My schedule

Want a peek into my life? Here's my schedule most days of the week:

5:30am - wake up, shower, dress, hair.
6:00am - make son's lunch, write him note, put out vitamins, nake sure homework is in backpack
6:30am - leave for work
7:00am - work
11:00am - workout + lunch
4:00pm - drive home
4:45pm - make kids snack, go thru school work, enforce homework, tidy up house
5:15pm - get Val into his TKD uniform
5:30pm - leave for TKD
7:00pm - home from TKD - make dinner
7:30pm - eat dinner
8:00pm - kids in bath, tidy up more, dishes
8:30pm - kids to bed
9:00pm - homework/study
10-11pm - bed

On Mondays include class from 5:15pm till 9pm, getting home around 9:30pm. Weekends are spent catching up on housework, grocery shopping, studing and keeping the kids entertained and not killing each other.

Is it any wonder I am home from work today with a massive head/chest cold?

good ride.

So from the park-n-ride just across the river to work is about 7 miles... we went really easy (read slow) and it took just about 30 minutes so right around 14mph average. Going over the I-5 bridge sucked ass for me tho. We had to stop to let another biker by and between the traffic on one side and the sheer drop off beyond the rail down to the river on the other it was all I could do to stave off a panic attack. I hope I don't get lost going back... and hopefully I can do it faster. To work there is a lot of up... going home, a LOT of down!!! :D

For my first ride on this bike I have to say I'm impressed. I've never been a road-biker so the brakes and shifting (as I mentioned yesterday) to a bit of getting used to... I don't like not being able to brake from the top bar... but the benefits of the bike outweigh that issue for sure. First of all, this bike is LIGHT!!! It took nearly no extra effort to go up hills. I am not used to the stiffness of the ride tho... big soft tires absorb a lot more of the road imperfections than skinny high-pressure ones do. I am glad I went with the carbon fork and seat post tho... they do soften the ride a bit and absorb some of that. I need to swap out the pedals still (I'm not a clip-less rider), but my headlight (cat eye) and tail-blinker served me well. I may also need a reflective vest for these morning rides, so I'll be lookin' for one of those soon.

I'm performing a wedding today as well, so thank GOD for the gym showers!!! I am wearing a skirt... I did my hair and I EVEN shaved my legs! The whole ceremony will take 5-10 minutes, but hey... I can't be all disheveled at my first wedding ya know? I'm not going to have time to run today (thus the bike) so I'm hoping I can get a 4-5 miler in tomorrow. This schedule is STILL not situated properly... but hopefully it will settle in soon.

*sigh*

HELP!!

Ok... so I love my new bike... but I don't know how to use the shifters.

They're right under the brake levers and I know the left controlls the front and the right controls the rear... and I can shift one direction by pushing sideways on the shifter, but I can't shift the other because I can't figure out what to do!!! And the stupid manual doen't explain how to use them!

help!

THE NEXT MORNING:

Hooray I figured it out... thanks Hollie and Laura!!! It seems the thumb lever under the brake handle shifts up and the WHOLE BRAKE HANDLE gets pushed toward the midline of the bike to shift back down.

I'm a freakin genius I tells ya!

8 mile

Just finished my 8 miler. My knees are a bit annoyed, but otherwise I feel pretty damned good. I need to update the software on my Forerunner as I've heard the new version is pretty sweet... but since I'm hungry, it will have to wait.

Here's the low down: 8 miles in 1:29:57 (timer auto paused for 3 traffic lights)

Mile 1 - 10:38 - settled right in after about .5 miles... no real issues, cardiovascular system is good.
Mile 2 - 11:15 - Little Maceo Parker funk to keep the spirits up
Mile 3 - 11:25 - I think my distance pace is just going to be 11:30 or so, I can accept that, feelin fine.
Mile 4 - 11:35 - First hill of the course... fairly short tho and no real issues... lots of traffic on this leg kinda makes me self conscious sometimes.
Mile 5 - 11:17 - and after the up-hill... a down.
Mile 6 - 11:36 - Second hill of the course... its the one up over the pedestrian bridge over the highway.
Mile 7 - 11:36 - Man... I wanna be done now.
Mile 8 - 10:34 - gotta finnish strong.

I was happy that the "man I wanna be done now." feeling held off about a mile longer than it usually does. My breathing was great thru the whole run. I didn't push myself (obviously) but I did try to make sure my HR was in the 130-140 range. Had a few aches and pains around mile 7 in my feet... but I think that's because I didn't use my orthotics this time (I know... BAD BRENNA!!!) so I won't make that mistake again.

