Monday: Swim and Gilad

Confession: I finished the Girl Scout Cookies before noon today.  It is over now, there is no more damage that can be done, and I can think about other things.  I have to move on.  I also had a little pop-tart meltdown and it turned out to be a rather bad day in terms of my consumption now that I think about it.  I bought fancy organic pomegranete pop-tarts, and as of today, I have officially eaten ALL OF THEM.  Young Sloan refuses pop-tarts and there was no other option but for his mother to ingest them before swim, on top of her smoothie.  Also, I was pretty immersed in my Fall of Giants last night and I stayed up a bit late, which did not help my morning even remotely.  Very bleary and far too much food.

Did I cramp up a bit in the pool and decide that this is definitely the reason that children are asked to wait 30 minutes before swimming after they eat?  For sure. I was very concerned that good old Steven was going to have to use his rusty life-guarding skills to to dredge me out of the pool.  Steven had a hard workout for us, and it ended up being about 2900 meters for me. Workout as follows:

• 12 x 25 @ :30
• 6 x 50 @ 1:00
• 5 x 100 @ 1:45
• 3 x 50 kick
• 1 x 200 
• 3 x 50 kick
• 1 x 200
• 3 x 50 kick
• 1 x 200
• 4 x 25 IM order @:30
• 1 x 100 IM
• 4 x 25 IM order
• 1 x 200 IM
• 3 x 200 swim

It was a good swim, though I was slower, but then I am DIALING IT DOWN, so no big thing.

At home, I worked about the house and for penance in regard to my morning fare, I had a spinach salad with turkey for dinner and I am hoping all will be well tomorrow!!  Gilad in the afternoon!!

Speed Session at 6:00 AM. 

Sunday: Swim and Sickness

Ohhohoho, so this morning we Sloans staggered out of our beds prepared to keep the Sabbath Holy when we were stopped in our tracks by Young Sloan's projectile vomiting.  Luckily it was in the kitchen, which made for relatively easy cleanup.  The smell of vomit, however, is quite difficult to vanquish.  For the rest of the day, anytime a door opened or a breeze blew, vomit was in the air.  It was most unfortunate.

Now initially, I was CERTAIN that Ivan had some sort of stomach virus on top of the cold virus he has had for the last few days.  I was certain that we would all get it, and I would drop five pounds a good three months out from bikini season (which is just no good, by the way).  BUT LO AND BEHOLD, after closely questioning Sloan III, it was mentioned that Young Sloan was "drinking from an old milk bottle this morning".  WHAT DOES THAT MEAN? WHAT "OLD MILK BOTTLE"??!!  So apparently, my child located an old sippy cup of milk that had rolled under his bed.  I know this sounds disgusting, but I am not a terrible housekeeper.  It is just that sometimes, I see my child drinking from a sippy cup, and then moments later, I do not see the sippy cup.  AND THEN I NEVER SEE IT AGAIN.  I have literally lost hundreds of hours of my life on my hands and knees searching for sippy cups.  You would think that you would eventually smell them, BUT you do not.  They are air tight, and you only smell them when you take the top off.

Anyway, Sloan III says that after three sour sips of old bottle, Sloan IV just started projectile vomiting.  So no flu, and I am pretty thrilled.  The sickness is killing me.

In other news, tonight at swim was a surprise T-30.  A T-30 is a timed 30 minute swim.  It went relatively well.  It was not my fastest timed 30 minute swim, but I got in a bit over 1700 meters in 30 minutes I guess.  In my dreams, I will one day swim 2000 meters in 30 minutes.  I think I have it in me.  It may not be this year, but it will be some year.

Finally, a note on self-control.  It is Girl Scout Cookie time, and my cookies were delivered to me tonight at the pool.  Girl Count Cookie time always begs one huge dilemma and that dilemma is: Should I eat them all now and get it over with OR should I prolong the agony and wake up every morning salivating for a delicious delicious Samoa.  Confession, I started eating them in the locker room showers and I am half a box in.  Will my Girl Scout Cookies last until tomorrow?  I do not know the answer to that question, but I do know that my Girl Scout Cookie problem, much like my chess square problem and my chocolate problem makes me uber-grateful that I never tried crack.

Saturday: Run, Swim, Gilad, Yoga and Residual Sickness

So this morning, I just did not have it together to meet up with my running group.  The bulk of the group was meeting somewhere different, and I had not been paying a lot of attention to their plan, I had been wrapped up in the great sickness yesterday, and by the time I had dinner I just sort of threw in the towel.  Dinner, by the way, was frozen yogurt from Sweet CeCe's.  Also, a night of sickness is dicey in terms of sleep.  Sometimes, a sick two year old is awake all night, and getting up to run on a lousy night's sleep only to come home from a run on a lousy night's sleep to take care of a sick two year old seemed a pretty miserable day to bring down on myself.

Our night, however, went VERY SMOOTHLY.  I was in bed early, I slept many lovely hours, and when I woke, I laid in bed with my book (Fall of Giants) and read two chapter before Sloan the Younger even stirred.  I unzipped him from his crib tent, and he climbed out all on his own.  Though I suffer a bit of the guilt on a lazy morning, it is sure nice to hang at home, drink coffee, make oatmeal, chatter away on the phone, give myself a facial and attend to my unmanageable eyebrows.

While someone was napping, I was able to get in a Gilad workout and a yoga session, before settling in the watch Zombieland with some needlepoint.  I do not know what it is or why, but give me a good romantic comedy with zombies and I AM IN HEAVEN.  I can watch Shaun of the Dead and Zombieland at any old time.  Also, Zombieland has Bill Murray. BILL MURRAY.

When Sloan III arrived home from his bike ride, I was able to head to the gym and get in the very same workout that I got in yesterday evening: quick three miles on the treadmill, followed by a mile swim.
It was pretty great, and because I am rather rude, I always lock myself in the family bathroom when I swim by myself.  That way I can take a fabulous shower without having to listen to little girls screaming around in the public locker room.  It's pretty rude, but it is what I do.

Also, today and last night, I swam at the Franklin rec center, which is a totally different place than the Indoor Swim Complex on Concord road.  At the Indoor Swim Complex, I am usually swimming with people in competition suits, goggles and swim caps, and most people have swim toys (paddles, buoys and fins).  At the Franklin rec center, it is often a bunch of kids splashing about for a birthday party and a couple of septagenarians backstroking without goggles.  Not that there is anything wrong with this; their are plenty of uses for pools of water.  Also, the Franklin pool is ever so dim and murky, so it feels a little like a swimming pool horror movie.  BUT, on the plus side:  FAMILY BATHROOM!!

