Tuesday morning I recommitted myself to training. I was still not "feeling the love", but trying to "fake it, til I made it". Then with a new goal, I decided it was time to get with it. Texted Stacy and asked about a run. Never heard back. Called - didn't hear back. Checked phone just before going out on my own and had a missed call (must have been while changing clothes). She said she'd go with me if I waited. So at our usual 8:30 PM start time (not ideal, but so much nicer to go with someone), we headed out towards Walmart. When I go with her it is a little over 5K (like 3.3 mi) because she makes me do the hill behind the store whereas when I run to go to the bank, I go in the front of the store and skip the hill. So check off another 3.3 miles towards my goal of 350.
Then today was supposed to be the warmest of the week and with highs the next couple of days in the 50's so I decided I'd better get my butt on the bike. I had invited a friend, but never heard back. Is my texting working? Oh well - on my own is ok too. I dawdled a little longer than I planned and left just a minute or so after six. I rode out to Taos and on through to the Hwy M/Hwy Y intersection before turning around because I was burning the last of the daylight. I passed the bank clock about 10 min to 7 and it said it was still 72°, but my knees felt cool (wore shorts). I'm thinking it was colder than that, but forgot to check my home thermometer when I came in. Was too anxious to map it because I didn't know how far it was. Turns out it was 17.1. I was kind of bummed because I felt like I pushed the pace a fair bit, but I guess with the hills (a couple monsters and some rollers) slowed me down (though I screamed back down them which I figured would average out). It took 1:15. I couldn't have ridden any longer. The bike light was glowing on the pavement pretty good by the last mile or two. I really need to leave closer to five if I am going to go very far (not to mention that the sun will set earlier each day). Not a lot of traffic even through town so that was nice. Had to yell at two dogs that weren't tied up, but such is life.
So my new YTD totals:
Swim: 13,200 yds / 25,000 (trying to figure out if I can get to the pool on Friday)
Bike: 637.3 mi / 1000
Run: 262.2 mi / 350 (meeting Susan on the Katy tomorrow after my haircut - yay!)
Absolutely promise to use up the last 3 pics on the disposable camera and drop it off to get developed tomorrow!
Wednesday, October 3, 2012
Tuesday, October 2, 2012
My New Goal - Thanks Kovas!
If you have read anything on this blog in the last several months (believe me - I just reread a fair bit of it), you will have noticed that I just haven't had that drive to train. It seems like it disappeared in the spring when it should have been going into hyper-mode. But this morning I was inspired to set a new goal to keep me going at least through the end of this year. It will likely fit well with doing the Holiday Bootie Buster Challenge (hoping Amanda at Run to the Finish does this again).
I was reading Kovas's post found here about him working to meet the goals of running 1000 miles and biking 1000 miles in 2012. And I laughed at Bob's suggestion that he should include swimming that mileage too. But it got me to wondering how far I've actually gone this year. I track most of my workouts right here on my blog so it just took sitting down and skimming through posts to add up the numbers. What I found was that I had ran way more than someone who claims not to be a runner should have and I have seriously been going longer and longer on my bike. I've been a bit of a pool slacker, but what better than a little self challenge to get that back on track?
So here are my current YTD (as of 10/2/12) stats the best I can come up with:
SWIM: 13,200 yards (give or take - several workouts the laps weren't counted so I used some averages based on how long I said that I was in the pool)
BIKE : 620.2 miles (what was most impressive to me was how few of these rides were under 15 miles when last year my LONGEST ride was about that)
RUN: 258.9 miles (I ran very few of these solo which is probably what made a big difference, but I was blown away by the number of times I drug my ass out the door to get this done)
MISC WORKOUTS: 27 (P90X DVDs, Just Dance, AbRipperX, Pole Class) - Winter sometimes requires indoor workouts and when Stacy and I want to sweat, this works for us in a pinch.
Earlier this year, I did the Iron distance over the course of four weeks. Kovas says there are 14 weeks left. So I did some averaging and rounding to pretty numbers and came up with a new goal. Anyone who knows me knows that this Type A gal really needs a goal. My new goal (drumroll please) is to finish the year with the following stats:
SWIM: 25,000 yards (averaging just 843/week - I usually do a min of 1000 each trip to the pool so I just need to make it once/week and I'll exceed this goal, but no slacking and skipping. Funny though - it is only 14.2 miles total. Can't imagine trying to swim 1000 miles - ouch!)
BIKE: 1000 miles (averaging just over 27 mi/week - it shouldn't be hard to do two short or one long workout each week to get to this - plus it would be cool if I could do the same amount of total biking as Kovas! Maybe we can keep each other honest.)
