Sunday: Watermelon Run

I failed to admit in print a summer tradition that happened this weekend. I was in rush getting ready for a party, I tried to rush through the process of putting my fake nails on my toes and I glued 9 of my toes together. Also, I glued my thumb and forefinger to my big toe.

I am calling this a tradition, because the same thing happened last year, when I was in a rush to do my own pedicure. It did not happen at any time during the rest of the year. I am guessing that I learn the dangers of super-pedicure glue early on in the summer season, and then promptly forget as soon as the first cool breeze blows through Nashville. For this reason, I can only assume that next summer, I will again have to attend a party where I have raw fingers and toes from having had to pry them apart after a super pedicure glue disaster.

Anyway, this morning my child woke up a bit before 5:00 AM on the one day when my running group was meeting at 7:00 AM to run and I could have slept until 6:30 AM. Thanks, Young Sloan. In his defense, he seemed a little sickly and sneezy. I met up with the group at 7:00 AM and got in a quick 6 miler before having 5 pieces of watermelon. It was a quick clip of a run, and it was so humid. SO HUMID. It takes a good few weeks to for me to get used to the humidity. It hits me like a ton of bricks every year, and I've lived here most all my life and for two years, I lived somewhere hotter.

Tomorrow, I am up and at em' for a Pure Barre class at 6:00 AM.

Sunday: First Lake Swim of the Season

This morning was our first lake swim of the season. We are starting at 6:30 AM this year, which is 30 minutes earlier than last year. It seemed early, but seriously, this coffee thing is changing my life. When I poked my nose out of the covers, I could smell coffee brewing. It is like waking up at Starbucks.

Also, I accomplished one of my greatest goals today, a carpool buddy to the lake. Honestly, to get to our lake swims I have to drive completely across the county, so it was pretty exciting to find a carpool buddy. We talked and saved money on gas. Thrilling!!!

Now, today at the lake, we didn't get to swim out to the buoys, because Ashley has to watch us a little closely the first day to make sure that no one is overconfident and sinks to the bottom. Next week, we get to swim out to the buoys, which I really enjoy.

Crawling in bed to get up early and run with the running group.

Saturday: Run and Gilad

Today, I was up right at 5:15 AM, and the coffee was ALREADY BREWING!!! This coffee thing is bringing an element of luxury to my life that I would compare to living at the Ritz or having a butler. If you see me swanning about in an ascot tie or carrying a Birkin bag, you will know just how far this coffee thing has gone.

The whole coffee thing made my drive to the park to run about one thousand times better, and when I got there, I was pleased to meet up with some running cronies who were happy to tool along without any major competition. I felt it was a fitting re-entry to the Saturday morning long run scene, I got in about 9 miles and enjoyed every minute chatting about new churches, everyone's vacations, Brazilian Keratin hair treatments, and flood damage. Great times!!

At home, I took Ivan on a walk, put Ivan down for a nap and got in a Gilad workout. When Ivan woke up we headed to Leiper's Fork for a pottery show, which was just lovely. Ivan was invited, and he spent the whole time outside in the playhouse, which was best now that I think about it. Ivan in a room full of pottery was a bad idea or epic proportions in retrospect.

Now, tomorrow morning, I am headed out to the lake for the first lake swim of the season. It is really exciting to get out on the lake when it is calm like glass, and have an easy swim: on mile out and one mile back. Tomorrow, though, is the first day, so I think that we have to swim circles in the shallows so that our coach can make sure none of us is a candidate for drowning. Next week we should get to swim out long.

Friday: Swim and Let Me Be Honest, I am Filled with Antipathy Towards Giraffe/Cow

I would like to begin this post by informing you that my son, Ivan, has a small low to the ground riding toy that we refer to as "Giraffe/Cow". Now Giraffe/Cow looks like a hybrid of a giraffe and a cow, thus its creative name. It has blue wheels and Ivan really enjoys riding it around the house while making motorcycle noises. I appreciate Giraffe/Cow, because sometimes I can walk around the house listening to a book on my iphone doing mundane household chores while Ivan follows me on Giraffe/ Cow completely contented. It is most pleasant.

Giraffe/ Cow and I are currently mortal enemies. No one can survive unless one of us dies. I feel that I am like Gandalf and Giraffe/Cow is like the ring of power. I feel that this will end in some sort of terrible Mordor climax; or I hope so anyway. I will come back to Giraffe/ Cow later.

Now, this morning, coffee was ready when I got out of bed, which was thrilling. It was a great morning and I plan to make setting the coffee maker part of my nightly routine. I am rejoining my running group tomorrow, and I will rejoin them with fresh brewed coffee. What a morning.

Anyway, Ivan and I got to the gym on time, BUT Ivan threw a full on tantrum when I tried to leave him in the nursery and it took me 20 minutes to get to the pool from the nursery by which time it was almost 9:00 AM. Swim had started at 8:30 AM. Ivan threw his bottle at me and his dog and had to be toted to the bathroom for consequences. Then I had to pry him off my legs and head for the pool. It was ugly. I had a great swim for the most part. It was around 3000 meters, and I was pretty proud to have accomplished that much after the Ivan situation went down.

At home, I had a great lunch, and Ivan had a great nap. I ran some errands and absorbed a bit of vitamin d outside while listening to my book on iphone The Blind Side. It was nice.

Anyway, Ivan woke up and I sat down to work on a lovely sweater that I have been struggling with since August. I am almost finished, and I have never so looked forward to finishing a project. Ivan was riding Giraffe/ Cow, and I don't even know how it happened, BUT my ball of yarn fell on the floor as Ivan was riding past and the ball of yarn and sweater were sucked into Giraffe/ Cow's wheels. It was just the worst. All the yarn was in tangles, and several yards of it are lost forever in the bowels of Giraffe/ Cow. I had to get scissors and cut all the yarn that I could salvage out of Giraffe/ Cow, before giving it up and trying to knit the rest of the ball of yarn into the sweater.