Finally, in most interesting news, Boston has dropped their qualifying times by 5 minutes per age group  This means that I made the cutoff by two minutes as opposed to 7 minutes.  This is not that big of a deal to me, but it is particularly cruel to men whose times were already pretty hard to hit.  I am safe, however!!!

Friday: Sickness, Swim and Run

So this morning, sickness was indeed upon us and it was necessary to load the both of us in the car and hot-step it over to the doctor's office where we sat amongst the sick and contagious until we were seen by Dr. Bastian (The great!!).  It seems that Young Sloan has a run of the mill cold/cough virus that probably did not even necessitate a doctor's visit, but abuser of the American healthcare system that I am, I toted us in.

At home, Sloan the Younger napped and alternated between irritable and manic as he moved in and out of fever.  We were ultimately stranded at home all day and I read the vogue spring issue cover to cover while we sat on the couch watching inane cartoon from videos on Apple TV.  I read the Lady Gaga article (she speaks perfect French), I read the I was raised in a cult article (it was the same Family of God cult that turned out the Phoenix family), I read the Starved for Love article ( I swear there is an eating disorder article in every other if not every issue of Vogue.), I read the South Korea: Epicenter of the Shopping Universe article.  I have one article left to read about iphone health apps. This particular issue is 574 pages long, so the fact that I mowed through all of it is indicative of today's couch time.

Needless to say, sick children are unwelcome in the gym nursery, so we stayed home all day but for our outing to the doctor.  It was quite the long day.

In the evening, when help arrived home, I betook myself to the gym and ran three miles on the treadmill before getting in a mile swim: 400 swim, 400 IM, 800 pull.  Again, it feels so great to get in a swim after a run.  Post workout, I maximized my time away from the house by heading to Sweet CeCe's for some frozen yogurt.  While Sweet Cece's probably has better frozen yogurt than Yogurt World, I still like Yogurt World better.

Not running with my running group tomorrow.  Hanging at home with Mr. Sick.

Book Report: Cleopatra: A Life by Stacy Schiff

So, I have a lot to say about this book, but the short version is that I was not hugely impressed.  Cleopatra: A Life, by Stacy Schiff is a book that Vogue has been pushing down my throat since sometime last year.  Vogue behaved the same way about the Georgiana: Duchess of Devonshire and Vera (Mrs. Vladimir Nabokov).  Vogue, as far as I can tell, really pushes books about courageous/ disasterous women and then movies are made about these women, and they leave all of their craziness out of the screenplay and it appears that their husbands were mean to them, when really it would be a little upsetting to lose 3/4 of your estates and financial holdings based on your wife's gambling (as in the case of the Duchess of Devonshire).  They always leave those important things out of movies.

ANYWAY, I have read books about Cleopatra before and I am always struck by how little we really know and can prove.  A lot of what we learn about Cleopatra actually came from things that Shakespeare made up.  We know for sure that she had a relationship with Julius Caesar, she visited Rome, and she had a relationship with Mark Antony.  She died by her own hand, most likely after Antony killed himself.  Her three children by Mark Antony were raised by his nemesis Octavian (Caesar's nephew), and were apparently very kindly treated and married well.  That is what we know.

I learned two new things in this book:
1) Caesarion may not have been Julius Caesar's child.  Caesar was childless, and it was noted in Rome and everywhere else that he had never even been rumored to be responsible for a pregnancy with his wife or anyone else.  Yet suddenly, when he was in his 50's, Cleopatra has a child whom she declares is his.  There is a very good chance that she was pregnant by another Roman in a desperate attempt to force a connection between herself and Caesar whom she needed to protect the Egyptian way of life.
2) Cleopatra most likely did not kill herself with an asp, it was most likely poisoned dates.  The whole asp thing would have been a pretty unreliable attempt, and Cleopatra and her aides were apparently determined not to have to show up in Rome in chains after the death of Antony.

This book won the Pulitzer Prize, which is impressive, of course, but there was just no new information outside of the two facts above.  The rest of the book was just big vocabulary words and conjecture, and I felt like Stacy Schiff was using her conjecture to push a feminist agenda that did not quite tie in.  For instance, she went through a chapter (and the chapters are super long) about how "most likely" Egyptian women were able to sue for divorce, sell their own property, be educated, run households, travel alone, ect, ect, ect and she attributed all this to Cleopatra.  She did not, however, seem to have any substantial proof of the lifestyles of Egyptian women and certainly none to prove Cleopatra's connection to those Egyptian female accomplishments.  Egypt had had female pharaohs before, and however strong Cleopatra was, her country had long been a Roman protectorate by the time she came into power and Egyptians were ultimately dictated by Rome.  When Caesar visited, he moved right into the palace as if he owned the place and the crux of the matter is that he did.

It is always frustrating when authors use conjecture to push an agenda, and I feel that that is a problem with Vogue recommended books and certainly this one.

I did not find this book to be a great read, but I did learn two new facts and I figured out a little more about Rome to Egypt geography.  It was not a total loss and I still sort of want to read Stacy Schiff's book about Benjamin Franklin.  We at least have a lot of proven documentation on Franklin, so at least there would not be so much maybe.

Thursday: Pure Barre and Day Off

Sloan III and Sloan IV

So today, I had a day off of exercise and working and child care.  It is very very rare that those things coincide and when they do, I am just amazed at the amount of time that I have on my hands.  There are always a thousand things to do, but I generally get them done, rather than look helplessly at my list as the minutes slip into hours, and I am suddenly racing to get everyone into bed.  

I went to the Pure Barre studio and got in a Pure Barre workout, I had my watch fixed, and hit the grocery store.  At home, I cleaned several things out of my closet and listed them on ebay, for which I hope I will reap great monetary rewards.  

In other news, when Sloan the Younger came home from nursery school, he was coughing and lethargic, and his teachers said that he had napped like a freight train.  It appears that sickness is upon us, and of course, sanitation queen that I am, we have shared food twice today.  Doctor's appointment tomorrow, where we will no doubt catch something terrible in the waiting room if we are not indeed already infected.  

