Wednesday: Run, Swim and I meant to do a Pure Barre Video, but I took a nap

Ivan was up and at 'em this morning at 5:30 AM. I was planning on having the opportunity to sleep slightly later since, I was up brutally early yesterday and was up a little later than was necessary last night. Also, I am harboring residual tiredness from a week of vacationing with a two-year-old. The wake up call was brutal.

It was so brutal that I felt like I was staggering around. I lost count of the scoops of coffee as I was putting them in the coffee maker and it took me an inordinate amount of time to locate the remote and turn on The Wiggles for Ivan. All my pistons weren't firing.

I went for a run, to try and jog my mind into working right. I had a huge smoothie for breakfast, two cups of green tea and a cup of coffee and was still feeling so out of it that I showed up at swim in my old Dansko clogs that I wear around the house for the arch support. It looked pretty ridiculous to have on the clogs with my bathing suit, and I had forgotten to bring a spare bathing suit for Ivan's swim lesson, so I had to wear my wet bathing suit and my huge clogs and towel to Ivan's swim lesson. This is me without sleep: a bikini, clogs and a wet towel. When I got to the nursery to pick Ivan up, he had wet through his little clothes and he was wearing a diaper and his shoes, so we walked out together, hand in hand, IN PUBLIC, with me in my clogs, bikini and towel and Ivan in a diaper.

Anyway, swim workout was great!!! We swam 3100 meters or 3300 yards:

• 400 swim
• 200 kick
• 3 x 100 IM
• 300 pull
• 3 x 200 swim
• 300 pull
• 6 x 50 (fast/slow)
• 300 pull
• 400 kick

So, this was a great workout, and I headed home after Ivan's swim practice, before taking the best nap ever. I rarely get to nap, BUT if I do get to nap, it is in the summer.

Tuesday: Track Workout and Some Serious Organics

So this morning, the alarm went off at 5:32 AM, I could smell the coffee (because I have learned how to work the coffee maker) and my oatmeal was ready (because I slow cook it in the crock pot overnight). BUT, let me just tell you that getting up before six AM the day after you have completed a five hour drive with a two year old in the back seat is ugly. Maybe, one of the ugliest experiences of my 34 years. It felt like Voldemort was summoning me from the depths of Mordor. Or, Frodo was asking me to find a Horcrux, or Filch was asking my to join the army of Orcs. It was terrible, is what I am telling you.

I dragged myself to track practice, listening to loud music an drinking black coffee and eating my oatmeal. By the time I got out of the car, I was pretty much awake. Bitter maybe, but awake. Our track workout was confusing, but a great workout:

• mile warm up
• 200 stride out/ 200 jog/ 200 stride out/ 200 jog
• 3 x (1000 at I pace/ 400 jog/ 400 R pace/ 200 jog/ 200 F pace/ 400 jog)
• mile cool down

So, I had to be honest with myself and acknowledge and that the last time I had really run was at the Monster Triathlon. I did not expect it to be my most spectacular day at the track, and I was not disappointed. I did a great job holding my intervals on the first two rounds, but not on the last round. The last 400 and the 200 were rather pathetic, but probably not as bad as it could have been. I am so lucky to be running with Tracy, who is phenomenal with the pacing and keeps me from starting each interval at maximum capacity and ending in a walk.

At home, I drank more coffee, headed into work, made it home in time to plot a trip to Whole Foods to do some preliminary research on organic meat and to get some quinoa. I am going to try to substitute quinoa for spaghetti noodles. NOW, during the course of my research, I was forced to eat a cookie from the bakery and some strawberries in whip cream.

What I discovered at Whole Foods was that I am going to have to pay for my healthy meat sources. It is not cheap to eat well and this could intrude on my deep deep rooted frugality, but it may be worth it. So, I going to try it. Also, 5% of everything I bought today at whole foods went straight to local farms. It was local farm day.

Back to swim tomorrow!!

Monday: Again with the Traveling with a Child

So this morning, I got in a last open water swim before leaving the lake. I somehow punched out one of my goggle lens, and it took me several minutes to ferret out the reason that my goggles wouldn't suction to my face and why my goggles were full of water. I had to make a rogue pit stop on a foreign dock to fix the situation and after I did, the swim was lovely. I am actually really bummed that I do not get to swim open water tomorrow. Tomorrow, I have to go to track practice and it is going to be terribly hot, I have not had a decent run in a week and tomorrow could be the day that I vomit on the track. It could be me.

Anyway, the rest of my day was rugged. We have foolishly put off investing in a portable DVD player, and all I had to offer Ivan were tootsie pops and gum on the long trip home. We finally had to stop at a McDonald's play place, which I swore I would never do again and there is no question that the portable DVD player is my next investment. No question.I could have popped in The Fantastic Mr. Fox, and made my life 1000 times easier.

Sunday: At 4:30 PM, My Eating Habits Devolved

This just might be my healthiest vacation ever. I have cooked great meals, eaten whole foods, and have not had one sweet in the house throughout the vacation. After my hike this afternoon, things got ugly when I thought I would have one cookie, which turned into cracker-fest, which turned into banana chip/chocolate covered almond medley. It happened really fast, almost before I was aware that I had put anything in my mouth or what it tasted like. How does that happen?

I think it happened this time because I didn't think I had done all that much working out, but in reality, I had swum about a mile, run up and down the three stories of the lake house a bajillion times and then gone out on a paddle boat for a couple of laps around the cove, at which point we went on a hike. Then, I got a craving for a cookie, we went to the grocery and and I was up to my ears in refined sugar and chocolate.

Overall, however, I have to give myself an A for my vacation eating. In the grand scheme of my five days away from home, I have eaten really well. I just had an off half hour. AND, I actually still plan to Yogurt World tonight, because it is MY BIRTHDAY!!!!!

Sunday: It is Difficult to Maintain Your Rigorous Blogging Schedule When You are at the Lake and Internet Reception is Spotty

So, the internet reception here is quite spotty and there is a very good chance that my current entry will be shut down before I have a chance to finish. Yesterday, there was never a chance that I could sit down at such a time that the internet was working. Yesterday was the day that I accomplished the most and felt that we had settled into the lake house routine.

