Winter Wonderland

 

It's March 31st, but no one bothered to tell the weather...
Needless to say, I did not bike to my weight training class today, since there was about 6 inches (15cm) of fresh snow. Plus, it's pretty darn cold out there (even now, at 5 pm, it's still cold).

In fact, my weight training class didn't really happen because the instructor was really late, so I racewalked in the basement of HPER instead of lifting weights. I did 12 laps, or 3.6 miles, at an easyish pace (pushed a little, but not too much) in 38 minutes.

Ugh... more snow

Supposed to get a few inches of the white stuff tomorrow morning, so I don't think I'll be biking in to my weight training class tomorrow morning. Sigh. I really enjoy biking and it was nice to do it again last week.

Guess I'll just do my usual racewalking warm up instead.

Easy one hour racewalk

This morning I did an easy one hour walk; after yesterday's 14-miler, I didn't want to push either the pace or the distance. It was lightly drizzling but I stayed warm and dry in my Wasatch Walkers jacket, my hat, and my gloves. The dogs got pretty wet, but they didn't seem to mind.

I did 8.72km in about 1 hr.

Tomorrow I'll do a little cross-training; biking if weather permits, and weight training.

Long walk

Today I did the longest training racewalk for my half marathon, which is in 3 weeks. I did 14.1 miles in 2 hr 40 min, for 11:20 per mile average pace. I took it easy, with an average heart rate of 135. I was pretty tired by the end, and my legs are stiff now that I have been home for a while, but I feel good overall. I was able to do some quicker miles near the end; I did just over 11:00 miles in Liberty Park at miles 11 and 12 or so, with no problems.

My dogs came along, of course, and they did great. Dogs are obviously much better at this sort of thing than people :). They're tired now, though, and are sleeping.

Today was the longest walk I have ever done! I know that it's not that long for the marathoner and ultramarathoner types, but for me it was a big deal. It was about 22.6 km, by the way. I have new respect for just how hard it is to go that far, after this walk. I really can't imagine doing another 12 miles, but I think that is just what I am going to do in October. I'm contemplating doing the Nike Women's Marathon in SF with Team in Training, to raise money for the Leukemia & Lymphoma Society. My dad was diagnosed with chronic lymphocytic leukemia in December 2006, so I want to do something to benefit research into the disease as well as support of patients with the disease.

***

In other news, I managed to take off a little weight this week! Yay! I feel good and back on track with my eating, despite Easter. I was very diligent to count all of those chocolate eggs I ate :). Last night Loren and I went on a date, and hung out at the bookstore and had coffee and dessert. He got an amazing piece of chocolate cake, and I restrained myself and had a rice krispy treat instead. I did eat 3 very small bites of his cake :) but the rice krispy treat was great, too, and I didn't feel deprived. Victory!!!

Flaked, but didn't

I flaked on my workout this morning, but I didn't. I woke a little late and it was too cold (26) to bike to weight training as I'd been doing earlier in the week, and so I decided to racewalk instead, since I missed yesterday's planned workout.

I did 4 miles at 1/2 marathon pace. Nice & brisk 10:15 miles, and a shorter workout since I plan a long easy distance (14 miles!!!) tomorrow (that will be my longest workout before the 1/2).

***

In related news, my iPod informs me I have burned 156389 calories and racewalked/run (I did include my running, which is infrequent) for 10.6 days since November 2006 when I got the Nike+iPod sport kit. 156389 calories/3500 calories per pound = 44.7 pounds that is NOT on my hips :). Or, I got to eat the equivalent of 601 packages of Reese's Peanut Butter Cups (my favorite candy!) because I worked out. That is a lot more food that I have enjoyed because of my exercising habit! :)

Snowy daffodil

 

Spring snow on hyacinth

 

Slugging it

Monday & Wed I biked to weight training and had a great workout. No racewalking.