So there you have it... my longest run ever in my life.

:D

Time for corn-dogs (meatless!) and gatorade!

OH MY GOD!!!

Guess what???

GUESS WHAT I GET TO DO NEXT WEEK???

Can you guess?

Did ya guess yet?

Next week, I am going to perform my very first wedding.

I was just asked to officiate a wedding of a person that I work with and his fiance. They are fabulous people and I said, it'll be my first, but it would be my honor.

WOOHOO!!!

Oh... and... MY BIKE IS IN!!!

I'm hopefully going to pick it up today after work!!!

YIPPEE YIPPEE YIPPEE!!!

It has been a DAMNED good day.

700 calorie workout

Mmmmmm I like the eliptical mmmmmm....

60 minutes, 700 calories, and a damned good sweat session put me right over the top today. I had sushi for lunch (sushi? I LOVE SUSHI!) with miso soup and salad and damnit if I don't feel like a rockstar. And my ankle doesn't even hurt!

I wonder what the nutritional breakdown of miso soup is...

I did well on my A&P test yesterday tho I can think of at least two (of the 50+) questions that I probably got wrong... *sigh* I was, however, the first one done... which puts me right back into the swing of testing that I left behind when I graduated from OSU 8 years ago. I am a very intuitive tester. I read each question twice, answer and move on. I do not check my work, I do not second guess the answer that first comes to my mind/pen because I have found thru experience that generally (more often than not) my first answer is the right one or the rightest one I'm going to be able to come up with.

So I'll know next week how I did "oficially" on my first test. This week will be a bit tougher tho because we are looking at cells and tissues on a more in-depth level and theres a LOT more to... uh... KNOW... ya know?

Thanks for all the advice below, by the way... I do need to get into a nightly "little bit every day" routine with the homework or I will be screwed in a couple of weeks.

Maybe tomorrow I'll post my list of "official titles" that I came up with this week. Right now my official title is pooped network professional... time for COFFEE!!!

I am NOT a good student

So this school thing is already kicking my ass.

I only have class (anatomy and physiology) once a week (its an overview class, no lab) on monday nights. We go over two chapters a week, have homework every week and a test over the material we've covered the monday following. So this week I knew I needed to read the chapters and do the homework... and I put it off, and put it off and put it off... until Sunday when I realized I had no where else to put it off to, and I'd have to get it done.

But first I walked the race for the cure with April and her mom and neice and auntie and it was FUN! I did do my homework when I got home, and it was a LOT longer and more in depth than I was expecting so I'm glad I didn't wait until the evening to get to work on it... I am SUCH a bad student!!!

I was also supposed to do 8 miles yesterday... and after homework was done I put on the shoes, and got ready to go and promptly turned my left ankle over so badly that I dropped to the floor and screamed bloody murder. It wasn't as bad as I made it out to be... I could put weight on it... but there was no way in hell I could have run on it yesterday... and I don't think I should today... so there goes one long run down the tubes. I'll do my weights today and see how I feel tomorrow for running.

Sometimes I feel like this half-marathon thing is slipping thru my fingers... that I just don't have the time/energy/whatever to really do it and train correctly so I don't really hurt myself. UGH.

I need to work on being a better student and a better athlete... I wonder if those two things are compatable.

We're dropping like flies

There are at least four links in my list that are currently off-line.

That makes me very very sad.

What is happening to us? Why are we so apathetic, down, unmotivated? Where did the enthusiasm go? Lynne, are you still out there? I haven't heard from Kay in ages! What about Laura? and Lean Machine? What is going on here?

I get so sad when I click thru my links and see so many blogs languishing in dis-use... I think, what happened? Did we not support you enough? Did someone make an inappropriate comment that sent you over the edge? Has life interfered with your progress, your plans? Where are you? How can we help?

I feel powerless sometimes. I know the ups and downs of this are hard to deal with. I know breaks are needed at times. I've been down, I've taken breaks, I've let my life keep me from my health... but I know... every time... when I am ready to pick myself back up and dust off and put one foot in front of the other again that you all will be there to keep cheering me on.

So if I'm not doing the same for you... I will try harder.

Come back you powerful women... come back and prove them wrong... come back and prove yourself right... come back and value yourself, show yourself what you deserve... because you deserve the very best.

