Tuesday, February 26, 2013

More snow = more trainer time

Saturday = laundry, errands, pack up entertainment center in prep for new carpet.  I found an old walkman that I used to listen to on runs and briefly considered using it on a run since temps were pretty decent.  But snow piled high on sidewalks and roads kind of narrowed.  Husband drove me to the bank so I got on the trainer for an hour that afternoon instead. 

Went to mass, took the kids to grab some dinner (which I passed on thinking we'd be eating on our date). Worst date night ever - fundraiser for a friend's club baseball team (I swear they start that competitive shit way too young).  It was "mouse races" with beer, wine and setups.  Except I didn't drink - not even the soda (since I gave it up for Lent).  It was $20/ea plus whatever you bet plus raffles.  I barely saw my husband as we were socializing.  And they didn't serve any real food - just popcorn and pretzels.  People brought stuff in and I bummed a little off a neighbor.  Thankfully I grabbed some chips and dip from our pantry on our way, but I was not amused by this night out.  Next time, I'll stay home and enjoy the peace and quiet.

Must have snacked too much though because the scale has been angry with me ever since.  Ugh.  Sunday we packed all of our living room into our kitchen and my husband tore out the carpet.  Daughter and I went shopping for a little while, but the rest of the day was pretty lazy.  No workout.  Packed my swim bag, but worked through my swim time on Monday.

Last night we got another heavy snow.  It could have been worse, but school was closed today.  We slept in a smidge and puttered around on our new carpet.  Internet was down which sucked.  I procrastinated away the day helping my son with his science fair crap, preparing for a meeting I have tomorrow, and general piddling around.  I just didn't want to get on the trainer without Netflix.  How sad of an excuse for procrastination is that?  But I finally got internet back and finally drug my ass down to the trainer.  Hour and 25 min (two episodes of a show) later, I was done.  Family all in bed so I'm heading there too.

YTD:
Swimming = 5800 yds = 3.3 mi
Biking = 185.5 miles
Running = 59.6 miles

Friday, February 22, 2013

Late night workout

Sometimes you just gotta get things done.  Thursday, school was cancelled for all - including my husband who teaches at a local technical college.  At 6 AM, I wasn't sure why.  At 6:30, it was clear as our first really big snow storm of the winter came in with full force dumping 7" in just a few hours in near whiteout conditions. 

I had already planned on spending the day digging into our 2012 taxes.  Ugh - remember that one of my goals/resolutions for this year was to stay on top of my bookkeeping?  Yeah, there is a reason for that.  I started sometime in the 7 o'clock hour and worked through most of the day to get everything organized and ready for the CPA.  But the worst was my own doing - I spent the day putting together all my various small business receipts, adding up all my mileage (all I do along the way usually is log vehicle trips in my calendar), etc.  While there were interruptions as kids came and went from playing in the snow and playing inside or gawking at cars stuck on the road by our house - I kept fighting my way through the paperwork.  Come hell or high snow, I was going to get finished. 

By late afternoon, it was nearly done.  I called and made the appt with the CPA, called my aunt (needed to ask a quick question about a 1099 from my uncle who does some of my investing, but got to visit with her more), finally printed out the last of the documents and looked up to find it was time to make dinner.  By the time I was done with dinner, I had a couple TV shows I wanted to watch (I'm a junkie - I admit it). 

But at 9 PM, it was time to suck it up - put on my cycling tights and jump on the trainer.  I popped a DVD in the laptop and settled in for 70 min of "fun".  Turns out my pick of movie ("Dreamgirls") made for a nice soundtrack to my workout.  A few tweets and some sweat later, I took my shower and headed off to bed. I read for just a bit and crashed after a long day.

Today was another snow day for all though the roads were pretty clear by midday as the sun came out and melted off a lot of what little was left behind by the plows.  I dug into my mother-in-law's taxes because she is having some memory issues and I sorted through her bank records looking for documentation on her deductions.  Then I puttered a good part of the day away before heading out to another fish fry tonight.  No workout today. 

