21st Century Mom

Today is my day off of training and the first one I felt like I deserved.

Last week's training:
Mon Swim 2000.00 Yards 45:00
Run 3.00 Miles 33:00

Tue Swim 2600.00 Yards 52:30

Wed Run 4.15 Miles 40:25

Thu Cycle 21.00 Miles 1:33:00

Fri Swim 2200.00 Yards 45:00

Sat Cycle 36.48 Miles 3:24:00

Sun Run 6.05 Miles 1:03:00

Total time - ~9.5 hours GO ME!

Next week - more training and more brick workouts.

Posted by 21st Century Mom at 08:51 PM | Permalink | Comments (6)

I went to a 5K/Half Marathon event today to cheer on my team members. I had briefly considered running the 5K but my legs are pretty worn out and there isn't much point in paying $30 to have a non PR 5K so I restricted my activities to cheerleading which was fine.

The thing that happened today that was baffling is that a woman tried to cheat - big time.

When the first 1/2 Marathon runners started coming in the race director came over and said he was having a race director's worst nightmare. A group of women had reported that they saw a woman jump on to the course at about mile 8 - in front of all the other women running. He wanted some of the first women from our team to let him know if they saw it, too.

One woman thought she had but another had said that she was pretty sure everyone in front of her had been at the start. Long story short, the woman who really did win also saw the cheater jump in and there was some other confirmation and that was that - DQ'd.

It's one thing to jump in to get a better time - a weird thing and not one that would satisfy me but not the same thing as jumping in the race for the overall women's win!! What must someone's ethics be to try a stunt like that? Trust me when I tell you everyone was hoping she had jumped off the course to puke or take a pee or something but that just wasn't the case - she was going for someone else's glory. Ick.

Posted by 21st Century Mom at 11:29 AM | Permalink | Comments (15)

I was planning on doing my long ride on Sunday but one of my riding partners couldn't make it so we changed to today - why not? The plan had been to climb the back side of the Berkeley Hills and go to the start of my season opener triathlon, The Golden Bear, and then test drive the course. Alas - such was not to be.

My riding partner Cindy wasn't crazy about that idea and my legs were pretty tired from my smokin hot run Wednesday night followed by my ride on Thursday. Friday I swam. We decided to climb up the front side of the hills (front and back are totally arbitrary, btw - I just made that up) because we had done that before and knew what to expect. This was my second time making this climb and I didn't think I could do it and REALLY wanted to talk Cindy out of it. That Cindy is a wiley one, though and she said, "lets just get there and see how it goes. You just keep pedaling and pretty soon you're there." Uh huh.

My recollection from the last time is that I thought the first part of the ride from the bottom of Wildcat Canyon Rd. to Inspiration Point would be really hard and I thought that it WAS the climb. When we did it a year ago I remember thinking it was no big deal. What I didn't know about then was that we were just warming up and there was this whole OTHER hill to climb. That's the part I didn't think I could manage because I remembered it as being excrutiating.

As I remembered, the first part was fine - no big whoop (the part that is the same for both rides). The onl y problem was that the further up the hill we got the wetter and foggier it became. We passed Inspiration Point and kept going with me thinking I would beg to turn around at Lake Anza. My thighs were like that shirt in the Tide-to-Go ad that has the talking stain on it and the stain was sayiing "No freakin' way! Stop! - No No! Turn Back! We're Tired! No can Do!" - in stereo, no less. My mouth stayed clamped shut, though and on we rode.

Then we got to the part I remembered as being the beginning of the hard part. I just kept pedaling and it just kept getting wetter and foggier and the visibility went down, down, down. And we just kept going. I remember thinking at one point, "where is that really steep part that I don't think I can manage" and then I remember looking to my right and thinking, "isn't this just about the top?" Not that we could see anything but a whited out fog bank but there are some logs and stuff to keep the cars from driving off the edge and there was a water tank and I sort of remembered that part.

There was a possible turn off we stopped at but I was feeling okay so we just kept pedaling and it just kept getting wetter and the visibility went down, down, down unti you couldn't see 30 feet ahead of you. We were headed to a second possible turn off and when we got there and were thinking about what to do a lady in a HEYOOGE MBZ with NO lights on came puttering by. Decision made! We didn't know how near the top we were but at that point the thought of going down the other side in zero visibility with reckless drivers on the road lost all appeal.

We went across the street and headed down a road that is closed to cars in the winter and that is awesome! I was screaming down that hill, for me (is 30 mph screaming?). I had to exercise some caution because the road was wet but I pretty much let 'er rip. Once we got down that hill we could see again and were very happy not to feel so invisible. What I didn't know was what happened to that super steep part.

