IRL/WIAW

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.

More signs of spring

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!

  

A huge check mark

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:

1. 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.  
2. 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. 
3. 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. 
4. 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!  

When setting goals

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!!!!

11 in 101

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

The Resolution Post

After a long drive down from Madison, we are enjoying Chirstmas Part 1 in Tennessee.  While it's much warmer than where we left, I decided to take a break from running this morning to bring you The 2011 Resolution Post.  Rather than having 10 kind of nebulous goals like last year, I've tried to break it down into 5 concrete things that I really want to do(not feel like I have to or should do) that cover three broad areas- healthy eating, fitness, and my social life.

Now that's some scary kale.

1. Try one new vegetable or way to prepare vegetables per week.  I tried kale (a vegetable I was particularly terrified of) at a party last week (I get invited to some crazy parties), and it was actually pretty good.  Part of this plan is to subscribe to a CSA box from a very local (about 1/2 mile from our apartment) farm. 

2. Have one social dinner every month.  It can be a potluck with our church lifegroup, meeting people for dinner at a restaurant, or making something at our place.  As long as it's food + social + dinner time, it counts.

3. Write one blog post a day every day I am home.  I enjoy writing and I have a feeling that coming up with good blogging ideas and writing witty prose is more a matter of practice than anything else.  We don't travel with a computer so I'm off the hook when we are gone.

4. Up the intensity of my interval training.  I got a big boost in speed when I started doing speekwork at all, but it's time to push myself harder if I want to see results.  I like the FIRST plan for outdoor training, but I haven't been able to translate it to the treadmill.  Instead I've brought out my copy of Training Plans for Multisport Athletes, that has two sets of training plans specificially for speedwork on the treadmill.  Even though I don't ever plan to do a triathlon, this book is worth having just for those treadmill workouts.  Once the weather improves I'll be back out on the road FIRSTing again.

5.  Connect with one person I don't talk to regularly each week.  It could be anything from calling my grandparents or commenting on something on Facebook.  Just reach out and touch someone.

And that's it!  Not sure how much I'll be posting, but I hope to do some reading and commenting at least every few days.  I look forward to reading about your resolutions and exciting plans for the new year.  Stay warm out there!

Paleo Recap

Yesterday, or today, or something like that ends my 1 month paleo diet "trial."  I put trial in quotation marks because I didn't stick to the diet (no grains, no legumes, no dairy) 100% strictly, but I'd say I hit it about 75-80% of the time.

First of all, I don't think that I can fairly evaluate any of the claims made about the diet because, as I said, I wasn't 100% compliant, and it seems like that's a must.  But here are what I'd consider my take-away points from the experiment:

• I never had any GI problems after eating a paleo meal
• I feel like I've gotten over the idea that I absolutely "have to" eat some sort of starchy carb with every meal.  For some people who run mega miles or who don't eat animal products, eating more starchy carbs is necessary, but for me- especially now that we are in winter hibernation mode- it would be better to replace them with non-starchy vegetables. 
• I've expanded my vegetable horizons (a bit)
• I realized that I can put a meat and vegetable meal together as quickly as any other kind
• There are a lot of great paleo foods out there, and there's no reason to feel restricted or like you can't enjoy a good meal within those parameters
• It is really hard to break the psychological "need" to have bread, cookies, etc. when they are served to a group.  However, most people don't actually care what you eat.  If you don't want something- for whatever reason- a simple "No thanks" will suffice.

In general, I really like the way I feel when I stick to the diet, and- like with healthy veganism- I think when you focus on what you can have, there are a wealth of healthy options out there.  However, the diet is not really supported by our social structure*.  So I've decided my goal is to make all of the food that I prepare myself be paleo compliant (again meaning lean meat, vegetables, fruits, nuts, and healthy fats), and then try to make good choices when I'm eating out and in social situations.  I think this is a fair compromise that will hopefully get my ratio of paleo to non to about 90% to 10%, respectively.  

And with that I'm headed out for my last treadmill run for awhile.  We will be on the road today and tomorrow, and the weather changes from snowy to nasty icy cold rain as we drive down south.  Any thoughts/prayers/good vibes you want to send our way while we travel are much appreciated.

