Comments (24)

By kilax, August 11, 2013 6:47 pm

Highlight of the Week: Participating in a women’s triathlon relay and seeing so many of my friends work hard and achieve amazing things! And, having so many supporters there, too!

Monday | August 5, 2013: teaching strength class
Strength: dumbbells and cones, Difficulty: medium, Felt: sweaty!
Tuesday | August 6, 2013: rest
Wednesday | August 7, 2013: 5 m run
Loc: hood, Temp: 71°/71°, Time: 51:08, Pace: 10:13 avg, Difficulty: medium, Felt: gross (stomach & humidity)
Thursday | August 8, 2013: 8 m run (w/Bobbi) + teaching strength class x 2
Loc: Grayslake, Temp: 60°/60°, Time: 1:25:51, Pace: 10:44 avg, Difficulty: easy, Felt: great
Strength: body bars, Difficulty: medium, Felt: good
Strength: dumbbells and cones, Difficulty: easy, Felt: good
Friday | August 9, 2013: rest
Saturday | August 10, 2013: 14 m run (first 8 w/Emily, last 8 w/Bobbi) + 5 m bike
Loc: Grant Woods FP, Temp: 61°/61°, Time: 2:28:14, Pace: 10:35 avg, Difficulty: medium, Felt: okay then blah
Loc: hood, Temp: 60°, Time: 24:06, Pace: 12.5 mph avg, Difficulty: easy, Felt: excited to ride my new bike!
Sunday | August 11, 2013: Iron Girl Relay (5K)
Loc: RecPlex Pleasant Prairie, WI, Temp: 71°, Time: 25:17, Pace: 8:11 avg, Difficulty: mostly hard, Felt: like it took forever

Notes:

• My aunt Sue came to the Monday night strength class! She’s the first family member to take my class! I was honored she came (she was stopping to visit on her way back home to Iowa).
• I think I’ve noticed this before but it was apparent again on my bike ride Saturday – I mostly push with my right leg. When I focused and pushed with my left as well, I went so much faster! Gotta work on that. 
• Gah… at the end of my long run Saturday I just felt dead on my legs! I think it was a combo of not enough breakfast and running a hilly 14-mile route. Meh.
• I got my bike sized for me on Friday. They adjusted the seat and handlebars, and I purchased bike shoes and clipless pedals (among other things). I practiced using the shoes and pedals on Saturday. No falls yet! And I even had to clip out once for traffic. They seem really easy to use. I think the fact that I was using nylon cages on my mountain bike helped prep me. I actually had to lean over to release my foot out of those. With the new shoes, I just angle my feet out and they come right off the pedals! Seems easier/safer than what I have on the mountain bike. 
• I ran part of a sprint tri relay with my multisport club today (I’ll recap it later this week)! I did the run portion of this race two years ago*, and just hoped to beat my course time. I did! But I think I am having the same reaction I had two years ago – time to do speed work again and get in better shape! Ha ha. 
• What should I do next week to celebrate Week 200 of (documented) training?

*Dad, there is a typo in that race report that you never found. I am disappointed. I left it there for you to find. 

Comments (14)

By kilax, August 9, 2013 3:31 pm

Geesh. I have had some heavy (maybe) posts this week. Let’s start the weekend with something fun. 

I love this card* Gina sent to me to wish me good luck on my exam a few weeks ago. I just can’t believe how true it is. These all apply to me, except #7! I have an iPhone, not an iPod (ha ha, small difference) and it has strength class playlists. I haven’t listened to music on a run since November! That still kind of blows my mind. I can’t believe I am able to stand the thoughts in my head on those long runs. 

How many on that list apply to you? What are your “you know you’re a runner when…” additions?

How about:

• When scheduling summer run dates at 5:00 in the morning seems late
• You only have one pair of shoes for work but a zillion running shoes
• You’ve mastered the snot rocket
• You daydream about running

Hmm, as I write this, it makes me think that this list might be misread by someone to whom these things do not apply! Hey! If you get out there and run, at any pace, for whatever amount, you ARE a runner, imho!