RUN: 350 miles (averaging just over 10K/week - one long or two short runs each week should be doable. Plus there are a lot of 5Ks this time of year so I may just race to train.)
MISC WORKOUTS: Unless weather becomes an issue, I don't plan to spend a lot of time on these. But I know my core and some of my stabilizer muscles could use some work so my goal is to get in 13 more of these - about one/week - I like round numbers though so my end goal is 40.
Well within my capabilities, but enough of a stretch to get me off the couch on the days that I'd rather not go. I may try to front load some of the bike time given the fact that Nov and Dec may start getting dicey as far as weather, but otherwise I'll aim for the weekly averages. Yay - so happy to have a plan of attack! I can feel the mental funk cloud lifting already.
I was reading Kovas's post found here about him working to meet the goals of running 1000 miles and biking 1000 miles in 2012. And I laughed at Bob's suggestion that he should include swimming that mileage too. But it got me to wondering how far I've actually gone this year. I track most of my workouts right here on my blog so it just took sitting down and skimming through posts to add up the numbers. What I found was that I had ran way more than someone who claims not to be a runner should have and I have seriously been going longer and longer on my bike. I've been a bit of a pool slacker, but what better than a little self challenge to get that back on track?
So here are my current YTD (as of 10/2/12) stats the best I can come up with:
SWIM: 13,200 yards (give or take - several workouts the laps weren't counted so I used some averages based on how long I said that I was in the pool)
BIKE : 620.2 miles (what was most impressive to me was how few of these rides were under 15 miles when last year my LONGEST ride was about that)
RUN: 258.9 miles (I ran very few of these solo which is probably what made a big difference, but I was blown away by the number of times I drug my ass out the door to get this done)
MISC WORKOUTS: 27 (P90X DVDs, Just Dance, AbRipperX, Pole Class) - Winter sometimes requires indoor workouts and when Stacy and I want to sweat, this works for us in a pinch.
Earlier this year, I did the Iron distance over the course of four weeks. Kovas says there are 14 weeks left. So I did some averaging and rounding to pretty numbers and came up with a new goal. Anyone who knows me knows that this Type A gal really needs a goal. My new goal (drumroll please) is to finish the year with the following stats:
SWIM: 25,000 yards (averaging just 843/week - I usually do a min of 1000 each trip to the pool so I just need to make it once/week and I'll exceed this goal, but no slacking and skipping. Funny though - it is only 14.2 miles total. Can't imagine trying to swim 1000 miles - ouch!)
BIKE: 1000 miles (averaging just over 27 mi/week - it shouldn't be hard to do two short or one long workout each week to get to this - plus it would be cool if I could do the same amount of total biking as Kovas! Maybe we can keep each other honest.)
RUN: 350 miles (averaging just over 10K/week - one long or two short runs each week should be doable. Plus there are a lot of 5Ks this time of year so I may just race to train.)
MISC WORKOUTS: Unless weather becomes an issue, I don't plan to spend a lot of time on these. But I know my core and some of my stabilizer muscles could use some work so my goal is to get in 13 more of these - about one/week - I like round numbers though so my end goal is 40.
Well within my capabilities, but enough of a stretch to get me off the couch on the days that I'd rather not go. I may try to front load some of the bike time given the fact that Nov and Dec may start getting dicey as far as weather, but otherwise I'll aim for the weekly averages. Yay - so happy to have a plan of attack! I can feel the mental funk cloud lifting already.
Sunday, September 30, 2012
Fake it 'til you Make It
I've been spending some mental energy trying to find my way back into a training routine and have pretty much come to the conclusion that I just need to use this mantra for now: "Fake it 'til you make it". In other words, even after slacking around most of the month of September - I don't really feel the mojo coming back. I'm not really "missing" training. But my scale has seen a little upward creep (just a couple lbs, but I don't like the trend). And I think the mental funk is a vicious circle with the lack of training not really helping.
I happen to know that this philosophy has worked for me in other areas of my life in the past. Throughout college, I had a lot of doubt as to my ability to get through it. But I always pictured those four years as a torrential rain storm that you just had to duck your head down and charge through. Fake that those doubts weren't there until I proved to myself that they were unfounded. And then after our kids were born, let's just say that we had kind of lost that loving feeling. I tried seeing a counselor that was offered through our employee assistance program in hopes of finding some coping strategies for how overwhelmed I felt most of the time. He was completely clueless (note to self - don't ask a male counselor with how to cope with being a working mom). But while I was on the verge of calling it quits, I decided to fake it for a little while and hope that things would get easier as our babies grew - which for the most part turned out to be true. I'm glad I didn't let a little downswing in the cycle of married life be the end of it.
