Archive | August, 2011

Weekly Recap: 7/18 – 7/31

3 Aug

The Jungle That Was Our Lawn

With everything unpacked; laundry washed, folded and put away; our garden harvested (lots of spinach, sage, snap peas and a 16-inch zucchini!); and the dishes done, I feel like have a handle on getting back into the swing of things. I even did a brick last night but it was cut short by acid reflux from eating pasta with spaghetti sauce (a notorious offender).

I don’t know how I manage to do it but I always come back exhausted from vacation (this time, I think the culprit was the short night after a wedding followed by 14 hour car ride.) So catching up on sleep is going to take a little bit longer, since I am staying up later than I would normally to get all the aforementioned tasks accomplished after work.

With that, here is my training recap for the past two weeks:

Monday 7/18: 15.35 mile bike (59:52), 3 mile run (28:38)

I did this brick with Travis at the Rec in the evening and totally rocked the run again! (It’s so much easier to run inside on a flat surface!)

Tuesday: Lower body weights, 2000 yd swim

Another evening workout. Did 2 x 15 of squats, lunges and calf raises, then went to the pool. Did 1 x 200 (fs), 1 x 400 (fs), 1 x 800 (bs), 1 x 400 (fs), 1 x 200 (bs). Right foot started cramping up during 2nd 400.

Wednesday: 6.05 mile run (1:10:29 in 85 degree heat!)

I took my Camelbak and went easy because of the heat. It was cloudy for the first half of the run and rained a bit, which helped a lot. This run was actually mostly pleasant, despite the heat.

Thursday: 14.25 mile bike (1:05:40)

Bike home from work – even though it’s slightly easier than the way there, there are still plenty of hills on the way home. My average heart rate was 152.

Friday: 14.6 mile bike (1:14:42)

Bike back to work – because the afternoon weather has been iffy in Colorado for the past several weeks due to monsoon season but the morning weather is almost 100% nice and sunny, I decided that it was safer to bike home one day and then bike back the next morning, instead of trying to do both in one day. That way, if there was an afternoon storm, I could just drive home instead of biking or having Travis come pick me up.  My average heart rate during this ride was 147. The mileage is a little longer than the ride home because I took a wrong turn. Whoops.

Saturday: Rest day

Sunday: 2.19 mile run (23:14)

I did this run on the county roads near Nevis, MN. While my legs felt great and I was optimistic for something more like 5-6 miles, the deer and horse flies were horrible. I turned around after a mile to see if they would get better the other way but they didn’t, so I called it quits. Boo.

Monday 7/25: Rest day

Tuesday: 10 minutes of waterskiing (arms and upper back!), 500-600 yd swim

My upper back was so sore from waterskiing. Waterskiing has to be one of the best workouts around because it saps your energy in about 15 minutes.

Wednesday: Paddle boating (legs), Canoeing (arms and core)

I noticed that I had more strength for these activities than I have had in the past, so that was exciting.

Yes, that is 4 dogs on a paddle boat…

…and 2 dogs in a canoe. They are seriously attached to us. (More on that in another post.)

Thursday: 15-20 minutes of tubing (arms!)

I told my dad that he had to treat me like a 5-year-old because I didn’t want to get flung off the tube going 25 mph. (You may say that’s part of the fun but after taking a really bad spill a few years ago, I’m so over them.) We found a happy medium going somewhat fast around the turns, but then slowing down for the waves. It’s the combination of going fast and going over waves that’s the doozy (and has the most potential for making you fly off).

Friday: Rest day

Saturday: Rest day

Sunday: Rest day

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While I enjoyed my week-long break from training, I am excited to get back into it. Last night, I was actually looking forward to a bike ride but then we got ready later than we should have, and the sky was really dark. So we ended up going to the Rec (after I threw a frustration party for 1). I just feel better when I am active.

Something that I’ve been thinking about for several weeks now and has come to a head with returning from vacation is that my time with God has really been taking back seat to training. I’ve thought about switching to night workouts but the weather here is so unreliable and warm at night (whereas it’s pretty dependable and cool in the morning) and the swim team takes up almost the entire pool at night. Plus, I really just enjoy morning workouts more.

But it’s the same thing with time with God — I’ve tried to do it during lunch but can’t concentrate sufficiently. I’ve thought about doing it at night before I go to bed but I have very little motivation and would rather just read an entertaining book instead of think deep thoughts.

These are the options I have:

1)      Get in the Word in the morning and train at night. (lunch doesn’t work because of the heat)

2)      Train in the morning and get in the Word during lunch or at night.

3)      Get in the Word in the morning and break training up into 2-a-days, morning and night.

4)      Get up early to get in the Word and train in the morning before leaving at 8:30 for work.

I am leaning toward getting up earlier to do both in the morning. My wakeup call would be at 4:30. Even as I type this, though, I’m debating. It’s so hard to stick to a bedtime like 8:30 when you have a husband and church activities during the week.

What I would really like is a 5th option: Get in the Word and train in the morning, go into work at 10:30. 🙂

How do you fit your training in among your other priorities?

Which option would you choose, if you were me?

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Faith, Farming, and Running

2 Aug

{Enjoy this belated guest post from Lisa over at Cow Spots and Tales! I’ll be back tomorrow with a recap of my training for the past 2 weeks.}

Something about rural countryside– maybe in particular Midwest rural countryside – just evokes religion. Now, I know people define religion differently, but in this case I’m talking about tall, stately steeples with bells that toll on Sunday morning.