On the book front, I finished reading Cleopatra this week and finished listening to The Buccaneers, by Edith Wharton.  I had two books on deck to be my next big thing: Wolf Hall or Sarah's Key.  Sloan III's grandmother Margaret threw in a curveball at the last minute, however, by foisting Fall of Giants on me, stating that if I could just read the first few pages, I would be hooked.  As she is about most everything, she was right about this, and I am so sucked into a Welsh mining town and the fates of its inhabitants during the reign of George V that I might have stayed up too late last night.  

Wednesday: Swim

SOOOO, Did I mention that I talked to Mark Miller yesterday?  He is my track coach, and he really has some pearls of wisdom.  He is not a big talker, and I really know almost NO personal information about him.  BUT, he has great insight, and I take the opportunity to ask his advice whenever I am mulling something over.

Lately, I have been mulling over my declining athletic performance, my own personal apathy, my willingness to be involved in most any group cardio and my disinterest in taking a day off. It does not really  all make sense, but when I ran it by Mark Miller, he said I need to take a day off on every day of every week, doubly and especially when I am not training for something specific. Also, he thought I should back off and ease up, maybe not push as hard and really just enjoy myself and maintain my level of fitness.  His reasoning behind all of this was that when I did start training for something, my body would be rested and I would not have this feeling that I was going hard all the time, so that I was able at some point to peak at a race.

In thinking back, if I had thought these things out before Boston, I might have run better.  I was sort of on this same hard driving course last year.  So, I am going to dial it down and take Thursdays off.  I am going to continue Speed Sessions and drop my interval times back a bit, I might still aim to get on the trainer and I will continue with swim, but I am going to stop pushing for a while.  It seems wise, and as per usual, Mark Miller is wise.

Now, I made it to swim relatively on time, but I only swam about 2500 meters, because I AM DIALING IT DOWN.  After swim, in celebration of dialing it down, I picked up lunch at the Local Taco and bought some new pool conditioner and shampoo, which I will tell you all about at a later date.

At home, I sprinted around the house to get ready for work and then the unthinkable happened to me.  I think it has been over a year since it happened to me, but it hit me like a ton of bricks and it makes me so glad that I have never smoked crack.  I ran into a pan of chess squares.  I think I might have eaten three before that terrible sugar feeling arrived in the back of my jaw.  I can't even remember what they tasted like, it was just this feeling of bliss that buzzed around my body for a few brief moments.  What is it with  chess squares?

Tuesday: Speed Session, Gilad and Yoga

So today has been a big day actually, I got up early and ran at my Speed Session.  Today's workout was as follows:

• one mile warmup
• 800 @ 200 fast run/ 200 slower run
• 4 x 1 mile at 6:43
• 800 cool down

It was a pretty great run, and I really enjoy getting my workout in before 7:00 AM.  It is never pleasant when the alarm goes off, but fabulous when it is over.  I was home a bit before 7:30 AM, and I made a huge and I mean huge breakfast: scrambled eggs with spinach, turkey sausage and a bagel with goat cheese.  

Now the only misfortune of my morning was that I forgot to put vaseline under my heart rate monitor and it chafed a hole in my chest.  It is just the worst.  I took one of my most painful showers to date and have been vigilantly applying neosporin ever since.  

At Bible study, I really almost put in a prayer request about my chafed chest; it is that painful.  What I did actually do at Bible study was eat a french toast bagel from Panera with cinnamon walnut cream cheese.  I also had coffee with some sort of chocolate creamer.  It was just amazing and I may in fact need to invest in some sort of similar chocolate coffee creamer that will make my mornings delightful.  

And Confession (it is no surprise): Young Sloan was late to nursery school this morning.  I packed his lunch last night and left it open on the counter only to hear strange scurrying a few minutes late and see a tiny tiny mouse running as fast as it could with a peanut butter pretzel clasped in its mouth.  The pretzel was bigger than its head and it ran with it head first down the cable cord from the kitchen television.  

After a few nasty words to The Beast, I sprinted in to tell the man of the house.  By the time we made it back to the kitchen, there was another (OR THE SAME!!) mouse, eyes huge with pretzel lust, scurrying down the cable cord.  So, it is time to engage other mouse fighting tactics as we clearly have a kitchen issue.  

For this reason, I had to pack an entirely new lunch on limited time this morning and we were late. So late!!

Got in a Yoga and Gilad workout in the afternoon!!

Also, confession: I watched Sex and the City II tonight, and it was too terrible for words, but pretty clothes!!

Monday: Run

So today was a mundane day at home doing all the sorts of things that I neglect when I head out to the pool.  Making coffee, much ironing, sheet changing, plant watering and all the things that make one feel like a 1950's housewife.  Sloan the Younger poked the cat with a short stick once and pulled the cat's tail another time and was rewarded with a cat scratch to the stomach and a cat scratch to the back as he was fleeing the wrath of The Beast.  So, after much kissing and neosporin and admonitions not to poke The Beast with a stick or pull The Beast's tail, we had a great day.

I used President's Day to teach Young Sloan to identify George Washington, which he now does with considerable excitement and pride.  We also learned shapes and can identify diamonds and crescents which I think is particularly advanced.

We got out for a jog stroller run before the rain and otherwise enjoyed our day at home!!

Sunday: Drive Home, Run and Swim

So, Sloan the Younger and I loaded up the car, said our goodbyes and commenced our return to Sloan manor.  It was one of our easiest trips (thank you personal DVD player) and I only had one instance of having to stop on the side of the road and use the bathroom on the side of the road because my child was sleeping in the car.  Public urination is always more pleasant than waking up a sleeping child.

At home, I had a quick visit with a friend sans my child while wearing fancy jeans.  It was a small piece of heaven.  I had a chocolate chip cookie and much conversation about aesthetics.

Post visit, I hopped over to the gym, as regular swim practice was cancelled today.  I attempted my usual three mile tread mill run: two miles at 7:30 and a final mile at 6:30 or faster.  Today, however, my body was not having it.  I ran two miles at 7:30 and then dropped down to an 8 minute mile.  Bleh.  So I am all listening to my body or whatever, but, really, that was a hit to my ego.  I slunk off the treadmill and got to the pool where I swam a mile by 400's:  400 swim, 400 kick, 400 pull, 400 IM.

At home, I am getting in bed as early as possible.  No swim tomorrow!!

Saturday: Day Off

Today was my day off, and I have to say that in some ways it was more brutal than any long run I have ever taken.  My night last night was dicey at best.  Sloan the Younger began the evening in a portable pack'n'play which he climbed out of two times, before I gave up and admitted him into my bed.  Sleeping in the same bed with my child is a truly terrible experience that deprives me of my sleep and gives me a negative opinion of the world in general.