If I don't post again before then, Merry Christmas to everyone! 

*But you can say that about any healthy way of eating.  For example, there are absolutely 100% no healthy snacks to be purchased in my building, but there are a lot of unhealthy ones (by any standard).   

Less than 24 hours

Until we hit the road for TN!  I need to pack, clean the kitchen (thank you, Christmas potluck, for taking care of dinner tonight), and do a little wrapping but otherwise we are ready to go.  Even though there was a rush last weekend, it's nice to have everything finished so we can just relax and enjoy the rest of the advent season and Christmas day without having to brave the mall, etc.  Unless we want to go people-watch of course.

I blame it on low vitamin D levels, but I haven't been super motivated to run lately.  I did a slow, cold 8.5mi yesterday outside, and today is a rest day unless I get a surprise boost of time and energy between now and 2:30 when I have to leave to get D from work to go to our final Madison Christmas event.  I'm planning to do a shorter run and weights tomorrow before we head out of town so I'm nice and worn out for the car ride. Hopefully we'll find a place to stop that has a fitness center because I'm still on my quest to hit 1800mi for the year.  Right now I'm at 1748.5 so it's just a little more than 25mi/week for the next two weeks.  Totally do-able (I keep telling myself).

Now on to the rest of the New Year's Resolutions.  This is the C+ group- the ones I either forgot or decided I didn't care that much about.

4. Be more social - I'm pretty much as social now as I think I ever will or want to be.  How much more fun can you get than this:

Ugly sweater party 2020.
Yes, the hat and gloves have owls on them!!!
Yes, Daniel's beard makes him look like a hearty sturgeon fisherman.

5. Take more pictures - This has improved since I got my new camera for my birthday, but I'm still not a picture-holic, capturing gems like this one:

Yes, this is Madison.  Yes, this was taken by a co-worker early last week.

 6. Stay in touch - I hate to say this was such an epic fail, but it was.  It just cries out for something more specific like reach out to one person I don't talk to regularly each week.

7. Music - Wait!  This one wasn't a fail!  Not sure how I missed it last time.  While practicing has fallen by the wayside a little bit this last week, I've taken piano lessons all year, and I've really enjoyed having music back in my life.  Also, Daniel and I have started going to a shape note singing group every other Sunday, which will *hopefully* help me improve my singing from "horrendous" to "doesn't scare many pets".

8. Waste less time - Ummmmm... here I am on the computer while I should be packing and scrubbing. Again, too vague.

9. Read real books - Nope.  Don't care.

10. Do a better job on the blog - This seems to go in phases, but I've been trying to come up with interesting and funny stuff to do.  It also largely depends on my exercise schedule, and how much computer downtime I have if I run outside vs go to the gym.

 So far I'm still in the brainstorming phase of Resolutions 2011 so that's coming up.  I'll probably post once more tomorrow and then I'll be on the computer a lot less because we'll be hanging out with family.  Happy Holidays to all!

Never wear a scarf...

While using a leaf blower.

Thanks, Linda.  That cracked me up yesterday.  I can see how that could turn out badly.

On the theme of learning lessons, it's time to start my resolution review.  The last time I wrote about this was way back in July, but the nice thing about having a blog is that you don't actually have to remember things, you can just search for and re-read them.  Today I'll start with the ones that have been most successful:

1. Put things away - I'm giving myself a B+ for this the whole year.  Not having a sink full of dirty (or clean for that matter) dishes or a pile of clothes on a chair goes a long way to making a home feel cleaner and more relaxing.  I haven't been perfect at it, but it's been enough of a reward in itself that I've been pretty motivated to take the 30 seconds to put things away rather than plop them down.  YAY!

2. Focus at work - Podcasts + work that doesn't take my full concentration = success!  Rather than being tempted to open my web browser when something takes a long time to run, a whole hour can go by without me feeling bored or frustrated.  And if I actually need to concentrate (like if I'm writing or trying to figure something out) I can just pause it.  It's the perfect balance of working and not working.