This makes me think that the first two days of vacation with a child are the hardest. After that you settle in and everything is easy, yet of course by the time that you settle in, it is time to leave and have an unpleasant trip home with a toddler.

Yesterday morning, I set my alarm, and got up and swam for 45 minutes in the lake. I swim from the dock to the first buoy, which takes me about 5 minutes. I swim back and forth between the dock and the buoy, and I would assume that this is about a mile and a half-ish swim. The lake water here is clear and beautiful. Lots of visibility and zero boat traffic, so it makes for a pretty safe open-water swim. I really enjoyed myself.

Back in the house, I had a cup of coffee, some fruit and I found a huge cache' of green tea in the pantry, so I was back on with my hearty heathy breakfast. Ivan got up, and I gave him a bottle, loaded him in the jog stroller headed off for what proved to be a nasty run. The roads here are just cut out of the mountains and they are all gravel fire roads. The only paved road is a two lane highway with no shoulder, and I would say that the only type of driving that I saw on this road was comparable to Nascar. So, we stuck to gravel fire roads and in 40 minutes, I had only covered 1.7 miles. It was that hilly, and pushing the jog stroller was grueling work. Pushing the stroller up some of the hills was more like a combination of walking and hopping than running.

Back at home, Ivan and I got dressed and went to pick blueberries at a farm down the street. Ivan stayed completely interested for about half a basket, at which point I took him to the general store, where he had a temper tantrum and threw a donut on the floor, before wrenching out of my king fu grip to eat it off the floor (Without using his hands, thank you very much. He just put his whole mouth on the floor and sucked the donut off). I swear, I feel that my child is deliberately trying to attract some terrible parasite to live in his body. "Worms or maybe a good case of Tetnus, that'll show Mommy to try and make me say "Thank You" to a woman who hands me a donut. I object to routine politeness."

Back at the lake house, Ivan took a nap while I worked through Pure Barre type workout video and finished my book. Now starting on Team of Rivals.

Friday: The Difficulty of Maintaining a Workout Routine While Traveling with Child in Another Time Zone

It is very difficult to maintain a workout routine while traveling with a child in a different time zone. Normally on Fridays, I am at swim with Ivan by 8:30AM, I swim a couple of miles (while Ivan plays in the nursery), head home and get in a Gilad workout. Today, at the lake, however, it was different. I lurched out of bed and hopped into my bathing suit with my swim cap and goggles, sprinted down to the dock and jumped into the water and swam for 34 minutes back and forth to the buoys. After 34 minutes, I was sure that Ivan was awake, I pulled myself out of the water and ran dripping up to the house. Ivan was indeed awake and I got him up, and we went about our day. I planned to run later in the evening, but everyone wanted to go out on the boat, then it was time for dinner, then it was Ivan's bedtime and then the run just wasn't an option.

Tomorrow, I am going to attempt to get up earlier, swim a bit longer and then eat fast and give Ivan his bottle in the jog stroller while I run. That should work, maybe. The trouble is, when you are traveling with a child, you just can't count on anything to work out as planned. And, even if you are not a triathlete workout super freak, you can't hold to a relatively regimented workout schedule without irritating everyone. You just can't. As a houseguest, you come across as selfish and rigid just because you might want to jog around a bit. It is hard to understand the position of the line and how not to cross it.

The second and worse part of the traveling situation is that you are traveling with a child, and your support system is removed. There is not a real chance that you will be able to have anyone to watch your child while you participate in any individual activity, so you don't get to participate in any individual activity. Also, it is very difficult to count on nap times and bed times when the time zone is different. The nap never happens when it is expected to happen and how can any day be organized when you child might not nap??

I usually think that I enjoy my relatively streamlined life, but when I go on vacation, I can understand how any sane person would want to tote along a babysitter to help out in any child travel situation. It is all so exhausting that I am forced to renew an earlier commitment I made not to travel with my child until he is seven.

Thursday: McDonald's Play Place: Home of Infection

I constantly berate germ pits. McDonald's play places are muggy and stagnant, closed off from the main dining area, I am convinced that they breed super germs and no doubt harbor the last remnants of small pox (one of my top ten greatest fears, by the way). Anyway, we were on a long car trip and had no choice, but to stop and let Ivan get out a bit of energy from the long car trip.

As the parent of a small child, your choices for energy release on the road are limited. There is Chic-Fil-A, which I don't necessarily recommend as they have a sectioned off play area that is too tiny for food or tables, so as a parent you are stranded in a glass cubicle with a slide and the type of mayhem that is not at all suited to the space Chic-Fil-A has allowed. There is NEVER a park when you need one while traveling.

McDonald's, in terms of play square footage and the allowance of tables in the play area is your best option. I mean, I would love it if Whole Foods or The Palm had a play area. I would go there, and I would teach Ivan to love both organics and a well prepared steak happily and at peace with our surroundings. Girls like me, however, do not get that lucky.

The only good thing I can say about McDonald's today is that I didn't eat any food there. I brought in my own deli sandwich, which drew weird looks from other parents, but I was not at all ashamed. Now, after Ivan had been playing in the play place for a while with other play place type children, (All play place children run about in herds of frenzy, crawling over each other, squealing, and waving about their happy meal toys. If the parents stepped out even for seconds, it would be like Lord of the Flies.) I overheard some VERY troubling words AND I QUOTE, "He has pink eye. I'm takin' him to the doctor after we leave here". At which point I took panicky respite in the hope that this unsavory mother had left her child at home with his pink eye so as not to spread the infection while she had a leisurely lunch in the McDonald's play place. But no, NO SIR, the next words out of her mouth were, "Hey, come over here and show grandpa your eye". Show his eye he did, all pink and drippy while I was eating my deli sandwich and watching Ivan gleefully eat a french fry off the floor, wipe his eyes and suck his fingers all within a span of two seconds.

