Chasing After the Naughty Dingos, 6 years on -- July Thread - Page 12

[sparkletruck]

...thong underwear... at the grocery store.... on a lady whose pants were so low slung in the back that she might as well have been at the pool

gaye - Im so excited for you and to hear your stories

Real - and you too!!

MelW - re: strength training. I have mostly always done it. I was a rower for 7 years so learned routines and technique *back in the dizz-ay*, as we like to say in the hood, and then watch people at the gym who know what they're doing and read to learn more. Understanding about strength training has changed a lot, for the better, in the past decade so I have changed what I do. But the biggest change came last year when a trainer approached me at the gym and asked to train me, "just once, pleeaase". She said I looked like I was training for something, and that I was an athlete, and she had some ideas for my training (she subsequently moved for a job as the strength trainer at LSU). The routine she put me through for an hour, and the things she taught me have given me the body I always wanted. But it is hard. I definitely have to push myself through it. The results are that I have more core strength and stability (back, hip flexors, obliques! - I never knew how strong obliques could make you feel so powerful; that lateral stability is really something - than I have ever had, my hips are very strong, I just feel almost powerful (I think I need to get more strength to say I do).

More importantly, when I strength train, I can run!! I have to build all my supporting structures up enough to be able to run w/out the knee thing happening it seems. I started strength training in May again, after losing ALL my muscle with a severe illness in Feb/ Mar (30% mortality rate ) and just ran 6 miles this week with little repercussions. Plus, the old bod doesnt look too shabby these days.

As for what I do, I could detail the whole thing if you're interested. It's something I really love working on for some reason so I like talking to people about it. For example, I just started these push-ups where you get in push-up position but with your hands together (touching each other under your chest) and your feet wide, like you are human Y. Do one push-up, then JUMP your hands wide and your feet together at the same time and do a push up that way, then jump back, and so on. Works all different parts of the arm and shoulder, and your core!

RR: today is a rest day...

NRR: oh boy, did I get a refresher on why I dont have a relationship with my mom yesterday. She discovered upon returning from the pool that the envelope she had IN HER PURSE, AT THE POOL carrying $800 was missing. Oh, and so was her passport and any other form of ID. So Dh and I jump into "fix it" mode.... long story short, we found the envelope at the post office, where we'd been that morning, and she found her passport in her bag somewhere. Meanwhile, she just lost her credit card right before leaving Holland (oh, my mom is dutch, lives in holland) and asked if she could use mine until they sent her new one. Um, NO. She thought this was rude. Of course, as ALWAYS, my dad is letting her use his, for which she will pay him back. Uh huh. All I could think right when she said she lost the envelope is Thank G-d the fiasco of the visit did not involve my kids while I was at the gym. Of course as much as I loathe her stupidity, I also feel so sorry for her, and there it was, allll the baggage came surging up. Bleh. Maybe today shouldnt be a rest day

[tjsmama]

Day one = AWESOME. I'm exhausted, and headed to bed imminently (it's 8:30, lol) but wanted to pop in really quickly. This was probably the most beautiful ride I've ever done. The wildflowers are absolutely incredible right now. The volunteers are awesome, and my team is so much fun. Vail Pass was harder than I remembered, but we did it! My legs are pretty tired, but I feel (mostly) ok about the century tomorrow. Conveniently enough, we have an ice cold mountain stream right outside our condo, perfect for ice baths! The thing that stinks is that due to some construction in Keystone, the official century route is only going to be somewhere between 91 and 93 miles. Well, you guys know me. That's not gonna work. I said I was going to ride a century and I WILL ride a century, so I'm going to head out uber early to get about 8 or 9 miles in on my own before we head out for the official ride. I WILL see my Garmin tick over to 1-0-0!

See ya on the flipside of a century (hopefully)!

[Plady]

Thongs at the gym oh my!  I don't think I'd have been able to keep a straight face.

Re: CLO - Okay, I guess not kosher or veg but I landed on Carlson's Lemon flavored and it tastes . . .  wait for it . . . SO GOOD!  Yeah, I was so shocked at how tasty it is I had to double check that it was actually CLO.  My memories of the stuff involve gagging and crying this stuff is delish.  Jury is still out on results but at least we're all happy to take it.

I'm so far behind, I have the impression there is some big racing happening today?  Tomorrow?  Good luck racers!