So for now, I'm going to set a goal to get in 3-4 workouts a week and just pretend to myself that I am enjoying them. Usually, I am glad I did it (whatever the workout is) once it is over. And I know from last year that as I see progress in my abilities, that reinforces my positive feelings towards workouts. And I know that with more excercise, my moods on all fronts should even out a little which will make me a happier person in general.
So the other day I texted my "bike dad" Walter and set up a ride for this morning. He needed to go pretty early and it was only 50°, but it worked out fine. I dressed for it and only noticed the cold on my ears and nose. We did a 23 mile loop around Jefferson City with plenty of hills to "build character" (his words). I was sucking wind after almost no biking this month. But I hung in there and "faked it" enough to finish.
We had stayed up late last night at a 40th birthday party for a couple friends. Thankfully, I chose not to drink so I wasn't hungover, but a nap was in order. The weather warmed into the 70s and after napping, my husband and I took a walk for a couple miles around the neighborhood. Hope that keeps me from being quite so sore tomorrow. I have a super long day on tap with trying to prep a set of preliminary street plans for presentation to the City Aldermen on a project about an hour from here. So tomorrow I'll give myself a rest day, but I'll have to see if Stacy wants to run on Tue night to continue my "faking it". If she can't, I'll just have to do it anyway and pretend I'm enjoying it.
I happen to know that this philosophy has worked for me in other areas of my life in the past. Throughout college, I had a lot of doubt as to my ability to get through it. But I always pictured those four years as a torrential rain storm that you just had to duck your head down and charge through. Fake that those doubts weren't there until I proved to myself that they were unfounded. And then after our kids were born, let's just say that we had kind of lost that loving feeling. I tried seeing a counselor that was offered through our employee assistance program in hopes of finding some coping strategies for how overwhelmed I felt most of the time. He was completely clueless (note to self - don't ask a male counselor with how to cope with being a working mom). But while I was on the verge of calling it quits, I decided to fake it for a little while and hope that things would get easier as our babies grew - which for the most part turned out to be true. I'm glad I didn't let a little downswing in the cycle of married life be the end of it.
So for now, I'm going to set a goal to get in 3-4 workouts a week and just pretend to myself that I am enjoying them. Usually, I am glad I did it (whatever the workout is) once it is over. And I know from last year that as I see progress in my abilities, that reinforces my positive feelings towards workouts. And I know that with more excercise, my moods on all fronts should even out a little which will make me a happier person in general.
So the other day I texted my "bike dad" Walter and set up a ride for this morning. He needed to go pretty early and it was only 50°, but it worked out fine. I dressed for it and only noticed the cold on my ears and nose. We did a 23 mile loop around Jefferson City with plenty of hills to "build character" (his words). I was sucking wind after almost no biking this month. But I hung in there and "faked it" enough to finish.
We had stayed up late last night at a 40th birthday party for a couple friends. Thankfully, I chose not to drink so I wasn't hungover, but a nap was in order. The weather warmed into the 70s and after napping, my husband and I took a walk for a couple miles around the neighborhood. Hope that keeps me from being quite so sore tomorrow. I have a super long day on tap with trying to prep a set of preliminary street plans for presentation to the City Aldermen on a project about an hour from here. So tomorrow I'll give myself a rest day, but I'll have to see if Stacy wants to run on Tue night to continue my "faking it". If she can't, I'll just have to do it anyway and pretend I'm enjoying it.
Monday, September 24, 2012
Finding my Happy Place?
What is with me? Last summer I was totally on board. I did most of the workouts in the "Just a Slice Above a Couch Potato" training plan and finished my first two sprint triathlons. Then I continued on through the winter with mostly getting in weekly S/B/R workouts (until the cold got the better of me and I tried to build my running up while letting biking mostly go). With the mild winter, I managed to get back on the bike and get a bit more consistent in the pool by completing CTER's 140.6 between mid-Feb and mid-March. With the purchase of my new-to-me road bike, I ramped up to doing longer bike rides. But there were signs. The wheels were coming off the rails as I approached the race season.
Somewhere along the way, I ran out of training mojo. I managed to finish my first duathlon in April with only two actual brick workouts. Then I was kind of hit or miss through the busy times surrounding the end of school and trying to find my way through my first summer of having both kids home. But I still managed to hang in there with at least a few workouts to prep for two more sprint tri's. While I had major improvements from my 2011 races, I wasn't feeling the love and could never really make myself to commit to the "what's next" races that I was browsing.
