On Flexibility in One's Training Schedule

(I have my grownup computer back! Hooray!)

This might possibly be the happiest dog on the planet. His training remains the same despite weather issues. Mine does not. THIS picture is of the road in front of our house in the mountains where we were this weekend, and where I had planned to go for a long run one day and possibly a ride or ski the other. NOT. But I am proud of my tenacity and creativity with last week's training nonetheless.

We were home during the work week and the weather was unsettled, bringing us our first real rain in weeks. I let the Mister take Sporty Spice to school early on Tuesday and headed up Mt. Diablo in attempt to beat the rain, which I DID. I have a goal of seeing the top of the mountain before Wildflower, and it will be the first time since the broken leg. Today there is snow on top of even this low-lying mountain.

Thursday it rained again and after scrapping plan A of riding, and plan B of running outside (it was pouring! and cold!) I did something never before done by me...I ran on the treadmill at the gym for 2 hours. Yes, 2 hours. The only way this was possible was with the help of those little personal tv consoles on the treadmills there.

The weekend brought the flexibility of training-challenge to a new high. We had never before been to our mountain house on a day where there was that much snow and plows not keeping up. This meant arriving after dark Friday night and actually having to send the Mister down the road to shovel us a path inside; luckily we were able to get the car to the end of our road. But this meant we couldn't leave to go anywhere by car all day Saturday, not the store, or the ski trails, no where. So we strapped on our snow shoes and headed out--onto our own road! There had been some plowing before the last dumping and that was really good snowshoeing, just a foot or so of snow. Not feeling this was adventurous enough, we blazed our own trail over the usually "dirt road", snowshoeing through about 4 feet of powder. Now, if one wants a workout, THIS would be it. I managed to patch togfether 2 and a half hours of this and it was actually very very nice. And the dog was in dog-paradise! Which is so wonderful to see, as our boy has been battling lymphoma and having chemo treatments once a week. He had a perfect day, and it made the last 10 weeks worth it all.

The plow came...finally....at 1:30am on Sunday morning, which was one of the oddest experiences the Mister and I have ever had. We both woke up, sitting straight up in bed yelling--we were both totally sure it was an avalanche! It was so noisy and lit up the house!
My workout hopes were high---until I realized it was 20 degrees outside and the road completely iced over. I had to tippy toe my bike down to the main road, but had had the smarts to bring my mountain bike and managed to get in a 3 and a half hour ride down the mountain to Murphys and back on the road. It kicked my butt.

I did manage to get some other things done on my to do list this weekend!! I finally watched, in it's entirety, my new Swim Smooth Master Catch Class DVD--very very informative and I can't wait to try out my new drills.

I finished the Charles Dickens novels I've been reading for Oprah's book club! Tale of Two Cities and Great Expectations. I feel so smart!

I planned my garden for the year and made lists from all my seed catalogs.

And I finished all my training totals from 2010! Ready?
In 2010 I swam 256, 350 yards.
I rode 3,851 miles.
And I ran 997 miles (and if you know me, you would know that if I had known this was the number earlier, I would have been out at 11:30 pm on Dec. 31st to get in the last 3 to make 1000.)
Adding weight training, I spent 814 hours of 2010 training and racing.

On Pushing Your Kids Into Obscure Sports

Sorry. I realize these pictures were just hanging out there with no explanation for a few days. My laptop (the one that wasn't stolen) went over the rainbow bridge last week and I am using Sporty-Spice's itty bitty Nickelodeon computer to communicate with the outside world. I believe it has an actual picture of a Rugrat character on the front. Very grown up.

So, back to our adventure of 2 weekends ago. Cross-Country Ski Orienteering! Orienteering is a very fun sport the mister and I did several years ago when preparing for adventure racing. Basically, you get a map and a compass and have to find checkpoints and it's timed. They have em where you run, where you ski, and even where you ride a mountain bike or horseback ride. We had done this same ski-O and I'd always thought it would be a fun sport to do as a family. Sporty loved it! He especially loved the little finger tip "dibber" you put in the checkpoints--a digital indicator you were there and found it. It took him 147 minutes to complete the course, which in 6 year old time must be like 12 dog-years, and he stuck with it. That surprised me. I am on a quest to introduce my kid to obscure sports in leiu of organized team sports like (shudder...)soccer teams because a)I have my own stuff to train for on weekends and am selfish, b)that would preclude our going to our "happy place" in the mountains many weekends and c) did I mention I'm selfish? Check out orienteering at www.baoc.org/.