I am a great big dork

who will soon (by Oct 1) have this sitting in her garage:

so if you know anyone who wants a size small Specialized FSR-XC Stumpjumper Full Suspension MT bike (year 2000, less than 200 miles)... let me know!

Lets talk about Shoes

Hollie and DW and I were all talking about shoes after PtP on Sunday. Hollie wears shoes (I think they're asics) that a lot of her running pals HATE, but she swears by them... DW recently went to a local running shop armed with all the technical knowledge he could find and shoe reviews up the wazoo knowing "exactly" what shoe he wanted... until he tried it on... and it sucked. So they put him on a treadmill, evaluated his stride, pulled out a totally DIFFERENT pair of shoes which he tried on and loved!!!

I have never been to a running store to try on shoes... I really should tho... my problem is that I work (indirectly, but directly) for the second largest athletic shoe company in the US... you know which one I'm talking about... the one with the three stripes... and All Day I Dream About S*x? Yeah, that's the one. SO working here has many advantages, but also some disadvantages... the advantage is that I have easy and inexpensive access to a LOT of shoes... and let me tell ya... I never believed I would EVER own as many shoes as I now own... but that's beside the point. The good thing about having that access is getting to trade in/up shoes on a very regular basis... the bad thing about it is that I haven't been able to find a SINGLE PAIR of @did@s running shoes that fits my feet well enough that I can run any distance in them.

I got a new pair today tho, that I have more hope for. They are Supernova Cushions and when I tried them in the store the toe box felt wide enough, the orthotics I wear everywhere fit and provided good arch support and the heel was nice and snug to my heel. I am HOPING that I have finally found my company sanctioned pair of running shoes, because wearing anyone elses shoes during the work day is LITERALLY a fireable offense.

I still have my Rykas that I wear for my long runs (they're marathon shoes, very tough, cushy, I like em) on the weekends... and that's what I wore this weekend for the race, but hopefully I won't have to smuggle them in and out of the gym any longer.

I'll report back after my four miles in a couple of hours!

Edited to add:

Ok... that was harder than I expected BUT my knees and feet felt fabulous. The heels of the Supernovas are still too wide for my feet but MAN are these shoes CUSHY... I like cushy! I've been focusing a lot on my pronation and plantar fasciitis to the detriment of cush... but no more!

The hard part was that it was HOT and MUGGY and about 2.2 miles in I got a freakin STITCH IN MY SIDE!!! I haven't had a stitch in my side in ages... but there it was and no matter what I did (short of walking) it would not go away. I know I am still dehydrated a bit from Sunday (I didn't drink nearly enough water that afternoon or yesterday) and I think I probably ate too close to running but I stuck it out (tho slowly) and finished the four miles.

Such fun!

Ok, despite the lack of actual "PASTA" at the end of Pints to Pasta this year, and the fact that the t-shirts were down-graded from cool-ass cool-max technical long sleeved adidas tops to plain old cotton ts, PtP is really one of the best run races I've ever participated in. Both years have been great... this year I had a BLAST.

My friends Alissa, Leah, Jen, her friend Laura and DW were all there. It was SO much warmer this year at the start, so I dumped my tights for shorts, and threw everything into the clothes check and we headed to the start line. I was a bit back from the start and we didn't take off until about 8:04 am, but no one cared. I was SUPPOSED to find Hollie at the start handing out Widmer temporary tatoos, but she was no-where to be found. It turns out she had to drive down to the finish line to pick up race-numbers for a few dork-butts (including DW) who decided not to read the instructions and drove directly to the start without picking up their numbers.

I grabbed about 1/2 a cup of coffee... used the portapotty and we assmbled for the start. Alissa told me that I HAD to run my own pace because she'd hurt herself and Leah said she'd be running with Alissa so after a little debate and being pissed that I'd forgotten the ear-buds for my i-pod I decided to run it for myself. I stuck with A and L for the first half mile and then I took off. I was bound and determined to cross the finish line faster than I did last time(1:01:02). My fore-runner kept my pace in check... showed me when I needed to speed my butt up really!

I flew down Greeley toward the first aid station (mile two) in front of the Widmir Brewery and as I'm comming down the stretch I see a crazy woman with braids in her hair. She looks at me, we lock eyes and she SCREAMS "BRENNA" at the top of her lungs!!!! I GRIN and SCREAM "HOLLIE" right back at her! We screamed a few more times as I approached her and she had me give her a high-five as I passed... it was an AWESOME energy boost to have someone scream my actual NAME during a race. I walked about 15 paces thru the first aid station and gulped down a powerade... I was PUMPED so I kicked it up and headed over the steel bridge and down to the waterfront. I am SO on the Hollie Teal Cheering Squad for the marathon this year!!!