3. Push myself beyond my comfort zone -  I'd say this was also a success.  I tried new things- some worked and some didn't- but I think being more flexible has allowed me to learn a lot about myself and come to a place where I'm happier and more successful with my running and eating.  I love lifting two mornings a week.  I tried doing it after work, but that didn't fit as well so I stopped.  I do like doing yoga after work.  I enjoy doing speedwork, and I want to take that to the next level, but after this week I'm getting the feeling that will have to be modified somewhat for the winter.  I ran 10 races.  A few were great and some were not so great, but in the end I  PRed at every distance except the half marathon.  I think I'm best at the 10k.  I've experimented with a "non-traditional" diet for a runner (that gets it's own post).  All good stuff.

In a few minutes I'm headed back to the gym for another treadmill run.  It's actually not that cold out (it's 3 degrees), but there are still a lot of sidewalk glaciers out there.  Tomorrow, though, I can run when it's light out and I have no excuses!  Plus when I was doing my running log a few weeks ago I realized that if I stay motivated I can hit 1800 miles for the year.  Right now I'm at 1733.  With two+ more weeks to go in 2010, it's totally do-able.

One last day of work (where podcasts will definitely be needed) before the break.  First order of business: Ugly Sweater Party tonight.  We don't have our sweaters yet, but pictures will follow.  Have a great Friday, all.  Stay warm out there!

Madison Mini Race Pre-Cap

I figured I'd do this today so I can get all my angst out of the way and focus on chilling out and catching up on my Google Reader-ing tomorrow before the race.

After having 3 beautiful, cool days at the beginning of the week, we are back to low 70s and humidity 80+.  Not that bad compared to a lot of places in the country, but not ideal race weather (at least for me)*.

I'm going to head out for 4 with some strides just to loosen everything up this morning and then try to calm down and enjoy the day (especially this evening) before the race.  After work my coworker/fellow blogger Kerri and I are going to the expo to pick up our stuff and then going to a Madison blogger/runner meetup at Portabella organized by the fabulous- and always colorful- Jamie of Running Diva Mom.   Which reminds me... I need to put a sticky note on the door so I don't forget to bring my camera.

So for race goals... um... I dunno.  I wish I felt more pumped up about the race.  I was looking back at my training log from July-Sept of 2008 when I set my half marathon PR, and I was running all my intervals much slower than I am now... but I was doing my easy and long runs faster.  Not sure what that means.  Plus that PR was set on a beautiful cool day on a really flat course.  This one will be neither.  So I guess my goal is to not go out too fast and to enjoy the run whatever happens.

I think the thing that I fear is that if I don't at least hit somewhere close to 1:50 then I need to give up on a 3:50 goal pace for the marathon.  A 1:49 is the "equivalent" to a 3:50 according to the McMillan pace calculator site, with only 5 or 6 weeks to go before the marathon I better be darn close to race shape.  So that's my fear.  Possibly irrational, but I'm laying it out there.

Okay.  Time to turn off the fretting and focus on having a good run this morning, a productive day at work (where I don't spend an unreasonable amount of time perusing the Portablella menu), a fun time this evening, getting good sleep, and enjoying my Tour de Madison tomorrow.










*For those of you who are jealous, be thankful that you don't have this

coming your way anytime soon.

51 in 1001

Long ago in a far off land (Friday, October 16, 2009, when I was taking a mental break at work), I started a list of 101 things I wanted to do in 1001 days.  A couple of the bloggers I was following at the time had made lists like this, and I thought it seemed like a neat idea.  I've actually done a fair number of things on my list.  You can click on the 101 in 1001 tag in the right sidebar near the bottom to see some posts about them, but truthfully, I'd had a hard time coming up with 101 things that I wanted to accomplish without adding a lot of filler that didn't really matter to me.

Over the course of the last few weeks, I've been cutting the list down to 51 things.  The goal data is still the same: July 14, 2012, which roughly corresponds to the end of our time in Madison- if we aren't getting ready to move we will certainly be thinking about our next step in a concrete way- so I wanted to focus on things that were Madison-related.

So here's the new and improved 51 in 1001 list.

Do you have any big goals you want to accomplish in the next few years?  

New Years' Resolutions- 6 Month's Later

We're at half way mark of 2010 (well, a little past, but not procrastinating was not one of my new years' resolutions), and it's time to review and see how things have been going.  There are some resolutions I've thought about a lot, but in all honesty, I couldn't name all 10 of them off the top of my head right now.  (Click here for the original post.)