Since I can't post any more pictures until I get my other computer back, I will have to forgo illustrating my craftiness of late (I'll catch up later) and talk about training.

It seems like most years, getting started with the "real training" in the late winter/early spring, for me, is like watching a baby bird try and take flight, only to keep falling out of the nest and bashing it's head upon the ground...over and over.....until it finally gets liftoff. I'm still in a bit of the nest falling phase, and hoping for liftoff soon. And I can't even so much blame the weather, which has been great, or health during cold and flu season. I think I'm just adjusting to the idea of moderation and training for halfs. Just an adjustment in thinking, somewhere. I've pretty much put in the training I planned to for base, and it is fine. It's just a little bit of low-enthusiasm factor just yet, not-great focus, and some horrible eating choices during the holidays I'm paying for now. On the upside, I've enjoyed some great mountain biking the last few weeks and a couple of trail runs! I hadn't realized just how little trail running I'd been able to do since my injury and how much I missed it. This is rest week after the last base phase, so tomorrow is the offcial start of Build 1--11 weeks to Wildflower!!

I am taking a very cool online class through Brave Girls Club, called Soul Restoration (http://soul-restoration.com). We are restoring our "soul-houses" through collage and journaling. I'm pretty sure my soul house is in foreclosure, but we'll see.

I can't stop making Christmas crafts

And on the moderate craft front, I can't quite seem to abandon my list of Christmas crafts I had wanted to make and didn't get time for in December.

I made this adorable little paper village (a kit I got for like, 4 bucks on a clearance rack somewhere) while watching tv. And these Christmas ornaments came out so cute! They are made from some thrift store tart tins and Christmas odds and ends I scored (it was a major score) at a rummage sale a couple of years ago.

My plan, to implement the Moderation-theme in my crafting this year is to try really, really hard, not to buy a single craft supply unless it is a very specific item needed for a very specific project. I am totally serious. My craft supply hoarding is completely out of control and I am afraid they are going to do a whole special episode on that Hoarders tv show about me and my craft stuff. I could craft until kingdom come solely with the supplies I already possess.

Moderation

I've been trying to come up with a word that I would want to focus on in this new year. The word Balance is always on the tip of my tongue, but perhaps it is too easy while being too ambiguous. How does one get to "balance"? For me, my missing it by a mile or more seems to occur when I don't practice moderation. Moderation does not come easy to me. If I'm in for a penny, I'm in for a pound, so to speak. Just workout? Just do some triathlons? oh no...it's gotta be an Ironman. Go out and rescue a cat? Just one? Why not thirty or forty? Fix a few cats? Certainly starting an energy-sucking non-profit that consumes my life but fixes a lot of feral cats would make more sense.....you get the idea. Thank goodness I never got the urge to start foster care/adoption for children or I'm sure I'd be putting Mia Farrow to shame.



There has GOT to be some middle of the road here. And I'm gonna try to find it.



In terms of triathlon this year, I am definitely looking forward to.....HALVES! Yea, beautiful, manageable yet challenging half-Ironman races. I'm signed up for Wildflower (okay, so I had to pick the hardest one) in late April and Vineman in July. This year I would also like to see some....VARIETY! I am desperate for a change of pace. Cross-country skiing...bring it on. Some shorter, fun races...I'm there. I'm even looking at some entirely different things....I have a bug in my bonnet to try this "Tough Mudder" (http://toughmudder.com/) and possibly reprise my not-so extensive adventure racing career. Anything interesting that does not involve mind-numbingly long workouts for weeks on end.

Any other suggestions? The weirder the better.

As long as it is weird in moderation.

The Grinch is Driving My Volvo

If you see him, let me know.

