Wednesday: Bambino Brigade, Gilad and Swim

This morning I was up and at 'em early after a great night's sleep. I LOVE a great night's sleep. I was up before the baby, and I made breakfast and answered my email before getting Ivan up and out the door to meet the Bambino Brigade. We got in a three mile-ish hike today. I wore my Garmin today, and the map and mileage is pretty exciting. Ivan seemed to really enjoy the hike and he was really tired after we finished, though HE WAS NOT THE ONE WHO WAS HIKING WHILE WEARING A 26 POUND CHILD. That was me.

Anyway, Ivan fell asleep on the ride home, which meant that he did not take a nap while I did my Gilad workout or any other time that day. Ivan needed so much more nap, and it made my whole day a witching hour. I will say no more about napping, but honestly I would love to write a thesis on it. It turned into a day where I gave Ivan I spray bottle, and we went outside and he sprayed and sprayed and sprayed. Better than cough drops or lollipops, Ivan loves a spray bottle. We have put every spray bottle in the house at unreachable height in an effort to avoid what happens when Ivan gets his hands on one.

For instance, last week, Ivan got hold of a low lying spray sunscreen bottle and I came out of my bedroom to find the hallway wallpaper covered in sunscreen. Huge mess. Many nasty thoughts. But today, against my better judgement we went out side with a spray bottle of water to keep Ivan occupied and happy for a little while. It worked, and by the time he was getting grumpy again, it was time for me to go to swim and leave Ivan with his dad. Checkmate.

Swim was great tonight. Workout as follows:

• 200 warmup
• 8 x 75 (3/5/7 breathing pattern)
• 2 x 25 swim (one fast/one slow)
• 2 x 50 swim
• 2 x 75 swim
• 2 x 100 swim
• 500 pull
• 2 x 25 swim
• 2 x 50 swim
• 2 x 75 swim
• 2 x 100 swim
• 100 back stroke
• 100 breast stroke
• 200 free

This was 2700 meters, though it felt like a long hard workout.

I hit Yogurt World on the way home, and it was delicious. Also, I earned a free yogurt, so I plan to go back on Friday night!!

Tuesday: Speed Session and Yoga

So this morning when my alarm went off, I was filled with dread. Our track workout this morning was pretty long and intense, and there was no part of me that was excited about it. In fact, I lay in bed for a while debating about getting up. It took me back to an epiphany that I had one Saturday morning when I was running, and I saw a man saunter out of his house in his bathrobe carrying a cup of coffee to get the paper: Some people just get up on Saturday morning. They just get up and sit around, and they don't feel guilty about it, and it is not a sin.

Anyway, after I drug myself from the bed I got ready and in true Betsy Sloan fashion, found that my Garmin 310 xt watch had not been on the charger all night, so it was dead. Then, of course, I could not locate my other stopwatch, which means that I roamed around the house in the dark noisily rummaging through drawers and desktops until I located my stopwatch. This in turn made me late to the speed session that I was filled with dread about attending. This meant that I only got in one warm-up lap before the workout.

Workout as follows:

• 400 meter warm-up lap
• 6 x 1 mile repeats at 6:54 (I ended up being fast on these and did all the intervals at around 6:47)
• mile cooldown

So today's workout was long, which put me at home a bit late, but I managed to get to Bible study on time. At home, my early morning hardcore workout overwhelmed me, and I took a nap after I put Ivan down for his nap. There is nothing like a nap to make you feel rejuvenated.

In the evening, I got in a some dinner and, shame to tell you, I finished off Ivan's dragon birthday cake. It was crazy delicious and the icing stained my arm green, where I scratched with icing fingers. Clearly, the icing is made with butter, sugar, and green sharpies, and Dr. Perricone would cry himself to sleep if he knew what I had ingested, but I just can't apologize for it. Also, I realize that I sound straight up Deliverance Appalachian eating birthday cake with my fingers and scratching my arm, but I lose my manners around birthday cake. It was green dragon birthday cake!!!!!!

Monday: Swim, Gilad, Run

So today, I was up at 6:30 AM for which I would like a prize. I made myself a smoothie and packed the car and I GOT TO SWIM ON TIME. It was just staggering, and I was wildly impressed with myself. I dove right into the water and there was a lot of IM and a lot of kicking, but I can't remember much else of the workout and it was around 3000 yards. Meant to take in my iphone to photograph the workout, but forgot as was too busy prancing into swim on time.

Now, because it is Easter week, this was my last morning swim as I have the Bambino Brigade on Wednesday and the pool is closed for Good Friday. What will I do with myself on Friday??? Not sure.

At home, I was starving. I went through a sandwich, salad, piece of birthday cake, waffle, and half of Ivan's mini-corn dogs before I reached capacity. One of the most fabulous things about having children is all the terrible food they eat: the corn dogs, the cheese, the goldfish, the Little Debbies and the birthday cake. Oh, it is so lovely and junky.

When Ivan went down for his nap, I got in a Gilad workout. After heading into work, I came home and loaded up Ivan into the jog stroller for a twilight run. It was a really nice run, and Ivan talked the whole time, pointing out all the birds, trees, cars and trucks. It was super cute. For dinner, I had a huge bowl of roasted sweet potatoes, for which I will post the recipe. It is a fabulous recipe.

Great Day!!!

Sunday: Day Off

Today, I woke up with the aftereffects of some serious second birthday partying. Setting up a birthday party and chasing a two year old all day after a 21 mile run is Herculean. At one point, I was at a dead sprint up our gravel driveway in boots to catch Ivan before he made a suicide plunge into the street. All that to excuse my absence from church. I slept a bit later and sat about like a sedated zombie drinking tea while my husband watched Formula One racing.

Normally, I can't stay in the same room as those awful screaming tires, British commentators and scantily clad flag girls, but this morning I didn't even notice.