1. Put things away- YES!  Sometimes the clothes get piled up but for the most part I've kept on top of the clutter.  I used to say I'm clean but not neat, but I think I'm getting neater.  YAY!

2. Focus at work - This has been pretty good.  It's better when I have a pressing task or something that really
interests me and less when I'm doing something dull that takes a long time to run (QC- blech).  One thing that has helped is listening to music.

3. Push myself beyond my comfort zone- I think this has been going well, too.  I've been happy with the progress I've made making hard workouts truly hard and easy workouts easy.  I never thought I'd be at a point where I only did cardio 5 days a week, but I think it works really well for me.  And diet wise, I've recently kicked my mid-day caffeine habit (and have been more or less off diet soda), which if you know me you know is a big deal.

4. Be more social- I'm an introvert, so I think I'm about as social is I'd ever want to be right now.  I would like to have people over more, but during the summer it's hard with travel schedules, etc.

5. Take more pictures- Eh, kinda sorta.  Daniel says he thinks I take a lot of pictures, but I feel like I don't compared to many of the blogs that I read.

6. Stay in touch- Not so great.  No gold star for this one.

7. Music- Yes.  I'm still taking piano lessons and really like my teacher.  I hope to be annoying everyone with
wrong notes in Christmas songs this year.

8. Waste less time- Um, we still have the internet so this is not perfect, but not having TV (and I was never a big TV watcher) definitely keeps me busier.

9. Read real books- This was such a stupid resolution.  Give me murder mysteries.  I want murder mysteries!

10. Do a better job on the blog.  I think so.  I post most every day.  I'm better with the pictures.  I like my layout and color scheme more.  Good stuff.

Not perfect, but pretty good all things considered.  Hopefully the rest of the year be more of the same.

No squirrels were harmed in the making of this training program

First off, thank you so much for all of your congratulations on my race Saturday.  It means so much to me to be able to share it with others.  One thing I really love about the blogging community is that- even though we all have different gifts and abilities- people are so supportive of each other's accomplishments.  Thank you all again.

So that squirrel thing...  I was running down the sidewalk, and a squirrel darted out about two steps in front of me.  I took another step forward (thinking it was gone), and it darted back right as my right leg was swinging forward again.  I'm pretty sure it wasn't hurt because it kept on going, but we definitely made contact!  Sorry, squirrel, but believe me, I was as surprised as you were.

Today is the first day of marathon training, leading up to my expected run in the Milwaukee Lakefront Marathon in October.  I'm all registered, but I say expected because so many things can happen over the course of a marathon training cycle that you never really know until you're on that starting line.  I chose this marathon because it's close and it's in the fall so I have all summer to train.  It's the same week as Twin Cities and the week before Chicago, but unlike those two races, it's much smaller.  It's also supposed to be pretty flat and fast.

After looking at quite a few training plans, I've decided I'm going to follow the Boston Marathon Rookie Training Program.   Obviously I'm not training for Boston or even to qualify for Boston, but this plan has most of the features I think work well for me.  I like that it has a good mix of speed work and long runs, and it seems like it's about the right mileage and intensity level for me.  I look at the plan and think, "That looks hard, but definitely not impossible."

I am planning to make a few modifications.  First, I'm still planning to take two days off each week for weight training.  There's one day off built into the plan, and I'll make one of the easy days each week a day off, too.  Also I usually do my long runs on Saturday rather than Sunday, so some of the scheduling of the workouts within the week will be switched up.  And finally, my "test race" doesn't fall on the same week as the plan has scheduled, so I'll have to juggle things with that as well.  But all in all, I think it will be a good template to follow.

As for goals, I'm going to be very general and say my goal is to finish somewhere between 3:45 and 4 hours.  I'm sure this will be revised closer to race day.  For the purposes of training, I'm going to start with my marathon tempo runs at 8:45 min/mile pace +/- 10 seconds, which corresponds to about a 3:50 marathon.

And for my first day of marathon training... to the gym!