I was kicked in the head and the ribs until about midnight, when Young Sloan somehow slid out of the bed and landed on his head so hard, that I am pretty sure he woke the household.  There was much crying and exhausted comforting before we both fell asleep in awkward positions: me holding on to Ivan so he could not fall back out of the bed and he straining against me in an attempt to wriggle from my grasp.  I have slept badly many times, but last night was particularly bad.

We visited my brother's new apartment and then thought to do a bit of shopping for consignment clothes, but had to leave when someone's child (and by someone I mean myself) had difficulty stayiood and ng with his mother.  There was much running about and eventually an intercession from a consignment employee who implied that we needed to leave.  It was sad and shameful, though not as shameful as the first time that it happened.  It has happened quite a few times, and really now anytime I waltz into a shop with Young Sloan, I realize that an embarrassed shop person will approach me with something broken or a disasterous mess.  It is something I have come to expect, and it is the reason that I rarely shop.

Great evening of good food and a pumpkin facial!!

Friday: Swim and the Sloans Go A'Visitin'

So today, we were late for swim.  No big thing, I swam hard on Wednesday, and it was really no big deal that I coasted into swim.  Sloan the Younger was completely agreeable about nursery attendance, and it was really no one's fault but his mother's that we were late.  I was bumbling about the house doing some last minute packing and nibbling at an organic pop tart while I toted around a cup of coffee in a state that I would say was somewhere between catatonic and zombie.

At swim practice, I was further detained by a great conversation with my swim coach Ashley, who often offers pivotal insight.  For instance, today she noted that my time trial on Tuesday might not have been as fast as I wanted, because I am not running as much as I used to.  I had not really thought about it, but it ABSOLUTELY makes sense.  I am lucky to be running three days a week right now.  Sloan III has returned to the workforce, so my midmorning long runs and pre-swim short runs have all but evaporated into the shifting sands of my home life.  It was even necessary to cut short my speed session cool down, so that I could accommodate Sloan III's new work schedule.  So, I may have a slower sadder running year based on Sloan III's desire to bring home the bacon.  Is that anything to complain about?  For sure it is not. As Sloan III says, I could be living in Darfur.  I can tell you right now that people in Darfur are not worrying about their marathon times.

Anyway, when I finally eased myself into the pool, it was later than it should have been. I swam a 200 warm up, a 400 swim, a 6 x 100 swim, a 3 x 200 pull and then some other stuff that amounted to around 2500 meters.  It was a great workout, but I just existed at swim today; I did not shine.

At home, Sloan the Younger and I packed up to go a'visitin.  I put Ice Age into the portable DVD player, purchased a Happy Meal and a Starbucks and we were off.  Now, traveling alone with children on a car trip of over an hour typically necessitates a  bathroom stop.  This begs the question of what do you do when you need to go to the bathroom (desperately!!!) and Sloan the Younger is fast asleep and most certainly needs his nap.  Your drive is quiet and peaceful while he is napping; it is loathsome and tearful and whiney when he is awake.  I feel like you have no choice, but to stop at a truckstop, leave the car running and drop trowel on the opposite side of the car so that no one can see you, BUT you can see your sleeping child.  Some might call it indecent exposure and public urination, but I have no choice but to call it being a great mom.

We arrived in Knoxville safe and sound.  We visited with friends, trimmed eyebrows, had facials, drank wine and learned about the 2007 vintage.  We wore Lululemon and ate pears with blue cheese while our children flounced about playrooms and tattled incessantly.  Aahhh the fun of it!!

A'visitin with parents, brother and great-aunt tomorrow.  It is a full weekend.  No long run tomorrow.

Thursday: RUN and Fabulous Bean Gratin Recipe

While my job will never bring me worldly prestige or wealth, I have to say that every once in a while it is profoundly interesting and allows me to enjoys the sorts of discussions that were maybe present in coffee house before the Russian, French or American revolutions.  There was much talk of correct government, human nature and passion about our subject.

It was induced by yet another reading of Kafka's Metamorphosis.  I am not a huge fan of the story: it is kind of gross, it stresses me that Gregor is essentially a huge roach, and I despise the way that his family comes to treat him.  On the plus side, however, what I feel that I fully understood on this millionth reading, was just how much Kafka hated capitalism.  He hated it so much that he made it a roach.  He wrote it two years before the Russian Revolution while he was working as a civil service lawyer.  His tale of roachdom was a catalyst, and it is very interesting.  I enjoyed the reading and discussing and felt that today was the sort of day that results in lifelong fulfillment in my station.

Anyway, before my interesting work, I attended our church chili supper where I was able to test several different kinds of chili and I ingested an inordinate amount of fritos. Fritos make chili great.

In the afternoon, I got in a very fast five mile run and made it back to the house in time to gather up Young Sloan from nursery school and trot him off on a few errands.  At the Cosmetic Market, I picked up a few Grab the Gold Bars, and it so happened that we were there when they were dismantling the Valentine's Day display.  Long story short, Sloan the Younger walked out of the cosmetic market with a bouquet of 14 helium filled balloons.  It is epic and there is little talk of anything but balloons at Sloan Manor.

 At Whole Foods, we picked up mild turkey sausage with the casings removed, which I sauteed to go with this amazing White Bean Gratin.  It was amazing.  Recipe as follows:

• 3 tablespoons extra virgin olive oil
• 3 onions food processed to almost a puree
• 1/2 teaspoon brown sugar
• sea salt
• 6 minced garlic cloves
• 1/2 teaspoon red pepper flakes
• 1/2 cup white wine
• 4 cans white beans
• 1 cup low sodium chicken broth
• 1 tablespoon minced fresh rosemary
• four ounces parmesan cheese

1) sautee the onions in oil until they are carmelized (20-25 minutes)

2) Stir in garlic, pepper flakes, and wine.  Cook until wine is evaporated.  

2) In a separate pot, mix chicken broth, beans and rosemary.  Simmer briefly and season with salt and pepper.

3) Finally, stir two mixtures together and stir in parmesan cheese.  Warm @ 350 until hot and melty all the way through. Serve with Whole Foods Sausage.  

It is crazy delicious!!