So my SIL was here for a week with her dd and her wannabe ds.  It was kind of hard.  My older dd had a really tough time sharing her space and parents with her cousins at the same time she was sharing me with 15 other kids every morning in theatre camp.  The little tomboy/tranny niece is a hoot.  There is nothing at all feminine about her, all the kids at the camp immediately assumed she was a he and since that's what she prefers I didn't out her and she had a ball.  The other niece is a bit of a dreamer but less strange than the last time we saw her 4 years ago.  Generally though the visit was a big country mouse city mouse staticfest.  They were all jet-lagged from the 8 hour difference and feeling out of place coming from central London.  And then just as things finally seemed to mellow out yesterday it came out that they were pretty infested with lice.  SIL had been making vague mentions of needing to do some nit checks but hadn't actually gotten around to it.  They've had a rough time with lice over the past year or two and we assumed that the nit checks were a sort of hangover prophylactic thing so this morning I offered to check the kids while SIL got packed up.  Turned out that the little one was just covered in nits.  It was pretty bad, I'm really thankful I didn't see a live one moving because it would have been hard to not pull a freaker.  Anyway, dh got really upset and just can't believe that they came with lice and didn't tell us in advance or appear to take any precautions to keep from passing them around.  But, the saga is on pause for 10 days while they go visit other people and then they come back here for a week.  WWYD?

Other than that I'm still struggling to stick to any kind of exercise routine.  Sparkle I'd love to hear more about your strength circuit, I know I'll need to build up strength if I ever hope to really run again it's been such a long time.

Here's to hoping I can get caught up and stay caught up with y'all!

[Realrellim]

Plady--lice, how awful! I have no idea what I'd do. Or rather, if it were *my* SIL, I'd tell them to stay in a motel but seeing as my SIL is pretty much never going to make the trip out to Colorado, we're safe.

tjsmama--go go go!

Had my tri yesterday and it went well overall: 1:42:39.
sex place 81/154
F35-39 19/24
overall place 154/257

swim 14:28
T1 4:36
Bike 51:28 (11.7 mph) 1106 ft elev gain
T2 1:49
Run 30:21 (9:48 pace) - 307 ft elev gain

I'm going to do a (ridiculously) long report on my blog, probably tonight and then I'll link here. Overall it went pretty well. My swim was decent for me...though I was vaguely hoping that it would take 17 minutes and then I'd get to see tjsmama eat her goggles, as promised....

My first transition was too long, mostly because we were on asphalt with a lot of tiny gravel and broken parts and I have wussy princess feet so I picked my way slowly over to my bike and then attempted to remove the gravel from my feet so I could a bandaid on the healing blister on the bottom of my toe. Once that was done I could get moving faster.

The bike part was ok. It had more climbing than I expected: 1106 ft, and the most I'd ever done was 775. However, seeing as it was *not* Vail Pass I thought of tjsmama and all the riding she was doing and told myself to suck it up. It was a slow ride, though I was amused by the spectator who cheered "yay, someone else with a mom bike!"

I'm totally lusting after a road bike right now, and entertaining fantasies of saving up enough allowance to buy a cheapish one ($500?) or somehow finding one on Craigslist that's perfect for me (a dilemma between saving on the bike or save money on tune-ups?). Anyhow.

The run was my best part, of course. My legs were pretty fried because we'd just had a 2/3rds mile climb on the bike back to transition and then the run headed straight uphill too, but OTOH most people were walking so at least I was passing them. It felt vindicating after being passed a lot on the bike.

My swim rank was slow, 210/257, and my bike rank also slow, 176/257, but my run rank was decent:  80/257.

Hoping to get a nice long run in today. Must. not. wuss out because it's hot.

[MelW]

Real, congrats on the tri!! Those are great times with so many climbs, and way to outswim the goggle eating benchmark!

Gaye, hope you had a great century!

Plady, I'd be tempted to offer to pick up de-lousing supplies- at least combs for wet combing. Under the pretenses of "it must be hard to deal with lice while you're on vacation". I'd also institute daily nit checks and combing for everyone, keep all long hair pulled back and braided, and hot wash linens now and again when they leave
My oldest's best frien had recurring lice this winter, and we couldn't keep the kids heads apart but did damage control and very frequent checks. Good luck (I'm a bit itchy just typing that!)

sparkle, I admire the hard weight training. When I was doing bootcamp through the fall winter I had an awesome workout of mostly body weight exercises and cardio intervals/drills. Every week I managed to leave sore and with different muscle groups each time. The gym in town is pretty small and pathetic, and somehow I never push myself very hard when I weight train alone. I need my butt kicked for strength training lately, but can see how crucial it is for injury prevention...