Shalom, I am converting to Judaism after this past holiday week. Our little family went North for just 2 days to spend Christmas with my in-laws. We came home Sunday night to find our house robbed and ransacked. All that really matters, at the end of this story, is that all of our animals are safe and accounted for. I am all too aware of how differently that could have been. Secondly, our bikes were left untouched. In our world, that is big. The rest of the stuff, big screen tv, laptop computer, camera, jewelry, m
oney and our safe containing birth certificates, passports and credit cards...and my car... can be replaced (sadly, our wedding video cannot). Just unbelievable.

It's going to take awhile to come back from this and feel secure again.

The holidays were busy, and overall, prior to this, they were good.These little snowflake ornaments and bird-and-tree-spools are about the sum of my craftiness however.

...and The Rest of The Disney Adventure (oh, yes, there's more)

Wednesday, November 10, 2010:
We started today off with the thing Sporty has been asking and asking for: to ride the monorail. We took the boat to the Magic Kingdom and then the monorail to the Polynesian Resort where we had a Hawaiin style breakfast with Mickey, Pluto, Lilo and Stitch. The look on Sporty's face was priceless (well, it could have been the characters, or it could have been the fact he was allowed to eat bacon). They even served Mickey Mouse shaped waffles.

From there we went to Disney's Animal Kingdom. Pretty cool. The new Everest roller coaster was the best ride!

Sporty loved the petting zoo and you'd never guess he has his own pygmy goat in the backyard. There was also this amazing safari ride where you got really really close to all the animals in this cool preserve setting.

Sporty also loved this dinosaur maze-playground thing. We left that park at 5:00pm and headed to Downtown Disney for dinner at this amazing Rainforest Cafe where it was like you were eating in a rainforest and there was a "storm" every 20 minutes and the animals started moving.

Then, on to possibly the high point of Sporty's trip: The Lego Store! Big excitement.
Yep, it's a Woody, made entirely of Legos.

Stopped at Goofy's candy store on to see Cirque du Soleil! Nouba. Wonderful.
Thursday, November 11, 2010:
Had breakfast downstairs again: me and my cinnamon roll and Sporty and his chocolate croissant. Then we took the bus to Disney's Hollywood Studios. The biggest attraction there was the new Toy Story 3 ride, where you ride through and earn points shooting at these 3-D Carnival midway games.




We also went to a Playhouse Disney show with Mickey's Clubhouse characters and the Little Einsteins. And we went to the Narnia Prince Caspian thing. We were so tired from the whole week, going to bed at midnight or later!--we cut this park a little short and came back to the lodge. We had lunch at the western-themed place just off the big lobby that I remembered from our last trip. Excellent bbq and the kids do a "pony ride" around the restaurant on those stick horses. The boys went for a swim in the amazing pool there, all landscaped to look like an outdoor nature-Yosemite-like place with a water slide through the rock formations. I got in a nap before we took the boat back to the Magic Kingdom for Mickey and Minnie's Christmas party! Amazing holiday decorations on Main St., and Christmas music playing throughout the park, everyone dressed for Christmas, even the characters. You had to pay extra for this event, which was from 4:00pm to midnight and everyone else was booted out of the park, so there was hardly any wait for the rides. We hit Space Mountain three times and went on some things we hadn't been on yet--Snow White, Dumbo and the Teacups.
The special Christmas fireworks started while Sporty and I were on the Dumbo ride and we were right underneath them. They had stations all over the park with Christmas cookies and cocoa. After another ride on the Thunder Mountain Railroad we sat and watched the amazing Christmas parade, did our shopping--Sporty finally bought his monorail set we'd been hearing about all week--and took the boat back, getting in about 1:00am.

Friday, November 12, 2010:
Last day at the happiest place on earth! Had breakfast at the lodge and then the boat to the Magic Kingdom where we took 2 loops on the monorail. Ferried back and it was time for the bus to the airport.

