Friday: Swim and Tea Party

Am currently watching the DVRed royal wedding on my television, and the remaining members of the Serbian royal family just arrived.  Who knew that there was still a Serbian royal family??  I thought in my head that that it all fell apart after the assassination of the Archduke Ferdinand by The Black Hand in June 28, 1914.  I am amazed by surviving monarchies, does Serbia even still exist.  Ooooh, and the King of Tonga!!!  Where is Tonga??  Who is he??  Oooh, and Prince Albert and his fiancee, a South African swimmer.  The Queen of Denmark and the Duchess of Luxembourg.  I had no idea there was a Luxembourg.  Amazing!!!

I am watching the BBC version, and I sort of love it.  They have interviewed three historians and told me all about the floor at Westminster which was apparently hewn in stone by Roman workers relatively soon in the AD.  Restoration has just been completed, and it does not have to be covered by carpet.  Thrilling!!!

So today, Ivan and I were on time to swim.  We were out of the house on time, and to accomplish that feat, I was unable to attend to any of the royal wedding.  I have blocked it out until I was able to come home and curl up on the couch with my needlepoint.  Now, I will say that the BBC is wearing me out with using the word commoner.  I wish I had counted how many times.  I am also going to watch the Today show version, and they will no doubt wear me out with something else.

Anyway, at swim today, I swam rather harder than usual.  Since it was Friday, we swam long lanes (meters).  Workout as follows:

• 500 swim
• 1 x 400 pull
• 2 x 200 pull
• 3 x 100 swim
• 2 x 100 kick
• 2 x 100 swim
• 2 x 100 kick
• 1 x 400 pull
• 2 x 100 kick

So 2800 meters, is a little over 3000 yards.  I sort of thought it was more, but it was not. 

Post swim, Ivan and my mother and I loaded ourselves us and headed out to Leiper's Fork for a great tea party.  Ivan was well-behaved, his napkin was placed in his lap, and he wore a John-John with much aplomb.  I wore a strapless dress, and lesson learned, it is most difficult to tastefully tote about a three year old in a strapless dress.  Lesson learned.  

And now, I am on the couch watching the royal wedding and getting ready to get up and run early tomorrow morning!!

Thursday: Run and Yesterday Swim

So yesterday, my horrible eating caught up with me at exactly 4:30 PM.  Major misfortune in my stomach regions as well as really foul weather all sort of set in at the same time, and reduced my evening to Ivan and I wearing bike helmets in case of tornado induced head trauma and being unable to eat dinner due to just feeling miserable.

To back up to where my day kicked off, I had a lovely if somewhat lazy swim.  Ivan and I were late, but it was a happy morning, and we hit story time at the library after swim.  I am not saying that Young Sloan was the best behaved child at story time, but nothing terrible happened.  There was nothing broken and no one was hurt, and I call that a raging success.  At home, we went to swim lessons, had naps and made beet pancakes before the bottom fell out of the sky, and I felt intensely ill.

Once the weather scare was over, I turned on my electric blanket, plied myself with hot tea, and caught up on all my New Yorker's.  I read a great article about Reed Krakoff and his new design aesthetic, a commentary about the British opinion of the Royal Wedding, and a review of the new book about Malcolm X.  It was all quite good.  I lounged about in bed, slept terribly, and was up way too early as my child was up way too early.  I detoxed all day today and felt better.  There was beet juice and kale involved.

I had a great run in the afternoon, and a little run in with the chicken fried tofu at Whole Foods after I picked Ivan up from nursery school.  Aaah well.

Swim tomorrow and a tea party!!!!

Tuesday: Run, Gilad, and Yoga

So this morning, Ivan was not 24 hours out from a fever, so he was not able to go to nursery school.  While hanging out at the house all day is usually more than I can bear, Ivan and I had a really nice day.  I kicked off my morning with way too much food, as I am really struggling with Easter leftovers and candy.  I had pound cake with breakfast and just maybe a chocolate lamb.  For lunch, I managed a reasonable grilled chicken salad and then melted down a bit at work with a homemade dessert that really rocked my world.  Why will people bring homemade desserts to work and leave them within a yard of me?  Is it personal?

I am currently watching a show called "Inside Brookhaven Obesity Clinic" on Oprah's channel, which I did not realize was within our cable channels, but apparently is.  The documentary style show is following an 800 pound man, a 650 pound man, and a 400 pound woman.  I do not think that today's eating is going to result in having to go to the zoo for an xray, because the elephant machine is the only one big enough, BUT it does make you think a bit about the bitter road down which a lack of self-control can take you.  I get sort of obsessed with these types of shows and the out-of-control logic around the morbidly obese and the shared psychosis of their wives and mothers.

Anyway, my pound cake and crazy dessert consumption means that I am going to have to detox a bit tomorrow.  Also, I have to hit Whole Foods tomorrow and look about for some Green Magma which I read all about in Dr. Perricone's new book, Forever Young. I have a love affair with Dr. Perricone, and I am already eating chia seeds like a madman (which he also recommends).