Today I am totally slugging it. I am taking a rare rest day because I stayed up WAY too late (3 am) working on photo books. There were 2 good sales at Shutterfly and Winkflash, and I had to get the books done before the deadlines. I actually missed the Shutterfly deadline by 2 minutes, and it was for a FREE book so I was really bummed. I e-mailed customer support and they actually let me slide :). Whew! The Winkflash deadline is today, but at 1 am I was so paranoid that I'd screw it up somehow that I stayed up to 3 am to finish that book too. Stupid... oh well. So I only got 3 1/2 hours of sleep, because I woke at 6:30 am and could not fall back asleep (I usually get up about 5:45 am, and my body just does NOT do the sleeping in thing anymore). I probably should have gone to work out, but I thought it was probably too late to get back before the kids became a problem, so I stayed in bed.

Oh well. One day missed won't kill me and is probably a good thing. Except for that Easter candy I've been eating, and the fact that I still can't take off those last 2-3 lbs I put on a few weeks ago. But you know what? It's a lifetime journey, and right now, I need rest!

Ouch

Today's workout was very painful. I did a Norwegian fartlek workout ("fartlek" means speed play, and it's about going fast for certain intervals). I did 2, 4, 6, 8, 7, 5, 3, 1 minutes at 10K pace (6 min/km; 9:39 per mile) with 2 min rest inbetween. The workout would have been totally fine, but I had horrible, horrible gas pain (sorry to be blunt, but that is what it was) for the 2nd half of it. I was OK through the 8 minute fartlek, but then it started to really hurt on and off for the rest of the workout. Ouch. I kept going, and was able to maintain my pace for the 7 minutes, but the 5, 3, and 1 were not as fast. I just couldn't keep the pace with the pain. I probably should have stopped, but it wasn't like it was going to do any kind of damage to keep going, so I did. 2 hours later, I'm OK but the pain is not gone. I hope that I'll feel better in a few hours. Moral of the story? Probably not a good idea to have had those bean burritos last night :).

Chocolate bunny feast

 

Michelle loves See's candy!

 

Kids' Easter photo

 

Family Easter photo

 

Happy Easter! Christ is Risen!

Sunday long day

Today was my long day for my racewalking. I didn't get up as early as I planned, but Loren agreed to help w/the kids anyway :). Gold star for him! I left at 6:10 am or so. I went 12.68 miles according to my iPod (but according to MapIt it was only 12.3), in 2:17:15, for 10:49 per mile (or 11:09 per mile by MapIt). I was going to take it easy, but decided to push a little harder today because 1) I felt good, and 2) I wanted to get back before the kids got too antsy for Loren. My average heart rate was about 140, but that included a few minutes slower at the beginning and end, and a few minutes waiting for traffic lights. Not bad, though! Mostly it was about 145 when I was looking at my watch. I felt great, though my legs are pretty tired tonight. Tomorrow I'm going to bike to my weight training class, since it's supposed to be relatively warm (40F) in the morning, and I want to take a day off racewalking with these heavy legs.

One more photo

 

New car photo

 

Here it is!

Health update

Forgot to post this. My brain MRI was totally normal - yeah! I wasn't that worried, but it is really nice to know that everything is fine. The doc is still a bit mystified about me, but he says that I seem to be very healthy, and he's very impressed with my weight loss. He definitely said I should keep up the racewalking and that my body weight is just fine and well within healthy limits. It's nice to have a clean bill of health :).

Cousin Itt?

No, actually, it's me...

The kids like me to "hide" behind my hair. They giggle and giggle when I do this, and I say "Where's Mommy", then "Here she is!" and reveal my face. Guaranteed to get lots of laughs!

Friday & Saturday workouts

Friday: 30 min easy on the elliptical; 30 min weights.

Saturday: 1 hr easy racewalking. 28 degrees F outside and clear this morning. A bit chilly but really nice weather overall.

Tomorrow I plan to do an easy 12 miler. I know Ollie will laugh at this because the distances I'm doing aren't that long, but I'll be glad when my training for the 1/2 is over and I can go back to shorter distances. I do enjoy the long workouts but it's hard to plan them around family activities, etc., and I have to get up at the crack of dawn to do them to minimize the negative impact on my husband. For example, it will take me about 2 hr and 15-20 min to do the 12 miles, which means I have to start by 5:45 am if I want to finish by 8 am, and the kids will get up around 7:15 am. Loren is NOT a morning person and isn't too happy about watching the kids from 7:15-8 am, but thankfully he will do it for me when necessary. At least he's gotten a break this week with my parents here. My mom left today, though, so he's on his own again.

new car

The reason I've not been blogging as much this week is that 1) my parents have been here (Dad left to go home on Tuesday but Mom is here until Saturday) and 2) I've been doing all the legwork to get a new car! Between the phone calls to the credit union, the car dealer, the insurance guy, the test drive on Tuesday night, and the actual purchase last night, it has kept me really busy. But this was a great week to do it since my parents could help w/the kids while I did all that stuff.

