Thursday: Run and Pure Barre

You know, I feel like most PEOPLE that are training for THINGS, drag themselves out of bed and get in more of a run than is happening with me lately.  Currently, I am dragging myself out of bed and listening to terrible top forty music on my ipod that I would not divulge to you in a million years.  For the record, I am not wearing a watch when I run right now.  This seems to be the road that I travel when I am not training for anything.  Also, training in general is rather sad when you are just tooling around out there with nothing on the horizon, and maybe that is the root of a bit of some of my feelings of burn out.

There is something that is just a little perky and fun about having a fun race and trip on the horizon, so I guess I need to maybe drum something up.  Biking is also hanging over my head, as it always does and I really never seriously do anything about it, so maybe I just shouldn't mention it, AND if Todd Nordmeyer comes to my house with a megaphone to scream me out of bed and onto the bike in the morning, so be it.  I am 99% sure, however, that Todd Nordmeyer has NEVER screamed into a megaphone.  He just isn't that sort.

"Blah" is what I have to say about my current training routine.  Now, I did get in a Pure Barre workout that  was great and painful in the good way that makes you think that the approaching legging season might really work for you.

Wednesday: Run, Swim and Halloween Approacheth

The Rejected Cow Costume

This morning, I hurtled out of bed like an athlete with real discipline and huddled in front of the side door in my long-sleeved t-shirt and shuddered at the cold.  It was 50-ish degrees this morning, and it took me a slowly sipped glass of chocolate milk to work up the courage to hop out the door WHILE WEARING GLOVES.   GLOVES!!!  It is amazing!!!

I had a great run and then Ivan and I got to swim on time for the second time this week.  It was impressive. Workout as follows:

Final Choice!!

• 100 warm up
• 8 x 50 kick drill
• 4 x 75
• 4 x 25
• 4 x 75
• 4 x 25
• 4 x 75
• 4 x 25
• 12 x 25 (IM order)
• 3 x 100 IM
• 4 x 200 @ 3:40
• 8 x 50 kick

So this was 3500 meters, and I had such a nice swim today that I think that the burnout is a non-issue.  I will say that is is taking me some time to get used to the fact that is is quite cold outside as opposed to being sort of a relief from the heat to hit the water.  

In other news, Halloween approacheth, and it is my favorite thing.  I have approximately two more years to dress Ivan in ridiculous costumes before he can physically stop me from making him look like a plush toy.  Today, as we were looking at costumes he momentarily insisted upon a preference for an astronaut costume, and I was shaking in my boots.  It only took a bit of cajoling about the zoo and the furriness of the costume to cement my master plan of forcing him into a giraffe costume.  

I was initially hoping for a cow costume, but it made him look like a ridiculous bubble that could be mistaken for a girl.  The giraffe costume, however, is far superior to the cow and I am already fantasizing about places I will take Ivan looking cuter that any one child has a right to look.  We will definitely trick-or-treat with my husband's grandmother, maybe go to "Boo at the Zoo", and maybe do the mall.  Other than that, I am thinking that I might take out a billboard and send Halloween cards of Ivan at his all time cutest.  I am trying to tamp down my Halloween spirits, but I am pretty into it!!

Tuesday: Day Off and Yoga

I would like to start off today by saying that I was remiss in mentioning that I watched (or I should say fast forwarded through most of) Hot Tub Time Machine last night.  It stars John Cusack, whose work I have enjoyed in the past.  Better Off Dead is my favorite, and I hoped to reprise some of its better moments as they are both ski oriented films.  Anyway, it was both shameful and stupid.  I cannot afford to be so cavalier with my IQ points that I would throw them down the drain after a foolish movie about a hot tub that is a time machine fueled by the Russian equivalent of Red Bull.  There was no part of it that was even remotely plausible, but then maybe I got what I deserved for having a copy of a film called Hot Tub Time Machine mailed to my house.  It is a valuable lesson learned.

In other news, today was my day off.  I decided this at the exact moment that my alarm went off this morning.  It was probably wise as I had both Bible study and a myriad of errands to run while Ivan was at preschool.  

In the afternoon, I was able to get in a Yoga session, which was great and so needed as I realized that I could not even touch my toes as I was moving through my dynamic flow.  The Micoach and I are still duking it out, but I plan to win in the end!!!

Monday: Swim and Maybe a Bit of the Burn Out

  This morning, I got up and out of the house to a surprisingly cold morning, which is so nice after the hotness that has been our summer.  Now, Ivan and I were relatively on time to swim, and I did get in 3000 meters, BUT I wasn't really into it today.  Workout as follows:

• 300 swim
• 300 pull
• 300 IM
• 8 x 25 fast/slow
• 5 x 25
• 5 x 75
• 400 pull
• 4 x 25
• 3 x 50 descend
• 3 x 50 descend
• 3 x 50 descend
• 4 x 25
• 400 swim
• 100 easy

Anyway, back to my burnout situation.  It seemed that I was just filled with dread when I got to the side of the pool today.  Now, I have done more swimming than usual in the last few months, and it may have something to do with it being cold and overcast for the first time in months before I got into the water.  My feelings for swim will need to be mulled over for the next couple of days.  I do not really feel that I want to forsake the pool and I have to say, based on the nursery situation, it is the easiest workout in my reperatoire.  So, I will probably try swim again on Wednesday and if it still feels like a big bummer, I will reevaluate my workouts.  

I can always devote more time to running and one day, when I get the Micoach situation figured out, I fully plan to work on my pacing.  I could always bike more.

Thursday: Day Off and Addidas Micoach

So today, I had a day off of my workout and my only fitness obligation was to set up the Adidas micoach.  
I received it a couple of weeks ago, and have not had a chance to set it up.  The micoach comes with a foot pod, a heard rate monitor and a pacer module that will play music AND tell me how fast I am going and when I am falling off pace.

Now, I have to let the whole set up charge overnight, but it was a pretty easy set-up and it asks me to set a goal and work towards it.  In fact, I think that the micoach will not settle for my current training without a race status.  I will confer with my running group on Saturday, and decide what I should think about as I am training.

So, now that I have read the manual, I am just going to wait for the charge and hope that I can get it going later in the weekend!!!

Will update you as I am working on it!!