I will never forgive Giraffe/ Cow. He is my plastic nemesis.

Rejoining my running group tomorrow.

Thursday: Run and Pure Barre

So today, at the age of 33.5, I learned to make coffee. I have been working at it, on and off, since I was about 12, and today I got the formula right: 6 cups of water and 7 level scoops of coffee. It's pretty thrilling. Up until today, I have woken up in the morning and stomped around in a grumpy and caffeine deprived stupor until around until my husband woke up to make the coffee. Unless I was at a hotel with room service, it has not been pretty for the past 21.5 years. Now that I know how to do it, I plan to set the timer on the coffee maker and have coffee ready when I get up tomorrow morning. It will be just like living at my parents' house. Thrilling!!! Its a whole new world.

Anyway, this morning I got in a run before I headed off to Pure Barre. Now, I have in my head that my summer thing will be Pure Barre. I could do it like once a week and learn the basics and then if and when my fall got busy, I could get videos and do it at home. I have taken a Pure Barre class before, and for whatever reason I had blocked out how hard and painful it was and just how sweaty you can get when you are barely moving. It was excruciating, and I was shocked (as per usual) to think that I do all this swimming and running and whatnot and I am still a lump of misery in a Pure Barre class. It's probably good for me.

Steak for dinner, swim tomorrow!!!

Wednesday: Double Swim and Gilad

Oooh, Friends. I am back at it. I am training without a race, aimlessly and foolishly. For instance, today, I headed into swim and swam a pretty hard workout with Steven (my morning swim coach). Nick was there, and before I go any further: a word about Nick. Nick is incredibly congenial and pleasant, but he is sort of my swim nemesis. Whenever we swim t-30's (timed 30 minute swims) we swim neck and neck and battle it out, passing each other back and forth. Then when I was WAY overtraining for the Boston Marathon, Nick and I swam a timed mile and he beat me by a pool length. It was demoralizing on several levels, and I came home and decided I had to revamp my situation.

I met with a coach and revamped my workout situation, and became more rested. After Boston, I was a little slow in the pool, but I have been coming back and I am swimming hard. Anyway, on Friday and today I was beating Nick in the pool. Today, however, he told me that he had been sick with some sort of tick illness for the past few weeks. I have clearly not really been beating Nick, and I feel a little deflated.

Anyway, workout as follows:

• 100 warmup
• 4 x 50 kick
• 4 x 75 fly kick on your back no fins (misery)
• 400 pull
• 3 x 100 breast stroke kick (surprisingly hard on the shins)
• 200 kick with fins
• 4 x 50 drill/swim
• 4 x 100 descend
• 2 x 200 freestyle
• 8 x 50 IM
• 200 kick

So this was 3100 meters. Ivan had a little melt down when I picked him up from the nursery, which was solved when a fabulous gym employee donated two "peepops" (lollypops) to my cause.

At home, I got in a Gilad workout and then embarked on the days greatest challenge: a complete reorganization of my closet. I sealed all my wool and cashmere sweaters into plastic bins where they will rest until next fall. I pulled out all items that need to be altered or fixed and all items that need to be dry cleaned.

Once this was completed, I got ready to go back to swim for evening swim. Oh yes, sports fans, summer craziness is descending on me, and I was totally excited to go back to evening swim. Our workout was pretty simple:

• 800 warmup
• 800 swim practicing sighting
• 2 x 400 pull with paddles
• 8 x 100 practicing drafting and taking turns leading

For whatever reason, I got totally aggressive with my paddles and was fighting to pass people in our 25 meter lane. I knocked someone's paddle off, and I swear you would have thought that it was some sort of Olympic event. Really, it was just a lane full of triathletes who have to swim together, because we don't really swim well enough to swim with the master's swimmers. I don't know what gets into me.

Tomorrow, I am making a second attempt at Pure Barre.

Tuesday: Run and Yoga and the recipe for Chicken Marbella

So I am sitting here watching Nine while I blog, and I have to say that infidelity seems oh so exhausting. Daniel Day Lewis is having panic attacks and smoking himself into lung cancer just to cope with his own sex life. Now, if it makes things any better, one of the characters is his mother and another is his 70 year old seamstress. Daniel Day Lewis's character is only involved

with 7 women if that makes it better. On the upside, Daniel Day Lewis is more attractive in Nine than in There Will Be Blood.

I am also training without a race. I am following my routine, and I fully plan to get back on the bike on Thursday. Generally, however, I am just working out and tooling along without any ideas as to the next thing. I need a plan.

Anyway, at home today, we were up early, and Ivan and I got out for a run in the jog stroller. My husband is making fantastic coffee and I had way to much. I got in a yoga session, whipped up some chicken marbella and made a run into work. Now it is a huge recipe, but I made the whole thing and I am going to send some to a friend for dinner and freeze the rest of the portions for later dinners. Recipe as follows:

• 12 chicken breasts
• 1/4 cup oregano
• head of garlic peeled and pureed
• sea salt and cracked pepper to taste
• 1/2 cup red wine vinegar
• 1/2 cup olive oil
• 1 cup pitted prunes
• 1 cup while wine
• 1/2 cup pitted Spanish green olives
• 1/2 cup capers with a bit of juice
• 6 bay leaves
• 1 cup brown sugar
• chopped fresh Italian parsely

Mix all the middle ingredients and pour them over the chicken breasts to marinate overnight. The following night for dinner, you can cook the breasts in the marinade at 350 degrees for around an hour. Serve sprinkled with the parsley.

Pic is of young Sloan adding the cracked pepper to the chicken marbella.