So, what did we get? A 2008 Toyota Rav4, with the extra 3rd row seat and alloy wheels (req'd w/the 3rd row seat), a roof rack (for camping), 4WD (for driving in the snow here), floor mats, daytime running lights, and tow prep pkg (this is a beefed up radiator, alternator and wiring for towing - came in the options pkg and we didn't care too much about it but it wasn't too much $ and the vehicle was what we wanted otherwise). We weren't planning on getting a new car, but the 3rd row seat was important to us so we can haul the kids' friends around, and it was almost impossible to find used. So what the heck... we've never bought a new car before, and it's fun to have!

Workouts: Monday-Thursday

OK, so I'm a little behind on my blog. I'll get to the reasons in other posts, but for now, some workout notes.

Monday: Easy 45 minutes racewalking. Not sure how far I went; probably about 4 miles.

Tuesday: Acceleration workout, at least heart-rate-wise. I started off at about 145 and ended about 160. Did 4 miles at a 10 minute per mile pace; I was on the indoor track so I know I kept a pretty constant pace.

Wednesday: 30 minutes easy walking (did 21 laps of indoor track for 4.43 km) at 6:46/km. Then 30 minutes of weight training: chest press, lat pull-down, walking lunges, walking calf raises, farmer walk w/weights (for quads), tricep extensions, bicep curls, and abs.

Thursday: Tempo workout for half marathon pacing. Did 5 miles at 10:15 pace; took a 2 min rest between miles 2 and 3 and between miles 4 and 5. Yes, I really am hoping to do the whole half marathon at a 10:15 pace. I think it's an achievable goal - or at least close :). Gotta have something to shoot for!

Shoes!

Michelle loves Grandma's shoes :)

Slow 9.5 miler

Liberty Park with fresh snow today

This morning I planned to do 10 miles, but the ice on the road caused me to take pretty small steps and threw off my iPod, so though I thought I did a little over 10 miles, I actually did 9.55 according to the MapIt tool on the USATF website. Oh well! It was a beautiful winter wonderland, as we had a small storm last night. The roads were mostly clear, except for SugarHouse Park which was a treacherous disaster. I was 1/3 of the way around before I realized just how bad it was going to be. It was OK, though.

I completed the route in 1:53 and change, for about 11:50 per mile. Wow, that was slow! I felt pretty sluggish this morning, with heavy legs. They are still a tad sore from weight training on Wednesday (!) and also I'm a bit tired from yesterday's race. Tomorrow I'm going to take it really easy :).

New ceiling fan

I hated the ceiling fan in our living room. It was shiny and black (at left), which would be OK if I was into contemporary furniture, I guess. But it didn't really look too good with our old, mismatched beater sofas. Just that by itself would not have been enough for me to actually replace it, but there were other problems & lots of them. The first was that the lightbulb sockets stopped working properly. There are 4 lightbulbs in the fixture, but only 1 of them was working reliably. The others would sometimes work if you turned them and fussed with them, but then they might start flickering. In addition, the lightbulbs were hard to remove - when you turned the bulb, it would often be stuck and start to turn the whole socket. Ugh! Enough is enough!

I asked Loren if he would replace the fixture, and since my dad (who is full of home repair expertise) is visiting, it was the perfect time. Dad played armchair coach and talked Loren through the job, which was awesome. The new fixture works well and is much better looking. I'm thrilled!

Loren with new fixture

Leprechaun Lope

I did the Leprechaun Lope 5K today. The race started at the SE corner of the Capitol building, and went up City Creek Canyon, turned around, and then went down to the finish line in Memory Grove.