I’m also talking about myself because I grew up in a community such as this.

I feel fortunate that my parents brought me up in the church, and I feel even more fortunate that God grabbed onto my heart when I was a teenager. He showed me why it was important to place my ultimate faith in him, and I’ve never looked back.

Yes, I am one of those people who’s sure I’m going to heaven. Not because of what I’ve done, but because of what He’s done for me.

Besides identifying myself as a Christian (as well as a daughter, sister, friend, and more recently a wife), two other large parts of my life include farming and running.

That may seem a strange combination, but I think God had a distinct purpose in leading me to both.

I grew up on a dairy farm, and I wasn’t always sure that was what I wanted to spend my life doing. I generally enjoyed the farm life, but the work did get long. I envied my friends who spent carefree days at the beach while I toted water to calves under the hot summer sun.

As I grew up, went to college, and met my future husband, it became evident that I did like the farm life. Once you move away from something, it’s definitely easier to miss. My now-husband also came from a dairy farm, and I knew if I married him, I was definitely signing up for a lifetime of farming.

I now work at the farm full-time, and I think it does have its blessings. I see God’s miracle of birth nearly everyday, and I can enjoy the beauty of creation much more than when I worked in a climate-controlled office.

Life still isn’t perfect. I also deal with the reality of death, the harsh extremes of temperature, and the feeling of having so much to do outside, it’s hard to know where to begin. I’ll be the first to admit farming isn’t a perfect life, but it is a good life. Something that helps me break up my long days and remind me that there is a world outside of the farm is running.

I’ve been running on and off since high school, but it wasn’t until shortly after I got married several years ago, that I got serious about it again. I think God must have planted the seed in me because I’m not even sure where the desire came from.

Suddenly, I was running several times per week, tracking my miles, and even making plans to do my first race in years. The act of running helped me relax and feel good about myself during a time when I was going through tremendous change. I was still a fairly recent college grad who had moved away from many of my closest friends. I was also working at a new full-time job, part-time at the farm, and I was a newlywed.

Things were just moving too fast, and God saw I needed an outlet. I remember praying for strength to deal with all of this chaos, and I think running was the answer. Running has also provided a unique way for me to witness to others. Just 2 years ago, I could hardly run 3 miles without stopping. This past May, I ran my first marathon.

When people ask me about it, I can share how God gave me the kick I needed to start running again and helped me through the rough patches on my way to becoming a marathoner. Everything good comes from God, and so I know where the credit for my success is due.

Running doesn’t solve everything, and sometimes if my running is going badly, it can even be a source of stress. It is still a gift I give thanks for, and I hope to keep using it my whole life.

If you want to read more about my farming and running adventures, you can visit my blog at http://cowspotsandtales.wordpress.com.  I also share about my faith from time to time. While some posts reflect a casual mention of thanks, others focus more specifically on my current thoughts on God and faith.

Thank you, Kathy, for asking me to share a bit about myself with your readers. I appreciate the spiritual and athletic insights you give on your blog, and I hope I was able to pass on a little of the same.

{Thanks for sharing Lisa!}

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Back from Eating…er, Vacation

1 Aug

Travis and I got back last night at 11:30 from our week-long extravaganza in Minnesota. We are exhausted and stuffed.

I will give a full update, complete with photos, later this week when I have rested up and am thinking clearly again. Right now, I’d like to talk about the thing that I always do way too much of on vacation: eating.

If you look back on my post about healthy eating, you can see that I like to eat a little bit all day long. I don’t do big meals.

Well unfortunately for me, both Travis’ and my families do.

Here’s the typical rundown for meals:

Breakfast: french toast, sausage, fruit, coffee, milk

Lunch: sandwiches, fruit, lettuce salad, chips

Dinner: pork chops, beans, fruit, cooked veggies, chips

I’ve read that you eat more when you have more options. That’s why you can’t walk out of a buffet without feeling like you’re going to puke (that, and perhaps some health code violations). I am the poster eater of this fact. Seriously, lunch time would roll around and even though I was just barely hungry, or not hungry at all, I’d still eat. What if I get hungry later when no one else is eating? What will I do then? were the thoughts running through my head. Then there were the copious amounts of mini candy bars, licorice, and pop I consumed just because I was on vacation. Calories don’t count then, right?

Another kicker was that while I had the ambition and desire to workout on vacation, there were 2 hiccups: 1) I felt guilty spending time working out instead of being with Travis’ or my family. and 2) The deer flies were horrible. I did 2 miles on our first morning there and got 10-12 bites on my back, which turned into lovely red bumps. It was a good look for a strapless dress at a wedding.

All that to say, it’s no surprise that I have returned to my “normal” life feeling the Goodyear blimp. I am SO ready to be back to healthy eating, normal portions, and consistent exercise. The only thing I had energy for last night when we got home was to carry all our stuff in the house, drop it and go to bed. So tonight will be spent unpacking, doing laundry and going grocery shopping and then tomorrow, I’ll get back on the workout wagon. The Steamboat Oly Tri is less than a month away!

Stay tuned for a guest post from Lisa of Cow Spots and Tales tomorrow!

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