Here are the 2 elevation maps from last year and this year:

As you can see - we were at the top. There was no more steep part except that one extra climb that comes after some down. We could have come down any which way and it would been fine with me and my nattering thighs except for that part where no one could see us. I think we made the right move.

The real lesson here is that if you don't know where you are, if you can't see up the hill very far and if you have a terrible memory you can do stuff you thought was way too hard. I've sent my thighs off to stand in the corner and think about that while the rest of me mows through the kitchen.

Posted by 21st Century Mom at 03:04 PM | Permalink | Comments (4)

Various people in my race club sponsor weekly events. There are Saturday rides and Sunday Ladies rides and Wednesday night runs and now that the days are longer, Thursday night rides are back. I really needed to get on my pony and go but I was pretty intimidated to go out with this particular group. However, faced with the choice of spending quality time with Coach Troy and going for a ride on a beautiful evening I had to at least entertain the latter.

I sent email to the guy who was leading and asked about the ride. He described it as a ride up 'Dog Hill' and I really needed to understand EXACTLY what that meant. He told me it was no big whoop and they used it most of the time to practice riding while staying in the saddle so I thought, "fine - I'll go".

I left work early yesterday because I was so exhausted - just fatigued. I've had a lot of that lately but I have not had the nasty crud that is ruining everyone else's life (that sound you hear is me, knocking on wood) so I assume my body is fighting it off. Anyhow, I came home and lay down for a power nap. Then the alarm went off the conversation in my head went like this:

Gallant: Get up - time to go for a ride
Goofus: Oh no - I'm so tired. I don't think I should go
Gallant: Get up - put the bike in the car
Goofus: I don't think so - I think I have a sore throat and besides, I'll get dropped like a bad date in the first 2 miles
Gallant: PUT THE BIKE IN THE CAR!!!
Goofus: I can't do it. I can't - too humiliating
Gallant: Just put the effing bike in your effing car and start driving!
Goofus: Oh man.. oh no.... oh God... PLEASE DON'T MAKE ME GO!
Gallant: PUT.THE.BIKE.IN.THE.CAR!
Goofus: Okay fine - I'll put the bike in the car.

And I did. I put the bike in the car along with the helmet, the shoes, leg warmers, arm warmers and gloveS. I had on shorts and a short sleeve cycling jersey and a wind breaker.

I just about cooked in my car. It was pretty warm out.

When I got there the first person to greet me was a woman who had been recommended to me as a coach. Great. Most of the the rest of the riders have done Ironman. Oh boy.... But I got on the bike and I rode. I kept up with them for a while, too and I thought "Stud!" But then we hit a hill and away they went and there I was - way behind everyone and all alone. And you know what? I didn't care. I just rode the fastest I could ride.

Dog Hill was not so bad and I realized that a year ago I would have granny geared it up the entire time. As it was I used the small chain ring twice in 4 miles of climbing - go me! Dog Hill was an out and back and just before I got to the end the group started coming back the other way. They were gracious enough to claim they had just gotten there themselves (fer shrue) and told me to go ahead and get to the turn around. That was very nice.

The way back was mostly down and I mostly kept up with people. It was really fun! And I rode. And Coach Troy will just have to find some other blind date.

Posted by 21st Century Mom at 04:52 PM | Permalink | Comments (6)

As I went to bed last night I thought "I'll get up and spend some quality time with coach Troy on my trainer - if I get up in time" This morning I got up way too late for coach Troy or anything other than getting ready for work and I thought WHAT DID I SAY??!!! Unbelievable. What kind of an athlete qualifies the plan with 'if I have time'. I guess I STILL need to HTFU!

I did go for a run this evening and managed 4.15 miles in 40:25 for a sub 10 min/mile training run - go me!

In other news I have Barbies and stuffed animals in my family room again. I can't bear to put them back in the dark, hidey hole I extracted them from last week. I want my little Pirates baaaaccckkkk!!!

On a positive note I get my own little girlies weekend after next. Both of them are coming home - Yay! I can hardly wait.

Posted by 21st Century Mom at 08:40 PM | Permalink | Comments (4)

I had me some visitors this weekend, matey! A Pirate and her First Mate and some wee Pirate Lassies. Cutest little Pirate babes in the world! We ate great food and toasted smarshmallows to make s'mores and played. The wee little lassies set the table, too! I even got to hoist one on to me lap to read her a story. Ahhhhh... t'was a pirate's life for me.