Monday: Swim and Gilad

Now, yesterday, I did not blog. There were two reasons for this. The first is that I was so busy doing paperwork that I was not able to blog until my bedtime at which point I just went to bed. The second reason is that my day was dull beyond acknowledging. We went to church, had lunch and I went to the mall with my mom and sister and didn't even buy anything, just took turns holding my sister's son Rye. At home, I finished up Avatar (which I was not hugely enamored with) and went to bed. That was not particularly worth the blog and so I spared both you and me.

This morning, I got to swim 5 full minutes EARLY. I was so early that after swim I could not dry my hair because I had to go straight to the nursery and pick up Ivan, lest I overrun my gym nursery time (exactly two hours). I got in every bit of the workout, and Jamie and I kicked the last set just because. It was nice, and I had a real feeling of accomplishment. I am a great appreciator of punctuality in other people, and I like the idea of it in myself, though it is a rarity. Today, however, I was a gifted punctuarian.

Swim workout as follows:

• 600 warmup
• 6 x 75 kick/drill/swim
• 400 pull
• 8 x 50 swim
• 300 pull
• 6 x 50 swim
• 200 pull
• 10 x 25 swim
• 100 pull
• 6 x 25 swim
• 4 x 100 IM
• 600 kick

It was a great workout, and I had a visit from my sister in the afternoon, during which I snarfed down a peanut butter brownie that was more delicious than any food has a right to be. I got in a Gilad workout, but no run. Will fit that in tomorrow.

In summer workout news, I have decided to participate in the Fleet Feet Summer Speed sessions this summer. I was a little on the fence, as the focus of the speed sessions are to run a faster 5k or 10k race. Training for a 5 k means shorter distances, and I was concerned that my speed work would consist of 10 x 100 meter dashes and I would not have a good workout in when I got home.

Today, I put in a preemptive phone call to Drew at Fleet Feet and discussed mileage and what not. He told me that we would most likely get in 5 miles in the mornings, about like Winter Speed Sessions. It would just be accomplished in shorter distances. I feel pretty good about this and plan to make it my thing. It will be good to get in an early morning workout.

In miscellaneous news, I decided to give Ivan a home haircut to get the hair out of his eyes. Confession: he has a bit of a baby mullet. BUT, hair grows!!

Pic is pre-baby mullet!!

Saturday: Jog Stroller Run, Gilad, and Yoga

Today, ran pretty smoothly at Sloan manor, but I have still not rejoined my running group since the Boston Marathon. This morning, I slept late and my child, who is a saint, allowed his mother to sleep until almost 8:00 AM. Ivan just played in his bed quietly until 8ish. How did I get so lucky?

Anyway, Ivan and I had breakfast and got right out for a jog stroller run (eeek, I left my ipod outside in the jog stroller; OK, I rescued it.) It was rather slow, and was really only about 3.5 miles. Now, it is pretty easy to get in 3 or so miles with the jog stroller, and a couple of times I have run the 5.8 through Percy Warner Park with the jog stroller. Generally though, it is not at all pleasant to run with the jog stroller. Your hands are completely restricted and cannot mimic the motion of your legs. Your shoulders are tense from trying to steer the direction of the stroller. Sometimes Ivan gets his hands under the protective cover and hurls his bottle or a toy out of the stroller, and I trip on it. At this point, I usually mutter several expletives and head back home.

Now normally when Ivan hurls something out of the jog stroller, it is because he is getting restless. When I take the thing that he has thrown out of the jog stroller and stick it in the back basket so that he cannot throw it again, he usually begins to cry and he typically wails the whole way home. I have heard of people training for marathons with a jog stroller and doing three hour long runs with a baby or two in a stroller.

WHO ARE THESE PEOPLE? Are their children vegetables or in comas? Do their arms feel like they are going to fall off, are their upper bodies stiff for weeks from having to push the jog stroller with their arms and hands locked into the handlebars? It is baffling to me, and I love to run.

Anyway, after our run, I made it back home and got in a yoga session and a Gilad workout. The yoga felt great and I MUST CONTINUE DOING IT. I headed into Nashville after this and had a great lunch at the Food Company with a friend from high school.

In the evening, Ivan and I headed out to my parents house for dinner. It was a lovely evening. Still haven't finished watching Avatar, and I am currently watching Nine, with Daniel Day Lewis. It is weird.

Friday: Hardcore Swim

Today, remarkably, I was at swim on time. I am 99% sure that I was able to get to swim on time because I got out of bed around 6:30 AM-ish. I lived up to mu dream morning expectation of listening to a book on mp3 (The Blind Side, I love Michael Lewis, but that is for my book report), drinking green tea and working through some paper work. It was quite nice, and I must do it more often. By the time Ivan finally deigned to wake up and get out of bed, I had the car packed and my smoothie ready to go.

When I arrived at the pool for swim, my coach Steven looked at me and said, "Whoa, on time". I was pretty pleased with myself and it sort of solidified my interest in enrolling in summer speed sessions at 6:00 AM on Tuesdays. I like being up early enough to get something done and a Tuesday speed session will have me finished with my workout by 7:15 AM. There is a lot to be said for that.

Anyway, I was at swim on time and in the water early enough to get in a the majority of the full workout. I would like a gold star for this or a special cupcake or something. Workout as follows:

• 200 warm up
• 400 kick
• 5 x 100 @ 1:55
• 100 easy
• 4 x 100 @ 1:50
• 100 easy
• 3 x 100 @ 1:45
• 100 easy
• 2 x 100 @ 1:40
• 300 pull
• 200 pull
• 100 pull

This was 2900 meters (we swam long course today), and the main set was KILLER. The first 5 @ 100s were easy, the 4 @ 100s were surprising more difficult. I was fighting for the 3 x 100's, and I only made 1 of the 2 x 100s on the right interval. It was a fight at the end. Nick was sharing my lane, and I was pretty psyched when I passed him on the 3 x 100's. Nick is my swim buddy who passed me up when I swam the the mile for time, so I had to suppress a bit of triumph when I passed him. It made me think that I was not overtrained, and I could be a more competitive swimmer. It was exciting, but I was killing myself to make those intervals. It was my hardest workout of the week. At home, I was starving!! I love swim.

