better

Today was much better, thankfully.

Walking - took a rest day. I needed it.

Work - started a new experiment, hoping that the latest idea will bear fruit. Upbeat about the possibilities.

Kids - much happier today. They liked the taco soup I made for dinner. Especially the chips :)! Calvin did well on the potty - yeah!

Husband - also happier today. Big relief.

Tomorrow... going to be busy. Work out (weights, some walking or maybe elliptical), come home and shower and get the kids dressed and take them to day care. Go to the doctor for my lovely annual exam. Then go get the kids from day care and take them to Kindermusik. Take them back to day care. Go to work for the afternoon. Pick up kids from day care, and get a Papa Murphy's pizza on the way home (a Friday tradition, only Loren usually gets the pizza, but he will be at Kung Fu tomorrow night). Feed kids, put them to bed, then relax. Maybe another bath. The one last night did me a lot of good - I love our jacuzzi tub.

My big boy :)

My little girl :)

a hard day

Today was just one of those days that was a toughie. I usually love my job, but work today was difficult. I'm troubleshooting a complex experiment and trying to figure out the best way to approach it...and I've got to get it to work sometime in the next month for a grant deadline. To top it off, co-worker D was out of the office and I needed several things from him to do some of the work I had to do. I did find some other things to get done, but darn it, I needed to do the things I couldn't do because of D's absence. Drat. It was just a fairly rotten day at work.

So, I left work a little early (30 mins) to go and get the kids. I sat in horrible miserable traffic for 25 minutes (twice as long as it takes when there is no traffic) on the way to the day care. When I got home w/the kids (who were both whiny), I discovered a note from Loren saying that he was way too tired to do anything, and that I was on my own w/the kids for the night. He was asleep on the bed. Great. I was planning to go to trunk or treat at the neighborhood church (hopefully to meet some neighbors and get the kids some candy w/o having to drag them everywhere) and decided I'd try to do it even if Loren wasn't up to it. I managed to get the kids in their costumes, pack the diaper bag, the feeding chair, and get Michelle in the stroller. We walked to the church, and when we got there I realized there was NO WAY I could possibly go through a buffet line to get dinner (they were having dinner before trunk or treat) for myself and the kids w/o any help. I still don't know many people in the neighborhood, and I was feeling down and miserable and didn't want to introduce myself to someone just to ask for help. I didn't see anyone I knew (I do know some people but not everyone), so I just decided to leave. Calvin cried when we left because he wanted to stay (they had some cute games for the kids, and he liked the crowd - he's a people person), but what could I do? I felt even worse then.

To top it off, I couldn't even change plans and go to our own church group tonight because last night I called and told the hosts we wouldn't be coming, because we had decided to take the kids either trick or treating or to the trunk or treat instead (with me working today it wouldn't have been possible to trick or treat AND get dinner AND get to the small group on time). Besides, I wouldn't have been able to handle the kids and get anything out of the group, and it's not fair to the other group members to bring the kids when there's no sitter (there would have been a sitter if I hadn't called to cancel, but I hadn't planned on Loren being exhausted). This is all very convoluted but to make a long story short I made the kids some mac n cheese, heated up some leftovers for myself, and we ate. The kids were pretty well behaved and they were cute at dinner, so at least I survived. Michelle smeared macaroni ALL OVER, including in her hair, so I had to give them a bath, and it was past their bedtime by the time I got them in bed.

I desperately need to unwind a bit so I might take a bath, after 9 pm so that I don't miss any trick or treaters. We don't get very many so I'm giving out the big candy bars and it's pretty entertaining to see the kids' reactions - worth every cent :)! Besides, I'm less likely to eat the big ones than the fun size ones, so it's safer for me. Weird, huh?

My laptop battery is tired and I need to plug in, so I'll be back later w/some pictures.

Taking it easy

I've been taking it easy the past week since my half marathon. I have been walking plenty, as I'm in a contest on Nike+ with other walkers to see who can walk the most miles in a month. I'm actually winning right now, with 125 miles and only 1 day left in the contest. My nearest competitor is at 114 miles, but they haven't posted any miles today so I can't rest on my laurels. I may take the kids for a walk to get a few extra in :). Anyway, I have been just doing easy mileage, no intervals, no threshold workouts, nothing. Just enjoying being out there. It's been great.

I did enter the Cold Turkey 6K on Thanksgiving, so I will have to actually start a little training soon, but I wanted to rest for a little first.

Will he run???