SO, Ivan was totally amenable to taking a jog stroller run today, though he did have conditions: he refused to wear any clothes but his diaper, he had to have the portable DVD player with Finding Nemo, and wanted to take both his blankets.  I was down with all demands, because for the past several months all jog stroller runs have ended in disaster with Ivan Houdini-ing out of his restraints and popping up like a wack-a-mole in the jog stroller, and staring at me while I was running.  It scares me silly every time, and it ends badly with having to go home and few times having to carry Ivan back home while pushing the stroller.  I got in a solid three mile run today, before getting Ivan home and down for his nap.  During naptime, I was able to do a Gilad workout and a yoga session before heading into work.

It was a nice day!!! Back to swim tomorrow!!

Monday: Swim and Run

So last night, Ivan started wailing that his mouth hurt.  This started at around 1:00 AM, and I was honestly so dead to the world that I vaguely remember some three-year-old bleating at the 1:00 AM mark, and then Ivan was in our bed and telling me that his mouth hurt, and I thought it was a dream until I woke up and he was still there, and I felt like a negligent parent.

As far as I know, his dad put him in the bed and when Ivan woke me sometime before 6:00 AM to tell me that his mouth hurt again, he was all glassy eyed with hot pink skin.  It was very sad, and I would have been sadder if I were not so exhausted that I could barely think about anything but survival.  Ivan's temperature measured 102, so I sat beside the phone waiting for the doctor's office to open, slugged coffee like I was a participant in some terrible drinking contest, and fretted.  It took a bit of investigative work, but I finally figured out that when Ivan said his mouth hurt, he meant that his throat hurt.  His throat was indeed very fuschia colored.

We headed to the doctor's office with no makeup, unwashed face and hair, and questionable body odor.  Ivan wore his PJs, and behaved alternately thrilled to play with the no doubt disease infested toys at the doctor's office and miserably ill.  Ivan bravely endured a strep throat culture and much throat looking, temperature taking, weighing, and ear looking before being declared most likely strep free.  Final results will be had tomorrow.

The fever endured throughout the day and did not break until after nap time.  The whole day was pretty much spent lounging around and slurping children's Tylenol.  It was pretty dull, and I was thrilled that my husband took over sickbed duties when he came home so that I could got for a three mile run and then hit the pool around the corner for a mile swim.

Now, the bummer about fevers is that nursery schools and gym nurseries and Bible study nurseries do not want you to bring children back to the nursery until they are fever free for 24 hours.  This means that Ivan will most likely feel better tomorrow, but we will be again stranded at home.

Bleh.

Sunday: Run

Will post this year's Easter pics tomorrow!!

So last night, I informed every member of my family, including myself, that we needed to leave early for church.  Church is always crowded on Easter and if you do not leave early you have to sit on a folding chair in the back causing a fire hazard OR you have to endure the shame of sitting in a back room watching the service on satellite with the other shameful latecomers.

We laid out our clothes the night before, we were all in agreement and while we were not actually late for church, we were right on time, which meant that we had to sit in the back in folding chairs.  It was a total fire hazard, we were knees to elbows and I almost sort of give up on punctuality.  It is apparently something that will never happen for us.

There was a great Easter egg hunt after church.  Ivan found many eggs and is probably in the early stages of diabetic coma based solely on jelly bean consumption.

At home, I prepared Easter lunch serving chicken marbella, rice and asparagus.  My rice was rather gross.  I made it the night before, and it did not reheat well.  Everything else went off without a hitch.  I had another nap in the afternoon and a great run in the evening!!

Saturday: Bunny Bolt

SO this morning, I slept in a bit and then headed in to run the Bunny Bolt in its inaugural year.  It was a lovely time, and my friend Linda and I were the only two runners.   We ran five miles on the Richland greenways and then a one mile cool down.  I felt great, but was uber slow, the weather was muggy and a bit windy, but all else went really well.  There was an amazing brunch afterwards, and I ingested enough breakfast casserole for three people instead of one.

At home, it was all about getting ready for Easter tomorrow.  Now last year, in a hardcore move of sad parenting, I used a Lululemon bag as Ivan's Easter basket.  He did not seem to mind, but it is seared into my memory that he took a Lululemon bag to the church Easter egg hunt.  This year, I have a lovely yellow Easter basket  with little painted eggs and bunnies.  I filled little plastic eggs with jelly beans and Hershey foil wrapped eggs.  It is a holiday triumph.

Had a lovely nap in the afternoon.  On Saturdays, it is all about the nap.

Friday: Run and Gilad

SO, on Good Friday the gym is closed, So Ivan and I ran errands about town where he was so well behaved that I thought that maybe running errands was going to be our new thing.  Whole Foods was a lovely experience.  Ivan walked down the aisle like a lamb, he pushed his little cart, he helped scan the groceries, he was polite and spoke to everyone.  His behavior was of the type that makes it a joy to be a parent.  People stopped me to tell me what a handsome and well-behaved and happy child he was.  I wanted to skip down the aisle, and I definitely stayed at Whole Foods longer than necessary basking in the glow of having spawned such a treasure.

