If I eat junk food and have a workout the next day, I feel a significant difference in the way my body responds to exercise. I'm sluggish, tired and run out of energy very quickly. -- Josie Loren
It has been a crazy couple of days in the TriMom household - OK, let's be realistic, it's always a little bit crazy in the TriMom household, but usually the crazy is kept to a manageable level. Not so much of late. And unfortunately, due to the crazy and the stress of the crazy, I have not been eating as well as I normally do. And it shows.
There's an old computer program science principle GIGO, or Garbage In, Garbage Out. The idea is pretty much whatever you put in, especially if you don't think carefully about what you put in, is likely to result in stupid or bad results. The human body is pretty much like a computer - you put in crap, nothing good comes of it. And it's not just that my body feels icky (which it does - I can totally tell that my stomach is not happy about what I ate the last couple days), but my mind feels icky too. I'm rather short-tempered and not able to think or focus as well as normal. It would be easy to blame the crazy, but I really truly believe that my focus and mood are much better when I eat better. I need to re-commit to taking care of what goes in so that only good stuff comes out.
My younger daughter ran the 1-miler, came in 9th of 92 in her age group, and took about a minute off her mile PR time. My older daughter ran the 2-miler and was 3rd overall girl. These two monkeys truly inspire me. So I should stop eating garbage.
Accept the things to which fate binds you, and love the people with who fate brings you together, but do so with all your heart. -- Marcus Aurelius
OK, so Marcus Aurelius was a smart dude, but I think the late-70s band 10cc may have been pretty clever as well. As I'm sitting here exhausted because I had to cram a masters swim AND my long run for the weekend all into today, Friday -- when I'm also supposed to be working -- I've been thinking...why the hell am I doing this? Well, I'm doing it for the things I love. Like my family, who I'd like to spend time with this weekend. And in particular my kids, who are racing tomorrow morning (taking up that running opportunity) and playing soccer on Sunday a million miles away from home (another running opportunity down the drain). And watching football, including my alma mater Iowa...and watching college football is something to do with my husband (but can't be done while running or swimming). And I love my job, so I don't want to mess that up...basically the suck-i-tude of today can be summed up by "The Things I Do for Love."
But then, after I got into this song, I realize the song has a lot more to do with my life than just how crappy this weekend is. Yeah, I know - having deep thoughts instead of working is so productive.
Too many broken hearts have fallen in the river
Too many lonely souls have drifted out to sea,
You lay your bets and then you pay the price
The things we do for love, the things we do for love.
Yeah, broken hearts falling in the river. That may be me and swimming. Although seriously - of late I seem to be turning into a fish. Weirdest. Thing. Ever.
Communication is the problem to the answer
You've got her number and your hand is on the phone
Living in a 2.5 triathlete household that also includes a crazy-ass soccer player requires extensive communication. Unfortunately, communication is not always the solution - sometimes talking through what all we have to cover in any given week creates more drama than less. I've been kind of feeling that way lately, although I'd never want any of us to give up our goals and dreams. We're all working so hard to achieve.
The weather's turned and all the lines are down
The things we do for love, the things we do for love.
Like walking in the rain and the snow
When there's nowhere to go
And you're feelin' like a part of you is dying
OK, seriously, if you've ever raced in the rain. Or the snow. Or the sleet. Or the heat. Yeah, you're going nowhere fast and feeling like you're dying. I've been there. Yup.
And you're looking for the answer in her eyes.
You think you're gonna break up
Then she says she wants to make up.
Ooh you made me love you
Ooh you've got a way
Ooh you had me crawling up the wall.
Occasionally, very seriously, I wonder if I shouldn't just chuck this all and find a nice habit like knitting - one that wouldn't compete for my family's time and attention, one that wouldn't have me squeezing in 3 hours of workouts on a Friday (and then struggling to work...except I felt like blogging instead), one that would not be completely insane. But then the problem is, I love it. I really love what I'm doing and I don't want to give it up. I'd be crawling up the walls if I wasn't training and racing now.
Like walking in the rain and the snow
When there's nowhere to go
And you're feelin' like a part of you is dying
And you're looking for the answer in her eyes.
You think you're gonna break up
Then she says she wants to make up.
Ooh you made me love you
Ooh you've got a way
Ooh you had me crawling up the wall.
A compromise would surely help the situation
Agree to disagree but disagree to part
When after all it's just a compromise of
The things we do for love, the things we do for love....
