In memory of Lolita, 1999-2007

My cute little gray Holland Lop, Lolita (at left in the picture), died yesterday at the age of about 8 (we got her at about age 2, and were not certain of her birthday). She hadn't been eating well, and I was just thinking that I should probably take her to the vet when I found her last night when we returned from the football game.

We buried her in the back yard, and I'm painting a stone to place over the grave. I'm going to miss her.

Sat am track workout

Forgot to post about my workout this morning. It went great - after my warm up and flexibility drills I did 1k @ race pace (5:45) then 1k recovery (6:45-7:00) and repeated 3x. I felt great afterwards, though my left hamstring seems a little sore/tight now - not sure why.

Interested in watching some racewalking? Try Racewalk Planet TV.

Really busy day

After attending Anna's birthday party, teaching a piano lesson, going to Costco and the grocery store, and going to the Utes game, I am really thrashed. It was fun, but maybe a little over the top.

Workout notes

Had planned a harder workout today, but still feel a little off from Monday's hike, so I compromised by doing a "not so easy" workout. I kept my heart rate around 150, and did 7.18 km (4.46 mi) in 48:36, for a 6:46/km pace. I felt absolutely great and I think I've had a major form breakthrough - it's not making me faster (may be slowing me down) but I feel quite sure I'm more legal. I think my left leg was actually the culprit for the problems I've been having with my right knee being soft. Before, I was walking too much on the outside of my left foot, and I was not getting enough toe-off on my left foot either. Now I think that is much better, and I'm getting more knee drive too. Hopefully this will eventually translate into better times once my muscles and body get used to the new form. If not, at least I'm more legal. I am definitely worried about Boise, though - I would hate to go all the way up there (it's a 5 hr drive) and do poorly. I just feel slower for some reason, even though I've been working hard and have lost a few more lbs since my fastest 5K in June.

PEARS!

Our pear tree has graced us with a giant box of pears, which are all ripening. Yesterday I made pear preserves, and today I made cinnamon pears for the kids (well, for all of us, but they really like the cinnamon pears). Tomorrow I think I'll try to make some sugar-free pear jam for myself. It's a LOT of work to make and can all this stuff, but I can't eat all the pears and I hate to toss them out, so I either need to can them or give them away. I haven't had many takers for them this year, so I'm canning them.

A lot of cross training

Today I climbed Mt. Olympus with Kat, my co-worker. It is "only" 6 miles but it's about 4200 feet (1280 meters) of elevation gain, from 4830 feet (1472 meters) to 9026 feet (2751 meters). It is a tough hike, with a serious rock scramble at the top. This was made more serious by the fact that we missed the correct trail near the top and scrambled up some harder rocks. It was challenging, but not too bad, and we still made it to the summit without incident (click pictures to see a larger view).













We started at 6:40 am (to beat the heat!) and made the summit at about 9:30. Once at the top, we stopped for a while to enjoy the amazing views, and also to listen to the people singing. Yes, singing (see photo below). A guy had lugged an LDS (Mormon) hymnal up to the top, believe it or not. First these guys sang the Star-Spangled Banner, and then they sang a Mormon hymn that I am not familiar with - something like "Up on the Mountaintop", appropriately. I've been living in Utah for 8 years, but I can still be surprised by the local culture sometimes.













Now for a sample of the great views:














On the way down, we encountered a rattlesnake at the side of the trail. Some other hikers pointed it out to us. I was glad that it was sitting on a log minding its own business a foot off of the trail. It was pretty neat, but I did NOT want to be any closer.














We got back to the trailhead at 12:30 pm, and it was VERY hot for the last hour or so of the hike. We promptly drove to a 7-11 and got some Slurpees (I got one w/Crystal Light, so didn't even consume many calories!) to cool off.

My quads are pretty sore now, so we'll see how I feel tomorrow. I had planned on a track workout before I decided to climb a mountain. If my legs are really sore, I'll probably just do an easy recovery walk. If I feel good, I'll hit the track for an economy workout.

I got a ton of stuff done today - it felt great. When I returned from the hike, after eating lunch and putting the kids down for a nap I watched a movie with Loren. While the movie was on, I made a baby sling for my other co-worker, David, whose wife had a little girl on Thursday. After the movie, I repaired Calvin's sunglasses, gave Loren and Calvin a haircut, and canned some plums from our tree. I cooked dinner, and after dinner we all headed to Baskin-Robbins for a little treat (I had 13 points I had to use up :)!).

I think we might take a soak in the jetted tub tonight - perhaps it will ward off muscle soreness. If not, at the very least it will feel good.

50K World Championships

Got this article from the racewalking Yahoo group. It was pretty interesting. In case you didn't know, the 50K racewalk is the longest footrace in the Olympic games, 8K (5 miles) farther than the marathon! The world championships were in Osaka this week, and here's an article about the results.

FIFTY K WALK FOR DAILY YOMIURI.

By Elliott Denman
Special to the Daily Yomiuri

OSAKA – Fifty-kilometer racewalkers consider themselves the toughest of the tough.

Marathoners? They stop nearly eight kilometers early.

Ten thousand-meter runners? Relative sprinters.

To outsiders, fifty-kilometer men are the grizzled devotees of an event that seems to go on forever, an event that’s been the longest event in major championships since its debut at the 1932 Olympic Games, yet far too many people (a) understand, and (b) appreciate.

To do what they do and for as long as they do it, fifty-kilometer men can’t be softies. But guess what? Deep down, they really are.

Nathan Deakes proved that yesterday morning.

With some 100 meters left to walk, as the finish line neared, the last of his 24 Nagai Park two-kilometer road loops behind him, and morning-long chasers Yohan Diniz and Alex Schwazer no longer a threat to catch him, the 30-year-old Aussie had himself a very good and public cry.

By the time he crossed that line, three hours, 43 minutes and 53 seconds after he heard the starting gun at 7 a.m., those tears had turned to a gusher.

Said Deakes, after he’d dried his eyes:

“A lot of athletes make a lot of sacrifices along the way, and I’m one of them. I was thinking about everybody that ever helped me, my family and my wife, the support team that I’ve had around me..

“If I had to split up my medal in pieces for everybody who’d ever helped me, I wouldn’t have much left for myself. This is something I’ve dreamed about forever, and now to have it actually come true…

“ I tried to concentrate (on the final meters), but it was something I couldn’t help. It just started coming out.

“To actually come to the finish line (first), I couldn’t believe it, and I still can’t. World champion? It’s amazing.”

Amazing is the right word. Deakes, who set the world 50-kilometer record of 3:35:47 on home turf in Geelong last Dec. 2, then fought through a series of injuries on the road to Osaka, showed ultimate strategic sense.

Others handled the early pace-setting: Spain’s Santiago Perez, China’s Yu Chaochong, Russia’s Vladimir Kanaykin.

By the midway point, though, Deakes held a share of the lead, with Kanaykin and Japan’s own Yuki Kamazaki – to the utter delight of the many uniformed, fan-waving supporters in Nagai Park.

Then Diniz of France crashed the party, only to see Deakes surge right back. And that’s the way it stayed, with Alex Schwazer of Italy’s late bid sufficing only for the bronze medal back of Deakes and Diniz.

There were cheers for the special achievers – Russia’s Denis Nizhegorodov, finishing fourth when his heralded teammates were succumbing to heat-induced wobbles and heading to the sidelines; Canada’s Tim Berrett, the 19th placer, as the first man to compete in nine World Championships; Portugal’s Jorge Costa, the 27th-placer, age 46, as the oldest athlete in the whole meet.

But there were only commiserations and the deep regrets of the organizing committee, for Japan’s Kamazaki, who held sixth place after 35 kilometers, only to be mistakenly waved into the stadium one two-kilometer loop early, then being relegated to the DNF (did not finish) list.

It would have-should have-would have equaled the highest placing by a Japanese race walker in World Championships history, but it won’t.