Mile 5 is always a tough mile for me mentally during a race and true-to form my right foot started cramping in the arch as I passed the 4mile marker. The second aid station was at mile 5 and I walked thru it as well because I simply can not drink and run at the same time. Another poweraid down and the mental fog lifted and it was on to the finish line.

And then she started talking to me... a very nice woman on the course started pacing right next to me and asking me questions... and I think it slowed me down... I didn't look at my forerunner enough, but I know I should have... ah well... as we closed in on the old spaghetti factory I lengthened my pace and really pushed it across the finish line... and as I crossed I looked at the official race clock and shouted "FUCK!" as I saw the time tick over to 1:01:11. NINE SECONDS SLOWER than last year. FUCK FUCK FUCK!!! Hollie and DW ran up to me and screamed and gave me high-fives! DW finished in about 51minutes (awesome!).

I stopped the timer on my forerunner as I crossed the line tho and it said 1:00:56... DAMNIT!!! I grabbed a couple of cups of water, and ran back to the finish line to cheer in Alissa and Leah who came in around the 1:07:00... very very cool, especially since Alissa had said she wasn't going to run the whole thing (the big liar!)!!

Overall I'm pretty contented with my performance... I know I could have gone faster if I'd found DW to run with but he's MUCH faster than I am, and probably would have held him back... I might have gone a little faster if I'd had my iPod to carry me... but again, no luck. I did get to hang and chat with Hollie and DW and the girls after the race, had some soup and a couple of beers, heard the awards and then drove DW back to his car at the start line. I am going to try to hook up with Hollie to do some of the "stay-fit" stuff with the "portland-fit" club over the winter... I know it will be good for me to keep the running thru the winter (which I didn't really do last year), so I'm looking forward to that too.

I didn't run all week due to stress and emotional turmoil, but I feel good today... feel like I accomplished somthing today. One of these days I'll hit a sub-hour 10k... but I guess it'll have to wait till next year.

I'm back on track. I'm starting an eating challenge tomorrow (no white sugar, white flour or cheese) and it WILL get better from there... because it has to, I have no where to go but up.

:D

knowing what to do != doing it.

I'm having a hard time being an effective parent these days.

I am the mother of a challenging child and it is taking over every aspect of my daily life. I sit in complete tension all day waiting for the next call from the principal, praying that he'll hold it together thru the school day and not get sent home for acting out again.... and its only day three... I won't even mention days one and two. No one who has not parented a child with behavior, mood, or attention issues can understand what it is like to do so. It is the most all encompasing, demoralizing, depressing, personally draining thing I have ever had to do. And I don't have a choice. I can't walk away or turn it off or take a break. He is my son, it is my responsibility to parent him and train him and find the resources to help him and no one elses... it can suck ass sometimes.

The worst part for me right now is that I feel totally out of control of the situation. I am a parent in absentia. I am not there in the morning to send him off to school. I am not there in the afternoon when he returns. I am a pathetic wage slave and it kills me. I can't go into his classroom to volunteer because I am at work every day. I can't schedule weekly therapy or meetings with his teachers because I'd miss too much work getting there/back/etc. If I could quit my job and BE THERE I would do it in a heartbeat.

I did not do yoga yesterday, nor did I run. I did not bring my gear to workout/run today but maybe I'll get to it tomorrow. Pints to Pasta is on Sunday (10k) and I'm excited that I'll see Hollie somewhere on the course (YAY Hollie!!!) and maybe next week will be better... it just seems that sometimes other things in my life are going to take priority over this... sometimes I'm ok with that... sometimes not... for now I'm not thinking about whether I'm ok with it or not, I'm thinking about my kid... pretty much constantly.

milkshakes

so, as is often the case with kids on medication for ADHD, my son hasn't gained much weight this year, so taking a clue from the illustrious Jim, I will be feeding my child protein-packed milkshakes for breakfast (before the meds kick in)...

so the question is... when making a chocolate milkshake with vanilla ice-cream, milk and chocolate syrup (they were out of plain chocolate in Tillamook) does one use vanilla or chocolate protein powder???

I'm rearranging this weeks running completely due to the weekend fiasco... but Sunday is Pints to Pasta which should be totally a blast - tho Holly I am STILL BUMMED that you won't be there... nothin' like downin' a couple of pints of beer after a quick 10k!!!!