At home, I had a friend and her children to lunch, sunned myself a bit and a solo shopping excursion. I tried on clothes at my leisure, which was quite a change.

Watching Avatar. Am I the only person who hasn't see it?

Thursday: Run and Gilad

So this morning was kind of a debacle. I signed up for a Pure Barre class at 6:00 AM which was just really early, so I cancelled it last night and reschedule for a 9:40 AM class. I ran with Ivan in the jog stroller this morning and got home by 8:50 which gave me enough time to shower and get in the car by 9:15 AM.

This is a completely reasonable time of the morning and it seemed really possible for me to get there on time. It seemed completely reasonable, but I got stuck in traffic that I found to be very unexpected at 9:15 AM. Then my car-Garmin told me that the Pure Barre Studio was above the Ken's Sushi in Brentwood, but of course it was actually beside the Bruegger's Bagels.

Then, as my blood pressure skyrocketed and I four wheeled around the parking lot Dukes of Hazard style, I sighted the Pure Barre Studio across the parking lot. I headed in, but was so late that I was not allowed into the class, and I could only sign up for a make up class next week. Rather typical actually.

I must admit that things like this have happened to me before, but no matter how often it happens, it doesn't seem to stop me from heading out, somewhat unprepared. Its my life. The upside is that now I do know where the Brentwood Pure Barre studio is located, and I can get there easily next time and maybe even stop for coffee. Whatever, I'm OK with it.

At home, I made an amazing lunch, got in a Gilad workout, took Ivan swimming and headed into work.

Season Finale of 30 Rock couldn't get any better.

Wednesday: Swim, Yoga and Run

Honestly, my New Year's resolution of getting up at 6:00 AM every morning is my greatest New Year's Resolution failure. It is my own fault for having an unconventional occupation, a child who is a late sleeper and a deep deep distaste for my alarm clock. I, of course, meant to run before swim this morning, but did not. I spent the 20 minutes that I had before I had to leave the house, hurling smoothie ingredients into the blender, hopping on one leg into my bathing suit and chasing Ivan into his clothes. It is the story of my life.

In my dream life, I rise at 6:00 AM, have tea while I check and return emails and have a complete breakfast before loading into the car in plenty of time to get to swim. This never ever happens, and I am slowly giving up. I did get a great swim in and I have to content myself with that.

Swim was quite a good workout:

• 400 pull
• 4 x 50 swim
• 8 x 25 breakout (12.5 fast/ 12.5 easy)
• 400 pull
• 4 x 50 swim
• 8 x 25 breakout
• 100 easy
• 300 kick
• 4 x 50 pull
• 200 swim
• 4 x 50 pull
• 200 swim
• 400 IM
• 200 kick

So a great swim workout. I headed home and got in some yoga after Ivan I had lunch before heading to work, I rushed home, started dinner, got in a run and shower, sat down to eat and started in on a mountain of paperwork. Spring always comes with a copious amount of work. One week and I can breathe easy!!

Tuesday: Run and Swim

As far as I can tell, the pool should be open tomorrow. Now, because I am super dorky, I am super excited about it. Ivan has been completely bored for the last two days and has had to be hauled down to the McDonald's play place to slide off the energy that was honestly driving me to drink. Twice in the last two days I have found Ivan preparing to run and jump off the dining room table. Also, he has learned how to open the doors that lead out of the house. It is most unfortunate, as on days that he is confined, he tends to try to make a break for it. Today, things got ugly when we were forced to childproof all the doorknobs, which resulted in my being trapped in the house as well.

Childproofing is killer. It took me a full 15 minutes to get out the door to Yogurt World tonight. I eventually had to get a knife and pry the childproof plastic protector off the doorknob so that I could open the door. Ridiculous, right? And don't even get me started on the child locks on the cabinets.

Anyway, I pulled myself together this morning for a quick breakfast, before I got in three fast miles. Running feels great, but I am developing a nagging tightness behind my right knee which is most certainly some misfortune left over from running Boston.

After my run, I got to the pool around the corner for another hot swim. Today, there was actually hot water streaming into the pool, and while I was swimming I would pass through pockets of really warm water. I didn't have more than a mile in me, and I got home to get right on Ivan detail.

Headed into work in the evening.

Monday: The Pool is Still Closed, so Run and Gilad

This whole pool closing thing is killing me, not giving me somewhere to be at a certain time is just asking me to waste the day away. I was reasonably productive. I got in a jog stroller run and a Gilad workout and some significant clothes folding and a healthy lunch for both Ivan and I. My husband's stellar grandmother came to visit, and we talked of sweet potato french fries and how to repot our amaryllis plants. It was a great visit.

In the afternoon, I headed into work and hunkered down to begin in what is undoubtedly the busiest time of year for me. If I can make it from now until next Wednesday with my child being able to correctly identify his mommy and nothing being forgotten or left out, I will be able to start my summer home free. I have plans to get a zoo pass, accomplish many feats of closet cleaning and drawer organizing. There will be more cooking and making of summer favorites like caprese' salads and grilled watermelon. My homemaking will know no bounds as of next Wednesday.

Sunday: My Pool Was Closed and My Day Was Rainy

OK, So last night we went to dinner and had so much fun that we got home too late to blog. My Saturday was about sleeping in, running and biking. Next Saturday, I plan to rejoin my running group.