Expectations

I was not excited about going to volleyball last night, and I wasn't excited about staying up late to make shirts for our team.  I was praying for lightning, thunder, hail, anything so that we didn't have to play the game and could go back to our house sooner, eat, do shirts, and have me in bed by 8:30pm.  Fortunately none of that happened.

It was sprinkling when we started the volleyball game, but the weather stayed calm while we played.  It was chilly- I had to wear jeans, a sweatshirt, and shoes again- but actually a pretty nice night.  And it was my best game ever.  I served over the net about 50% of the time, thanks to a teammate's suggestion that I "serve it to the side like they tell you in elementary school".  I actually had one ace because I think the other team was so stunned my serve actually went over the net that no one went for it.  And I successfully passed a few times.  So much more fun to feel like a part of the team and not helpless dead weight just out there to fill a "girl" spot.

Then we came back for t-shirt time.  We had Target brand self-rising crust frozen pizza (cheap and tasty- highly recommended), green salads from lettuce from the garden, watermelon, an chocolate chip cookies.

No pictures of the whole spread, but these guys will have their own post as Getting My MS in Baking Part 2.

Here's my shirt, decorated by my much more artistically inclined teammate.  BTW- Our team name is My Arms Hurt Real Bad and the group we play with is from our church.  I'm planning to write "ouch" on each sleeve once the puffy paint on the back dries.

There was much "had to be there" hilarity, including our team captain decorating the inside of his shirt with fake abs and chest hair, which he promised he would wear inside out if we ever won a game.  There's nothing like good food and good times with good friends.

Which brings me to a little impromptu New Year's Resolution Review.  Two of my goals were to push myself to try new things and to have more get-togethers.  I'm pretty bad at volleyball, but I'm getting better, and I'm definitely enjoying it in a way I wouldn't have expected.  I know I love hosting others, but sometimes I convince myself it's too much work, no one will come, etc.  Obviously that's not true, and this is another data point that I should do it more often.  The point is, I'm not where I want to be with either of these goals, but I'm realizing more and more why they are important to me.

On that note, I'm off to run my last 6-miler before I do a mini-taper for my 10k on Saturday.

A little preview of upcoming posts I have planned:
1. Tackling phyllo dough and other kitchen adventures.
2. MS in Baking Part 2- Chocolate Chip Cookie #10
3. Bellin Run Race Goals/Recap
4. Marathon training plan/goals/etc      

The Madison Half Marathon Race Preview

First of all, a huge good luck!!! to Jamie from Running Diva Mom who is running the marathon this morning.  She has had some awesome workouts during her training including massive long runs on the treadmill, for which she earns my undying awe and admiration.  I cannot imagine training for a marathon in Madison from January - March, but she has done it successfully, and I think she's going to rock the race today.

I wish I had the same confidence for myself.  I just don't feel prepared.  I ran some but not a lot over vacation so I don't feel like I've done any great training in the last two weeks, but we did a lot of walking around so I don't have that "really energetic because I've been sitting around a lot" feeling either.

But I'm going to do it because I signed up for it, and- whatever the outcome- experience racing is always good.  The truth is that, objectively, I'm really not that unprepared.  I've done many runs at 12 miles or longer.  I've done tempo runs at race pace.  I've done speed workouts.  I ran 7miles of a 20k at my half marathon goal pace on a harder (I think from looking at the 1/2 marathon course map) and hotter (jeez, I hope) course.    So it's not like I'm not going to finish with a respectable (to me) time unless something crazy and unexpected happens.  I'm even psyching myself up to run in my sports bra if it's that warm.  No, I don't have MM abs (more like M&M abs, ha!), but I don't think I'll blind anyone just this one time.

So without further rambling, here are my 3 goals- from conservative to ambitious- for the race:

1. Enjoy it.  If all else fails.      

2. 1:50.  I plugged in 1:50 into the McMillan race calculator and it's pretty much dead on with what I've been running lately for all my runs and races.  I was even thinking about running with the 1:50 pace group and then maybe speeding up later if I felt good, but I dunno.  I don't want to limit myself.  Sometimes I do surprise myself in races, so I think I'm going to go with my original plan of lining up a little bit in front of the 1:50 group and see what happens.