Shut it down, you win again McDonald's play place. You win again.

Wednesday: Swim and Gilad

So today, my sickness seems to be 90% abated. I felt well enough to be stir-crazy in the house. The point was to get a great nights sleep and head in to swim after that was accomplished. This meant we got to swim later than intended, but in plenty of time to get in a recovery type workout. I did not keep track of my yardage or my intervals, and I really enjoyed myself. In fact, there is probably no harm in just fun swimming every once in a while. It was a nice time.

Now, after swim, I attempted to load my child into the car to take him to practice his swimming at the Middle TN Scuba Center. Ivan, however, was of another mind and he refused to walk to the car, at which point I was forced to threaten and cajole and count to three futiley about four times. After counting to three to no avail, I had to leave all my bags and swim gear and water bottles and ALL OF IT, to wrestle Ivan (who at this point has laid down flat on the ground and is refusing to look at me when I ask him to stand up. He just keeps staring over to the left as if there is something fascinating happening there instead of a concrete sidewalk.) up from the ground and into his car seat. After I got Ivan into his seat, I had to drive the car over to where I had left all the swim gear and load the gear into the car while Ivan wailed.

We drove to the swim center, where Ivan behaved in a consistent (for today) sort of way. There was much running, much (on my part) counting to three and threatening before we finally had to call it a day and go home.

During Ivan's nap, I got in a Gilad workout, lots of paperwork and a bit more reading on The Girl Who Kicked the Hornet's Nest!!!

Tuesday: Sickness

So Sunday night, I began having some sort of stomach illness (food poisoning? intestinal bug? lake water funk?) and I woke up on Monday morning feeling so horrible that I was forced to lay supine on the couch UNTIL, Ivan crawled up on the couch and fell backwards so hard that we spent the whole morning calling the doctor on call (because no child EVER gets hurt during regular offices hours), making the emergency room decision (negative) and talking to Ivan's regular doctor and a small army of nurses. All while I am creeping about the house feeling desperately ill.

Once we had Ivan as repaired as possible, I was able to lay around and I really lost an entire day of my life. I was completely amazed to find myself in bed at 3:30 PM. I had Gatorade for dinner and watched back-to-back episodes of The Family Guy, which I always mean to quit watching and was asleep by 8:30 PM.

Better today, and hoping that I can get to the pool tomorrow morning!!!

Sunday:Lake Swim

So this morning, Kennette, the greatest carpool buddy of all, picked me up to head out to the lake for my first swim out to the buoys. At the first lake swim, our coach only lets us swim triangles in the shallows so that she make sure there are no drowners. Then last weekend I was in Birmingham, so this week was the first time that I got to swim out to the buoys.

Now, in keeping with tradition, I forgot something. Yesterday it was pants, today it was my goggles. I had to borrow a pair from Dee and her goggles did not fit my head quite right and they leaked the whole time. Luckily, I swam with the greatest swim buddy, John Maple, who watched out for me and I was able to stick close to him and sight his green swim cap. I readjusted my borrowed goggles one million times. One Million. It was all very frustrating and how in the world to you drive 50 miles out to the lake at 5:45 AM in the morning and forget to check and make sure that your goggles are in your swim bag? Who does that? Me. It is par for the course for me.

Anyway, other than rampant goggle leaking, I had a great swim, and it ended up being about two miles with my warm-up and everything.

OK, so this week, our swim coach posted an article about goggles on our Excel Blog. I swim in an Aquasphere goggle mask, and you have to read the article because it has pretty much shamed me out of swimming in my beloved aquaspheres. They feed every aspect of my vanity:

• they do not leave goggle lines around my eyes
• they do not leave a huge indention across my nose
• I have better visibility
• It is like wearing a flatscreen television on my head

Apparently, however, my goggles say that I am ridiculous. I need to wear some sort of speedo goggles to be able to be taken seriously. I quote "[in aquasphere goggles] you look ridiculous and other lap swimmers laugh at you". Nice. They are the only goggles I wear. I compete in them and I train in them. Yeah, never mind, I refuse to be shamed out of wearing them.

Finally, there is supposedly a new new Garmin program that give complete accuracy on the swim. I will research the situation and let you know!!

Saturday: Monster Triathlon Pantsless

So this morning, I beat my alarm out of bed at 4:25 AM. Now, 4ish on a Saturday after a pretty sleepless night is a rough start. My friend, Kennette, got to the house at a little before 5:00 AM so that we could ride together. Whenever I need to meet someone early, I don't sleep very well as I spend the whole night tossing and turning and thinking that I am going to oversleep. I did the same thing before Boston and the same thing the night before the REV 3.

Anyway, the Monster Triathlon may be my new thing. It was such an easy drive down to Pulaski, and I kind of loved driving into the small town. We parked in the city graveyard and walked up the hill to the rec center. Now, we got to the race an hour early, but it still didn't seem like enough time. There is so much to organize at a triathlon, and as per usual I forgot something. I forgot to pack shorts to run and ride in, which is a bummer. For whatever reason, I feel a little naked without shorts on the run.

OK, so overall, I was THRILLED with the Monster Triathlon. I thought it was really well organized, I loved the bike, and the run was great too. AND, Scott spray painted "Go, Betsy" on the bike course, which was my greatest race inspiration of all time.

Now, I also learned something very interesting at the Monster Triathlon. The swim was a pool swim AND, pool swim triathlons attract a lot of beginners and people who are not great swimmers for obvious reasons. You feel a lot more secure in a pool than in open water and there is less a chance of drowning. Also, in open water, you are able to get around people, pass them, but the pool is less an open space and it is harder to get around the swimmers. I felt like it was my most aggressive swim EVER. I was continually trying to pass people, get around people, and I felt pushy. BUT, the swim was only 175 yards and whatever I felt, it didn't last too long.