Anyway, as fabled as our trip to Whole Foods was, it was OF COURSE not to last.  At swimming lessons, someone screamed at both me and his swim teacher, refused to swim, ran away. The lesson culminated in me having to jump into the pool with ALL MY CLOTHES ON, including my favorite strapless bra, and the sweetest swim teacher in the world telling us to go ahead and head home.  It was bleak, friends.  The shame of it was somewhere slightly and ONLY slightly below having to get back in the boat when I swam Alcatraz.  Another mother frowned at me, and the judgement of other mothers is so shameful that it is almost unable to be born.  It is especially unable to be born when you are standing in dripping shorts and a bra full of pool water.

Running the Bunny Bolt tomorrow morning!!

Thursday: Swim and Run

So this morning, after taking Ivan to nursery school with completely resolved intestinal issues, I reclaimed my Wednesday.  Normally, on Thursdays I am working OR engaged in some mammoth house disaster project or waiting on a maintenance man or some such.  Today, as it is Easter week, there is not much going on, SO I went straight to the gym after I dropped Ivan off at nursery school.

That is, I went straight to the gym AFTER I drove back home and found Ivan's doggie and blankets and drove back to nursery school.  When I told Ivan's nursery school teacher that they had not made it into the car, she looked at me and said "Are you going to go get them??", which I think is nursery school teacher code for "You go straight the eff back home and get those mangy items of comfort and bring them back here or your child will not take a nap, and he will never get a job, and he will live with you for the rest of his life."

Anyway, after dog/blankets retrieval, I headed to the gym and swam 3200 meters like a champ.  Workout as follows:

• 100 warmup
• 300 swim
• 500 kick
• 300 pull
• 500 swim
• 500 pull
• 500 IM by 25's
• 300 kick
• 200 swim

After I swam, I hopped right on the treadmill and ran 3.2 miles, which is the length of a 5k race, and I watched Fox news while I listened to Mumford and Sons.  The wildfires in Texas are a big deal and there was pretty much 30 full minutes of coverage on Fox while I was running.  

After my luxurious afternoon at the gym, I hopped into the car and headed home to get in a little travel research and lunch before hoofing it to pick up Ivan and take him to visit his great grandmother (Margaret!!!!).  We swam in the indoor pool and visited, before hitting McDonald's which is nothing that I am proud of, but I did not anticipate the amount of hunger that my workout would generate.  

Bleh

Wednesday: Ggggrrrrrrrr

Oh Wednesday, Why wilt thou betray me??  Today, as we pulled into the pool parking lot,  I began to hear rumblings from the car seat inhabitant about his tummy, and I was filled with a deep foreboding about my lap swimming.  I swam approximately 500-700 yards and then when I went to flip turn and there was Miss Glenda at the end of my lane.  Ivan was still unhappy and not feeling great, and I had to go get him in my wet bathing suit and take him home.

After a few interventions at home, the tummy issue resolved, there was the grocery store sprint, the swimming lesson sprint, and the I barely make it out the door  to work on time sprint.

I am working in a swim tomorrow!

Tuesday: Day Off

So yesterday, I did not write about it, but I swam.  I did not photograph the workout, but I swam pretty hard and did some butterfly, and it is making me hungry just even thinking about it.  At home, I attempted to take a nap, because I am sleeping so horribly at night that I am like an ugly bear during the day; all puffy eyes and grumpiness.  In the afternoon, I took Ivan to swim and then worked with him in the afternoon on his Zum coaster bike.  He really learned to coast, and he was very proud of himself.

Now last night, I again had a terrible night's sleep, which resulted in oversleeping, not even considering going to track practice, gulping coffee like an alcoholic after whiskey, getting Ivan to nursery school late, and therefor late to Bible study.  It was not my best morning.  There are clothes that have been sitting in the laundry basket so deep and so long that I am beginning to consider my wardrobe without them.  

I feel like when I dropped Ivan off at nursery school, the children were sitting around eating jumbo marshmallows, and I am not sure why.  I feel like I look back at those teeny kids sitting around on the floor stuffing huge marshmallows into their mouths in slow motion and it seems surreal.  Were they doing that or is that some strange dream proffered up in my exhaustion haze?  OR, did I miss that it was "s'mores day" or "empty calories day" or "foods made entirely of refined sugar day" or "come home with a cavity day" on the school calendar.  I just don't know and I didn't even remember to ask when I picked Ivan up.

Also this morning, before we left for nursery school and 35% of the reason that we were late is that my toilet seat slammed down and BROKE IN HALF.  I mean, yes, it is probably 40 years old and should have been out of commission long ago, but Ivan and I were both pretty shocked.  Anyway, of course they do not even make a toilet seat to fit our 40 year old whatever model.  So until we decide how to handle this aforementioned situation that I can only describe as redneck, we are forced to endure the even greater redneck state of having the toilet seat duck taped together;  DUCK TAPED TOGETHER so that my nether-regions do not get pinched in any way.  