Today was stretching, tomorrow is yoga + 2 miles, Thursday will be 4 miles, friday will be 3 miles, rest on Saturday, 10k on Sunday.

And that's all she wrote.

There's more than one answer to these questions

and they're pointing me in a crooked line.

Depression does bad things for a training program. Friday was rest day (hooray), Saturday and Sunday were wallow in self-pitty over why I can't just have a normal child and stressing about school starting on Tuesday. But today I pulled it together, so to speak and got my 7 miler done. I was feeling pretty glum about even being able to do the run today. I've been feeling crappy the last couple of days and energy was definitely low... but I got out, stashed my bottle of gatorade, and headed off. I decided to do my 3m loop twice and then add the extra mile in my neighborhood. The plan allowed me to stash the bottle (like I said) and also gauge really well how much further I had to run without looking at my forerunner.

7m in 1:14:56
mile 1 - 10:48 - this is gonna suck
mile 2 - 11:03 - right pace but its still gonna suck
mile 3 - 11:03 - I'm nothing if not consistant
at about 3.2m I stopped and picked up my gatorade... drank about 1/2 and then took off again. I really didn't want to run whilst carrying a water bottle, so I figured one hydration stop would have to do me.
mile 4 - 11:07 - its definitely starting to suck.
mile 5 - 10:55 - but I can still keep going
mile 6 - 9:44 - HOORAY FOR THE INDIGO GIRLS!!! And my apologies to all those who passed by me as I was singing along to the music you could not hear.
mile 7 - 10:14 - I made it!!! WOOHOO!!!

So that is officially the furthest I've ever run, and every Sunday from here on out will be more of the same... each week beating my personal best distance... and building on the last pb.

Off to pack up school supplies and get the kitchen/house ready for the first day of school tomorrow!

dagnabit

well Jen had to bail on our run today because he boss desperately needed her to keep an interview candidate busy for half an hour while he finished up a meeting. Joy... so she got to pretend to do an interview and I got to run alone, with no music. 3.5 miles in about 35 minutes, so that was right on in terms of pace. It was sprinkling a bit... not enough to make a person wet, but enough to keep the air cool and the skin a tad less dry than you'd expect.

I'm actually really annoyed about the no-music thing because the reason for it is that my arm-band that I just bought for my iPod completely TORE apart when I was taking it off on Tuesday. I am SO pissed!!! It is totally unfixable and now I have to figure out how to get it exchanged or whatever.

Oh, and lucky me... today I get to have my annual cervix scrape! TMI??? Tough... at least you're not the one who has to lay on the table with your feet in the stirrups as it happens.

I think I'm in a pissy mood because of that... I need to mellow out.

side crow

side crow (Parsvavakrasana) pose makes me feel very weak and un-ballanced. I just can't get it, it's all about ballance and getting your hips WAY up in the air, but today my arms and shoulders just couldn't take it... sometimes I wonder how good that could possibly be for your wrists as well, but hey, I'm a beginner so what the hell do I know?

I do know that Yoga today helped loosen up my hips which have been tightening up quite a lot lately, and my low-back feels MUCH better as well. It's hard for me to consider yoga or stretching to be a "real" workout. I'm trying to convince my brain that they are VERY important parts of a distance running training program, but it's very hard to wrap my brain around that fact even when I feel better after a yoga session than I have the rest of the week prior. (see above)

Lots to do this evening, hoping to get my bike into the shop to get a new fork (I want to get rid of my suspension fork because it's heavy and I don't need it because I don't go off road) ordered... or just say fuck it and decide to buy a road bike which my mt. bike will never be despite my modifying it extensively (by extensively I mean I put on road-slicks, clipless pedals and am getting a fixed (non-suspension) fork to save weight) in that direction... I should just get a road-bike, shouldn't I?

I also need to buy some pants. I hate to say it but I have 3 pairs of pants that fit me as my two pairs of khakis are really WAY beyond their serviceable life and it's getting a bit too chilly for skirts anymore, so its time to buy some more pants. I imagine I'll be buying 10s, which is fine... my brief stint in the land of the 8 was very satisfying, but right now all I want is pants that fit... not pants that will fit 6 months from now... maybe... if I'm really really good... you get the idea... and for some reason I really want a new pair of boots... but we'll see if the budget allows for that since I also need to buy "back-to-school" clothes for the rugrat.

alright, back to work... later!