I was pretty thrilled about swim today, but alas, I received a missive from our coach that said the pool was having pump issues and was closed. Wrench in the works. I had to develop my own plan, which honestly is never good. I do best when I have allotted workouts to attend at allotted times. After church, I moped about trying to come up with a workout plan. It was too rainy to run (which is my default exercise) and I just wasn't feeling a trainer ride as I had one yesterday.

So, I pulled myself together and scooted over to the rec center around the corner where the pool is smaller and the temperature is warmer. There are only three lap lanes and the pool is 83 degrees. 83 degrees feels great initially, but it is like a cross between hot yoga and too long in a hot tub after about 1600 meters. I made it to 2500 meters today, before deciding I had better walk out before I had to crawl. I also got in an ab workout with Cathe Freidrich.

Swim workout as follows:

• 400 warmup
• 200 kick
• 400 pull
• 200 kick
• 400 pull
• 200 kick
• 400 IM
• 300 swim

So, kind of a rainy blah day AND the pool is closed tomorrow as well. Whatever shall I do?

Friday: Swim and How Long Should I Recover

Now, It is most likely no surprise that I was not up in time to run this morning before swim and now that I think about it, it might be the best thing. I'm not completely sure how long I should have taken off after Boston, or how long I should take off again after my triathlon last Sunday. I took off Monday for the most part and have otherwise proceeded as usual with my workout schedule. I did leave out a bike ride this week, and I skipped my run today. I am not quite up for a long run tomorrow, but I will run maybe six or so and a good swim on Sunday.

On a week in which I proceed with uncertainty, I let a few things drop, feel vaguely guilty and plan on being on track the following week. It would help to study up on recovery from various events, or, if I am serious about these endeavors, it would really help to hire a coach like I did for Boston preparation, which was exponentially helpful. Am I serious about these endeavors?

I think not so much. I think I am good for one serious event per year, and the rest is fun and games and trips to Yogurt World. Anyway, I did head out to swim today, late for several reasons that could have been solved by my timely emergence from the bed. No matter; workout as follows:

• 100 warmup
• 400 kick
• 300 pull
• 3 x 100 swim
• 6 x 50 swim
• 200 pull
• 2 x 100 swim
• 4 x 50
• 400 kick

It was reasonable swim. Watching Sherlock Holmes.

Thursday: Run and Yoga

I was up early, and out running right on time this morning. Can I do it tomorrow too, three mornings in a row? It seems like a lot to ask of myself, but tomorrow will be the most difficult day of my new resolve. If I can get in a run before swim, I will have truly accomplished something. I will be gearing up for a really good summer routine.

So, fast run, yoga and a trip to the grocery store, before heading in to work. After work, I headed to the Yazoo Brewery to meet my running group to talk about our races. We talked all about our pacing, and funny things about our runs, and how cool Boston is during marathon weekend. It was fun times, and I am calling it a day.

Wednesday: Run, Bambino Brigade, Gilad and Swim

So today, I utilized my time wisely and got out the door to run before I had to leave to meet up with the Bambino Brigade. It was a fast 3 miles, and let me just tell you that I can really haul when I don't have the jog stroller. Today, as compared with yesterday, was dead sprint.

At home, I hopped into the car with Ivan and took off to hike about 4 miles with the Bambino Brigade. Great girls as usual and Ivan was pretty excited by the wildlife and deer that we saw. At home, we had lunch and got Ivan down for a nap, I got in a Gilad workout and headed out to work. Work wrapped up quite early and I was able to get to swim early. Workout as follows:

• 400 warmup
• 300 pull
• 4 x 75 @ 1:10
• 50 easy
• 4 x 75 all out
• 50 easy
• 4 x 75 @ 1:10
• 50 easy
• 4 x 75 all out
• 50 easy
• 4 x 25 kick
• 4 x 25 drill
• 4 x 25 build
• 4 x 25 kick
• 4 x 25 drill
• 4 x 25 swim

This was about 2700, which I finished early so I could hit Yogurt World on the way home. Overall, a very productive day!!

Posting my Bambino Brigade Hike Map and a pick of me coming out of the water at the Music City Triathalon last year.

Tuesday: Run and Yoga

This morning, I am back on my schedule of running and doing yoga on Tuesdays. Ivan and I headed out in the jog stroller after a breakfast of steel cut oats with protein powder and strawberries. Something that I don't know that I addressed about my weekend is that I ate some serious trash. Just treated my body like a garbage disposal.

We had Mexican on Friday night, I don't want to think about the fact that I ingested MY WEIGHT in chips and guacamole. For lunch the following day, I had a chicken salad sandwich AT A DINER, which means they buttered and toasted the white bread and the chicken salad was more mayonaise than chicken. I did have a salad with my chicken salad sandwich, but it was totally iceberg. The diner had a homemade "night and day" cheesecake, which I felt obligated to try (and let's not forget that I also ate most of the cookies we ordered for Ivan's dessert). For dinner, after the nutritional atrocity that I had for lunch, we went for PIZZA. I had a pesto cheese pizza. Before the race, I had a couple of cup of gold bars, and after I had a box lunch with a huge turkey sandwich, bag of chips, cookie and an apple.

And I know that I work out a lot and can most likely eat a lot of what I want. I get that completely, BUT eating diner food after a night of Mexican just doesn't make me feel great. On Sunday night, I was ready for some hardcore detox. Two mornings of steel cut oats, and healthy dinner in the evenings has revolutionized my energy level. I have had my green teas, white teas, and glass of V8 with lunch, and I am feeling more like myself.

After my jog stroller run, I hit Cosco with my mom and stocked up on soy milk, sweet potatoes and diapers. ALWAYS DIAPERS. I swear, I am mere months from potty training, and I dream longingly about it all the time.

I got in a good yoga session at home, headed into work and made some healthy dinner.

