultrasound both sides of your neck to look for plaque buildup in the artery before and after it splits in two. I'd never had an ultrasound done before so I was surprised by how uncomfortable it was. Not painful or anything but on the order of getting your teeth cleaned. One side went pretty quickly and easily and gave a nice image like the one to the right, but my bifurcation (where the artery splits) on my right side was really high, so the examiner had to ram the ultrasound wand up under my jaw to try to get a good image. But it was worth it to watch the video they captured of my heartbeat and see the blood pulse through the artery. Yay, science.

2. In what sounds like a plot from The Office, I carpooled to Appleton on Friday night to see the opening of an art exhibit a coworker put together at Lawrence University (which is beautiful, BTW). I know nothing about art, so I don't have much to say about the whole thing, but I really liked some of the pieces and it was fun to do something different.

3. But we got home really late on Friday night and I decided to skip going to race in Black Earth. It was a beautiful day, and I wanted to chill and enjoy the sunshine and just do my normal long run around town. Between travel and other commitments, I don't have any other races on the schedule for this spring, so I'm going to let my training happen as it will and take advantage of the opportunity to do more yoga and strength work.

4. Despite the snow storm we had on Friday (nature's cruel April Fool's joke) it seems like it's genuinely trying to be spring now. We are forecast to crack the 60s this week and are finally getting a meaningful amount of sunshine. Little green things (flowers? I think I remember what those are.) are starting to sprout.

Time to get moving! Hope you have a relaxing Sunday.

Anti-mindfulness

2011-03-27T08:33:00.000-05:00

I have a yin yoga DVD that's 70-minutes of hard core hip stretching. You hold the poses for several minutes each. It's intense, and I feel like it helps my recovery after a long run, but... it's kind of boring after you do it a few times. So yesterday I turned it on with the volume on just high enough that I knew when to change the poses and did the routine while reading a book and drinking a Diet Mt. Dew. I actually liked it a lot better that way.

I'm also trying to ignore the fact that the weather has gone all winter on us again. That rain I was complaining about on Wednesday? That turned out to be a mini ice storm. And yesterday there was the following exchange at the computer science welcome weekend pizza party I crashed:

Prospective Student: So is there anything bad about Wisconsin?
Me: Um... the fact that it's snowing on March 26...

Despite the fact that it was 10 degrees with the wind chill when I left for my long run yesterday, it went really well. I upped the intensity by running 10 minutes easy and then picking up the pace for 20 minutes and repeating until I was done. I finished 12 miles (including the long hill up to my apartment complex) in 1:47:27, which was an 8:57min/mile overall pace and may be the fastest I've ever done a long run. All the "fast" portions were done between 8:30 and 8:40 min/mile pace.

The weather should be much less craptacular for the next week. We're climbing back up to highs in the 40s (and 50s!!!), and there's not too much rain on the horizon. I'm excited for next Saturday when I'll be running the Black Earth 10-miler for the first time. Should be a beautiful day.

Time to get off the computer and get ready for church. Hope you have a relaxing Sunday!

Madison... the Seattle of the Midwest

2011-03-22T05:52:00.000-05:00

Snow, thunder snow, wintry mix, sleet, freezing rain, and just plain old rain- the kind we're getting right now. It seems like there's always some kind of precipitation going on up here. Fortunately this is a gym morning (tomorrow I get to decide if high 30s is too cold to run in the rain), and it was slightly windy but dry for my interval run yesterday. It wasn't the greatest run in the world, but I'm feeling better about my paces now that I know that 1km is 0.62mi, not 0.65mi, which is what I was running. I did 8mi total with 1k, 2k, 1k, 1k fast. My splits for the 1k were just above the 1k paces shown on McMillan so I'm thinking the extra seconds were due to the 0.03mi extra I ran. Or at least I'm going to just keep telling myself that :).

As of 4:45 when I went home yesterday, a big project at work was heading out the door. I had the dreads about going back yesterday after my long weekend in Chillsville, but it was actually a non-stressful and productive day.

We did go back to Bach around the Clock on Saturday, and I got a picture of Daniel's* radio debut:

Bach cello suites arranged for electric guitar was well received. We also got to hear a few other talented pianists and a classical guitarist while we were there.

The "make your own takeout" theme of the week continues with Saturday night's dinner, my favorite looks-disgusting-tastes-delicious Indian dish, palak paneer. It follows the rule that if you put enough cheese/barbecue sauce/catsup/ranch dressing/seasoning (in this case) on anything, it will taste good. Spinach + yogurt + paneer cheese + spice pack from Indian grocery = tasty.

Last night we actually followed a recipe from an old Cooking Light for shrimp pad Thai. It wasn't Chopstix, but I also didn't have to wait for 2 hours to get it.

And finally, another non-take out slow cooker winner, from Real Simple- Sunday's dinner- creamy chicken and ~~biscuits~~ dumplings. Easy, tasty, and with plenty of leftovers for dinner tonight.

And sadly it's time for me to see if I can get my raincoat to stretch over my jacket and my backpack so I don't get soaked going to and from the gym and work. It's really coming down... sad face.

*streaming online

Oh sunshine, I love you. I love you. I love you.

2011-03-19T17:41:00.000-05:00

I love you. Vitamin D. I love you, too. I feel like I understand tanning booth addictions now. Oh to be able to lay out in the sun and feel warm all over*. Ahhhhh... that would be great.

Today has been a wonderfully relaxing day. I love having a second Saturday. Daniel and I slept in, then went to the gym to do weights, had lunch out, went onto campus to check out the art museum (eh, I give it a grade C+/B), walked over to the campus Presbyterian church where the local public radio station is hosting Bach Around The Clock to celebrate Bach's birthday**, got an ice cream cone at Babcock, came back home and talked to my parents. As soon as I'm done with this post I'm going to chill out and read my Cooking Light that just came in the mail.

Speaking of cooking, the theme of the weekend/next week is "make your own takeout" starting with butter chicken using a spice mix we bought from an Indian grocery store last week. It was tasty but ended up being so spicy we really couldn't eat much of the sauce. Mmmmm, plate of red stuff.

*Note- I do not actually try to tan- mostly because I don't, I just burn- and if I ever do spend any kind of quality time in the sun I wear way more than SPF XXV.

** We're going back tonight after 8:30 so the guitar master can play some lute music on his electric guitar.

Whew

2011-03-18T15:46:00.000-05:00

It's the weekend. I'm still sleepy and have been kind of a bum all day. I did rally a bit on Thursday morning- when I stared writing this post yesterday the "whew" was about how much better I felt after a good night's sleep- but it was still a drag to get up at normal time this morning to squeeze in a long run first thing.