Hilarious video of Jefferson Perez, Ecuadorian racewalker par excellence, a victim of a practical joke on Japanese TV. When chased by Samurai, will he run or walk?

Thinking of Allan

My virtual friend Allan is about to start his half marathon in Suwa Ko, Japan right about now! Allan, I am thinking of you and sending fast thoughts your way. I hope you have an awesome race to remember :)!

Potty training

Calvin woke up with a dry diaper this morning, so potty training began in earnest. I figured he must have to go, so why not take advantage of the opportunity? So I put him on his potty seat on the toilet, and told him he could go pee on the toilet. He sat there for a few minutes, and then he went! I never thought the sound could be so sweet. Then we went to church, and I told the people in the nursery that he was working on potty training. They took him to the bathroom about an hour later, and reported to me after church that he had peed AND pooped in the toilet. I was most impressed. He has had a couple accidents today (but I dressed him in underwear with a pull-up on top of it so he could feel the wetness but not soil his pants) but he has gone on the potty four times. It's really great!

I didn't think I minded diapers at all, and it was no big deal to keep on using them, but it has been just wonderful to imagine a future with fewer diapers. I had no idea I felt this way until he actually started using the toilet and I could imagine the possibilities. I think I'm going to like this! Calvin seems to like it, too - I think he feels like a big boy now.

Whew

The fires in San Diego came very close to my parents' house, especially on Monday night and Tuesday. It was a tense day for me watching the news websites on and off to see what was going on. I was pretty worried - not so much for them, since I knew they would leave if it got dangerous, but for their home and for the stress of evacuation, etc. Fortunately, they didn't have to evacuate (though people quite close to them did), and the fire spared their neighborhood. The worst is over in their neck of the woods, and I feel very relieved. Let's pray that the other fires cease to threaten homes as well.

After the half marathon: Tammy & Carol

Virtual Nike Women's Half Marathon

I did it!

My aunt came along with me (she's a runner) and the company was great. By my Nike+ iPod sport kit, I did 13.1 miles in 2:14:00, and by her Garmin, I did 13.1 in 2:16:58. Not sure which I believe (though I think the iPod kit might be a little closer), but either way, I met my goal of finishing under 2:17. One caveat - my aunt got a little dehydrated, so we took a couple off the clock water breaks that I wouldn't have taken, so I got a little extra rest. However, I feel sure that I could have done it at a very similar speed without those.

The course - Chula Vista golf course jogging trail. Really nice and flat - that part was great. Not so great was the dirt. It's all dirt, which is perfect for runners (softer), but was a downer on my toe-off power. Still, there is no traffic, it feels safe because there are lots of others out there, and it's pretty scenic for the most part. I did four loops around (it's supposed to be 3.3 miles, according to a sign, but that means four loops is 13.2 miles, and even my iPod had me going 4 times plus a little extra to make 13.1 miles) and then added a little to finish. My times for the loops were 32:45, 33:20, 33:02, 34ish (not 100% sure about the last one - it was close to 34 mins and change). Pacing felt right on, but I was sure glad to have my aunt with me on loops 2 and 3 to spur me on to keep the pace. It helped out a lot!!! I was really pleased with the pace for the whole race. To only slow down by about one minute on the last loop was really good (especially since my aunt stopped at mile 10 and I didn't have a pacing buddy anymore!), yet I was totally spent at the end, so I didn't feel like I was holding back. My aunt had good advice on pacing - she said that it's not a bad idea to do a little bit faster pace at the beginning (just a little, mind you - like 10:22-10:23 when my goal was 10:30) and that allows a little cushion for the end. It felt pretty good to do it that way, even though the conventional wisdom is negative splits.

Weather - the start was a perfect 56 degrees, but it was pretty humid. My hands were a bit cold the first loop. Then it warmed up pretty quickly when the sun came up, and by the finish it was easily 70 degrees and sunny and still a bit humid. Not the best finishing conditions, but I was able to keep the pace, which is all that matters.

I'm very pleased with the race, though not sure exactly what my finishing time is. It's a new personal best - but is it 2:14:00 or 2:16:58? Or somewhere in between? Ah, doesn't matter. My last race was 2:20:35 so it's a significant improvement and I'm thrilled.

My Nike Women's Finisher T-shirt and key chain will arrive in the mail in 4-6 weeks :)!

Visiting family

Hello from San Diego, where we (me & the kids) are visiting my parents (at right in the photo) and my grandma (at left in the photo). We've been having a great time here, just kicking back and not working too hard at much of anything.