RR- Sunshine and real summer weather here finally today! I ran along a trail by a nearby river for a 30 minute run and quick swim in the river to cool off. There were lots of huckleberries, salmonberries and thimbleberries along the trail, and I grabbed a few as I ran past. We had so much snow in the mountains this year that all of the rivers have record high water, but this spot is below a dam that they have been releasing extra water from all week. The current was a bit much for any serious swimming (and warning signs that were advising of the risk of strong currents) so I had a quick dunk and stood to ice my legs for a bit. Much nicer than the cold bath.

[tjsmama]

, real! I'd forgotten about the goggle-eating challenge, but I'm thrilled I was right! Great race!!!

I did it. I rode 100 miles today. Maybe a little more, I'm not entirely sure, because my Garmin died at flipping mile 66. . But, based on Garmin reports of other riders, I'm relatively confident that my extra 8.5 miles this morning put me over the top. It was hard, it was fun, I had the biggest bonk EVER, and yet, I did it. And we crossed the finish line together as a team, which was maybe the best part of the whole day. It was AMAZING.

Now I only have to ride 44 miles tomorrow...

[Realrellim]

Dilemma of the evening: my jogger is rather old, seeing as I bought it used when it was a year or two old and have used it for six years. Various parts of it have been falling apart, but tonight I found a hole in the corner of the seat where the seat belt is. It's a corner that carries a lot of the kid's weight and that also attaches to the frame for stability. I might be able to sew it, but I'm wondering how many times I'll end up sewing it considering that I'll be using it frequently for the next two or three years.

There's an older BOB utility listed on Craigslist for $100. It looks decent in the pictures. I'm wondering if that's the way to go, or if it's a waste of money and I should just sew the hole and hope it holds. Thoughts?

[JayGee]

Real ~ congratulations on a fantastic race!!!!  Love the "Mom bike" comment too!  If it were me, I'd probaby just sew the stroller, but I'm super-cheap like that...

Gaye ~ congratulations to you on an amazing accomplishment!  100 miles, huge climbs, and fund raising too!  You're a rock star!!!!

sparkle ~ count me as in awe of your great strength training too!  This fall, after all the kids start school (sniff... sniff...) I'm setting myself up with one of the personal trainers at the Y and learning what exactly I need to do to properly strength train.  Yikes on the Mom-flakeout!  I totally see your point...

MelW ~ I thought of you (and memiles) when I read that Pacific Northwest finally had a summer day!  Sounds lovely!

RR ~ helped DH clear a mountain of brush from the backyard yesterday and it looks SO much better.  Next summer will be my summer of planting to get some color going on our hillside.  Today, I'm dragging the kids to the Y in spite of their protestations.

NRR ~ DD1 seems to be doing much better emotionally.  I basically kept her away from neighborgirl all last week and she played with another friend who is much closer in age yesterday building forts and doing normal "little girl" things.  Also, I took her for a Mom and Daughter Date on Saturday afternoon ~ Borders, a movie, new t-shirts from Justice (blech, but she loves them), and dinner out.  I think that time was just what she needed to get back in balance.  Yay!!!!  Now if only we can avoid the snotty, "I'm better than you" attitude from the neighborgirl, we'll be all set.  Speaking of which, I found out that NG told my little DD that Princesses were stupid and that Santa wasn't real.  Come on!  DD2 is 5.  NG needs to get a clue!

[sparkletruck]

quick before I head out then more later

Real - Duct tape? I know its seems sketchy, but seriously, people build houses down here with the stuff I would thoroughly check the BOB to make sure you;re not going to end up in the same situation... but otherwise get the BOB ....

[tjsmama]

I'm home...exhausted and sore, but incredibly proud of what I accomplished this weekend. Much more later, but for now: 3 days, 4 "official" mountain passes, 3 "unofficial" mountain passes, 200+ miles, 10000+ feet of elevation gain, one lame crash (resulting in one super-awesome pirate band-aid)...and two very sore quads.

[Realrellim]

tjsmama rocks!!!

Have decided to look for a new-to-me used jogger. My current one probably has 1200 miles or more on it, so it has been well loved. I looked at my gear tracker and realized that I'd put 500+ miles on the single and double joggers since J was born. About 300 was on the single jogger alone, with another 225 on the double. I don't plan to use the double jogger next year (R's going to have to bike along; I refuse to push a 7-year-old in a jogger on a regular basis), so I'll probably be putting about 500 miles a year on the single for the next 2-3 years and then will undoubtedly still put a few more miles on it after that, until J is old enough to bike along with me. It will be worth it. I found a Bob SUV stroller nearby for $80 and I'm going to ask if they'll take $75, provided it's in decent shape. The ad said it needs new tubes, but I'll probably be able to pull the tubes off my current jogger and swap them out.