*Firstly, because it is ORANGE!

Comments (40)

By kilax, August 9, 2013 12:13 pm

= annoying commenting?

Have you ever read a blog post by someone and gotten a feeling that something isn’t right, but the blogger is trying to push it aside? Maybe they are an athlete who is injured, but pushing through the pain and potentially making it worse. Or they obsess about food and give hints of an eating disorder. Or maybe they talk about feeling alone and you think maybe they are depressed and headed to a dark place.  You feel concerned. 

I know. We’re not doctors. We’re not nutritionists. We’re not therapists. 

And it’s so easy to read it to someone’s story online. They choose what to share. We don’t have the full picture. 

But sometimes I see these hints of something. Something that makes me worry about this person. Because if I read their blog, and comment on it, I care about them. Even if I don’t know them in real life. 

I was thinking about this, as I saw a post (from someone who does not read this blog, nor is it a blog I comment on) where someone casually mentioned a serious issue in the middle of all the text.

But the post seemed to be written in such a way to minimize that issue. So most of the responses were “way to go” comments on the content of the rest of the post. 

And that is the great thing about blogging – we can totally try to direct the conversation in a certain way. We can minimize what we want to. We can leave details out. We can pretend. We can make up any story. 

But I can’t overlook that little blurb about the issue. I read it, and alarms go off. 

And I can’t help but say something. So is that responsible commenting? Ha ha. Or is that just me, being annoying, and butting in?

Because why else would the person share it?

Yeah, I am probably reading in to things way too much, but as I had run across these feeling many times before, I thought I would put it out there. 

When you see something you personally think is a sign of a bigger issue do you comment about that? Or are you actually able to “mind your own business”?*

*But why would people write it, if not to have people comment on it, discuss it (if comments are open)?

Comments (40)

By kilax, August 8, 2013 6:14 am

• Gah! Data lost it last night when the little neighborhood kittens showed up at the front door! Then we fed the kittens Data’s food. While Data watched. If Data doesn’t have a complex already, he will now!

• I didn’t explain my idea about “in-between” time very well yesterday. I wasn’t really talking about having free time and not knowing what to do with it. More like feeling anxious between events – because the “in-between” time is so little that you can’t really do anything. Even if that “in-between” time is spent commuting, or sitting down, or doing something small… it makes me feel restless and anxious for the next event. I am highly anxious for things, every week, until I am “in” the event (or it’s over) – then I feel like I can breathe. But the in-between time where I can’t start another activity to distract myself really makes me, yes, I keep saying it – anxious. I wish I could explain this, more clearly!
• After I wrote that post, I thought about a term I read about this week at work – sludge. From the work email -“sludge encompasses any statements we make about how another person spends their time.” The examples in the email (worrying about how others spend their time/thinking everyone is lazier than you) reminded me of the time I wrote this. I think about that a lot, and remind myself not to care how other people spend their time. How they spend their time is part of their reality. However, I still think we almost all think we are busier than everyone else. But! We mostly chose our “busy”! I got up at 4:00 today to run. I am working 6:30-4:00. Then I will do Fake Meats packages from 4:00-5:00. Then I have 55 minutes of in-between time until I teach two back to back strength classes then go check on my friend’s cat. I chose this schedule (and I have to work)! So, yeah. Truly random though, there. 
• I’ve really taken notice lately to people who are constantly (well, almost always) negative on social media. It’s really simple for me to hide these posts/not read them, but I still see them and just have to wonder… what the deal is with all the negativity. I get wanting to vent. But… all the time? It makes me worry about people. It makes me wonder about their perspective on life. I know letting this frustration out makes people feel better, but when that’s all I ever see from them, it makes them seem unhappy, all the time.  And usually makes me want to interact with them less. This is hard to explain without specific examples, but I’m obviously not going to go there! I have just thought about it more lately, because some crappy stuff has happened to me, but I just don’t want it out there. I’d rather share positive or fun stuff on social media. I complain to my friends/family offline, instead. Ha ha.