I've been tapering my workouts for my race on Saturday - the Nike Women's virtual half marathon. I'm excited to race, and my aunt is arriving tomorrow and will run the last half alongside me as I racewalk. More later!

Breathtaking

Tonight I attended a Murray Perahia concert with Sarah, and it was truly breathtaking. He played a Bach Partita, a Beethoven sonata (the pastoral), Brahms Op. 118 (which I played for my junior recital!), 2 Chopin Etudes (the aeolian harp and the C# minor), and Chopin's Ballade in A-flat. Of course the Brahms was my favorite - I loved his interpretation of all but the 4th piece (which he played faster than I would have liked). The rest were sublime - the strength and warmth of the opening Intermezzo, the tenderness of the 2nd Intermezzo, the fiery Ballade. The best was the last Intermezzo, based on the Dies Irae. It literally took my breath away. I'll remember this concert for a long time to come.

We had great seats, too - in the choir loft, and at only $12.50 each (half of a regular ticket) a major bargain. We could see everything so well (the pictures show our vantage point). I was amazed that I could hear his fingers hitting the keys, and could really watch his expressions and even his feet. The breadth of different sounds he produced was incredible - and he used a ton of una corda, which was really interesting to watch and hear. A master at work!

quick 5 miler, etc.

I was going to do 6 miles not-so-easy, but got up too late. So I did 5.1 miles instead (8.2k for my Canadian friends). It was nice & warm this morning at 48 degrees, and I felt pretty good despite only 5.5 hrs of sleep. I did the 8.2 k in 52'54" for 6:27/km. Was pushing a little, maybe 7 out of 10 for exertion, and ave HR was 147. The trick is going to be sustaining close to that pace for 2 hr 17 min for my half marathon next Sunday. I think I'm ready, but we'll see.

Last night I took Loren out for dinner for his birthday. We went to our favorite restaurant, The Paris. It was divine, as usual, and then we browsed a couple of bookstores before returning home. A great evening... but then I was up late and had to get up early. I'm tired today, have to work 4 hrs, go to a baby shower, teach a piano lesson, make dinner for the family and then get to go to a Murray Perahia concert tonight with Sarah.

Michelle still sick

Michelle is still pretty sick - 101.4 fever this morning, coughing, etc. Bummer. That means I can't work this afternoon, and I have an experiment to do. Drat. I will have to work Saturday and Sunday afternoons now to get my experiment done. Oh well. I guess I will enjoy having today off, anyway. :)

Thursday workout

Today I felt decent when I woke up. The cold wasn't as bad for me as for Michelle, so it wasn't a big deal to go for my workout. I slept pretty well, and really felt like getting out there. I did 10 min easy to the dog park, and then did 30 min tempo workout from there to Liberty Park, around Liberty Park twice, and back to the dog park. I did each circuit of Liberty Park in 13:54, maintaining a nice consistent pace of about 10:04 per mile (about 6:15/km). Usually my tempo workouts feel pretty hard - on the edge of being miserable - but today, I felt decent. I did feel like I was exerting myself pretty well, but it was pleasant all the same. Maybe it's because the weather is a lot cooler? It was 43F this morning (6 degrees C) and clear and dry. Really nice weather for a good walk. I was wearing my new long sleeve technical shirt from the Boise race along with my black pants and light gloves, and it was just perfect.

Tuesday workout

Forgot to post about this. Did my first indoor track workout of the season. It wasn't that cold outside, but it was so dark, and I didn't feel like hassling with not being able to see my watch really well (my HR monitor/stopwatch is not backlit - ridiculous, I know). So I went to the Field House, where there is an indoor track. It's a very odd size at 211m around, but it works just fine. I wanted to do 8x400m in 2:18 each (5K pace), so before I left I calculated that that would be the same as doing 422m (twice around the indoor track) at 2:25. So I did 8 laps warm up, flexibility drills, and then 8x400 at 2:18-2:23 (I felt fast, so why not?) with 1 lap easy recovery inbetween. Then I did 8 laps cool down. Total of 40 laps, and felt pretty darn good at the end.