After breakfast and Ivan's nap, he and I went to the drugstore where I had my first Cadbury Egg of the Easter season. It was a much deserved reward after yesterday and I really really enjoyed it.

We then headed to the mall so that he could play in the germ pit. Aaaaahhhh, the germ pit. It is such a terrible terrible place, full of screaming barefoot children and 20 different parents with 20 different parenting styles. It really is a recipe for disaster. Everyone yelling; kids all tripping over each other. Ivan fought his way up and down the slide about 20 times before he went to get a cookie and sit on the John Deere lawnmower upstairs. We called it a day and headed home.

Swim tomorrow!!!

Book Report: Born To Run: A Hidden Tribe, Superathletes, and The Greatest Race the World Has Ever Seen by Christopher McDougall

So, I have been hearing about Born to Run for about a year now. Everyone in my running group has read it, and I was beginning to feel like the odd man out. So, my friend Genie invited me to her book club that was reading it this month, and I pulled it together to get it read quickly.

Now, it helps that Born to Run is a VERY fast read. The premise of the book is a question: Why are runners always injured? In the quest to find an answer to this question, Christopher McDougall attends several ultra-marathons, where athletes run 50 or more miles in excruciating temperatures. This leads him to a follow up on a rumor of a barefoot tribe of runners in the Barrancas in Mexico, and a homeless ex-boxer from the midwest who gave up his life to go and learn the ways of this tribe and run.

The book ends up telling the story of several ultra-runners, a race with the Tarahumara tribe in Mexico, and how Nike had ruined out lives. The short story of how Nike has ruined out lives is that as a race of people, we are born to run, it is how we have survived, but we have not always had shoes. We now have shoes and multiple injuries.

The book talks up Five Finger shoes, which are just basic covers for a bare foot. The idea is that shoes throw off the natural balance that comes from out feet and break down the strength of our feet causing injury and playing into our increasingly sedentary lifestyle. Its' an interesting concept.

Chris McDougall is a fabulous storyteller and he presents a lot of scientific information in an interesting way. I encourage this book if you have been running a long time or are just getting started!!

Saturday: 20 Mile Run and Ivan's Second Birthday Party

So this morning, the run was set up as such:

• Meet at park entrance at 6:00 AM and run three miles
• Meet back at park entrance to pick up the 6:30 AM group
• At this time, you must fight the urge to get in your car and go home, but run you must
• SO, out to Radnor Lake and back to the park entrance (about 12 more miles)
• Again, fight strong strong urge to get in your car and go home. Run 5.8 more miles.
• Get back to your car with 20.8 miles under your belt and FINALLY get to get in your car and leave

Today was actually a pretty positive run for several reasons:

• I had a great pre-run breakfast
• I was dressed absolutely weather appropriate
• I had a nice run with the group and felt good throughout
• I kept pace
• When it was time to run the 5.8, I hung back and ran it by myself

It was the first good long run I have had in I can't remember when. It seems that my slightly tapered schedule given to me by Richard Baker really has made a big difference. I will also say that when I began my run this morning, I did not feel defeated before I started running. I felt rested and ready to run!!

There was a new runner visiting the group today (Eleanor), and she is also running Boston. She is planning to run a 3:05, which is just stunning to me. We ran together for about 5 miles before she revealed this rather daunting information to me. She had lots of great tips and information. She thought run conservatively in the beginning, faster in the middle, and see how you feel in the end. I am making a commitment to start out at 7:40 miles, and I might even write the splits I need on my arm for this race. My pacing partner did this in the most successful I have ever run, so I feel that I should incorporate the strategy.

At home, we got got ready for Ivan's second birthday party. We had dragon birthday cakes and fried chicken with salad, there was much noise and playing, and it was a great time and visit with my friends!!!

Friday: Swim and Gilad and Party Preparations

So this morning, I was up at closer to my New Year's Resolution than anytime since January. I was pretty proud of myself, and you would have thought that the earlier wake-up time would have facilitated my getting out the house on time for swim, but this was not the case. This makes me wonder if I am simply incapable of getting to anyplace on time, not withstanding toting the baby or all my swim stuff. It might not be within the realm of my abilities, and it is a quality that I do not respect in myself.

Anyway, swim workout as follows (as much as I can remember):

• 100 warmup
• 8 x 50 @ 1:00
• 6 x 50 back stroke drill
• 6 x 50 fly drill
• 3 x 100 IM
• 3 x 200 swim
• 300 pull
• 400 kick

Now, I have just today decided that from now on, I am going to photograph the swim workout with my iphone so that I will have a a replica of the workout to put on my blog. I can't believe I haven't thought of this before. For what do I have an iphone if not for photographing the unrecorded swim workout on the dry erase board. It was a great workout, Friday is long lanes so I felt like I got in some good long swimming, disappointing in that I knocked over my rec center coffee on the deck and did not get to drink it while I swam. I LOVE drinking rec center coffee while I swim. I love the styrofoam cup and the weak nature of the brew. I just love it.

Anyway, swim was great and I headed home and got ready for work where I had a nice afternoon. After work, I went to the vile Party City to get balloons and napkins for Ivan's birthday party. There is so much plastic and paper at Party City that it makes me feel guilty. It seems that I should bundle it all up and recycle it.

Back at home, I got in a Gilad workout and made a fabulous dinner of roasted sweet potatoes, turkey tenderloin and lemon sauteed broccoli. I am watching Did You Hear About the Morgans, and it is truly terrible. I am not even going to attach the IMBD link, because really don't bother. It will only make you weep for how great Hugh Grant used to be. Aaahh, Four Weddings and a Funeral.

Now musing over my 20 mile run tomorrow and Ivan's Second Birthday party.

