Wednesday workout

I was going to do about 50-60 min easy today, but once I got going I didn't want to stop! So I did 3 miles easy, then sped up and did 2 miles comfortably hard, then 1.5 miles easy to finish. Total workout 6.5 miles in 1:08.

Tomorrow I'm going to do a short workout and then hop on the plane to Spokane in the morning!

I hope the kids won't torture my mom too much while I'm gone (she's here to help my husband with them while I'm out of town). I'm going to miss them A LOT.

Side note - our water came back on at 10 pm last night. Whew.

Attitude

Thanks for your comments on my earlier post about the car bill, readers. I appreciate it. I know I need to have a better attitude and just enjoy my weekend away, because it is half paid for (airplane & race fees) already. It was just hard to focus when I heard about the car bill.

I'm not sorry I'm going to Spokane. When I made the plans I didn't foresee any of the other things that have happened re: work, the car bill, etc. What's done is done, and I hope that I can put the challenges of the last week behind me and enjoy 1) my time to myself and 2) my races and 3) meeting some other racewalkers. And of course I hope that I will be really fast :)!

They can always hurt you more.

Tonight when I drove home from work, our street was closed and there was a scene something like this. I got inside and there was no water. Hmmm, big surprise there. I was planning on making dinner, but the no water thing was an obstacle bigger than I was willing to tackle tonight. Work was OK today, experiment-wise, though the other issues I have alluded to have not gone away, and are not any better. Anyway, I called Loren, and he was on his way home - he got a co-worker to drop him off at the top of the street. He ran into a neighbor on the way down, and the neighbor said that in the middle of the afternoon he heard a LOUD noise and the street started swelling up, and then out the water came. Oh boy.

So, we decided to go to Hogi Yogi for dinner, because we had a coupon, and it's relatively healthy if you pick the right stuff for your sandwich. When we arrived at the shopping center, we saw the scene pictured in this post. Yikes! We asked the Hogi Yogi employees when it happened, and they said it happened in the middle of this afternoon. Hmmmm. Seems like the problems must be related.

I really hope the water gets fixed soon. My mom is coming to visit tomorrow, and it would be very helpful to have water so we don't have to keep going out to eat. I guess the alternative is to pick up some water at the grocery store and use paper plates, etc. for eating off of. Arrrrgh!

It could be worse. I could be the city employee tasked with fixing the monumental mess. That would not be fun.

All the same, this just goes to show that they can always hurt you more...

Ouch.

Yeah, running out of gas cost us $580, which we can ill-afford right now. The fuel pump was burned out, and that plus the flat tire/rim will be $580. Very painful.

Now I wish I hadn't already signed up to go to Spokane. I'm going to feel guilty about how much $ it cost, especially in light of this.

I used to think I was good at managing money. Now I'm not so sure.

Mon & Tues notes

Monday workout: 3x easy around Liberty Park in 43:30 (about 14:30 per lap - pretty good!). Also did one more time around the park very slowly with a friend I was teaching some basic racewalking skills to (I actually did 1x alone, then 1x with my friend, then 2x alone to finish my workout). Oh, and I threw in some sprints during the 2nd and 3rd laps, just to do a little speed work.

Tuesday workout: Easy walk to the track at East High (takes about 20 min or so), and then 4x400 @ 5K race pace, which will hopefully be 2:14 per lap for 28:00. I did 2:16, 2:12, 2:12, and 2:14 with about 1 min rest in between each (to let my HR get down to 120). Then an easy walk home; total workout time about 53 min.

Only 3 days until the 5K in Spokane, and 5 days until the 10K. I've been vacillating between feeling confident and feeling scared to death. Mostly the latter. I need to psych myself up, because I know I am strong and I am prepared. I just have to believe it now! It's hard, because I have a lot of doubts and still have trouble seeing myself as a fit person; I feel like the fat person is just waiting to come back sometimes.

Other stuff: Work continues to be somewhat stressful; enough said. Michelle had a ONE HOUR tantrum last night. She was inconsolable; she didn't want food, didn't want to be held. She just wanted to kick and scream and wail, so we let her do it in her room while we ate our dinner. She eventually cried herself to sleep after we changed her into her pajamas. Calvin was pretty charming last night, and he and Loren played a good game of Chutes and Ladders.