3. 1:48.  8:15 seems to be the pace I settle into for tempo runs, and I ran the first 1/2 of the 20k at this pace.  It's ambitious, but I still feel like it's do-able.  Maybe if I hold out the promise of a Bluephies Electric Flamingo  or Pop Star Martini out as a reward for my accomplishment, I'll be motivated to hang on when the going gets tough.

I probably won't be able to give a proper recap of the race until later because we have family in town, but I'll try to stop by and let you know how it went.  Unless it was crap.  Then I'm invoking my right to remain silent.
 

CrazyLegs

It's race day, and the weather isn't currently going nuts, so I'm taking it as a good sign.  Accuweather's forecast is "cloudy" from 7-noon with showers on either side, which would be great.  If it does rain, though, I'll be prepared with a trash bag for my body and plastic grocery bags for my feet.  I'm all systems go.

Which leads to a natural question... why am I making such a big deal about this little 8k race?  I think because I feel a lot of internal pressure to recreate the results from my last 10k.  It's like somehow I don't believe my time was real, and I have to prove it by running another race at comparable speed.  So here I am, looking out the window at the trees getting tossed around in the gusty wind thinking, *gulp*.

But, what is life without goals?  Here are mine for this race:

At minimum: Be Zen about the weather and its possible impact on my results.  No whining before or after.
A little better: Have a good time.
Starting to think about time: Sub 40 min (faster than 8min/mile pace)
A little more about time: Sub 39:16 min (the time predicted by my last 10k results)
What I would love to see: Sub 39 min

Alright, let's get off this subject and on to something more fun...

I love love love love love love love getting my hair done.  When we are rich and famous enough to be on Cribs (is that show even on anymore?) I'm going to buy a pet monkey to wash my hair and massage my scalp every morning.

I decided to go with a little different style this time.  I have the back short, and I'm growing the front out so it angles down.  We're not quite there, yet, but you get the idea.

With my hair tucked behind my ear, like I normally wear it:

I took one from the front, but I have a goofy look on my face so we'll leave it off the Internetz.

New toenail color: sparkly purple.

Also, the Accessory Fairy (aka D's mom) sent a special delivery that arrived yesterday

Yes, those are my very own pair of What Not to Wear red shoes!!!!  I'm very excited.  I wore the black ones last night because they matched my outfit better, but I can't wait to wear the red ones.  Plus they are Naturalizer so they won't rip holes in the sides of my feet or put me at risk of ankle breakage when I walk.  Thank you, Accessory Fairy!

Guess that's about it for me.  I'm catching the bus over to the race in an hour, and I need to finish getting ready, do some stretching and foam rolling, etc.  Tonight we're going to see Mark Knopfler (the guitar guy from Dire Straights) play in Milwaukee.

Have a great Saturday, all.  Good luck to Running Diva Mom who is running CrazyLegs today and have fun to the Durso Pack who are doing the walk!

New Year's Resolutions 3 Months In

We've just finished the first 1/4 of 2010 (!!!!) so it's time for a resolution check in.  In a way it seems kind of silly to think about new year's resolutions after the second week of January, but because I'm semi-interested in actually keeping them, I'm doing another check in.

1. Put away everything after I use it- Hmmmm... I'd say I'm getting a C+ in this one.  For the most part I get dishes washed after I use them and I'm not leaving my clothes in a pile on the dresser.  But sometimes I do.  And that sometimes is becoming more frequent.  I need to get on this one.

2. Focus at work - Wow, this one definitely has peaks and valleys.  Some days I'm totally on.  Some days I'm a distracted child.  Playing music seems to help when I'm doing tedious stuff, but I still have the bad habit of checking "just one blog in Google Reader" while I'm waiting for a long program to run.

3. Get out of my comfort zone when it comes to exercise and eating healthy - This one deserves at least a B+.  After years of thinking I had to do cardio 6+ days a week, I've cut back to 5, and so far it's been a great decision.  Two strength training sessions a week allow me to 1. Recover from a though workout, 2. Prevent injury, and 3. Tone up a bit.  So why have I resisted doing this for so long?

4. Have more fun with more people  - I'm still an introvert, but we did have our first dinner party, and I really enjoyed it.  The next few weekends are going to be busy, but I definitely want to do more dinner parties and social stuff in general.