Wednesday: Punctual to Swim and Gilad

This morning we got out of the door and into the car on time.  It was magical like a unicorn and a pegasus. I got in the whole entire swim workout, got out of the pool early and then got to shower and dry my hair before I picked up Ivan.  Just so you know, that thing that I always say about how if I get to swim on time, it doesn't matter because I still have to get our early to get my shower in before I pick up Ivan.  This is obviously something that I tell myself to make myself feel better about being late ALL THE TIME.  So, I am renewing my New Year's resolution pledge to get to swim on time.  It only requires decent planning and no pussy footing, neither of which are my thing.

Anyway, workout as follows:

• 300 warmup
• 8 x 50 drill/swim
• 8 x 50 IM
• 4 x 50
• 400 swim
• 4 x 50
•  400 swim
• 3 x 100 IM
• 200 IM
• 100 easy
• 4 x 75 k/d/s
• 400 kick

After swim, Ivan and I went out to spend the afternoon with my mom.  At home, I spent the afternoon cleaning the house which had fallen to the the sad and unnoticeable level of filth that occurs when you have been too long without visitors.  I glanced about with new eyes when I got home today and things were at  a low point of stacks, many many stacks and things leaned up against things and glass things that were covered in some sort of film.  

Anyway, much cleaning later, I got in a Gilad workout and settled in for the night!!

Day off tomorrow!!

Tuesday: Run, Yoga and Gilad

Ivan and the Balloon 

Ivan is now in nursery school and Tuesday and Thursday mornings which were otherwise quite laid back are becoming a BIT of a clustercuss.  I try to hurtle out of bed to get in my run, then get back and hope that Ivan is still asleep so that I can take a toddler-free shower, then run around in circles getting Ivan dressed in something presentable while he resists.  We attempt to get breakfast down both of us, and then we race at top speed to get in the car and four-wheel out of the driveway as if it were Nascar Sunday.  It is lovely that he goes to nursery school and loves his teachers and is learning through play, BUT I kind of miss my lazy Tuesday/ Thursdays.

Today, to further complicate my Tuesday, when I came in from my run, a hot air balloon had "emergency landed" in our front yard.  Ivan was beside himself.  Now, I personally do not mind if a balloon company is forced to land their balloon in our front yard.  It really is not anything to melt down about, but it sort of peeves me that a balloon lands in our yard, a truck or van drives in to pick up the pieces and whatever employee from whatever balloon company comes over to say that they are sorry about the emergency landing.  It happens so very often that I am pretty sure it is NOT QUITE a four alarm emergency.  It seems as if they see a large plot of land or know that a large plot of land is available and aim for our yard.

I would really feel much better about the whole situation if the balloon company would just say, "Hi, we are landing in your front field, because it is a large safe easy target.  Sorry to bug you again!" Instead of acting like it is some big happenstance every time.  It wears me out.  Anyway, Ivan LOVED it.

After a great Bible study, I got in yoga session and a Gilad workout.  I hit Yogurt World because it is double punch night, and I clearly had no other option!!

Monday: Swim and Gilad

Aaaah Mondays.  It is as usual that Ivan and I did not quite have ourselves together to get to the pool on time.  We woke up quite on time, and I am not sure how it was that we managed to be late, but it seems to be our story.  At the pool, Jamie was also late and we got in the pool and worked diligently on the workout, stayed on interval and got in 3200 meters in an hour.  Am rather determined to get to the pool on time on Wednesday so that I could possibly get in the whole workout and them some.  Today workout as follows:

• 500 swim
• 8 x 50 IM
• 8 x 25 breakout
• 4 x 100 @ 2:00
• 3 x 100 @ 1:50
• 2 x 100 @ 1:40
• 2 x 100 @ 1:35
• 4 x 75 kick/drill/swim
• 4 x 75 fly/back/breast
• 300 kick
• 8 x 25 breakout
• 100 kick

After swim, Ivan and I hurried home to lunch and his nap.  I got in a Gilad workout, before performing all sorts of menialness around the house.  I did manage to swallow my hoard of vitamins and make my beet juice smoothie.  

Also, it appears that I am currently training without a race.  This hasn't happened in a while, and I really do like to have some little event to look forward to.  It seems like a race keeps you sharp and motivated to keep trying and training, and it always seems to move in a cycle.  The event is fun and then you enjoy your couple of weeks without obligation and then there is the scratching about for your next event, because everything seems sort of dull without something on the horizon.  Hmmm, off to scour tri-find.

Am currently watching Bright Star, which is a Jane Campion masterpiece.  It has the coloring of The Duelists, and is much less complicated than The Piano.  I love Jane Campion.

Sunday: Bike Ride with Todd Nordmeyer

Super Todd Racing!!

This whole weekend has been one of ambivalence.  I had a long sleep as opposed to getting up to run on Saturday, and I stayed home from the lake today because I am assuming that the ragweed is still in effect and would send me into a downward spiral of histamine.  Finally, I also did not run Kroger to Kroger this morning with the striders as I really wanted to go to church.  I oftentimes wish that I had a time turner, like Hermione Granger had in The Order of the Phoenix.  I had four options today: 1) Kroger to Kroger, which is a 21 mile run from the Kroger in Franklin to the Kroger in Belle Meade;  2) Lake swim; 3) Todd Nordmeyer's bike clinic; 4) Book Club.  I honestly wanted to attend all my options, but finally narrowed it down to Todd's bike clinic and book club.

Todd Nordmeyer is an amazing athlete and an amazing teacher. These are twain that rarely meet. Today, he started out giving some tips on cadence and then we all went for a 45 minute ride with Todd.  Todd is relentless about not letting you cheat.  For instance, today I tried to stop pedaling as I was coasting down hills to give myself a break, and Todd rode beside me and made me match his cadence up and down hill.  It was the greatest bad thing that has ever happened to me.  I do like to cheat when the going gets tough, but I also would like to improve my pathetic bike skills.

Now the last time I rode outside with Todd, it was during a beginner bike series where our final class was on the road to teach some beginner bike handling skills.  I wish you could have seen Todd whipping down West End Avenue during morning rush hour traffic.  He was like a ghost between cars.  It was pretty amazing, especially to me who was at that point pushing my bike down the sidewalk like a champ.

