3 More Days

There are three days left of school.
Due to the budget cuts in Texas schools I was laid off of my summer job.
The Coach and I discussed it and decided it would be more profitable for me to just not work this summer.

For the first time in six years I am going to be a stay at home mom!  (For the summer.)

One of the great things about teaching is the multiple opportunities a year to make or revamp goals.   This is convenient because I have long given up on the goals I made for New Years.  Last year my summer goal was to visit new and different parks.  It was a pretty slacker goal, but we moved twice last summer and I worked summer school.

 (Sniff.  Look at Shaye Baby so little last summer.)

Here are some of my goals for the family this summer.

Better nutrition.  We have fallen into some bad habits here towards the end of the year like Pop Tarts and cokes.  I told the kids we would be sugar free this summer.  That is probably stretching things a bit, but we will try to reduce the junk.  (The older three claim they are going to live with their dad.  Ha!)

Exercise.  Because it is Africa hot here it is hard to get out and romp around during the day, but without multiple sports during the summer we should be able to return to Forced Family Fun in the evenings.

 Here is one of our past "fun" efforts!  Again The Coach would like to remind everyone his tumbler is full of Tom Collins. (Look at Tayte.  He was a BABY!)

 The Coach and I got bikes for Mother's Day, so we can cruise around the neighborhood in style.



Scheduling.  If I don't watch it the kids will be watching cartoons all day while I blog clean up the kitchen five times after each kid eats.  My plan is to go out while it is bearable and get the babies tired enough for a nap.  A rule I always stick to is that breakfast ends at 9:00  After that the kids have to wait until lunch to eat.  Tanner is usually the last one up and has to sprint to the kitchen like O.J. Simpson in an airline commercial to make the deadline.

Tan Man's cute self will be denied breakfast if he can't get downstairs after the kitchen has been cleaned.


Also important in the scheduling area is my workouts.  I will get to sleep late compared to the school year, but I still need to get up early to do the workouts before the oppressive heat sets in.  Plus a big goal is to get to yoga class a couple of times a week. 

Obviously I need to work on my yoga since this is the only pose I know!

And finally I need to take more pictures of this patriotic baby!!  All of them really.  I haven't been as good about it as I should be lately. Just one more thing they will need therapy for one day.

Got any goals or plans this summer?
Got any advice on keeping my sanity with five kids at home for the summer?

I've Got the Shirt

My next race is Sunday and I am getting a little freaked out. 
I have done this race before a few times.  It was actually the first real sprint I ever competed in.  It is a nice race, close to home. 
I would like to win this race and if just one year they would change up the divisions to be something other than age groups I might have a shot.  For instance there could be a group for people who have completed an Ironman.  Those people have discipline.  They are truly in a class by themselves. 
I however, could be in the Wine Drinking Mom Division.  Maybe I would have a better chance at first place.
I would like to enjoy this race but every year it kicks my butt.

I have a myriad of excuses reasons why.
It's hot.  Of course it is hot in Houston, but it is the first truly scorching race of the season. 
The race directors always throw in a couple of extra bouys to trick me and I have historically ended up swimming an extra 200 yards just for fun.
The race includes the longest three mile run in history.  I don't know what it is about this particular run, but it kicks my butt every year.

To makes things worse the last three weeks my training has been sub par.
I have a myriad of excuses reasons why.
It is hot.  (I am not complaining.  I am just pointing it out.)  Sleeping an extra hour and a half Friday morning seemed like a such a good idea until I had to do my ride after school.  It was 96 degrees and I think every 18 wheeler in town was headed west with me.  My easy zone 2 workout climbed to upper zone 3 even though my average speed was 15mph.
I am exhausted.  I keep waking up at 2:36 am and twiddling my thumbs for no apparent reason.  I seem to fall asleep about ten minutes before that 4:30 alarm. 

Still though I do have a goal for this race.  (No I don't.  I just typed that and realized I need a goal.)  I decided to apply my last race times to this distance and calculate a goal.  It wasn't easy.  I suck at math.

600 yard swim  - 18.00. That's terrible.  I am going to adjust that to the same time as last year - 13.00.
12 mile bike at 19mph - 34:48
3 mile run at 9:05 pace - 27:15
Transistions - 3:00

Total (rounded) - 1:18:00
Last year my time was 1:31:26.
Wow. 
That is quite a reduction.  I am not sure if this is a reasonable goal.  Great.  Something else to think about at 2:36 am.
A time of 1:18 puts me 13th out of 31 according to last year's results. 
I bet I could be top three if I was in the Got Laps in During Adult Swim - Division.