Part of me wonders if it is because I had started to feel a bit more complacent - the victim of "good enough". My weight was out of the "morbidly obese" category and was hanging pretty stable in the low 160's without a lot of "effort". I was a little faster (though still at the back of the pack) and had a little more endurance (never really felt like I couldn't do what I set out to do). I was still occassionally heading out for a long bike ride or a long run with friends - odd when nearly all my training in 2011 was done solo. Compare 2011 when my husband lacked faith in my ability to finish my first tri, I set out to prove him wrong - to in 2012 when he lacked faith that I could finish anything longer and I let him convince me it was so.
I still feel so inspired by the bloggers that have conquered the various triathlon race distances. But I'm not in the frame of mind to know what I want to work towards. Do I want to someday do an Ironman? I'm not sure. It seems so far out of the realm of reality right now. But maybe I need some kind of super big hairy ass goal to motivate me (though probably not THAT hairy). Maybe I need something to push me out of that comfort zone. I don't know what it will take for me to find my "happy place" with regards to my training (or other areas of my life too). Struggling a bit with it all right now.
But I don't want to be sitting here in a year still wishing I had done more. I don't want to be sitting in the same 5 lb range of weight (or worse yet - having gone back up any). I don't want to be still searching for my "happy place". So I need to come up with a course of action and start down the path. Even if I take some wrong turns along the way, I want to break out of this mental rut.
I'll probably do a few 5k's this fall, but probably more along the lines of "racing to train" than anything. Races are fun and most of the 5K's benefit some kind of charity. But I need to figure out how to recommit myself and get on some kind of plan, working towards some kind of goal. I seem to need that. Lots of things to think on.
Side note: I have the disposable camera from the Epic Mud Run and the Prison Break ready to get developed. I'll do a proper race report and picture dump soon. SuperKate had the best report on the Prison Break though so if you don't follow her already - go over there and check it out!
Want to give a shout out to my running friend Susan who finished her first half marathon this weekend. Another source of inspiration right here with me! I can't wait for our next run to hear all about it.
Somewhere along the way, I ran out of training mojo. I managed to finish my first duathlon in April with only two actual brick workouts. Then I was kind of hit or miss through the busy times surrounding the end of school and trying to find my way through my first summer of having both kids home. But I still managed to hang in there with at least a few workouts to prep for two more sprint tri's. While I had major improvements from my 2011 races, I wasn't feeling the love and could never really make myself to commit to the "what's next" races that I was browsing.
Part of me wonders if it is because I had started to feel a bit more complacent - the victim of "good enough". My weight was out of the "morbidly obese" category and was hanging pretty stable in the low 160's without a lot of "effort". I was a little faster (though still at the back of the pack) and had a little more endurance (never really felt like I couldn't do what I set out to do). I was still occassionally heading out for a long bike ride or a long run with friends - odd when nearly all my training in 2011 was done solo. Compare 2011 when my husband lacked faith in my ability to finish my first tri, I set out to prove him wrong - to in 2012 when he lacked faith that I could finish anything longer and I let him convince me it was so.
I still feel so inspired by the bloggers that have conquered the various triathlon race distances. But I'm not in the frame of mind to know what I want to work towards. Do I want to someday do an Ironman? I'm not sure. It seems so far out of the realm of reality right now. But maybe I need some kind of super big hairy ass goal to motivate me (though probably not THAT hairy). Maybe I need something to push me out of that comfort zone. I don't know what it will take for me to find my "happy place" with regards to my training (or other areas of my life too). Struggling a bit with it all right now.
But I don't want to be sitting here in a year still wishing I had done more. I don't want to be sitting in the same 5 lb range of weight (or worse yet - having gone back up any). I don't want to be still searching for my "happy place". So I need to come up with a course of action and start down the path. Even if I take some wrong turns along the way, I want to break out of this mental rut.
I'll probably do a few 5k's this fall, but probably more along the lines of "racing to train" than anything. Races are fun and most of the 5K's benefit some kind of charity. But I need to figure out how to recommit myself and get on some kind of plan, working towards some kind of goal. I seem to need that. Lots of things to think on.
Side note: I have the disposable camera from the Epic Mud Run and the Prison Break ready to get developed. I'll do a proper race report and picture dump soon. SuperKate had the best report on the Prison Break though so if you don't follow her already - go over there and check it out!
Want to give a shout out to my running friend Susan who finished her first half marathon this weekend. Another source of inspiration right here with me! I can't wait for our next run to hear all about it.