I was a bit apprehensive about the race because of my sore quads. They were still pretty sore this morning, but I knew they would be OK to race on. Plus, I still have a little bit of a nagging cough leftover from the cold 2 weeks ago, so I was not so sure how I'd do.
I got there early and did a 12 minute warm up, including 4 nice pick-ups, as Sarah suggested. I did some flexibility drills and then I was all ready to go. The race started about 5 minutes late, and it was cold (28F, about -3C? or thereabouts) but I felt fine except for my fingers. By 10 min into the race, that was no problem, as I was plenty warm. I felt like I paced myself really well: 1st mile 9:31, 2nd mile 18:56 (so 9:25), and 27:44 at the finish (so last 1.1 mile was 8:44?!?). OK, something is obviously wrong here. Answer: the race course was TOO SHORT! I surveyed 4 runners with Garmins afterwards and they said 2.93, 2.94, 2.94, and 2.95 miles instead of the requisite 3.11. Hmmmm... crossing the finish I was so pleased at my giant new PB time, but I did think something was fishy, hence the Garmin survey. Anyway, assuming the Garmins were more or less correct, if I had gone for the true 5K I would have finished about 29:20, which seems about right to me. Given the condition I was in, I am VERY pleased with my time and with the result. I think it bodes well for races this summer! The course was also fairly hilly, so that is even better for my time on a flat course. I'm excited!

Darn, though... sure would have been cool to really have been under 28 minutes :).

Oh, and there were only 2 walkers entered; the other "walker" came in at 30 and change. I didn't recognize her name, and so am pretty sure she's not a racewalker. That does make me wonder how much she ran. This is the problem with races that are not judged. So, I came in 1st out of 2 :) and got a nice pretty Leprechaun Lope medal and T-shirt to show for my day.

Still amazingly sore

My quads have not been this sore in a LONG long time. They hurt so much this morning and last night that I could barely make it down the stairs (up is not so bad). They hurt when the kids sit on my lap, or when I accidentally brush up against something, even lightly. Poor sore muscles! I went to weight training this morning anyway, because I knew we'd probably do arms today, which we did. I even managed to racewalk (stiffly) for 15 min to warm up, and I loosened up a bit as I went.

I am a bit nervous because I have a 5K race tomorrow and would like to do well. Oh well, it's really just a training race, so it doesn't matter too much, but the competitive part of me would like to do well anyway. At least I know it's only sore muscles and I'm not likely to hurt myself being out there racing. This race may have a fair number of hills, though, and so I probably shouldn't get all excited about getting a new PR, since it's hard to racewalk on steep hills. Plus the weather is looking iffy. It's been raining and snowing on and off all day, and more of the same is expected all weekend.

Racewalking class

If you are local and are connected w/the U of U (faculty, staff, student), why not consider taking a racewalking seminar in late May & early June? I am teaching it along with Diane Teece, president of the Wasatch Walkers and a very experienced coach and racewalker. She coaches the Team In Training walkers to do half marathons and marathons, and at age 69, is quite fast - she can do 12 minute miles racewalking! She regularly beats me in age-graded competition.

Anyway, we will be teaching a 3 week seminar Tues & Thurs mornings from 6:30-7:30 am. Check the PEAK Academy website for details to be released in a few weeks.

Very sore workout

I woke extremely sore this morning in the quads. It hurt to go down stairs - a LOT. However, I figured I'd go to the track and see how it would be to racewalk. I warmed up and did flexibility drills and it felt OK so I decided to do my workout. I did 8x422m in 2:25 (5K pace of 5:45/km) with 1 lap recovery. I did all of them in 2:22 or 2:23, except one at 2:24 and one at 2:25. The last was in 2:22 - so I still had some left! My legs were very tired at the end and of course they are still quite sore, but I am proud that I got out there and did it anyway.

Smart purchase

Today at Smith's I decided to buy re-usable grocery bags. I had been reading about the sheer number of plastic grocery bags that Americans go through, and felt convicted about how hard that is on the environment when we toss them. So I bought these bags for just $0.79 each, and they are SO MUCH BETTER than regular plastic bags. They are really great - hold a TON of food, have strong, long handles that don't dig into your fingers, and they do not rip, even when you have 2 gallons of milk in them. They have a nice liner in the bottom that keeps them wide open for loading groceries into as well. To top it off, Smith's gives you $0.05 back each time you bring one back to be filled, so after 16 trips they pay for themselves. This is a great deal and I wish I'd done it sooner.