Not really a good example, but just showing you where the “I don’t want to see this” button is.

• Someone saw my awful back tan lines (no need for a picture, I’ve shown you a zillion times) yesterday and asked me if I was a swimmer. Since I am, in my mind, I said yes. Ha! And added that I run too. And just got a new bike. Because, you know. People want ALL that info when they ask you one simple question. 
• I am getting my bike fitted on Friday! And! Getting clipless pedals and shoes. Darn. They don’t have yellow shoes to match the bike. I think the bike shop was amused by me asking. 
• I have a confession to make (besides my lie in bullet #2) – I really seem to like 80s music. Sigh. I have done two 80s playlists in a row in the Monday night class (with some 90s thrown in). My students sometimes tease me and ask “were you even alive when this song came out?” That always cracks me up. 
• Fun news! I may start teaching another group exercise class at the Essential Fitness LLC studio in September! Early o’clock (5:00 am ish) on Fridays. I hope we get enough interest! I love starting my day with an early workout!
• Are you guys sick of hearing about my dad’s running? Ha. Probably! But! I am going to keep talking about it, so he knows if he stops I will talk about it here and make him feel REALLY bad. Anyway. He’s been using the garmin and guess what? He sees his pace now and wants to improve it. Did I create a monster? Hee hee. I hope so. 
• There was a really interesting concept in that book I read for work, about how to be committed to an outcome but not attached to it. The example was about an event that did not have a very good turnout, but how the organizers did not let it affect their attitude/spirit, because they basically did the best they could. I think this theory could be applied to a lot of things in life. And especially races, for athletes. I want to write about commitment vs attachment, but my brain has been shut off most of the week.  
• I am still studying anatomy for personal enjoyment/knowledge. This book came yesterday and I wish I would have had it when I was studying for the personal trainer exam! The pictures are so much clearer than the book I studied and anything I found online. I realized recently that I had misconceptions (among a few other things) about the soleus being completely under the gastrocnemius because of the way it was shown in the books I was studying. It’s interesting how different those anatomy sketches all are!

• This is a test for Anne, since she just skims my blog for her name. Ha ha. Anne! I found a new place for you to get your hair cut. The scissors are a “Y”… get it?! YOLO!

Other Random Thoughts Thursday Posts: 45, 44, 43, 42, 41, 40, 39, 38, XXXVII, XXXVI, XXXV, XXXIV, XXXIII, XXXII, XXXI, XXX, XXIX, XVIII, XXVII, XXVI, XXV, XXIV, XXIII, XXII, XXI, XX, XIX, XVIII, XVII, XVI, XV, XIV, XIII, XII, XI, X, IX, VIII, VII, VI, V, IV, III, II, I.

Comments (19)

By kilax, August 7, 2013 5:18 pm

In-between time, like the time between getting off work and arriving home, or getting off work and going to teach class, or running from one errand to the next but with extra time in between. That limbo time where you don’t need to engage in the next activity quite yet, but can’t start another activity. Waiting time. Don’t know what to do with yourself time. I feel so lost and anxious in this space. I hate the feeling of wasting time with something I don’t want to do!

Erin left an insightful comment/question on my post yesterday, where I mentioned that I’m always looking for a free “clearing” of time:

My response:

Erin knows me well and has put up with my off style of scheduling for over four years. Run a 5K then 20 miles after so that Kim can fit in her other plans on that weekend, too? Sure, why not.

I’m lucky that my friends put up with the schedule I create for myself.

Anyway.

I’m constantly planning these harebrained schemes that involve jumping from one activity to the next – keeping my schedule super full – but always with that icky in-between time. Not quite enough time to relax. But not time for the next “event,” yet.

It makes me so anxious.

Yet, I do it to myself. I make MY schedule that way.

So, do I schedule less or finally face my anxiety?