Today, riding outside was within my comfort level, and we really covered a lot of ground and AS USUAL, I learned so much.  Todd really gave me a lot of understanding about cadence on the road.  It is easy to talk about bike cadence when you are inside riding the computrainer, but the road is where it counts.

What I learned this afternoon is that I need to keep a really high and fluid cadence as I am pedaling on the road.  I think I always road ride like a 12 year old trying to BMX it up a hill.  I am putting a lot of weight on the pedals and pushing down really hard, which is probably why my knees hurt after a long bike ride.  Today was the first time in my entire life that I realized that I needed to have a high steady cadence to maintain a consistent speed.  It was rather amazing, and biking next to Todd, I got an idea of just what that needed to be.  I think I will be able to incorporate what I learned today into my future road rides, AND I was kind of inspired to ride more.

When I leave Todd's indoor computrainer classes, I usually feel kind of bummed about the whole deal.  I am always super slow and the classes are really hard and as much as I like Todd (who honestly has the world's best personality)  I really don't enjoy the classes as they are a lot of hard work.  A LOT. The classes help a lot, however, so I always feel like I should be going.  After today, I know I should be going.

So, such an exciting day.  I road really hard and learned a lot about riding, which are things that I rarely do.  On the way home, I had to heed the call for more diapers and a trip to Costco with my parents instead of going to book club.  It was a bummer, but choices of necessity must be made.

Swim tomorrow!!

Saturday: Run and GOOP and Dr. Perricone

Ivan riding his tricycle this morning!!

I slept in today.  Most of the week has been exhausting to me, and I think that my swim took a bit more out of me than I thought.  I will be back on it next weekend, and doing a  brief run at home is not a federal crime, though it does hold a place in the annals of my personal guilt.  No matter, I am letting it go!!

A nine hour sleep does me a lot of good and I am actually shooting for the same again tonight.  A nine hour sleep is also rather dangerous I find.  Incredibly well rested with no workout hanging over my head, leaves me way to much time to research new possible obsessions.  Today, I chose vitamins, and went vitamin mad.  I spent Ivan's entire nap time researching vitamins in which I feel I am slightly deficient.  I pulled out our juicer and reread my anti-inflammatory supplement chapter.  Here is what I learned and who I used:

First of all, in terms of diet, Gwyneth Paltrow has a website, GOOP (about which I was dubious at first), but which I have come to LOVE.  She has a detox diet that she does the week after Christmas, and I think that it is all pretty good.  I am listing my two favorite things from the detox portion that I use all the time.

First:

SALAD WITH CARROT AND GINGER DRESSING ( I personally leave out the red onions in the salad)

This dressing is the jam! Great on salad and also as a dip for vegetables. This recipe makes enough dressing for two salads, so be sure to save the extra.

SERVES: 1
TIME: 5 minutes

For dressing:
1 large carrot, peeled and roughly chopped 1 large shallot, peeled and roughly chopped 2 tablespoons roughly chopped fresh ginger	1 tablespoon sweet white miso 2 tablespoons rice wine vinegar 1 tablespoon roasted sesame seed oil 1/4 cup grapeseed oil 2 tablespoons water
For salad:
1 head of baby gem lettuce (or any greens), roughly cut	1/4 red onion, thinly sliced 1/4 avocado, diced

Pulse the carrot, shallot and ginger in a blender until finely chopped. Scrape down the sides, add the miso, vinegar and sesame seed oil and whiz together. While the blender is going, slowly drizzle in the grapeseed oil and the water.

Combine the lettuce, onion and avocado in a bowl, drizzle with plenty of dressing and serve.

The next thing I make is the beet juice.  I kind of love it and often think that it could be re-tooled as some sort of cocktail.  

BEET, CARROT, APPLE and GINGER JUICE

This juice is the most incredible color and is wonderfully sweet. Beets are said to lower blood pressure, carrots pack a super beta-carotene punch, apples are cancer-fighters and ginger just loves your heart.

SERVES: 1
TIME: 5 minutes

1 large or 2 medium beets, cut into wedges 1/2 lemon, zest and pith removed

2 large carrots 1 large apple, cut into wedges 1" piece of ginger

Juice everything into a glass, give it a stir and enjoy.

Now, on the vitamin front, my favorite resource is Dr. Perricone.  His first book, The Perricone Prescription, is the book that I really credit with turning my eating habits around.  Dr. Perricone recommends a copious amount of vitamins.  I really do recommend his book, because I think it is a good eating habits book to have on hand.  There is a lot of explanation and is goes hand in hand with another of my favorite books, Superfoods.  Dr. Perricone is really just a smarter version of Superfoods, with recipes that are not quite as good.  You really need both books, in my opinion.  Mine are completely dog eared at this point.  

Anyway, here is the vitamin recommendation from Dr. Perricone.  Get ready, because it will make your head spin. and it is why I had to buy a travel vitamin case.

• Vitamin A ( I can really tell a difference in my skin)
• Vitamin B complex (skin, hair and nails)
• Vitamins B1-B6, and B12 (skin, mental attitude, energy)
• Folic Acid (skin healing)
• Vitamin C (defends against free-radicals)
• Vitamin E (cholesterol, blood pressure)
• Calcium (bones and such)
• Magnesium (blood pressure and energy)
• Selenium (free radicals, cancer preventitive)
• CoQ10 (preserves Vitamin C, reduces risk of breast cancer, increases metabolic effeciency)
• GLA (which I get by grinding my own flax seeds in a coffee grinder and putting two teaspoons in my smoothies on Mon/Wed/Fri)

So the vitamin thing is intense, right?  Next on my list to begin taking is Tumeric.  We have the spice, but it is a big anti-inflammatory, so I need to look into a pill form.  

SO, That is my vitamin run down.  I would recommend running right out and buying the Perricone Prescription and Superfoods RX: 14 Foods That Will Change Your Life!!