Wednesday, September 12, 2012
Night Run
So after a long day of getting almost everything done except the million and one things that I really needed to get done, I rushed home from the office (ok, not technically "my" office - the surveyor's office) and got home just in time to miss out on the housework (oops) and catch the tail end of a paltry dinner (frozen pizza) and rush back out the door to take my daughter to Brownies where I got conned into taking on a FOUR-badge booklet on the Wonders of Water (in OneHourIronman language - my "bailiwick" so I guess all will be ok).
But also while at Brownies, Stacy called and I reluctantly agreed to go for a jog at 8:30 - this being the only time she ever seems to break away from her own household/mom duties to go. Put on my neon/reflective shirt and away we went into the night. Mostly on sidewalk and in my relatively quiet neighborhood for a little over 3 miles (same as Sunday).
We got to talking and I am curious - weigh in all you nerdy number people. Do you think you burn the same total calories (energy) to cover 3 miles regardless if you are running or walking. Now I realize that if you are a speed demon - you might do this in 20 min and if you are a slow ass walker it might take you 45-50 min. But in the end, aren't you moving your mass (a constant for this scenario) from one point to another (distance constant again) - so shouldn't the work to accomplish this be equal if you don't regard the time it takes? So I plugged it into my Sparkpeople app and it turns out that no - going three miles at 10 min/mile (trust me this would be my all out run pace) should burn around 372 cal vs. three miles walking at 15 min/mile would burn around 251 calories (this may be using the stats I gave it for my age, weight and sex to figure so just go with me on the numbers). The first scenario would take 30 min and one would take 45 min. My theory is that it shouldn't matter, but then I pulled my really geek move and looked into my Physics book for the definition of "work"= Force x distance; and we all know that F=ma (Force = mass x acceleration). But my mass stayed constant and my distance is constant - so it must be in the acceleration (though in my examples I assume a "constant velocity" in each scenario so is my a = g (acceleration due to gravity))?
My husband thinks this is why I should NOT spend the money on a fancy Garmin sports watch. He thinks the engiNERD brain wouldn't be able to contain itself with all that data to analyze. I mean, look at the tangent I can end up on over a simple 3 mi walk/jog. Anyone think my husband is right?
Tomorrow I'm off to do some field work (surveying should always be done when it is supposed to be nice out). Probably take another couple of workout rest days so I'm ready to do the Prison Break on Saturday! Gotta hit the showers! Good night!
But also while at Brownies, Stacy called and I reluctantly agreed to go for a jog at 8:30 - this being the only time she ever seems to break away from her own household/mom duties to go. Put on my neon/reflective shirt and away we went into the night. Mostly on sidewalk and in my relatively quiet neighborhood for a little over 3 miles (same as Sunday).
We got to talking and I am curious - weigh in all you nerdy number people. Do you think you burn the same total calories (energy) to cover 3 miles regardless if you are running or walking. Now I realize that if you are a speed demon - you might do this in 20 min and if you are a slow ass walker it might take you 45-50 min. But in the end, aren't you moving your mass (a constant for this scenario) from one point to another (distance constant again) - so shouldn't the work to accomplish this be equal if you don't regard the time it takes? So I plugged it into my Sparkpeople app and it turns out that no - going three miles at 10 min/mile (trust me this would be my all out run pace) should burn around 372 cal vs. three miles walking at 15 min/mile would burn around 251 calories (this may be using the stats I gave it for my age, weight and sex to figure so just go with me on the numbers). The first scenario would take 30 min and one would take 45 min. My theory is that it shouldn't matter, but then I pulled my really geek move and looked into my Physics book for the definition of "work"= Force x distance; and we all know that F=ma (Force = mass x acceleration). But my mass stayed constant and my distance is constant - so it must be in the acceleration (though in my examples I assume a "constant velocity" in each scenario so is my a = g (acceleration due to gravity))?
My husband thinks this is why I should NOT spend the money on a fancy Garmin sports watch. He thinks the engiNERD brain wouldn't be able to contain itself with all that data to analyze. I mean, look at the tangent I can end up on over a simple 3 mi walk/jog. Anyone think my husband is right?
Tomorrow I'm off to do some field work (surveying should always be done when it is supposed to be nice out). Probably take another couple of workout rest days so I'm ready to do the Prison Break on Saturday! Gotta hit the showers! Good night!
Sunday, September 9, 2012
Weekend Workouts
The weather in Missouri this weekend was amazing. My idea of just about perfect (save some wind) - 70's, sunny. Saturday we went to the Labor Day parade (no idea why it is always the weekend AFTER Labor Day) and actually had to move to a sunny spot in order not to be a little chilly. Fall is slowly creeping into the air (not to worry - my luck is that it will get super hot at least once more). Then my daughter went to a sleepover and I kind of kicked back watching "Prison Break" (TV Show) on Netflix. Oops. Killed a perfectly good biking afternoon (though watching my flag stand out straight made me less anxious to jump on my bike).