Pics from Ivan's Birthday party last year!!!

Thursday: Run, Bike, Yoga and a Flat Screen Remote Control Disaster

It has just monsooned all day. There was finally a window of relative dryness at noon and I popped Ivan into bed for nap before he knew what hit him (I could explain the reasons that I couldn't take Ivan in the jog stroller at that time of day but it would take my pathetic momism to a level I don't want to address on the web). I got in a great tempo run and didn't even get to do my cooldown stroll down the driveway, as I was running late for work. I had to sprint it in to the door.

I stopped in for a visit with Baby Plotkin, the cutest and lovliest baby of all, before heading into work, where I was able to leave early and get home to get in a yoga session and a trainer ride while I watch my Thursday night line-up. Two great lines from the show tonight:

Jack: "We all have our romantic pipe dreams."

Liz: "I'll start my own group, rejection from society is how the X-Men formed."

Anyway, the big story from Sloanville today is that Ivan had a tantrum and threw the remote control (for which there were consequences), and it BROKE the remote. Now, I don't know if you are aware of this, BUT the remote is the center of the world. It was a situation of immense gravity. My husband was uber-concerned. To add to the misery, upon acquisition and syncing of a new remote, it was noticed that Ivan had also, at some point, with some scratchy implement sliced into the flatscreen.

Ooooh, it was terrible times. There was much grumbling and growling amongst spouses as to whom had not been watching Ivan closely, who was getting upset about something that was not the end of the world, who continued to behave like it was the end of the world, and who was pouting about the situation for way too long. It made for a grumpy day.

On the upside, we have broken Ivan of the bottle and he is eating like a champ. Pics of our healthy eater.

Book Report: Pride and Predjudice

It is becoming a habit for me to have some piece of audible-literature on my iphone which I can listen to on the way to work. You have to be really careful about what you choose, some things don't listen well. Some things that you think would be great listens (for instance, Angels and Demons) are not and some things that you think would be terrible listens (for instance, The Wordy Shipmates) are great and memorable.

This audible version of Pride and Prejudice was the best EVER. Oh, it was so good. Lindsay Duncan was the reader, and she nailed every aspect and nuance of Elizabeth and Darcy's interactions. Lindsay Duncan is a Scottish actress, and she was in the HBO miniseries: Rome.

Though I have read Pride and Prejudice before, it seemed that Lindsay Duncan's reading enhanced some of the great quotes, and I became emotionally attached to the characters in a way that I have not experienced before. For instance, I wept a bit with Elizabeth when Lydia betrayed the family by running away with the vile Wickham. I also really enjoyed Mr. Bennet's dry humor and tolerance of the more foolish members of his family. For instance, I really appreciated this time around that though Mr. Bennet thinks Mr. Collins is so ridiculous, yet he says that he wouldn't give up his correspondence with him for the world because he finds it so amusing.

Finally, I love the picture of British 18th century life that Jane Austen shows us. She explains the troublesome concept of entail and the constant concerns about the propriety of expressing oneself. She portrays the structure of small towns and the social niceties, that ensure that men and women were introduced to each other. It was such a game of chess, and you had to know the rules. Our rules seem so blurred now, Austen's portrait was intriguing.

I cannot say enough good things about this audible book, and I encourage you to give the classics a listen.

Wednesday: The Bambino Brigad, Gilad and Evening Swim, Also, I had a hair appointment

Honestly, daylight savings time is killing us. Our routine is off, we are in bed too late in the morning, resulting in one of us being late and one of us staggering around like a drunk while Ivan is plopped higglety-pigglety in front of The Wiggles for his breakfast. It is a sad and irresponsible state of affairs. We simply cannot get our act together.

This morning, Ivan slept quite late, I was up, and the clock told me that unless I got my act together, I would never make it to the Bambino Brigade on time. There was much running about and a sigh of dismay over the state of my laundry basket as we leapt into the car to get to Radnor Lake for the hike.

The last time we went to hike at Radnor, it was more than freezing. It snowed and Ivan was a small block of angry ice. This week, however, the weather was just perfect: bright and sunny, not too hot. There were lots of women with babies, and it was lots of fun. We hiked for about four miles, and I can't show you my Garmin info, because activities are not loading from my Garmin right now, and it is making me three kinds of crazy. (What was my heart rate? How many calories did I burn? I can't see a map of the course! How will I survive?)

At home, I got in a Gilad workout before heading out to the pool around the corner for my swim. I have a hair appointment tonight, so I can't swim with the triathlon group. For this reason, I must go it alone, which I do not love, but there is very little that would induce me to change a dearly gained hair appointment. Also, I was about to catch on fire, because the pool temperature is a bit too warm to swim more that a mile comfortably. After a mile, it starts to feel as if my pores are stopped up, as if I am dying to sweat. Honestly, it is about three degrees warmer than my usual pool, so you wouldn't think it was a big deal, but it is a huge deal.

Swim workout as follows:

• 20 minute warm up
• 8 x 50
• 2 x 400
• 3 x 300

So not a very long swim, but I did get it in and made it to my hair appointment on time.

Clearly, the most important thing!!

Pics of me and Ivan and me and Ashley this morning at the hike.

Tuesday: Speed Sessions, Yoga and Gilad

Now there is never one thing pleasant about getting up at 5:30 AM to go to speed sessions. My alarm is the worst and when it goes off, you might think it heralded the four horseman of the appocolypse. It is like a cross between a fog horn, a vacuum cleaner, a shriek of pain and a death rattle. Just terrible. When I hear it, I have a strong urge to roll out of bed onto the floor and army crawl out of the room. There is no choice but to address the situation, and my husband made me promise to use my iphone alarm from now on, which I should. There must be pleasant ways to wake up.