Birthday girls

Here we are, the birthday twins, Sarah & Tammy. This was on Saturday, our birthday, at Mazza, a favorite Middle Eastern restaurant. We went with our husbands, enjoyed great company & food, and then browsed the bookstore next door, The King's English. After that, we treated ourselves to dessert at Red Butte Cafe.

Sore quads!

Did more squats in weight training today and my quads are UNBELIEVABLY sore. Yikes. And here I thought I was in good shape... ;).

Tomorrow I was planning on some 5K race pace intervals, since I'm doing a race on Saturday. We'll see if I'm up to them, after how sore I feel tonight. Tomorrow might be worse. On the other hand, sometimes it feels better to work really sore muscles. I will just have to get out there and see how it feels. I'd like to be able to do at least a few intervals to get a taste of my planned pace.

A little discouraged, but still going

I'm a bit discouraged. After taking the @(*#&$ progesterone, my weight has gone up 5 lbs. The good news is that it worked, so apparently I have enough estrogen for my health. However, the bad news is that the weight gain seems to be more than temporary. I thought it was just water weight, but it's a week later, and I still have the darn weight. I worked SO hard to lose that 5 lb to get into racing form, and here I am a month out from my 1/2 marathon having to lose that weight again. I can't totally blame the medication. I have been eating a lot - but I was tracking my points and there is no way that it was that much. It's frustrating. However, I am NOT going to let it get me down - I am going to get out there, work hard, and have an awesome race on April 19th.

***

Speaking of my race, I did a threshold workout this morning. I always hate them while I'm doing it but feel good afterwards. Today was no different, only I still feel a bit tired. I did get a nice adrenalin rush, but I think I need more sleep and am still not used to the time change, so I am not feeling as good as I usually would after the workout. At least I did it. I did 2 laps of Liberty Park in just over 28 mins; not a great time, but not too bad - pretty average.

Almost forgot - yesterday's workout: 15 min elliptical followed by 50 min of total body weight training. The squats were tough, and my legs are letting me know about it today, so I guess I did pretty well on my threshold workout today, all things considered.

Thursday I'm going to do some track intervals and Saturday I'm doing a 5K race as part of my training. I have been mostly doing longer distance stuff, so my time probably won't be super fast, but I'm mainly doing it to get in a good hard workout, so that will be fine. You never know, I might race faster than I think I will!

Food for thought

For those reading for the racewalking tidbits, this will be a bit different, so read or not read as you wish. I haven't blogged as much about faith of late, but for some reason it just seems appropriate right now. I know some have separate personal and training blogs, but for me, it's all part and parcel of who I am, so I can't really tease them apart and don't want to.

At New Song today, Sam talked about food in the context of "I am the bread of life" - John 6. Excellent - lots of food for thought. Some ideas I plan to reflect on further -

1. Feasting & celebration - how to enjoy food in its proper place. This is a challenge for me, as I have used food wrongly for so long that sometimes I'm not sure how to use it rightly. Believing and fellowship are activated by eating. How true - gatherings and social interactions and getting to know others better seems to happen much better somehow in the context of food. Food is about communing, not about consuming. Particular foods remind us of things are are a window to memories and shared experiences. For example, in our family, we have a Christmas bread that we eat on Christmas Day and no other time. It just wouldn't be Christmas without it, and the food brings meaning to our family bonding experience.

2. In the context of faith, to believe and to trust involves eating - the physical act of taking communion is about deep trust and fellowship and relying on God for one's sustenance, both physical and spiritual.

I think in the recent past, I've avoided celebratory food (#1 above) out of fear of overindulging. I can often plan for it and enjoy it, but I tend to be more conscious of it than I'd like. Some of that is unavoidable, because I am a former food abuser, and like the alcoholic, will always have to take precautions. But I do want to really enjoy the food in its wider and most appropriate context of relationships.

Thinking about #2 is a bit easier. For a long time I used food as an attempt to fill my emotional and spiritual needs, unsuccessfully. It made me fat, not happy (I am happier now that ever before, even though I'm eating less!). I still have that tendency, and am pretty aware of the importance of filling those needs in more appropriate ways. Not that I do it all the time - but it is slowly getting better. It's a long process, but well worth the effort.

