I am so far behind on my daily updates. Not too exciting when you’re in the gym. But in the interest of sticking to my format, here ya go:
DAY 335
I have to say, Mr. T definitely wins when it comes to making the spouse/parent feel special on their holiday. Granted, Mother’s Day is within a few days of our anniversary, so that might be part of it (maybe?), but I definitely felt like I didn’t deliver on Father’s Day.
I had good intentions. I wanted to make a special breakfast and I bought all the ingredients ahead of time. Saturday night, we sat around doing nothing. Sunday, I got up early to make the sweet dessert-like breakfast and found out I was supposed to make it the night before and let the dough rise overnight. Fail.
So, I got out the Krusteaz pumpkin bread mix and made muffins instead. T Junior’s card was one of those voice-recordable deals, which Mr. T loved on his birthday. That was a win. The dogs got “dad” a card, too, that had “I got you something for Father’s Day” on the front and inside, it read: “It’s in the yard.” Hehehehe.
But Mr. T did get to have his favorite food for lunch/dinner. We went to a Korean buffet place that is in a former strip club. I know. I guess it doesn’t get much better than that for a dude. From the outside, you could tell what it used to be since there are not windows. But inside, it had been completely redone – no stage or pole or anything like that.
The food was really good and Mr. T had a great time barbecuing short ribs and other various meats right at our table. I even tried barbecued squid (not bad actually, if you can get over the chewy texture). T Junior tried Jell-O for the first time and loved it.
Then we went to one of Mr. T’s favorite places to shop (next to Fry’s Electronics): H-Mart. It’s a Korean grocery store. Of course, you may be wondering why Mr. T, who is of Scottish and Croatian decent, likes Korean food so much. His best friend is Korean and, when they were growing up, Mr. T ate at his house often.
But there was something in that Korean BBQ we ate because we were all extremely tired shortly afterward. I don’t think I’ve been that tired since I was pregnant. For real. Mr. T took a nap and I think I folded laundry and blogged. I can’t remember. That’s how tired I was.
DAY 336
Monday I wasn’t planning on getting up as early as 5:30, but I had to if I wanted to work out. In the future I plan on swimming or pool running on Monday mornings, but I couldn’t do that because the pool doesn’t open early enough. I had to be back because Mr. T had an early dentist appointment.
I wanted you all to pick my workout for me (I couldn’t decide), but I only got a few responses and the votes were pretty much a tie. I chose the elliptical. I figured, if I’m going to get over my fear of ski poles flying at my face, then I might as well just do it.
I only had 40 minutes. I wore my pink plaid Running Skirt over my gray capris. Huge mistake. Did.not.need.capris.Too.hot. I think I sweat more on the elliptical than I do on the bike. Oh my goodness. I was dripping all over the place. Thank goodness I had a towel.
I alternated between hanging on for dear life with the “ski poles” and the center handles. I felt discombobulated while holding those poles, but I made it the full 40 minutes on Level 3-Random, plus a 5-minute cooldown, and burned a whole bunch of calories.
I learned the elliptical is a lot like running in that I could not watch and listen the soccer game that was on (Portugal killing North Korea in a game that ended 7-0). I needed music. Fast music. Like Ke$ha and Pink. I needed my 18-miler playlist! I unplugged from the attached TV audio and turned on my tunes. Much better! Unfortunately, I continued to watch the slaughter. I felt bad for North Korea, but hey, whaddayagonnado?
At home, I did Dimity’s Core Workout, but I had to revise it because of the stress fracture. Instead of squats and lunges, I did leg lifts and kick-backs.
2×25 crunches on the ball
2×15 pushups on the ball
2×20 leg lifts (each leg)
2×30-second planks
2×10 tricep dips
2×15 back extensions on the ball
2×20 kick-backs
2×30 oblique twists
Then I showered, got T Junior dressed and we went to get his 2-year-old shots, then to Costco, then to the grocery store. We were home by 11:30 a.m. He ate lunch and went down for a nap.