So after a quick trip to McD's for dinner (don't even get me started on how far off the rails my eating is), I decided to suck it up and go for a ride. I decided to try to see what kind of pace I could get with a moderately hard effort for 45 min-hour. I did a little over 15 miles in 1:02. Pretty solid for me since I included 3 decent hills and one monster hill in there. I did three interchange/Scholastic loops so there were plenty of flat miles in there too, but a solid ride. And I felt it a little when I got out of bed this morning.
But another beautiful day dawned and, after mass, I mostly wasted it reading a good book and stalking a friend that was doing IMWI (his first). The pics his wife put up on FB and his splits had me cheering like a crazy person in front of my screen. His final time of 10:33.03 just had me stunned - and even that is placing 24th in his super speedy age group. So proud of him as I know he has been working hard. Ever inspired by anyone who can run a 8 min/mile once much less 26.2 times after a huge ass bike ride and long ass swim, I texted Stacy to see if she could go for a jog tonight.
Weather continued beautiful today and the kids played outside a ton. Bill grilled us some pork chops for dinner and 8:30 was here before I knew it. Threw on my running clothes right before she came and we headed out for 3.5 miles around my neighborhood (in the pitch dark, but there are some street lights - one of which is broken grrr). Nothing crazy fast, but a workout nonetheless.
I did decide to sign up for the Prison Break next weekend. I wish I hadn't thrown my mud run shoes away this week. Grr...totally wasn't thinking on that one. (big "L" on forehead) Will have to see which shoes I'm going to sacrifice this time. Totally stoked to hang with some of the Team Virtus folks and of course their best member Superkate! Yay!! I also have half of a disposable camera to use up on the course so I can share pics of both last weekend and next.
So after a quick trip to McD's for dinner (don't even get me started on how far off the rails my eating is), I decided to suck it up and go for a ride. I decided to try to see what kind of pace I could get with a moderately hard effort for 45 min-hour. I did a little over 15 miles in 1:02. Pretty solid for me since I included 3 decent hills and one monster hill in there. I did three interchange/Scholastic loops so there were plenty of flat miles in there too, but a solid ride. And I felt it a little when I got out of bed this morning.
But another beautiful day dawned and, after mass, I mostly wasted it reading a good book and stalking a friend that was doing IMWI (his first). The pics his wife put up on FB and his splits had me cheering like a crazy person in front of my screen. His final time of 10:33.03 just had me stunned - and even that is placing 24th in his super speedy age group. So proud of him as I know he has been working hard. Ever inspired by anyone who can run a 8 min/mile once much less 26.2 times after a huge ass bike ride and long ass swim, I texted Stacy to see if she could go for a jog tonight.
Weather continued beautiful today and the kids played outside a ton. Bill grilled us some pork chops for dinner and 8:30 was here before I knew it. Threw on my running clothes right before she came and we headed out for 3.5 miles around my neighborhood (in the pitch dark, but there are some street lights - one of which is broken grrr). Nothing crazy fast, but a workout nonetheless.
I did decide to sign up for the Prison Break next weekend. I wish I hadn't thrown my mud run shoes away this week. Grr...totally wasn't thinking on that one. (big "L" on forehead) Will have to see which shoes I'm going to sacrifice this time. Totally stoked to hang with some of the Team Virtus folks and of course their best member Superkate! Yay!! I also have half of a disposable camera to use up on the course so I can share pics of both last weekend and next.
Friday, September 7, 2012
More Book Reviews
I've continued to get most of my books from one of the two public libraries in my area (Jeff City and Columbia). I've read most of the books that are running/triathlon related from the Jeff City library so I ventured out a bit earlier in the summer. That is how I ended up starting the Twilight series in June. I couldn't wait to go back to the library so I ended up borrowing the 2nd-4th books from my sis-in-law. I also read portions of some Dave Ramsey books. I think we already subscribe to a lot of his philosophies that I didn't find them that interesting. Seems like it is written to be read by those desparately to dig out from a financial mess. My husband is a big fan though and hijacked two of the books and seemed to enjoy them more.
So instead I dug into an enjoyable book by Tim Russert called "Wisdom of our Fathers". After the release of his book "Big Russ and Me", he apparently received a lot of letters from people about their dads and things they they learned from them. He whittled them down into this compilation. They were divided into broad categories based on the type of lesson (and even type of dad) with a short commentary by Russert in each section. Some of the stories were funny - most were touching. I read this shortly after the 2 year anniversary of my father's passing so it probably touched me more than if I had read it when it had come out in 2005. I recommend this if you need a good gift for your dad.