Still need to get a run in to the bank.  But there isn't a sidewalk to be seen and I'm not sure if it is safe enough to run on the road narrowed by snowbanks.  We'll see what tomorrow brings.  I'm a little bummed not to have gone 4/4 with Friday swim workouts.  Hoping Monday, I can make it up. 

YTD:
Swimming = 5800 yds = 3.3 mi
Biking = 152.9 miles
Running = 59.6 miles

Wednesday, February 20, 2013

Tue Bike Session/Reading

Took Monday as a rest day.  Some because I was tired from the weekend workouts and some because I was being a lazy ass.  Had a relatively full day at the office while kids were off school with their dad for President's Day. 

Got called in to help my surveyor get a drawing out the door quickly yesterday, but ended up kind of puttering the afternoon away until it was time to head back to pick up kids.  Then I read a bit until it was time for daughter's piano lesson.  Puttered away the evening until dinner led into TV time.  But I got my butt moving finally about 8 PM. 

Husband needed some help finishing a few things for his online class on the laptop and then I took it to watch a show on Netflix while getting in a 40 min workout on the trainer.  Better than nothing.  I got a bit of a sweat on and then jumped in the shower before heading to bed a little early to read for quite a while. 

I'm working on Kristin Armstrong's book "Mile Markers".  I like her writing style and this book is speaking to me where I am right now.  I'd like to think we'd be friends if I lived in her neck of the woods - we are about the same age (I "get" some of her pop-culture references), have kids around the same ages, similar views on things (so far as I can tell by her writing).  It makes for a nice daydream.  And while I still teeter on being a Lance fan, that wasn't a factor in me picking up this book nor continuing to read it. 

Tonight's "workout" will likely be housework - surely pushing a vacuum for an hour should count for something, right?  Although I did pick up a check today from a client that could necessitate a bank run.  Just not sure if I am going to be up for the crazy cold wind.  Supposed to get a big winter storm tonight.  Yuck.  Spoiled by the generally mild winter we've had so far.

YTD:
Swimming = 5800 yds = 3.3 mi
Biking = 137.1 miles
Running = 59.6 miles

Sunday, February 17, 2013

Weekend = Ride, Run, Ride

Scale wasn't too kind Saturday morning confirming I had overindulged in the first Lenten fish fry of the season.  Not a shock.  I had gotten up early to send my son off for the day and my daughter headed out to deliver some Girl Scout cookies across town (which involved breakfast out with daddy and visiting with friends and family that were getting deliveries).  So I had the house to myself.  I relished some of the peace and quiet broken only by the constant drone of our poor old washing machine and dryer.  I was wading through Chrissie Wellington's book - a treat I managed to snag at the library in Columbia just before my swim on Friday.

But after I got a good portion of the laundry done, it was time to get on the trainer.  I put in a DVD ("I don't know how she does it" with Sarah Jessica Parker - kind of slow, but mildly distracting) and put in an hour.  I looked at my watch a lot.   I spent most of the rest of the day finishing the book.  Been a while since I read an entire book in a day. 

Today I was up pretty early again.  Feeling kind of crampy and with a light back ache.  Oh, the joys of womanhood.  Sucked it up and got a couple of proposals written for work plus an invoice for something I've been fighting to get paid for over two years and just this last week they said they needed an invoice from me. 

Puttered around on the computer and finally texted Susan to see if she was going to be able to run (had also put a note on FB trying to get anyone else to join me if Susan bailed).  It was a pretty nice afternoon - sunny and 50° though a little windy.  Only cool if you stood still.  Just before I went to meet Susan, Stacy called so I invited her along too.  We met at church and ran to Dixon Drive and looped back Hough.  Susan's phone app said it was 3.34 miles and we were just above a 12 min/mi pace.  Funny because I felt like it was much harder than it should have been and part of me hoped it was a faster pace to explain why I was sucking wind so badly.  Neither of them seemed to be struggling at all.  Guess it was just one of those days (though the raging PMS wasn't probably helping).