5. Take more pictures - Maybe, because anything greater than 0 would be an improvement.  I still don't know why I'm resistant to it.

6. Keep in touch - Boo.  Another fail.  I'm good at calling my parents once a week, but there are a few of you out (I don't think any of whom read my blog) there that I'm soooo lazy about calling.  I miss you!  I'm sorry I'm a lame friend/family member.

7. Music - Yes!!!  Piano is going well (except that I haven't practiced much this week due to feeling yucky every evening).  I really enjoy playing an instrument again.

8. Waste less time - Hmmmm... I think this has been pretty good.  I'm trying to do yoga and piano every day after work rather than... say... watch Say Yes to the Dress, but sometimes (like this past week) I just collapse on the couch in a puddle.  Oh well.

9. Read real books - I think I've also been pretty good about this one.  I read Soul Searching, which is an academic book about the sociology of teenage religion in America.   And Breakfast at Tiffany's, which is (I guess) a classic.  And I'm in Leviticus in my chapter a day Bible reading (and what's more serious than regulations on mildew?).  In fact I don't think I've read anything without any redeeming value in awhile.  So hopefully I'll get my library request for U is for Undertow soon.      

10. Do a better job on the blog - I think so.  At least this one is a work in progress.  I've changed up the layout a bit and am trying to post every day and add more color and pictures (which this post is completely lacking).

All in all, I think I deserve a C+ or B on resolution keeping, which is pretty good considering I'd actually forgotten what some of my resolutions were!

Did you make any resolutions this year?  Do you still remember what they were?  Have you kept up with them?    

Resolution Review

We are one month into the new year, I thought it was time to look back on my new year's resolutions and take stock of how things are going.

1. Put stuff away after I use it- This one has been going really well. Our apartment doesn't get dirty as much as it gets messy, and having a neat space is so so so much more relaxing than having a big pile of clothes on my dresser or sink full of dishes waiting for the end of the day. I'm very happy with this one.

2. Focus more at work- This has also been better. I think listening to music helps when I have to do more of the "boring" stuff as does not checking the internet when I have little bits of down time when a program runs. It's better to have distinct breaks rather than this constant flow between "working" and "break time".

3. Pushing myself- I think this has also been good. I've been doing a lot more speed work and pushing myself to try faster paces than before. Not so much variety with the food ('tis the season), but I have made a fair number of new recipes.

4. Have more fun with more people. This one is... okay. We have done social things but no real inviting. I need to get out of the habit of always waiting to be invited to do stuff.

5. Take more pictures- BAD. I don't know why I'm averse to this, but I know I'm going to look back and wish I had more pictures of this time of my life. I need to get on it!

6. Stay in touch- Hard to say. We saw a lot of people over the holidays so I don't feel "out of touch" right now. We'll see how I do in the coming months.

7. Music- I'm taking piano lessons!!!!!

8. Waste less time- I'd say this was a B effort, too. For the most part I've been coming home, doing yoga, and cooking without any blah on the couch time, but I have my moments. Especially after 7pm.

9. Read real books- Um... I think I've read two things that can be considered a "real book" so far in 2010. And I'm almost done with Sense and Sensibility and Seamonsters. I think I'll always have a place in my heart for trashy reading. I just have to keep it respectable some of the time.

10. Blog- I have been posting almost every day, but I haven't done anything to make the layout less ugly. I know I need help, but I'm afraid I don't want to pay the going rate for someone to make this thing be attractive. It's on my "someday/maybe" list.

And that's that. Other than picture taking, which gets a big F, I think it's been going well.

I'm planning on a 7mi run with 10x1min fast here in a few minutes. This week's goal is 37mi with a 10 mi long run on Thursday or Friday. Hope you all have a great Monday!

New Year's Resolutions

I looked back to see if I had written down resolutions for 2009, but I only discovered a few, and those were more than a little too optimistic. I think the only resolution I kept was getting a bike and riding to and from work when the weather was nice.

Now it's time for Resolutions 2010. Although a lot of "experts" caution against making general resolutions, that's my intention this year. The problem with making really specific resolutions is that you don't know how realistic that particular goal is or if it will change somehow over the course of the year. So this year's goals will be less about things I can cross off a list and more like ideals to work toward. Also, a lot of these overlap.