After dragging myself from the bed and walking into the bathroom to get dressed, I actually felt pretty good. I had some green tea and a breakfast bar and hit the road. Today's workout was as follows:

• mile warm-up
• 10 x 400 meter at Fast Pace (which is a 1:30 400 and a 6:06 mile)
• 400 jog in between each 400
• mile cool down

Now, 400 are my least favorite workout of all time. ALL TIME, but they are integral to any track workout. I am very very pleased that I get to miss the last 400 workout because I will be running the Boston Marathon.

Regardless of the hour, I thoroughly enjoy getting home at 7:30ish with a full workout under my belt. Ivan and I had eggs and sausage and headed out to Bible study, where I was completely unprepared. You would have thought that with a whole week of vacation under my belt, I would have accomplished my Bible study commitment, but no. I did not do this weeks lesson.

I got in a Gilad workout and some yoga before heading in to work.

It was double punch Tuesday at Yogurt World. I am two punches closer to a free yogurt.

Thrilling!!!!!

Monday: Swim, Run, Gilad and Hair Drama

Of course I do not want to use this blog as a vehicle for complaints about the day-to-day nuisances of having an about-to-be-two year old. There is no doubt that I am blessed to have a child, and Ivan is both unique and special. HOWEVER, yesterday, I had another hair incident (not as bad as glue pad hair) but I felt it was clinically significant in terms of my irritation level.

Ivan has learned to unscrew tops and untwist wrappers, and it is very unfortunate. Two weeks ago I would have calmly watched him play with a screw-top bottle of arsenic. He could not have unscrewed it to save his life. He would merely look closely at bottle and shake them with a wonder that seemed to say "why would anyone make a sealed bottle? What could be in it? What could be its purpose?" Suddenly, however, he is on to this drugstore level level of adulthood. Luckily, he has gravitated towards the largely benign toothpaste and cough drops. Every once in a while, I will find him cloistered in the bathroom suckling down a tube of toothpaste like an alcoholic. Anyway, on Sunday morning as we were running late to church, I opened the door to the bathroom to see Ivan hastily dropping the toothpaste tube as I walked into the bathroom. I picked up my comb to untangle my bed head only to find that Ivan had dripped all the toothpaste into the comb and there were multiple streaks of Crest throughout my hair. I had no choice but throw it into a sticky bun and head to church. Luckily, this also happened on hair appointment week. The assaults on my appearance may be the hardest part of having a child.

Cough drops however, are Ivan's dearest love. He figured out how to twist open the paper wrappers, and he follows me about the house saying hopefully "hough hop hough hop". In fact, in another example of my stellar parenting, for his birthday I am giving him a cough drop to open and eat.

OK, so today, I had a great swim workout, though the showers were out at the gym. Hard times. I almost went home rather than immerse my hair in the pool water without wetting it first, and the further sin of leaving the chlorine in after I washed it. I keep telling myself it is hair appointment week. It is going to be OK. I have myself a hair treatment as soon as I got home.

Swim workout as follows:

• 200 warmup
• 8 x 50 swim
• 400 kick
• 2 x 300 swim
• 4 x 50 DIVE OFF THE BLOCKS AND I DID IT. I DID IT!!! (Steven splashed the water under my block so that the water did not look so far away. It was this crazy visual illusion that totally worked.)
• 200 swim
• 500 swim

At home I got in a four mile run, before heading into work and in to book club for the evening. Lots of fun!!!!

Pic of me diving off the blocks and my morning swim pool drinks!!

Sunday: I Took the Day Off

Today was my day off. It went off pretty well. I have take days off before. It happens from time to time, BUT there is usually a bit of guilt (or a lot, a copious amount, an ocean full) and a lot of "I should"-ing. For instance, "I should go to swim", "I should get a run in", "I should get on my bike". There was none of that today, I just did my own things about the house. We went to church, and home and I went to visit a friend and then to Pei Wei where I picked up dinner and headed back to the house.

I exchanged a glance with the laundry basket, but did not succumb to folding. I read Ivan his current favorite: The Little Engine That Could. I am not a huge fan of this book as it is quite long and involves many trains that are rather rude. We all know that the shiny gold engine should have carried the toys over the mountain. I did miss going to swim, but I used the valuable time to go to The Cosmetic Market and choose a very exciting new mousse by Frederic Fekkai which I plan to use to further my pursuit of perfect hair. Summer frizz is lurking around the corner.

Pic of Ivan in his raincoat in route to Church!!

Saturday: Long Run Coupled with Demoralization

So this morning, I was out of bed on time for a 6:00 AM run. I stayed up much too late watching The Hangover. If you are going to stay up too late to watch anything, I have to recommend The Hangover. I laughed long and hard and confession: I am watching it again as I type.

Anyway, I set my Saturday morning alarm clock for 5:24 AM. This gives me plenty of time to get on my running outfit, have a cup of tea and wrap myself up in my polar fleece blanket for the ride to the park. Now, I drive to Percy Warner park to run from Franklin and you would think it would take longer, but it's like an 11 minute drive at anytime pre-6AM. The stoplights are are still flashing yellow, and there is absolutely no traffic. Usually, I listen to loud music and envision myself running like a cross between Chariots of Fire and myself filled with glee as a child.

I was scheduled for a 20 mile run this morning, and I arrived completely ready for it. I had snacks and Dr. Pepper chap stick packed into the zippered compartment on my shirt. My first three and a half miles were reasonable, and then we met back at the gates to pick up the 6:30 AM group. We ran into the hills to do the 11.2, and I just fell apart. I've had a nagging cough, and it I started feeling like I couldn't get a deep breath of air in my lungs. I actually walked the last hill.

I was running with Robbie, and my social skills flew out the window. I babbled about so many many things. You know, when you do a long run, you are with a person for so long. It is almost like a really intense date, with no food or movie to break up the time.