Do you have a race that is your nemesis? 
What division would you win?
Ever go through the training blues?  Do you have any tips on escaping them?? 

Ty Fartleks

Fartleks. 
The good news is track workouts are no longer my most hated tri workout.
Guess what is?

My first experience with fartleks was awful from the moment I got lost, confused and frustrated trying to find my team in Memorial Park until I gave up running and stumbled cramping and sweating back to my truck for a smoke.  (Kidding.  I don't smoke.)  I think the whole experience was payback for the times The Coach and I would ride through Memorial Park before church looking at runners while we were eating donuts.

After the first attempt at fartleks I came to the obvious conclusion - Misery LOVES company.

I informed my son, Ty, the next day that he would be attending fartlek training with me next time.
He informed ME that he likes to run in the neighborhood so if necessary he can stop in for a brownie.

A little while later he came to me and we had the following conversation:
Ty:  So hypothetically if I went to run with you at Memorial Park, how long is the park?
Me: The park is quite large.  We would just run a portion of it which is a  three mile loop.

Ty: Who in the hell made such a long loop?  That's stupid.
Me: Ty, I was planning on running it twice.

Ty: I may go with you and run it once, but while you are running around it the second time I am going to sit and eat a cheeseburger.
Me: Yeah.  Try that in the park with thousands of hungry runners.

Fast forward two weeks - during this two weeks please imagine many failed workouts.  These failures span anywhere from not starting the workout to giving up on a five mile run after two pit stops at 4:30 am. Also throw in there some nutritional difficulty that left me wanting to eat my own arm about 3:30 every afternoon, but instead resorting to Taco Bell.

I had given Ty a choice: he could either go with me to run fartleks or he could stay at home to babysit and The Coach would go with me.  (Little did he know The Coach had already refused.)
Ty decided reluctantly to come along, but he did complain about his legs, sore from football weight lifting.
(Also there was a slight discomfort which apparently occurred when he applied Icy-Hot to his upper thighs in too close of proximity to his "parts".  For reasons that are not clear he has been begging me to blog about this ever since.  I guess he didn't want Tanner's "ball sacky" hands to get all the attention.)

I told him jogging would help loosen up his sore legs.
His reply, "My coach says that too, but I don't think the claim is backed by science.  I think it is just something people say to fat kids to make them run."

He promptly fell asleep on the recliner.  He never does this so I took pity on him and decided to leave him.   When I got ready to leave I couldn't find my keys, so I had to wake him up as he drove the car last. (I know.  It keeps me up at night too.)

I was already running late so of course he decided he wanted to go.
He got a shirt out of the dryer which is where he has been getting all his clothes for the past two days.  At some point I am going to have to point to him a dryer is for DRYING and a dresser is for storing.

I got lost again, but we finally found my team.
The plan was to run a mile warm up and then alternating hard/easy quarters miles for the next five miles. Ty's plan was to run the warm up with me then wave goodbye.

It was awful.  Apparently the gods really frown upon eating of donuts in front of hungry runners.  It was 96 degrees at 6:30p.m..  I cramped up immediately. I tried to just keep on going.  During the "easy" quarters my heart rate wouldn't slow down.  I finally just started walking/running.  When I finished the first loop I ran in the opposite direction to find Ty.  I didn't really have any worries that my man sized son had been kidnapped, but I was shocked that he hadn't made it any further.  When I finally found him I started walking with him.  Within two minutes he said, "I just don't understand why we have to walk so fast!" 
We were walking a 14:30 mile.
We met back up with the team and I informed Ty it had taken him one hour to jog/walk three miles.  I knew that was pathetic even for him because he can run a nine minute mile.  He informed me that for twenty minutes he had been in the "porta shitter" and he had "destroyed" it.  I let him know how much the running community probably appreciated him.

Overall fartleks still suck.
But the company did make it more enjoyable. 
Ty was quite impressed with the other, faster, runners on the team.  Overall I think it was a good experience for him. And he got a McFlurry for his trouble.  (What can I say?  The kid has some persuasive dimples.)

What is your most unfavorite type of training?  Would company help?
Any other suggestions on making it more enjoyable?
Also do you think I could blame my crappy performance on giving blood that day??
Or am I just crappy?