Don't want to be like this guy- even if he's lucky
enough to be at the beach.

The good news is that the run went well. It wasn't freezing, and I didn't fear being blown away by crazy March wind.
We are finally starting to see signs of spring. A lot of the snow has melted, and the birds are back, including the surly geese. I already saw one go after a woman on the bike path yesterday. This was only my second double digit run of 2011 (I think) but I felt strong the whole way. I tried running 10 minutes easy then 20 minutes harder and finished in 1:50 - a little slower than I would have liked, but I guess I'm still recovering from the DST and last week's race combo.

One last thing- I wanted to give some food link love to last month's Real Simple (which has recipes from the magazine online here). Whatever you want to say about the rest of the magazine, the recipes are almost always truly simple and tasty. Last month the feature was my favorite "I don't want anything but taking off my shoes to stand between me and eating dinner when I get home" appliance: the slow cooker. One "bad" thing about many slow cooker recipes is that you actually have to cook everything before you slow cook it. This probably makes things taste better, but it often defeats the purpose. Both recipes we tried out (plus the others in the issue) were assemble + on. Now I'm laughing because true to the "feed me now" nature of these dishes, I only got a picture of one before it was devoured; however, I assure you the chipole beef tacos (which we actually made with the other 1/2 of the pork roast we bought for the stir fry dish) were taste tested and approved.

Asian pork with snow peas, red peppers, and soba noodles:

Zzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzz

2011-03-16T05:41:00.000-05:00

Raise your hand if you are still having a hard time adjusting to the time change. Every part of me from my brain down feels tired. This week at work has been super busy getting ready to send out materials for a big meeting we have in the beginning of April, and I've been busy the last two evenings* so as soon as I get home it's time to turn around and do it all over again. We have a furlough day on Friday, which means one less day to get everything done at work, but man, I could really use an extra day of sleep past 4:30am.

But- there have been good things going on outside of work. Yesterday we had an impromptu dinner out at Hubbard to celebrate Daniel being offered a summer intern position at the Google office in Madison, and - as it turned out- Pi Day. Hubbard makes delicious pies and the restaurant was slammed because they were offering a special $3.14/slice price. We had to take our slices (one key lime, one mint Oreo) to go because we were late to a meeting, but I can confirm that my half of the mint Oreo slice was delicious even a day later (and I'm sure key lime will be the same way tonight).

My motivation to exercise has been low since the race. I ended up taking Monday completely off except for some stretching, but yesterday I had a good upper body lifting workout despite feeling like I was going to fall asleep on my feet.** I rocked the assisted pull-up machine, working up to a set of a few with only 10lbs offset, so I think I'm ready to start doing some less than full range pull-ups on the regular bar. I rearranged my lifting schedule for the next few weeks, and I need to update that on my weight training page. This morning I'm going to go out in the dark again (why did we have to go back on DST so early????????????) for an easy run of undetermined length.

I want to start posting about cooking again- we've made some good stuff out last month's Real Simple- and about the fun spring clothes I bought last weekend (thanks, Mom and Mom M.), but I only have so much brain power and it seems my body is hording it for use between 8 and 5.

*Ugh- it took my almost an hour to get home yesterday because the bus is on recess schedule for spring break and I missed the last one before it went on the every 45 min schedule after my piano lesson and I had to walk all the way home from the music building. Bascom hill 2x in one week is at least 1x too many.

**or on the reverse fly machine, which I actually saw someone do once

Shamrock Shuffle 2011 Race Report

2011-03-13T16:42:00.000-05:00

Subtitled: After this I'm going to take a nap. Or I would if it weren't already 4:15pm.

I was excited about doing this race because it's my first test of fitness after a long winter on the treadmill, ice skating around campus, and having long runs restricted to less than an hour and a half so I didn't die of exposure. Also- despite the mega hill at the very beginning and end of the course - this race has been good to me. You can read past race reports here and here.

Daniel and I got up at 6 new time this morning because we had to be downtown to do set-up at church at 7am. I came dressed in my running gear and had a good warm-up lugging things around, setting up folding chairs, stuffing bulletins, etc. I snarfed down a bagel at 8am when the pastor showed up with them. We're probably technically not supposed to eat until all the work is done, but I wanted to have as much time to digest as I could before the start of the race. We finished with everything by 9am and I headed out to the race start while Daniel stayed for the service.

I met up with Jamie, Kerri, and Linda (who make me wish my first name started with an I or an M) where we took pictures (well, I didn't take any pictures but I hope to snag some from them). We chatted, wished each other good luck, and headed for the starting line. I got up pretty close to the front. Not the very front, but I decided to be gutsy and let myself be in the position where I'm the one being passed, not the one dodging slow people for the first mile. It was fairly cold in the wind, and I didn't regret wearing tights, three tops, a pair of gloves and a pair of mittens.

The race starts with a slight downhill, turns, and you hit the first big hill. Up, up, up, then down, then up up again and a long down hill. This is the easy way over the hill and I hit the first mile at 8:00. Unfortunately this and the second mile are the only splits I know because I accidentally set my GPS to record only the time and not the distance or pace. The second and third miles are flat and familiar territory for me. I hit mile marker 2 at 15:17 and the 5k turn around at 23:54. At that point I started looking for the other gals. I missed Jamie, but I saw Linda and Kerri both going strong. I was still feeling good and my goal was not to push too hard before hitting the hill again. We crossed mile 5 and it was up up up again. This is the hard, steep way. You feel like you're only doing slightly better running than walking. But then you get to come down down down the other side. You turn another corner and there's the last .2 miles on a straight way. This is the only part of the race I was disappointed with. I really should have started my kick to the end as soon as I saw the finish line. In the past I'd had problems starting my final kick too early and nearly blowing ~~chunks~~ up right before the finish line. But I'm in better shape now, and I need to work on pushing harder from farther back and gutting it out to the finish line.

In the end my time was 48:07 (coulda woulda shoulda on those 8 seconds). Even that wouldn't have been a PR, but I would have liked to see 47:XX again. I think part of the problem was that I couldn't see a clock as I was coming down the last straight away. Seeing it tick toward 48min might have inspired me to push it out a little harder. In any case, it was a course PR by 1:23min from last year and- if my fatigue is a good indicator- a hard effort from me. I have some longer distance runs on my schedule for the rest of the spring, but I'm feeling motivated to scope out more 10ks for the rest of the year. It really is my favorite distance.