On Sunday DPR and I went and navigated the high seas of the local open space and soon found ourselves thigh high in grass with no trail in site. Ahhhh... t'was lovely. Fortunately this is the very over developed Bay Area where you are never far from civilization so all we had to do to get back to the trails was to navigate away from the houses. Our 'run' looked like this:

No matter! We had fun and got 6 miles logged and all was well. Very well indeed. In the process of having the pleasure of her company and the company of her family I inherited some fudge (red pepper and pinon), a fabulous red hat and a shirt. Hopefully it won't be long before it all happens again.

And that reminds me - are any of you planning on running the Bay to Breakers?

Posted by 21st Century Mom at 08:13 PM | Permalink | Comments (6)

First of all, although I like Obama I voted for Clinton.

Second of all I know a lot of you are Republicans and I love you anyhow.

This, however, makes me sick and I think everyone needs to be very aware of the way "news" is presented. Keep in mind that John McCain has been endorsed by John Hagee who claimed that Hurricane Katrina was God's punishment for allowing a gay pride parade in New Orleans. The news isn't too upset about that, though.

The news is supposed to be informative, not biased. Those days are long gone and will only come back if we the people demand a lot less of this behavior and a lot more fact based, hysteria free reporting that actually involve original thought, not just a paraphrase of what the other guy said.

Posted by 21st Century Mom at 12:46 PM | Permalink | Comments (6)

A couple months ago I was driving to work listening to the local classic rock radio station (KFOG) and "The Fog Files" was playing. The Fog Files is the news guy's (Peter Finch) feature show. This one was about a Silicon Valley Venture Capitalist who also happens to be a middle aged woman who struggles with weight - just like me! She was driving to work one day, listening to the radio (harmonic convergence!) and thinking about a meeting she would soon be attending. She knew that at this meeting there would be plate of cookies and she would eat them and then hate herself (more harmonic convergence!) and she wondered why it is that there are songs about loving and losing and getting the guy and getting dumped but not a single song about resisting cookies.

In that AHA moment she returned to that comfortable old aphorism - if you need something done right you have to do it yourself and so she did. First she wrote some song lyrics to express her feelings about weight and food. Then she spoke with some industry people about how to go about getting these songs produced and they told her to hire top talent in the music writing and vocals arena. Being that she's a Silicon Valley Venture Capitalist she has more money than fat so that's what she did.

Harmonic convergence entered my life yet again when I got an email a couple weeks later asking me if I'd like to review the CD. "Bring it on!" I said, I already heard about this on the radio.

So that's the story behind the review of Skinny Songs by Heidi Roizan. And what about that review?

I admire Ms. Roizen for doing something positive about this cookie problem. Way to go! Clearly this has worked for you You look great, not to mention the fact that this has brought you face to face with Martha! I'm impressed! (see pic below)

As for the music - she did a smart thing by making some of them very country, a couple of them sort of hip-hopish and some more mainstream rock. The rhythm is set to workout speed so you can hear words of affirmation about what you are doing while you do it and that's always a good thing. There are lyrics to remind you of why you really want to lose weight:
From "Who the Hell is That"
who the hell is that? ‘Cause it sure ain’t me!
how’d I get so fat? It’s a shame to see
something’s gone wrong with the photo quality
who the hell is that, cause it sure ain’t me

And lyrics to remind you that it's all up to you and that you really want it and YOU CAN DO IT!
From "You Da Boss"
But you don’t need that piece of pie
Gotta let it go and pass you by
and I’m here to remind you why
‘cause you want to be lookin’ and feelin’ fly

"You Got to Use it to Lose" is my particular fave but truth be told it's the kind of exercise music that gets stuck in your head and just hangs around like post workout sock stink.

I'm not nuts about most of the music (I'm not a fan of country or hip hop) but I think the CD is a great idea and expect there are people out there for whom this collection would represent a huge source of motivation and assistance in the battle of the bulge. Although the marketing is clearly targeting women, many of the songs are sung by men so I think they could relate.

They have a line of shirts, too (look - it's Martha!!) I find some of them offensive but when it comes to my body I've never had a very good sense of humor.

Bottom line - this CD isn't really to my taste but I applaud her effort and I encourage anyone who does daily hand to mind combat with fattening food to check it out - it could be just what you have been looking for.

Posted by 21st Century Mom at 08:53 PM | Permalink | Comments (2)

Does anyone have any experience with these shoes?

I am feeling the need for new cycling shoes. The ones I have are okay but I had no idea what I was doing when I bought them. I don't really need new shoes but I got an ad for these today and I ♥ them

If you know anything about these shoes please speak up!