Wednesday: Swim and Gilad

Oh yes, sports fans.  I, Betsy Sloan, was not only on time to swim, but I completed the workout with time to spare.  I swam 4000 meters, and it seemed like a great personal triumph.  It is just so nice that Sloan the Younger has stopped tantruming, and we can leave the house without inciting a war of misery.  We waltzed into the gym nursery like it was no big thing.  It took me about 1.5 minutes to give kisses and sign the nursery roster compared to the usual 20 minutes of wailing.  I skipped out with a light heart to hit the pool.

Stephen, who is getting pushy about our workouts by the way, gave us a 300 butterfly set which was really hard.  Workout as follows:

• 200 swim
• 200 kick
• 200 IM
• 200 pull
• 5 x 25 butterfly @ :30
• 2 x 50 butterfly @ 1:00
• 1 x 75 butterfly swim
• 5 x 25 back @ :30
• 2 x 50 back @ 1:00
• 1 x 75 back @ swim
• 5 x 25 swim @ :30
• 2 x 50 swim @ 1:00
• 1 x 75 swim
• 200 swim @ 3:30
• 400 pull @ 6:20
• 100 swim @ 1:50
• 400 pull @ 3:30
• 50 swim @ 1:00
• 100 easy
• 200 kick with 30 seconds rest
• 200 kick with 30 seconds rest
• 200 kick with 30 seconds rest
• 100 warm down

So, an intense workout and the 300 butterfly set was KILLER, but I gimped my way through it!!  Got in a Gilad workout at home, did some cooking, settled in and pulled out the needlepoint!!

Tuesday: Speed Sessions, Yoga and Gilad

There are many times in my life when I have thought that I would like to relive the previous five seconds.  The amount of helter skelter than can take place in five seconds is one of the great marvels of life.  I would like to relive the five seconds that it took me to trip over my feet and skid across the junior high gym in front of all of the other seventh and eight graders, I would like to relive the five seconds at an art showing where a kind man introduced me to his "partner" and I said "Oh, you're a lawyer".   He was not, and he meant his "domestic partner".  I would like to relive the five seconds that it took me drop a bucket of paint in the bathroom that I was painting and thus spend hours cleaning it up.  Today, however, there is a new front runner for the five seconds that I would most like to relive.

As I changed Young Sloan's terrible diaper this morning, it somehow catapulted from my hand and landed face down on the floor splattering its contents everywhere and seeping into the cracks in the hardwood.  The more I cleaned, the more human fecal matter seemed to me on the floor and a bit on the wall.  It will not seem to completely eradicate from the floor, and I will not even get started on the smell.  There is something very depressing about wearing your leopard wedges and having diaper discharge under your fingernails and on the back of your hand.  It is really terrible.  Anyway, we were late to school and I was late to Bible study and I came home early to continue cleaning.

In other news, this morning was the first speed session of the winter season.  My alarm went off at 5:15 AM, I was slightly early, and I was quite proud of myself.  Since today was the first session, we had a time trial, so we warmed up for a mile, ran two miles at our fastest, then ran a few cool down laps.  Just like last year, I mixed up my Garmin and it seems that I ran about a 13:35 or maybe a 13:40 two miles.  This was not as fast as last year, which makes me think my suspicions about my current running ability might be true.  I am just not running well right now, and I hope it is not the beginning of a long decline.

Throughout my speed sessions, I am going to try to get in a Yoga workout on the days that I go to speed sessions.  So, my Yoga session was great today and I felt so much better afterwards that I also got in a Gilad workout as well.

Overall, though I deeply dislike dragging myself out of bad as early as I did this morning, I dearly love being finished with my workout before I have even had my breakfast!!

Sunday/Monday: Swim, Swim and Gilad

So last night, I had too much fun to blog.  My day kicked off at the Nashville zoo where we saw the baby meer cats, turtle fornication, and every other zoo thing that you can imagine.  At home, there was much cooking and taking of food before I headed out to swim at breakneck speed as is my habit.

At Sunday tri-swim, we are still doing a lot of out of the pool stuff and so our yardage was somewhat less.  There was a good bit of butterfly kicking and mid-pool starts.  I was worn out when we finished, but the main event was yet to come!!

Last night, I got together with friends to watch the last installment of The Girl With The Dragon Tattoo, The Girl Who Kicked the Hornet's Nest.  Lisbeth Salander had all sorts of surliness lined up to help along her crime fighting friends.  The movie would have been impossible to follow without having read the books, but it was a great watch.  Such fun!!

This morning, Young Sloan and I were up earlier than usual, and he was unusually accommodating about leaving the house and we made it to swim on time.  I was standing on the pool deck at 8:30AM, and I was swimming by a little before 8:40.

It is of little surprise to me that I got in 3800 meters before I climbed out of the pool.  It was actually a pretty hard workout and some of the intervals were intense an I had to adjust them for me.  Workout as follows:

• 600 warmup swim
• 6 x 50 drill swim
• 8 x 25 fast
• 3 x 50 descend @ :55
• 4 x 100 @ 1:40
• 3 x 50 @ :55
• 4 x 200 @ 3:30
• 6 x 75 (odd back/ even free)
• 6 x 50 kick
• 500 pull

From the pool, we headed out to the park for the first pretty day of what will one day soon be spring.  The park was a barrage of smug mommies.  Everyone was criticizing the snacks that the other mothers had brought for their children.  The mothers of some children thought that the mothers of other children should not allow their children to climb so high on the jungle gym.  Some mothers thought that if your child bumped into their child it was an accident, and some mothers thought that if your child had bumped into their child, it was SURELY on purpose and with a heart full of mendacity.  Some mothers allowed much screaming and other mothers insisted on quiet voices.  

Young Sloan climbed the highest jungle gym and actually assaulted someone in the sandbox with a stick.  It was unfortunate, but we had stern talks and sad sad consequences and our day was none the dimmer for it.  Once home, Sloan the Younger was zipped into his bed where he refused to nap and therefore committed all of us to a long night of irritability.  

Speed sessions start tomorrow!!

Saturday: Run and Yoga

This morning I was up at 5:45 AM to meet up with my running group.  There was a bit of ice out, and I am certainly ice paranoid.  No issues on the ice front and my run was rather blah.  I ran a not too shabby three miles and then, I felt like my mile times became shameful, just because I dropped off the fast group, BUT when I looked at my Garmin, they really weren't too shabby.  I ran around 8 minutes miles, the Garmin shows that I averaged 8:18s, but that is because I did not stop my watch at the 8 mile water break.  Also, I sort of wimped out on my distance.  I really meant to go all the way out to the end of Radnor Lake as opposed to turning around and heading back at the entrance.  BUT, some other people were turning around, so I turned around as well and here I am.  I was sort of planning on running more like 17 miles and I just bailed.  This is what happens when I am training without a race.  Bleh.