If I ever go back to graduate school for another masters (which I never will because once was more than enough), and I have to write another thesis (which is honestly a fate second only to a death sentence) I am going to focus on a pilot study of the inverse relationship of social skills and a long distance run. It always seems like the longer I run the more I prattle. Once on a twenty mile run, I found myself gravely discussing my high school prom with a fifty year old man. It is embarrassing. I must improve myself in this regard.

Anyway, I ended up cutting my run short and stopping after 15 miles. It is all relatively demoralizing. My hacking cough was persistent until after I got up from my nap. I took such a nice nap after which Ivan and I headed for the germ pit at the mall so that he could go down the slide and get a cookie. He had a great time. I made sweet potato chick pea curry for dinner and am heading for a day off tomorrow. Though I am calling Richard Baker tomorrow to find out if I have royally fouled myself up by not completing my 20 mile run. Surely it wasn't completely ruinous, but I feel concerned.

Day off tomorrow.

Friday: Swim, Gilad, and Yoga

Ok, so I am totally loving this workout schedule that Richard Baker made for me. I feel that he is truly talented, and I feel that the workouts I have gotten from him have been well within my comfort zone. It has given me a purpose and I feel I am not just working out all the time to work out all the time. This morning for instance, I knew that I needed to go to swim, and get in my resistance workout in, and I threw in about 20 minutes of yoga, just because I have been kind of tight. It was a great day. Tomorrow I have a scheduled run and on Sunday, I am doing nothing.

Swim workout was great. It was my first morning swim this week and I was totally excited to be there. Workout as follows:

• 100 warmup
• 400 kick
• 3 x 200 swim
• 4 x 50 IM
• 3 x 100
• 8 x 50 IM
• 5 x 100 kick

Now, there was a some more to the workout, but this is all I can remember. On the way home, Ivan and I stopped off to practice his swimming. Got in a Gilad workout and some yoga. Would write more, but am watching The Hangover. Too busy watching.

Thursday: Run, Bike, Yoga, Ivan's First Haircut and and Ill-Advised Dinner

So today was a really pleasant low key workout day, but a stressful day otherwise. Is that possible? This morning, I overslept, because daylight savings time is RUINING my life. Then, at 9:30 AM, my friend Melissa came over to run run walk three-ish miles. It was loads of fun, and I have decided to put the full court press on her to join me every Thursday. We talked about all sorts of things and got back to the house just in time to get Ivan to his haircut appointment.

Today was Ivan's first haircut, and it went over like a lead balloon. There was much crying, kicking, begging for "peepops", and behaving as if we were going to cut fingers instead of hairs. Why is it so stressful? Why is it such big deal? We finally sat Ivan in my lap with a lollipop and managed to get some of his hair cut into just about the cutest bowl cut I have ever seen on a child if I do say so myself.

Back at home, I put Ivan down for a nap and hopped on my bike for an Active Recovery ride. Active Recovery is a part of healing up after a hard workout. According to Richard Baker, this encourages recovery and reduces muscle lactate faster than just plain old do-nothing rest. Pretty exciting to hop on the bike today and ride outside. Because I did not leave our enclosed neighborhood, I listened to Pride and Prejudice while I rode, and it was so great. Mr. Bingley just asked for Jane's hand in marriage, and I can't stop listening. What will I do when it ends? What else will be as good? Anything? Nothing?

Back at home, Ivan was up and we got dressed and the three of us went in to have dinner with my husband's grandmother. She is always a treat, and Ivan looked totally adorable in knee socks and a short suit, but he was a pill with a capital P. He kicked, he threw a handful of sugar at me. It is still in my hair. He chewed up a huge mouthful of melba toast only to regurgitate it onto the table. I was forced to drag him from the table in my pencil skirt and knee boots to dole out "consequences" in the bathroom. When we visited my grandmother-in-law's apartment, my heart palpitated at the un-child-proofed-ness of it all. It was one of the greater stresses I have ever endured. As usual, I plan to leave Ivan at home next time. He always needs to be left at home.

A little yoga at home and I am hitting the pool tomorrow morning!!!

Wednesday: Swim, Gilad, and Yoga

Today I was supposed to hike with the Bambino Brigade, (It is on my training schedule from Richard Baker even) but Ivan was just still sicky with stomach issues, and I was concerned about getting out on a hike and having to deal with vomit or worse. A trail vomit incident is where I draw the line. It is just not an option for me or my child. We vomit in the privacy of our own home.

For this reason, I had multiple cups of tea with my breakfast cereal and got in a Gilad workout and some yoga, both of which were great. Gilad, however, had standing abs today, instead of the crunch oriented ab-work that I expect from Gilad. It is probably great for me, but it is a lot about posture, and I never feel that I get quite the workout I want. It just doesn't seem as hard as crunch oriented abs. The yoga felt GREAT, and I do it a couple of times a week, but wish I did it more. In fact, our Lululemon show room does a free yoga class on Saturday mornings, and after the Boston Marathon, I may get in a few Saturdays of Yoga.

Now after Yoga, I ran Ivan to the doctor to get an H1N1 screenings. He is flu-less!!!! Then got back home to make a smoothie and head to swim.

I missed doing double swim today, BUT I need to cut back and it is fine that I only did one swim. This is what I am telling myself. Tonight's workout as follows:

• 100 warm-up
• 20 x 25 to practice sighting

two times through the following

• 1 x 25 fast
• 4 x 25 easy
• 1 x 25 fast
• 3 x 25 easy
• 1 x 25 fast
• 2 x 25 easy
• 1 x 25 fast
• 1 x 25 easy
• 500 pull

8 x 75 swim

It was a hard workout!!! Tomorrow I am doing a slow recovery run and then some yoga. Also, tomorrow is Ivan's fist haircut!!!! Will post many pics.