Without further ado and in no particular order, they are:

1. Put away EVERYTHING after I use it. This means folding/hanging up my work clothes rather than setting them on a chair, washing the dishes immediately after I use them rather than allowing them to sit in the sink, and keeping my work files in order and put away when I'm not using them so papers stay where they belong. It takes 30 seconds to do small tasks as needed. It takes hours to clean a messy house/office. 'Nuff said.

2. Focus at work. Do one thing at a time. Work thoroughly through a task. Ask questions. Ask more questions. Be calm when it feels like I don't have enough time to finish everything. NEVER open a Web browser unless it's a designated break time.

3. Consistently push myself beyond my comfort zone in all things fitness and healthy eating. Try new vegetables. Try new workouts. Try to push the speed up just a little higher on that interval and the gear up one more on the spin bike. Do not think that something "wont work for me" until I've really tried it.

4. Have more fun with more people. I enjoy socializing, but it seems like I always have a "good" reason not to plan my own outings/events. I just wait around for others to do the planning for me. No more! If it sounds like fun for D and I, it's better with company. (Okay, this could be taken way the wrong way ;) )

5. Take more pictures. I've never been a big picture person, but I'm always jealous of the huge albums people display on Facebook and the like. Someday we're going to want to look back on this period of our lives, and if I don't start taking more pictures, it's going to be harder to remember.

6. Stay in touch. With frequency. Call my brother, my grandparents, my aunt, old friends, etc. We usually don't talk more than 15 minutes or so, but, in my experience it's frequency of contact that improves relationships more than trying to have a deep conversation once a year. That sort of thing just doesn't happen. You get a surface 15-minute conversation, but only once a year.

7. Music. Most people who know me now don't know that music was a serious part of my life for awhile. I played the oboe from the 6th grade until I graduated from college, and there was a time when I was pretty good at it. I don't have any urges to pick up the oboe again, but I've always wanted to learn to play the piano. We have a nice keyboard, and my Christmas gift this year is a semester of lessons from a UW music student, so I'm really looking forward to making music again.

8. Waste less time. I have a project list a mile long, but there are too many evenings when I come home from work and collapse in a blob of trashy-novel-reading worthlessness. I know how much better I feel when I spend my evenings and weekends being productive, but too often I don't. I don't work an 80 hour week, and I don't run 80 miles a week, so I have no excuse not to get more done with my extra time.

9. Read real books. Not Pride and Prejudice and Zombies and the like. I also want to post synopses on Goodreads so I actually think about and remember what I read.

10. Do a better job on the blog. I need to spend some serious time working on the header and side bars and posting everyday. A long time ago I tried to join BlogHer and they rejected me (I guess- I never heard anything from them) because my blog is so sorry. I like the blog community, and I think it could be neat to look back at this blog as a record of my life in my mid 20's, but I'd like it better if it looked nice.

So there you have it. I'm marking out four month intervals on Google Calendar so I can reflect on how I've done with these goals periodically throughout the year.

Wishing you all a blessed 2010!!!

101 in 1001

After reading about this idea at The Simple Dollar and on Special K, I decided to make a 101 in 1001 list myself.

I used SAS to do something useful for the first time ever and figured out what 1001 days from now comes out to be:

data time;
set data;
later=today()+1001;
format later weekdate29.;
run;

proc print data=time;
var later;
run;

Obs later
1 Friday, July 13, 2012

(little glimpse into my daily life there)

To which I said, "Eeeek- I can't be done on Friday the 13th!" Because I only finished the last this afternoon, I'm giving myself one extra day, and my real due date will be Saturday, July 14, 2012.

Also, if you count the items, there's only 97. I decided to give myself some leeway to add on additional items as I think of them. I'm also allowing myself to change an item if I'm really not into it or it really doesn't apply and there's something else that's a much better fit down the road. But I can't replace something like "host a large dinner" with "tie shoelaces". It has to be an "in-kind" swap.

The last thing to note is that some of these things may seem a little scary to some people who may or may not read this blog anymore. The important thing to keep in mind is that on July 14, 2012 I will be ALMOST 30.

Without further ado, my 101 in 1001.