Have a great Sunday, all!

Mini Taper

2011-03-10T05:44:00.000-06:00

Yesterday was my last "real run" of the week before the race Sunday, and sadly it was on the treadmill again. We got about 6 unexpected inches of snow Tuesday night, and it was still snowing pretty hard by the time I caught the bus on Wednesday morning. Fortunately it warmed up a lot, and the sidewalks and roads are clear again. For now*. We are forecast for rain/snow on Saturday, but hopefully the course won't be too icy. Can I say it again? I'm sick of winter!

So is this guy- for sure.

But running has been good. Monday I ran 6x400m (outside!) in 1:43, 1:46, 1:39, 1:47, 1:40 and 1:47. I went back and forth over the same stretch of ground, and, although it looks totally flat, you can see from my splits that there was definitely an easy way and a hard way. Tuesday I did weights but backed off any really heavy lifting, and yesterday was 8mi fairly easy on the gym treadmill. I'm back at the gym this morning for more higher rep, lower weight upper body work and maybe an easy 2 or 3 miles depending on my time. I'll rest tomorrow with maybe some easy yoga, 4mi easy on Saturday, and ready to run fast (and hopefully not slip and roll down Observatory Hill) Sunday.

*And hopefully our snow clearing public employees are not going to go on strike.

Spring cleaning

2011-03-09T05:58:00.000-06:00

Good thing I started this post on Sunday when it wasn't dropping buckets of snow. Otherwise I would have titled it perpetual winter cleaning.

We have entered this long winter/spring season where it's not sooo cold that you can only wear your warmest clothing, but it's not warm enough to put the sweaters away for good. I don't have a huge amount of closest space, so in the past I've put my off season clothes in Tupperware bins under the bed. But then I spend all "sprwinter" digging things out because of a cold or warm day. So I decided it was time to get everything out from under the bed and into the closet or my dresser for good. And because space is so limited, I needed to do some serious thinking about what I should keep and what could be sold or donated.

Before- winter style. Scarves, hoodies, everything all crammed together.

Everything laid out for consideration. Winter stuff on the bed; spring stuff in the bins.

Blank canvas. Kind of reminds you of a dorm room closet, no?

The finished product. I hung up all my summer dresses with my dress pants (right). Camisoles, sweaters (by color) and purses in the middle, and tops and light jackets on the left. Shoes on the bottom.

Pants, shorts and hangout sweatshirts were moved to a drawer. Yes, my side of the bed is kind of a deathtrap.

Warm weather/ gym workout clothes were consolidated to one drawer.

And this was one of the biggest differences. PJs, hang out t-shirts and socks went in one drawer. That meant parting with a lot of random race t-shirts. I wear technical tops from races (as long as they aren't too big), but I rarely ever wear the t-shirts. Goodbye!

Cold weather running clothes. They get their own drawer, too.

I also tried to make better use of our hall closet. I hung up my scarves in there so I could actually see them, rather than have them crammed in between items in our bedroom closet.

The "try to resell" piles. I made about $75 last fall reselling some clothes that I really didn't wear, so I'm going to try my luck again. Goodbye blue petite length pants. Why did I buy you and wear you for 2.5 years? You were way too short.

And the donate pile. Goodbye Tevas from my freshman year of college. You have been wet so many times, your bands give me hot spots when I wear you.

It really is nice to be able to see all my clothes all at once. For one, it dispelled any notions that I didn't have much to wear.

Second, I'm planning to hit up a big sale at ATL on Saturday (30% off everything plus I have a gift card from Christmas), and it gave me some idea of what I might really need. I'm good on tops, but I actually only have two pairs of non-jean summer weight pants, so I'm thinking these guys look pretty versatile. Another possibility is some new capri pants. I have two pairs that I really like and have worn forever, but I bought them when I was about 10lbs heavier so while they technically fit, I really put the drawstring to work. Depending on prices, etc. I'd like to try to find at least one whole outfit- maybe with a top with long sleeves that is not a solid colored sweater? I'm never very good at putting things together, and I end up being the queen of solids.

I'll definitely have show and tell when I get back. For now it's time for yet another snowy trudge out to the bus and a spin on the treadmill.

This one is for the books

2011-03-05T15:43:00.000-06:00

My run this morning was so bad that I'd like to submit this blog post as a monograph to The Annals of Horrible Runs.

First off, winter needs to end. Like yesterday. It rained yesterday and snowed last night so it was super icy. But not in the giant chunks of ice covering the sidewalk kind of icy. It was the invisible, every single inch of pavement is suddenly slick kind of icy. And despite the air temperature being above freezing, the wind coming off the lake was brutal. I under-dressed a bit after having over dressed on Thursday, and it was a huge mistake. My hands were freezing the whole time. If sticking your hands in ice water is an accurate prediction of how long you can stand labor with out an epidural, I'm confirmed good at 1.5 hours. The only thing that got me through 9 miles was the knowledge that I probably ate about 9 miles worth calories of chips and salsa Friday night. I guess I should be sensitive to people who can't run at all right now for whatever reason. I mean- at least I got out there, right? No. Not this run.

At least this next week is looking warmer and drier. It'll be interesting to see how my race goes next weekend since I have no endurance base. I've only completed one double digit run since the end of November/beginning of December. Yikes. Not much I can do about it now.

Hope you're having a good Saturday. I'm going to go kick back and be lazy until time to make dinner.

Statz

2011-03-04T05:57:00.000-06:00

You'd think- being a statistician and all- that I would have found and explored the stats for my blog before. However, I have the posting page bookmarked and had never done much exploring in the dashboard section... until yesterday.

The top 4 exciting things I learned about my blog's readership are:

4. The post with the most pageviews of all time features my messy desk drawer and terrible handwriting.

3. In the last month I got traffic unprofessionalrunner, a blog I've never visited. (Thanks! I'll have to check your blog out on my lunch break.)

2. In the last month, one person found my blog using the phrase "had to pee the whole time." (That's the worst!)

1. In the last week, I've had 4 pageviews from the Isle of Man (Looks really beautiful there!)

And speaking of stats, I had some great ones from my tempo run yesterday. I warmed up with a mile, ran 5mi in 8:21, 8:19, 8:02, 7:59, 7:54, and then cooled down with two more for a total of 8mi in 1:10:27. It broke my heart to look at my watch at the end of the run because I totally could have finished in less than 1:10 (which would have been an 8mi training run time PR), but I had to walk a little bit in our apartment complex on the way home because there were still a few sidewalk glaciers around. I was concerned while I was doing this run that it was not going so great. My legs were tired from lifting on Wednesday, and I overdressed and got really hot in the middle of the run. In fact, I glanced at my watch at the end of mile 4 and saw the "59" and was afraid I'd run an 8:59, so I was pretty happy and relieved there was a 7 out in front.