Sick

Michelle and I have awful colds. I think Michelle's is worse than mine - she had a fever of 102 this afternoon, poor thing, and she has been coughing and hoarse and sounds terrible. I just have a sore throat, am really tired, and have congestion/runny nose/headache. Not fun, but I was functional at least. I took care of the kids, and even managed to eke out a little housecleaning. I didn't work out - slept in a little (until 7 am!), because I needed it. I also took a nap this afternoon, which helped a lot. I'm feeling much better now and hoping to work out in the morning. I'm supposed to do a fairly evil tempo workout, which I will try if I'm feeling at all up to it.

I'm a little worried about Michelle - her breathing was pretty raspy at dinner and her cough was horrible. Loren didn't think it was much to be too concerned about, so we're playing it by ear. Will probably check on her a little before I head to bed this evening.

Long easy day & feeling great

Today I got up at 5:15 am to do a long, easy 12 miles. I completed my route (which was actually 11.94 miles/19.21 km) in 2:14:21. I kept it really easy - heart rate was an average of 132 (and my max is 191, so that's 69% of max) and my average pace was 7 min/km. When I finished, I felt like I could have gone much farther, no problem. If I ever do a marathon, I might shoot for that pace.

Of course, I am training for a HALF marathon, so I do plan to go much faster than that on race day (hey, 2 weeks from today!). I hope to do a 10:30 mile (6:30/km) for the race, to finish in 2:17 or less. We'll see. My previous PB is 2:20:35, but I did that in April only one week after I attended Dave's racewalking clinic (i.e., only 1 week after I learned to racewalk, since before that I was fitness walking, even though I was trying to racewalk). I have improved my technique and my fitness level a lot since then, so I don't think it's too ambitious to think that I could chop 4 minutes off of my time.

I'm feeling really great physically, except for some minor discomfort in my left leg, which flared up a lot after my 10 miler last Sunday morning. I stretched a lot today and am taking anti-inflammatories, so I hope that I won't have any trouble with it this time. So far, so good.

While out walking today, I "ran" into a couple friends in Liberty Park. I saw 2 racewalkers while heading down the west side of the park, and I thought "Racewalkers! I'm sure I must know them!". Sure enough, it was Nancy and Kat, who were just starting their morning workout (I was 1 hr 55 min into mine and almost done - had to start early to make it to church and to get home to help Loren w/the kiddos). We chatted for a couple of minutes about our various minor aches and pains and then I was on my way again, refreshed for having run into them.

Mixing science and a sick kiddo

Today Calvin woke with a 102 degree fever. Yikes. No day care for him today... and I had to work. So, I took Michelle to day care, and Calvin got to come to work with me. After lab meeting (during which he "read" several books, pushed the stroller around the room, and talked a lot to my co-workers & boss), we went and did some paraffin sectioning (on the microtome - photo in this post). Co-worker D had embedded a bunch of regenerating newt spinal cords in paraffin and I spent the better part of the day making 10 micron sections of them on some slides. Definitely the tedious end of science today, but it was actually perfect for Calvin, who was able to sit next to me. He "read" books, played with his train and stuffed animals, listened to Kindermusik on my iPod, and resisted his nap mightily (I brought a foam mat for him to sleep on). He did SO well - I could not believe my good fortune. After sectioning for 5 hours straight with essentially no breaks, my brain was mush and it was definitely time to go home. At least I finished all 10 of the spinal cords, and D was pretty pleased, so all was well.

Much better

My leg is oh so much better today :) and I was able to do an easy 30 min racewalk with no problems whatsoever. Thank God for anti-inflammatories. My Nike+iPod says that I did 6:36/km for the 30 minutes, which is pretty fast for an easy workout. I wasn't trying to push and wasn't really paying much attention to how fast I was going - was simply thinking about how my left leg felt and making sure that it wasn't hurting. It wasn't, and I was happy :).

Tomorrow - some biking and weight training. Will take it easy on the leg, though.

Resting

Today I just did some weight training for upper body only, resting my sore left leg. Actually, it felt MUCH better this morning after anti-inflammatories and a good massage. I'm thinking of doing an easy walk tomorrow to see how it feels. I might try racewalking a slow pace for 30 min, unless it hurts right out of the starting gate, in which case I will do something else.

The rest of the day was not exactly restful - grocery shopping, cleaning, trip to Costco, and lots of laundry. One huge diaper blowout by Michelle and one diaper leak in bed this morning by Calvin made my life a bit more exciting than usual. I also made an extra grocery trip because Ream's had chicken tenderloins on sale for $1.70 per pound - really cheap! Of course, you had to buy 20 lb, but I have a big chest freezer, so it was worth it to stock up. We eat a lot of chicken stir fries, so that should be great.

