Still Here

May 4, 2014August 6, 2014 ~ meh ~ 2 Comments

2014-05-03 20.24.58 oh hey downtown LA

Since moving back, things have not been super easy. Paul was gone. I was sick. Baby was sick. I did neither of the half marathons I had planned on racing. My running has seriously fallen off.

But for the good news: Paul is now here. HH is healthy (if still teething…shoot me). And I have tan lines again.

This week we headed down from SB to LA to take a look at a few potential places to live. This morning I went for a run in the South Bay amongst the beautiful people (not that Kentucky people aren’t beautiful in their own way). And two things happened.

Oh hey, whats up 90210 beach house. I forgot you lived here.

2. I ran past Kat from the reality show Toned Up on Bravo (thank you once again, High Street YMCA). She was in spandex stretching next to a shirtless dude with big muscles. First “celebrity” sighting.

I was super excited to tell people about it, and when I got back to my aunt’s house exactly nobody knew who I was talking about.

And, last but not least, we finally took HH into the pool for her first swim lesson.

Not super successful, but her suit was adorable. (And yes, Paul has changed ethnicities.)

P.S. Happy Derby Day!! California Chrome is appropriate this year…

More Adventures at the Y (or: Why I Wear Flip Flops in Public Showers)

March 19, 2014August 4, 2014 ~ meh ~ 1 Comment

Last week, somebody took a dump in one of the shower stalls at the Y.

A human. Pooped. In the public shower.

The discovery, of course, was followed by 5 minutes (I’m sure longer, I just left the locker room at that point) of Maria Callas walking around announcing to no one in particular, “Well, I mean, I understand having to pick up after a dog or a cow, but a PERSON?” And I don’t disagree. I just don’t know if it needs to be repeated multiple times to the same crowd.

So the turd sat there until poor Rosa showed up with her rubber gloves on, and Ms. Callas directed her to the offense and explained how she had considered picking it up with toilet paper, but had decided against that.

I never wear flip flops at the pool (I know, some people are horrified by that…I blame an entire childhood of walking around barefoot in gnarly locker rooms with no serious infections to show for it). I opted to shower at home that day.

My flip flops arrived in the mail yesterday.

P.S. Picture via here. What.

Roundup: Week 10

March 17, 2014March 17, 2014 ~ meh ~ 1 Comment

winter, winter, go away…

Monday: rest

Tuesday: 4 miles outside after work. weather was BEAUTIFUL.

Wednesday: icy rain and sleet…nothing…again…

Thursday: 6 miles on the TM before work

Friday: 2.5 mile walk from my house to the inlaws to pick up HH…paul took the car for a trip up to visit some friends

Saturday: 8(ish) miles outside. 70 degrees. sunny. absolutely gorgeous. was supposed to be 11 miles, but with paul gone got crunched on time. just didn’t have 11 in me.

Sunday: freezing rain again, followed by snow. coached at UK. didn’t swim. lame.

Weak week in terms of training. Any sort of cross training just went straight out the window. But between the weather being all over the place and Paul being gone and just general exhaustion, that’s what I got. At least over the weekend I had some help with the laundry.

Life lesson learned today: do not bake a loaf of chocolate chip pumpkin bread “for the office” on Sunday night and then work from home on Monday when your kitchen is barren of any other food. Your loaf will never make it to Tuesday. Or the office.

Flying Solo

March 11, 2014March 11, 2014 ~ meh ~ 2 Comments

so lonely

Last week it became official: the three (nameless) individuals who I was supposed to run races with this spring (both Run the Bluegrass and the SLO Half) have, for various reasons, all backed out.

So I spent a lot of last week on the fence. The weather was crappy. Work was busy. Shins were hurting. I was exhausted. Motivation was very low. Training for 13 miles started to seem stupid.

On Thursday I made a deal with myself. I would suck it up and do the 10 mile run on Saturday. If I had any hip, knee, or shin pain, I would skip RTBG, mellow out on the longer runs for the next week or two, and re-evaluate for SLO.

Saturday morning I woke up really grouchy, not wanting to run at. all. But (after a lot of bitching…sorry Paul), out I trudged.