Came home and looked at Twitter to find Superkate busy on the trainer.  Thought maybe she would want some company so I decided to do a short workout.  Found a new series to watch on Netflix and knocked out 45 min (which seemed longer on my butt without my padded tights that were in the laundry room drying out).  Poor Kate was watching Yugioh with her son - not the best distraction from her miles.  Good to experience the boredom and train the brain, right? 

Need to do some meal planning as my eating has been relatively off the rails for a while.  Giving up soda for Lent was a good start, but I need to do the meal planning to make sure I cut back on some of the empty/crappy carbs and load up on more fruits and veggies (which also means I need to hit the store as my fridge is a bit void of these right now).  I know that only through the planning and preparation ahead will I have any hope of seeing the 150's on any kind of consistent basis.

Tomorrow the husband and kids are off school.  I've got some work to do so I hope to get at that early and get home sooner than later.  Rain is in the forecast though the temps are supposed to hold pretty decent.  We'll see what tomorrow brings.

YTD:
Swimming = 5800 yds = 3.3 mi
Biking = 128.1 miles
Running = 59.6 miles

Friday, February 15, 2013

Quasi-Lazy Week

Monday - Worked all day, blew off the evening while boys were at Boy Scouts

Tuesday - Worked all day, Society of Women Engineers dinner meeting in evening. Bedtime when I got home.

Wednesday - Full intention to run to the bank.  Ran out of time for no good reason.  Was getting a little desperate for Valentine purchases (hubs, kids, kids parties, Girl Scouts, etc) - made mad dash to Walmart in car instead of on foot so dropped off deposit then and let a perfectly sunny and warmish afternoon pass without a run.  Did make several trips to load over $500 worth of Girl Scout cookies into the car and dashed through grocery store and back in time to pick up said Brownie from her meeting.  Hardly a real workout though.

Thursday - Thank God for Thursdays!  I blew off most of my work (save a 9 AM conference call and some emails) and ran with Susan for 1 hr 20 min - ok, so there was a lot of walking as the wind was kind of not awesome.  We covered 5.6 miles on the Katy Trail.  Better than nothing and at least it was sunny.  Had enough time to shower and change for the Valentine parties at school.  6th graders just aren't cute anymore and I really hope there is none of this party crap next year.  Missed out on most of the 3rd grade cuteness though I dropped off the cookies I purchased on the aforementioned grocery store dash.  Ate severeal Hershey Kisses that came with my Valentine from my sweet baboo.

Friday - Kids off school, but promised daughter we'd hit the ARC in the afternoon.  In the morning we set up and completed part of her Science Fair experiments - testing how color affects survival of critters from predators.  There were pipe cleaners involved.  No live creatures were injured - though it was bitterly cold this morning as I stood in my jeans and bathrobe in the front yard supervising.  Later at the ARC, I knocked out 1000 yards and then stopped to check on my girl and chat with my friend and her kids that were there.  Knocked out another 1000 and then got ready to go home after playing with my daughter a little more.  She wishes we could go every Friday together. So sweet!  I'm glad she held me to it as it would have been easy to bail.

Lenten fish fry at the Knights hall for dinner.  Ate way too much.  Scale will be angry tomorrow though it was down yesterday after a light Ash Wed dinner.  I'm the only non-Catholic in the house so I observe Lent with them.  My daughter decided to give up all soda for 40 days.  I told her I'd join her so that we could be strong for each other and I could work on my ridiculous Coke habit.  Can't say it will be easy, but it is good to have someone to keep me focused on it.  She was so bummed that they had Sprite at the Girl Scout Valentine party and she couldn't have any.  Caprisun wasn't the same!  If I can eat a little healthier and not go so hog wild at the fish fries - maybe I can drop a few lbs during this season of preparation. 