The bike course was hilly, but it was a nice ride. The race had started at 7:00AM, so by the time I hit the bike, it was still cool out. Also, it was a relatively closed course. There just wasn't any traffic. I don't know if it was just too early for traffic or if it was just an unpopulated area, but it was really nice. There were, I guess, three big hills and one bumpy county road.

The run ran through the historic part of the city cemetery, and history buff that I am, I was totally tempted to stop and read all the historical markers. I fully planned to go back and read the historical markers after I crossed the finish line, BUT storm clouds were rolling in.

It began thundering and lightning and then it began raining on what I can only call a Biblical scale. The cemetery tour was an immediate no go, and we had to listen to the awards ceremony from the shelter of the bathrooms, before grabbing some pizza and hitting the road for home.

At home, I took a serious nap that caught up my sleepless night and early wake time. I read the new Vogue and had pizza for dinner. Hitting the lake tomorrow morning!!!

Pic of me and Kennette after the tri!!!

Friday: Swim, Gilad and Yoga

So today, I did get to swim on time and our usual swim coach, Steven, was not there. Gretchen substituted, and the workout was hard. Also, she gave me lots of pointers that I cannot wrap my head around. I need to be cocking my elbow and hooking my hand before entry into the water. Workout as follows:

• 200 warmup
• 200 pull
• 9 x 100 swim
• 4 x 50 kick/swim
• 8 x 50 fly kick odds/ free kick evens
• 5 x 200 pull
• 300 kick cooldown

It was intense. I don't remember what the intervals for the 9 x 100s were, BUT I couldn't make them in the end.

I was starving when we got home and I actually fell asleep when I sat down to read a book for a while. I got in a Gilad workout and some Yoga.

Monster Triathlon tomorrow!!

Thursday: A Day Off During Which I May Have Learned Something Troubling About Myself

Now, normally, my thing is to get up on Thursday mornings and take a Pure Barre class. I take the 6:00 AM class, which is in keeping with getting me out of the bed early, and then I take the rest of the day off and fulfill my real obligations like working on my real job and meeting the needs of my child.

Anyway, this morning my Pure Bar accountability partner was out of town, and I planned to get up and go to Pure Barre on my own. BUT, I didn't go. When I finally did drag myself out of bed, it occurred to me that I lack personal discipline. Unless I have some sort of accountability group or person, I can't make myself go. It's not that I don't want to go. I just want to do it on my own time, and then sometimes I run out of time and it doesn't happen.

When I woke up early, I just thought, why don't I stay in bed and go to the 8:30AM class. Now, I could not go to the 8:30 AM class, but I didn't remember that at 5:20 AM. All I remembered was that no one was waiting for me, so I could sleep in. I have to have some immediate impetus to get out of bed. If Lauren had been waiting for me, I would have gotten up in plenty of time.

This is why you will never see me at the Olympics, on the podium, or stopping at one Cheetoh or m & m. I am not disciplined on a personal level. My life is set up for social workouts, which in turn mean accountability.

Again, this is my get out of bed accountability schedule:

• Monday -swim
• Tuesday - track work
• Wednesday - swim
• Thursday - Pure Barre
• Friday - swim
• Saturday - running group
• Sunday - Swim

This is why the bike is not happening. I do not have a bike accountability group. There is no group of beginner bikers who are trying to get faster who want to ride with me at times that I can fit into my schedule of parent guilt. I think that I could do a Wednesday and Friday morning bike ride that starts at 6:00 or 6:15 AM and goes to 7:45 or 8:00 AM.

These are the only times that I have open that fit into my schedule of parent guilt. The baby should be just waking up as I am walking in the door, and he will never know I have been gone.

After learning this valuable information about myself, I plan to find a bike group or class in reasonable distance from myself. There is no reason to feel guilty about not getting in my bike rides. I just need to realize that I am not capable of the discipline required to get up before 6:00 AM and get on my bike by myself. It does not make me a bad person, it just means that if I want bike improvement, I have to set up another accountability structure.

Wednesday: Swim

Now this morning, I had family obligations and it was not an option to go to 8:30 AM swim. This left me feeling disgruntled and incomplete, but some days you have no choice. So, today, we headed up to Springfield for a day trip, Ivan had no nap, and that always makes him more irritable than I realize a toddler can be. It made for a rather rugged afternoon.

Finally back at home, I took Ivan to swim, and he spent all afternoon hurling himself from the diving board.

I picked up dinner on the way home and ate quickly before heading into evening swim. Evening swim is more intense than morning swim. There are more people in the lane and you really have to fight for your position in the lane. Everyone sticks to the interval, and I worked harder in the pool than I have worked in a long time tonight. Workout as follows:

• 300 warmup
• 4 x 25 kick drill
• 100 swim
• 4 x 25 kick drill
• 100 swim
• 4 x 75 sprint
• 400 pull with paddles
• 4 x 75 sprint
• 400 pull without paddles
• 4 x 75 sprint
• 400 pull without paddles
• 50 swim

It was a great workout. Now, normally I take a Pure Barre class on Thursday mornings, but my accountability partner is out of town, so it might not happen. But maybe, I did put my special Pure Barre socks in my bag.

Tuesday: Track Workout, Yoga, and Gilad

Last night, I got in bed much too late for a person who was planning to get up at 5:20 AM. When the alarm went off (I have the worst and most aggressive alarm in the world, by the way. It is like a combination of a fog horn and a rebel yell and a chain smoker speaking loudly in your ear.), I couldn't even remember where I was or for what reason that horrendous sound was screaming at me. My husband woke up and told me in a grieved tone that I HAD to do something about my alarm, and I wanted to burst into tears and go back to sleep and forget that I had the committed myself to something so foolish as a track workout at 6:00 AM.

Anyway, that is not what I do, and I lugged myself out of bed. I had some oatmeal and blueberries with a cup of stiff coffee before heading to the track. Our workout went as follows:

• 1.25 mile warm-up
• 2 x 200 fast/ 2 x 200 slow
• 4 x 1000 at I pace, which was 4:15 with a 400 meter jog in between
• 4 x 200 at R pace, which was 0:47, with 200 jog in between
• 0.5 mile cooldown

Overall, this was 7.25 miles, and it was really hard. I actually had the option of doing 5 x 1000 meters, but I was so relieved to only do the four. It was so hot and so muggy and there were gnats in my eyes and I was so super tired.