It is raining now and is supposed to snow tonight so I have no idea what conditions are going to be like for running tomorrow morning. I'd love to get in one more long (at least double digit) training run before my 10k next weekend, but we'll see if Mother Nature cooperates.

Happy Friday!

What a tease

2011-03-02T05:44:00.000-06:00

The weather. Seriously. After a cold, snowy weekend, we had a beautiful day yesterday- high of 40!- and today we are back at "feels like 9" with a high of 20.

Fortunately I was able to take advantage of the warm weather yesterday to get in a good speed workout outside. I warmed up and did 6x800m with 2min rest in between. Interval times were 3:40, 3:42, 3:35, 3:38, 3:42, 3:41 min, which is off of the FIRST prescribed pace of 3:26 but in the McMillan range of 3:32- 3:42. Today is leg day at the gym and tomorrow I'm scheduled for 5mi tempo. It's going to be on the cold side again tomorrow, but that affects actual interval running more than tempo running. Plus it guarantees there won't be a massive thaw-freeze cycle to gunk up my sidewalks.

Work has been busy, but I feel like I'm keeping up with everything. I think leaving all my mental energy at the office makes me feel boring and less interested in coming up with fun and/or interesting post ideas. There is a lot to be done between now and the beginning of May.

Hoping you are someplace warmer than me...

Thank you

2011-02-28T05:51:00.000-06:00

My prayers for an outside run or two this week may have been answered. The wintry mix we were supposed to get yesterday and last night never came, the sidewalks are pretty clear, and the overnight lows are inching back up into the 20s. This morning is still a gym morning, but I'm hoping for a good outside run tomorrow.

I did try to take advantage of the inside weekend to start on a project I've wanted to work on for some time- a snowflake afghan. This is not for me- I still 85% hate snow- it's going to be a gift for a co-worker who has been amazingly wonderful and helpful to me the last 2.5 years and happens to love Christmas decorations. Although we still aren't exactly sure when Daniel will graduate, we know our time here is (probably) limited so starting the blanket now gives me awhile to actually finish the whole thing.

Here's the start. The first piece always takes the longest while you're figuring out what you are doing. I'm about 75% finished with the second one, but I had to rip out the second to last row because of a mistake.

And the pattern with the finished product:

Only 29.25 more snowflakes to go. I think that's do-able in the next couple years :).

Time to get ready to start another week!

Making it through

2011-02-27T07:25:00.000-06:00

Alas, I would have had a much better time running with these ladies yesterday, but I did get my act together for 8.2 cold, slow, slippery miles around campus. I had good intentions of sticking it out for 10, but honestly this run was not a lot of fun. By the time I was at 7mi, I was starting to get cold spots on my face and my IT band and hip were hurting from slipping on ice (even with my grippers) and I decided that was reason enough to finish up and go inside.

Proof that living green things and sun do exist.

BUT the weather is looking better this week- highs in the 30s and lows in the 20s with some snow/rain mixed in. Hopefully we've seen the last of "feels like 3" for the season.* My first spring race is in two weeks and I'd like to get in at least one more quality workout outside before that. Today is a rest day, and I'm planning to get in some yoga this afternoon.

Hope you have a relaxing Sunday, all.

*I keep saying things like that, and I keep being WRONG.

Motivation, where are you???? I need you????

2011-02-26T06:58:00.000-06:00

Remember the good old days- like last week- when it wasn't 12 degrees and there wasn't snow all over the roads? I was so excited about training for my first spring race. Now- blech- we are back in full on winter mode. It's 11- feels like 3- and there's just enough snow dusting the sidewalks and roads that I can't tell if I want to wear my grippers or not. I'm on schedule for 10 miles at 1/2 marathon pace + 20 seconds, but honestly I'll be happy with myself if I get out for 8 just plain old regular miles. And- at almost 7am- I need to get going because it takes 15 minutes to get dressed to run in weather like that.

We had a relaxing Friday evening starting with several impulse buys including a cool puzzle, a backgammon board, and two books at our nearby Borders going out of business sale and ending with this week's episodes of 30 Rock, Outsourced and Glee.

Other than running and a trip to the grocery store, today is an inside day. No fun trips downtown- for us anyway. Come back, spring!!!! Come back!!!!

Weight Training Page x 2

2011-02-24T05:51:00.000-06:00

Impressive- I can't even do that holding a broom stick.

Finished up the weight training page. Just saying I was going to post some max lifts (which for the most part aren't true maxes- just the most I've ever used in training) inspired me to try to move up on a few exercises. Today is another day back on the treadmill. I probably *could* run outside, but meh- it's still kind of icy out and I've already got all my stuff packed up to go to the gym. It has been a busy week at work, and I've had a hard time waking up this week. Bring on the weekend!

Weight Training Page

2011-02-23T05:59:00.001-06:00

I just created a new weight training page that details the plan I'm using. Check it out!

The ABCs of me

2011-02-22T05:43:00.000-06:00

Because otherwise I would just be complaining about the weather*

(A) Age: 28

(B) Bed Size: Queen

(C) Chore You Hate: Scrubbing the trash cans and getting bugs out of the lights (thanks, Daniel)

(D) Dogs: One day...

(E) Essential Start Your Day Item: Contact lenses

(F) Favorite Color: Purple

(G) Gold or Silver: Gold

(H) Height: 5’4” or 5'5"- you'd think I'd know this by now, but I've been measured as both- in bare feet.

(I) Instruments You Play: Learning to play the piano

(J) Job Title: Assistant (associate? I always forget that part) researcher. I'm a statistician in the ophthalmology department at the UW medical school.

(K) Kids: One day...

(L) Live: Madison, WI

(M) Mom’s Name: Mom

(N) Nicknames: Chels

(O) Overnight Hospital Stays: Tonsils out in '89

(P) Pet Peeve: People riding their bike or running in the road when there's a perfectly good bike and running path right next to it.

(Q) Quote from a Movie: It's such a fine line between stupid and clever. - David St. Hubbins (Spinal Tap)

(R) Right or Left Handed: Right

(S) Siblings: Brother, 3.5 years younger than me

(T) Time You Wake Up: Around 4:30am

(U) Underwear: Yes

(V) Vegetable You Dislike: Beets. Celery.