Fifty-four men started the race, just 31 finished it. Nine were disqualified, 14 were DNFs, several stretchered-

off.

And, one more thing. The fifty-kilometer racewalk is the championships’ only event that doesn’t have a women’s equivalent. And the ladies, seeing what this event does to men, seem in no rush to demand equality of opportunithy.

Tomorrow's challenge

Tomorrow morning I'm going to climb Mt. Olympus with Kat, my co-worker. I'm excited to do it - last summer I was toying with this climb, but decided to do Mt. Timpanogos instead.

I got a sitter to help Loren w/the kids from 9 am to noon, and I'm going to hit the trailhead w/Kat at 6:30ish. Hopefully we'll be back by about 1 pm. I plan to bring my camera and get lots of great photos.

Long day/S'mores

Today was my long day. I did 7.75 miles (12.45 km) easy, in 1:27 and change. I was going to do 8 mi (12.9 km), but had some pretty severe intestinal cramping at the end and decided to get home. I felt pretty off for about an hour, but then I was OK. Weird. My dog Copper kept up just great and enjoyed the walk too.

I was glad I walked so much this morning, because then I had the points to enjoy some s'mores, guilt-free, at our church's smore-a-thon tonight in Millcreek Canyon. It was a beautiful evening - the rain threatened, and it drizzled a bit, but never amounted to much. It was warm and pleasant up in the canyon, and much cooler than the heat in the valley. The kids had a great time, too. Calvin loved "roasting" marshmallows - i.e. burning them to a crisp. Michelle had a great time walking everywhere and eating LOTS of watermelon, including the rind. I think watermelon is possibly her favorite food. She squealed when she watched me cut it this afternoon, and was really upset that I didn't give her any then. We still have half of it left, which will please her a lot, I'm sure.

I'm going to Boise!

Yay! Now, you ask, why are you so excited about Boise? It's in the middle of nowhere!

I'm going to do the Boise Women's Fitness Celebration 5K on Sept 22nd. They have a real racewalking division, even though it's not judged. I don't care, though - it's a real racewalking race, and I have never done one before! Too exciting! Jennifer, my racewalking coach from Ogden, is going to go with me so we can share gas and hotel costs. We're going to stay at The Grove Hotel, the only 4 star hotel in Boise. I got a good price with my AAA card, so it's not too expensive, believe it or not.

Hopefully my workouts will go a little better than this morning, though, if I'm going to have a prayer of finishing in the top 5 in that race (that's my goal!). I was SO sluggish at the track. I did 2K in 11:45, 1.2 K in 7:15, 800m in 4:45, 400m in 2:22, and 200m in 1:03, with 2 min rest in between all. Pathetic. My heart rate was pretty high, but I guess I just didn't have the energy this morning or something. Tomorrow is my long day and I plan on an easy 8 miler. I look forward to my long easy days, because I listen to books on my iPod nano while I walk, and it's relaxing to go slow and easy. I think I'll walk around Liberty and then SugarHouse parks, which is always fun. I'll take the dogs, and if they're slow I'll leave them off at the house between the two parks.

Bod Pod

Yesterday I got into the Bod Pod at the U to have my body composition analyzed. Wearing a sports bra and bike shorts and a swim cap thingie to hold my hair tightly, I sat in the machine as it measured the air I was displacing and calculated my density. I was surprised to find out that my body fat is only 16.8% - less than 19% is "very lean" for a woman in her 30s. They recommend that a woman have 12-15% fat minimum to be healthy. I had done a hand-held impedance measurement back in April, and it said 22.8%. However, I have lost 5 lbs since then, and the hand-held units are not nearly as accurate as the Bod Pod.

I'm wondering what to make of this measurement. Was it off because my tight biking shorts held in my flabbiest parts (hips & thighs)? If it was, that would make some sense to me. If not, would it be foolish for me to still take off another 5 lbs to see how it impacts my racewalking performance? I think I am going to proceed with my original plan, which is to lose 5 more lbs and see how I do. That would put me at 140 lb at 5'8", which should be a perfectly healthy weight (BMI is still over 20 - which is normal, not too thin).

Today's workout: 10 min warm-up and cool-down, with 30 min at 85% MHR in between. It was tough, but I hung in there and got it done. I feel pretty good now, though I'm a little tired from not enough sleep last night and the night before.

Projects at home: did some canning last night, which kept me up late. The pears and plums on our trees are ripe, so I did some whole plums and also made plum sauce, which is really yummy. I will probably serve it on pork tenderloin in the wintertime. Also finished editing and compiling our home videos from December until July, and burned 7 DVDs to give family members.

News of the totally ridiculous: at the Maverick on 9th East and about 3rd South, they were advertising "Snickers 29 cents with 44 oz beverage purchase". Yikes. The Snickers alone is 7 points, and the 44 oz Coke is 10.5 points (just looked it up). 17.5 points, for a SNACK. For comparison, when I am maintaining my weight, I get 26-27 points per day, plus 35 distributed over the week. So that would be over HALF my daily points just on a snack. No wonder Americans are fat. We consume stuff and have no idea just how bad it really is. Or we do know, and we blow it off because we feel we deserve the treat. I used to do it, too, and still would if I didn't keep a close eye on things.

Track intervals

Did a warm-up and flexibility drills, then:

3 x 1000m then 400 m with 2 min rest in between. I tried to do the 1000m in 5:30 and the 400 m in 2:12, but ended up with the 1000m in about 5:38-5:40 and the 400 m in 2:13-2:15. It was really pushing to do it that fast - my lungs were burning. But I finished the workout, felt great, and don't feel too tired now, so that's good. It was a good workout. Cooled down and stretched.

Met a nice older gentleman named John at the track today, and he asked me a whole bunch of questions about racewalking. I told him about the Wasatch Walkers, and referred him to the website. Maybe he'll join!

Racewalking lesson

I had another tutorial with Jennifer today, who came armed with a video camera. Actually, I am mostly pleased with the result. My form is looking decent, though there are still lots of things to fix. But for the first time, I think I really look like a racewalker.

My left knee is pretty straight and is looking great. My right knee is a problem, however. It is definitely not straight enough. When I plant my heel, it is pretty good, but then as it passes under my body, it gets a little bent (quite visibly so in slow-mo, not so much sped up). I am really going to have to work on this, and Jennifer did give me some good tips.

Despite the "soft" right knee, Jennifer did think I would pass muster in a judged walk. She thinks I'm "legal". I'm not so sure that I am, though it is hard to tell at full speed that my knee is bent. I have the feeling that an eagle-eyed judge might spot it. Well, I've got at least until next year to fix it, since I'm not doing any judged races until then.

Next race might be the Boise Women's Fitness Celebration on September 22nd, but only if we can find someone to watch the kiddos for the weekend so that we can go w/o them. At least that's what Loren is saying right now... so we'll see.

I wrote up a challenging but do-able training schedule for that race today, and I'm excited to get going on my workouts! I'll keep you all informed about them.

Hair whorls and handedness

I came across a very interesting study after reading an article in this month's Parents magazine. The article said that handedness (left, right, or ambidextrous) and the direction of the whorl of your hair (counterclockwise or clockwise) are controlled by the same gene, and that people with a counterclockwise hair whorl (8.4% of population - that stat was not in the article - I looked it up later) have a 50/50 chance of being lefties/ambidextrous. I thought that this had to be a bogus article, so I looked up the paper and lo and behold, it is actually true. At least, after I read the paper, I was convinced. There is a more accessible article for the layperson that says the same thing (a review of the scientific paper) if you want to read that instead.