Anyone else struggle with the in-between time?

Also – what made me so dang uptight? Ha ha.

Comments (18)

By kilax, August 7, 2013 6:44 am

[leg tube reference]

I was super excited when my younger bro posted this picture on Facebook last week:

A package? For me?! How exciting! And to have his cats Scoot and Squeak plastered all over? Even MORE special.

The box arrived yesterday! What did Anthony send me for a birthday gift?

THE BEST GIFT EVER:

1. Cat food – I wondered why the box smelled that way!
2. A mint
3. 84 cents (since I was born in 1984)
4. A stuffed Darth Vader toy
5. A (used?) Q-tip
6. Two (2) floss picks
7. A face mask

Like I said. Best. Gift. Ever.

I feel like Anthony knows something I don’t know, and he sent me these items because I am going to need them to go all MacGyver on something in the future. Right? What could I MacGyver up out of this haul?!

I still think the best part of the package is this:

Keeping that f-o-r-e-v-e-r.

Thanks, Anthony (and Amber)!

Comments (22)

By kilax, August 6, 2013 1:00 pm

I think I was a little overzealous when I packed my backpack with reading material for the train ride today. Four magazines? Hmm… the ride is only an hour and a half long!

What can I say though? One of the things I was most excited about when passing my personal trainer exam was to start reading for leisure again. Apart from blogs and the occasional magazine article, all I have been reading since January is study material (okay, and work related stuff)! I was stuck in a literary prison! I felt like there were topics in my study materials I wanted to research further, yet shouldn’t, as I didn’t want to cloud my brain with information that wouldn’t be on the test.

And it wasn’t over when I was done with the test! Then I had to read a book in a week and a half* so I could participate in a “book club”** discussion at work today. Again, I waited until after the test to read the book, so I wouldn’t have extra ideas floating around in my head. The book I read was about leadership and groups. And a lot of what I learned about motivation and self-efficacy while studying to be a personal trainer could be applied to our discussion today. I did bring a few topics up***, and the group was very interested in the cross-pollination between two of my jobs.

Anyway. Deep breaths. I feel like I am in a clearing now. I can read what I want in my free time and not feel guilty, like I should be reading something else!

On a side note, and this should probably be an entirely different post, I feel like I am ALWAYS looking for “a clearing.” A safe spot, free of obligation and to-do lists, to do as I please. It’s like I am constantly searching for that feeling of freedom and no responsibility. Not in a scary “I can’t function in society because I am so irresponsible” sort of way, but just looking for those little pockets of relaxation where I forget “what I have to do next.” Luckily, I seem to find them****, despite always having a “to do next” coming up. 

How long do you think you could go without joyfully reading just for leisure?

A few weeks ago Kelsey asked if I like to read for enjoyment. I was sad to confess that I still have books I received from the holidays***** that I have not even cracked open! Now, let’s see how fast I can get through those (and all the books loaned to me by friends, too!).

Note: this post makes it sound like I did not enjoy studying. I did. I loved reading most of that – I felt so lucky that I was really interested in what I had to study. But that doesn’t mean I didn’t feel anxious about it!

*On a computer screen, which was an additional challenge. 
**It’s funny – I’ve only been to one book club before, but that was more about chit chat and food. This meeting was definitely focused on the book. Ha ha ha. It was actually very stimulating and left me feeling jazzed!
***Yay for me for remembering that stuff! Got to keep talking about it so it stays up there!
****Running, spending time with friends, watching a movie (sometimes), goofing around with Steven…
*****Steven’s family asked for a wishlist for my birthday and I put a few books on there with the disclaimer I am yet to read the books they generously gave me for Christmas!

Comments (33)

By kilax, August 5, 2013 9:48 am

I really like spending time in the air, so when a “Tandem Hang Gliding Adventure” via Amazon Local showed up in my inbox*, it was kind of a no brainer. Steven and I decided to sign up, and even convinced our friend Pete to sign up as well! His wife, Denise**, decided to be ground support. 