Like my training, my reading was a bit hit or miss, but I also read (warning - I may have a bit of a Lance Armstrong fetish going on):
"How Lance Does It: Put the Success Formula of a Champion into Everything You Do" by Brad Kearns - I only read about half of this pretty short book. It read more like a "self help/business" book. In other words, it was kind of dry. Though some of the stories from people who've had brief encounters with Lance Armstrong were cute - I didn't think the book offered that much about being successful and thought the lines drawn between obvious things (like "hard work") and Lance Armstrong specifically were a bit weak. I finally gave up when it came due at the library after yet another renewal went by without me finishing it.
"Lance Armstrong's War" by Daniel Coyle - I took this book on face value without real consideration to the latest in the Lance saga. Mostly I thought this book painted Lance Armstrong as a fierce competitor who worked with experts to maximize his power to weight ratio, put in insane training hours on tough terrain and then assembled the best team around himself to ensure the TdF wins even while being dogged by "the trolls" trying to find any shred of evidence that he cheated his way to his wins. I thought it also added some interesting background on some of his competitors, teammates and former girlfriend Sheryl Crow. Like Armstrong's book "It's Not About the Bike", I liked the in depth look at what goes into preparing for and racing the TdF.
"Every Second Counts" by Lance Armstrong - I had admitted that after I read "It's Not About the Bike", I was anxious to read the "rest of the story". I enjoyed the sequal almost as much as the first book. I didn't feel that it was quite as in depth on the personal side, but I'm sure some of that comes with the celebrity. While he hints about the reasons for the demise of his marriage, he definitely skipped some gory details and painted his ex as a good mom who was in a pretty impossible situation and tried to make the best of it. He hits some of the same highlights as the first book talking about the journey of life that is the same for all of us - to make every second count because you never know when you won't have another. I did find it annoying when he quoted himself though (quotes from first book). The latter part of the book had some in depth coverage of training and racing the TdF again that was enjoyable and interesting to contrast with Coyle's book.
"No Mountain High Enough: Raising Lance. Raising Me." by Linda Armstrong Kelly - There were parts of this book that were redundant to the other books, but this really was more of Linda's personal story. Obviously as a young, single mother, her life was inextricably intertwined with her son's and thus the overlap, but there was a lot more about what led her to make various choices (good and bad). She talks a lot about her career decisions and how she moved up through the same work ethic she modeled for her son - if you want something, go out and get it. Find a solution to whatever is in your way. I think this would be inspiring to any young woman. She tells her story with a lot of insight on the lessons she learned along the way.
"Grace to Race" by Sr. Madonna Buder (aka "Iron Nun") - this book had an interesting story both about how this woman answered the Lord's call to service as well as how she became a runner and triathlete in the last 30 or so years - in what many would have treated as their "twilight" years. The first half of the book focuses more on her personal journey to becoming and serving as a nun. This part was well written and interesting. The more that the story got into her various athletic achievements (and array of injuries - geez!), the more scattered I felt like the writing became. It was still an interesting story, just harder to get into a "flow" of the reading. I checked up on her and at age 82, she recently became the oldest female (person?) to complete an Ironman (Canada 2012). Pretty freakin' cool! Such an inspiration!
"Courage to Start" by John "the Penguin" Bingham - I only finished about half of this book and there was a hold on it so I could renew it. I thought it terribly belabored this "courage" thing. While I liked that it encourages all of us (even the slow as shit ones) to get out there and do it - I think I subscribe a bit more to the "SUAR" approach. Maybe the book would have been more appealing to me before I just made the decision to "do it", but only a few times have I worried about being the "penguin". Most of the time I am able to focus on just being happy to be out there doing what I used to not be able to do.
I've started reading a book on Total Immersion swimming (though I suspect I'll need to check out the DVD to really "get" it). Of course it would also help to actually GO to the pool to work on my swimming - ugh. Meant to go today, but worked until too late. I've also started Jeff Horowitz's book about his first 100 marathons. So far, so good.
Still trying to get my hands on Chrissie Wellington's book - Columbia library has it, but so far I haven't bothered to put in a request for it. My son just finished with his copy of the Hunger Games (and already blew threw his school's copy of the 2nd HG book and is on to the 3rd). Any others that I shouldn't miss?