Are things like this how you get started down The Glass Castle road?  Will Ivan one day write in his memoirs that his parents toilet seat was duck-taped together, and he is irrevocably scarred as a result.  Will it prevent him from achieving greatness?  Is our only possible course of action to obtain a junk yard dog to chain in the front yard, and a couch and a lawnmower with the wheels off to make the statement about what we really are? 

Monday: Ivan Learns to Coast on the Zum part 3

Monday: Ivan Learns to Coast on the Zum part 2

Monday: Ivan Learns to Coast on the Zum

Sunday: Swim

Ahhh, yet another morning where I woke feeling lousy and under-slept.  I am pretty sure I have been wearing the same yoga pants for three days and somewhere along the line, I ate half a bag of gluten free animal crackers.  How did it come to this??

I think I ate badly yesterday, and it all caught up with me somewhere around midnight last night, and sleep was not to be had.  I ended up watching a four hour documentary about Bob Dylan called "No Direction Home" that was put together by Martin Scorcese.  I have to say that every time I see footage from the concert in the Manchester Free Trade Hall where someone calls Bob "Judas" because he is using an electric guitar as opposed to an acoustic, I get pretty excited.  I love it that he immediately says "I don't believe you" then turns to his band and says "play louder".  I just love Bob Dylan.  I can't even stop myself.  I don't care how old he is or that his voice sounds like gravel and cigarettes, I just love Bob Dylan.  Also, Joan Baez, who features prominently in the documentary, gets on my nerves.  Though, to her credit, I can see why Bob Dylan gets on her nerves.

ANYWAY, this morning, I mostly ate a healthy breakfast and needlepointed while watching CBS Sunday Morning.    In the afternoon, I headed into swim late, and got in around 1000 meters before swimming my T-30.  The fact that swam a timed 30 minutes just a month-ish after swimming the last one makes me think that these might be a monthly thing.  It also makes me think that my swim times will probably just decline over the next several months, and I will have documentation.

Overall, however,  got in a nice mostly continuously swim 2500 meters.  It felt great.  I had a healthy salad at the Local Taco post swim, and it was great night.  Swim again tomorrow!!

Saturday: Run

So, I do not know who to contact about the fact that it was 38 degrees when I got up to run this morning.  Do I contact Old Man Winter, Jack Frost, a groundhog?  I had already packed up all of my winter clothes and put them in plastic tubs at the top of my closet.  I was able to scavenge out some running clothes from my drawers, but the weather was colder than even weather.com said it would be last night.  It was just bitter.  The run was freezing the whole way.  It was off and on raining, and I plugged away for nine miles before heading home.  Pretty soon after I hopped in the car, the bottom fell out and the rain came down colder and harder that this particular runner can stand.

Last weekend was so hot that I came straight home from my run and cleaned out my closet, and put all my winter things in storage.  Of course, it was all too soon and today, I actually had to get out my winter storage bins and dig some sweatery clothes out of the bin to go to an afternoon Easter party.  I went to an Easter party in all black, cowboy boots, and a huge sweater and scarf.  So ridiculous.

Anyway, in other news, I am having a Dylan thing tonight.  We had I'm not There, at the house and I had forgotten just how good it was.  Great music, great film!!

Friday: Swim

I have to say that before I had a child, and I could hop willy nilly into the car without car seat wrestling and loading up like I was moving across country, getting out in the rain was no big thing.  Three years into being a parent, a morning monsoon honestly makes me want to throw in the towel and give up.  I want to sit in front of the television with a cup of coffee and whine about the weather.  

Anyway, today, we actually got on the road pretty much on time after much fruit basket turnover about where Ivan's rain slicker was and why his rain boots had been left outside to get so wet on the inside so that they were completely unwearable.  When we finally got to swim, we did secure a great parking place but we were both soaked by the time we actually make it inside.  This is no big thing for me as I am getting into the pool anyway, but I hate to send Ivan shivering and cold to the nursery as it activates my mommy guilt and sucks a bit of the fun out of my morning.  

In the pool, I had a really great swim.  When I am out of the pool for a few days as I have been this week, I  always really enjoy getting back in and swimming hard.  Steven had written a great workout, and I got most of it in.  Of course forgot to photograph it and have no idea how much yardage I got in, but probably plenty for my time off.

After swim, Ivan and I made it to the Brentwood Library to look into story time and play in the tunnels.  As  we are closing in on the end of nursery school, story time is on the list for becoming our new thing.  At home, I had a lovely nap and have been reading voraciously all afternoon.  Looking forward to an early morning run!!

Thursday: Who's a Lump??

I am a lump.  Today, I shuffled Ivan and I to nursery school on time and hit the ground running for two appointments, a trip to the office, the bank, the grocery, wedding gift shopping, a quick soup pick up and then back to nursery school.