For the biologists out there, it works like this: R is the gene for being right handed and having a clockwise hair whorl, and it is dominant. r means you are a random recessive - it is unspecified whether you are left handed/ambidextrous or right handed, and it is unspecified whether your hair whorls clockwise or counterclockwise. RR individuals will be right handed, and will have clockwise hair whorls. Rr individuals will also be right handed, and will have clockwise hair whorls. rr individuals have a 50/50 chance of being right handed (and a 50/50 chance of being left handed or ambidextrous), and have a 50/50 chance of having a clockwise hair whorl (and a 50/50 chance of having a counterclockwise whorl). If you are a lefty, you MUST be rr, and if you have a counterclockwise hair whorl, you also MUST be rr. If you are a lefty, you have a 50/50 chance of having a clockwise hair whorl (and 50/50 of counterclockwise). If you have a counterclockwise hair whorl, you have a 50/50 chance of being left handed (and a 50/50 chance of being right handed).

Why in the heck are these genes connected? The author speculates that because skin (hair whorls are on the skin) and neural tissue (handedness is neurologic) both are derived from the embryonic ectoderm layer it is simple for them to be controlled by the same gene. Sounds reasonable to me, but still odd. Nature is pretty weird sometimes!

So why do I care? Well, turns out that BOTH Loren and I have counterclockwise hair whorls. Weird, since it's relatively uncommon. We both happen to be righties, but apparently we had a 50/50 chance of being lefties, as do both of our children. Calvin seems to be pretty darn ambidextrous, so I would not be surprised at all if he turns out to be a lefty or ambidextrous. As for hair whorls, Calvin's is counterclockwise and Michelle's is clockwise, as predicted by the genetic model.

EDITED 8/21 - Somehow last night I looked at Loren's hair wrong... he has a clockwise whorl. Calvin and Michelle are as reported, so Loren's genotype could be Rr or rr, since Calvin is clearly rr. Michelle could therefore be either Rr or rr, since her hair is clockwise. Interesting... we'll have to see how it all pans out.

Imaginative play

Calvin is getting so imaginative with his play - it's delightful to watch. Today as I type, he is playing with his train set. He knows all of the Thomas characters from the books we read him, and he is imagining Sir Topham Hatt directing his railway. He's also playing with the cargo part of the train set, moving little balls up a ramp by turning a crank, and watching them go down and into the freight car. He is telling them "please" and "thank you" as they go up and down. Too cute! It's past the start of nap time, but he is so absorbed that I hate to make him take a nap.

Morning workout

I went to Liberty Park this morning for my workout, planning to meet some other Wasatch Walkers there. However, none of them could make it (many are doing the Provo Half Marathon tomorrow). So I slogged through a solitary workout, and it was OK. The new shoes were GREAT. My lactate threshold workout was EVIL. After my warmup and flex drills I did 2 laps of Liberty Park at 85% MHR in about 29 minutes. Slow, and painful. Ugh! I am really feeling the 2 weeks off of lactate threshold workouts. I'm sure it will come back. Tomorrow I plan to do a track workout to do some speed work. We'll see how it goes. I want to shoot for 5:30/km for my next 5K (Wasatch Walkers is having a 5K on 9/15). That's a lofty goal, as my last 5K was 5:45/km, and I only have one month before the next one, but we'll see.

I have GOT to get back into gear for the remaining races I want to do this season. I am heavily leaning toward the Boise Women's Fitness Celebration on Sept 22nd if some of the other walkers will go w/me to share expenses, and if I can get Loren some help w/the kids. Or maybe Loren and the kids will come too? Not sure yet.

In other walking news, the Sports-Am website (a local group that hosts lots of races) has a link to the Wasatch Walkers website on their front page now!!! Wooo-hoo! Publicity for our club!

New shoes!!!!!

I am VERY excited about these shoes. My friend the urban princess will not get it, since they are definitely NOT a fashion statement, but they are now my favorite pair of shoes. They are REAL RACEWALKING SHOES. Yes, truly made for racewalking. They are not running shoes that will do for racewalking - no sir. These are the genuine article, made in China (where some of the world's best racewalkers reside) and imported to the USA by a couple of racewalkers here, who graciously made them available to other racewalkers.

I am going to try them out tomorrow, but meanwhile, note the wonderfully low heel, the light weight, and the nice flexible yet supportive sole. I am in shoe heaven! Hey, they even arrived in a Barbie shoebox - how fun is that!?! :)

Lots o' photos

First, some photos from the Deseret News 10K, before & after the race (it was a bit warm and muggy, even though the race was from 6-7am!).

Then, some vacation pictures:


Alex, Loren, and Erica with Calvin & Michelle; Dennis and Loren's mom w/the kids






Me & Loren at Crater Lake; waterfall along the hike to Green Lakes, Mom and Dad with the kids, the kids with my cousin's daughter, Sierra

Back from vacation

Hi, I'm back! We enjoyed a great vacation to Lakeport, CA (where my mother-in-law and her husband reside) and Sunriver, OR (where my mom's family reunion took place). The kids did awesome in the car for many hours. We drove 5 hrs the first night, then 7 hrs the next day, and then stayed in Lakeport for 3 days. Then we drove 7 hrs to Sunriver, and stayed there almost a week. Then 5 hrs to Boise, and 5 hrs back to Salt Lake. 29 hours total, and no significant problems. The DVD player was a godsend, for sure - Calvin enjoyed watching Thomas the Tank Engine, Bob the Builder, Arthur, Baby Beethoven, and more. We enjoyed listening to two audiobooks - Echo Park by Michael Connelly and Never Let Me Go by Kazuo Ishiguro. Two very different books, but both quite worthwhile.

The vacation itself was wonderful. I loved having a break from the kids in both places we visited. My mother-in-law and her husband are great w/kids, and had a blast with them. My mom's family enjoyed them a lot as well, and Aunts Sue and Kate especially liked their time w/the kids. My dad got in lots of babysitting time and said it was the highlight of his trip. Me, I liked canoeing, biking, hiking, and sightseeing. We hiked a 9-mile round trip to Green Lakes (near Mt. Bachelor), canoed on the river (Little Deschutes? Deschutes?) through Sunriver, biked around Sunriver, and drove to Crater Lake for a day of sightseeing and a short hike. It was awesome. I also got in some serious hot tub time, some reading, and some fun cooking with Aunt Kate. Cooked 3 meals for the family, and it was great to cook w/o kids underfoot.

More books... I started and finished the new Harry Potter book while on vacation, and it was great. If you haven't read it yet, you will NOT be disappointed. I loved all of them and can't wait to introduce the kids to them when they are old enough. In the more serious vein, I have almost finished American Jesus by Stephen Prothero. It's a history of all things Jesus in America, from Jefferson's ideas about Jesus to the Mormon Jesus to Jewish thoughts on Jesus. It's very well researched and full of interesting tidbits that help me to understand more about how and why Americans picture Jesus in certain ways. Recommended reading if you are interested in they whys and wherefores of American religion - whether you are an atheist or a Christian or something else, it will help you to understand things a lot better. Finally, I am reading a good ol' Puritan classic The Mortification of Sin by John Owen. I had been wanting to read it for a while, and then Jonathan offered it on loan, so I took him up on it. I wanted to finish the whole thing while on vacation, but am only about 1/3 of the way through it. That's OK, as I'll continue and will finish soon - it's not a very long book.

Now back into the routine - off to work tomorrow, which I'm actually ready for and looking forward to, believe it or not. I also need to write up a training schedule for my next race... however, I'm not sure what I'm going to do next, so that complicates matters a little bit. I will be thinking about it this week. Any suggestions??? :)

Deseret News 10K

The 10K I have been training for was this morning, and I am proud to say that I reached my goal of finishing in less than 1 hour. According to my watch, I did 59:26!!! That's the good news. I am very pleased with the race overall.