Rest day

It's a rest day, because I need it.

"mean face"

 
We asked Calvin to make a "mean face" and so he obliged. After the party, we asked him what his favorite part was. Turns out he liked it the best when Nayra opened the gift we got her! What a sweet boy we have.

Birthday party

 
This was Nayra's 5th birthday party. There were a ton of kids there, and it seemed like they were all having a fabulous time. Calvin asked me, "Mommy, when is my birthday? Is it tomorrow?". Um, no, Calvin - sorry, but you have to wait two months. I don't think he understands, because he has talked about his birthday every day for the last week. He's going to be SO excited about it when it finally comes! I can't wait!

Michelle's favorite

 
This is my little watermelon fiend, enjoying the bounty. She also went nuts for the cantaloupe. Too cute!

Father & son

 
Loren and Calvin enjoy a lighthearted moment at the birthday party we attended tonight.

12-miler with Team in Training

Had trouble falling asleep last night after the car disasters, despite being very tired. 5:30 am came around too soon, but I got up and met my teammates for our 12-miler. We actually started right about on time (!Yeah!) and the best part was that I found a group of runners to stay with. I walked with Christie, Martha, and Shawna, and at the turn-around, Christie and I were faster than the others so we did the rest together. It was SO fun to have someone to talk with. I loved it! The miles really flew by that way. Sometimes she took a little faster pace than I wanted to, but she's new to running, so she did slow it down when I said it was a little fast for me. At the end, she was happy I did that! Anyway, we did the 12 miles in 2:11:47 for 10:59/mile, and my average heart rate was 140. I feel great now; legs a little heavy but not bad at all. Temperature was about 70 before the walk and looks like it's still about 70 after (though it's going to heat up FAST and be a hot one today!). It was a bit warm in the sun but very pleasant in the shade, and it was a lovely route through SugarHouse Park and up the bench past the zoo with a nice view of the valley at the top.

Our no good very bad rotten day

Today was pretty stinking rotten. It could have been lots worse, and we're grateful that everyone is healthy and that we all still love each other. However, it was still a very bad bad bad day.

I'm tired, so here is the short version: After work, which was NOT good (no more details in this public forum, but trust me, it was very very bad) I get home. Loren was on his way home with babysitter in tow because we're going to concert, car out of gas, gets flat tire while rolling it off the road (huge curb issues on 1300 East). He calls me to come help. I am rushing around to get ready for said concert. Shove kids back in car (screaming of course) and go get him. With great effort, push car off very busy street into alley; still not ideal location. Borrow some gas, try to start, no dice. While leaving, back new car into concrete abutment (at least I didn't do this or I'd never hear the end of this) and scrape a lovely nasty ugly scratch over 1-1.5 ft of right rear. Arrive at concert 20 min late, but at least it's outside so no one cares. Enjoy concert, actually, but then coming home the freeway is down to 1 lane from 3, so a 30-minute drive takes 1 hr 20 min. Try to call sitter from car to tell her we're late, and phone rings in car. I had forgotten to leave phone w/sitter, so we can't call her (no land line). I do succeed in reaching her parents, and they are nice about it. Now Loren is waiting for AAA to come tow the car to garage, since it won't start and we need new tires and rims now. Sigh.

Oh, and it's now 11:15 pm and I have to be at Highland High at 5:45 am for a 12-miler with Team in Training. Wish me luck.

How far I've come

 Haven't posted a "before" picture in a while. I have come a long way, baby! This is me with Calvin in January 2005, one month before I joined Weight Watchers.

I love summer

 Summer used to be one of my least favorite seasons. Before I lost weight, I was always HOT HOT HOT and dreaded July & August. 105 lbs lighter, I LOVE SUMMER! I am constantly cold in the winter (definitely notice the lack of insulation!) and want for fresh produce. Ahhh, but summer... I love it now, even when it's hot. This has been the 5th hottest July on record here, and I don't mind one bit. Yes, I've had a few really hot track workouts, but strangely, it hasn't bothered me too much. For the most part, I work out early in the morning, so the heat isn't too bad, and I love being able to wear just shorts and a T-shirt for my workouts. No looking at the thermometer, seeing how freezing cold it is, and deciding to wear 3 layers and Gore-Tex gloves. Nope, just get up, throw on the shorts, and out the door. Oh, and the fresh fruit: berries, cantaloupe, peaches, and more!