And since I didn't do a Mid-MO Monday the last couple of weeks, I'll take a moment to point out that our county is about 50% Catholic - with no less than a half dozen parish fish fries to choose from on any given Lenten Friday.  A heckuva deal at usually $8-$10 to stuff yourself.  These folks know how to feed you!  Tonight I had a huge pile of boiled shrimp, several pieces of fried fish, hushpuppies, baked potato, cole slaw and a dixie cup of ice cream for dessert plus ice tea for $10.  They also had french fries (instead of potato) and baked beans (not a fan).  And everything is all you can eat except the shrimp.  One year we gave up (as a family) eating out during Lent, but provided a caveat that parish fish fries didn't count.  We figured that they are charitable so God would understand. 

But that big ass dinner means that tomorrow will HAVE to be a bike trainer day.  Son is headed down to MS&T with Boy Scouts to work on a merit badge (Electronics).  They are leaving at the ass crack of dawn so he'll be gone most of the day.  Not sure what my girl will be up to, but we might work a bit on Science Fair crap again.  And the dreaded cookie deliveries.  Plus usual laundry and such.  I have a DVD from Netflix to watch though - so shouldn't be too hard to get a hour or so in. 

YTD:
Swimming = 5800 yds = 3.3 mi
Biking = 104.5 miles
Running = 56.3 miles

Monday, February 11, 2013

Running to Remember, etc.

Should have written this last night, but you know how life can get in the way - or just regular old procrastination.  My busy Saturday got in the way of my planned run to the bank.  But it was also supposed to be my run to remember Sherry Arnold - the lovely soul that left this earth in a violent way just over a year ago while out on an otherwise peaceful morning run.  So yesterday afternoon, as the sun was just about to go to bed - I pushed myself out the door for a few miles. 

I have to admit that I thought about the parts of my running that are less safe - I still usually have a pony tail (too easy to grab); I often run when it is dark or getting dark-ish; I run some of the same routes over and over though I'm otherwise less predictable (some say not consistent, I say less predictable); I run alone sometimes (though not as much as I have in the past); and I run in areas without a lot of traffic (sometimes, but not always).  A few times I caught myself looking over my shoulder and wondering how awful and scary it would be to see someone jump out of a vehicle and come after me.  It was a painful thought.  One part I just hate about being a woman.  And while I know that a man could be attacked as well, the plain fact is that women are at a decided disadvantage in the crime victim department.

But I also remembered that part of the purpose of this run is to not let the evil in this world keep us from our time out on the road.  So I fought my way back in a wind that would have made that Montana girl proud.  Lost about a min/mile on my pace on the return trip due to the wind and the big hill.  But finished 3.4 miles and called it good.  Many continued prayers to the friends and family of Sherry who will always have a hole in the hearts from their loss.

In other randomness:
  • MMNW = 160.8 - not stellar, but way better than last Monday (Super Bowl super snacks)
  • Dropped plans and specs off to plan room/printer today for big street job; now to play catch up on all the other projects/clients I've been putting off
  • I kind of hate when it is sunny outside and seems like it should be nice only to walk outside and find a cold wind blowing.
  • I'm tried to talk myself into getting on the trainer this evening.  But got snagged up on a photo book project under a Groupon coupon expiration date.  Doh!
YTD:
Swimming = 3800 yds = 2.16 mi
Biking = 104.5 miles
Running = 50.7 miles

Friday, February 8, 2013

Rest, Run, Bike, Swim

I was a blogger loser since #Supercentury Sunday, but I didn't blow off the entire week of workouts.  Yay for me!  I rested up Monday after a weekend with too little sleep and that crazy 3 hour trainer ride.  MMNW isn't even worth writing down because I was up like 3 lbs due to all the crap I ate at the Super Bowl party.  Tuesday I had full intention of getting out the door and the weather was even pretty decent.  But for whatever lazy bones reason, I didn't get it done.  When I tweeted as such, Mike suggested I at least do a 30 second plank.  I figured that was the least I could do - on a commercial from my 3 hour couch/tv lovefest. 