Friday: Swim and Pure Barre

Ivan and I were late to swim today, but I am cutting myself a bit of slack this week as I had such a big weekend last weekend.  At swim, I got in 2600 meters and I really enjoyed the workout.  Workout as follows:

• 400 swim
• 3 x 200 pull
• 4 x 75 swim
• 2 x 50 kick
• 4 x 75 swim
• 3 x 100 swim
• 4 x 75 swim
• 4 x 50 swim
• 100 swim

After swim, I ran errands and was home in time to get ready to head out to dinner.  Why is it that when I am trying to get ready, everything goes wrong at once?  IT ALL WENT WRONG AT ONCE.  I dropped the toothpaste in the toilet and knocked off two glamour toes in an unfortunate toe stumping incident.  Finally, someone left a paint can on the edge of the bathtub (and by someone, I mean myself), which I managed to knock off into the bathtub, where latex paint spilled EVERYWHERE.  THEN, as I was trying to clean up the paint, I knocked the entire shower curtain into the tub as well.  

It was like an episode of The Three Stooges, with  only one stooge and a significant amount of profanity.   It was the worst.  

Dinner was great!!  

Thursday: Run

I think there is a bit of sickness in me when I am sort of embarrassed that all I have to write in the title space above is "run".  I only ran today.  It was nice actually, because I was out and back from my run before Ivan ever woke up.  The house was still silent when I started coffee, made my tea and got in the shower.  The house is quiet except for The Beast  who is becoming ever more particular about the amount of food in her dish and the time at which she wants to go outside.  It is the only gliche in my mornings.

Anyway, I was able to get Ivan dressed and out the door for nursery school where he did not cry when I dropped him off.  Today was the first and probably only day where Ivan went to school, AND I did not have to work.  SO, after dropping Ivan off, I headed out to Nashville to pick up my husband's grandmother so that she and I could head out to the Nashville room at the Nashville Public Library.

If you haven't been to the Nashville room, it is thoroughly enjoyable in an obscure and nerdy sort of way.  It is full of non-fiction, out-of-print books that are used for research purposes.  My favorite title today was Tennessee Tombstones: 1700-1800.  Someone, in their spare time, in the 1970's had traveled about to as many graveyards as they could possibly find and made a note of the location and everything written on the tombstone.  There were thousands of tombstone notations in the book and nothing else.  No commentary, no explanation, just a county name and a seemingly endless list of tombstones.  For instance: Josiah Whitley, 1798 - 1818, rode to visit the neighbor, his horse returned without him, body found, head dashed on a rock.  Rest in Peace.   Fascinating.

I took Ivan to swim in the afternoon and arrived home quite exhausted from my day off.  I headed off to Yogurt World where they have two new flavors (German Chocolate Cake and White Chocolate Mousse) that are rocking my world!!!

Wednesday: Swim, Gilad and My Fabulous Turkey Meatloaf

This morning, I was out of bed late and ended up doing the usual run about before swim: making a smoothie, making coffee, making tea, packing the diaper bag and hopping into my swim suit.  Ivan and I made it out the door late, but I was on the side of the pool right after warm-up.  Now, Steven has been coaching us this week and he is determined to be the boss of us.  He is not letting us kick away the whole practice while wearing fins and chatting.  While I miss my kicking with fins and chatting, I did get in 3200 yards after being in the pool for just over an hour.  So, I appreciate Steven's whip cracking.  We also did a lot of IM and Steven worked with me on my butterfly.  Workout as follows:

• 10 x 50 swim
• 500 swim
• 3 x 100 swim descend
• 200 swim
• 50 easy
• 3 x 100 swim descend
• 200 swim
• 50 easy
• 400 pull
• 200 IM
• 8 x 75 IM (Butterfly/Back/Breast)
• 200 IM
• 8 x 25 kick
• 200 cool down

At home, I did all sort of work around the house getting the kitchen in order and sort through my huge pile of paperwork on my desk.  I got in a Gilad workout, and then I went to work on my fantastic meatloaf.  It is so delicious and healthy, and it comes from one of my favorite cookbooks.  Neiman Marcus cafe's are the best places to have a ladies lunch, and their cookbooks give great instruction on how to replicate their fanstasic dishes.  I highly recommend investing in their cookbooks.  Their meatloaf is the best I've ever had!!

Heading to the archives tomorrow!!

Tuesday: Book Report: Loving Frank by Nancy Horan

Today was my day off, so I don't have a lot to report.  For this reason, I will report on the latest book that I have finished.  Just to start us off on the right foot, I can say without hesitation that it was one of the most frustrating, disappointing and foolish, utterly foolish books that I have ever read.  It wasn't the writing really, or maybe it was.  This is not starting out well, so I will start again.

Loving Frank is Nancy Horan's historical fiction about the real life romance between Frank Lloyd Wright and Mamah Cheyney.  They met while Wright was designing a house for Mamah and her then husband.  She had a son and later a daughter by her husband, before deciding that Frank made her feel alive in herself as an educated woman.

Mamah's husband was apparently perfectly nice, but she felt that she was more intelligent that he was.  He deferred to her at parties as having more knowledge of literature and art.  This was in the early 1900's, so when Mamah told her husband about the affair, she did not have any right to her children.  After much soul searching, Mamah decides to go to Europe with Frank Lloyd Wright and leaves her children with a friend in a remote frontier town.  In Europe, Mamah is happy with Frank for about 15 minutes before he begins to systematically ruin her life.

The most tragic part of this ruination is that the author continues to try to rouse a spirit of feminism and intelligence is us, while we watch Frank pretend Mamah is his wife to business associates so that he won't be embarrassed, leave her destitute in Europe when he decides to return to his wife and children, and finally to deal with his rampant inability to handle his finances as well as his arrogance in dealing with the young architects and workmen that labor under him.  Finally, throughout the book, as Mamah is making huge sacrifices like being away from her children, living in constant instability, and cleaning up one of Frank's financial fiascos after another, we get the impression that he is probably cheating on her with other women whom he has somehow managed to draw into his web.

In fact, in the end, I decided that Frank only continued to have use for Mamah because she constantly cleaned up his messes.  He moved her to the Taliesin (a home he was building in Spring Green, Wisconsin) where it seemed to me, he really needed her to serve as cook and housekeeper to the workmen who were building the home.  He couldn't really pay anyone else to do it OR find anyone else that would sleep on the floor (since there was no furniture) and deal with his mother.

The final straw for me in terms of Wright, was that he often did not pay the workmen who put in hours and hours building and rebuilding to his specifications.  When they asked for pay which they needed to feed their families and run their own households, he often told them that their payment was working with his genius.