In honor of summer, the kids and I went for a long walk together and got Crystal Light Slurpees at 7-11. No better way to celebrate the season :)!

Last hard speed workout before Spokane

I stayed up too late last night reading and relaxing, so it was hard to get out of bed this morning when my alarm went off at 5:30 am. But I'm glad I did. It was my last hard speed workout before Spokane, since my 5K is next Friday morning and I want to be well-rested before I go. I do have a 12-miler with TNT on Saturday morning, but it will be an easy pace, and I'll probably go to the track and do a few race pace intervals Tuesday and Thursday, but nothing too long.

Today's workout was 5x1K with 400m recovery (no stopping). I wanted to see if I could do them all in 5:36 or less, because if I'm going to race a 28:00 5K, that is 5:36 per km. I did the first one in 5:33, no problem. The second one was a bit harder, but still did it in 5:35. I did wonder if I could keep it up; I was pretty winded but recovered fine on the 400m. I pushed hard to get the third one in 5:34. I wasn't sure I'd be able to do the last two that fast, and I started each one with 3:24 for the first 600m (3:22 would have been the pace for a 5:36). However, I was able to sprint to the finish for each of them and finished both in 5:35. Wow! My heart rate was really high (177, or 92.6% max) after the last one, but I did it. I'm not sure I could do them that fast without the recovery laps, but maybe on race day with the adrenaline going and the competition, I'll be able to. I'll just have to play it by ear a little and see how it goes. I think it's more realistic to shoot for a 28:30, but I would so love to be able to get that 28:00. Today's total time for the 5K was 27:54, but that was with the recovery laps. So, who knows? We'll see what race day brings. I do feel like I have trained about as well as I can, and I feel proud that I have been able to do this without a coach and without teammates to spur me on through the hard track workouts. Whatever race day brings, I know that I have worked as hard as I can, and that I'm as ready as I can be. That's a great feeling.

On another note, I found out that I have a great aunt who lives in Spokane. I had no idea! I just called her this morning, and she is going out of town next Friday, but we are going to try to get together on Thursday night (I arrive in Spokane at noon on Thursday). It will be really fun to meet her and find out some of the good family stories.

Crazy

I wonder if I'm crazy. Paige, a friend from church, offered to take the kids swimming this morning for a few hours, and so I gladly took her up on it (the pool was closed so they ended up going to the park instead). What would you do if you had 2 hrs to yourself as a mom? Go to a bookstore? A coffee shop? Shop for some clothes? Read a good book? No, I did not do any of these. I decided to deep clean my whole kitchen. I did talk on the phone with my mom as I worked, but other than that, all I did was clean and prepare the slow cooker for tonight's dinner. It felt good to do it, and now it's nap time and I'm going to rest too!

Oh, today's workout: brief racewalking warm-up, then total body weight training class. That was the last class for several weeks; I may go to the gym in between and do some lifting, or I may just do some extra walking. No plans for sure yet.

Another Hot Tuesday

96 degrees at the start of the workout tonight, but only 7% humidity (pretty dry, even for here). We were scheduled for 4x1600, and I was determined to do it no matter how hot it was. Floyd Ormsby, a racewalking coach who has lived in Utah a long time, was at the workout tonight. I had met him only once and he'd never seen me walk before. I was glad he was there, because I figured some tips would be helpful. He's about 80 years old, but just coached a boy to the national title in 3000m (14:29 was his time!) so I figure he knows his racewalking.

I warmed up, taking the first 2 laps very slow in 6:30 because I wanted to chat with Nancy and Kathy. Then I did 2 laps faster, in about 5:00 so that I'd be nice & warm. I drank a bunch of water and rested a minute, chatting w/Floyd. Then I got started. The first 1600 was in 9:06 - whoa, WAY too fast for the conditions! The next one I did in 9:20, but knew I was in trouble because my legs were starting to feel heavy. I did the third one in 9:30 (I was hoping for 9:25 for all 4) and after I did it I was QUITE nauseous. I very narrowly avoided puking; fortunately there was a trash can there in case I needed to. I hate throwing up, so I did everything I could not to, and it seemed to work. I decided to take the last one a bit easier, and I did it in 9:48. I cooled down, and felt very virtuous for finishing that hard workout in the intense heat.