Posting my jog stroller run and a pic of Ivan checking out the four wheelers at ToysRu

Monday: Gilad and Yoga

I mostly rested today. I had thoughts of going to swim, but it seemed not smart after my race yesterday. Everyone slept late but me. I had a a whole hour to myself, eating oatmeal and writing my race blog and drinking tea. HEAVEN. It was most pleasant.

After everyone was awake, I had a cup of coffee and got in a Gilad workout and then some yoga. In the shower, I scrubbed off my race numbers and prepared to re-enter life in the real world.

At work, I did some testing and a lot of reading. It was a relatively easy testing session that involved a lot of easy independent work. I was able to start the stopwatch and read. The Girl Who Played With Fire is proving to be a quick and fascinating read.

Tonight I am watching a documentary of Mark Twain. Did you know he tried to commit suicide. "Many times I have been sorry I did not succeed, but I was never ashamed of having tried, " he said. Tragic. Lucky for us, he did not succeed.

Am running tomorrow and working on my sweater tonight. I have been knitting it since September. For the Love!!!!

Sunday: The Rev 3 Knoxville and My Second Mother's Day

So, today My husband and I were up at 6:00 AM Knoxville time with Ivan (which is 5:00 AM for us) and headed out the door to get to the Rev 3 before they closed down the transition area. Now, this triathlon required that you check in your bike to transition the night before the race. This is both a worry and a relief, as it just great to leave it transition so that there is less hassle in the morning. The downside to this is that I spend the rest of the day slightly concerned about who is babysitting my bike and what if I get there tomorrow morning and the cold had changed the air compression in my tires and I have to pump them up when I am trying to worry about everything else. Confession: I am terrible at pumping up tires. It is a frustrating effort that often ends up with a completely flat tire or two.

Now, when I arrived at transition, my bike was fine, and I sat out the rest of my stuff. I had a momentary glitch where I couldn't find my goggles, and I think that my blood pressure shot up to dangerous levels. They were located, I got on my wetsuit and made my way to the dock to wait for the swim start.

Here is what I realized when I got to the dock: my wetsuit is horrible. It is too thick, it has a rip at the neck, the shoulders don't have enough give (so when I swim in it, it makes my shoulders sore), and the crotch is full on embarrassing. The crotch comes down too low, so it looks like I could carry my luggage in the gap between my wetsuit and my crotch. It is definitely sort of shameful to have crotch issues anywhere. Also, the gap makes my legs look short and this is the most intolerable injustice of all. I am, however, too frugal to spend money on a better wet suit that I will only use twice a year. I definitely want a pair of white jeans more than I want a new wetsuit. I talked to Jase Durard (in my swim group and coached by Richard Baker) at the start of the race, and he told me that he rents a wetsuit before races. This way, he can try whatever wetsuit he likes for whatever the circumstances of the race. Also, his wetsuit looked fantastic on him. So, renting a wetsuit will be my new plan of action.

SO, onto the race. I got in the water for my wave start, and I had no water panic issues. I swam easily, it got a bit crowded at the end, but the water was not too cold. My only real complaint with the swim was that they had no ladder to get out of the water and I had to hoist myself out with the help of a rather rough neck volunteer, who grabbed me by my arm and jerked me most ungracefully by my arm onto the dock, where I was laid out like a fish for a few seconds. Also, the swim was downstream in the beginning and you finished upstream. It took my 5 minutes to get downstream and like 19 to get back up. I ran to transition, struggled out of my wetsuit (9 minute transition time) and headed out on the bike.

Now, I was wet from the water, the temp in Knoxville was in the 50's, and there was a cold wind, combined with the wind you feel riding a bike. It was freezing. I could not feel my toes at all the whole time I was on the bike, and my bike posture was rigid from the cold. It was a hard bike course (lots of uphills and twisty downhills) , but I feel that it was one of my better bikes and my Todd Nordmeyer and Spinervals practice is helping me. Now, I am gauging this "better bikes" by the fact that I passed about 3 or 4 people on the bike. This is a first. I ONLY GET PASSED ON THE BIKE. To wit, according to the Rev 3 Results Page, I was in 55th place when I got out of the water, had fallen to 82nd place when I finished the bike, and moved up to 71st place by the time I finished my run. Interesting right; my bike sabotages me every time.

The run was easy. I averaged sub-8 minute miles, there was some slight confusion when you intersected with the bike course, but nothing huge. I finished at the REV 3 arch, and my husband got a picture. Thrilling. They gave me a tasty boxed lunch and a finishers technical tee. Also, I received the heftiest race medal of all time. It feels like an anvil. All in all, I am completely pleased with the whole race, and I think I will do it again next year. When you have done a race once, it makes doing it again easy, as you sort of know the drill. I might shoot for the half-iron next year, but this year Richard Baker said it best when he said "Right now, there is nothing I want to be doing for 5 hours".

The race was also fun, because it was relatively local. Jill Mongene, Jim Day, Jase Durard, Richard Baker, Scott (who use to swim with me), Judy Daggett, and lots of other fun people were there. That part is always fun as well.

We made it home with one blissful stop at Starbucks.

Pics from race are posted above. Also, embedded my Garmin bike. Run did not download.

Saturday: Packet Pick Up Took 3.5 Hours

This morning, we Sloans headed out of the house early and got out the door to packet pickup, swim clinic and bike drop-off. Now, I truly appreciate a well-oiled machine and so far, the REV 3 has sort of let me down. We drove in circles to the directed address, but realized that the address on the website had the wrong zip code. We were given no parking instructions, so when we finally located the packet-pickup, we could not park there, so we had to continue our frustrated circling. Once I picked up my packet, they had forgotten safety pins to pin our numbers to our run shirts. Now, in their defense, I forgot my race belt to tack my number to and wear during the race, an everyone wears race belts, BUT still SAFETY PINS. COME ON!! I have not gone to a race in the last 20 years of my life that did not involve pinning a race number on my shirt. Luckily, I was able to get back by the pick up tent after some poor volunteer had gone to Office Depot to pick up a bunch.