The most tragic part of the whole story was that Mamah, who must have been unhappy most of the time, kept forging ahead believing that she was doing what she was doing in a spirit of enlightenment and true understanding of women's suffrage.  She was finally able to earn money for herself by translating the works of a German suffragist who eventually expressed concern about the choices that Mamah was making.

Anyway, the end of the book is very tragic and since I don't think you should bother reading the book, I will just go ahead and spoil it.  Mamah is alone at Taliesin with her children, whom she has missed dreadfully.  They have been allowed to visit and she is trying to renew her relationship with them.  Frank is out of town, and a crazed workman on the property kills Mamah and her children with a hatchet before burning the house down.  IT IS AWFUL.  JUST SO AWFUL.

Anyway, Frank Lloyd Wright is so horrible that some of my ability to mourn his poor mistress and her children was dashed under my sneaking suspicion that he had had something to do with it.  He is just such a horrible, self-centered person that I can easily see him being finished with Mamah and wanting to move on and maybe collect a little insurance money and just hiring a hit and assuming it would all work out in his favor.

My report really really hasn't covered how terrible Frank Lloyd Wright as a person must have been if this book is even remotely accurate.  It is almost impossible to convey just how horrid, self-serving and parasitic he really seemed in the book.  We just arrived home from Chicago and I thought briefly about taking an architecture tour while we were ther, but Chicago is Frank Lloyd Wright's town and you know, it is just too soon.  Maybe I can go back next year and separate the man from his work, but this year I just don't have any Loving Frank in me.

Monday: Swim and Gilad

Re-entry into the real world after a vacation is never easy, but I always think it best to hop back on the horse and pursue the routine.  For this reason, I was up and at'em relatively early.  I had a whole cup of tea by myself while checking my email.  It was nice.  When Ivan roused himself, we headed off to swim.

Now, it was nice to get into a temperature regulated pool this morning.  To be honest, this weekend was pretty "Bear Grylls" for a girl who hasn't left the house overnight without hot rollers since high school.  Like I said, I think I am all over swimming Big Shoulders again next year, but it was nice to hop into a nice clean pool today and swim without two foot swells and drifting buoys.  It was relaxing even.  Workout as follows:

• 100 warmup
• 8 x 50 swim
• 4 x 100 IM
• 500 swim
• 8 x 75 pull
• 8 x 25 (half fast/ half easy)
• 400 swim
• 8 x 75 kick

This was 3200 meters, and it was a great swim.  At home, I got in a Gilad workout and began putting our kitchen back together after our most recent painting project.  

In other news, Ivan learned to ride his tricycle this weekend.  It was pretty exciting.  

Saturday: Race Report: Big Shoulders 5k is a Great Success

Me and Ashley Pre-Race

A View of the Start (Bleak)

Finish Line

So this morning, I was up at 5:40AM to get suited up and head downstairs to get a coffee and a big breakfast sandwich.  I assumed that when swimming three miles in shiver-me-timbers water, I would become ravenously hungry.  I pretty much refuse to enter any sort of state where hunger would make me uncomfortable, so I ate a Grab the Gold Bar, and an apple and drank loads of water before eating my tasty egg and sausage bagel with a cup of coffee.  As we were eating our bagels at the window looking out to the street, it started to rain.  It was a torrential downpour.  I must admit that the downpour was disheartening.  Our swim warmup yesterday was so lovely and sunny, that the rain seemed like a real betrayal on the part of the city of Chicago.

I slithered into my wetsuit and we all walked down to the swim start where we were merrily informed that the water temperature had dropped another two degrees to 62 and the storm had whipped up two foot swells in the lake.  Also, it was still overcast with a fog rolling in, and I will just say that the visual was a bummer.  Over the PA, the race officials began lectures about hypothermia and encouraging wetsuits.  And I made a last minute decision to use a neoprene bonnet to keep my head warm.  This turned out to be one of two brilliant decisions that I made today.  The second brilliant decision that I made was to pee myself in my wetsuit just before we walked into the water.

NOW, I understand how many health violations are involved in peeing your self, and I know that I reduced myself to the level of a third world human, BUT, once I explain myself, you will be proud of my ingenious solution to combat the liquid cold.  When I peed my wetsuit, I was immersed in warm liquid to my armpits and down to my ankles.  We had an in-water start, so I didn't feel the cold until my hands and feet hit the water and it wasn't that bad!!  By the time my urine washed out of the wetsuit, I had swum several strokes and was starting to warm up.  Now, I could not feel my feet, which was a weird feeling, so I am sure that means that I was really cold.

Pre-Race

The water conditions were not great.  It was raining and there were two foot swells and the visibility of the buoys was nil, but this sounds worse than it was.  When you say "two-foot swells", it sounds very Horatio Hornblower, "we will all die in a watery grave" scary, but the swells were just rolling waves.  There were no crashing white caps like I experienced at Alcatraz.  The rain was a bummer, but it was not driving rain, so I was able to swim through it.  The 62 degrees was bad, but I had my wetsuit, my neoprene bonnet and my pee trick.  And in terms of the buoys, I knew the general direction I needed to be going, I was surrounded by strong swimmers, and I could see the flashing lights of the emergency boats in the water.

So, we did two loops of a 1.5 mile course, and I really enjoyed it.  I was pretty proud that I did not cry uncle, and I probably did show up with something to prove.  There just wasn't any way I was getting out after the shame of Alcatraz.

I finished in 1:44 minutes.  I seriously chaffed my neck with the wetsuit, and it was most unfortunate, as it felt as if someone had tried to murder me with a noose.  Even more unfortunate was the fact that I could not get neosporin for my wounds, because the medics were so busy with hypothermic swimmers.  I finally got neosporin and stripped out of my wetsuit and bathing suit straight quick as leaving on cold clothes apparently pushes you over the edge of hypothermia.

It was a nice morning for the most part, and I think I could do it better next year, so I am IN Big Shoulders!!!

Friday: Trip to Chicago and Warm Up Swim

Pic of Me Post Warm Up Swim!!