Now, what I figured out today, and what I have suspected for many many years, is that I have some sort of mental block or disability about pacing. I seem to be able to start out running super fast and then fall apart in the end. Mark Miller has made me realize that speed is not just about running really fast, but about knowing how to hit your marks at each 100, so that you finish right on time and preserve your speed and endurance in such a way that you run a consistent pace the whole way through. I did what I usually do and latched on to Super Tracy who was running my pace AND AND knew how to keep an eye on her watch and knew what pace to hit at each of the orange cones that Drew and Mark had placed around the track at each 100 meter mark.

Now, Tracy seemed to have a gift for keeping track of her times. It really is important to get the hang of pacing, as it allows you to strategize and run a better race. My "just get out there and run real fast" mentality is taking a real beating at track workout.

At home, I headed into work and came home to some yoga and a Gilad workout. Going to bed early!!

Monday: The Busiest Monday of My Life

Now that I have a child and my work schedule has eased up a bit, I have a bit more free time most of the time. Some days though, hit me like a ton of bricks. For instance, this morning, I woke up to a sick child, a huge workday, a squeezed in swim practice and a hair appointment and a quick parent conference.

There honestly are not enough hours in my day today and also honestly, I did not have to go to swim. Swim is not a mandatory part of my life, but I wanted to go and ultimately, my husband was home and could hustle Ivan (who was not running a fever, just had a nagging cough) off the the doctor. The doctor, of course, said it was nothing, which seems to be the case 99% of the time that we take Ivan to the doctor.

Anyway, swim workout was great:

• 4x 100 swim
• 4 x 50 stroke
• 8 x 50 IM
• 3 x 100 swim
• 4 x 50 stroke
• 8 x 50 IM
• 400 pull
• 500 kick
• 500 swim

After swim, I hurtled to work like a madman and worked all afternoon. I had thought that I would have a break between tests, for lunch, but the first test I gave went too long for me to pop out for lunch. This meant that I positively starved through the next test.

Skipping lunch is always a mega disaster for me, because something explosively caloric happens at some point. Today, it was that I got home and at an entire package of guacamole with vegetable chips. The only, only good thing that I can say about it is, better guacamole than queso. Guacamole is at least a good fat and the vegetable chips were high in fiber.

My day was even nuttier because on top of Ivan sickness, swim, double booked assessments at work with no lunch, a mini conference, and a grocery store stop, I had a hair appointment at 8:00PM. Now, I like an evening hair appointment because I can put Ivan down at bedtime and leave without guilt that I am missing time with him in lew of my own personal level of vanity.

Hanna had to cut my hair almost an inch, because it is a bit dry. This totally bummed me out and I felt a little like Hayley Mills in The Parent Trap, when she finds out her father is indeed going to marry the vile gold digging Vicki instead of their mother, when the girls have worked so hard to reunite them. Hayley Mills character (Sharon or Susan) starts stamping around muttering about all the work, work, work. How she had to cut her hair and bite her nails and pretend to like beans and crack her gum and memorize everyone's names. "All the work". That is how I felt when my dry hair warranted more of a trim than I had planned.

I wanted to stamp around with my lists of conditioners and all the hair wettings, heat masks, special pre-swim gels. All that work deserves an extra inch of hair. I am just going to have to up the anty, and do some conditioning treatments under my swim cap. WHERE WILL IT END? With a wig, with me giving in to baldness or a crew cut that will hardly be flattering with my nose. It is not going to end in my giving up swimming. THAT IS FOR SURE.

Finally, on my drive home from my hair appointment, I cruised down Columbia Avenue and towards the Carter House, where unbeknownst to me the Franklin Historical Society was reenacting a Civil War event. SO, as I am driving towards blinding strobe lights on Columbia Avenue, I see two sides of men TAKE AIM AND FIRE AT ONE ANOTHER.

For the love of Mike, would they mind warning drivers so they do not see musket fire and smoke and immediately assume that the appocalypse is upon up. My first thought was to park my car and run with my new hi-lights and half an inch shorter hair.

When I finally got past the melee, I understood the scene to be some sort of filmed reenactment, but again, let's warn the townfolk next time.

Pic of me waiting for Ivan to swim to get me!

Sunday: Road Trip and Swim

So yesterday, my sister and I had a great day. We were up early for a stroller walk. We ate a fabulous breakfast on our walk and made it back home to put everyone down for a nap. In the afternoon, we took Ivan and his cousin Rye to the pool where Rye slept in the stroller like the perfect infant that he is, while Ivan ran about anxiously until he discovered the diving board.

OH THE DIVING BOARD. Ivan hurled himself off the diving board all afternoon. 1000's of times. The amazing thing about it was that Ivan could hurl himself into the water, come up floating on his back and then scoot himself over to the ladder, then crawl out and do it all over again. When it was time to go home, I had to drag Ivan out of the pool sobbing for the diving board.

This morning, Ivan and I drove home. Ivan hates a car trip, so the drive was unpleasant to say the least, but we made it home in good time. I was able to get to the pool around the corner and swim 2000 yards. Back on my schedule tomorrow!!!

Pic of Ivan off the diving board!!

Friday: Run/ Swim/ Flipburger

This morning, like a champ, I was out of bed at 6:20 for a run before I headed off to swim. That is four mornings this week friends, and it is a major accomplishment. It is possibly a greater accomplishment than the thesis I wrote during graduate school, the time I drove down Hillsboro Road from Franklin without hitting one red light, reading War and Peace and childbirth. It is huge.