Endurance workout

Today was the long day. Did a planned easy 12-miler all around the city, from my home to the university, to the Avenues, and back home. Some nice views from 11th Avenue and the university (bad camera phone photo (low light is NOT good w/this camera phone!) is of the State Capitol from the Avenues, along my route). I was fairly tired afterwards and wonder if I'll be sore tomorrow (usually I'm not after racewalking, since I'm so used to it). My time was somewhere around 2:18 (a few stops w/o stopping my watch so a little shorter?); about an 11:30 mile, but it was really hilly, and I was taking it easy, remember?!? Weather: 25 degrees F and sunny. I got a little cold after a planned pit stop at the U (I work there, so just let myself in, dogs and all :)!) because of the sweat that chilled me when I went back outside, and because of a little wind, but was mostly just fine.

Non-critical-thinking rant

Disclaimer: I know I am not perfect either, and I make lots of mistakes and have lots of things I need to work on. I have a large log in my own eye, in other words.

Rant: A visit to the Christian bookstore scared me. The theology section was miniscule (see photo) in comparison with the rest of the store. The "Christian Living" section was easily 4 times this big, and the "Women's Interest" was similarly large, and they were full of what I thought were very "fluffy" books. I realize that deep thinking is not popular in America, especially in more conservative Christian circles (how else could we get stuck with GWB for President?!?). I would like that to change. It annoys the heck out of me - I personally believe that Christians OUGHT to be among the deepest most rational thinkers. I could go on about this for a long time, but I think it would just be counterproductive.

Grateful comment: I love the church I attend. Deep thinking seems to be more popular there.

Workouts

Friday: Easy 15 min racewalking, then weight training - upper body, esp. shoulders.

Saturday: Easy 75 min racewalking; iPod said 11.1K at 6:46 per km. It was lightly raining and 37F, but I stayed pretty warm and dry in my new gloves and my Wasatch Walkers jacket.

The good, the bad, and the workout

Some good stuff: Took kids to IKEA to get replacement bins for Michelle’s toy chest (which I purchased at a garage sale for $10, and one bin was missing ($3 to replace today) and one bin was damaged ($5 to replace)). That is a cool place where one could spend a fortune. If I had the $ I’d totally re-do our house there :). I also got bins to fit under Calvin’s bed to get some toys out of the way. I tossed some old useless toys and put a bunch of baby toys out in the garage for the church rummage sale. Loren was complaining about surplus toys, so I took action.

Some bad stuff: Calvin had a nasty poop in his underwear (the potty training is going OK - hit and miss, but we are not going back to diapers. He's just going to have to figure it out!). Then, when we got home from IKEA and REI (where I bought myself a pair of decent weatherproof gloves for racewalking – was using ski gloves and they were OK but got sweaty and icky because they don’t have a wicking liner, plus they’re bulky) and got Calvin on the potty (yes he was dry that whole time - this was good) and when he flushed, the toilet overflowed horribly. UGH! Of course I was in the middle of changing a poopy Michelle diaper so couldn’t do a thing except yell to him to pick up the rug (which he actually did!) and throw it in the hall. What a mess. I put Michelle down once I got her wiped and she toddled right in and stepped in the water, soaking her pants and socks. Keep in mind that it is 1 pm and we are all starving. It was pretty awful.

Naptime has been divine today. I caught up on e-mail and my online buddy groups, and read my RSS feeds. I read the newspaper. I ate a grapefruit and a WW one point fudge ice cream bar. I put some apples in the crock pot with splenda & cinnamon for a treat on light ice cream tonight. Now I'm blogging.

Oh, the workout! I did 5 x 1 mile at 1/2 marathon pace (10:15 mile) with 2 min rest. I felt tired this morning with heavy legs, but got it done. I was +/- 5 seconds of my goal pace for each of the 5 miles. Not too bad! I took BOTH dogs with me, and miracle of miracles, Sahara actually kept up! I think they both had a great time, and I appreciate the company and the safety of racewalking with 2 large Labrador Retrievers.

Exhausting day

After 2 frantic days at work, I was looking forward to being home. Ha! Today was exhausting. For starters, Calvin knocked over several plants (accidentally) and spilled dirt all over the floor. Michelle was clingy and overtired and only took a short nap and then was whiny the rest of the day. The dogs escaped through our semi-broken gate and were lost for a while (they did come back, 10 minutes after I called them, amazingly).