Just a silly story about an active family and the things we do for love...
I've never been convinced that experience is linear, circular, or even random. It just is. I try to put it in some kind of order to extract meaning from it, to bring meaning to it. -- Toni Cade Bambara
Well, it's been a long time...since I rock and rolled.
And since I blogged. Things have been all sorts of busy around here, although it would be hard for me to tell you exactly what I've been busy doing for the last week. So instead, I'll just tell you some random stuff. Later this week, an update on my goals. Which isn't going as well as I have hoped.
On Monday night I was able to stay with the "faster" lane for Masters. Go me! And we worked hard - part of the pre-set was 8x100m coming down to 5 seconds rest. Dang. 5 seconds rest is just long enough to look at the clock and turn around to go again. It's supposed to make me faster - let's hope so. Also we are working on doing more "non-free" stroke - so I've been playing at the butterfly, which is the most useless stroke for a triathlete, but it's a little bit fun and allegedly it will strengthen my upper body. One can only hope.
Of course, this morning at Masters I felt slow. :(
But my running is getting faster. I had a nice "easy" run on the plan yesterday and was able to maintain a real nice pace.
A friend of mine is training to run a half-marathon, the same one I'm running in November. She implied it is because some crazy friend of hers did a HIM and she felt inspired. :)
I've decided that core work needs to be a big part of my winter training plan. I bought some core videos on swich.io. The website is cool (and I'd link to it, but it seems to be down) - it is a buy/sell site for triathlon gear started by a couple of local women. Love it.
One of the things I did this week that kept me busy was apple picking with the fam. I love apples. Not as much as I love pumpkin-flavored anything, but definitely one of my favorite fall foods. And we got there while granny smith apples were in season. Yeah!
I'm definitely excited about doing most likely 2 HIM next year, but I'm also really looking forward to doing a full sometime in the near future. I'm jealously watching an old friend of mine taper for IMFL. So cool.
A compliment is something like a kiss through a veil. -- Victor Hugo
Yesterday I went out to lunch with a bunch of my female colleagues from work. A few of them don't see me as often and complimented me on how good I looked, etc. Lunch was good - mmmm - Mexican food. I had a couple beers, lots of chips with cheese dip and table-side guacamole, and enchiladas with chicken and chorizo in a tomatillo sauce with wayyyy too much cheese. Obviously I don't always eat this way - but it was a special occasion and I did stick to many of my eating tenets...no margaritas (too much sugar), no wheat (except beer, which I don't count...call me a hypocrite), plenty of protein.
As we were leaving, one of the women in my group came up to me and said - "You are getting so teeny tiny - I'm so happy to see that you actually do eat and drink." Hmmm. That hit me in kind of a weird place. I worry all the time about how much I eat and drink -- but not that I don't eat...I worry that I eat or drink too much. Most of the time. It seemed odd that someone would think that I don't eat or drink.
And then what was intended to be a compliment actually made me start to feel really bad - I obviously did eat too much yesterday. I actually got a little angry at myself for eating too much. So I ended up not feeling like eating dinner, which I assume was more mental than anything. How could something as simple as a compliment throw me so far out of whack?
The great thing in the world is not so much where we stand, as in what direction we are moving. -- Oliver Wendell Holmes
Yeah me! It is official. Next Monday night I am no longer swimming in the turtle lane at Masters. My coach said that I don't belong in that lane any more, no matter who is swimming, and that I will be starting every Monday session going forward in lane 2!!! (You may have noticed I am a little bit excited over here...giddy in fact. However, I will not torture you with The Jefferson's theme song. I am hoping just the mention of it will give you a little ear worm. I've been singing it all night since Coach moved me up.)
One must know the so-called 'lesson of a downpour.' A man, caught in a sudden rain en route, dashes along the road not to get wet or drenched. Once one takes it for granted that in rain he naturally gets wet, he can be in a tranquil frame of mind even when soaked to the skin. This lesson applies to everything. -- Yamamoto Tsunetomo
Rainy run today - I run in the rain, because it seemed for a while, whenever I had a race scheduled, it would rain. Like it was my fault - the heavens would open up because, oh, TriMom is racing, guess it better rain! OK, so I'm not really in charge of the weather, and if I was, I wouldn't ask for rain while I'm racing, obviously. But the thing of it is, there is actually some peace in running in the rain. Not crazy soaker downpours - noone likes those, but today was a good steady drizzle. I was soaked when I finished my eight miles. And it was a great run. I achieved a tranquil frame of mind, even when soaked to the skin.