Swim was great. I was there right on time, had a brief meltdown with Ivan in the nursery and got
to the side of the pool only seconds late. AND, irregardless of my lateness, I swam my pants off and got in the whole workout. Workout as follows:

• 400 swim
• 200 drill
• 200 swim
• 200 kick
• 200 pull
  
• 200 drill
• 200 swim
• 500 kick
• 4 x 100 swim build
• 3 x 100 swim descend
• 300 kick

This was 3100 meters, and it was a great workout. Jamie was there and we had a long talk about the zoo and summer camps and summer books. Also, the new water aerobics instructor is playing Credence Clearwater Revival whiel we swim, which is inspirational.

Ivan had his last swim lesson today, before we headed out to Birmingham to spend the weekend. Now the last time I visited, we tried in vain to eat at Flipburger, but there was an almost two hour wait, and we had a baby in tow and it just didn't work and we had to go for sushi.

This weekend, we scheduled the whole weekend around a successful trip to Flipburger. Now, I have a love affair with Flipburger and let me tell you why:

1. Very cool, all white booths that have a matching booth upside down above you: Flipburger motif
2. amazing burger menu: classic burger, wild turkey burger, tuna ahi burger, steak tar tar burger
3. milkshakes: Krispy Kreme milkshake, foi gras milkshake

I can't say enough good things about it and let me just tell you what I ordered: Beet salad for starters, wild turkery burger with cranberry relish and gouda, tuna ahi burger with mango yolk (it was fascinating-the mango was just like a bulbous benedict type egg yolk, yet it was mango). We also ordered sweet potato fries with chocolate salt and asparagus fries with parmesaen salt. For dessert we split a Krispy Kreme milkshake.

Is your mouth watering? Do you want a Flipburger in your town? On your street? Situated beside your mailbox? It was the best. I plan to center all future trips to Birmingham around Flipburger. It was the best!!

On the downside, my child was the devil. He threw his utensils, ran through the restaurant, and eventually had to be leashed like an animal. On the upside, our waiter was super-tolerant and did not make me feel like a the worst parent in the world or the horrible parent who is ignoring her child's ridiculous behavior.

It was a successful evening!!! Flipburger at last!!!

Thursday: A Day Off, sort of

This morning, my alarm went off at 5:20 AM. That is three mornings within 5 days that I have been up before 6:30 AM. I am pretty proud of this development, and I am pretty sure that my scheduling workouts early in the morning is responsible for my ability to get up early. It is nice, I am getting the workouts in early and I am not having to go out and get sweaty after dinner. Obligating myself to the accountability of an early workout is really getting my summer off to the best possible start. The Summer, however, is easier to get outside in, because it is warm. Let me just tell you that 5:20 AM in January is a whole other level of hell.

January requires layers and layers and mountains of clothes, a will of iron to open the door and step out into the miserable cold, and the consumption of many many hot beverages to elevate your body temperature before commencing the workout . Summer is just one easy breezy step out the door. Sometimes you drive there with the windows rolled down, and you aren't filled with a sense of dread about getting out of the car. It's a whole new world.

Anyway, this morning, I got up at 5:20 AM to go to Pure Barre. Class started at 6:00 AM, and I was home by 7:30 AM. It was a great class and my day off commenced when I walked in the door. There was no more working out once I got home.

Our big news was that we went to the zoo this afternoon, and let me just tell you that I love it when we go to the zoo and my husband dresses up like Bear Grylls. It was great. He wore breathable REI pants, a moisture wicking shirt, a pair of trail shoes and a big neoprene sun hat. It was great. His outfit even involved a fanny pack from which he pulled precision binoculars and high powered sunscreen.

Ivan's favorite thing at the zoo was the meercats. He loved them and especially loved the meercat tunnel igloo. We stayed for about two hours, which was Ivan's limit and if I am honest with myself, it is my limit for smelling manure-esque smells.

Pics of our zoo trip!!

Wednesday: Swim and Thwarted by Rain

I am noticing that something is happening to me. I don't know if it is old age, a deeper sense of personal organization or just that I am super lazy in the afternoons. BUT, more and more it is seeming that if I don't get the workouts in in the morning, it just doesn't happen. I was up at 6:30 AM this morning with the intention of running before swim, but it was thundering and lightning and raining pretty hard. So, I had in my head that I would run this evening with the jog stroller, but according to my new philosophy of getting everything done in the morning, that just isn't going to happen. It didn't happen this morning, so I am letting it go. I AM JUST LETTING IT GO.

Swim was great. Nick (the nicest person in the ENTIRE world, yet my swim nemesis) was there. We really challenged each other on our intervals and also had the opportunity to discuss Food, Inc. This is a movie that I watched last night, and I feel that it has profoundly impacted the way that I look at food. Nick orders all his meats from a farmer outside of Glasgow, Kentucky named Weldon. I may be contacting Weldon in the near future, as will you if you watch Food, Inc. Put it on your Netflix cue. Please tell me you have a Netflix cue.

Swim workout as follows:

• 100 warmup
• 200 kick/200 pull/ 200 swim
• 2 x 50 swim
• 6 x 50 fast/slow
• 2 x 50 swim
• 6 x 50 fast/slow
• 300 kick
• 600 pull
• 100 swim
• 400 IM swim

This was 2900 meters, and it was hard work. When Nick is at swim, there is some competition, so I am tired out when we leave. Also, I was late today, so I had to move into the public lanes to complete the whole workout.

Oh, and in very thrilling news, there is a new nursery worker that Ivan just loves. She is so sweet and has a Minnie Mouse voice, and Ivan specifically brought the purring cat that he got in his happy meal to show her today. When I left him, he was blissfully happy. There is no way to convey to you how lovely it is to leave your child with someone whom your child is truly happy.

Ivan had a swimming lesson that was just fantastic. I have been practicing with him so much that he is a two year old swim prodigy, and it is so funny when we take him to swim and he is all over it. I swear, he is about to start swimming laps and diving.

At home, I finished up some paper work and made some mediocre Indian food. Pure Barre tomorrow morning, and then I am taking the rest of the day off!!!

Pic of me diving in. Isn't it so national geographic/ LIFE worthy. Steven, my swim coach, took it accidentally.