Tuesday: Track Workout, Yoga and a Long Day

Daylight savings time is killing me. I needed to get to bed early last night so that I could be up a the crack of dawn today to get to the track. It took me forever to get to sleep since according to my body clock it was really only 8:30 PM. SO early. (though I watch a documentary about Laird Hamilton this week and he goes to bed at 8:00 PM every night. EVERY NIGHT). Anyway, when my alarm went off at 5:30 AM this morning, it felt just heinous. I almost bailed since I wasn't going to really do the workout as I am resting from the Tom King. As soon as I climbed in the car I was really thrilled to be going, and this is why: I am listening to Pride and Prejudice on my iphone and I jogged safely in circles while listening to the resolution of the vile Wickham/ Lydia drama. It was really nice to just zone out and listen without the fear of being run down by a car.

So after my four mile recovery run, I headed out to meet with Richard Baker, Triswami who had a lot of great information about how to handle myself until Boston. He said I never needed to be at the starting line of the race feeling tired and like I was just glad to get it over with. This is a novel concept as I don't really like the idea of resting up. Its just not my thing. I think I am not very competitive, and I am much more about the social workout than the ultimate event.

That said, I intend to follow the rules and be ready for the Boston Marathon, completely tapered and ready to run with a plan. I am going to do it right.

After my meeting, I headed home to tend to a still-sick Ivan and was prevented from going to Bible study which was a huge bummer. I have been at home ever since. I did get in a bit of yoga, and I am about to start knitting.

Also, I have a cold and Ivan is still sick. This may prevent my participation in the Bambino Brigade tomorrow. Bleh

Posting Ivan's Christmas Picture. Isn't that the best Santa EVER!!!

Ebay Acquisition Update

Honestly, if it weren't for Ebay, I would look like a ragamuffin or a street urchin or I would have to wear my mom's old Talbot's castoffs. It would be hard times and unflattering apparel. Thanks to Ebay, I have several fabulous things that I will list for you now:

• classic Gucci heels
• classic gucci flats
• Louis Vuitton Wapity Case (oh it is the cutest)
• Stuart Weitzman Quetia Platforms
• Lululemon Wunder Under Tights
• Various Lululemon post-baby chic sweatsuit outfits
• Nanette Lepore Hieroglyphics dress that fills my heart with joy when I open my closet
• Various Rachel Pally dresses that are integral for my summers

Another great part about Ebay is that I can sell things that are not seeing a lot of wear and use that money to put towards the above acquisitions. It feels really good to clean out your closet and receive money in your little Paypal account to save up for future purchases.

Now this month I have had two great triumphs: My Stuart Weitzman Quetia platforms (pictured above) and my Lululemon Wunder Under tights. For months I had been dying to have this fabulous pair of platforms that were at Nordstrom. When they showed up on Ebay, I was able to get them for 1/3 of the retail price, plus I sold a dress that looked truly terrible on me (somewhere between a potato sack and barrel) and put that money towards the shoes. Thrilling!!!!

The same with a pair of Wunder Under tights from Lululemon. My old tights that I had been wearing with boots and such were from my sophomore year in college. The elastic was totally destroyed, and every time I took a step they shimmied down my legs making me look like I was wearing some strange tight fitting version of Hammer pants. If I wore them anywhere, I was always sneaking off to hide and pull up my pants. It was getting ridiculous.

So, I found a brand new pair of Wunder Unders (pictured above). They are Lululemon tights that double as day wear/ work out wear. On Ebay, I got them for half-price and they were brand new. I like them so well and they are so thick that they could really be pants, that I may start looking for the Wunder Under crops as well. I can just see them with flats and a sweater in the spring.

Monday Misery: The Low Heart Rate Run (Also Yoga and Gilad)

This morning, Ivan was not over his sickness and taking him to the gym nursery would have been completely inappropriate. He was, however, completely stir crazy, so I hated it for him and me. I really miss going to swim, and I realize that my workout schedule has gotten me into a vicious cycle.

I enjoy going to swim, because I see my swim friends, and we talk all about everything. Even when I need to take time off swim, I want to go to see everyone and talk about fun things. Running is the same way, totally the same way. For instance, tomorrow I am not even supposed to do the workout at track practice because I ran a hard race on Saturday, but I am going anyway to jog on the track and discuss my performance at the Tom King Half Marathon. If I were taking Todd's bike classes, it could happen there as well. It gets to be this whole social ball of wax, so you go even when you need to stay home. THEN, where does it go from here? Are we all going to work out 24-7 for the rest of our lives? Is that possible?

I cannot worry about the social and workout implications of my future life and the lives of my peers right now. Right now, I need to tell you that I ran my first low heart rate run today as per the instruction of Mark Miller. It was truly terrible. It felt like a combination between walking and skipping, as if I might as well walk. It felt abnormal and it also felt slightly embarrassing, like I was afraid that someone would see me running really slowly and I might die of shame. Also, it took a long time: 32 minutes to run 3.5 miles. When I downloaded my heart rate info after the run, I realized though I felt like a turtle or a sloth or even a rock on my run, I was slightly above the prescribed heart rate.

The whole run was totally against my grain of "hop out the door, run three miles real fast, and get home to hit the shower". It was all around weird, and I had a lot of trouble holding my run back. Every once in a while, I would forget and just starting racing along, only to have to rein myself in.

I made it through the run and decided I needed to sit down with a coach and discuss exactly how much I need to hold back and how much I need to push between now and The Boston Marathon. For this reason, I set up a meeting with Richard Baker, our Triswami. He coaches my friend Missy, and I started out ahead of him at the Tom King and he beat me in the end. He clearly knows SOMETHING that I don't.