(W) What Makes You Run Late: Trying to do something productive with the 1.5 minutes until I actually have to leave.

(X) X-Rays You’ve Had Done: Teeth and foot... can't think of anything else.

(Y) Yummy Food You Make: I'm getting pretty good at chicken.

(Z) Zoo, Favorite Animal: Sloth

Thanks to Leslie for the idea.

Time to get ready for another treadmill run. I'm planning on doing a treadmill track workout instead of my scheduled FIRST interval run.

*The ice storm Sunday was pretty impressive. The trees were rattling in the wind when I was waiting for the bus yesterday, and Daniel had to body check my car door from the inside to get it open because it was frozen shut. It took like 20min to get the car de-iced to so we could go out last night.

RIP Running Outside

2011-02-21T05:28:00.000-06:00

At least for the next few days... Madison got slushied yesterday, and it's supposed to snow all day today*. Hopefully the roads will get cleaned up pretty soon, but I'm thinking that tomorrow will probably be a treadmill day. Even though I had a good weekend, this should be a busy week at work and I have generalized anxiety about going back. Meh, not much else to report. Might as well get a jump start on the day.

*Wintry mix ought to be the name of a Christmas party snack food, not a winter weather advisory.

It's a fine day for a protest

2011-02-20T07:20:00.000-06:00

Yesterday I finally got to go down and check out the protest. Many public employees (myself included) didn't leave their jobs to go downtown during the week, plus people were getting bussed in from out of town and there was supposed to be a counter protest so this was going to be The Big Day. When we got downtown at about 10:30am the crowds were still relatively small and focused on the State St. side of the capitol, but there was a steady stream of people coming down throughout the rest of the morning. We did see some pro-Walker protesters, but I'd guess they made up less than 10% of the people downtown, and- in true Wisconsin style- everyone was peaceful and polite.

We hung out for awhile, listening to some speakers, and then had lunch and walked back when the crowds would be larger. One thing the protest has been good for is business on State St.

When you are actually there, you really understand that the protest is not about the increased employee contributions to make up the budget deficit, it's about collective bargaining rights. In fact, all the unions, including teachers, have agreed to the financial part of the bill as long as unions still retain their bargaining rights (which costs the government nothing), but Walker will not agree to that. And if the governor does succeed in ending the collective bargaining rights we also lose something like $9million in federal money for the bus system.

Even with all the chanting and marching around, the crowd wasn't angry. You could almost imagine yourself at the farmer's market. And people showed that they still had a sense of humor.

This was also the week of the winter festival, and even though most of the events were cancelled, we did get to see this guy carving ice sculptures

Bucky Badger with skis

There will be protest events today and tomorrow- Monday is a state furlough day so workers will still be downtown- but we are hoping all will be back to normal by Tuesday.

Before the protest I got in a good 11.5mi long run. It was kind of cold and my legs were stiff, but I kept a decent pace through the whole run, averaging 9:27min/mile. I could have pushed myself more, but my right leg felt super tight toward the end. My shoes were pretty old (400-something miles on them), so I used a Groupon to a local running store to get a new pair yesterday.

All in all, a pretty exciting Saturday.

On Wisconsin!

2011-02-18T08:28:00.000-06:00

To the Clock Tower hotel in Rockford.

At least that's the rumor about where all our state assembly democrats are hanging out while the capitol continues on it's trip straight to Crazytown.

And crazy it has been. I started writing a post about the conflict, but it got long and rant-y pretty quick, and I know you don't want to read about how my heart bleeds for the children and the teachers and my paycheck. You can read about it from your new source of choice, but it's definitely been interesting for me because I've never experienced anything like this wild shut everything down, go protest, Democracy with a capital D before.

Unfortunately I've had a ton of work to do all week, so I haven't been out to the capitol, but I have asked my coworkers who have gone to shout things for me. Everything has been peaceful and orderly so far- the protesters have even stayed off the capitol lawn- just a lot of yelling and signs and stuff. Daniel has been twice, and he said the highlights from yesterday included two people dressed as Captain America, some high schoolers with their band instruments, and a guy who was sitting on a bench yelling, "And while you're at it, legalize marijuana!" Which is not to say the situation isn't serious. It is, and people are truly worried about the consequences if the bill passes.

It will certainly be interesting to see how things play out. A lot of other states have budget deficits, and I think the results will indicate whether other legislatures try to take on the unions or see if they can live without adding another lane to a highway.

In other totally unrelated news, I had a great 6-mi tempo run yesterday. It started off a little slow at 8:45, but the following miles were 8:33, 8:32, 8:23, 8:23, and BOOM 8:03. Looking forward to another good run tomorrow.

Happy Friday!

Run, run, run

2011-02-17T05:26:00.000-06:00

As many of you have probably already seen, the Boston Athletic Association has changed it's registration process for the 2012 Boston Marathon to favor faster athletes and has made the qualifying standard faster for both men and women. As someone who is very far from qualifying for Boston- even under the old standard- I think it was a good change. The race sold out almost immediately this year, and that's not fair to people who don't walk around attached to a computer. Boston is about being an "elite" race and the changes are in line with those goals. It pains me to say it, but the 3:40 women's standard was probably always too easy. If you want to read the perspective of someone who would get to register on the first day, Jess wrote a post about this yesterday.

I honestly don't know if I'll ever run Boston. The truth is that I like the idea of marathons a lot more than actually running them. I enjoy training for and running the 10k distance- maybe up to a 1/2 marathon- but I'm just not that into the super long life consuming training you have to do to be good at the marathon. Maybe I'm lazy, but that's just the way I feel about it. I'm sure I'll get sucked back into the "real runners run marathons" mindset again and do another one, but I'm not sure I'll every be good at them. As a side note, just because I don't think the marathon is for me doesn't mean I don't have a ton of respect for people who do love training for the distance and excel at it.

On that note, it's 40 degrees, and I'm about to head out for a 6mi tempo run. It's foggy, so here's hoping that most of the sidewalk glaciers are in their liquid form and that those that aren't will be easily visible.

Have a good Thursday, all. Only two more busy work days until the weekend!

Am I really in shape?

2011-02-16T05:40:00.000-06:00

My interval times yesterday was so good, I'm either in really good shape or something weird happened with my Garmin signal.