The problem is I haven't actually figured out how to take this lesson and apply it to things besides running in the rain. Yet. I think the first step is probably to stop blaming everything bad on the rain. There's going to be rain in life, and I'm going to get wet. But so what? When I figure this out, then I will find a tranquil frame of mind. In the meantime, I'll hang with Milli Vanilli and blame it on the rain. :)
My rule of thumb is that if I am interested or intrigued by something, others will be as well. -- Wolf Blitzer
A couple of thoughts on thumbs...my rule of thumb is that most people are NOT interested or intrigued by what I am interested or intrigued by. Triathlon is pretty much still a "fringe" sport, despite the fact that nearly everyone I know does them. That has more to do with the people I hang with than the fact that triathlons are for normal people.
That being said, now that I'm wearing my awesome 70.3 necklace, lots of people are wondering what the hell it is all about. It's actually kind of funny what people think...a sample of some questions I've answered recently: Did you run that far? (No. It was a triathlon.) OMG, did you swim that far? (Are you flippin' kidding me?) Is that how many hours it takes? (What kind of drugs are you on?) If that's only half, how far is a full IM? (Uh. Can you do math?) Are you serious? (No.) Are you crazy? (Yes.) You are awesome. (Hella yeah.)
But back to thumbs. Two thoughts. First, how awesome are running jackets with thumb holes? Why don't all long-sleeved clothing items have thumb holes?
Yeah. That's my hand. My fingers aren't nearly as long as they look in this picture - really. But check out that awesome thumb hole. I have 3 jackets with thumb holes and they are my favorites. Ever. If I wear a long sleeve shirt while I'm running (and not one of these jackets), I ball up my hand inside the sleeves except for my thumbs. These are just much more efficient.
And for good reason. My thumbs have a mind of their own when I run. In fact, when I run, my thumbs look like I'm hitchhiking. Or giving you a thumbs up. Either way, seriously weird. Check this out.
Seriously. There are just a few of the races I've done. Doesn't matter if it's a running race or a triathlon - there's my thumb. Funny, huh?
I spent an awful lot of my life underestimating myself and, as a result, not exceeding my own expectations. -- Jane Pauley
I don't think this quote has it quite right, at least not for me. I'm starting to wonder, at the nudging of my husband, if I am spending too much time underestimating myself and thus ALWAYS exceeding my expectations. Is it really a challenge if I keep marking everything off the list the first time I try? Yesterday was just another example where I succeeded and exceeded beyond expectation, making me wonder if I am sometimes aiming too low. (Alternatively, it could just be that I have the phenomenal ability to over-perform...but that seems far-fetched.)
N.B. - you would be able to see the crazy list of "DONE" accomplishments this year over in my 2013 Races section, except that Blogger's text feature is apparently messed up. I couldn't update it and then I managed to make it disappear. :( Hopefully Blogger will fix the issue so you can see how successful I've been this season.
Anyway, back to the point: Yesterday I ran a half mary with the goal of breaking 2:30. I set this as my goal because I had not broken 2:30 since I got hurt training for the marathon a few years ago. My first half mary was 2:15; my personal best is 2:05; but I've been running in the 2:45-3:00 range for over a year. I got the inkling that I might be able to break 2:30 because I did so well with the run leg of the HIM last month - 2:41 AFTER a long morning of swimming and biking.
It was a great day for racing - clear (unlike the same race last year where it poured all race) and sunny. If anything, it was surprisingly warm for October. And the course was a great course to shoot for my goals, because it is relatively flat, except for a few overpasses. I went out a little fast, but overall, I was able to maintain a fairly consistent pace. Check out the data from my Garmin below.
The low dips are water stations (the one right after 8 was actually skittles & pretzels...mmmm), except for the wider dip right after mile 11. I was getting tired and there was a hill for an overpass, so I allowed myself to walk up it. It made my 12th mile a bit slow, but otherwise, I'm happy with the good, basically even pace - and I even had a little left in the tank to sprint into the finish.
I also met my goal and then some. 2:23! Yeah me! On top of that, I got the overall results and I have moved squarely back into the middle-of-the-pack for all runners at this race, women my age, and even better than MOP if you look at women overall. This is exciting, because in a number of my races, I have been back-of-the-pack, dragging up the rear, etc. It's a lot more fun when you finish among a big group of people, are passing runners the whole way, etc. But of course, it's really about beating myself - and I did. I set a goal of 2:30, I met that goal, and I'm on my way back to the half mary times I am proud of. The blurry pic below is me celebrating post-race with a giant crab and a cup of beer.