We hang glided out of Gutzmer’s Twin Oaks Airport in Whitewater, Wisconsin, which is just over an hour from my home. 

I didn’t really know, um, anything about hang gliding before going in to this. I was too lazy to read much on their website. I kind of looked in to what to wear, so I would be comfortable with the temperature drop… but, eh, I felt really “free spirited” about this, shall we say. I was really hoping I would just show up and not have to do any silly ground school, just strap up, and go!

And yay! It was mostly like that! I mean, show up, wait for our turns, then strap up, and go! Yippee. 

Anyway. So I was surprised when I got there and saw we are pulled up a couple thousand feet by a plane then released in the glider. I was wondering how we’d get up to the point where we’d be able to glide. It’s not like there are any cliffs to jump off of in Wisconsin. 

Let me tell you – it’s kind of nutso to be pulled through the air, behind an airplane. But! Let’s start at the beginning. 

There were a lot of different gliders there, and several people were taking off in solo rides between our tandem rides. 

It was interesting to see all the different gliders, and talk to the pilots. We learned a lot about hang gliding! You can actually stay up in the air for many hours – long enough that we were wondering what these people did to eat and use the rest room up there. The highest altitude flown at that site was 9000′ ( I think we got up to 2000′). The world record for longest flight (not sure of start site) is 440 miles. Whoa. 

On the contrary, our flights were about 20-30 minutes. And… that was enough time for me! Ha ha!

When it was my turn to fly, I strapped in to a suit to hook me in to the glider. Yeah. This suit, and the carabiner, is the only thing holding you in. 

And that purple carabiner is the only thing strapping me to my pilot, Paul. 

There is a special harness they put just under each knee so you can relax your legs and they don’t swing around (they recommended crossing the ankles during the flight, which I did). 

We attached to the plane by a long skinny, rope, and Paul let me give the “Go, go, go!” signal for the plane to take off!

And we were off the ground right away! 

So, you actually sway around quite a bit in the glider. And, it’s easy to forget that you are hooked in to it, from behind. By that one carabiner. You kind of just feel that if you let go (at this point, I was holding on to the pilot and my harness) that you will fall. 

Yeah. I’m not going to lie. It’s kind of freaky. 

It’s loud (because of the plane engine), and bumpy, the entire time you are being pulled by the plane. But you also feel kind of safe, because you are being pulled by a plane (WITH AN ENGINE), right?

So I ask Paul, “How do we know when the plane is going to release us?” He tells me, “Oh, the pilot will just wave his hand to signal we’ve gone high enough, then he’ll release us, we’ll turn right and go!”

Ugh, whaaa?! We don’t tell him?! Panic! I live in fear of unplanned things! Ha ha ha. I was wondering, when the plane let us go… will we glide?! Or plummet to our deaths?

Phew. We did glide. Ha ha.  

And gliding was peaceful, and quiet. You steer by lightly placing your hands on the bar and using your body weight to shift left, right, up or down. Paul let me steer right away! “Look! You are flying! All by yourself!” Um, that is cool and all, Paul, but “I think you’d do a better job flying!” Ha ha. 

We were actually having trouble finding the hot pockets of air that give you lift. I mean, not trouble, like we were going to fall – we just weren’t getting up much higher. We did find a few, but the actual gliding portion (sans plane) seemed shorter than being pulled by the plane! I definitely wasn’t up there long enough to understand why pilots would want to be up there for hours on end. Maybe I wasn’t in a “bird” frame of mind! I did have a little bit of “I’ll be happy to be back on the ground” thoughts going on. And a few “if I fell from this high up, would I die instantly?” thoughts. Yeah. 

Don’t worry. It’s actually completely safe! I think those thoughts are natural! Right?!

The landing was super soft. There are wheels on the glider, so we just landed right in the field and were able to stand up, unhook, and be on our merry way!