I also did the weekly grocery shopping, read books to the kids for a good hour or so, taught 3 piano students, fixed dinner, and started the process of getting a new or used car. Whew. We are considering a Toyota RAV4, FYI, because it gets good gas mileage (way better than a minivan), will handle well in the snow, and has an optional 3rd row seat so we can fit extra kids in there from time to time. I did discover that it will be hard for us to find a used one fitting our criteria, so we may be stuck getting a new one.

Oh, almost forgot - my workout - I did 15 min easy racewalking to warm up and then we did an intense upper body/arms workout in weight training.

Now I'm going to rest and read a book and go to sleep early. Hopefully tomorrow won't be quite so taxing.

Kindermusik pics

Here are some Kindermusik pics from a few weeks ago. So cute!!! In the pictures: Katie (wearing black), Michelle (in light blue & white), Calvin (red sweatshirt), and Sam (white shirt & blue pants).

Beautiful day

It was amazingly clear in the valley today. These pics from the U don't do it justice (on my crummy camera phone) but it was awesome! The deep blue of the Great Salt Lake was incredible. It's still a bit cold and was windy on my walk into work from the parking lot (I took these on my way), but it was certainly beautiful nonetheless.

Threshold workout

Today was threshold day... i.e., keep my HR at 85% max, or about 162. I did an acceleration workout, from 140 to 160 over 20 min, and then kept it around 162ish for 30 min, then cooled down. I walked from our house to SugarHouse Park, around the park twice, then up to Browning Ave on 15th E, and then home. As usual, I don't particularly enjoy pushing this hard, but I had a great workout. I walked really fast (just under 10 min miles) and felt strong and fluid. I really feel like my technique is getting better every day :)! If only I had regular, good coaching... but at least I do feel like I'm improving without that. Practice makes perfect.

weekend notes

Saturday: Easy 6K in 41:30ish around SugarHouse Park. Absolutely gorgeous sunrise - I love living here on days like this. It was warm, about 45F, but the snow still covers the mountains, and the sky was dark blue and then hot pink above the Oquirrhs. I felt so privileged to see it and to be outside enjoying the beauty of creation.

Sunday: I finally got to do my 10-miler! Yeah! I did just over 16k on my iPod, which turned out to be 9.75 miles, so a bit less than the 10 miles, but close enough for me :). It took about 1:50 and change, about 11:16/mile or about 6:58/km, which is a nice easy pace. My heart rate was ave 138; right where I wanted it to be.

***

In other news, I lent Sweethearts to my babysitter, who is an avid reader, on Wednesday. She is on p.150-something and when I called her tonight to ask her about some upcoming dates, she was RAVING about how great it is. She says she is going to have to buy her own personal copy. I am thrilled she likes it so much. I am tempted to recommend Story of a Girl, but she is 13, and very LDS, so I think maybe the subject matter might be more mature than her mother would appreciate. It's a great book, though, and I will be sure to suggest it to her when she's a little older.

Anyway, she was so excited about Sweethearts - I told her that if she got a copy I'd be sure to have it autographed for her, and she was ecstatic :). Yeah, more fans for Sara!

***

Potty training is a major struggle right now with Calvin. He doesn't really want to do it, but we are convinced he can, and we are ready for it. We have been working on it very hard since Thursday, with dismal results until this afternoon, when he suddenly decided that maybe it actually would be in his best interests to use the potty and get some small rewards (a couple M&Ms). I hope this trend continues.

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Michelle is little miss verbosity lately. The other day she said "strawberry", and today she said "hot dog", "football" (she's said it before, but not recently due to lack of football on TV - today she saw the arena football articles in our paper), and several other words that my end-of-the-day-tired brain can't recall. Very cute. She is starting to have more tantrums though, and they're getting longer and more serious. On Saturday in the grocery store she pitched a really good lying-down-and-kicking-tantrum because I wouldn't let her pick out more than 6 oranges when we already had a big bag of apples, too. I got mostly sympathetic looks from fellow shoppers :).

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I'm going to go take a hot bath in our jacuzzi tub. I need it!