In another slight frustration, my heart rate monitor has a nick in the plastic from where I have taken out the battery so many times.  Running three miles with it sliced the skin underneath is several places so I was able to take it off and run without it.  Overall, however the Gamin is running like a charm and I will probably buff the heart rate monitor down so that I don't have the significant chafing.

In other news, such a dull day.  I needlepointed my life away.  I watched Winter's Bone, which won at Sundance and is nominated for an Oscar.  It was interesting and from it, I felt like I learned at least two things:  1) a crank addiction only ever ends badly and 2) cooking crank never makes as much money as you need.  It was a rather hard movie to watch, but I always like to have a few downers under my belt so that in case I am invited to a party of film critics, I will have more to say that "Have you seen Harry Potter?".

I got in a yoga session after I finished my movie.  WHY have I been neglecting yoga?  It is so good for me every time.  There was so much stretching.  My whole body feels better.

Local Taco for dinner.

Friday: Swim and Pure Barre

Do you know what I am with a great sleep:  a new person, a superhero, a person with great ideas and a sweet disposition.  The crib tent worked like a charm and great sleep was had.  I have not had one cup of coffee today or really even craved one.  Ooooh, I take that back, I had a super terrible cup of gym coffee.  It was so awful, and I drank it out of habit.  It is something I do pretty much every Monday/ Wednesday/ Friday, and I have never even thought to mention it.  There is just something so family Sunday school about drinking terrible coffee out of a styrofoam cup.  I love it, almost as much as I love being well rested.  

So our swim coach no-showed today.  There was some sort of mix-up with the substitute coach, and we were on our own for practice.  It was really a pretty good workout, but we were somewhat ineffective as we spent a goodly bit of time shouting at each other what sort of decision had been made about the next set.  Workout as follows:

• 300 warmup
• 9 x 100 @ 1:45
• 8 x 50 choice with 5 seconds rest
• 10 x 25 white water kick (which means really hard fast kick) without fins
•  5 x 200 @ 3:30 pull

So this was 2800 meters and for all of our standing around and waiting for a coach and then deciding where to swim and what to swim, this was a reasonable workout.  Young Sloan was a champion of good behavior.  Well rested apparently means great things for all of us.  

At home, I placidly zipped Sloan the Younger into his bed and I did not hear him stir for two solid hours.  After a week of no napping, it was so lovely.  I got in a Pure Barre workout and a lot of internet errands.  I read half a magazine article and straightened the house.  What luxury!! 

When Ivan woke up we played a bit with the apple TV and had nice time watching some youtube snake handlers on the bike screen.  We made beet pancakes and had a casual dinner before meeting up with a friend for a quick drink.  Bed time early and run tomorrow!!

Thursday: Day Off

Let me just tell you that Sunday, Monday and Tuesday nights were not my best sleep.  There was all sorts of wakefulness and my fatigue and declining world view have increased with each day.  I am many things, but gracious and pleasant without sleep is not one of them.  Young Sloan dropped an egg on the floor last night, and it honestly seemed like the worst thing that had ever happened to me personally.  So cruel.

Last night, it all caught up with me and I was asleep at 9:30 PM and did not wake until 7:30 AM.  Ten full hours was truly fabulous.  My whole outlook was different this morning and the prompt arrival of the crib tent this morning acted as a catalyst to my good spirits.  I am on top of the world.  Young Sloan and I lounged about the house all morning, cleaning and then putting together his train set before my good spirits launched us out of the house for a visit.

We decided to head in for a lunch at the dastardly and shrill McDonald's play place.  I will not even post links to my other blog posts of terrible experiences at McDonald's play places.  It seems that no matter what we catch or what human filth we see transpire amidst the primary colored plastic, I will keep taking my child.  There is no place that he would rather go.  NO PLACE.  I mentioned McDonald's today and Young Sloan reacted with a paroxysm of joy: wide of eyes, dancing of feet, the multiply shouted "yay!!! yay!! yay!!  So we were off.

Today, I picked up a salad from The Food Company as I generally refuse McDonald's fare outside of a few french fries though I will apparently feed my child whatever they have to offer.  I sat with a stack of magazines, Tina Fey contributed at article to this week's New Yorker!!, and read at my leisure while Sloan the Younger ran about in for one solid hour and a half.  He was so deliriously happy.  I wonder how long we could stay if I did not finally reach a limit of play place tolerance.  Would he be happy there for five hours?  If I arrived when McDonald's opened and left when it closed could I force Young Sloan to a place where maxxed out and never wanted to return.  Or, would he remember those hours as the best of his entire life?

All I know is that when we left after an hour and a half, there was a full melt down with sad sad tears streaming down bright red cheeks.  Everything perked up in the car and we were ready for a visit to Mimi.  Mimi, who I call Margaret, is by far my favorite nonagenarian.  She just finished Cleopatra, I am currently reading it, and we are both unimpressed.  We looked through pictures and table linens and discussed the wonder of so much winter weather.   Young Sloan was impeccably behaved amongst more china and glass things than he should really ever be exposed to.

In the afternoon, we made it home to assemble the crib tent which means that someone is sleeping silently in their bed which is now actually more like a cage, though it means another night of unmolested sleep for everyone and tomorrow, a glorious glorious nap!!!

Wednesday: Swim and Gilad

Today was honestly Russian Novel cold.  I don't know if you have ever read Anna Karenina or War and Peace or Crime and Punishment or Doctor Zhivago.  Just reading about the cold and the ice and the wearing of the furs might send you into full on hypothermia as you read away in your climate controlled environment.  The drifts of snow and the fires inside the carriages just chill you to the bone.  I left for swim today with Sloan the Younger dressed in our finest modern day Siberian attire:  everything that The North Face, Lululemon and Ugg had to offer.  There was so much fleece and down involved today.  I felt that I could hear the theme music from Dr Zhivago in the background as we trudged out to the car with Young Sloan crying cold tears of anger and misery while the wind whistled through overcast skies.