Made lasagna for dinner tonight from my favorite cookbook - "The Best Light Recipe" from Cook's Illustrated. It is always a favorite, and at only 7 points per serving, totally rocks.

Tired, and it's late - so I'm going to get a little shut-eye now.

Leg is really sore

I thought I was going to be OK after my walk today, but my left leg is now extremely sore. I have no idea what I have done to it, but it's been bothering me a little bit (not too much - just a little) for a few weeks, and after my 10-miler this morning it is much worse. It hurts a lot where the hamstring attaches at the top - I literally have a "pain in the butt". I got Loren to massage it a bit for me last night, and it helped a lot, but it was stiff again this morning at the start of my walk. By the end of the walk it was fine, and I wasn't even thinking about it.

I stretched it out really well, but a few hours later after sitting in church for only 30 min, it was really sore. I got up to play the piano for the offertory, and was limping a little - a friend noticed and asked me about it. I've been sitting on my duff watching football most of the day (my poor 49ers got mashed) and that has only made it worse. Despite 800 mg ibuprofen and 1g acetominophen, it still hurts a lot. I'm going to take some more before bed and hopefully it will be better tomorrow. I want to go to my weight training class - well, I guess I can always just do arms and skip the legs if I need to. I hope I recover enough so that I can do the 1/2 marathon in 3 weeks.

10 miler

Did the 10 miler (16k) this morning in 1:48:20, for 10:49/mile (6:45/km). Would have liked to be a bit faster, but I was trying to mostly take it easy. I stayed at about 70-75% MHR for the first 7 miles, and then tried to maintain pace, and my HR went up to about 78-79% max. That was a little high, since today was supposed to be an easy day, but I wanted to see what I could do at the end. Next week is a 12 miler... whew. Then in 2 weeks, the half marathon.

Pay it forward

I have always thought the saying "pay it forward" was kind of cliche. No, I think it is over the top cliche. However, today at Weight Watchers our leader gave out white wristbands that say "pay it forward" (like the LiveStrong ones, but white) to all of the lifetime members (lifetimers have hit their goal weight and maintained for at least 6 wks). She explained that it was to celebrate our accomplishments and remind us to encourage others that they can do the same. In that sense, I really do want to "pay it forward". I try to encourage those around me in their weight and fitness goals as much as I can. I feel like I do have something of value to share, and I enjoy watching others work through things to achieve their goals. So even though it's cliche, I am wearing it because I suppose it has some truth to it - others helped me get where I am, and I want to give back.

So, if you are reading this and you are on WW or working on a fitness goal, know that I am behind you and hoping you will succeed. Remember that it's a new lifestyle that you are seeking to have. Take it slowly, watch the changes, and celebrate your accomplishments!

Next race

Don't think I've posted my next race yet. I am going to do the virtual Nike Women's Half Marathon on October 21st. The real race is in San Francisco, but instead of going there, I'm doing the race in San Diego when I go to visit my parents. I paid $45 to enter, and I will race with my Nike+ iPod sport kit, and then upload my run to my computer via iTunes. Then they send me a finisher's T-shirt and Tiffany key chain! I'm excited to do it, because the proceeds go to the Leukemia and Lymphoma Society. Since my dad was diagnosed with chronic lymphocytic leukemia in December, I am more than happy to do a race to benefit research into the causes and cures of blood cancers (I would have been happy to do it before, since as a molecular biologist I understand the importance of research, but now I have a personal reason too).

I started my training this week, but since I have a pretty good base, I am not too worried about getting in the miles. I just have to up my mileage a bit and I'll be ready. I plan to do an easy 10 miles tomorrow (16 km), and we'll see how that feels. Of course I'll do some speed work too - I plan to hit the track on Tuesday for some fast 400m intervals.

Workouts

Thursday - 60 min acceleration - HR at 140 for 10 min, 145 for 10 min, 150 for 10 min, 155 for 10 min, and 160 for 10 min, then 140 for 10 min for cool down, then some stretching. Did about 5.65 miles for a 10:37 per mile pace overall (ok... in km for my Canadian buddies, that was 9.09 km at 6:36/km overall).

Friday - weight training and biking

Saturday - 4 x 1 mile at 1/2 marathon pace, in 41:48 (just under 10:30/mile; 6:26/km). I was going to rest each mile but didn't really need it, so I kept on going.

Some Racewalking Drills from Italy

There are some different ones on here! I am going to have to try some of them.