I then got in a Gilad session and a Yoga session, both of which felt great. Yoga is just so good for me. I spent the rest of the afternoon cooking up some vegetarian chili and listening to Pride and Prejudice. I am at the pivotal point in the book when Lydia has run away with Mr. Wickham. I am so worried for all the Bennets even though I already know what is going to happen.

Sunday: I Haven't Even Left the House

So with a race run yesterday and a stomach virus of some sort and daylight savings time in which I LOST an hour of sleep, I took today off. I mean it's 9:00 PM, and I just brushed my teeth. That's the kind of day I have going.

I watched Wonder Boys (which is such a great movie, with many great Bob Dylan songs). It is my favorite Michael Douglas of all. So literary, yet wild. It's great.

I have basically been sitting on the couch all day. I have accomplished a bit of knitting and worked halfheartedly at getting Ivan to please stop spitting already.

Anyway, back in the pool tomorrow, maybe a bit of a run. Must do Gilad and Yoga.

Race Report: The Tom King Half Marathon

OK, so I did pick up my packet for the Tom King last night. Picking up your race packet early is HUGE in terms of the ease of your morning. It means that you can show up at the race 30 seconds before the gun. THRILLING.

Now, a huge glitch in my race prep was that my son was sick at my parents house. It affected my evening at home, because I was on the phone until late. I didn't really sleep well and spent a good bit of the evening debating about:

1. going out to my parents' house to spend the night and cancel the race
2. going to my parents' house to spend the night and leave for the race from there
3. staying at my own home and let my parents handle things until after the race
4. staying at my own home and heading out to pick up Ivan in the early morning and skipping the race entirely

I ultimately went with option three and suffered a terrible case of Mother Guilt. It was definitely worse than when Ivan's hands get too cold in the jog stroller or when I did not notice that his shoes were rubbing blisters. The Mother Guilt affected my sleep, and I woke up in the middle of the night feeling worried. I was on the phone with my mom at 7:00 AM and then worried my way to the race and to the starting line. At the starting line, I was telling the other runners around me that my son was currently vomiting at my mom's house.

I am sure they thought I was a freak. I am sure I am a freak. I don't know what else to say about it, but it was my first time to have my child away from home and sick.

Anyway, the run is an easy out and back from the Titans Stadium, through Shelby Bottoms and back to finish in the stadium on the jumbotron. As per usual, I started out really fast. I think I had three 6 and half minute miles, before struggling the rest of the way. This seems to be my way, and it can't be good.

Also, I was definitely slightly ill, just felt like I had some sort of major stomach issue which is most likely the same stomach issue that was going on with my son. Feeling slightly ill in a relatively long race is brutal. Choking down a Gu is just revolting when your stomach is on the fritz. The Gu is necessary, bet you spend all the time in-between Gu stations thinking you might vomit the Gu that you just choked down. 13.2 miles with the possibility of vomiting is a lot to bear.

I did, however, bear it. I also finished a minute sooner than last year (last year: 1:37; this year 1:36). I was proud, but I sort of thought I could break 1:30, so I was rather bummed on that front. Also, after I crossed the finish line I checked in with my mom and Ivan was still sick, so I had to hop into the car and head out to pick up Ivan IMMEDIATELY. I missed the breakfast buffet (I LOVE A BREAKFAST BUFFET), but didn't really feel like eating it.

Now last year, my time earned me third place in my age group (30-34) with an average pace of 7:25).

This year, my time earned me 6th place in my age group (30-34) even though I was a minute faster with an average pace of 7:24. Ok, but my average speed of 7:24 according to the results website is wrong and actually doesn't make sense. My Garmin gauged me at a 7:15 average pace. That sounds more like it. 7:15 is pretty fast, but could I have been even faster if I have not gone out too fast? Maybe. I must ask Mark Miller about this on Tuesday assuming that I am over my stomach issues.

Anyway, I am sure that I will run the Tom King next year as I always enjoy it for the most part, and I am determined to hit that breakfast buffet at least once more in my life.

Pics are of me after the race, as my husband miscalculated and missed getting to the stadium in time to take my picture on the Jumbotron. I want a picture of myself on the jumbotron!!!!

Also, I lost my medal yesterday. Hmmmm, where did it go?

Saturday: Tom King Half Marathon and Much Sickness

So, the last three days have really been a blur:

• Thursday, I was busy with work and had a late night and did not even blog.
• Friday, I swam, ran Ivan out to my parents' house, picked up my race packet at the stadium downtown, and then headed out to dinner and to a party.
• Saturday, I ran the Tom King Half marathon and then picked up Ivan and have been battling sickness ever since

It has just been that kind of few days.

Anyway, a bit more about my Friday night party. Elliott and I headed in to visit Todd Nordmeyer's new bike studio. I call it a bike studio because it is a huge windowed room with two huge televisions on the wall, where you watch your stats while you cycle. I had not been down to see the new place, because honestly, it is further from my house and there is NO WAY I am getting up before 5:00 AM to get to class on time. It is where I draw my line.

If I were wiling to get up before 5:00 AM, I would go straight to Todd's classes, because they are great AND they certainly make you a better cyclist. Kind of funny, while I was at the party, I was talking to a woman and telling her my whole sob-story about how I loved Todd's classes, but with a toddler, I could only take the 5:30 AM class and because I lived in Franklin, I had to get up so early and just couldn't do it. She immediately told me that she lives in Franklin and also has a toddler, but is able to get to class for the 5:30 AM sessions and I kind of felt like a loser. Not that she made me feel bad on purpose. It is rather often that I un-intentionally pat myself on the back for how much I do during the week. I like to tat up my accomplishments. It is clearly part of my blog, and my Type A personality, but no matter what, there are a lot of people out there that accomplish a whole lot more. Can you believe it? It is always good for me to be reminded that I'm really no big deal.