Now, once packet pickup was achieved, I waited on my husband while he went to get my bike and Ivan and I hit the REV 3 triathlon kids area. Now, in the kids area they had a sky high tiger shaped JumpJump slide with which Ivan was immediately enamored. Now, of course, Ivan (at age 2) was too young to go up or down a huge inflatable tiger shaped slide. I am going to go ahead and gauge the height of the tiger JumpJump at the height of a high dive.

So, who got to hoist both herself and a squirming two year old up the ladder and down the slide. That would be ME. Yes, I have a race tomorrow, and yes I have climbed a JumpJump ladder in my bare feet 5 times while carrying a squirming weight of 26 pounds. Now, you would think that sliding down would be fun, and it was for Ivan. The slide part, however, was VERY fast; so fast that my heels felt like they were getting a rug burn. When, I went down the fifth AND FINAL time, I determined that I would avoid run burn on my heels by lifting up my feet.

When I went down the slide with my feet up, Ivan and I went even faster with nothing to slow us down. SO fast, in fact, that my running shorts were pulled into my crack, completely exposing my left cheek for the ride down, and now I have a huge red rug burn on my rear end that should feel really nice on the bike tomorrow. THANK YOU REV 3 JumpJump.

After my ridiculous JumpJump experience, we all headed down to the river for the swim clinic which they had postponed without telling anyone so as to avoid the University of Tennessee's Saturday morning crew practice. A few of us went ahead and practiced our swim, but it was a pretty solitary experience and I get a little nervous in open water without a buddy. I swam about 800 meters and got out. The water was just perfect with my wetsuit, and I then hopped out of the water to make a pit stop at Starbucks, listen to the athlete's briefing and trek back up to my car so that I could get my bike and check it in, as this race requires night before set up in transition.

After all that, it was 1:00, and we were starving and Ivan was ready to go. We headed out to Litton's Diner for lunch!!

Pick of me this morning with my bike in bike transition

Also a pick of the Pro-Transition area. I had never seen anything like it before. It is roped off and special. The athletes park their bikes under huge pictures of themselves.

Friday: Triathalon Weekend at the REV 3

So, this morning, I overslept, but in a collosal feat of time management, I made it to swim on time with Ivan in tow. I did forget my coffee, but otherwise I managed everything. Our swim coach, Steven, did not have any dry erase markers today, so he just called out our workout. I will tell you what I can remember of it:

• 8x 50 swim
• 3 x 100 (kick 100/ drill 100/ swim 100)
• 400 pull
• 200 kick

I can't really remember the rest of the workout, BUT it did end up being about 3000 meters. At home, my mom came by for lunch, and then we began the monster task of preparing for a trip with Ivan. It is just amazing how much stuff is involved in the transportation of a child. The stroller, the organic whole milk, the diapers, the clothes, the bibs. I mean luckily, we were staying at a home with a crib and toys and books or we would have had to double our load. All this was packed up before we even thought about loading up the bikes, the helmets, the tri-gear, my wetsuit, and nutrition. By the time we got EVERYTHING loaded into the car, I asked myself. Was this worth it?

In Knoxville, we settled in and went for mexican food, which was advantageously located next to a Toys-R-Us. Now, I find and have since I was 12 found Toys-R-Us to be a horrible place, and tonight, I had the opportunity to spend an hour there, as my child was not capable of eating dinner at a Mexican place.

All in all, not our best day. Heading to bed early!! Will tell you about the race.

Book Report: The Girl With The Dragon Tattoo by Stieg Larsson

EVERYONE, has been raving about The Girl With the Dragon Tattoo. I ordered a copy from amazon a while back, and I started to read it a couple of times and I toted it up to Boston and just wasn't loving it. It starts out with a great hook about a mysterious disapearance and then the receipt of a framed flower each year from the person involved in the mysterious disappearance.

So, that is such a great mystery hook. Unfortunately, it then jumps into this whole doldrum of business journalism. I couldn't figure out where it was going, and then the story loops back around to the hook at the beginning. At this point the story became so interesting that it was reminiscent to me of The Davinci Code when I was in graduate school and I completely dropped out of life for a couple of days to finish reading it.

The Girl With the Dragon Tattoo ran the same way once I got past the business journalism slump. I thought the business journalism bit would come back around and be more tied to the story, but no. I guess it was necessary for the story line, which I will now explain:

Disgraced business journalist Mikael Blomkvist reluctantly accepts a job with a relatively retired media mogul (Vanger) to live at his family compound, solve the mystery of who killed his beloved niece, and write a history of his family. Mikael finds some interesting information, and asks Elizabeth Salander to work with him to find the missing pieces.

The mystery is unraveled, but not before the Vanger saga becomes much worse that anyone expected and lives are threatened in the strangest ways. The original title of the book in Swedish was Man Som Hattar Kvinnor or Men Who Hate Women. When you read the book, you will immediately understand this first title. There are many things in this book that are hard to read in terms of sexual assault and cruelty.

Overall, I encourage reading the book. There is a triumphant ending, many exciting plot twists, and a good bit of action. I caution you about the disturbing sexual nature of the book. It is not the best book I have ever read, but it is by far one of the most intriguing. I was sad to see it end, as it was just fascinating.

I will also warn you of this one more time: It takes a good while to get interesting. The whole business journalism description is endlessly dull. If you stay in it, however, it snowballs into a really interesting read. If I play my cards right, I may make it the theatre to see it on film!!

Thursday: Run and Finally Yoga

Goofing off has been my MO this week. I felt like yesterday was a reasonable taper day; nice bike ride, nice swim. Today, however, I managed to waste most of my day doing mundane household chores like cleaning the kitchen and putting together Ivan's new high chair.