The weather was…great. And the run felt good. Almost easy.

So for now, we’re sticking with the plan. Sometimes flying solo isn’t a bad thing.

Roundup: Week 9

March 10, 2014March 17, 2014 ~ meh ~ Leave a comment

Since I shortened my long run last week, my long runs are now bumped back a week and the longest I’m going to end up doing will be 11 miles this coming weekend (as opposed to 12.) Which is fine. As I’ve mentioned before, Hal Higdon’s beginner plans have 10 miles as your longest run before a half. I think I’ll be fine.

Monday: nada

Tuesday: 4 miles on the TM before work…it was gross out

Wednesday: nothing (this is bad, I’ve been ignoring Wednesday cross training pretty consistently)

Thursday: 6 miles on the TM at lunch…Real Housewives of NYC is back on!

Friday: 1500 swim straight. At the Y. I literally had half an hour to do something (including getting showered and dressed). So I did what I could.

Saturday: 10 miles first thing in the morning. Outside. I was dreading it. It wasn’t bad at all.

Sunday: 2100 swim at the Y (swim meet at the pool in the morning). Almost didn’t go, was good that I got in at all. Main set: 5 x 100 @ 1:15. Just to get the blood flowing.

As of Thursday the ice is gone…I don’t want to say the S word and jinx it, but fingers crossed that it is just around the corner…

Roundup: Week 8

March 4, 2014 ~ meh ~ Leave a comment

…and things were going so well…

Monday: walk with the fam to the rugby field

Tuesday: 4 miles outside after work.

Wednesday: nothing

Thursday: 6 miles outside. This was an ugly run, for a few reasons:

Ran at lunch. Totally kosher, but I still have PTSD from previous jobs and run with my work phone and stress the whole time. Plus I was under a time crunch.
That morning, I found out that both Andrea and Margaret WILL NOT be running RTBG with me. So…I’m rolling solo. And lacking a little bit of motivation.
Because it was lunch and I was starving, I stuffed my face with 5 thin mints as I was walking out the door.

Spent a lot of the run feeling like I was going to barf up cookies. Walked up the one big hill. Lame.

Friday: Happy hour with coworkers! Who needs to cross train.

Saturday: 6.8 miles in some nice weather. But I felt pretty crappy (not from happy hour, the whole week I was dragging big time, really tired.) Also started to get some minor shin pain. Decided there was no reason to push.

Sunday: 2500 swim. Main set:
400 swim fast in and out of one wall (so every other turn) @ b+15
50 easy stroke
2 x 100 FAST @ 2:00
300 swim fast in and out of one wall @ b+15
50 easy stroke
2 x 100 FAST @ 2:00
200 swim no breathing inside the flags @ b+15
50 easy stroke
2 x 100 FAST @ 2:00
100 swim no breathing inside the flags @ b+15
50 easy stroke
2 x 100 FAST @ 2:00

That set is actually a really great, quick 2000. I coached the group I would normally swim with (people always go faster on fast swims when there is someone on deck yelling out times as you come into the wall), so I ended up doing this set by myself. Plus I was in a little bit of a rush. So I made a few modifications: the 400, 300, 200, 100 were all @ 1:20 base, 50s all on 1:00, and the 100s were just on 1:15, not all out.

Then on Sunday….

That is Spike and Paul walking down the middle of our street at 8am on Monday. Sunday night was freezing rain followed by 5 inches of snow. Then Monday afternoon the sun came out, and it melted, then the temps dropped again at night…

…and the world is once again covered in ice.

Figaro

February 25, 2014February 26, 2014 ~ meh ~ 1 Comment

When I lived in San Francisco, one of my coworkers told me that one day, after living in SF for about 8 years, she was walking down the street and a girl wearing no pants walked past her. And she barely noticed. That, she said, was the moment she realized it was time for her to move.

I feel like the YMCA has a number of proverbial pantless pedestrians wandering its hallways.

There is one older/middle-aged woman who was obviously a singer in a previous life and likes to sing opera, loudly, in the locker room. Full volume loudly. And apparently we’re on the same workout schedule, because she is there more often than not.