Posted by 21st Century Mom at 08:04 AM | Permalink | Comments (6)

Every day is a proud Mama day but today is an especially proud day.

Humbly Bumbly has done something magnificent. She has been accepted into the 2 top graduate programs in her chosen field. As though this isn't marvelous enough, her background makes it even more so.

In high school she was the Queen of the literary arts and she was very involved in drama (not THAT kind - the kind where you learn about plays and playwrites and you perform). She worked on the newspaper, took AP English and she took creative writing. She graduated significantly more educated in literature and grammar than her Mom.

In college she decided that science was where it's at and studied biology, physics, chemistry and ecology to major in Ecology and Evolutionary Biology. After graduating she got a well paying job in a water testing lab which did great things for her checking account but did nothing to make her happy. She fretted about her choices and wondered, as do we all, "what will I do with my life". She pondered her interests and her skills and her education and decided that she could marry her 2 backgrounds by becoming an architect. She looked into that and realized that she wasn't so interested in the engineering side of things but that landscape architecture would be the perfect marriage of a love of things beautiful and artistic and a background in science.

I was really impressed when she came up with that solution and even more so when she showed me the work she developed for her portfolio. It turns out that my daughter has considerable artistic skills. I knew she had some but really, I had no idea how talented she is because she didn't take art classes in high school. I helped her work on her essays a bit for her application (making her cry in the process - way to go, Mom!) and ultimately she came up with a very strong portfolio that reflected her interests, her intellect and her talent. And it worked - she's got choices!

Her husband has also been accepted to the top school in his chosen profession as well as another that must be near the top. Humbly is a smart woman who married well. Now they have a hard choice to make because they could go to school in the same geographic area but she isn't crazy about the program there or they could go to school in cities that are 500 miles apart and will cost quite a bit more. Not easy choices but as things go, having to make a choice like that is a nice problem to have.

Small son turns 22 tomorrow. He's in college and doing well. I'm proud of him, too.

My little Pookie is flying to Sweden on Saturday to take a trip she paid for all by herself. In fact, she has money in the bank AND a fully paid for ticket. She is also in college and doing well and I'm very proud of her, too.

I don't usually take any credit for my kids but today I'm just going to say ' Way to go, Mom! You are 3 for 3!

Posted by 21st Century Mom at 07:17 PM | Permalink | Comments (10)

The monster is sloth.

I need someone to do this:

Training for the week:

Sunday - Nothing
Monday - Nothing
Tuesday - Swim 2000 yards, run 2.25 miles in 19 mins (woot!)
Wednedsay - Ride in trainer 30 mins
Thursday - nothing
Friday - help! It's not too late to sort of salvage the week but it's getting close - very close! ACK!

Posted by 21st Century Mom at 08:30 AM | Permalink | Comments (6)

My weekend in southern California was super fun.

I got in Friday night and DN2 (Pookie, Daughter Number 2) picked me up at the airport and off we went to a Mexican food place she's been telling me about for the last year and half. When she talked about it I was sure she was telling me about Cody Hahn which I thought was one of those comical restaurant names like Carols Goldstien or Shamus Gonzales. I was wrong. We went to this place

A woman who was there asked how it is pronounced and suffice it to say that Cody Hahn is somewhat lacking but there's no good way to write it. What's more important than the name was the meal - a ginormous plate of nachos. When we both declared ourselves stuffed DN2 took her water and poured it all over what was left on the plate. I was both stunned and impressed. If you need help to quit stuffing your face do try it - it was 100% effective.

Back to the on-campus apartment we headed, stopping first to meet her friends who were puppy sitting. A picture of the pup is forthcoming but alas, I don't have it yet. Petting a puppy was EXACTLY what I needed. That and a strawberry creamcheese empanada from a Paula Dean recipie. Yum!

After a night of sleep that reminded me of how hard sleep can be to come by on a college campus I got up, ran 6 miles, showered, had a protein shake and then DN2 and I headed for a day at the San Diego Zoo where we walked our feet down to nubbins. I made a movie of our day that is at the end of this post.

Then it was off to Long Beach to see my prodigal Son and have dinner at McKennas By the Bay. It was lovely to see where he lived and have a really nice meal.

Saturday night, completely spent from traipsing around the zoo and then driving a couple hundred miles I slept like the dead. No amount of collegiate ruckus could penetrate my slumber and apparenlty I dreamt of running because DN2 told me I sort of snored only what she described as a snore sounded like I was inhaling through my nose and making whoofing exhales through my mouth.

As much as I loved all of that I think Sunday was my favorite day. We got up a little later and headed to the La Jolla shore for brunch. First we stopped by Children's Beach where the children have been displaced by a colony of seals.