Today, I headed up to Chicago for the Big Shoulders 5k swim.  I forget that the flight to Chicago is only an hour. It was so short today, in fact, that they dismissed the beverage service as the wind was with us and there was no way to serve everyone in the brief amount of time we were in the air.  So, we were off the plane by 1:15 PM and grabbed a train to get into downtown Chicago.  I am staying at the Double Tree and they hand out these super cookies, which I was already excited about when the plane landed.  When I stayed at the Double Tree when I was little, they put the cookies in your bedroom with turndown service so that you could have them before bed.  Today, however, they gave me my cookie at check-in, which was pretty thrilling. 

In my room, I changed into my swimsuit and grabbed my wetsuit to meet Ashley and Marti and head down to the beach for a warm-up swim.  Now, I almost brought two wetsuits with me to Chicago (one for warm-up swim and one for the day of the race), but decided against it.  This left me with the unpleasant task of swimming my warm-up swim with no wetsuit, so that I would not have to get my wetsuit wet and then get into a cold wetsuit for a cold swim race the following morning. 

This morning, I received an email from the Big Shoulders race telling me that the water was 64 degrees.  64 degrees is super cold, by the way.  The pool I normally swim in is 82ish degrees. Anyway, when I got into my bathing suit, headed out to the beach and stuck my toes in the water, it was SHOCKING.  So cold.  It was so cold that I thought I was going to have to call it quits when I stepped into the water of Lake Michigan and it rose to my ankles. 

It is a good thing to have friends with you in situation where you want to quit, because I often think that pride will bolster you when you would quit if you were going it alone.  SO, for this reason, I summoned up my iron will and put myself under the water.  Once I started really swimming, however, the water was fine.  It was clear and lovely and for the entire time that I was swimming, I could see the bottom of the lake. 

The 64 degree water just was not as bad as I thought.  The worst part was getting in, but I got over it.  The swim today also went a long way towards making me feel better about my swim two weeks ago at Alcatraz.  Since Alcatraz, I have had a lurking paranoia that I would fall apart as soon as I hit the water in Chicago, but this hasn’t happened and I am quite proud. 

Had fabulous dinner and walked the Magnificent Mile in search of an equivalent to Yogurt World.  Finally, it is fashion week in Chicago and we went to Neiman Marcus for a fashion show!!!!  So fun!!

Thursday: Somehow the Busiest Day of All

Some mornings you just hit the ground running and today was one of those days for me.  It took a lot of caffeine, stamina and brute strength.  I also must admit that I overslept and if I had not, I could definitely have given myself a more leisurely afternoon and maybe even gotten in a Pure Barre workout, BUT this did not happen.  

Ivan playing basketball in CA!!!

So, after oversleeping, I hurtled out of bed and into the shower before spending some time with Ivan while eating breakfast, grabbing a cup of coffee and rushing out the door to take him to nursery school.  At drop off, Ivan threw an epic tantrum before I was able to untangle myself and head to the car to begin a marathon of errands.  Two grocery stops, a dry cleaning stop, wet suit pickup, and a stop at work later, I was back at home to complete some paperwork and print out a boarding pass, a swim license and a hotel reservation.  I then hopped out the door for a run, before picking Ivan up at nursery school and taking him to swim and on an errand to the drugstore.  At home, Ivan and I popped popcorn and took it easy.  

Ivan took a nap at nursery school by the way.  1.5 hours of blissful quiet for his sweet teachers.  You could knock me over with a feather. 

Wednesday: Swim, Gilad and Frist

Today, we Sloans were up bright and early for a family outing.  We put on going out clothes and guzzled coffee to head downtown to the Frist to see the couture exhibit.   It was lovely, and I was just fascinated by the intricacy of the handwork and have since had to quash an immense feeling to view all the clothes in my closet as sad scraps and trash compared to the accomplishment of M. Balenciaga.

I also had to realize early on that taking a two year old to a couture exhibit was a mistake akin to the Cuban Missile Crisis.  Ivan was eventually trucked upstairs to the children's section, but this really only held him for a while.  I did not get to see the whole exhibit and am mightily disappointed that it closes this weekend.  We had a quick lunch, and Ivan fell asleep in the car on the way home.  He was coutured out.

At home, I got in a quick Gilad workout before heading in to swim in the evening.  I only stayed for a bit as I had to get to a hair appointment, which I would not have missed under any circumstance.  I have my hair appointments mapped out past Christmas, and I would sooner reschedule my child's birthday than one of these appointments.  Swim workout as follows:

• 50 warmup
• 8 x 25 swim @ 0:30
• 3 x 200 @ 3:30
• 8 x 25 kick
• 3 x 200 @ 3:30

So not a huge workout, but a good one.  I got to lead the lane, which was fun.  Probably not bad to be taking it a little easier this week, after my big weekend and my upcoming race.  Heading to Chicago on Friday for my 5k swim!!!

Tomorrow is Ivan's second day at pre-school.  It is his first full day and the day that he is expected to take a nap. If a were the type of person who placed bets, I would bet one million dollars on the chance that he will not take a nap and that he will have to be escorted to the indoor play area so as not to disturb the other nappers. BUT, there are a lot of things going for us: Ivan has a tri-divided plate into which I have packed no choking hazards, his folder is packed and I have set aside a special nap time pillow to entice him into out betting me.  

Now, preschool has a curriculum and it kind of cracks me up.  For instance, September's curriculum unit is "Self-I am growing.  I learn through playing." October's curriculum unit is "I am learning to help.  My family enjoys fall." November's curriculum unit is "We enjoy pets.  My family gives thanks - Thanksgiving".

I am already shaking in my boots about Ivan having to take a picture of "The Beast" (our cat) during the month of November.  The Beast reacts badly to being photographed and really most human interactions in general, and it makes me sort of sad that when Ivan is asked to share information about his pet, he only has The Beast to offer up.  Ivan's only exposure to "We enjoy pets" is one of his parents shrieking at The Beast.

Tuesday: Day Off

After I finished my blog last night and totted up my athletic output for the past few days, it occurred to me that I needed to take today off.  Also, my day was quite busy, and the workout would not have fit in anyway.  It was perfect!!

Today, I was up early for an appointment, then we packed Ivan off for his first day of nursery school.  NURSERY SCHOOL.  It was major.  I packed a lunch box and matching back pack. Yesterday, I ironed two whole outfits for Ivan to wear (a cool morning possibility and a warm morning possibility) and washed and ironed my brother's quilted rest mat cover for Ivan to use.  We have been talking it up for weeks, and every once in a while Ivan has proclaimed triumphantly to us, "I GO SCHOOL".  He says it in all caps, as if he is telling us that he is too old for whatever shenanigans we are demanding of him.