We've had really high temperatures during the day (which I love) but are still getting below freezing over night, which causes the huge puddles of water to freeze into giant sidewalk glaciers. I'm not talking about a little puddle of water; I'm talking about a 10-foot long sheet of ice that covers the entire sidewalk.

Needless to say, it's basically impossible to run over these things at a good pace without risking a fall. Fortunately there was about a .8mi stretch of bike path and road in front of our apartment complex that was basically free of sidewalk glaciers. As long as I was willing to slow down at one section and do to some hairpin turns, I was good to go on my repeats. I figured I'd push myself as best I could and be happy with anything under an 8min/mile considering the stopping and turning. I felt great throughout the whole workout ( I did 8mi total) and, even though it was a lot of back and forth over the same ground, I was able to keep focused and push myself through each interval.

I was totally floored when I got back home and checked my Garmin. 1:10:58? For an 8mi run? That's super fast for me. I felt like I was going at a good clip during the warm up and cool down, but I had to stop and walk a few times to navigate icy spots. And then there were the interval times: 7:15, 7:22, 7:38. What the what? I find myself making excuses for why the 7:38 was "so slow"- I had to do two hairpin turns on that one- but the truth is I would have been thrilled with three 7:38s on a good day with no turning.

So were these times real or a figment of my Garmin's imagination? On the one hand, I felt really good, I pushed myself during the intervals, and I have done some good speed sessions on the treadmill. On the other... they just seem too good to be true. I guess I'll just have to wait and see how other workouts shape up.

It's supposed to be really warm today (like 49 degrees- woot!) and tomorrow (55- let's all have a party) but rain some overnight or tomorrow morning, so I have no idea what conditions will be like. I'm supposed to do a 6mi tempo run tomorrow, and I really want to get out to do it- even if it means going back and forth over the same stretch as yesterday- but I'd be fine with doing a treadmill run if it comes to that. This morning is lower body weights at the gym and a little elliptical.

Hope the weather is improving wherever you are. Have a good Wednesday!

Happy Valentines Day

2011-02-15T05:12:00.000-06:00

I'm actually not a huge Valentines Day person, but last night I and the other ladies in our church small group were treated to a special evening courtesy of our special guys.

We were greeted at the door with roses (I was late- Daniel's Valentines Day gift was a tank of gas and the confirmation that the maintenance light was only on because we need an oil change), and treated to a fancy dinner of Caesar salad, entrees from Porta Bella and chocolate cake for desert. Daniel also gets big points for choosing my entree (pasta primavera- exactly what I would have ordered) and for picking all the olives out of my salad. Good work, guys!

Now to run off all the goodness from last night. Going for 3x1mi and hoping there aren't too many glaciers out there.

Get out of posting free card

2011-02-14T05:41:00.001-06:00

Happy Valentine's Day and a Happy Birthday shout out to J.

Yep, I'm turning it in. I do have an excused absence for Saturday because Friday evening we drove up to Minneapolis, attended a Sacred Harp singing all day Saturday, and turned around and drove back to Madison Saturday evening.

Yesterday I was wiped out from a)Not sleeping well last week and b)The trip (MPLS is about 5 hours from Madison once you include stops) and my computer shoulder was hurting so I put off posting and enjoyed a walk in above-freezing weather instead.

I'm excited about starting my new training plan for the Shamrock Shuffle*. There's a little precipitation in the forecast but it looks like it's going to be warm and nice all week. It pains me a little to "waste" a nice morning going to the gym to lift (it's 40 but windy so it feels like 30), but I can walk home this afternoon to enjoy the sun and warm weather. I've decided that I'm going to try the RLRF plan for my two spring races with the idea that I'm going to try to hit the goal paces but not get too bent out of shape if I don't. If it really feels like too much, I'll back off, but I want to at least try.

And now I leave you with an important lesson I learned this weekend: It is possible to put too many chocolate chips in a chocolate chip recipe**.

*Which I will hopefully get to run. The Madison 1/2, the Syttende Mai, and Crazy Legs have all become casualties to other commitments. Now I have a possible church conflict with Shamrock. Am I going to get to do any races this year??

**And you can make (very non-photogenic) chocolate chip cookies in a crock pot!

Spring Training

2011-02-11T06:02:00.000-06:00

I'm going to ignore the fact that winter is not letting go without a fight- it's -10 right now air temperature and was -23 with the windchill yesterday - and continue to focus on the fact that tomorrow(!) Madison will break the freezing barrier for the first time (I think) this year. Not only that but we are forecast for a whole week of lows in the high 20s and highs in the 30s and 40s.

And you know what that means? Of course you do. It's time to start migrating the bulk of my training back outside. I think I've done a good job keeping up with outdoor training during the winter, but you just can't get in a good run at -26. You can't breathe. Your muscles don't work right. It's not worth it. So most of my running been on the treadmill. I've managed to keep my longest (and actually the bulk of my mid-week runs) at 8 miles, and I have gotten in some great speed workouts on the treadmill using this book, but I know I've neglected running up and down hills, and my races certainly aren't going to be on the treadmill.

I have two races planned this spring: the Shamrock Shuffle 10k in 4 weeks and the Lake Monona 20k in 13, and I want to find a more outdoor appropriate training plan that I can use for both. My only requirements were that the plan had 3-4 days of running (I'm really enjoying doing more strength training and I want to have time to devote specifically to that) with one long run and at least one quality run.

I went back to my copy of Runner's World's Run Less, Run Faster, which is the training plan I wanted to use to train for my current March race. However, I found that the workouts didn't translate well to the treadmill (for me). I can do short hard intervals on the treadmill, but I just don't have the mental toughness (or whatever) to do a long, hard, fast run on the 'mill.

That should be no problem now that I'll be back outside (for the most part), but- as has been true every time I've looked at this book- the training plans are terrifying. There is no way I was going to pick up on the 10k program with four weeks to go. Run 10 miles at an 8:11 pace next Saturday? If I could do that, I'd sign up for a 1/2 marathon and PR right then. The 1/2 marathon program is better. 13 weeks (starting Monday) the workouts are 3x1mi (7:08-gasp), 6mi at long tempo pace (8:11 min/mile), and 11mi at 1/2 marathon pace +30 seconds (about 8:45min/mile).

Pros of RLRF:

I'd feel pretty BAMF after doing the workouts, and I think I'd feel well prepared for my races.
Even if I couldn't hit all the prescribed paces, I'd still be working a lot harder than I would be on another training program.