We watched them for quite some time before heading up to the Brockton Villa Restaurant for some Coast Toast. If there is something more sublime than a beautiful sunny day on the veranda enjoying the deliciousness of Coast Toast I'm not sure what it is in this moment. My mind is suffused in a maple syrup sunshine pool of bliss. mmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmm...........

We were very happy

After brunch we stood overlooking the water and watched the world's most amazing body surfer. With the aid of fins and webbed gloves this guy was able to ride right on top of the waves from way out until he had to duck under to keep from getting tossed on the rocks. I included a couple of shots of him the video.

Our final tour was of the Birch Aquarium but at that point my camera was out of battery from all the video I shot so I have no pictures.
Many thanks to DN2, Pookie for showing me such a great weekend.

Here is my video memento of the trip. I took all of these with my humble little Casio camera so please pardon its inability to maintain focus on the close-ups.

Posted by 21st Century Mom at 08:01 PM | Permalink | Comments (7)

Are you as pooped as I am today? Holy Guacamole - I'm just trashed.

Thank you all for the kind words about my doggie. I still feel horrible about it and I keep listening for her toenails click clacking across the floor but you are all correct - it had to be done and I did it out of love and now I just have to wait for the bad feelings to pass.

I had a fabulous weekend in San Diego and I want to tell you all about it but honestly, I'm too tired. I will leave you with this little slide show and the promise of more to come (I know... but really - I'M TIRED!)

Posted by 21st Century Mom at 07:38 PM | Permalink | Comments (10)

I got my dog as a puppy 14 years ago because my kids wanted a puppy. They were little kids back then. The puppy was a lab mix - the other part was either sheep dog or bearded collie. She was fluffly and cute and not so bright but very loyal. We named her Sienna because when she was a puppy she was dark brown like that crayon - burnt sienna.

For the last year her back end has been failing her to one degree or another. She's had good days and not so good days and lately she's had days where she gets stuck on the floor and can't get up. She fell down the stairs a couple times. She looked a little sad.

I agonized over what to do about it and then I quit worrying about it and decided that I would just know when it was time. Yesterday I decided it was time and today I took her in. She was having a good day and that made it worse, as though anything can make terminating your dog's life after she has been your faithful friend for 14 years - a font of unconditional love, any worse than it is. I could accidentally step on her, force her to submit to grooming, leave her home for hours, not take her for a walk for days and still - she loved me. I hope she knows I was loving her back by letting her go when she could still walk a little bit - before she had to suffer the terror of just not being able to get up.

I'm not the only one around here who will miss her.

Posted by 21st Century Mom at 10:45 PM | Permalink | Comments (25)

First up is training - I had a pretty good week last week but this week is the first week of my official HIM training ala Matt LIeto's plan posted on Trifuel. This plan packs a LOT of hours. I have made some modifications to fit my training opportunities but by and large I'm hoping to hit the times specified in each discipline. This is a HUGE step up for me. Wish me luck!

Now on to fulfilling my obligation as someone who got tagged by Kona Shelly. Thankfully I don't have to repeat the rules because I don't really know what they are. As usual I'm wingiing it.

1). I have a 'thing' about my name. It has 3 syllables and I generally insist people use all 3 of them. So it's Pamela, not Pam. I just find the name 'Pam' to be too abrupt and I never really liked it (but it's okay if you are a Pam and you do). I like Pamela fine, though. Also - I find it totally irritating when people think I'm a bitch for wanting them to use my whole name. No one gets made when a Christopher doesn't want to be called Chris.

2). I am a helpy helperton I am a decorated former member of the PTA. I spent about a year volunteering at 826 Valencia when I was unemployed. I am a Court Appointed Special Advocate. I am the Director of PR/Communications for my race club.

3). I am baffled every time I see Will Farrell on screen in his tidy whities. What is up with that? He's fat and hairy and yet he just loves to go on camera like that.

4). When I swim I have to finish up with a multiple of 100. If I've done 2050 or 2150 I feel compulsive about doing another 50 to round it up. Sometimes I count wrong and don't realize it until after I'm in the shower. No - I'm not THAT compulsive. I let it go.

5). I am addicted to Jeopardy. I watch it every night that I am home at 7. I have my good categories (science) and my really bad categories (European history). I'm so-so with word based categories.

6). I have mad skilz with procrastination.

7). I'm late for work again which sadly is not so unusual.

Have a great week and you're all tagged!

Posted by 21st Century Mom at 08:04 AM | Permalink | Comments (12)