World Masters' Championships

Is in SACRAMENTO! in 2011!!! I am so excited. My brother lives only 20 min from there, so I am definitely going to go, and hopefully by then I'll be a bit faster, too. I can't wait to racewalk with hundreds of people from all over the world. OK, it's four years away now, but that gives me lots of time to get ready.

Cold and dark and crowded

That was the track workout this morning, in a nutshell. Cold (39 degrees F, 4 degrees C) enough to see my breath, but fortunately I decided to wear long pants and a long sleeve shirt, so I was fine after warming up. Dark for 3/4 of the workout, as winter is approaching. Finally, it was crowded. A running club was meeting there today, and I had to park across the street because the parking was all full. I almost turned around and went home when I saw how crowded it was, but decided to give it a go anyway.

The bad:
Had to stay in lane 3-4 most of the time because of the crowds and the runners.
Some idiot in that club brings there yippy little dog with them, and the dog was pretty pesky.
Too dark to see my heart rate monitor, and with my gloves on the little flashlight I brought was hard to operate.
Got up a little later than I wanted and had to cut my workout down to size a bit.

The good:
I had a decent workout anyway, doing 4x800 in 4:48ish (10K pace) with 2:00 rest, plus warm-up and cool down. I was going to do 6x800, but time prevented it.
Overheard as I passed some runners who were walking in between their sets: "Walker on your left!" with a reply of "That ain't walking!" in a tone of amazement at my walking speed.
Burned almost 500 calories and felt good that I stayed for my workout.

Race photos

OK... I fixed the link. Race photos here.

Race results

(drum roll...)

I finished fourth, with a time of 29:16.5.

I am pleased that I finished in the top 5, and my time was good - but not great. I had a good race, but just didn't have that little extra something that it takes to feel really fast. I didn't feel as smooth and fluid as in my Thursday workout. However, I am really happy that I went because it was great to compete with other racewalkers. They were fast, too! The woman who won the race finished under 27 minutes, and she is 56 years old (and does NOT look it!). She holds the world Master's record for 5K for age 50-54, so I fully expected her to win. My friend/coach Jennifer, who drove up with me, finished 2nd with a time just over 28 minutes I think. The 3rd place woman finished in 28:52, (my best time for 5K is 28:53), and she was within striking distance of me the whole race, but I just couldn't turn on the power to get by her.

Nitty gritty race analysis: I went out a bit too fast the first mile (yeah, I should know better... sigh) at 9:06, and then the 2nd mile had a pretty good uphill for a bit so I did that in 9:47 or so, and then the last 1.1 miles I did in 10:23, picking up the pace. If I had done the first mile a bit slower I probably would have been able to do the 2nd and 3rd with a lot more kick and it would have been a faster race. I was trying too hard to stay with the walkers ahead of me instead of walking my own race.

Bottom line: I had a wonderful time anyway, and was totally thrilled just to BE there, and to be fit, and to have a chance to meet the racewalkers from Idaho.

It was a great experience to race with so many FAST women, and the atmosphere of the race (the Boise Women's Fitness Celebration) is fabulous. It's a huge 5K race (for women only, and over 10,000 women do the race!) that starts off with the elite wheelchair athletes. Then 5 min later the racewalkers get their own start! With thousands of women watching and cheering us on, we were off. 10 minutes later, the elite runners started, and then after them the rest of the runners started. The top elite runners passed me about 3-4 minutes before I reached the finish line, and it was really fun to watch them zoom by me as if I were standing still. What was neat about the order of the race start was that I could really see what place I was in and could tell exactly who was in front of me and how far, with no runners crowding the view.

The race has an amazingly festive feeling about it. Before the start, they had a dove release - hundreds of doves were loosed from ornate white wicker boxes, representing the dreams and hopes of the women in attendance. There were brightly colored balloon arches at the start, at each mile mark, and at the awards stage. Finally, along the last 0.1 mile of the race, men wearing tuxedo shirts, jackets, cummerbunds and bow ties along with shorts (yep, shorts!) flanked the race course and cheered the women on to the finish. They call it "Tuxedo Row".

They actually recognized the racewalkers in the awards ceremonies - the top 5 racewalkers, wheelchair athletes, and elite runners got flowers and recognition on stage. The wheelchair athletes and runners get prize money, and the racewalkers used to, but in recent years the race has not been officially judged (lack of qualified judges) so they don't give prize money to racewalkers anymore. However, I didn't care - I was thrilled to be on stage and receive a beautiful bouquet of multicolored roses.