It was nice to have free time in the afternoon, having completed all of our errands in the morning. Then, we had to get ready for T Junior’s first swimming lesson at 6.
I think I may be more excited about swimming lessons than he is, but he had fun. He was mad at me for making him go under the water, though, and both times when we resurfaced, he exclaimed, “Mama! Mama!” as in, “What the heck did you do that for?”
Elliptical Stats:
4 miles in 41 minutes, Level 3 – Random, plus a 5-minute cooldown and stretching
DAY 337
Tuesday’s a workday for me, so I have to get up early to exercise. I got to the gym around 5:20 – about 20 minutes later than I wanted to. I’m so slow in the mornings. I wanted to ride the recumbent bike for an hour, but would only have about half that time.
I love the bike for the sole reason I can read while on it. But I was sad when I finished Run Like a Mother. I really enjoyed it, and will write up a review soon (I also will write a review for The Ultimate Runner, which I also liked – so many good running books lately!).
That night, I brainstormed an idea for nametags for the gigantic group of bloggers that would be at the carbo load dinner Friday night for Seattle Rock ‘N’ Roll.
Bike Stats:
8.34 miles in 30 minutes – 16.7mph pace, plus a 5-minute/1-mile cooldown and stretching
DAY 338
I was excited to hit the elliptical again on Wednesday. This time, I wore my Running Skirt without the capris so I was not as hot as Monday. And, I found my new favorite machine. It’s right under the ceiling fan. Yes! I listened to my fast-paced 18-miler playlist again. It really helps on the elliptical.
On Tuesday, a co-worker told me about some elliptical intervals she did with her personal trainer – hold on to the middle handle and squat/sit down for one minute while continuing to go at whatever pace you were at previously. Then three minutes normal, then one minute squat. Keep repeating that.
I forgot to start the intervals until 15 minutes into my workout. I did it for a full minute about four times, and then I had to make it 30 seconds. It was physically impossible for me to hold it any more than that. My quads burned and shook and people probably thought I was nuts.
Elliptical Stats:
3.94 miles in 40 minutes, plus a 5-minute cooldown and stretching
T Junior has swim lessons Wednesday night, too, so I got home, let out the dogs and then we got our swimsuits on, put the poor dogs away again, and left for the pool. T Junior is as stiff as a board in the pool. He locks his arms around my neck and will not let go. Don’t worry, I pry him off and make him try the things the teacher has us do: flutter kicks, floating on
his back, going under the water, etc.
I worry about him a little, though, because he shivers the entire time and gets purple lips. I tell him to kick, kick, kick and loosen up so he will warm up, but he doesn’t understand.
Back at home, we still had to have dinner and I had to put him to bed, feed dogs, get my gym and work clothes all picked out and organized, and I needed to work on those nametags and download some new tunes, too. I’ve been so busy lately. I really am finding it hard to fit blogging in (see this post here for all my excuses).
The nametags were giving me crap. For some reason, my template got all screwy. I finally gave up. I would have to start over and do it all in one sitting. Then, the site where I get music was down. Argh. I gave up on that, too, and went to bed, which is when I realized I forgot to do my core routine. Oh well. Tomorrow.
Since I finished my other two running books, I picked up Born to Run. I am loving it! The author writes exactly the way I like: as if he’s standing in front of me telling me what happened. Plus, it’s about my favorite subject. I expect to fly through the book. But I had to put it down a few minutes later because I needed to get some sleep. I needed to be back at the gym in less than six hours.
DAY 339
My alarm clock went off at 4:10. I got up, reset it to 5 (which is what time I get up for work when I don’t go to the gym), then went to the restroom and back to bed. I knew I needed to sleep. I was more than tired.
But I didn’t fall back asleep. I was still awake at 4:35. Screw it. I got up and went to the gym. I chose the elliptical because I feel like this is the closest to running I’m going to get outside of pool running. Plus, I burn more calories on it than on the bike.