SO, when we left the party, my mom called to tell us that Ivan was sick, but there was not a lot to be done, so just to pick him up tomorrow morning after my race. Ooooh the Mother Guilt that ensued. I slept badly, I called my parents a million times to check on Ivan, I woke up in the middle of the night. It was ugly.

The race was reasonable. My time was faster than last year, but not by much and by race time, I seemed to be having whatever Ivan had, and it was all rather nasty. Will write it up in my discussion of the race.

After the race, there was no staying for the awards ceremony or the complimentary breakfast buffet (I LOVE A BREAKFAST BUFFET), because I had to jet out to pick up my sick child. Elliott and I picked up Ivan from my parents' house and headed home. Ivan took my dream nap of about 4 hours. It was thrilling. He woke up still a bit sickly, and it was a Saturday of making Ivan feel better and cajoling Tylenol down his throat.

The writing on the wall is that I will be camped out at home tomorrow nursing my child. Worse things have happened.

Friday: Swim

So last night (Thursday) I had so much fun and stayed out so late that it was TOO LATE TO BLOG when I got home. TOO LATE TO BLOG is seriously late in my book. My friend Dru had myself and two others for lunch in her lovely home. Dinner was both healthy and amazing, and we had so much fun!! The most fun I've had in forever.

At home, I crawled in bed and read a bit of Born to Run before falling asleep and, of course, I overslept. Oversleeping is something I do really well, and I am seriously on my way to making a career out of it. I was able to make myself a smoothie and scramble Ivan out the door to get to swim where it was hardcore raining. OF COURSE. One truism about my life that I have learned is this: The later I am, the harder it rains.

I had to drag in all of our things and have Ivan walk on his leash in the rain. It was the worst. Anyway, at swim, Steven encourage me to swim at a low heart rate. I swam for about an hour, and I am not even going to tell you about the workout. It was just some slow swimming that I am not going to report on because swim was not about accomplishment today.

After swim I went to packet pick-up, and I am up early to run the Tom King Half Marathon!!!!

Wednesday: Swim

So today, in honor of tapering for the Tom King half-marathon, I swam at morning practice and then did little else. I did have a great talk with my swim coach about how to get my heart rate monitor to work in the water. Also, he taught me how to take my pulse count for 6 seconds, and then add a zero to whatever number I got to make sure that my heart rate could remain low if it was a low heart rate day. That was pretty thrilling. He had me take my heart rate several times, but still encouraged me to bring my heart rate monitor. So, the Garmin 310 XT, and I are going to be hitting the pool together again as of Friday. I will let you know all about it.

Our workout was as follows:

• 200 warm-up
• 4 x 100 swim
• 4 x 50 drill
• 4 x 75 kick
• 4 x 50 drill
• 4 x 150 swim
• 6 x 75 swim

I ended up with 3000 meters, so I am leaving something out. I swam slowly, but maybe not slowly enough, so I will have to use a monitor and really make certain I am swimming correctly.

At home, I wasted some time, made lunch and headed into work. Had a great dinner at home and am hitting the sack early. I love a taper week!!!!

Four Hard Workouts per 10 Day Cycle: Wise Words from Coach Mark Miller

So, I feel to start this post, I have to give some background on my habits and personality. I have a lot of follow-through. I like to complete things. I thoroughly enjoy exercising and really don't enjoy cutting back. This said, I also do not like the idea of having a personal coach for my race schedule. Working out is my thing. I like to do it on my time and the way I like to do it. If I am training for something specific, I like to research it myself and prepare on my own. This is just me.

THAT SAID, do people who have coaches perform better than me on the various triathlon or marathon events? OH, MOST DEFINITELY. Do these people have more expertise, better support, a better handle on their nutrition, hydration, gear, planning, preparation? ABSOLUTELY. I just like handling it on my own. I enjoy it on my own, and I am not ready to risk not enjoying it with a coach. THAT SAID, do I sometimes have a casual conversation with a coach and learn something profound that makes me think, "I should probably have a coach"? All the time.

For instance, yesterday, I had a great conversation with Mark Miller. (I wish that Mark Miller had a website or something to reference him, but alas no. He can be found on the Fleet Feet training website.) Yesterday, at my speed workout, Mark happened to mention that anyone running the Tom King this weekend needed to cut the workout in half. I do not like to cut a workout in half, but I did (after privately asking him if this was really necessary, to which he kindly replied that it was).

After finishing my halved workout, I asked Coach Miller several things about my lacking running performance. I feel like I am running hard on my weekend long runs, but just not going very fast. It appears that at my current paces, I am not on track for my goal time at the Boston Marathon (3:20). I am training more than I did for my Boston qualifier, yet without any gain in speed.

Coach Miller gave me a novel tip that I have not heard before yesterday morning. Just as a rule of thumb, he told me I should never do more than four hand workouts within 10 days. The rest of my workouts should be with a heart rate of 130 - 140. He said that it would be amazing how slow I felt I was running, but it would allow me to improve more in my hard workouts.

Honestly, I had been going it rather hard. So, I am taking my heart rate monitor everywhere I go and I am only going above a 13-140 heart rate 4 times per 10 day cycle. I will keep you posted on how it all pans out. My weekly schedule runs as follows:

Sunday	Monday	Tuesday	Wednesday	Thursday	Friday	Saturday
2:30 PM Swim 1.5 hours	8:30 AM Swim 1.5 hours	6:00 AM 1 hour track workout	8:30 AM Swim 1.5 hours	Run	8:30 AM Swim 1.5 hours	6:00 AM Long Run at Upwards of 20 miles
	Gilad	Yoga	Gilad	Trainer Ride	Yoga
	Sometimes run		6:30 PM Swim 1.5 hours	Yoga