My appointments were kind of a drama, my day got really long, and at home, I chased Ivan around the yard, until he had found a full storm drain of water and jumped in up to his knees, then found a piece of PVC pipe with which he sprinted into the back field and had to be tackled.  It all ended in tears, and yes, that is how it usually goes, but for whatever reason, it all drained me today.

When I got back in the house and sat down briefly on the couch, it was as if I was cemented there.  Ivan and I watched a wordless documentary called Baraka about religion, lifestyles and landscapes around the world.  He was actually pretty interested in the footage from Calcutta.  I, too, find the Calcutta footage fascinating as it is the only place in the world where Cholera is still really killing people.  The Baraka footage from Calcutta shows an entire community bathing, drinking, bathing their dead, immersing their dead, and then allowing decomposed human ashes to spill into the SAME BODY OF WATER WITHIN FEET OF EACH OTHER.  That is how you get Cholera, and that is why India is last on my list of dream vacation destinations.

Anyway, I have just been sitting on the couch decompressing all evening.  I am a lump.

Wednesday: Run

So this morning, I woke up with a tetch of the headache and the sore throat.  Now earlier this year, I went ahead to swim with such feelings and was then sick for a good 10 days.  It was the terriblest.  SO, this morning, in an effort to maintain my health, I stayed at home instead of going to swim. I was really bummed, as I have been out of the pool for 5 days now.  However, I pounded the vitamin C, hydrated like a madman and rested myself and felt really good by the end of the day.

When I got home from work, I was very excited to get into my new Lululemon speed shorts and go for a run in the neighborhood.  The weather was great, I felt fully recovered from my trip, and my run was lovely.

Now my day was pretty great.  Ivan was pretty much fully recovered from an overnight with his grandparents, our usual pecking order was established, and we were all well behaved all day.  Ivan had some hose time in the front yard, some soap time in the kitchen sink, a nice nap and a good bit of Curious George.

Tuesday: So I have been out of town

So in a last second whirlwind, I headed off to Washington D.C. on Sunday afternoon where I stayed at a hotel that DID NOT HAVE WIRELESS IN THE ROOMS.  It was stunning, and I felt like a caveman.  All I could do was read my book, Major Pettigrew's Last Stand and eat my turn down service chocolates.  All in all, it was not a bad night.  I had a dinner of beet gnocci, which was a lovely crimson color, but really did not taste like beets, a couple of salads and some delicious stewed tomatoes.  I toured George Washington University the following day, shopped a bit in the afternoon and headed home in a thunderstorm to arrive in Nashville in the driving rain.

Now, as I have read way to much about Abraham Lincoln, I was very excited to hit the Lincoln Memorial at night after dinner.  Now in a bit of disappointment, the reflecting pool between the Lincoln Memorial and the Washington Monument is drained, because it was built in the 1920's and apparently has all sorts of homemade swimming pool issues.  It is going to be completely ripped out, and when something that big is going on, don't you sort of feel that the tourism board in Washington D.C. should phone you personally to let you know that it is not the best time to plan a trip.  That aside, I had not seen the Lincoln Memorial since I was in 8th grade, and I somehow remembered that Lincoln was more accessible, like that maybe I could sit on his knee.  Sadly, Lincoln is way too tall and the greatest photo-op of my life was denied me.  Anyway, it was a great chance to re-read the Gettysburg address and Lincoln's second inaugural.

In the morning, I felt a slight cold coming on, I skipped track practice and realize that I have had a full three days off.  It is unheard of.  Tomorrow, I think I am hitting the pool, assuming no cold, and I might reward myself with an iced soy latte.

Saturday: RUN

Have you ever shown up somewhere wearing something that you thought looked OK, and then when you were fully awake and and walking around for a bit you caught a glimpse of yourself in the mirror and thought "Oh Dear, please Lord, teleport me back home so that I may change out of my shameful attire".

Today, I blearily dressed myself in gray shorts and a gray 100% cotton "I Love Winston Churchill" t-shirt and a green hat.  It was so hot and sad looking.  My shorts were somehow the exact same color as my shirt. I looked like I was wearing a nerdy hot pants jumpsuit dreamed up in the same nightmare that Stella McCartney had when she designed a white bathing suit with a pineapple over the you-know-what.  That is except that I was the opposite of sexy with a prominent stomach and a sad sad belly button poking through my shirt.  From now on, I will always think of what I wore today as my "birth control Winston Churchill sweat romper", because there is no one on earth that would have wanted a piece of what I had going on today.  In fact, I saw someone at the park today whom I had not seen since college, and I would have loved to have popped over and caught up on old times, BUT, I had to ask myself "Is this "birth control Winston Churchill Sweat Romper" anything that you want to be wearing when you run into someone that you have not seen in 15 years?".  I think we all know the answer to that question.  