If I were living the disciplined life of the athletes that swim in the fast lane in our swim class, I would be up early and have my main workout accomplished before their kids wake up. When I was doing speed sessions and running early on Saturdays, I was generally getting in two good workouts before 7:00 in the morning. That left time for Wednesday night swim, my swim group swims and a trainer ride on occasion. I could hang my whole week on getting in two early workouts.

So, no two ways about it, after I recover a bit this week, I have got to get my summer routine started and that is going to mean running before swim class on Monday, Wednesday, Friday. It just does. Next week I will be finished with all my big races, and it is time to get it in gear.

Today, I finally got myself together for a run at like 2:00, then hurled my sweaty self into the shower and was late to work. Typical of me not on a training schedule and nowhere to be at 6:00 AM.

Also, I got in a yoga session. It felt so great, that as per usual, I wondered why I don't do it every day. Swimming tomorrow, swimming on Saturday, and hitting the REV 3 on Sunday. Golly, I am soooooo relieved that I am doing the Olympic distance. SO RELIEVED.

Watching The September Issue about the making of the September issue of Vogue. I can tell you right now, it is going to make me want clothes. Anna Wintour does it to me every time.

Pic of me running a marathon I wasn't really prepared for, but it went reasonably well. I like a prepared marathon better.

Tuesday: Bike and Swim

Today was a very fun day. Very fun. My husband and I did not have to work, so we organized a sitter and had a workout date. Why, when I was dating, did I not encourage more workout dates? It takes the pressure off of getting all dressed up and filling several hours with meaningless banter, and shuffling your food around on your plate.

I just put on my new bike shorts, some deodorant and Dr. Pepper chapstick, and I was READY!!! We rode about 20 miles on the Natchez Trace, and I had a monster lunch at Pucketts afterwards. They have sweet potato fries at Pucketts. I don't have too many life totems, but one of them is to never pass up sweet potato fries. It was the most fun I have had in years.

After our bike ride, we headed home and put Ivan down for a nap. He slept for 2.5 hours, which was pretty great. I sat in the sun for a bit, plotted my ebay bids for the month and caught up on my gofugyourself.

When Ivan woke up, he and I went to practice his swimming and floating, and went to the park, before heading out to swim. Workout as follows:

• 200 warmup
• 300 fly kick on my back
• 16 X 50 swim
• 400 pull without paddles
• 8 x 50 swim

I hit Yogurt World on the way home, BECAUSE IT CLOSED EARLY LAST NIGHT AND WHEN I SHOWED UP IT WAS CLOSED. It was just terrible. I missed double punch Tuesday. This is a travesty, and I was forced to comfort myself with a Minty MilkyWay Bar.

Tuesday: I Nerded Out

I guess I am tapering this week, but I am just winging it. Boston Marathon recovery coupled with registering for the wrong race (thought I registered for the Half-Iron distance at the REV 3, but actually registered for the olympic), added to that fact that I really should not have registered for a competitive event this soon after finishing the Boston Marathon seems to have me puzzled. If I am honest, I need to also take into account that my regular workouts have been disrupted by epic amounts of rain over the past weekend. When I look at the whole sequence of events leading up to this weekend's triathlon, I am sort of clueless about how I am handling the whole deal.

I know a few things:

• I know that I am going to Knoxville on Friday
• I am attending the practice swim in whatever body of water we will be swimming
• The water in this lake (river, pond, puddle, who knows!) is 65 degrees. I know this because Jill Mongene told me.
• I should study the race web site tonight, but I received the InStyle Hair issue in the mail today, and I plan to study it cover to cover as if for an exam. HAIR!!!!
• I am going to Yogurt World tonight.

Whatever, I will make it to Knoxville, I will make it to the start line, I will swim my pants off, shame myself on the bike, and run it in like a champ. I was prepared for the Boston Marathon this year, and that is one race more than I have ever been prepared for in my life. Things are on the up!!

I did do a very noble act of preparation today, for which I cannot stop patting myself on the back. I hauled myself over to Prairie Life this morning after calling to check that the water temperature of their outdoor pool was 65 degrees. I shimmied into my wetsuit got on my goggles and cap and DID IT!!!

Now, Prairie Life is probably the nicest most state of the art gym in Franklin, and they let me use a guest pass to swim today. It is a great gym; unlike the rec center (where I usually swim) they have showers that stay on for the duration of your shower and not 30 second intervals. Also, there is soap and lotion available, and towels. TOWELS!!!!

It is unfortunate, however, that the one time I go to the cool gym in Franklin, I have to nerd out in a wet suit, monster goggles and my swim cap. All the cool girls were in Lululemon with matching headbands, and I was lurching about like swamp thing in a sketchy looking wetsuit and a tinted goggle mask.

As I was gearing up to get in the water, a guy stepped outside and said, "You like like a superhero?". Honestly, he said it with question inflection in his voice. So here is what I know happened. He saw me in my wetsuit through the tinted windows and thought I looked kind of cool, then he opened the door, came outside into the daylight, and I turned around and looked at him. He was unprepared for how ridiculous I looked head on. The back of me through tinted, hazy gym windows looked ambiguously cool. The front of me in broad daylight stopped him in his tracks. His cool line, became a confused question. Poor you, gym guy.

"I do have some very cool qualities", I wanted to reassure him in some way. "I look cool in regular clothes. Its just that this whole ensemble doesn't do much for me physically."
Anyway, other than that weird experience, I had a nice swim. 65 degrees is cold, but it didn't take my breath away. It was pleasant. I swam about 2000 yards. My wetsuit performed well. I am excited to think that my swim won't be miserable, and I can do this cold water thing!!! Alcatraz is in my future!!