I had to laugh though. I asked how old it was and he said about 10 years old. It looks fabulous in the picture. Clearly, these people did not use their jogger nearly as much as I do. Maybe their children sleep without needing to be in motion?

[sparkletruck]

RR: Weight circuit done. NOT feelin' it. But glad to be done, especially as I will be sitting on my arse for much of today .... and tomorrow .... Bike/ run brick yesterday for 75 minutes (instead of 90) b/c my achilles on my right leg just couldnt do it! ??? Strange, as Ive run once since the 6 miles and was fine. So maybe no running in the Sierra after all Bum-mer!!

Sorry so brief. We leave in a few hours and I have been working steadily to get ready (Dh worked up until departure to make up for the days he is taking for vacation ). I wont be here for at least 10 days. I hope to check in when we are in Idaho.

Gaye - Awesome

I'll miss you guys!!!

[Plady]

Morning Dingos!

Gaye!  Wow!  What stas for a weekend!  I'm looking forward to the full version report!

Real - You have definitely earned a new jogger, holy mileage! 

JG - Ew, sorry about the icky NG, I hate kids who blow things like Santa, don't they realize they'll be remembered forever as wankers?

MelW - That summer we had on Sunday was nice wasn't it?  I hope you got to enjoy it.  It was kind of funny, we went to the beach for a dinner cookout with some friends and by 5:30 we were the only people left on this gorgeous beach with warm weather, no wind, Olympic mountains just popping across the strait, Mt. Baker looming, seals bobbing.  It was bizarre how there was nobody else there, like we'd miss the end of the world or something. - And thank you for the sensible input re: houseguests with lice.  It's easy to overreact and it would definitely be nicer to help them get rid of it rather than just shun them for social ineptitude.

RR: Well not running exactly but I do have three days of exercise under my belt plus scheduled workouts for the next two days and an implied promise of attendance on Friday too.  I tried to take a spin class this morning but it was full and I hadn't known about the sign-up sheet until I got there.  But I signed up for the next three classes so that's something.  I swam instead.  I had my butt kicked yesterday in a strength class so my swimming was pretty lazy and slow, but at least it was something and every day I make it to the gym by 6:00 helps cement a routine right?

NRR: We're making some progress in our forever kitchen rehab project.  We now have all the major appliances installed with permanent substructures, dh has begun tiling backsplash and I am painting cabinet and drawer fronts today.  We might actually finish this project this year! 

[MelW]

tjsmama, what an awesome, amazing weekend!!

Plady, making it to the gym by 6 am is inspiring, especially in the summer! And the couple days of summer were amazing- yesterday was lovely here, too, but we're back in the clouds today.

JayGee, I want to shake your NG. Seriously not cool :( Hopefully your 5yo can still enjoy Santa and princesses for a while longer, despite the interference.

Have a great trip, Sparkle!

real, that is a lot of mileage. Agreed, a new (to-you) stroller is needed to make it through your "strollering years".

RR- Amazing ocean swim yesterday! The water was so warm, and the chop/tide were just enough of a challenge to feel like a real workout. We took the kids to the beach in the afternoon and I wasn't expecting to get a workout in, so it was a welcome surprise. Now, off to bike kids up to a friend's house so I can go for a run.

[Runningmommy]

Hi ladies! I don't understand why I am not getting the notifications. It's the way I stay connected.

RR: back to running yesterday about an hour including walking. Then did lunges, squats, pull ups.

Eating clean challenge is goin great. I'm not perfect, just better and progressing. I can now see muscle inthe lower part of my abs which is fantastic.

Root canal done today went great. One more dental visit for the permanent filling on it and all done. Happy as a clam.

Shaving/waxing convo is so great. Super funny that just days before reading it here I had decided to change things up in that area.

Picked up more volunteer responsibilities at church-what was I thinking? Just what I need, another iron in the fire.

Ds1 has bald spots again now that we are getting closer to school starting.

Off to make dental appointment and pediatrician appointment.

[Nickarolaberry]

Alex (Zub) if you're reading this,   

[Geofizz]

Originally Posted by Runningmommy 


Ds1 has bald spots again now that we are getting closer to school starting.
 