After the awards for the top finishers, they added a beautiful touch - they gave each woman over 70 that completed the race a red rose, and a tuxedo-clad man escorted her across the stage, dancing to music by a live band. They announced the names and ages of all the over-70 finishers as they danced across the stage, and the crowd went wild.

The race allowed people to enter as competitive runners (timed), competitive fitness walkers (timed), or noncompetitive walkers (untimed, pushing strollers, etc.). So many women turned out to celebrate fitness and getting in shape. Women of all sizes, shapes, and colors were out there having a great time. I was heartened to see many larger-sized women out there, and I wish them all well in beginning or continuing their journey to fitness. It was obviously a place where any woman could feel comfortable, no matter her fitness level, her age, or her size, and I loved that.

I'm going to try and post some pictures soon.

Ready or not...

Here I come! Off to Boise tomorrow for my first race with a racewalking division. I'm really excited and nervous and hoping for the best.

This morning's workout went great. After my warm-up and stretching, I did a short but fast workout. I wanted to see how fast I could do a 1K, inspired by Sarah's great times the other day. So, off I went, and I finished it in 5:27! Wow! I have never done one so fast, and didn't know that I could. But I only did one, because I wanted to take it easy today. So then I did an easy 200m, followed by 3x400m at approximately 5K race pace, each followed by an easy 200m. I did the 400s in 2:15, 2:16, and 2:16 (my 5K goal pace is 2:18, so I was a little fast). I felt like I was flying, loose and fluid. It was great. Hopefully I will feel like that on Saturday!

Evening eating

Once again, the evening eating is getting out of control. I think it's because of 2 things:

1. I have cut back my points a lot to try and lose a little more weight to improve my racewalking. This has led me to feel deprived. That's not good, because then my self-control goes out the window and I binge.

2. I have not been getting enough sleep. That leads to feeling really tired (gee, ya think?) and then my self-control goes out the window and I binge.

The solution? I think I should put the weight loss plans on hold for a bit, so I can just feel normal for a while. I also need to blog less and go to bed earlier - not likely to happen :) so I'll settle for just stopping the weight loss train for a bit.

Siblings

Some candids of my mom and her siblings

At Wheeler Farm

Adorable!

Father & son

Mommy wore this when she was little, and now it's my turn to wear it!

Calvin goes to the dentist

Calvin's first dentist appt was today. He did great! Here are some photos.

Photos!

I worked on my photos a lot today during naptime and also tonight after the kids were in bed. The photos on our website are now up-to-date. I've put a few up here on the blog to whet your appetite (or not!).

Date night

Last night we had a great date night. We went to Bambara for a delightful meal, since the city is having Dine-O-Round right now, and you can try expensive restaurants for less. For $28 each, we got a 3 course meal - salad, entree, and dessert. Loren had rabbit with wild mushrooms (! I could not even try it ! Too close to home w/our pet rabbit !) and he said it was amazing, and I had Morgan Valley lamb with polenta. Delicious. The dessert was pistachio cake, which was just OK, probably because it was not chocolate. All the same, the coffee and the wonderful adult conversation with my husband were sublime.

Then on to the symphony. For the season opener, they played 2 of our favorites: Beethoven's Emperor Concerto, and The Planets by Holst. It was so amazing to go, since we hadn't been in a while. I just love the living, breathing organism that is the orchestra. It delights me to hear and see the musicians working together to create such a breadth of sounds and timbres. The piano concerto was splendid, really - the soloist, Andre Watts, was having the time of his life with this old warhorse of a piece. His musicianship was impressive, and the variety of sounds he coaxed from the piano were marvelous. He got SO into it, though, that he was singing along quite loudly at times - we could hear him readily from our 9th row seats. I didn't mind too much, though, because he was clearly enjoying the music for all it was worth, and that was what I came to do as well. After the intermission, the orchestra tackled The Planets. Loren and I agreed that Mars is our favorite, and the orchestra really could not have played it better. The solid wall of sound that the brass produced was totally over the top, and we loved it. The other planets were extremely well-executed too, and listening to the large performing force with the unusual instrumentation (bass oboe, bass flute, contrabassoon, 6 horns, celeste, glockenspiel, et.) was a treat.