Tuesday: Track Workout, Yoga, and Gilad

TRACK WORKOUT!!!! Track workouts started this morning, or Summer Speed Sessions. Speed Sessions are offered during the Winter and Summer by Fleet Feet which is a track shop in Brentwood, TN. We meet at a High School track and the whole thing smacks of the most hateful and punishing of all after school activities. I swear, I recoil when I see that track. It just brings back memories of coaches and stopwatches and feeling like I was going to vomit.

Speaking of vomiting, this morning a guy showed up to run the speed sessions and introduced himself as the guy who threw up last year. It's a different crowd than the Winter Speed Sessions, but then it is warmer and the distances are shorter, and the crowd is significantly larger. And, I can see that when sprinting a solid mile before 7:00 AM in the morning, you might vomit. I can see how that could happen.

Workout as follows:

• 5 laps (mile and a quarter) warm-up
• 2 x (200 fast/200 jog)
• one mile time trial
• one mile cool down

I ran the mile in 6:16. I started out way too fast, as is my habit and heaved across the finish line. I am 99 percent certain that I could have run faster if I had gone out at a nice steady pace, and I completely anticipate some planning when we do our second time trial sometime in July.

I got in a Gilad and Yoga workout at home, and then took Ivan to McDonald's before coming home to watch Food, Inc. Food, Inc is an overview of the terrible food processing practices that take place in America. It is, BY FAR, the worst possible movie to watch after taking your child to eat at McDonald's. Watching slaughterhouse meat packed in ammonia to prevent ecoli is beyond terrible. Luckily, as per usual, Ivan ate very little of his meal. His mother ate the bulk of it, as is her habit.

Monday: Swim for Me and Swim for Ivan

So this morning, my summer did not get off to the start I planned. I stayed up too late reading the final installment of The Girl With the Dragon Tattoo, The Girl Who Kicked the Hornet's Nest. It is gripping. GRIPPING.

Anyway, I was up a bit late and rolled out of bed at such a time that I had to rush about say the word "hurry" about 20 times. I actually made it to swim on time with Ivan in tow. Our workout was pretty strait forward, but our numbers were low today, so I did the workout mostly alone. I swam the intervals quite slowly and I endeavored to take today easy after my fickle sickness over the weekend. Workout as follows:

• 200 swim
• 200 kick
• 200 IM
• 200 swim
• 12 x 50 (fast/slow)
• 3x 100 IM
• 5 x 200 pull

This was 2700 meters in all. I swam slowly and it felt fine, but I was ravenous when I finished. Luckily I was packing a trusty Grab the Gold bar which prevented me from speeding through a drive through. Also, I swam long course today, so I swammeters. 2700 meters is equivalent to 2953 yards. So, I swam a bit farther than I thought.

From the pool, I rushed Ivan to his first swimming lesson of the summer season. He loved it and he swam himself silly. He did some diving and resting and was loath to leave. Video Above.

After Ivan commenced napping, I commenced working on a mound of paperwork. Quite dull.

Tomorrow, I begin my first summer speed session, and guess what? Thursday is going to be my day off with no cardio. I will take an early morning strength training class and that is it!!!

I need my day off.

Sunday: Knitting Disaster

So, in last September, I started knitting what looked to be the greatest sweater of all time. It involved cabled pinwheels, a slip-stitch cabled border, and three-quarter length sleeves. However, the pattern was weird, the sizing was off, I had to reknit it twice and rework the border. Suffice it to say that I have thought many nasty things about Vogue patterns and will have no choice but to return to being a Rowan junkie.

Anyway, the pattern knitted up way too large. The sizing was off, and I always had in the back of my head that I was going to felt the sweater. NOW, do you know what it means to felt a sweater. It means that you wash it in the washing machine and shrink the wool once the sweater has been knitted so that the sweater has a boiled wool quality. It can be amazing, and it can go terribly wrong. I am 75% sure that it went terribly wrong for me, BUT once you wash a felted piece you have to let it dry. The drying process takes a few days, so I won't know for sure for a while.

Anyway, I was hoping that the felting process would only take the sweater down a size or two, but it took the sweater down from an adult large to a toddler small as far as I can tell. There will be no way I can wear it, and I have to say that it is a mighty disappointing prospect after 9 months of work. Quite sad.

I will keep you posted, but prepare to hear that I am storing the felted disaster in hopes that some daughter or niece of the future can wear it. Bleh.

Pics of what the sweater looks like now and what the picture of what the pattern said it would look like.

Saturday: My Long Run was so Bad It Was Embarrassing

Here I am, one month out from the brilliant coaching advice of Richard Baker, and I am already falling apart. I have been sick since Wednesday. Friday (after taking two full days off) I felt well enough to meet a friend for exactly 1.5 glasses of wine at 5:00 PM. This morning I crawled out of bed and felt fine, ran a fast three miles in the beginning of what was supposed to be an 11 mile run. Mile four found me falling back, mile 5 found me wondering if I could make it, and by mile 8 I had to admit that I was going to have to cut the course and make it a 9 mile run, lest I die on nine mile hill. Had I died on 9 mile hill, it would have been from three possible causes:

1. I have been sick all week. I ran a fever on Wednesday, felt horrible on Thursday, not great on Friday morning. This morning, I was most likely not well enough for what I attempted.
2. 1.5 glasses of wine is way beyond my tolerance level, and I cannot simply cannot consume any alcohol on any day before I work out, which is every day, so I guess that makes me a teetotaler.
3. Since I returned home from Boston, I have taken maybe one day off working out. Richard Baker impressed upon me that I needed to give my body a rest one day a week, and as soon as I got off the planned schedule, I started dropping a hard swim into my day off. I might be overtrained.

It is so embarrassing to start a run with a group and then have to bail early because of some foolishness in your training. The best thing for me this morning would have been to choose to run a long run with a slower group of runners, allowing my body to heal. Or, I could have taken another day off, this would not have been a sin. Instead I attempted to pound out a run I didn't have a shot at completing.