Floyd seemed very impressed with my walking, which was wonderful to hear. He said my technique was very good, and only suggested that I need to keep my elbows in a little bit - I had them doing a little too much side to side motion. Other than that, he was very pleased. It was great to have him watch me, because now I feel even more secure about not getting DQ'd in Spokane NEXT WEEK. YIKES! IT'S NEXT WEEK! I'm getting nervous, but I feel as ready as I'm going to be.

Cross training and FUN

Last night my friend Dorothy and I decided to do some easy biking. Loren was generous enough to watch the kiddos (I put Michelle to bed at 7:30 and then left immediately; he put Calvin to bed) so I could go out. We biked from my house to the mouth of Emigration Canyon, then up the canyon to the first hairpin turn. It was getting a bit dark, so we turned around and biked back. Total time: 1 hr 43 min; only 15 min of that was above 70%max HR. It was a good ride, though, and my quads were tired at the top. I thoroughly enjoyed catching up with Dorothy and hearing all that she's been up to, and it was a great night to be outside. It was a tad warm at the start, but in the canyon it was beautiful and breezy, and very comfortable.

Tonight I'm scheduled for a hard track workout, and it's going to be HOT at 6 pm. I'm not expecting too much speed-wise, but hopefully it will still be a good workout.

Hmmm, people actually read this blog

I had no idea that my opinion was so interesting to anyone. I started this blog basically to write about anything and everything, and as I've gotten fit, it's gravitated a lot towards racewalking. Since then, I think I've managed to pick up quite a few readers - or at least become visible on Google. My post a while back about the Snickers Speedwalker Ad seems to have garnered some interest in the advertising community. Cindi Leeman, editor of WALK! magazine, has pointed out to me that Advertising Age (an advertising magazine) picked up on my post in an online article about the ad.

The article says, "What was probably more surprising was the diversity and reach of the outrage. Not only did liberal blogs or blogs maintained by gay men balk, but so did a blogger known only as Tammy, a self-described "amateur racewalker." She posted the video with a headline that read in part "Pathetic Ignorance" and followed with this mini diatribe: "I think I am going to have to boycott Snickers. I very rarely eat them, but I do buy them for my piano students. Not anymore." If it seems the future's bleak for ads in a culture where so many are quite easily offended, a few creatives interviewed weren't particularly worried..."

Wow, I guess I'm "easily offended". Honestly, the ad did irritate me, but it was pretty small irritation on life's Richter scale. The remark I made about boycotting Snickers was only somewhat serious; I am realistic enough to know that racewalkers boycotting Snickers is a laughable proposition. There aren't enough of us to make much of a dent in the M&M Mars empire, and my husband pointed out to me that I'd have to boycott all M&M Mars candy, which I am not really willing to do when it comes right down to it.

All the same, I'm extremely surprised to have my blog quoted in an article like this; such is the reach of the Internet. I have to say it does make me think twice about what I post here. But not too much :). It's still MY blog and I'm going to enjoy it!

Race info; Sun & Mon

The timing issue from the Deseret News 10K has been acknowledged by the race, finally. We all had only our gun times posted on the official results page, and were very frustrated by it. Here's an e-mail from the timing folks:

Thanks for the email. The times that are currently posted are gun times. Unfortunately, I'm not sure when (or if) we will be able to post the chip times. There was a glitch with the reader at the start line. We have sent the files off to the timing box manufacturer for them to work on. We're hoping they can extract the data that we need but I think it is going to be a long shot. I apologize for this inconvenience and if we do get that data back from them, we will notify you and upload it immediately. Thanks again for running the Deseret News 10K.
Kurt Black
Stride Racing

OK, that makes me feel better somehow. I wondered why we wore timing chips if they were just going to use gun time! I do hope they are able to extract the data.

Sunday: Easy 6K around SugarHouse Park.

Monday: Easy 30 min warm-up racewalking, then 50 min of total body weight training. I am ready for a fast track workout now, I think - I feel rested from the race and from Saturday's 8 miler. Will do one tomorrow night. It's going to be hot, so that will not be fun, but at least it will be a good workout anyway.