Ivan had a great day, but when I picked him up, I realized that I had violated a few rules of preschool program.  I had packed popcorn which is apparently a huge choking hazard, and I had forgotten Ivan's folder, which is a big deal.  Finally, I did not pack Ivan's lunch in a tri-divide plate.  For this reason, I fully intend to read all information that the school sends me from here on out, so as not to make the same mistakes again and therefor appear to be a terrible and uninterested parent.

On to the rest of my day off:  I started Bible study.  We are studying the book of James, and it was a nice day as our small group leader brought bagels and cream cheese.

Monday: Franklin Classic

Ivan at his new train table!!!

This morning I was a bandit.  I have a word about banditing.  It really is something I should not do.  Races are generally fundraisers and people take them quite seriously, and it is rude of me to show up at a race and run without paying.  When I was in graduate school, I used to bandit all the time.  I then got a real job and began paying for my races, paying attention to my times and behaving like an adult about these things.

However, I was at swim yesterday and someone asked if I would run with them as a pacer in the 5k.  Then, I decided that since I was there, I would run the 10k as well.  I had sort of forgotten about the Franklin Classic until swim yesterday.  It was too late to register online, and I just invested way too much money in way too many other athletic endeavors, and I just had to draw the line at the Franklin classic.

Anyway, I have had quite a weekend really.  I road in the Sunrise (metric) century, then swam on Sunday and the popped up for the race today.  The combined efforts of the last couple of days made me rethink my race when I woke up this morning.  I ran a 20:50 which both impresses and un-impresses me.  I ran a 6:00 minute time trial in speed sessions, so it stands to reason that I could maintain three miles at around 6:30 which would have put me at a 19:30.  I started out too fast, so that might have sabotaged me all around.  I did have my bike ride that I was most likely not completely recovered from.  Also, I cannot help but realize that I don't really push past the point of pain. I'm not even sure it is in me.  If I am not thoroughly enjoying the activity, I kind of bail.  I always finish, but maybe not well.

That might be a statement about my life.  Maybe I am always willing to work, just not hard.  I don't really know, but I always ponder it when I finish a race that I seemed not to perform as well as it seems I could have.  Since I am 34 and still pondering, it seems that the situation may not change anytime soon.

On to the 10k, which I had a great time running.  I just jogged out the lactic acid with a friend and chattered and talked to other runners.  It was a great morning.

After my run, the Starbucks was out of soy milk, so my favorite soy latte was not an option.  I made eggs at home and enjoyed my Labor Day.  First day of preschool for Ivan tomorrow!!!

Sunday: Wave Country Swim

This morning in a weird small world turn-of-events,  I ended up at the Wave Country parked in lifeguard parking.  Now, my very first job, at the age of 15, was at the Wave Country.  I began in the concession stand and then spent four summers as a Float Girl.  I handed out floats, and it really was the greatest job in the world.  To stroll back in ten years later for the purpose of actually swimming was so strange.

The Wave Pool is set up like the ocean and is really rather small for lap swimming, so our coaches had to be creative.  We jumped in in the deep end and did laps back and forth in the still water, then the waves came on and we did laps in the waves.  The waves seemed rather big and definitely gave me a start in the beginning, but overall the swim was nice.  It was somewhat challenging, I never became bored, and it was a slightly harder workout than just lap swimming in the pool.

Now, I wish I could say that these waves could give me some comparison or scale by which to judge my lackluster performance at Alcatraz.  They did not. All I can say about practicing my swim in the Wave Country pool was that it was fun.  I enjoyed diving into the waves, and I definitely found a rhythm for swimming.  There was never any rhythm or way to find the waves when I swam Alcatraz.

I hope that I will not compare every swim I participate in for the rest of my life to my swim at Alcatraz.  It seems to be going that way right now, however.  Chicago swim on Saturday!!!  Good luck to me!!

Saturday: Sunrise Century Clarksville

Yesterday morning, my friend Kennette and I did the Sunrise century in Clarksville.  The ride started at 8:00 AM and we left at about  6:00 AM to get to Clarksville on time to start the ride.   Now, I have never ridden a full century.  Metric centuries are as far as I am willing to go; and even then, the last two miles of the ride, I am usually pretty bitter and ready to hail a cab or hitchhike back to my car, give my bike away and toss my helmet dramatically off a bridge.

I will say that doing a metric century with a friend and chatting all day about everything that it takes 62 miles to chat about is a lot of fun, and I can sort of ignore my aching lower back and my deep deep irritation with myself for signing up for something so prolonged and torturous.  It was a beautiful day with a high of only 80ish degrees which is UNHEARD of in the Nashville area this time of year.  You really had no choice but to do something outside on a day like yesterday.

Now, I love a supported ride, and I really wouldn't do a long ride with rest stops and such.  Rest stop food is immensely enjoyable.  You can always count on trail mix with m&m's, various bars, cookies, bananas, and orange wedges.  I am a fiend for snacks and biking 62 miles removes all the guilt that I feel about them.  Enjoying both a Rice Krispie Treat with chocolate drizzle AND a cup of trail mix while standing around a port-a-john at a bike trip rest stop is right up my alley.  No joke.

Also, Clarksville was just lovely and full of farm roads that switched back and forth through flat flat cornfields and rows of other lovely green things.  It was quite picturesque and a bit European even.  Some of the tiny paved roads through crops were reminiscent to me of the country sides in France, and it renewed my desire to bike a bit of the Tour de France route.

The wind, however was vicious.  It hit hard after the first 20 miles, and I found that it felt like pedaling uphill.  At a point, there was no way to chat as the wind sucked our voices into silence, and there was nothing to do but hunker down and finish.  When we were on open road, which was actually not very often, and a camper or large truck passed us, the wind combined with motorized passing speed was enough to knock you off the bike.