So, after running 12 miles dressed in my ridiculous getup, I headed home and cleaned out my drawers.  I found all my cute technical running shirts and got rid of many a cotton tank top.  After completely cleaning out my drawers, I found that I only have three pairs of running shorts, and honestly, one of those pairs of running shorts are really just spandex tap pants and should really be reserved for yoga at home while Ivan is napping.  I am going to invest in a few Lululemon pairs of shorts, so that I will look appropriate when I am out and about.  

Spent the rest of the day sitting on the couch like a lump and heading out of town tomorrow!!

Friday: Swim

So yesterday, I was holed up on the couch at 10:30 PM doing paperwork the upshot of which is that it was too late for me to blog.  When I finished up my my paperwork, I just went to bed with a crossword puzzle, because I am having a CROSSWORD PUZZLE THING.  I cannot put them down, and I am keeping a list of disagreements that I am having with Will Shortz.  For instance, the clue "a way to memorialize the dead" was answered correctly with "obit".  But obit is short for obituary, and NYTimes crossword puzzles always tell you whether or not the word is abbreviated.  That is incorrect, Will Shortz and I am disappointed in your usually perfect editing.


Anyway, I did run yesterday, but just a lovely three miles in nice weather.

This morning, Ivan slept until almost 8:00 AM, which is the time that we get into the car to head to swim.   This meant that we went late, because it is not all about me getting to swim on time.  Also, we had to drive my husband's terrible two door car, which mean that it took us forever to get ourselves out of the car.  Then, I made a vending machine promise, because maybe I actually ate Ivan's vending machine treat from earlier this week, and promised him another this week.  Anyway, we were ONE NICKEL short of our treat, and we were waylaid until we found a kind nickel giver.  When I got on the pool deck it was approaching 9:15 AM.

But, I put my nose to the grindstone and stayed a bit later and got in a 3400 meter workout, which is better than I have accomplished in the past couple of weeks.  Workout as follows:

• 400 swim
• 5 x 200 swim
• 400 swim
• 10 x 100 pull
• 400 swim
• 8 x 50 kick

I got it all in.  It felt like a great swim, and I was starving when I finished.  Now, Ivan and I had a few errands that were quite difficult on the way home.  I must must remember, that some newly three year olds are not yet ready for trips to the bank and trips to pick up take out.  

For dinner, I had chicken ravioli with steamed broccoli, roasted lamb and vodka sauce, and we made it at home.  It was totally gourmet, and I am going to do my best to eat it again tomorrow!!

Run tomorrow morning!!

Wednesday: Swim, Gilad and Yoga

So, last night, I was again embroiled in crossword puzzle drama, and for the record, I would like for Will Shortz to understand that, a) fruit is not really a great crossword puzzle theme, and b) a raisin is not a fruit, it is a dried fruit.  It really had me stumped.

Now, this morning, we got out the door in reasonable time, and Ivan the Great was more than well-behaved.  His reward were some delicious vending machine animal crackers. Except in the type of drama that often describes my vain attempts to get to swim on time, some vile gym prankster had stuffed the coin slot with the remnants of a styrofoam cup so that the quarters went into the machine, but would not register on the digital dial.  No animal crackers.  Young Sloan was beside himself with bitterness and angst, and there was really nothing to be done.  The desk attendant gave me THE PHONE NUMBER OF THE VENDING MACHINE OWNER, as if that would help me in any way. I honestly wanted to lay down on the floor and cry.

Ivan was so sad and disappointed that I was completely stricken with guilt at leaving him in the nursery.  I had already decided that if he was still unhappy when we got to the nursery, I would just take him home and stop at the grocery to pick out a treat.   AND THEN, like a fairy with a wand, Donnie (the great!!!) used his maintenance tools to unstick the coin slot, and was kind enough to bring me my change, and we let Ivan walk back down and get his animal crackers.  My swim was SAVED!!!!  Ivan honestly skipped into the nursery to show Miss Cameron his animal crackers.  It was lovely!!

I was late to the pool deck after the great vending machine debacle, but at least I was able to swim.  I worked on my butterfly, and we had several short distance interval swims, which in my opinion, just eat up a workout.  I ended up getting in about 2300-2400 meters, which is not as much as I should get in, but for today, it was completely acceptable.  

At home, I got in a Gilad workout and some much needed Yoga before heading into work, and then parking it on the couch to watch The Kennedy's on The Reelz channel.  It is whatever, and Joe Kennedy is clearly the devil.  My exercise plans for tomorrow are undetermined and maybe non-existent.  

Tuesday: RUN

So last night I might have had a bit of difficulty falling asleep, and then started a deep and prolonged crossword puzzle affair.  I achieved the first puzzle in 10 minutes, but the second puzzle was fruit themed.  FRUIT THEMED, and there are clearly some fruits with which I am not familiar.  IT WAS MADDENING, and I could not let it go.  When my alarm ascended at 5:20 AM, I simply rolled over and turned it off.  I do not actually remember turning it off, but I am assuming that is why I was still in bed at 7ish.