But Wednesday, the weather continued to be pretty decent for mid-MO (40's-50's) and I knew I'd regret it if I slacked off again.  So while the boys were at archery practice and my girl was chilling out to whatever her recent favorite Netflix show is, I took off in the twilight to get in a short run.  I went with my short sleeve shirt and was pretty chilly the first 10 min or so.  I ran to the end of the sidewalk, back through the Wakodas and back to the other end of the sidewalk (cue Shel Silverstein poem).  I had it in my head this would be a 5K, but alas I was disappointed yet again to not have a GPS watch (see a theme I am working on to show my husband how much I need one?).  It was 2.9 miles, but a pretty good effort so I'll take it.  Took a pic of the pretty sunset with my son's MP3 player I'd borrowed for tunes. 

From end of sidewalk - though the pinks, oranges,
and yellows were prettier in person
Thursday is my normal "longish slow run" day - because usually Susan and I meet up for some quality girl chat time.  But I woke up to a cold, misty, gray day with impending storm clouds.  I was still hopeful as I slipped into my yoga pants and Pie Run shirt.  I had a hair appt first and when I came out it was only a light drizzle so I called Susan.  She had already knocked out a couple miles on the treadmill at the Y.  After admonishing me for getting rid of my Y membership and briefly wavering on meeting me somewhere to finish up, she begged off and said we'd have a sweet Valentine run next week.  I went home and decided it was trainer time.  I popped in a DVD and gutted it out at a solid Z2 effort for 75 min or about the equivalent of 16.5 miles.  I was looking at the clock before the previews had finished.  But a workout is a workout.

Today I was determined to get my street project plans and specs basically finished come hell or high water.  I'm putting it out to bid next week and I really needed to just get it to the point I could let it go.  After slogging away at it for most of the day (minus having to go out for a new roll of paper for our wide format plotter - ugh), I was super glad to be heading to the pool.  Husband was taking kids out to dinner so I was in no hurry to be anywhere.  I knocked out another 1900 yards (or so - I lost count daydreaming about the GPS watch so it is possible there was an extra 50 or so).  It took the greater part of an hour - so slow (about 2:18/100).  But I got it done.

I was pleased to come home to a check in the mail from a client.  Turned out that he had sent me a check in December that the postal service had lost.  Was glad I followed up on the accounts receivable in January - yay me!  That pretty much guarantees that tomorrow will be a run day.  I'm long overdue a Walmart/Central Bank 5K.  Will have to squeeze that in between our usual Saturday laundry and a lunch date with a friend who wants me to talk engineering stuff with her son who is heading to MS&T (Rolla, MO) in the fall.

So not a bad week with a little reverse triathlon.  How did your week of training go?

YTD:
Swimming = 3800 yds = 2.16 mi
Biking = 104.5 miles
Running = 47.3 miles



Sunday, February 3, 2013

@TeamVirtus #SuperCentury

Team Virtus never lets me down when I need a little motivation to get in a big workout.  Apparently Casey is the originator of the crazy idea of doing a metric century virtual trainer group ride on Super Bowl Sunday.  I wasn't in on the first one (last year), but decided I'd jump in when I got up and moving this morning (regretably a little on the late side). 

I had no real hope (desire?) of doing the full 62 miles, but I figured as long as others were suffering with me, I would try to gut it out.  I don't have a bike computer so my mileage is really a guess based on the fact that I ride somewhere between 13-14 mph on the road.  I kept the resistance about average - not too easy, not to tough.  Same with cadence.

And to join in on the social media fun, I finally joined Twitter so I could tweet my progress to the gang.  If you want to follow me, I'm @TriMOEngr.  Simple enough!  I'm not sure how much tweeting I'll do, but it is fun to follow friends and a few celebrities.  Need to read up on Twitter for Dummies though.  I have no idea what I am doing.