At first it was awkward, I wasn’t sure how to react…when she makes eye contact with you do you smile like a normal person and pretend like she’s not doing that or what? Now it’s like, whatever…preferable to the usual locker room rants about how the 84 degree pool water is too cold.

So when I was greeted by La Traviata after my swim this morning, I ignored. Per usual. But this time, someone taking a shower decided she needed accompanyment. When Singer #2, another silver-haired vocalist, emerged from the shower, Singer #1, at this point fully dressed and about to walk out the front door, approached a totally naked Singer #2. They clearly did not know each other. The following conversation ensued, naked, next to me as I got ready for work:

“Well, thank you for the beautiful harmony today.”

“Oh yes, well, I just recognized the hymn, and you know the alto part goes, ‘hum HUM HUM hum hum…”

“Ah yes that’s different than the mezzo-alto part that we normally sing in church. I heard you singing something else, what was that?”

“Oh, that was At the Cross…you know, ‘at the cross, at the cross, where I first saw the light…”

“…’and the burden of my heart rolled awaaaAAAAaaaaAAAAAY!'”

…and there was my cue. Exit scene.

Roundup: Week 7

February 24, 2014February 24, 2014 ~ meh ~ 11 Comments

Monday: nothing.

Tuesday: 4 treacherous, treacherous miles outside. It rained Monday night and was super sunny Tuesday morning, so I was like, awesome! This is going to be awesome!

Then the sidewalks looked like this:

And the roads, though clear, were COVERED in secret, killer black ice. Ugh. Like, seriously. Enough with the ice.

Wednesday: family walk to the rugby field

I know, forward-facing carrying is controversial. But she hates facing inward and loves facing outward and we all got to enjoy the sunset.

No filter needed.

Thursday: 6 miles outside before work and it was a balmy, cloudy 60ish degrees at 7am. My favorite kind of running weather. Really, truly glorious. Felt like spring.

Friday: 2K super quick swim (same main set as last week, becoming my quick go-to 2K workout set: 5 x 200 @ 2:40, 2:35, 2:30, 2:35, 2:40

Saturday: 9 miles outside on a crisp, clear morning. No ice to dodge. It felt so great to just go.

Sunday: 5+ hours working at the Maher Mile Masters meet. I was hoping I could squeak into a later heat, but no room and no time for me to swim. Wah wah. I thought about doing a mile swim for time sometime this coming week in solidarity with everyone who raced in the meet, but…..yeeeah. We’ll see.

The Self-Reflecting Pool

February 20, 2014 ~ meh ~ 1 Comment

Sliding into the water is the easiest way to detach…

…

The experience is egalitarian. You don’t have to be a great swimmer to appreciate the benefits of sensory solitude and the equilibrium the water can bring.

Nice opinion piece from last week’s NYT that hones in on one of the central reasons why I still, and will continue to, swim as long as I can. Even if those moments of sensory solitude sometimes look like this.

Roundup: Week 6

February 18, 2014February 18, 2014 ~ meh ~ Leave a comment

Monday: nothing (I’ve been sticking with keeping Mondays off, even though I feel fine most Mondays. Mentally it’s nice to start the week without a workout hanging over my head. Plus I really like having a little more time after work to get all the crap I inevitably did not do Sunday ready for the rest of the week).

Tuesday: 4 miles on the TM. Got a TV but…it was Watch What Happens Live, one of the very few Bravo shows I can’t stand. Bummer.

Wednesday: nothing

Thursday: 4 miles on the TM and ANOTHER Watch What Happens Live with the Vanderpump group…did you know that Kristen lied and really DID cheat on Tom with Jax last summer and now Tom is dating ARIANA?? omg nfw stfu. (I really need to pay more attention to the Bravo schedule so this never happens again)

Friday: 2K super quick swim (main set: 5 x 200 @ 2:40, 2:35, 2:30, 2:35, 2:40)

Saturday: flew to BOSTON! …and of course my flight got delayed then cancelled then rescheduled, so nothing happened on the workout front.

Sunday: 8 (ish) slow, slippery, sloppy miles along the Charles. I dragged Emily along with me. About an hour in she was really happy with her decision to come.

…and we’re halfway there! 6 weeks to go.