Though it would have been nice to accomplish track practice before getting my day started, I was able to be the model of domesticity.  All dishes were clean, beds made and all laundry folded and put away before getting Ivan to nursery school on-time and being almost on time to Bible study.  We are currently studying "the role of women" and it was a good day for me to do this, because I felt pretty confident about my role as woman extraoridinairre: well-rested, laundry put away, punctual, and everyone properly fed and dressed appropriately.  It rarely happens and I usually stumble into Bible study ready to bite a nail in two, which seems to be the incorrect sentiment for such a gathering.

Anyway, small group was particularly nice today, because Sabrina (the great!!!) made homemade cinnamon rolls.  She actually made the dough herself, and I was amazed. I limited myself to one, which also rarely happens.  I am usually the cookie monster of Bible study snacks.  I come in after a scanty and stressful breakfast, following a track workout, and I just unhinge my jaw.

After Bible study, I made it home for a quick 5 mile run in our neighborhood, which is about what would have happened in track practice this morning.  I was able to survey the storm damage in our neighborhood.  It was rather sizable tree-wise, but there were no homes damaged.

Post run, I headed over to nursery school and then toted Ivan off to swim, where I was actually a little apprehensive as we walked in the door.  The last time we swam with Kennette (the great!!), a little girl threw up on the side of the pool deck for what seemed like a half hour in slow motion.  From what I could tell, the entire contents of her stomach were Nabisco Goldfish.  Being rather stomach uneasy myself these days, I did my very best to quell my strong desire to join her in hurling, and as I did, Ivan, who was also watching, immediately began vomiting into the pool the entire contents of his stomach.  It was awful, and I feel sick to my stomach even telling you about it.

There is nothing like swimming lessons to induce a cacauphony of childhood vomiting, and today, though I had a couple of scares, Ivan held in his snacks and never vomited.  He did, however, swim the length of the pool, learn to use his hands to propel himself in the water, and overall had a very successful day at the pool.

At home, I read the first chapter of Rob Lowe's new book, which does not sound like anything that I will finish reading. AND, should a man be on the cover of Vanity Fair, shirtless and smirky at 47?  There is something about it that bugged me.  It could be my overwhelming tiredness, but I think it was the smirky-ness.

Swim tomorrow!!

Monday: Swim

Today, all Sloans overslept and all Sloans were late getting out the door.  All breakfasts were eaten on the run, but I find that spirits are high on a good night's sleep.  Young Sloan popped into the nursery as if there were nowhere else that he would rather go, and though late, I was on the pool deck in plenty of time to get in a great workout.  Workout as follows:

• 100 warmup
• 8 x 75 build
• 4 x 100 odd-easy/ even-fast
• 200 easy
• 400 kick
• 3 x 50 fly drill @ 1:10
• 4 x 25 fly swim
• 3 x 50 back drill
• 4 x 25 swim
• 200 swim
• 100 cool down

This was 2600, and no, it was not the hardest I have ever worked.

Now, I don't know how big of a Cary Grant fan you are, but one of my favorites of all his films is That Touch of Mink.   It stars he and Doris Day (at her best) and she plays a woman named Cathy Timberlake, which is just the best character name ever.  Anyway, Kathy is always having these disasters, and at one point Cary Grant's character says "The four horseman of the apocalypse now have a riding companion: War, Death, Pestilence, Famine and Miss Timberlake."  I thought it was really very clever.  

Anyway, my parents bought Ivan a set of little golf clubs for his birthday, and Cary Grant's lines really washed over me, as I had my back turned for a second, and a gold ball was fired at me so fast that I at first was not sure from whence the pain had sprung.  It hurt like a mother and left a whelp when I looked later.  I did not see the ball, I just felt the impact and saw Ivan scurrying out of the room with his golf club, avoiding eye contact and throwing out a quick "I sorry, Mama."  

The rest of the afternoon was a bit of a bust, as the weather became very bad very quickly.  Ivan was woken by the thunder and a tree in our backyard was split in half, and I actually spent an hour in my kitchen wandering around while wearing a bike helmet and anxiously watching the news.  I am sure a bike helmet would have kept me safe if indeed the house had been ripped in half. 

Track practice tomorrow!!

Sunday: Run

You know, it is the worst to wake up on Sunday morning with all sorts of intentions, only to be a bit stranded by sickness.  Aaaah, sickness.  I did force a run, and I felt great while I was running, but not great back at home.  It was a full day, however, and not a lot of time to sit down and really enjoy feeling yucky.

The big event on today's calendar was yet another birthday party for Sloan the Younger.  Today was grandparent's birthday party, and we had a cake and ice cream and lemonade.  We opened up presents and it was overall, a lovely afternoon, that was marred only by my general sense of malaise.

It was a beautiful, beautiful day and as is my habit of late, I just schlepped around the house in my yoga pants, cleaned and folded aimlessly and occasionally laid prone on the couch with sad eyes and a stomach full of sadness.