Tweeted this pic of myself (hard to take without forward facing
camera and while riding) at about 24 miles in -
Luke later tweeted that I looked too happy here.
Tweeted my not-so-awesome view along the way -
definitely way nicer scenery in "Ride the Divide"

There wasn't a lot of Twitter traffic during my three hours on the bike, but it was enough to keep me mildly entertained from time to time.  Gotta love hashtags like "thissucks" and "mytainthurtsready" (already?).  But otherwise, I passed the time watching two movies - the documentary "Ride the Divide" about the mountain bike race from Banff to the U.S./Mexico border (2700+ miles of insanity) followed by most of "Horrible Bosses".  The former was much better than the latter. 

Three hours (approximately 40 miles - almost as much as I rode altogether in Jan!) later, my lady parts were a little chafed and on the verge of numb, the area just above my knees was starting to complain and most of Team Virtus had to either leave for work (Luke) or was finished with their 62 miles.  They are all rock stars in my book - in case you couldn't tell.

Have a great Super Bowl everyone.  I might try to sneak in a short nap before guests get here.  We're expecting 25-30.  Good times.

YTD:
Swimming = 1900 yds = 1.08 mi
Biking = 88.0 miles
Running = 44.4 miles

Friday, February 1, 2013

Here Fishy, Fishy

After a long day of battling my way through my work, I was very tempted to blow off my planned pool workout.  But how can I be such a pussy when there are rock stars like IronDiva out there (pregnant even!) who are knocking out their workouts - sometimes two a day!  So I put on my big girl panties and drove to the ARC instead of going home.  And while my family waited an extra hour for me to come home and head out to dinner, I got it done. 

My first trip back to the pool in weeks.  Couldn't wuss out and go short so I tried to do the yards to mile math and rounded up.  By the way, I'm an engineer who is bad at mental math.  I came up with needing to knock out 38 laps at 50 yards each.  Boo-yah!  That is 1900 yards or 1.08 mile cause I'm an overachiever like that.  Can't say it didn't suck.  Can't say I didn't seriously think about lopping a few laps off.  Can't say I didn't wish there was music in my ears to make the black line boredom go by faster.  And can't say I won't feel it in my upper body tomorrow.  But can say I was really happy to be able to finally add to my YTD swim total.  Suck that Mr. Total Ticker!

YTD:
Swimming = 1900 yds = 1.08 mi
Biking = 48.0 miles
Running = 44.4 miles

Wind at our Backs

Yesterday, Susan and I negotiated a time/place to meet up for our usual Thursday outing.  But she texted me shortly before and said she was feeling kind of wimpy and wanted to go shorter.  The temps were in the low 30's (better than last week's 20's), but the wind was brutal.  Weather channel said 16 mph winds bringing a pretty fierce wind chill - felt like it was blowing even harder.  We had barely gone a tenth of a mile down the greenway when she said she didn't think she could do it and turned around to head back to our cars.  I was trying to figure out how I was going to make myself go back out alone. 

But the run back wasn't quite as bad without the wind in our faces.  So she suggested we drive to the other end of the route and run back where the wind would mostly be at our backs.  I wanted to get in a workout so I drove us over to County Park lake and we ran back to her car.  Coming up the hill from the lake we had that awful wind in our faces again, but soon we turned and had the cross-wind and shortly after that it was at our backs.  This made all the difference because I actually got kind of hot and sweaty once we turned.  It wasn't a terribly long run - right at a 5K, but better than nothing and great considering the conditions.

I finally have a plan to get to the pool today.  Kids are being picked up from school by neighbor, I'm working from my friend's office in Columbia all day and then will head over to the ARC later this afternoon before heading home.  I'm massively failing at this resolution/goal so today I'm going to try to turn that around.  And I'm behind on my biking too so this weekend I'm going to get on the trainer at least once - probably during Team Virtus's super (bowl) century.  Though I doubt my butt could take the pain that they are dishing out.

YTD:
Swimming = 0 yds (fixing that today)
Biking = 48.0 miles
Running = 44.4 miles