I think I didn't pace it as well as I might have. I went out fairly fast because of the downhill at the start (BIG downhill - I did the first mile in a very comfortable zone at a 9:04 pace!!!), and was able to maintain faster than my goal pace of 9:39 per mile very well until mile 4-5 (37:22 at mile 4, 48:00 at mile 5 - 10:23 for that mile, whereas the first 4 miles were an average pace of 9:20 per mile). Mile 5-6.2 was pretty ugly - i.e. pretty painful to keep the pace. It was a slight uphill for the last 0.8 mile or so, making it more painful. Despite the uphill, I actually was a bit faster than mile 4-5, at 11:26 for the last 1.2 (a 9:32 pace - pretty good), but IT REALLY HURT. My lungs were searing and my legs were almost jello. But I finished well.

The lesson seems to be that what seems like a comfortably fast pace at the start may not actually be a smart (i.e. slow enough) pace. Of course, the downhill confounds the race analysis a bit. I did plan on going a tad faster at the start because of the downhill, and so the race was according to plan, more or less, but I didn't anticipate how tired I'd feel after 4 miles of fast downhill.

Another issue - racewalking technique and form. Since this was not a judged race, I have no idea if I was really doing it right. I know there were times that I might have gotten bent knee calls if it was judged. I caught myself slipping into lazy form a few times. However, I think for the most part I did a good job of maintaining better form than I have in the past. I worked pretty hard to keep upright (not lean forward), push off my toes, and keep the ol' knees straight. Not sure if it was a total success, but that's OK. Each time I race I will get better.

Finally, a few thoughts on distance. I have to say that the 10K was MUCH more painful than the 5K. I really enjoyed the 5K race that I did at the end of June, whereas I can only say that I enjoyed the first 40 minutes of this race. Maybe I will concentrate on shorter races in the future? I seem to like them better. I might try to do some more 5Ks and maybe even a 3K. We'll see.

I think the next goal in my sights might be the Boise Women's Fitness Celebration 5K in September. Maybe... have to convince Loren that he wants to come with me and bring the kids for a weekend in beautiful Boise :). They have a 5K exhibition racewalk there, and it would be a blast to meet some of the good walkers from Idaho there.

ahhhh, work! (sort of...)

After 2 days at home with the kids, I was ready to go back to work today. I did enjoy my couple of days off, mind you, and got a lot done around the house, but I was definitely ready for a change of pace today. I got in to work and went straight to the microscopy core for a 5 hour stint on the confocal microscope (which, incidentally, is worth more than we paid for our house!). It was going great - I had Stephen King's "Cell" on my mp3 player (courtesy of the SLC public library's nifty audiobook lending program) and was getting some fabulous photos. About 3 1/2 hours into my session, I was interrupted by the boss, who informed me that the day care had called and Michelle was running a fever (they couldn't reach me because the microscopy core is a giant cell phone signal black hole, which fit the book I was listening to :)!). Drat. I still needed to finish the photos, or I'd have to come back on the weekend. Fortunately, they were willing to keep her for another 1 1/2 hrs so I could finish up. I got to the day care as quickly as possible, and the kids were both asleep. I lingered there, chatting with the director and reading the newspaper and eating my lunch until the kids woke up. Michelle is doing fine with a little Tylenol, and I'm glad I got to finish my photos.

Good workout

This morning I did 1200m in 7:03, 1000m in 5:54, and 800m in 4:48 with 2 min rest inbetween. I think I'm feeling better, because that was pretty close to what I wanted to do for my 10K pace for Tuesday's race. I am worried I'm a bit undertrained to have the endurance for the whole race, but my coach says better under than overtrained. We'll see!

Poor little guy

After dinner (of which he ate not even one bite), my little boy crawled up on the couch and announced, "I'm lying down, Mommy". He was so still and quiet that after comforting Michelle (who was pretty upset after it took me too long to clean up the dishes), I went and got the thermometer. 103.7, it said. Yikes! Gave him some Tylenol and put Michelle to bed. After about 30 minutes, he wanted to play with his trains, but all he did was lie down on the floor next to them, and 15 minutes later he was asleep. Yup, asleep, on the living room floor. I gathered him in my arms and put him to bed. Poor little guy. Hopefully he will feel a little better in the morning.

Improved

The last couple weeks have been pretty draining. Work has been demanding, and everything else has been pretty busy, too. I also managed to get some bug the kids brought home, and was just under the weather enough to notice, but not sick enough to slow down.

Yesterday and today I have been feeling better, though. I did a 10 mile walk yesterday morning, and while not as fast as usual, was feeling pretty decent for the most part. Today I biked to weight training, and had a great workout. I'm looking forward to tomorrow's workout - I'm going to the track and will try to do some intervals at 10K race pace. I did that on Saturday and it was lousy - I could NOT keep up the pace. Hopefully tomorrow will be better, since I am feeling pretty good. Of course, if I don't get to bed soon, like now, I won't be feeling so great.

Looking back

I was reading Ollie's blog entry for today, and it made me think a lot... and so I wrote a response, which I'm going to stick here for my readers to peruse as well.

Thanks for your post. It is always interesting to read others' perspectives on the weight issue. As someone who has lost 105 lbs and kept it off for almost a year (so far!), I have a lot of emotions about the whole thing. I remember how it was to be fat - how people look at you, and how icky you feel all the time. I remember the self-loathing, the shame, and burying the pain of it with still more food. However, I also know the other side now - the marvelous feeling of taking the bull by the horns and working incredibly hard to change my lifestyle. I now know the freedom of shopping for clothes in normal stores, looking great in a little black dress, and racewalking a 5K under 30 minutes. If I could go back in time and talk to myself on February 4, 2005 (the day before I joined Weight Watchers), I would tell myself not to be so scared. I'd say, "You are about to embark upon the best and most fulfilling journey of your life - enjoy the adventure!". And today, I am loving it!!!

Hard at work?

Andras and I toasting the acceptance of the lab's paper into "Cell", one of the most prestigious scientific journals. (If anyone from the U is reading this, it's sparkling cider, honest! ;)!)

Happy 14th Anniversary

OK, so it was a few weeks ago, but hey, at least I'm posting the picture! We enjoyed a nice dinner out at The Paris, one of the finest restaurants in the city (in our humble opinion, anyway).

Our secrets to 14 happy years? We communicate pretty well, we are able to put up with a lot of nonsense from each other, and we try to have fun whenever possible :).

Article about a racewalker in training

This article from the Denver Post was really fascinating - about Kevin Eastler, a talented and serious racewalker in training.

Insectophobia, anyone?

This giant moth was on our front porch this afternoon! Yikes!

Killer workout

This morning's workout was a toughie. 10-40-10 tempo workout. 10 minutes warmup, then 40 minutes at 85% max HR, then 10 minutes cooldown. I walked to Liberty Park for my warmup, and then went around the park 3 times (1.4 miles/2.25 km for each lap - 4.2 miles total/6.75 km total) for my fast 40 minutes. My lap times were 13:53, 14:23, and 14:29. I wanted to stay at 14:00 for each lap (a 10 min/mile pace - about 6:13/km), but just did not have it in me to do it this morning. That last lap was a total killer. I was maybe 10-20 feet behind a jogger almost the whole way - it kept me motivated trying to keep up with her. I passed her once, but she quickly passed me back and stayed in front.

Good think my 10K is a bit downhill, or I don't think I could keep the 9:39/mile (6 min/km) pace for 6.2 miles. This morning it would not have happened, but each day is different, and it was really HOT this morning. I was sweating quite a bit by the 2nd lap, and by the time I got home at 7:20 am, it was really quite warm - probably 77 degrees. One good thing about the 10K is that it is at 6 am, and maybe I'll get lucky and it will be a bit cooler than this morning.

Racewalking update

I met with Jennifer again on Tuesday - she has given me 2 private racewalking coaching sessions now. It was a really helpful session, as we focused a lot on technique. She gave me some invaluable assistance on upright posture, better toe-off, and more. She also encouraged me to make sure I get enough rest and don't overtrain. Who me, overtrain :)? As if my body was agreeing with her, halfway through the workout I overused a muscle that usually doesn't get worked that hard, and I had to ease off due to some minor pain/discomfort in the groin. So, I had to take the day off on Wednesday, which was needed. The good news is that after a day of rest and some nice anti-inflammatory meds, I feel pretty great. I did about 10K Thursday morning at a nice relaxed pace (about 7 min/km) and it felt just fine. Today, I did my usual weight training routine, no problem.