Once inside the gym, I never warmed up.  I swam for 2500 yards and every time I paused at the end of an interval I began to shiver. I never warmed up in the shower and my extreme goose bumps made for an ineffective shaving experience.  Though I have no memory of the swim workout, it does not seem important today.  What does seem important is that I was never warm. We managed to slog back out to the car after swim and at home, in an unsurprising turn of events, there was no napping.  How I long for the arrival of the sweet sweet crib tent.  

In the afternoon, I got in a Gilad workout and understood sadly that my Girl Who Kicked The Hornet's Nest viewing party was cancelled.  It was snowing hardcore like Little House on The Prairie and there was no chance of going anywhere.   Young Sloan and I stared out the windows bleakly all afternoon.  We are all too tired and cold of the snow to bother anymore.

Tuesday: RUN

So many exciting things about which to tell you!!  First of all, last night, as I was picking through the stack of books and magazines on my bedside table I found the December 14th issue of the New Yorker that I had set aside and THEN forgotten.  The week before Christmas issue of the New Yorker gives a list of the reviewers' favorite books organized by fiction and non-fiction.  I was pretty thrilled.  It was like a late Christmas present. Cleopatra (my current read) is unsurprisingly not listed, but The First Tycoon about Cornelius Vanderbilt IS listed.  Also I am interested in Wolf Hall a fiction about the Tudors that won The Booker Prize.    This issue of the New Yorker also includes a short story by David Foster Wallace who wrote one of the best commencement addresses I have ever read and I totally recommend that you read it. 

Anyway, in other news with Young Sloan climbing out of his bed, I made the decision to invest in a crib tent.  I refuse to give up on nap time, I refuse to give up on cribs.  We are tenting it up at the Sloan house and you can call it a cage if you want, but naps will be had!!  The crib tent is on the way, and I will keep you updated as to its progress.

In other news I am watching American Experience: Ronald Reagan: Lifeguard.  I am wildly impressed with " The Gipper", but do you know what is the most striking and unimpressive aspect of the documentary:  The Gipper drew the short straw when it came to children.  The two children by his first marriage seem like reasonable humans, BUT the two children that he had with Nancy just cannot stop droning on about themselves and behave as if their father's career is just the biggest burden that any human has had to bear.  They draw out their words and there is so much drama, they end every sentence GRAVELY as if even speaking of their horses and dad who taught them to swim when the were little is a legacy that weighs their souls.  Never have I been so worn out with anyone's children as I am with Reagan's.

Finally, in a busy day that got much busier much faster than I expected, I was able to get in a very fast three mile run in the chilly afternoon.  It felt great, and I thought the whole time I ran that next week, I would be running at 6:00 AM, because speed sessions are coming up!!

Monday: Swim

So last evening our internet was down, and honestly, I wish it had been the indoor plumbing.  I was so sad to deny the internet population the opportunity to hear about yesterday's church attendance, grocery store trip, and shortened swim practice.  I forgot to take my tiramisu out of the freezer, so I had to take it to my Superbowl party still somewhat frozen.  I spent most of the night chasing Ivan, and I ingested a whole bunch of guacamole.  I did not watch any of the superbowl.

Today, the internet is up and I am absolutely ready to give you the 411 on my day.  Sloan the Younger is a champion of good behavior lately and getting to swim was SO easy today.  We were there on time, I was not the last one in the pool.  I swam 3900 meters, and I am a champion!!!

Swim workout as follows:

• 400 swim
• 200 kick
• 5 x 200 swim @ 3:30
• 8 x 25 fast swim @ :30
• 3 x 100 swim descend @ 1:45
• 6 x 25 fast swim @ :30
• 3 x 100 swim descend 0@ 1:45
• 4 x 25 fast swim @ :30
• 6 x 75 kick/drill/swim 20 second rest
• 400 pull
• 200 swim
• 300 kick

This was really exciting and though I am enjoying my new smaller tighter suits from  Splish, there is no gapping of the swim suit,which I like, but today my chest straps chafed uncomfortably and I wondered about the wisdom of sizing down. 

On the way home, we stopped for a a balloon and a cookie to reward such great behavior from Young Sloan, we forwent a nap as the crib tent has not arrived yet.  

Oooooh Friends, Have I told you the saga of the crib tent???  Get ready.  I will tell you tomorrow.  It is epic!!

Saturday: RUN

OH yes friends, today I rejoined my running group for reals.  I arrived at the park at 6:15 AM, secured a primo parking place, ran a few laps around the inner park loop while I waited on the group to show up.  I was ON IT.  I was early, I brought plenty of water, three extra jackets in case it was warmer or cooler when I arrived at the park, two grab the gold bars, some Dr. Pepper chapstick, my heart rate monitor -synced and receiving information (with Body Glide underneath so that it would not chafe, though it chafed anyway), and all of my athletic enthusiasm.  My short term preparation was meticulous, but I have to say that none of that really matters if your body is not prepared for the rigors of the 13 mile sprint.

I was grossly unprepared.  There have not been any long runs since my December 11th marathon and my speed and stamina were just not up to par.  NOW, normally this would not be any great crisis, but listen to my sad tale:

Our running group was at one time composed of a great variety of runners.  If you were feeling off your game or uber-chatty, you could drop back a little and run with a few runners that were slightly slower, or if you were trying to race you could run with a faster group.  There were many many options.  For whatever reason, the running group has lost a few members, a few members have formed other groups, and suddenly we are left with a very fast group (7:40 miles at least for most of a 13-20 mile run) and a very slow group (9:30 miles or slower for a 4-7 mile run).  So the slower group just really is not a workout that prepares me for competition and the fast group is hauling.

My strategy today was to go out with the fast group and fall back when I had to and try to run 8ish minute miles overall.  I held to my strategy, BUT it is painful to my ego when members of the fast group worry that I am running alone and fall back to run with me, all the while making cheerful comments that they need to rest a bit today, it is better if they have an easy run, and all sorts of kindnesses that are like a knife to my prideful heart.  I managed to average slightly over 8 minute miles, and I had some great conversation, albeit with a hint of mortification that my running companions pitied me.

13 miles, however, YAY for me !!!  I finished the run in dropping temperatures and driving sleet.  At home, I shoveled down two beet pancakes, two slices of french toast, two sausages, green tea and so much coffee.  So delicious, and I have missed that particular kind of appetite that comes after a long fast run.  It is nice to just start scarfing down food like a garbage disposal.