The pilots there kept talking about a “natural high” you get from hang gliding. I didn’t feel that jazzed! Not like when I jumped out of an airplane. Later on, we told people we went hang gliding, and they thought it was a big, scary, deal! I was like, “Oh yeah, we did do that earlier today.” Hmm, maybe I should have worked harder on getting myself pumped for this! It was an incredible experience, I am happy I got to try it, and my pilot was super cool… I guess it just wasn’t what I expected? Maybe I’ll have to try it again. 

Would YOU go hang gliding?

*All the way back on December 18th! I had this big long intro written about how anxious it makes me to have unused deals (Groupon, Living Social, whatever) like that for so long, but I am pretty sure I have written about that before…
**And she thought it looked so fun she decided to do it, too!

Comments (15)

By kilax, August 4, 2013 3:08 pm

Highlight of the Week: Riding my new bike!

Monday | July 29, 2013: teaching strength class
Strength: bench + bells, Difficulty: easy (mostly training), Felt: great – excited to have a full class!
Tuesday | July 30, 2013: 6.5 m run (w/Bobbi + Emily)
Loc: Grayslake, Temp: 54°/54°, Time: 1:06:20, Pace: 10:12 avg, Difficulty: easy, Felt: good
Wednesday | July 31, 2013: 8 m run (w/Bobbi) + strength class
Loc: DPRT, Temp: 65°/67°, Time: 1:23:12, Pace: 10:24 avg, Difficulty: medium, Felt: tired
Strength: kettlebells, Difficulty: medium, Felt: goofy
Thursday | August 1, 2013: 6 m run (middle 3 w/Jen)
Loc: hpod, Temp: 59°/61°, Time: 1:05:52, Pace: 10:58 avg, Difficulty: easy, Felt: surprisingly energetic
Friday | August 2, 2013: rest
Saturday | August 3, 2013: 3.61 m bike (fail) + walk home
Loc: house to no where, Temp: 59°, Time: 15:48, Pace: 13.7 avg, Difficulty: easy, Felt: excited
Sunday | August 4, 2013: rest

Notes:

• Ugh! For having two extra days off work this week, I kind of didn’t do much! I needed a step back/rest week, anyway. I upped my weekly mileage to 40 the last three weeks – I think I was due for a short break as I continue to slightly increase my mileage.
• Anne came to my class AGAIN Monday night! And! Took me out to dinner! Any readers are welcome to come on Monday night and do the same. Ha ha ha! <— trying to be funny. 
• I was loving riding my new bike on Saturday until I got that flat! I need to take it to the bike shop to get fitted this week, and get some spare tubes, tool kits, an air pump and clipless pedals. $$$!!! Good thing I had been saving money for a bike, anyway! Should I go ahead and get yellow biking clothes to match the bike? Nah… I am not that ridiculous… or am I?!
• I mentioned some fun cross training happening this week, in last week’s post. Yeah. One thing didn’t happen, because I was out of town most of the day today. But! I went out of town for the other thing, which I will post about tomorrow…
• I am teaching strength class three times next week! Once on Monday and back-to-back Thursday night! Should be interesting! 

Comments (23)

By kilax, August 3, 2013 7:40 am

I think you guys were right when you said to ride my bike a bit and figure out its personality before naming it. 

I planned to run 7 miles to my friend’s house this am, check in on his cat, and run 7 miles home. I woke up to run and thought, “Why not take the new bike out?!”

So I was riding it, loving how smooth and fast it was, wondering how I was ever going to get any running miles in anymore, since I just want to ride my bike all day, when…

pffffffffffffft

(no, not me farting)

I got a flat. I don’t have a spare kit yet. Darn it! 

So I got really well acquainted with my bike as I walked home for an hour. 

Sigh. 

The good news is, one cyclist stopped to try to give me air, and another stopped to ask if I was okay. And a stranger asked if I needed a ride, too. People are nice. 

And the thing is super light weight. Maybe carrying it for three miles can count as a strength workout?!

Now I’ve wasted so much time I better drive to check in on my friend’s cat!!!