My new favorite machine was occupado, though, so I had to take one in front of the mirror. Thank GOODNESS there was a TV attached, so I didn’t have to stare at myself. That would’ve gotten old real quick. Once again, I did those torturous squat drills.
I only had 30 minutes, but I burned 400 calories according to the machine. Yay!
Elliptical Stats:
I forgot to note my mileage on DailyMile, so I have not idea how far I went. Probably about 4 miles. 35 minutes, plus a 5-minute cooldown and stretching.
DAY 340
Friday I was going to go to the pool to run. I got my bathing suit and towel ready the night before. But that morning, as I was getting ready to go, I remembered that the carbo load dinner was coming up and I needed to burn lots of calories in preparation to EAT! So, I opted for the elliptical again.
I got my new Running Skirt on Thursday! I wanted to wear it, but I hadn’t shaved. So I put on capris. But I was feeling self-conscious, so I slipped my skirt over the top knowing I’d be hot. Oh well. I love my new camo skirt!
I was happy my favorite machine was open. I did not do the crazy squat intervals this time since I felt a little soreness in my shin area on Thursday. I upped the machine to Level 4, though.
Elliptical stats:
4 miles in 40 minutes, plus a 5-minute cooldown and stretching
Once home, I did my revised version of Dimity’s Core Workout:
2×30 crunches on the ball
2×15 pushups on ball
2×30-sec. planks
2×20 leg lifts (each leg)
2×10 tricep dips
2×20 kickbacks (each leg)
2×30 oblique twists on the ball (I am already seeing the results of these, by the way.)
After showering and getting T Junior ready for the day, we set out to do our errands: print nametags and get new shoes for him.
The nametags turned out pretty nice. Here’s sort of what they looked like:
I guess they were decent nametags because some dude with a Scottish accent came up to me and Mel at the Spaghetti Factory that night and asked if were with the Seattle Rock ‘N’ Roll Marathon. Haha!
After getting those printed on some sticky paper, me and T Junior went to find him some shoes. He really needs sandals and a new pair of sneakers. No luck on sandals, but he got some running shoes. Yes, running shoes.
They are Nikes and I had to get them because he wouldn’t try anything else on. I made the mistake of reading the name of the shoes outloud (running shoes) because I thought it was cute. That’s all T Junior wanted: running shoes. And he ran and ran and ran in them in the store.
That evening, me and T Junior picked up Zoë and we drove up to Issaquah to drop him off with Mr. T. And T Junior demonstrated how fast he could run in his new shoes for Zoë. Then me and Zoë made our way to the Spaghetti Factory in downtown Seattle for the big bloggy meet up. It was so fun! Everyone is just so funny and nice and inspiring! Here are some pictures from the night:
What Jill was doing:
What I was doing:
What everyone was doing!
11 comments
that is sooo cool you all got to meet up! I wish I wasn't on the other side of the country!
That looks like so much fun! The name tags are cute. I heard quite a few bloggies comment on how cute they were.
Loved this.how funAnd great job on the elliptical
Wow, what a fantastic bloggy get together:) I love it when I can meet other bloggers! i am glad that you had so much fun!
Looks like a great reunion of bloggers! And the name-tag idea is great! Best of all is your new camo running skirt. I'm still waiting for my sale skirt. I think in pink?
You've been busy! I love that you still manage to get in so many great workouts. The bloggy meetup sounded like so much fun.
Those nametags are so cute! Great idea!
Here from Jill's marathon post…I saw your sign too! Loved it.
Hey Girl! It was so great to meet you this weekend! You are just as sweet and bubbly in person as I expected. Thanks for those awesome name tags (so fun!) and for taking so many pics. You were an amazing spectator too and gave us a huge boost seeing you out there!You look fab in that camo skirt, btw!
i love all the pictures. had so much fun!
Looks like a fun time was had by all! I'm glad you got to experience the best part of the marathon – the prerace festivities!Thanks for sharing all the pictures.