Sorting

Today was sorting day. I went through all of the kids' summer clothes and put most of them away, saving out just a few outfits for the occasional warm day that we might get in the next couple of weeks. I got out all of their larger sized fall clothing, though I am not quite done putting Michelle's in her drawers. I sorted all of Michelle's old baby clothes to give to some friends, organizing them by size and by who I am giving them to. My entire trunk is now FULL of her old clothes. It feels really good to get them out of the garage. They were taking up a LOT of space.

It always surprises me how long this takes to do, for some reason. It took me about 4 hours, and I'm still not done, though I'm close. Michelle had so many clothes... 0-3 mo, 3-6 mo, 6-9 mo, 12 mo, winter and summer. I wonder how people do this if they have 5 kids? How can they ever get it done? Heck, I haven't gone through MY clothes yet either. Fortunately, that will be much easier, as I don't have that many! Losing all that weight was great for pruning the ol' wardrobe down. It will probably only take about 30 min to sort through my stuff, put away the summer clothes, and get out the winter ones.

Track workout

Today was my last long track workout before my race. I warmed up and did my flexibility drills, and then I did 16x400m with no rest, with alternating 2:18/2:45 as my goal (2:18 being my goal 5K race pace for next Saturday's race). I was able to do the 2:18s no problem - most were actually 2:13-2:16, but I slacked on the 2:45s, mostly because I wasn't paying that close attention to how fast I did the recovery laps. Some were 2:40s, but many were 3:00, even 3:05. Oops. I'm not worried, though, as it was a good hard workout and I felt decent.

I do wonder how I will sustain that pace for almost 30 min - but I wondered that before my last 5K and did 28:53, so I think the adrenaline helps a lot. Also, you push harder in a race than in a workout, even if you have an intense workout. I never do all-out in a workout, but in a race I will. Especially a race like this one. I have never done a race with a real racewalking division, and there are some FAST walkers in Idaho (at least 2 of them can do a 25:30ish 5K!!!). My goal is first of all to have a good race and finish well, but of course I would like to finish in the top 5 and get an award :)!

Drat

I lost all of my pictures when I moved my blog. Sigh. I know exactly why it happened - I had it hosted on my website, and moved my website and didn't move the photos. It would be really time-consuming to fix it, so I'm going to leave it the way it is. Sorry! I will just have to post new pictures as I go. I should have just hosted my blog on Blogger to start with, but I wanted it on my domain. The only problem was that when I switched my hosting, it was a major hassle to move everything. Oh well. Thanks for bearing with me.

Feeling fast

I had a great workout this morning. Warmed up on the 1.2ish miles from my house to Liberty Park, and then did some flexibility drills. Then did 2x around the park in 27:38 (a 10:01 per mile pace, or 6:12 per km) for a lactate threshold workout. The first lap was great - 13:23 (6:02 per km or 9:42 per mile), and then the 2nd lap was not as fast.

I was not too worried, though, because I would have been a lot faster (30 sec? 1 min?) on the 2nd lap if not for my dogs. I have learned that my dog Copper is plenty fast and motivated. She can keep up with me just fine. Sahara, on the other hand, is fast only when she wants to be. She was keeping up all right on most of the first lap, but on the 2nd lap she lagged seriously unless we happened to be catching up to another dog, in which case she had no problem whatever keeping up (and more than keeping up - racing ahead). The rest of the lap, I was basically dragging her along. I don't really know how much she slowed me down, but it was significant. Thing is, I am not too worried about that. I still got a great workout, and I felt nice and fast this morning. My pace was exactly where I wanted it to be, and it felt good. For a fast 5K I will have to go about 15 sec/km faster, but I think I can do it. I was pushing really hard this morning, but it was not all-out, and I didn't have the adrenaline rush of a race.

I think I'm as ready as I'm going to be for the race next Saturday. I have one more serious track workout and then I'm tapering. I was pretty anxious about it, but then had a good conversation with my boss (who is not a walker, but just an all-around nice guy who has a good perspective) who suggested that I just needed to "have fun". He's right. The race is the Boise Women's Fitness Celebration, and I intend to treat it like a celebration. It's a huge victory for me to be in great shape and to be out there racing, when 3 years ago I was an obese couch potato. I'm going to have a great time!

Funny commercial

This commercial has been running locally, and despite the fact that I watch little TV, I have seen it once or twice. I was pleased that it is online now so I can show all of you too :)

http://animallogic.com/?link=Our%20Work,_54

Moving

I'm moving the blog to www.racewalkertammy.blogspot.com

I am changing where we host our website, and I needed to move my blog so that the posts didn't get lost. Please bear with me! :)

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.