Tomorrow I plan on a bit harder workout, since I feel pretty recovered. I am going to do a longer tempo workout to challenge myself in preparation for my next race - the Deseret News 10K on July 24th. I am hoping to complete it in under 1 hour, which will be tough. It's a downhill course, though, so I think I have a good shot at it.

On politics

If you are a 20 or 30-something associated with the PCA, do consider giving your thoughts to Craig, who is writing an article for By Faith magazine about our thoughts on politics. Just leave a comment on his blog.

Thanks, Mark, for calling my attention to this interesting topic.

Happy 4th!

Art Attack 5K photo

One more photo... the official race photo of me crossing the finish. It's informative, actually. I am getting a nice toe-off, but it looks like I'm leaning forward a little at the waist (gotta straighten up more!) and still perhaps overstriding a bit. My right arm is bent a little too much and swinging too high in front, which is probably connected to the overstriding and leaning. My form isn't too bad, considering that this is just yards from the finish and I'm quite spent.

My baby is ONE!

Today is Michelle's birthday! We had a great party for her with her friends Nayra, Alex, Sam, Adam, and big brother Calvin.

Of course, she loved the ribbons more than any of the presents :).

She had the MOST fun with her cake, though. She really really loved it. When she got a bit tired and rubbed her eyes with the cake, it only slowed her down for a little bit, and then she was right back at it. Finally, she started to cry and fuss more, and we gave her a much-needed bath, which she enjoyed before taking a long afternoon nap.

I had fun remembering the joy of seeing her and holding her for the first time, and thinking about the year that has gone by. She has grown so much, and has become such a delight. (And honestly, I'm very glad that the sleeplessness of the newborn phase has passed!). Here's to you, Michelle! Mommy loves you so very much.

Art Attack 5K

I racewalked the Art Attack 5K this morning for a personal best time of 28:53!!!!! I received first place in the women's walking division, and Diane from the Wasatch Walkers received 2nd place (with our medals int he photo at left), so our club was well represented this morning (after the race, I talked with a runner who asked lots of questions about walking/racewalking - she has bad knees and I hope that I have convinced her to give walking a try; I also saw Diane talking with some people about the club).

I was VERY pleased with my time - I was just hoping to do under 30 minutes, so to finish under 29 minutes was a thrill. I pushed about as hard as I could, and it was tough to hang in there at the end. It was pretty uncomfortable - no, make that very uncomfortable, but it was a great race. I think I paced myself pretty darn well - I was at 14 minutes at the turnaround point, which was at 1.5 miles (slight downhill). Then it took 14:53 for the remaining 1.6 miles, which was a slight uphill.

My time was favorable when compared to the runners in my age group (35-39) - I would have come in 9th of 19. I also could have entered the Athena division (women over 140 lbs - yup, at 145 this morning, I qualify!) and WON it vs. the runners. Click here for full race results.

I'm excited to race again - next race is the Deseret News 10K on July 24th.

Longer LT workout

This morning I did another LT (lactate threshold) workout. 10 min warm up easy, followed by 30 min LT @ 85% max HR. I was pleased that I covered 5K in about 29:40-ish. I think I am really on track to have a great race on the 23rd, if I'm feeling good that morning, and if it's not too hot. At 8 am, it should be OK even if it's going to be a really warm day, so I'm hoping that the weather won't be a factor.

Balance

It's hard to find the right balance. It's so easy for me to keep taking on one more thing because, hey, it's just a little thing, right? And then I end up overwhelmed. I feel OK despite doing too much the past 2 weeks, but I know it's been over the top. I feel my reserves slipping away. I have to be more careful about what I say "yes" to. The last 2 weeks we did Kindermusik each M,W,F. Today I worked in the afternoon to make a little extra $ for racewalking lessons. I also spent most of the evening baking for a work party tomorrow and for Father's Day (I'm making Loren an ice cream cake). I think there have been a few other extra things that I've done as well, but can't remember them right now. Let's just say that I know I have done too much. I am committed to a bunch more stuff through next week - racewalking clinic Saturday morning, dentist appt Thurs afternoon (along with a pedicure, which will be relaxing :)!), 5K race I've been training for on the next Sat (the 23rd, Michelle's b-day) followed by Michelle's b-day party that morning at 11 am. Whew. It's going to keep me hopping.

After next week, I am really going to have to get some time to myself. I am going to have to say no to some things if necessary. Fortunately, my mom is coming to visit from June 27th-July 4th, so that should help me get some much needed REST.

Terrible Twos

I finally REALLY understand why they are called the Terrible Twos. My formerly sweet baby boy has turned into a monster. Sometimes. He can be pushing his sister over to get to a toy one minute and a sweetheart the next. If you don't do what he wants, he pitches GIANT fits. Nasty ones. And I DO NOT do what he wants. I refuse to cave in! That means I listen to a lot of fits every day, about everything from what color cup to put his milk in (I let him choose, but he changes his mind 20x and then he is just stuck with whatever I pick, and screams!) on up to more serious stuff like pushing Michelle, refusing to get in the car when I tell him to, etc. It's really pretty aggravating at times. When I'm tired and my patience is tried, it's very difficult sometimes to avoid yelling and getting nasty and angry (which doesn't help and just makes it worse). I'm learning to be more patient, but it's not a pretty thing.

More sleep helps. I think I'm going to bed now :).

Hard workouts getting more tolerable

The evil lactate threshold workouts are getting more tolerable since I've been doing them 2x/wk for the past month or so. Either I'm getting used to them, or my body is getting better at what it's supposed to be getting better at, or the music from Repacer is pulling me along :). Maybe all of the above. This morning's workout was hard, no doubt, but it felt great. 10 min easy warm-up, then 20 min at 85% max HR, then 10 min easy back home. The 85% max HR was at about a 5:30/km pace, according to my handy-dandy Nike+iPod sport kit (which is often somewhat inaccurate, but today it was right on for the total distance). Not too shabby! I'm hoping that means I'm ready to break 30 min in my 5K in a couple weeks.

The big debate now... go to Reno to do a judged 3K racewalk on July 21st, or not? I'm a bit worried that I still have too much bend in the ol' knees and that I'll get DQ'd. Would hate to drive 8 hr each way to do a 3K and then get DQ'd. I think I'll have Jennifer watch me at the clinic next Saturday and then decide. Part of the problem is that I do NOT have the nice bend-backwards type of knees that look great on a racewalker. Mine just DO NOT do that. Ever. Not even when I am standing still trying to extend maximally. Soooo, I'm just not sure about what I should do.

Fish pond success!

The most recent mortar job I did on the fish pond (when I found the dead rat!) was a resounding success!!! For the first time since we bought our house almost 5 years ago, our fish pond fills all the way - to where it's supposed to - and drains out the intended drainage hole. It's so awesome! I can't believe my mortar job actually worked. There are still a couple smallish leaks, but it's working really well.

Now we're going to tackle the landscaping and the concrete back there. And Loren is going to look into building a reservoir system so we can tap into some of the spring water and use it for our yard. One step at a time...

Threshold workout help!

I love Dave McGovern's racewalking alumni e-mail group - I was whining about how hard threshold workouts are (lactate threshold workouts, which in Dave's RW book are about 85% max HR), and someone suggested this software called "Repacer". It adjusts the beat of your music to match a desired cadence. For racewalking, to get my heart rate that high, I need to have my music about 190 bpm (for 190 strides per minute). Not many songs are that fast. But with Repacer, I can just speed them up a bit. I take my faster music files, and tell Repacer to make them 190 bpm (you can choose any bpm you want to repace your files to --- so this would be good for walkers, fitness walkers, bicyclists, runners, aerobics classes, you name it!), and voila! new music! It DOES NOT change the pitch of the music at all - just speeds it up a bit. It warns you if you try to speed it up TOO much, so the music will still sound great. In addition, the website I got it on has a search feature for songs of any tempo, so you can buy more music that is close to the speed you want. This program is AWESOME!