In other news, I had dinner at City House tonight with the fabulous and always enjoyable Daniel Tashian.  I tasted my first overt anchovy, meaning that is was not mashed up in Caesar dressing so that I did not know it was there.  Or is it sardines that are in Caesar dressing? Anyway, it was quite good and I learned all about the best kind to buy, and now beware anytime you dine at my house as there might be anchovies in your food.  Also, Daniel (the great!!!) told me some under the radar 30 Rock  jokes that I feel will make my favorite television show all the more meaningful.  It was a glorious evening!!

Friday: Trainer Triumph

So last night I mouth-breathed all night like Lutz. I slept with Neosporin in my nose because it was so raw, and if I counted correctly, I blew my nose five million and 47 times.  It was officially not a great night's sleep. Just based on my miserable sinuses, I decided that Ivan and I were not going to go to swim as there is no way it could be good to submerge whatever is going on in my sinus cavity in water. So we hung out, I taught Young Sloan how to use child safety scissors which actually seems like a super foolish move in retrospect.  We played with the air compressor organ that is housed in a strange corner of our den, and watched Curious George.

No matter what goes on in this house, The Man in the Yellow Hat always has it worse.  Today, I watched as that terrible terrible monkey pulled every bit of wallpaper off the bathroom wall; every bit, and then lost the professor's dissertation.  I figured out today that the professor is sort of The Man in the Yellow Hat's love interest, BUT he will never have a chance with her.  George is the ultimate relationship ruiner.

In the afternoon, my great friend Kennette offered to come and bring her bike so that we could do a Spinervals ride together.  We rode all the way through Sloan the Younger's nap.  It was great and something that I should do more often.  Now, I do hate the trainer, BUT it is so much fun to have a friend to chatter with while you are chained to your bike.  We rode for one hour and eight minutes before  Young Sloan threw himself out of the bed, bloodied his lip, bumped his head and cut his wrist.

I have to say that the day that your child learns to crawl out of the crib is a SERIOUS bummer.  Young Sloan came roaming into the den with a bloody lip and a cut on his wrist like it was was no big deal.  I, on the other hand, came as close to a full on panic attack as I have thus far.  The entrance pretty much ended our bike ride, but I am still pretty uplifted that I was on the trainer for over an hour.  If I could get in an hour on the trainer once a week or so, EVERYTHING COULD CHANGE!!!

Getting up early to run!!

Thursday: Yet Another Day Off

So, yesterday I assumed that giving myself one day to recover from a cold was plenty, I headed out to swim and swam hard actually. I used full on bribery for good behavior from young Sloan.  He was given one "pee-pop" (lollipop) for good behavior while getting into and riding in the car.  Then there was the offer of a happy meal from McDonald's if he walked into the gym and nursery while continuing his good behavior.  This went really well, and I was on time to swim.  It was fabulous, and I have clearly entered a vicious cycle of bribery that will not be extinguished until Sloan the Younger has graduated from college.

  Steven had written a great workout, and while it was not my fastest workout, I enjoyed it and was thrilled to get in so much yardage.  Workout as follows:

• 250 warm-up
• 400 kick
• 6 x 100 free @ 1:45
• 4 x 150 back/breast/free 20 seconds rest
• 6 x 75 fly/ back/ breast @ 1:40
• 4 x 200 pull @ 3:20
• 75 kick
• 25 fast kick
• 100 fly kick
• 50 fast kick
• 200 free
• 100 free

This was 3400 meters.  I had to fudge my breast and back strokes, because mine are so slow that I could not make the intervals unless I converted them to free-style when I started getting too far behind.  

Anyway, all went well, we picked up a happy meal and a Hot Fudge Sundae on the way home.  Every bite was eaten, and I was pretty thrilled to see some serious calories taken in.  It happens rarely, I am sorry that they were processed within an inch of their lives, but glad to see them eaten anyway.  

In the afternoon, the sickness of a hard core cold settled on me with a vengeance.  I sneezed all afternoon, felt feverish and kicked myself for getting in the pool when it was 22 degrees outside.  I still did Gilad, but with a sinking heart that I would be drinking myself into a Theraflu oblivion later in the evening.  

This indeed happened, and I have a fuzzy memory of crawling under my deliciously warm electric blanket at some unspecified time in the evening and reading an article in some publication about Larry David's ex-wife's new cookbook.  It seems like I did not finish the article, and I cannot, for the life of me, remember what publication.  Such is the nature of the bad cold.  

Anyway, I suffered through a terrible night of sleep and a groggy morning.  Nursery school went off without a hitch, and I plodded about the house until I took another nap.  Sad times.  Two days off in one week, it might be three.  I have to decide what is going to go down tomorrow.  Swim seems unwise under the circumstances.  Bleh.  A Week of Bleh.

Tuesday: Day Off!!

It seems that I have caught the cold that Young Sloan had over the weekend, and I sort of forgot that with the onset of  nursery school, we are probably a hot bed of germs that we have not yet gained an immunity to.  It is all so grubby.  When I walk into the classroom in the morning, there is always someone sneezing or wiping their nose on something, once there was even someone vomiting.  So, no wonder I am slightly under the weather.  I am surprised that I do not live there.

So, after hurrying a tantruming Sloan the Younger off to nursery school, I headed into work without my rain jacket, because I NEVER CHECK THE WEATHER.  As a general rule, I am pretty sure that weathermen are charlatans, and the way the sky looks when I leave the house is SURELY how it will look ALL DAY LONG.  SO, I made it to work in a really lovely chiffon skirt and suede boots, only to have to leave my office in a monsoon of epic proportions. I had just enough time to get home and fight my way through the horizontal rain into the house and change into my rain boots to go back and retrieve a tantruming Young Sloan from nursery school where he was wrestled though a puddled parking lot and more horizontal rain.

At home, I spent all afternoon on a fancy dinner of creamed parsnips and chicken with cauliflower.  As sometimes happens with new recipes, it was not the tastiest of all my creations.  No one went hungry, but it was roundly decided that this recipe should be kicked to the curb.

In other news, Young Sloan's Christmas harmonica was mysteriously lost after the holidays, and someone, who clearly hates me, bought him another, which he was really excited about. When I emerged from the shower today, Young Sloan gleefully presented me with two harmonicas which means he had found the old harmonica and held onto the new harmonica both.  In trying to blow both harmonicas at once, he sounded like a depressed boxcar hobo or a wheezing Bob Dylan or a broken accordion.

Swim tomorrow!!