Dick and Jane and Randomness

I haven't been reading much lately.  Pre blog I used to average about five books a week.  Post blog I have read three books so far in 2011.  (The Time Traveler's Wife, Taking Lottie Home, and some chick lit I can't remember the title of.) (What is the proper way to denote a major work of fiction now that underlining means it is a website?  Anyone?)
I miss reading and recently realized I need to resume.  My dad lent me a Ken Follet book.  It is a work of fiction set in the time period around World War I.  (My students think I am so "cute" for reading this in my leisure time.  Hello?  I teach U.S. History.)

Wow.  Maybe I should have eased back into reading with a light romance, or maybe a short story. 

I began reading it on Saturday and am now on page 270.   The plot just started to roll after 200 pages of lengthy, but very interesting character introduction. 

I woke up Monday with sore arms and I couldn't figure out why.  I don't lift during the racing season.  I finally realized I had been lying on my back reading the book outside and my triceps were sore.  I bet that book weighs about fifteen pounds.  It is kind of like leisure reading and a workout all at the same time.

My dad thought I was on to something and suggests that in future I tape a barbell to all my reading material. 

I came in late from track workout last night and thought I would read a little while I ate dinner.  My oldest was sitting next to me doing homework and three out of the remaining four were in bed.  I figured it was a good time to read without being interrupted by people who can't reach anything they need or who want me to chase them.  I was wrong.  Ty continually started telling me long stories about this and that which ultimately had no point. 

I finally said, "Ty.  What does it mean to you when a person is quiet and looking at the open pages of a book?"  
His reply, "You have to read, but you would like a distraction." 

No.

When I started falling asleep last night I tried to toss the tome onto my nightstand.  My night stand fell over.  I now have to have Dad reinforce it. (Not really.)

Pre blogging I used to carry around a small notebook with the names of all the books I wanted to read in it.  Sometimes I had a list of over fifty titles I would look for at the used book store.  Currently I have two or three lists of two or three books and I can never find the lists. 
Do you have a system for keeping up with books you want to read?

Summer will be here in just 22 short days, not that I am counting.  I plan to resume my library and reading habits so I would like to know from you what is the single BEST book you have read lately?  (Just so you know I do not read fantasy, or sci fi.  I just can't hack it, but if you think you have read one that is phenomenal I might try it.  Maybe.)
Also, has blogging affected your reading habits?

Randomness

1.  I think Shaye's recent nose incident may be hereditary.  Earlier today I went to get a bunch of sharpened pencils so my students could take a scantron test.  (Remember those?) I dropped one and when I bent to pick it up I hit my elbow on the door frame.  The upward motion of my arm and the simultaneous downward motion of my head presented the opportunity to shove several freshly sharpened pencils up my nose.  Seriously.  I had to wipe pencil marks off of my nose for the next ten minutes.

2.  Last night I went to watch The Coach's baseball game.  He was very cute in his uniform and his team clenched the district title.  Every time I walk up into the stands at a game the same parent says the same thing, "We have to stop talking about the coach now."  He does NOT smile when he says it.  Can anyone suggest a comeback?

3.  The babies have renewed their efforts to never be more than two feet from me.  As a result of my clumsiness (see #1) I am constantly tripping over them, knocking them down, and stepping on their feet while I try to do laundry, cook dinner, and sweep. This week I decided to put an end to this clingyness and teach them to play without me.  I have been sitting on the porch reading a book refusing to play with them.  They have all their toys out there and they just stand and stare at me.  I am not getting any reading done and they are not getting much playing done.

4.  On the training front I noticed the other day that it seems just when I start to add up all the reasons I should quit: Soreness, old age, waking up early, lack of speed, expense, time, laziness, unclipping right on the bike and falling over to the left - I do something that renews my hope like run an easy two mile loop and then when I get home realize I ran that easy 2.2 mile loop in under twenty minutes. Then I can't wait to run again.

5. I officially got laid off of my summer school job.  Yeah and Boo.  Yeah because I can be vacation mom  for the summer and go to the pool and insist everyone take a nap and have a messy house and no way to escape from the children.  Boo because as I mentioned yesterday The Coach and I are going on a cruise this summer and The Coach has already told me we don't have enough money in the budget to pay for my wine, so I have to save up my own booze money.  Ludicrous.

Yeah.  I got nothing.  What you got?

Wardrobe Malfunction

Sunday I traveled to Kemah to attend a race clinic put on by the triathlon team I have joined.

I attended the clinic mainly to practice swimming in the ocean with a wetsuit as I have not done either before.  (I have swam in the ocean, but not for a race.)