So instead I dug into an enjoyable book by Tim Russert called "Wisdom of our Fathers". After the release of his book "Big Russ and Me", he apparently received a lot of letters from people about their dads and things they they learned from them. He whittled them down into this compilation. They were divided into broad categories based on the type of lesson (and even type of dad) with a short commentary by Russert in each section. Some of the stories were funny - most were touching. I read this shortly after the 2 year anniversary of my father's passing so it probably touched me more than if I had read it when it had come out in 2005. I recommend this if you need a good gift for your dad.
Like my training, my reading was a bit hit or miss, but I also read (warning - I may have a bit of a Lance Armstrong fetish going on):
"How Lance Does It: Put the Success Formula of a Champion into Everything You Do" by Brad Kearns - I only read about half of this pretty short book. It read more like a "self help/business" book. In other words, it was kind of dry. Though some of the stories from people who've had brief encounters with Lance Armstrong were cute - I didn't think the book offered that much about being successful and thought the lines drawn between obvious things (like "hard work") and Lance Armstrong specifically were a bit weak. I finally gave up when it came due at the library after yet another renewal went by without me finishing it.
"Lance Armstrong's War" by Daniel Coyle - I took this book on face value without real consideration to the latest in the Lance saga. Mostly I thought this book painted Lance Armstrong as a fierce competitor who worked with experts to maximize his power to weight ratio, put in insane training hours on tough terrain and then assembled the best team around himself to ensure the TdF wins even while being dogged by "the trolls" trying to find any shred of evidence that he cheated his way to his wins. I thought it also added some interesting background on some of his competitors, teammates and former girlfriend Sheryl Crow. Like Armstrong's book "It's Not About the Bike", I liked the in depth look at what goes into preparing for and racing the TdF.
"Every Second Counts" by Lance Armstrong - I had admitted that after I read "It's Not About the Bike", I was anxious to read the "rest of the story". I enjoyed the sequal almost as much as the first book. I didn't feel that it was quite as in depth on the personal side, but I'm sure some of that comes with the celebrity. While he hints about the reasons for the demise of his marriage, he definitely skipped some gory details and painted his ex as a good mom who was in a pretty impossible situation and tried to make the best of it. He hits some of the same highlights as the first book talking about the journey of life that is the same for all of us - to make every second count because you never know when you won't have another. I did find it annoying when he quoted himself though (quotes from first book). The latter part of the book had some in depth coverage of training and racing the TdF again that was enjoyable and interesting to contrast with Coyle's book.
"No Mountain High Enough: Raising Lance. Raising Me." by Linda Armstrong Kelly - There were parts of this book that were redundant to the other books, but this really was more of Linda's personal story. Obviously as a young, single mother, her life was inextricably intertwined with her son's and thus the overlap, but there was a lot more about what led her to make various choices (good and bad). She talks a lot about her career decisions and how she moved up through the same work ethic she modeled for her son - if you want something, go out and get it. Find a solution to whatever is in your way. I think this would be inspiring to any young woman. She tells her story with a lot of insight on the lessons she learned along the way.
"Grace to Race" by Sr. Madonna Buder (aka "Iron Nun") - this book had an interesting story both about how this woman answered the Lord's call to service as well as how she became a runner and triathlete in the last 30 or so years - in what many would have treated as their "twilight" years. The first half of the book focuses more on her personal journey to becoming and serving as a nun. This part was well written and interesting. The more that the story got into her various athletic achievements (and array of injuries - geez!), the more scattered I felt like the writing became. It was still an interesting story, just harder to get into a "flow" of the reading. I checked up on her and at age 82, she recently became the oldest female (person?) to complete an Ironman (Canada 2012). Pretty freakin' cool! Such an inspiration!
"Courage to Start" by John "the Penguin" Bingham - I only finished about half of this book and there was a hold on it so I could renew it. I thought it terribly belabored this "courage" thing. While I liked that it encourages all of us (even the slow as shit ones) to get out there and do it - I think I subscribe a bit more to the "SUAR" approach. Maybe the book would have been more appealing to me before I just made the decision to "do it", but only a few times have I worried about being the "penguin". Most of the time I am able to focus on just being happy to be out there doing what I used to not be able to do.
I've started reading a book on Total Immersion swimming (though I suspect I'll need to check out the DVD to really "get" it). Of course it would also help to actually GO to the pool to work on my swimming - ugh. Meant to go today, but worked until too late. I've also started Jeff Horowitz's book about his first 100 marathons. So far, so good.
Still trying to get my hands on Chrissie Wellington's book - Columbia library has it, but so far I haven't bothered to put in a request for it. My son just finished with his copy of the Hunger Games (and already blew threw his school's copy of the 2nd HG book and is on to the 3rd). Any others that I shouldn't miss?
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