!!!  So have you come to a decision or at least a game plan for dealing with next year?  Poor kiddo doesn't deserve this.

Thinking of you Zub.  :(

[mommajb]

Alex, :hugs

Lisa, if I can share any of my 'homeschool in Indiana' info or contacts pease let me know. I hope you find a solution that works for both you and him.

[LaLaLaLa]

Zub--It sounds from your Facebook status as though things aren't going well.  I'm so very sorry if your premonition was correct; it's heartbreaking to want a baby so much and to try so hard for one, only to lose the little one so early.  My thoughts are with you and your family.  Please lean on us here if you need to. 

Real--You had an excellent tri!  Nice job!  Sorry about the first transition; that sounds tough.  Did people wear aqua shoes to run across the pebbles?  I have wimpy feet, and wouldn't have wanted to move too quickly, either.  I need to take a lesson from some people here and start the barefoot thing.  I can't weigh in on the stroller debate, since I wasn't running when my kids were little and I'm doing my best to work around their schedules now.  I hope you find something that works for you.

tjsmama--Awesome job!  I'm glad that you had such a fun time and pushed yourself; it must feel great to have accomplished something so difficult.

Plady--I'm terrified at the thought of getting lice, and would not be at all pleasant to people who knowingly brought it anywhere near my house.  It sounds like trying to get rid of it while they are there would be the best approach, though.  I hope you have a nice visit, other than that.

All is going pretty well here, although I'm still not running much.  My big plan was to go out when DH got home tonight, and do  6-8 miles.  Garmin is charging, house is clean, food pulled out for dinner, laundry hung on the clothesline.... and ten minutes ago a massive thunderstorm started.  My kids are all "hooray!  Lightning!" and can't understand why I'm so grumbly.  Maybe I'll try some of sparkle's strength training moves and spend some time on DH's elliptical machine.  I'd rather be running, though, darnit!

I managed to survive DD's messy art party.  We woke up that morning and I was going to mow our grass weeds so nobody would judge me for our terrible yard, but our lawnmower wouldn't start.  My stress level started to rise as I set out all of the party stuff.  By the time people started arriving I hadn't eaten anything and was shaking.  It did go fine, though.  Aside from my playgroup moms, whom I love, almost everyone dropped their kids off, so I didn't have to make awkward small talk with a bunch of people I don't know.  We ended up with about 25 kids.

We had a sand art table, a spot with packing peanuts and toothpicks to stick them together, a table with tattoos and face paint crayons set out, a fitted sheet on a table with fabric markers, the matching flat sheet hanging between a couple of trees with spray bottles filled with colored water to spray on it, and a painting table with marble painting and fireworks painting.  We also had chalk out on our walkway and a long sheet of paper with finger paints set out.  I made a bucket of oobleck, which was a big hit, and a bucket of slime, which was so gross nobody would touch it. 

After they played for awhile, I had everyone sit on a blanket and I challenged them to melt pennies out of ice cubes and stick the pennies to their foreheads.  When they were calmed down a bit, we handed out cupcakes and sang happy birthday to DD, then she opened presents and we sent everyone home with rainbow glasses and a CD of songs that DD likes.

I'm dreading February, when DS decides he needs a party.  Although it went fine, I still didn't like throwing a party.  My SIL loves throwing parties; she said she'd plan my next party and I could pay her in cupcakes.  I think that sounds like an excellent idea.

Ooh, the rain is slowing!  Dare I hope for a run tonight after all?  Good deal!

[MelW]

Lax4, hope you get your run in tonight! What is fireworks painting? The party sounds amazing, though definitely stressful.

Runningmommy, glad that clean eating is going well, and good luck with finding something that works for your DS for school.

Just found out that our underwhelming kindergarten teacher is going to be teaching the 1/2 split next year. She likes my DD and DD wasn't unhappy, so it won't be a disaster if she ends up in her class, but I'll be a bit disappointed.

RR- Ran for over 5k today, with just a short walk on a very steep hill, plus another stop to talk to mountain bikers warning me about which way the mama bear was. There are signs all over the forest about a mama bear and her cubs that have been hanging around, and I heard her today. Then ran in the other direction . I'm going to be sore tomorrow, but it feels so good to be running again! I did track the last couple of runs with runkeeper, and my pace is very slow. I'm going with the "first you get good, then you get fast" theory right now (I had a really, really slow student last year who used this mantra, and he's now a competent and not-slow nurse).