I was standing in front of a bunch of triathletes listening to a swim clinic.  As it was coming to an end everybody started slipping into their wet suits.  I imitated them as best I could.  After about ten minutes of pulling and tugging and then one final monumental HEAVE to get the suit over my ample backside, I was exhausted and sweaty.  I felt  that the worst was over though.  The whole time I was doing this a lady was staring at me.  I decided that I was just being self conscious or that she was just one more person trying to figure out my hair when she finally said, "You are putting that on backwards."  Uhg.  In attempt to not look like a complete IDIOT I said, "Oh.  That is the way I wear all my clothes."  The worst part was looking like a dork in front of all those athletes who I am intimidated by anyway.  The second worst part was that I had to start all over. ( I just realized while writing this it explains the pain in my forearm this morning. Good.  I am glad I have a reason to be in pain.)

The good news is - WET SUITS ARE AWESOME.  I am pretty buoyant having my own PFD built into my booty.  I felt like I was flying in the wet suit.  The added buoyancy and the glide were definitely noticeable.  I am not ready to buy a wet suit yet as most races I run do not meet the requirement of the temperature being under 78 degrees.  If someone was debating on using one I would definitely say go for it. 

I swam 1000 meters.  The race on Sunday is 1500, but I figured I had done what I needed to. So I hopped out and bought a new pair of goggles!!  They are mirrored so hopefully I can see when the sun is shining on the water.

 Plus they are totally sexy!!

After the swim there was a transition clinic which made me realize I need more gear!!  (The Coach will be so happy.)  I need Yankz?  I have never used them, but I am willing to try.  Also I need sunglasses.

The we ran.  My favorite part! (I am trying to convince myself.)
At about 2.8 miles we were asked if we were running the 3 mile course or the 6 mile course.  Hard question.  Since I have not run six miles in a month or so I figured I would give it a try and just run easy and not try to stay under a ten minute mile.  For some reason the run course included not one but TWO passes over the causeway.  (What torture expert planned this route??)  I finally finished and I was glad I had chosen to do the six miles if for nothing but the mental lift it gave me.

And finally...................

I hate to end on a downer, but I am a little upset with the coach I hired.  Tell me if I am being bratty.

I don't feel I have gotten any one on one help from him.  He posts my workouts via the computer.  He posted them for two months.  He has never commented on my post workout description even though he requires I fill it out.  I would think maybe the workouts would have to be modified depending on the success/failure of the completion.
I have an injury I have been nursing.  He said he would look into and get back with me and he never did.
Sunday I was the last person to finish the 6 mile course and he did not wait for me.  I was running alone in an unfamiliar area along the highway and I would like to know that he has an idea of whether or not I am still alive or if I am in someone's trunk barreling toward Mexico.  Another runner did come and run the last half mile with me which was nice of him because he had already completed the course.
I pay this coach monthly to be part of the team.  I admit that it is cheaper than some one on one trainers.  I accept that.  But he gave me the cold shoulder on  Saturday at packet pickup, or Sunday at the clinic where he promised team members would get extra attention he barely spoke to me. (Apparently other team members have complained about lack of bang for their buck.)
If you have any team experience can you tell me if this is the norm?  Am I being a brat?   Any feedback would be appreciated.



All in all I am glad I went to the clinic even though it was geared toward beginners.  The drive there and back was very nice because I was ALL ALONE so I could roll the windows down, open the sunroof and blast the 80's station without having to answer questions about blue cars or anything.

I am very excited about Sunday, the first race of my 2011 triathlon season.
What are you excited about today?

Help Me, Rhonda!

Or anyone. Your name doesn't need to be Rhonda.

I need a pair of skinny jeans.  Sounds easy enough, but I am not skinny.  It's ok.  I am fine with that. 
I have junk in my trunk, but I want a pair of jeans I can wear my boots OVER.  The only kind I currently own are boot cut and I can't wear my boots on the outside.

My needs are this.
Skinny at least on the calf so I can wear boots.
Not so low waisted that I moon people when I bend over to tie the kids' shoes or change a diaper.
I would rather the butt not be so tight that you can see the seam imprints on my skin when I take them off.
Also I don't want them so tight I get the butt smushing effect.
And, I don't want to pay more than about 40.00 dollars for them!  (Sorry.  I love clothes, but I do not like to pay so much for them I am going to cry when (not if) I spill something on them.)

So, if you know a brand that works well for you and and you are curvy please let me know. 

I hope this speeds up the process so I can find a pair of jeans to wear with boots before it goes out of style.