Cons of RLRF:

It's way more aggressive than the training I'm doing now. Burn-out could be an issue.
Trying to do heavier deadlifts and squats might leave my legs too dead to really push myself when running the next day.
It doesn't translate back to the treadmill very well. If it ends up being cold again or really icy when the snow starts to melt then I'll have to change the workouts.

The other plan I've been considering is the Runner's World Smart Coach plan. You supply a recent race time and the date and distance of your goal race and the website automatically generates a plan for you. You can choose your starting weekly mileage and how "hard" you want to train (although playing around with this feature there's only a few seconds difference in goal paces for moderate vs very hard). After tinkering with the features, I created a plan that has one quality run (alternating between intervals and tempo), one long run at a fairly easy pace, and easy runs to fill out the rest of the week. The interval paces are challenging, but definitely not has hard as RLRF.

Pro's of RWSC:

An easier transition from the training I'm doing right now.
Easier to fit in good lower body strength training. I could do Upper body->quality run->lower body->easy run->full body, higher reps-> long run.

Cons of RWCS:

Runner's World seems absolutely determined to make you pay to use this feature somehow. Saving and printing your plan are considered "premium upgrades" that you have to pay for (and I won't). Lame.
Not as BAMF as RLRF so possibly not as much training benefit.

Right now- even though I love the idea of RLRF and really want to train for a race using that plan- I'm leaning toward the Smart Coach plan. It definitely meshes with my strength training goals better, and I'm much less concerned about injury/burnout transitioning into it vs RLRF. My next goal race is in August, and I could use RLRF to train for that having built back my long runs and speed work abilities this spring.

What do you think? Want to convince me to try RLRF for my goal race in May? Have a totally different training plan you think I should consider? Ready for warm weather again?

Oh dear

2011-02-10T16:32:00.000-06:00

I actually started writing a post about spring training plans this morning before I had to go to work, and I never finished it. Not wanting to break my streak (and New Year's resolution) of posting every day I'm home, I'm falling back on an old standby: cat pictures.

Stay tuned for a real post tomorrow.

Things are looking up

2011-02-09T05:40:00.000-06:00

Three things I'm happy about:

1. Work was much better yesterday, and my stress level has gone from 80% freaking out down to my normal 30%. I got a lot done toward the revision of the tables for our paper, and using the new method isn't going to change our introduction or discussion so hopefully we are still on track to get things out. I just need to check on one more thing before I take my results to my supervisor, get stuff approved, and start re-writing the methods and results sections. Whew.

2. We are one more day toward our countdown to warmer weather. Right now it's 0 with a windchill of -14, but starting Saturday it's going to be a (slushy, muddy) tropical paradise with highs in the 30s and maybe even up to 40.

I'd totally make these melting snowman cupcakes to
celebrate the first thaw of 2011.

3. I had a good piano lesson last night. I haven't written much about playing the piano on the blog, but I've been taking lessons for a year now, and what I play is finally starting to sound more like music and less like notes. My piano teacher (who is actually my age) said I'm almost ready to move up a book in series we're working through from "late elementary" to "early intermediate". It's like moving from 5th grade to 6th grade again without all the drama.

Hope warmer weather is headed your way, too.

Bad Project

2011-02-08T05:03:00.001-06:00

I don't work in a lab, but this video expresses my feelings about a project I've been working on:

I inherited it from my predecessor (who fortunately does not speak Thai), and it has been nothing but grief and frustration for everyone involved. We sent out the paper to coauthors and had a meeting yesterday where it was determined that we needed to run the analysis differently. This is a complicated project, and we are on about our 8th different way of running the analysis. I've been awake since about 3:40 with low grade stress about running this paper- again- and getting to all the other work I need to finish before the first week of May. I guess at least it gives me time to catch up on blogs before I have the bus comes.

Workout:
Hitting the gym for weights and probably some elliptical. I need spring.

Go Packers

2011-02-07T05:31:00.000-06:00

Not that I had a huge vested interest in the game, but my co-workers will be happy and that makes me happy. I actually watched most of the game- which was pretty exciting- but none of the commercials are standing out to me. I'm sure they're all on YouTube by now. Any suggestions for one to watch?

It was hard to get up this morning, but I'm excited to go to spinning again for the first time since last April(?). We're hitting the point in winter where I lose the will to exercise and eat healthfully so any bit of novelty is greatly appreciated. A reprieve is in sight, though. It's going to get really cold again Tuesday-Thursday, but after that we are forecast for several days in the 30s and Sunday it should get up to 40. I'm not expecting it to continue to stay that warm, but it will be nice to be able to get out a little bit and hopefully it will take care of some of the snow mountains around the city.

That's all I've got. Have a good Monday, everyone.

To run or not to run... that is the question...

2011-02-06T06:35:00.000-06:00

It's snowing... but not too hard... it's 26 degrees... but I kind of just want to stretch. Actually I think I want to run... No, I don't... Yes, I do... No, I don't... Need to make up my mind soon... Maybe just one loop...

In any case, it's time to get pumped up for The Super Bowl. We have no plans at all for watching the game. You'd think it was Thanksgiving Day around here. Everyone is going home "to be with their families" for the Super Bowl. We even saw a sign up at Culver's (local hamburger chain) that they were closing at 4pm today so the employees could watch the game with their families. There's been some talk about going to Chili's or some other restaurant-type place with TVs to watch the game, but we'll see.

Okay... procrastination complete. I'm going to put on my grippers and get out there and run. Have a Happy Super Bowl Day.

A Different Friday Night Out

2011-02-05T18:12:00.000-06:00

Last night Daniel and I volunteered at The River food pantry with our church small group. It's an organization on the far east side of town that provides hot meals, clothing, food, basic medical screenings (like blood sugar and blood pressure) and literature about paying bills, etc a few nights a week. If you are in Madison and are interested in doing a service project for low-income community members, it's a great place. You just show up at 5pm- no special training or screening needed- and they'll put you to work. Daniel was the air traffic controller for shopping carts entering the food pantry area, and I worked in the clothing room just keeping things from becoming a giant mess.

Each volunteer gets a break sometime during the evening to have some of the hot dinner being served. The whole operation was well run and everyone was in, served, and out by 8pm. The hot dinner was actually the thing I was most impressed with. I thought we were going to get Hamburger Helper with sides of mac n cheez, potato chips, and off-brand Oreos for sure, but actually we had ham and bean soup with 3-bean salad and a green salad. Not only was it pretty healthy, but it tasted good.