Last night I made 2 mixes - a 180 bpm mix and a 190 bpm mix, for my threshold workout this morning. I tested them out, and it really helped me keep my target HR! If I started to lag, the music kept me on track - knowing I had to keep my cadence the same as the music just gave me a kick in the seat of the pants. It was just what I needed to make the threshold workouts a little less painful.

Oh, and at only $24.95, it was a bargain. I had been considering getting another mp3 player that would change song speed, but hated to do that since I really LOVE my iPod nano. You can try the software for free (try it! you'll love it!), but to save a whole song you need to register it.

Racewalking video

Cool video of some technique drills ... it's in Spanish, but who cares? I just liked getting some new ideas.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kknArA_TrWo&mode=related&search

Ewwwww

We're still working on putting mortar on the leaky spots on our fish pond. Today I was out there doing another round of mortaring, and noticed something icky in the pond. Couldn't tell what it was, as the pond has a lot of algae at the moment... but flies were landing on it. I figured one of our fish had died. So, I got a small rake and scooped it and some of the algae out of the pond. It was a dead RAT. UGH! Really really disgusting. Ewwwwww.

On the bright side, I'm hoping the new round of mortar takes, and that we can actually run the water where it's supposed to go :).

Sweet workout

Today I decided for my lactate threshold workout that I would do a mock 5K along the route of the 5K I'm going to do in just over 3 weeks. My goal for that race is under 30 min.

So, after doing a 15 min easy warmup (racewalked at an easy pace to Liberty Park), I did the 5K. I pushed pretty hard (could it have been harder at points? maybe...but the end was all-out), and finished in 29:23!!! Now, to be fair, I did have a few (3-4?) 15-30 second rest breaks waiting for lights to change, as the race course is in the city. And I think the real race might be slightly farther (does it cross 4th South?) but only by a few meters (10?) I'd guess.

The net result is this --- I'm really close to being able to do under 30 min. I think I can I think I can I think I can I think I can. We'll see.

After my workout, I cooled down with a pleasant easy racewalk back home.

By the way, my dog Copper is getting fast too. She kept up with me the whole time! (I didn't bring Sahara today because she tends to poop on the sidewalk, and I didn't want to have to stop to pick it up. Usually it's OK, but today with the mock 5K I didn't want to be bothered).

new website!

Wasatch Walkers now has its own website - www.wasatchwalkers.com

Check it out! I'm very pleased with the way it's looking. I put our Ogden Marathon Relay results up there, as well as some links to pics of us walking.

Ogden Marathon Relay photos

Here I am on my leg (about 5.7ish miles) of the Ogden Marathon Relay with the Wasatch Walkers.

@#$(*& SPRINKLERS!

Memo to whoever does the sprinklers at the East High track: SOME PEOPLE LIKE TO WORK OUT AT 6 AM AND WE DO NOT LIKE GETTING WET, ESPECIALLY WHEN IT IS 42 DEGREES OUTSIDE! IT IS @#$&%$ COLD!!!

Yes, nothing like doing intervals through sprinklers when it is freezing cold. Would have driven to another track, but I didn't have time before work. It was really frustrating. I still went pretty darn fast, though. I can do intervals at 5-10 seconds under my desired race pace of 6 min/km for the upcoming 5K, but I'm not sure I can sustain that pace for the whole 5K. Today I did 200m, 400m, 600m, 800m, 1K, 400m, 200m, with 200m recovery inbetween each. I wanted to do 800m and 600m on the way down, but ran out of time. Some of my intervals were a little more than the above due to going AROUND the darn sprinklers. It was windy, so they were watering the track more than the grass. ARRRGH!

A busy but great day

Today was very busy, but very good. I started off the day with an 8-mile racewalk, slow and easy. It felt pretty darn relaxed and wonderful. My time was slow (ave 11:16 mile), but that was fine, as I wanted to take it easy and just get in some miles.

Then it was quick quick shower, feed the kids, and off to church. Enjoyed chatting with some new people after the service.

A fast stop at home to change clothes was in order, and then it was off to Home Depot with the family to pick up some supplies for our weekend project (more to come).

Got home, fed the kids lunch and left them in their daddy's capable hands for their nap, changed into my workout gear again, and made a sandwich. Then I was out the door and drove to Dorothy's for a ride up Millcreek Canyon. We started halfway up, at the gate, both to avoid the traffic and to have a shorter yet still challenging ride.

After the ride, I headed home and the kids had just gotten up from their nap 30 minutes prior, so my timing was pretty good. Then we started in on our project. We re-routed the incoming water from our fish pond (fed by a natural spring) around the edge of the pond and then bailed water out to lower the pond level. I mixed the mortar, and Loren applied it to the corner that was leaking horribly. Michelle and I went back in to make dinner (well, she played with the pots and pans and the measuring cups while I made dinner), and meanwhile, Loren and Calvin pulled out a bunch of ivy that we didn't want.

After dinner, we went back outside to finish the job. We lined our stream with black PVC sheeting, and put beautiful little red rocks in it. I must say that it is looking 100% better. Tomorrow we're going to tackle the horrible weeds around the fish pond, but for now, it's off to bed! I need the rest, after my busy but good day. Below are before & after pics of the stream.

Small World

Tonight we went to a neighborhood bbq in the alley near our house. I met a woman there who lives down the street w/her husband and twin boys. She is a molecular biologist, too, and she worked at Myriad Genetics until she had her twins in December. She used to work with a friend of mine that I know from working at the U. Her husband is a dermatology resident at the U. And, she plays the piano. How weird is that? We have essentially the same career, and both like music. Our husbands are both in medicine (well, Loren WAS in medicine, and still sort of is, since he's doing informatics). I hope we'll get more chances to talk and hang out. She's pretty busy with her boys, so she doesn't get out much. I suppose I'll have to go down the street and say hello one of these days! It really is a small world.

Wasatch Walkers!

It's official! The Wasatch Walkers had our organizational meeting tonight, and we are getting the club off the ground. Diane Teece, our organizing force, led the meeting and we had about 15 walkers attend. I am going to be creating a website for us soon, so stay tuned. I'm very excited to be a part of the club, especially considering that until Dave's clinic a month ago I didn't know ANY other walkers in SLC. We already have workout times and get together for training, and we plan to add in some other informational sessions on topics such as racewalking, cross-training, nutrition/weight loss, etc. We are going to be participating in some races together as well - next on the list is the Art Attack 5K on June 23rd.

Toddlers and ice cream, part 2

Toddlers and ice cream, part 1

Confidence somewhat restored

Last weekend, my racewalking frustration was running high. I had Loren videotape me walking, and I swear it really looked like I was "creeping" (bending my knees as they passed under my body). I worked hard all week on improving things, and today at the Ogden Marathon I had a chance to have Jennifer, a super-fast local racewalker, take a look at my form. She said it looked good to her - no creeping! There were things I could improve, of course, but at least she didn't think I was creeping. I had fellow Wasatch Walker Kathy also take a look, and it looked good to her too. Phew. Big relief.

So, I did the Ogden Marathon Relay today with 13 other Wasatch Walkers. We were on 3 teams of 5 each (except Jennifer's team, which had 4, because she wanted the first two legs). I was to walk a 5 mile stretch for the 3rd leg. Well, I got to what was supposed to be mile 5, and lo and behold, no one was there! I had paced myself to do 5 miles and no more, so I was pretty trashed, but kept on going. Finally about mile 5.6-5.8 (the Garmins among us varied), I found the relay finish. Despite the pacing issues, I did the leg in 58:43, which is a 10:08-10:29 pace per mile, depending on whose Garmin you believe :). Considering that it was HORRIBLY hot out there, and I had a good uphill stretch, I am pretty pleased with my time. It was a good day.