When I had to cut the run and we were all finished and stretching in the park, I had the wild desire to ask everyone in the group to sit down in a semicircle in front of me so that I could explain my failure. My speech would begin with a brief description of my illness including duration and fever and mucus measurements, move on to an open discussion about the amount of alcohol consumption that is possible the night before a morning workout, before trailing off into a long defense of how I have ended up forgetting to take a day off during the week. I would like for them to listen to me, nod their heads and feel in their hearts that I am a great athlete suffering from insurmountable circumstances.

It doesn't really work that way though, and sometimes you leave a poorly executed workout with the yucky feeling that you just couldn't keep up and maybe there is some doubt about your abilities. It is most unpleasant.

On the upside, I registered for the Monster Triathlon!!! It is two weeks from today and involved a pool swim, 16ish mile bike ride, and a 3 mile run. It will be a great workout and a friend and I will ride down together. I'm just thrilled.

So, I am taking tomorrow off as Sunday swim is cancelled. Hoping I am well in time for swim on Monday, and Ivan is starting swim lessons next week!!!! Swim and rest!!!

Friday: I was not well enough for swim, but I pulled it together for drinks

Honestly, today I have surfed the internet within an inch of my life. I have learned all about things I didn't need to know about. I've wikipediaed Bob Dylan and Bob Geldolf, I have ebayed my ebay list within an inch of its life, and read every entry on gofugyourself.com.

Usually, I go to swim on Friday mornings, but it seemed like I should not hit a hard swim set after my week of sickness. For this reason, I did a copious amount of internet surfing, coffee drinking, phone talking, and Ivan chasing.

I am glad that I gave myself an extra day off, as I hope to be healed up for my long run tomorrow. If long run goes as planned, I am heading out to yogurt world tomorrow night!!!!

Wednesday/Thursday: Gilad, Swim and Sickness

When I say that on Wednesday night, I went to bed without washing off my makeup, you can be sure that something of apocalyptic magnitude was wrong. The last time I went to bed without washing off my makeup, I was 13 years old and I stayed up all night with my friend Melissa trying to beat Mario Brothers. We were both up all night, did not wash off our makeup and had blisters on both thumbs from the video game controls.

Over the weekend, Ivan had a cold/sickness of some sort. It involved some spectacular nasal expectorations, a general grumpiness of spirit, and some long naps. Overall, it wasn't that bad, and I watched an entire movie while I knitted during one of the naps. I am inches away from being finished with my sweater.

Anyway, Tuesday night I felt under the weather, but I decided that it was because I am forcing myself into this new get up early lifestyle and I had taken a Pure Barre class at a time that am normally getting some serious REM sleep. This morning, I was still rather sneezy, but decided to buck up and get in a Gilad workout BEFORE I headed into swim. I was on it, but not feeling well. At swim, I wheezed and shivered my way through the following workout:

• 400 swim
• 8 x 50 drill swim
• 4 x 50 IM
• 6 x 100 swim
• 400 pull
• 6 x 100 swim
• 200 pull
• 600 kick

I sneezed all the way through my shower and was running a fever when I got home. It was most unfortunate, and these are the times when I feel super dumb for not listening to my body.

I spent the rest of the day hazing in and out of Nyquil naps while I watched season one of 30 Rock. I felt pretty terrible. Today I have felt better, but not done one thing to speak of except for some knitting and feeding of my child.

Skipping out on swim tomorrow, and hoping that I will get to run on Saturday.

Recipe: Peanut Butter Chocolate Chip Cookies

My husband brought home a magazine called Healthy Cooking several weeks ago, and it has been collecting dust on various coffee tables, end tables and kitchen counters since then. There are several great looking recipes that I have not really thought hard enough about making. It so happened that after church on Sunday, I noticed that we had all the ingredients for the peanut butter chocolate chip cookie recipe. The cookies were crazy delicious; I mean just exceptionally good. Recipe as follows:

• 1/2 cup butter
• 1/3 cup creamy peanut butter
• 1/4 cup applesauce
• 3/4 cup sugar
• 3/4 cup packed brown sugar
• 2 eggs (I used egg beaters)
• 1 tsp vanilla
• 2 1/4 cups of all purpose flour
• 1/2 tsp. baking soda
• 1/4 tsp salt
• 1/2 cup semi-sweet chocolate chips (but I think I used more)

1. melt butter and peanut butter together over medium low heat
2. Take butter mixture off burner and transfer to mixing bowl
3. Stir in the rest of the ingredients
4. Cover and refrigerate for two hours
5. Bake for 6 minutes at 350 degrees
6. Cool on wire racks

Tuesday: Pure Barre and Run

This morning, I was up promptly at 5:20 AM to go to the 6:00 AM Pure Barre class. I have had no choice but to resort to drastic measures and book classes and such to get my out of bed before six. If I can get everything done by 7:30 AM-ish, I can accomplish the rest of the day. All the things that need to happen, can get done after I have had a shower. I swear, I spent most days last summer in my running shorts, hating myself for not getting it together in time to shower and dress like someone who had some pride in their physical appearance.

Today, I was finished with my resistance workout and run by 7:30. I was pretty proud of myself. Pure Barre was easier today, though I still had to take a few breaks to make it all the way through the class. Now, I think that taking the 6:00 AM class is beneficial because there are only a few people there and you get lots of one-on-one attention. There is no cheating. My muscles were shaking, but I had a bit more control over the whole situation because I bought Pure Barre Socks today.

It is more than nerdy to buy special Pure Socks. They say Pure Barre across the toes and they have little rubber circles all over the bottom so that your feet can't slide during the various poses. They really do make a difference, and I guess if I am making a summer commitment, I need to have the gear.

My run after Pure Barre was not my best, but it was good cardio, and it was over in three miles. In a way, I feel like I need to be running every chance I get to try to get used to the humidity. It seems I'm still a few weeks out from being completely used to it.

Had a great lunch and swim with Ivan in the afternoon and got to go to the grocery by myself. It doesn't get any better than that!!!