Part 2: Our Visit to The Happiest Place on Earth

Sunday, November 7, 2010:
Rigor mortis had set in by morning, although oddly enough, mostly in my hip flexors (which have plagued me ever since the broken leg and which were what I was feeling during the run, but they've never been a post-race issue). My actual injured leg was stiff in the knee, but I've had worse just training. My chafing was almost nonexistent compared to other races. But the fate of one toenail on my right foot looks uncertain at best. I had a big list of things I was planning to do that I knew was a pull-out-all-the-stops recovery plan to get me up and onto that plane back to Orlando by afternoon and I did em all. Compression tights, my stretching DVD, heat, ice, pain gels, even eating a huge spinach and chicken salad at 8:00am. Hobbled around to pack up and leave the condo by 11:00am. We headed back to the expo to pick up my last bags and my finish photo. Then on to lunch at Sharky's for gumbo, fish tacos, and my full 2010 quota of all things fried (shrimp, fries, onoin rings)---mmmm. Did a bit of window shopping in Panama City Beach to kill time and then headed for the airport. Forgot to drink my last coconut water I had saved for recovery, which resulted in a security search of my bag and a TSA tossing it (aaaaa!). Two short flights later we were in Orlando and onto the Disney bus, but all-told we didn't make it to our room at the Wilderness Lodge until after 1:00 am and we were zombies.

Monday, November 8, 2010:
Waking up in the Wilderness Lodge...and then watching Sporty Spice wake up like a kid on Christmas morning, was pretty cool. We can see the pool and courtyard that looks like Yellowstone Park out our window. Very sunny but a little cool out. We headed down to the little pickup breakfast stop downstairs. I must say I believe I had, hands down, the best cinnamon roll of my entire life.
We took the boat over to the Magic Kingdom and we were there!
An unexpected surprise was that they had already decorated and started all the festivities for Christmas at the park.
Cinderella's castle is all draped in lights. With the cool weather, it works for me. The first ride Sporty wanted to go on (of course) was the train ride around the park, so we got the lay of the land. Our next ride was Space Mountain. Sporty headed right in and took the very front seat; definitely the first ride of that caliber for him and he did great. We did Tomorrowland, including the Buzz Lightyear ride and the People Mover and on to Frontierland and Adventureland where we hit the Haunted Mansion and Pirates of the Carribean, among others. Had lunch at a colonial tavern place. Then on to my favorite--Fantasyland! Small World, Peter Pan and then Toon Town, which Sporty loved, being such a huge fan of Mickey Mouse Clubhouse. We met Mickey at his house and had our picture taken with him.
We were SO tired by the time the park closed at 7:00 pm! We took the boat back to the hotel and had the best dinner at the fancy restaurant there. Wood smoked salmon and a berry cobbler. It is so amazing to me how Disney can carry a theme (Wilderness Lodge, Pacific Northwest) to the Nth degree, even to the menu. Sporty had the coolest dessert: a white chocolate Mickey Mouse puzzle with frosting "paint" on a palette-shaped plate.
Cruized the gift shop and came upstairs and called the pet-sitter. Our 20 year old diabetic cat passed away in her sleep today, and although not a huge surprise, it saddens us nonetheless.

Tuesday, November 9, 2010:
Our Epcot Day! First we grabbed some coffee downstairs and did a couple of clues from this Hidden Mickey Hunt Sporty Spice is obsessed with. Then onto a bus headed for Epcot. First thing, we headed straight for France and had pastries and coffee for breakfast.
Then we went back to Futureworld, where there were so many things to see. Sporty loved the spaceship flight simulator and the race car test track (we did that one twice). We went to the Innovations building where there were all these cool interactive exhibits and "shows" and games; one was a 3-D storm-readiness thing and one was an interactive recycling game). We did the Nemo ride at the aquarium-exhibit part which was really cute, and came back after dinner for Soarin', this really cool simulator ride that makes you feel like you're soaring over California in a hang glider.

Then we got to my favorite part--the different countries. We went on the boat rides in Mexico and Norway and looked in some shops. By the time dinner rolled around we were starving. We got into the most amazing buffet in Germany. Wonderful German food in what felt like an outdoor restaurant in Germany. And there was a German band and the kids, Sporty included, were all doing the chicken dance on the dance floor.
We ended our night with the amazing fireworks and light show they have. And with Sporty buying this cool Buzz Lightyear light up toy--and then tripping and splitting his lip open on the cement on the way back to the bus.