Got a nod

Loren entered me in this contest (One Stylish Mother), and while I didn't win, I got mentioned in the first paragraph of the article.

Check it out

A blast from the past

I can't believe it... but tonight we saw one of these in the parking lot near Shopko in SugarHouse. Yes, a 1983 powder blue Yamaha Riva 180cc scooter. The EXACT model that I owned from 1989-1991, my last 2 years in college. I drove it all over San Diego and now have dirt permanently embedded in my knee after my front tire blew out driving on "the 5" as it is affectionately known in California. Wow, did it bring back memories. The cute little glove compartment where I kept a spare spark plug (hey, it only needs one!) and a screwdriver, the nifty rear view mirror, and the amazing blue color. I remember cruising along the beach near Del Mar with Loren on the back, enjoying the ocean view and the fresh air. I remember the really cool black leather gloves, my denim jacket, and the white helmet w/the red and blue stripes. I also remember how scary it was to get back on after the accident... and how glad I was to finally buy a car when the scooter was stolen on the day of my last final in college - how weird is that?

Non-racewalking news

Enough walking stuff. Other news lately:

1) Got a new cell phone because my old one had some serious problems (buttons weren't working). I got a Nokia 6126, and it rocks. It has a sweet color screen and a very nice 1.3 mp camera.

2) Work has been somewhat stressful with a grant deadline approaching. I'm surviving though. I got a few extra hours in and made a little extra money, but it left me pretty tired last week. This week has been better, mostly.

3) I stink at Super Scrabble. My dad and my brother have beaten me every game this year. ARRRGH!

4) Nice husband is trying to spoil me for Mother's Day weekend, so I need to go hang out with him :). We went to Baskin Robbins tonight and I had a Kissables Sundae. Pretty good, but probably not worth the 21 points, all in all. At least I had saved up so it was legal :).

Next race

By the way, I resolved my dilemma about what race to do next. Found out the Utah Summer Games race is NOT a judged racewalk, so I'm just going to stay here in SLC and do the Art Attack 5K on June 23rd (Michelle's birthday). The race is in the morning, so I can still have the whole day with my little princess :)!

I'm hoping to do under 30 minutes --- we'll see! I think I can do it. Last week I did a workout of 6K and finished in just under 36 minutes, so I expect I can do the 5K faster. However, race day brings jitters, adrenaline, etc., and that might slow me down. Plus I'm trying to fix my stupid bent knees problem, so I may not be able to go that fast legally. Hopefully things will come together in the next 6 weeks for me.

How serious am I?

How serious am I about racewalking? I need to consider this. I started doing it as a way to get more exercise w/o the impact of running. But now I'm realizing that IF I manage to learn to improve my technique a little so I'm really legal, I could have some potential to actually do well in races. I have NEVER ever been good at anything athletic, so it's tempting to consider.

The dilemmas?
1. Most races that are judged are NOT held anywhere near Utah. It would be expensive to travel to enter some of them.
2. I really need to fix my technique. I am still "creeping" a little - my knees are not quite straight when they pass under my body. I am working on it, but it's hard w/o a real coach. There really aren't any coaches in Utah, either, though there is at least one walker in Ogden who might be able to help me out a little.
3. I should probably lose another 10 lbs if I want to be competitive. I can do this easily (I think), but I'm not sure I want to. Then I'd have to buy all new pants again, too.
4. It might be hard on Loren if I started to train more seriously.

I am thinking that maybe I should consider losing a little more weight and working a bit more on my technique with the help of videotaping and perhaps a little coaching from wherever I can get it. I could see how I'm doing after that and see if I am still into the whole thing.

Maybe I should just forget about it, though... I have been told that I have potential, so that makes me want to do it, but is it just my competitive nature rearing its ugly head? Or is this something worthwhile to pursue further? I just don't know.

Dilemma

I'm trying to decide what my next racewalking event should be. I want to do a shorter race to work on my speed. I've narrowed it down to 2 events:

1) The Art Attack 5K on June 23rd here in SLC

OR

2) The 3000m racewalk (I believe it is judged, which is awesome!) at the Utah Summer Games in Cedar City, also on June 23rd

Option 1) is cheaper, local, and is going to be entered by a bunch of my fellow local racewalkers - the Wasatch Walkers. We'd all wear our T-shirts, and a good time would be had by all. Option 2) will cost lots more $$$ because it's in Cedar City, a 3 1/2 hr drive, requiring at least one night but probably 2 nights' hotel stay, gas, food, etc. However, while we are there we could take in Cedar Breaks National Monument, which Loren has wanted to see for a while. Loren says he could go either way, and he does like getting away for the weekend.

All things being equal, I'd probably prefer option 2). But, one more factor comes into play. Michelle's first birthday is June 23rd, and if we're out of town we wouldn't be able to celebrate it that day. I know she won't know the difference, but I do, and if we're out of town, am I putting my interests ahead of hers? Maybe not since she doesn't know the difference, but I can't help wondering. And the practical part of me says it's ridiculous to spend $$$ on a race. Of course, we'd be there for the scenery too, and it's good to get away for the weekend now and then.

ARRRGH! This is a toughie. Input requested if you feel like commenting.

I don't sit still for photos very well these days!

Buddies!

Michelle is 10 months old

Wow, my little girl is 10 months old today. Time flies so quickly. She is all laughter and sunshine, smiling at Calvin's antics, laughing when I change her, enjoying everything she sees. She is getting so big - she would hardly sit still for me to take pictures today (I will post them later). She wants to play with everything, and is starting to crawl at long last. I love her so much!

Official Half Marathon Results

Here they are!  My pace was officially 10:43/mile,
and I came in 45/84 in my division (which was Athena,
women over 140 lbs).  In my age group (females 35-39)
I would have been 113/161.  I'm quite happy with
how things turned out!

                                         
NO.   NAME                    CITY & STATE     
1948.  Stevenson, Tammy        Salt Lake City, UT

                CHIP     CHIP     AGE       PLACE 
RACE # SEX AGE   TIME     PACE     DIV       OVERALL
5711    F   37   2:20:35   10:43    45 /  84  1727 /2245

SEX      GUN      GUN     TIME TO
OVERALL    TIME     PACE    START LINE
902 /1296 2:23:59  10:59       3:24

Jason & Tammy

Congrats, Jason! He finished the MARATHON (yup, the FULL marathon) in under 4:50. Here were are celebrating together. We started the race together, and I wanted to be there when he finished.

Way cool medal

At the 8 mile point (only a few blocks from our house!)

Half Marathon Finisher!!!

I did it! 13.1 miles in 2 hr 20 min 30 sec (or thereabouts... it was 2:24:00 clock time, but we didn't cross the starting line for 3 min 30 sec or so). That's a 10:44/mile pace, or for the metrically inclined, a 6:40/km pace. I did the last 5k at a 10:38/mile pace, even though it was a slight uphill! It was tough, but I felt SO awesome when I crossed the finish line. It was an amazing feeling. I almost started to cry, because I could not believe how far I have come from being a total couch potato.

Here are some pictures if you want to see them.

Need rest

I'm really tired. I think the excitement of the last weekend w/the racewalking clinic and then forgetting baby Sam's birthday and rushing over to Sarah's at the last minute has me bushwhacked. (Sarah, I'm still very sorry, and now publicly very sorry... I'm not much of a friend sometimes). I rested on Sunday, but somehow, it wasn't enough. Monday was run run run. Just lots to do around the house, errands, etc. Today I walked my last longish workout before the 1/2 marathon on Saturday. I did 5.5 miles, and not very fast, but that was fine. (The new technique is a bit slower right now - I think it will slow me down until I figure it out some more - so if I finish in 2:24 or less, that will be good). Anyway, then I went to work, and it was really busy too. Picked up the kids, came home, made dinner, ate, cleaned up, and put kids to bed by myself, because (happily) Loren is out hanging out w/a guy friend from church. Still... all of this means that I've been overly busy. I'm glad that I don't have much planned for tomorrow and Thursday, because I surely need the rest. The kids will keep me busy, but at least I don't have stuff on top of that, for the most part. A few short errands, but nothing major. And maybe I'll go to bed early tonight :).