Anyway, by the time the guests arrived, I had pulled myself together and was wearing a dress and presiding over a really lovely table.  It is fun to pull out the silver and monogrammed party plates for a three year old's birthday party.  As an adult, you really have very little occasion to pull out the china and the silver serving pieces.  SO, I pull them out whenever given an opportunity.  If you are turning three or if you come over for Halloween, get ready to be careful, because you will be eating out of the nice stuff.

Hopefully feeling better and swimming tomorrow!!

Finally, I am taking my blog private tonight, so let me know if you want to be included!!!!

Saturday: RUN

Now, I hate to wake up early on a Saturday morning, when I went to sleep at 8:45 PM and feel like I have not slept at all.  I really think that it may have been from my terrible eating yesterday.  Somewhere in the recesses of my Perricone guilty mind, I think that maybe my poor body was so put upon by trying to digest the awfulness that I brought down on it that it really needed much more sleep.  When I confessed to my sister this morning that I had eaten Sonic Cheese sticks, she said that she thought it was probably like what teachers said about swallowing gum: It is in your stomach and intestines for seven year.

I felt gross and heavy when I lumbered out of the bed, and I am pretty sure that the cheese sticks have somehow calcified and are now the weight of an anvil inside my stomach.  I really feel like I should go on some sort of juice cleanse or as Gyweneth Paltrow suggests, I should eat a steady diet of bitter greens to detoxify my liver.  Honestly, the cheese sticks were probably not great calorically, but they have RUINED my psychologically.  RUINED ME.  I will pull it together tomorrow, and let this cheese stick thing go.

OK, so this morning, after my alarm went off and I dragged myself to the park with the cheese sticks of lead in my stomach.  I was pretty pleased with the my whole run, as I ran a pretty hard nine miles.  The hills felt pretty good, and I was finished in time to pick up a birthday cake for grandparents's birthday cake and ice cream tomorrow.

 I then headed out for a baby shower and back home for dinner!!  Hitting the sack early!!

And, my blog is going private tomorrow night.  If you want to get updates, email me or post in the comments.  I will send it to you!!

Friday: Swim and I Honestly Then Put Just as Much Effort into Eating

Trying out bikes at REI

Mountain Bike

Cyclo-cross

This morning, we all slept at bit late, but everything at home went like clockwork and we were out of the house on time and pulled into the parking lot for swim at 8:28.  There was some small effort involved in getting Sloan the Younger off the the nursery, but overall, I was on the pool deck in plenty of time to warm up and start the workout.  NOW, the workout was hard, we stayed on interval, and we swam long course.  Long Course means 50 meter lanes, which feels like you are swimming THE CHANNEL after a week of 25 yard lanes.

I think that the 50 meter lane is great for me, but the first few laps feel never ending.  Now, I have forgotten to photograph the workout every day this week, because I am clearly negligent.  I do really wish that I had photographed it, because I got in over 3000 meters or 3,280.84 yards.

After swim, I arrived at the gym nursery to find that there had been a bit of ruckus and Sloan the Younger had to be reprimanded for throwing things.  There had apparently been some time-outing and "no-no"-ing. So, there had to be a conversation about proper gym nursery behavior and Sloan the Younger was firmly asked to apologize to Miss Cameron.

Though we had a rough disciplinary start in the nursery, the rest of our day was relatively well-behaved, and I feel that maybe this behavior was more a reaction of shock and awe to his mother's eating.

• After swim, I hit Bruegger's Bagels for a breakfast bagel sandwich (egg, sausage, cheese) which I consumed in its entirety.  There may have been a bag of chips thrown in that Sloan the Younger just opened and started eating while we were in the store and I had to pay for and then mostly ate myself.  
• At Publix, I had a mini-canoli that was only two inches long, so maybe not even worth mentioning, but in the spirit of honesty, I think I should tell you.
• At home, I had a Grab the Gold bar.  I bought a box today and I am afraid that they will not last a week the way I am eating.
• After taking Sloan the Younger swimming in the afternoon, I took him to get a hamburger, per his request and there I purchased the horror of all fast food horrors: mozzarella sticks.  It was Sonic and they are probably not even real cheese.  I always think they must be a combo of Vaseline, lard, salt and powdered milk.  Just terrible.  I ate them all.  Plus the one-fourth of hamburger that my child did not eat.  Then maybe I ate most of his tots.  
• At home, I had a bowl of wheat noodle soup and a serving of edamame beans.  

It was as if I was possessed by hunger, but there is no swim workout that equates the type of eating I did today.  NONE.  This will have to go down in history as a day of caloric infamy.  I had a healthy breakfast (smoothie with lots of blueberries and banana's, protein and very low sugar), but after that, I fell apart.  FELL APART.  

I am running tomorrow, and I should probably get there early and tack on an extra ten or 57 miles.  I mean ultra-runners probably do not eat like I ate today.  I can still taste the mozzarella sticks, and they taste like shame.

And, I am taking my blog private on Sunday night, so if you want to continue to follow, please email me or leave a note with your email address in the comments!!  Thanks!!