Three things that last night made me acutely aware that I take for granted:
1. I'm very thankful that I don't have to wear second-hand underwear.
2. I'm very thankful that if I'm still hungry after the small hot dinner at the food bank I can get a sandwich.
3. I'm very thankful that I don't live in my car- especially on a cold Wisconsin night.

I definitely plan to serve there again and donate clothes and housewares there. And think back to this list when I'm tempted to complain about the never-ending winter.

What's something you know you take for granted but are actually very thankful for?

If it has to be winter

2011-02-04T05:24:00.000-06:00

You might as well make the best of it.

Have a Happy Friday, all.

Okay, winter. That's enough.

2011-02-03T05:38:00.000-06:00

After 12 inches of snow in the last two days, our new fun winter gift is 1 degree temperature this morning. Which means that everything that wasn't cleaned up yesterday (which is a lot) is now frozen solid.

We slept in and puttered around the house for awhile before we ventured out to clean up the snow. I just focused on cleaning off our porch and the first floor porch so people could open their doors all the way and *hopefully* no one will slip this morning.

Daniel did the heavy lifting. He blazed a path down to the parking lot (you can see it in the pictures below) and then cleaned off our parking spot. Because of the wind, the snow was in huge drifts (up to 6ft I've read). Here's a few pictures to give you an idea how deep it was in some places:

Here are the stairs up to the apartment buildings from the parking lot. You can see that it comes up almost to the top of the railings.

And here's the drift we were greeted with when we first woke up. It actually looks kind of small in the pictures, but when you stand in it (or try to take a basket of laundry through it), it feels very deep.

Everything is open for business as usual again today. I'm headed to the gym for a run and we are both back to work. Stay warm out there!

Snow day

2011-02-02T07:54:00.000-06:00

A day too late... The weather was much worse yesterday- I guess it could pick back up but it doesn't look like it will- but classes are cancelled, state government is closed to the public, and no buses are running- so we are not going anywhere. Edit: I just talked to a coworker who said it's incredibly windy and there are huge snow drifts everywhere so maybe a snow day was warranted.

Unfortunately I don't technically have the day off. According to the UW website:

Employees designated as non-essential are advised to use their own discretion regarding their health and safety, and that of their family members, before coming to campus.

Non-essential employees are required to use appropriate leave (i.e., vacation, personal holiday, furlough, etc.) to be excused from the work day Wednesday.

Kinda stingy with the free time off, UW. Oh well. Last night we decided that if the bus was running we would plan to go to work/school, but if it wasn't then we'd stay home, so home I am. I have two furlough days I have to take this spring anyway. This might as well be one of them.

So what did we celebrate Storm of the Century Eve? Um (don't kill us, family) we went to the Badger men's basketball game.

I'd never been to a college basketball game before, so when a coworker (who is probably wondering if she will ever get home from Cincinnati right now) offered us her tickets, I said yes. There was a lot of debate about braving the weather, but because we could take the bus back and forth we decided to go for it. It was an exciting game and the Badgers won, which made it worth getting sprayed in the face by snow and packed on a bus with 75 undergrads who were excited about classes being cancelled.

Nothing special planned for the day. Probably some yoga and shoveling because running and the gym are out. Stay safe and warm out there if you are currently being blizzarded.

Snow watch

2011-02-01T05:47:00.000-06:00

So yeah... we're just hanging out... you know... waiting for the storm of the century. Not to be confused with the other 5 storms of the century we've had so far this winter. The university is open today (crossing fingers for a snow day tomorrow) and nothing on the metro website indicates the bus is not running, so it's a "normal" day for me.

If you are stuck at home now and you've done your Easter candy shopping early, here's an activity to entertain you for oh... a few hours.

Workout:
I had a good treadmill interval run yesterday and am headed back to the gym for weights this morning. I also got news that the triathlon team is starting spinning on Monday mornings again, so that will add some much needed indoor exercise variety until the weather gets nice.

Restaurantville, USA

2011-01-31T05:51:00.000-06:00

In the winter, if you can convince yourself to go outside for any reason, it's to eat. The creators of Madison's restaurant week* know this, and that's why week one of this semi-annual event is scheduled for the last week of January.

And it is quite the event. First you hear an ad and remember, "Oh yeah, it's going to be restaurant week." Then you peruse all the menus for all the different restaurants to decide where you want to go. Have you been there before? Is the menu different from last time? Is it substantially different from what is normally served (this can be a plus or a minus in my experience)? Are you getting a good deal price-wise?

This year we picked The Melting Pot (didn't do a review of this because it's not a "Madison" place), Inka Heritage (with work) and Liliana's.

First up is Liliana's, where Daniel and I went Friday night:

Liliana's is a New Orleans style restaurant and is pretty fancy despite being kind of in the middle of nowhere. I give them big points for the interior, which is lovely- but honestly the food didn't live up to the ambiance. I'd heard great things about Liliana's and had wanted to try it for awhile. Maybe it was the restaurant week choices, but neither one of us was wowed. Everything looked good and sounded good, but it was just nothing exciting. Daniel had the red beans and rice as his entree, which he said was good but kind of bland, and I had the Cornish game hen, which I liked but- I dunno. Would I go back? If someone was paying, sure, I'd try a different dish, but probably not. I wouldn't try to dissuade anyone from going, but it was not my favorite.

Which brings us to what probably is my favorite restaurant** in Madison, Inka Heritage.

I think I've gone here for lunch with coworkers every single restaurant week (plus one dinner with Daniel) and I have never ever failed to be impressed. Plus my dining companions- some of whom have very different tastes than me- have always been impressed. Inka serves Pervuian food- think seafood, stews, rice, and potatoes- with mildly spiced, very flavorful sauces. I have had both seafood and stew-type dishes and they are always perfectly prepared and taste like nothing I've ever eaten before (unless I've eaten it at Inka!). This also the home of my all-time favorite (only served during one restaurant week- so sad!) desert ever. It was this maple walnut flavored (it was actually some kind of Peruvian fruit) ice cream with a churro and chocolate sauce. Maybe it doesn't sound like much, but it was out of this world good. So good I went home and looked up the fruit (which I have since forgotten) to see if there was any way to get my hands on one. Alas, there was not. I would recommend Inka Heritage to anyone who wants to go out for a nice dinner and likes food- any kind- at all. Would I go back? I'm 95% confident I will be there for lunch during restaurant week in August.

Workout:
And now to work off some of this delicious food at the gym...

*In brief: Restaurant week is where several local restaurants put together a 3-course meal for $25. You get one of three choices for each course.
**Quivey's grove comes in at a close second.