More racewalking stuff: the Canadian racewalker who helped Dave with the clinic last weekend e-mailed me about my half marathon, offering some great advice about walking the race. I was so happy that she wrote, and very pleased that she cared enough to do that. I really appreciated it so much. Her name is Jeannie Harms, and she is a year older than me (!) and a top-notch walker. She is trying to make the Canadian Olympic team for Beijing. It was so kind of her to take the time out of her busy schedule to mentor me, given that in the racewalking world I am a tortoise to her hare. Thank you, Jeannie! Best of luck in your pursuits!

Race partner

Forgot to mention that Jason, a friend from church, is running the marathon. He's planning on the same pace that I am, and the marathon & half-marathon are following the same route for the 1st 5 miles or so, so we agreed to start together and stay together as long as it's mutually beneficial. I'm excited to have someone to help calm my pre-race jitters and help me relax for the first little bit. I think it's going to be a lot of fun!

Also in church today, they announced that people can come and watch Jason and I and cheer us on. That was way cool! I hope that a few people do show up to cheer, as I feel like I'll need it to finish the race. Here is where the race will go: it starts at 7 am at the legacy bridge at the U, and goes along Wasatch Blvd to Foothill Dr. Then west on 2100 South to SugarHouse Park. I will arrive at the park about 7:40-7:50 am. Then from the park, the half-marathon continues south to 27th south, then west to Highland Dr, then north to 17th south. That's the 8 mile point (at 11th E and 17th S) , and I should be there around 8:20-8:30 am, depending on my pace. Then, over to 5th east and up to Liberty Park, arriving at the north end of the park (10 miles) at about 8:40-8:50 am. Finally, from the park heading west on 9th south to State St, north to 4th South, west to Rio Grande St, and north to the finish line in the Gateway. I hope to finish about 9:11-9:24 am (10-11 minutes/mile, depending on how I feel) - probably closer to 9:24 am. So, if you feel inclined, show up, and cheer loudly!

Racewalking clinic news

The clinic was awesome. I learned a lot - mostly I learned how much I need to learn, but hey, that's a start! I was doing a lot of things wrong: too much forward lean, not enough push off my toes, landing too flat-footed, and basically walking like a fitness walker instead of a racewalker. Also, my shoes were all wrong - too clunky. Racewalkers need supple shoes to accommodate the foot motion, and we don't need all the support runners need, since we have about 1/3 the impact. Anyway, I did make some progress on improving all of these things, but I will have to practice a lot and videotape myself a lot to see how it goes.

Hopefully I will be able to improve w/o too much coaching, since there are basically NO racewalking coaches in UT. There is a good walker up in Ogden, but she is pretty busy... maybe if I paid her enough she would be interested in helping me on occasion.

I met some fabulous walking types who are starting a club called the "Wasatch Walkers". They meet Tuesday nights at 6:30 pm at the Olympic Oval for workouts (there's an indoor track there). It will be hard to make Tues nights, as I've got the kids, but if I can find a sitter I may go regularly. Even if I can only make it once a month, that would be good. Loren might be able to handle them once a month :). I'm so excited to have met some local walkers - I don't feel so freaky and alone as a budding racewalker anymore!

Am hoping the technique changes don't mess up my half marathon this weekend too much. I am a bit worried that the new muscles I'm going to use will fatigue too easily. I will try to use the new techniques, but I guess if I get too tired I can always do it the old way for this one race, until I get my new walking legs acclimated. Same for my shoes - the new ones I got have not yet been adequately tested in long workouts, so I'm probably going to wear my old pair for the 1/2 marathon, even if it does inhibit my technique. We'll see.

I put some pics of Friday and Saturday on the web site, if you're interested.

Oh, in the it's a small world category, one of my fellow clinic attendees is from Grand Junction, Colorado. OK, so what? Turns out her husband grew up in the same church as my boss's family did, and he knows them pretty well. Not only that, but she used to work for my boss's cousin. I enjoyed meeting her and her family (they all came with her for the weekend!), and hope to see them again sometime.

OK, I really do need to get some more rest. I rested a bunch today, but not enough yet. I have got to rest up a lot before Saturday. The taper week sure is nice :).

Racewalking clinic, here we come!

Tonight begins the long-anticipated racewalking clinic. I am really excited about attending, and hoping that I will learn a lot of technique, training tips, etc. Being entirely self-taught to this point, I think I'm doing pretty well, but I wonder if I had a real coach if I would be doing better. I am sure that there are things that are wrong with my technique, though I have done a lot of reading and tried to apply what I've read. Nonetheless, you can't replace a good teacher. I would never suggest that one learn to play the piano by reading a book, and so I assume the same applies to racewalking. Unfortunately, teachers for racewalking are a little harder to find than piano teachers! Anyway, tonight we are having dinner and a lecture from 6-8 pm, and then we are meeting at the Utah Olympic Oval for training sessions Friday and Saturday from 8:30 am - 5 pm. I can't wait to meet some other racewalkers and learn a whole bunch of stuff!

My training for the 1/2 marathon on April 21st has gone fabulously. I think I should be able to do an 11 minute mile for the whole thing. If I'm having an exceptional day, I might be able to do a 10:30 mile, but I think more like 10:45-11:00 is going to be expected. I did 7 miles this morning, with the middle 5 miles at a 10:24 clip, no problem. Last weekend I did a 9-miler in 99 minutes, despite being sick at the time. I feel as ready as I'm going to be, though I still have one more long training walk left, a 10-miler. It hasn't always been easy to do the training, but it's been rewarding.

I'll be back to let you all know how it went!

I'm back!

I guess I got too busy for my blog, yet again. Silly, since really it takes all of a couple minutes to write SOMETHING, anything. However, I have this idea that it is a difficult thing. I will try to keep in mind how quick it can be, and will attempt to post regularly again. Hopefully you are all still reading.

Update since last post:
1) Training for the half marathon April 21st here in SLC. It's going pretty well. I hope to racewalk it in 2 hrs 24 minutes or less, which would be an 11-minute mile pace. I did 9 miles this morning at an 11:00 pace, and it went fine. I was a bit tired this morning, though.
2) Gave up chocolate for Lent, and that was HARD. Am really rejoicing that it is Easter today, and I have saved up some points for a serious chocolate pig-out. Already I've had chocolate chip pancakes, a sandwich with nutella, and some serious See's candy that my devoted and wonderful husband got for me, in a cute Easter basket!
3) My mom visited last week, which was fabulous. I loved having her here, and so did the kids. I am sorry that my parents don't live closer. Maybe they will change their minds and retire here next year, but I doubt it. Anyway, hopefully they can visit more often at the very least.
4) Calvin was so cute hunting Easter eggs after church today. We put them all over the living room and let him go for it. Then he thoroughly pigged out on candy, which is fine once in a while, I think. He loved it!
5) Michelle sat on the floor playing with a book and watched Calvin. She's too little for candy :).
6) Been reading lots of books lately. Read a book on Fatal Familial Insomnia ("The Family That Couldn't Sleep") and am now reading a book on human mutations/development called "Mutants". In the fiction department, read "Eragon" and really enjoyed it (thanks, Steph, for lending me your copy!). Zoe lent me the next book in the series, "Eldest", and I hope to start on it soon. I have way too many books I want to read, though!!! Not enough time!!!!!

Will keep this short so I remember how easy it is to post! More later.