As excited as I am that I met another challenge - smashed it really - I am wondering if I need to reevaluate some of my new goals. Am I being too easy on myself? I guess that is one nice thing about using the SMARTER plan - I'm supposed to regularly evaluate and re-evaluate my goals. Maybe I'll need to reassess my time goal for the marathon in March if my running keeps going strong. But for now, I'm just going to be happy about my performance and move onto working on that goals/checklist system I wrote up last week. HereWeGo!
Achieve success in any area of life by identifying the optimum strategies and repeating them until they become habits. -- Charles J. Givens
I'm stealing an idea that some of my friends on the magical Internets have started doing - create a list of goals and then create a daily checklist that includes actions/habits that will lead towards those goals. As the seasons in my world are changing -- the seasons related to the Earth's rotation around the sun and the sports seasons (tri vs. running) -- as well as looking forward to a new "season" in my world -- an upcoming sabbatical, it seems like a good time to create a list of goals and a daily checklist.
Of course, to be good goals, they should be smart - or SMART, if you're one of those acronym-y type people. :-) Specific; Measurable; Attainable; Relevant; and Time-bound. And then, if you're really cool, you set SMARTER goals...adding in Evaluating and Re-evaluating. So here are a couple of SMART goals that I want to work towards:
GOAL
Weigh 145 pounds by December 31, 2013
Specific - check; measurable - yep; attainable - yes (< 10 pounds over 3 months); relevant - I've talked about my weight issue before and why it matters; time-bound...got a set deadline.
Can it be smarter? Yes - I should evaluate where I am every week (weighing in) and re-evaluating if something unexpected comes up.
Train for a sub-5:30 marathon, held on March 16, 2014
Specific; measurable; attainable...I think so, depending on how this fall's half marathons go; relevant - it is starting to matter to me to have a concrete AND public goal for my events...it gives me a target and it makes me accountable; time-bound - yep.
I should probably evaluate weekly to see how well I'm following my training plan and evaluate based on that, as well as any unexpected issues that arise.
Train for a sub-7:00 HIM, held on June 1, 2014
Specific; measurable; attainable...not sure - this may be a "reach" goal, since it's a 21-minute PR - that being said, it's 9 months away AND I have made great strides even since the HIM I did (see fantastic swim last week!); relevant - hella yeah!; and definitely time-bound.
Smarter? See above - evaluate & reevaluate on training plans.
Write at least 60 minutes, at least 4 days a week. (See, I do things other than train...sometimes.)
Specific - check; measurable - uh huh; attainable...well, it will be a challenge, no doubt - this is where a lot of my problems with productivity live - BUT having this goal should make me work towards making it a habit; relevant - yeah, I got me some deadlines I need to meet; and time-bound.
Smarter? Yep, actually this is one that I can evaluate and re-evaluate on a daily and weekly basis. And when my sabbatical comes, I need to change this from 60 minutes to another, bigger number. But I can't even guess what that number is right now.
So that's all good - yeah there are other things in my life that I'm working on - but let's stick with these public goals for now...what'cha think, TriMom? How'ya gonna get there? Now for the daily checklist:
CHECKLIST:
Read the above goals. Remember why you are doing it. (To achieve #s 1-4)
Consider every meal as a chance to make a good decision. Choose wisely. (To achieve #s 1-3).
Train daily (including rest days as required by plan). (To achieve #s 2-3)
Roll, stretch, etc. to be able to maintain training.
Listen to my body.
Switch up easy and hard days, swimming/biking/running days.
Get at least 6 hours of sleep a night. (To achieve #s 1-4)
Write 60 minutes. (To achieve # 4)
Evaluate the day. (To achieve #s 1-4)
Have I hit my checklist?
Are there things that are standing in the way? Can I do anything to change them?
Are there other items to add to my checklist that will help me achieve my goals?
Lather, rinse, repeat. OK, I get that this seems a little bit rigid, but I have big goals and big plans - and these are going to take some big work on my part. The only way to achieve success is to identify strategies to get me there and then make them habits. Let's do this. Next week - as soon as I get done with my latest travel junket and race - because travel = crappy eating and sleeping and racing = the obligatory post-race binge....well-deserved, me thinks. :-)