We finished around 1:30ish and sat down in a school cafeteria for the usual horrible post-bike ride fare of Ragu and noodles with garlic bread.  I always finish my bike ride and think I will wait to eat until I get home to eat something healthy, BUT as soon as I smell that salty tomato sauce and that savory white garlic bread, I sit down with a full plate as if in a trance and eat without even cutting up the noodles, just slurping them down like a caveman.  I usually get seconds and forget that I ever thought about eating something a little more healthy.

At home yesterday evening, I was exhausted. I went to Yogurt World, and vaguely remember walking to my bedroom, before waking up this morning wondering what had happened to my evening.

Friday: Back in the Saddle

Pic of Ivan and I at Chrissy Field watching the fog roll over the
Golden Gate Bridge

This morning, jet lag and all, I hauled myself blearily out of bed begging my husband to make coffee, since I don't trust myself to count scoops when I am sleep impaired.  Luckily he is accomodating or there would have been a real caffeine drama this morning. I was running late, and I left Ivan, who is mightily jet lagged to sleep late and watch TV with his dad.  It was nice driving to the gym alone after over a week of JUST ME AND IVAN TIME.  I made a smoothie, a huge class of tea and then the coffee situation to get me through the morning.  When I arrive at swim with a multitude of beverages, I realize that my appearance is ridiculous, but it is something that I have embraced.  Like my huge goggle masks and my campy bathing suits that look maybe more suited for roller derby than competitive swimming, my beverage bar at the end of my lane is perfect for my level of comfort.  I do not like to swim without eating breakfast, and this morning, I did not want to be late based on having to wait around and eat.

I enjoyed being back in my usual pool and having long and serious discussions while kicking about all of my adventures in California.  It was a great morning.  I returned my wetsuit to Endurance Sports and Rec and was secretly very glad that the owner was on the phone and so had to cut our "how was your Alcatraz swim" conversation short.  I ran by the dry cleaners and discussed each stain that Ivan had spilled on my silk blouses at each delicious restaurant in San Francisco.  It is just the way of the two year old, and I am caught in a battle of vanity that I will never win.  

I could wear t-shirts and sweat pants to dinner or better yet a tarp with a garbage receptacle as an accessory, but I refuse.  Therefor the guacamole on my silk tuxedo shirt may be a permanent fixture, and I really have only myself to blame.  It is a great misfortune, and a great expense as dry cleaning bills are just crippling.

Anyway, apologies for my interlope into dry cleaning bitterness and onto swim workout.  When I have been away from the pool for a few days, it feels a bit like swimming through mud for the first few laps, before stroke automaticity locks in on me, and I swim as if freed from a cage.  Today's workout was:

• 12 x 100 swim @ 1:40
• 800 kick (Jaime and I had to catch up)
• 3 x 300 pull
• 400 kick

So yes, too much kicking, but it was a great reentry workout.   I will get faster and work harder next week.  At home, I got in a Gilad workout, which was quite hard.  Tomorrow morning, I am off to Clarksville for a Metric century!!!  Can't wait!

Thursday: Home Again, but barely

I really miss my blog when I am away from it.  There is something about recanting your daily experiences in a way that pokes a bit of fun even at the bad parts that makes my life seem jocular and pleasant like a sitcom.  Sometimes my days feel like a bitter and frustrating hybrid of a soap opera and Shakespeare (because I use fancy words like "jocular") full of gnashing teeth, stifled f-bombs (because I have a two year old) MURDEROUS thoughts and diapers, so so many diapers.

But you'll have that.  Did I mention that while Ivan and I were packing to go to Sonoma, I tripped over a wheeled apparatus that Ivan was pushing around the house so violently that my fake toenail (glamour toes!!!!) pushed back and cut the top of my foot and the impact bruised my actual toenail and my entire big toe became swollen?  Did I glue my glamour toenail right back on top of that train wreck toe situation?  Yes, I did, because vanity trumps pain, agony and the type of intense frustration that caused Van Gogh to cut off his own ear.  It's funny now, right?, but let me tell you that at the time Van Gogh's frustration was nothing compared to my mental state, and it was not funny at all.  AT ALL.

Anyway, on to the rest of our trip.  It really was lovely.  I had great sushi, fun lunches, a lot of frozen yogurt (though nothing compares to the routine and dearness of Yogurt World), and so many beach trips.  When my sister-in-law dropped us off at the San Francisco airport to head home, Ivan and I gamely made our way with a carry-on, car seat, handbag, and new back pack with a myriad of toys for the trip. Ivan was walking on his leash and I was staggering under the weight of everything else.  Once to our gate, it turned out that the Dallas airport was closed due to some catastrophic weather event and our flight was delayed from a 2:55 PM departure time to a 5:30 PM departure time to Dallas.  From there we had to fly to Nashville.  Our projected arrival time in Nashville was 12:30 AM if they opened the Dallas airport.

Disaster, friends.  I had sweat dripping in a river down my back, nowhere to lock Ivan down, and what looked like a night to spend in the airport.  Ivan eventually completely melted down and threw a toy train directly at a wheel chair occupant before screaming (as if being murdered). It was bleak.  When we finally boarded our plane, Ivan roamed the aisle and the finally settled down to watch a bit of his movie on his portable DVD player.  The portable DVD player weighs approximately one ton, and I had to heave it along in the carryon so that Ivan could spend 1 of our total 12 hour flight time on this trip watching it.

I feel downright desperate when I think of my longing to discard that anvil in a waste can at airport security, but not me, I keep trudging along in my leopard wedges as if Anna Wintour is going to pop over from Delta and say "lovely shoes with that frock, and by the way, job well done with the portable DVR with a weight like lead and a padded generic nylon case."

"Also, Betsy Sloan, I love the way you have paired your husband's old camping backpack from Outward Bound (as a carry on) with a sweaty tunic top over now moist and  filthy leggings."

"Is that the scent of apple juice that your son spit at you combined with a whiff of dirty diaper? Just lovely, like spring in Calcutta!!"

"And do my eyes deceive me, or are you dragging along a pashmina that you have been wearing all week with a lovely palette of stains from curry sauce, mexican food, and a bit of chocolate?"

Why do I try????  WHY??  Public air transportation is practically third world living conditions. It is possible to be cool when traveling solo, but flying with a two year old requires giving up.  It is the only way.

ANYWAY, our plane touched down in Nashville at 1:15 AM.  I was in bed by 2:45 AM.  Brutal!!